Monday, March 30, 2020

Monday March Madness

Not the fun kind of March madness because fun was cancelled this month, wasn't it?

Well maybe not cancelled but we are definitely having to work for it. Pretty soon all my blog posts will be titled 'what I ate this week'. We're all learning to get creative and figure out new ways of connecting and socializing from at least ten feet away.

Are you on Zoom? We had a Zoom call with a group of college friends Friday night, and another with a former work colleague of the hubs on Saturday. I don't know why we never did this prior to social distancing because it's a great way to connect as a group and we laughed a lot. I even played cards with friends last week via Zoom and our Sunday School class is meeting that way as well.

Temps have climbed into the 80's here which is delightful. We haven't dropped the boat in the water yet, since pollen has run amok-


Don't think we'll be dining out here just yet, but I am looking forward to al fresco dinners in the near future. And once most of the pollen is down we'll be back to meeting up with friends by water. Everyone can stay safely on their own boats a healthy distance away and life might feel a little bit ordinary. Whoohoo!

Hubs has been spending his at-home time painting all the trim in the house. He enjoys a project and this is a tedious job that needed to be done. He's a meticulous painter and it all looks so crisp and clean. Perhaps if we're confined to home much longer he'll get to some of the walls too?

We've cooked some stuff. Ha! We're all cooking these days aren't we? We tried a new recipe on Saturday for grilled shrimp tacos with avocado salsa and it was a keeper.


So easy and I'll definitely make this one again. I found the recipe here.

Still have two dogs to walk which is a happy distraction and a reason to leave the house. I'm watching very little news, but do tune in to hear our governor's updates and catch headlines to see if there are new developments to be aware of on any given day.

We started watching a program on netflix called Tales By Light and are enjoying that. Each episode features a photographer taking pictures of something fabulous somewhere in the world and their shots are pretty amazing. My daughter and I have been binging old seasons of The Great British Baking Show and are completely addicted. I'm determined to bake something I've never tried before using my one packet of yeast, which I was lucky to get. Suddenly everybody's a baker.

Speaking of baking, daughter2 and I finished a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle last week-


It ended up being 998 pieces thanks to a lightning fast little brown dog who shall remain nameless, ahem, but still fun and really pretty. How long do you leave a completed puzzle set up? We wrapped this one up on Thursday and I put it back in the box Saturday. Since it looks like staying home is the name of the game for a while longer I need the table space to start another.

So that's about it-reading, cooking, walking the dogs, working puzzles, a little TV, a few home cleaning/organizing projects, and more blogging than I've done in months are what's filling the time here. I have to say many of these activities are things I enjoy doing anyway, even when social distancing isn't the norm.

How 'bout you? What are you doing to stay busy?

13 comments:

  1. Oh dear, I wish I had your husbands energy. Alas I do not. I have managed to stay on my Weight Watchers program, so no weight gain. Perhaps I should take our closets. Just throw myself i there and hope for the best!

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  2. I think all our routines will be similar over the coming weeks and months. Aww shame about the jigsaw pieces. That would drive me nuts! I have a carry case for my puzzles so I can close it up when table space is needed. You were lucky to get yeast (unless you already had it) none on the shelves here, and flour was much the same. I would love to know how many of the people that cleared those shelves will actually get around to using it lol

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  3. I have not cooked this much in years (or ever lol). Ordered Hello Fresh and getting creative. Dinners (and cocktails) seem to be the highlight of our day, so it goes on, but take out tonight I think!

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  4. Your puzzle is a work of art, really fine! We're looking forward to less pollen down here, too. We don't need the allergy problems confusing us into thinking we have the COVID virus!

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  5. That's a beautiful puzzle, Joyce! We're about to start one here (also 1,000 pieces) of a painting of a street in gilded-age Paris. I'll post a picture when we finish.

    How did you play cards on Zoom? I'be been trying to figure out how to do it so I can spend a little more time with my grandkids. Please share!!

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    1. We play Hand and Foot every Wednesday in our Clubhouse and have tried it online using Zoom. I don't know if you're familiar with the game, but for this particular game it works (mostly). Everyone has their own decks of cards so you're drawing from your own pile and not a community pile. It might work with other games if everyone deals their own hand and has their own draw pile to use. You cannot pick up a pile obviously, but other than that most games might work.

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  6. Nice puzzle! They are always fun to work on but with three cats who have to be doing everything you are doing... we don't even try anymore! Ha! My grandma did puzzles all the time and then Modpodged them. There was a stack of completed puzzles stuck together and separated by paper stored under the guest room bed. Not sure what the purpose was for that, and what a waste of a puzzle that could be worked again some day. We haven't tried Zoom yet but have used Duo for years to see our kids and grandkids once in a while. Almost boat time!! I know you are looking forward to that!!

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  7. Zoom is great, isn't it? I am NOT a baker but I randomly made a chocolate cake yesterday. It was a mix so...still not a baker. ha. Our rain makes it a bit more challenging to be safe at home as it would be nice to sit on the deck for spell. Hopefully the sun will return soon!

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  8. Hi Joyce,
    I enjoyed hearing about zoom.
    We tried a new recipe this week as well, and it was a keeper. Wisconsin is slowly thawing out, we have a few patches of snow left. By mid week I hope to get outside to start to clean the garden. My happy place.

    Sam will be deployed next Monday to help in Madison, our state capitol.
    This will be his first deployment, he is excited and ready.
    Love, Carla

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  9. I was wondering if I'd find yeast at the store and I scored 2 three packs. I know people who are baking bread left and right. I hope those packets of yeast I bought don't end up being of the hoarding variety. I do want to try my hand at baking bread. Painting projects are ongoing here, too. Our Spokane community where Gonzaga College is were quite sad about March Madness being cancelled. Life is interesting to say the least...

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  10. Oh and since the jigsaw puzzles are worked on at the dining room table they can't stay there for long once completed.

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  11. I've heard great things about Zoom but have yet to try it. I know of a couple churches and a youth group who have met that way and it seems to have worked out very well.

    Yes, so funny how yeast and flour are at a premium these days. I haven't looked for yeast, as I had a jar on hand, but I know flour is flying on and off grocery shelves quite quickly. We have a couple of bags on hand (three, I think) so we should be fine. It's funny to me how people who have never baked now seem to think they're going to try it. Thank goodness for the Internet. My hubby baked 2 loaves of bread last week (his first) but it was not because of the virus -- just that we're still on a 40-day sugar fast (today is day 37) and sugar-free bread is expensive. Good, but expensive. We've been buying the Dave's Killer Bread in the Super Seed variety, which is sweetened only with fruit juice. Dave's other breads all seem to contain sugar. The oatmeal bread hubby baked was made with maple syrup.

    We have an unopened jigsaw puzzle and will probably break it out before all is said and done. For now, we are enjoying reading (Mr. T) and crocheting (me). I would rather be embroidering or cross stitching, but have a UFO crochet project that I want to finish up for a birthday.

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  12. Our family zoomed Sunday afternoon and we had a good time. Yes, I'm about to go bake cookies and think I'll take all the neighbors a few. I can sit them by their door and they can get them. I'll definitely call to make sure they know they are there. Wouldn't want good cookies to go to waste. I'm thoroughly enjoying Anne with An E but only have 4-5 more episodes, so will be looking for something new. I can't remember ever watching Netflix during the day, so strange, But, hey, it's okay. :o)) Happy week, see you tomorrow at the HP.

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