Thankful

I was updating my book list and decided to write a brief post, too.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving. Other than my fighting my annual "Tracy has a bad cold on Thanksgiving" condition, we had a nice day. We went to Matt & Emily's house and ate far too much. It was delightful. We are thankful for family.

I do have some sad news to report. Our sweet cat Jerry is no longer with us. His kidneys were failing and we said good-bye to him a week ago (Wednesday, November 19). He was a great friend to Lew, Dad, and me. We are thankful for the 13 1/2 years we had with him.

The bathroom on Dad's side of the house is being remodeled for a more accessible shower for him. The work is almost done. It's going to be nice. We are thankful for our home.

I believe our dinner has arrived. I am thankful for lasagna from Romeo's!

The Annual Family Trifecta

Happy 87th Birthday to my father!

Happy 29th Wedding Anniversary to Debbie and Glen!

Happy 25th Wedding Anniversary to Lew and me!!!  Our silver anniversary!

The celebration:  Super beef sandwiches (with extra sauce) plus cake and ice cream.

Thank you to my sisters for providing the yummies!

🎂🩷🕺💗🍨

Update

Dad is still in the hospital but he will be coming home tomorrow afternoon! He made significant progress the past couple days. The doctors have been working on the correct medication balance, hence the several-day stay.

Lew and I visited him this afternoon. A doctor came in and talked with us about the discharge time. He said he could have Dad out of there by 9am, to which Dad replied he wanted to leave after he gets his lunch! Apparently he has been enjoying the food there and getting ice cream with every meal. He wants his ice cream!

🍦🍨🍦🍨🍦

An Upgrade

After many years, Microsoft is discontinuing its support of Windows 10 this fall. Of course, my Dell all-in-one computer cannot be updated to Windows 11. So I decided to get ahead of the game and get a replacement computer now.

Lew and I went to Best Buy this past Friday to look at the options. The biggest decision I had to make: laptop or another all-in-one? The only difference on my Pro/Con list:

Portability.  (Laptop: Pro.  All-in-one: Con.)

I asked Lew a simple question: "In the nine years (or so) that I've had my all-in-one, have you ever heard me say that I wished I had a laptop?"

His answer was equally simple: "No."

We came home with a beautiful HP All-In-One computer. The screen is bigger than my old one, and it is so very, very fast. It's all set up the way I want it — maybe a few tweaks still needed — and I already am using it to do all my computer work.

This blog post is my first entry using my lovely new HP. 😊

(P.S. Lew and I celebrated my purchase by dining out at Johnny Rockets in the Mall's food court. He had a burger, I had a grilled cheese, we shared some fries, and we both got milkshakes. Yummy.)

Is Spring Here to Stay Yet?

We got food from Ken's Place on Sunday to celebrate the start of Spring.

When I left work yesterday, I snapped this photo of my windshield once I got in my car:

Yes, it was snowing! ❄❅❆

It was a bit slippery walking outside this morning, but Spring seemed to be back by the time I left work.

Here's hoping no more snow until next winter! (And even then I could do without it.)

🌞

Nachos and Taxes and Puzzles, Oh My!

The Super Bowl is going to be played later today. Lew is making cheese nachos, which he says will be ready by kickoff. I admit I am looking forward to the nachos more than the game. But I will be watching. I do have a preference on who wins, but it is not a strong preference. 

It's "tax season" once again. I prepare three sets of tax returns each year: Dad's, Matt & Emily's, and our own. I did Dad's a couple days ago, and I am happy to report that both of his returns (Federal and Maine) have been accepted! (I prepared/e-filed using TurboTax.) Next up: Matt & Emily's.

I've been working hard on a 2000-piece puzzle for several days. (I even worked deep into the night a couple times!) I finally finished it earlier this afternoon. A photo of the puzzle is below. It is titled "Country Delivery" by Buffalo Games. This is the last of the three puzzles that Debbie gave me for Christmas. It is beautiful!

"Old" New Stuff vs. "New" New Stuff

I wrote last week about my work computer biting the dust.

I thought I was going to get a brand new machine to replace it.

It turns out the "temporary" computer is working so well that it is becoming my "permanent" computer.

So another "hand-me-down" (like my dead one was), but I'm okay with it as long as it doesn't give me any problems.

Lest you feel sorry for me, please know I do sometimes get brand new things at work.

For example, I recently got a new desk chair, more ergonomically correct than my old one.

And sometimes people bring in doughnuts to share with everybody in the office.

The chair will be around for a long time; the doughnuts, not so much! (Yum!)

Hungry After Church

This morning's church service ended and Lew said, "I'm hungry." I agreed.

What to do for lunch?  Lew made a decision....

Ice cream from the Dairy Corner.

Good idea, Lew!

🍨

A New Pizza Experience

After an early departure this past Tuesday, Kim, Joe, Kaelen, and Cocoa arrived home early Wednesday evening. That's a long two days of driving!

Last Sunday I wrote about the Olympics. It was a great two weeks of sports. Now Lew and I have been watching the Little League Baseball World Series. I would love to go to Williamsport, PA some year to experience this event. It ends next Sunday.

We went out to lunch with Matt, Emily, Eli, and Adam after church today. We had such a nice time with them, and the food was especially scrumptious. I had a Loaded Mashed Potato pizza! It's made with pizza dough topped with a cheese blend, bacon, smoked cheddar, fresh jalapeños, scallions, and sour cream. (I had them hold the fresh jalapeños.)  We all went home with leftovers, so there is more yumminess to look forward to.

We are having a yard sale Labor Day weekend with our friends Carole and Donna, so I am starting to declutter. It's going a bit slow, but I will pick up the pace as the day draws nearer. My niece Kelsey wrote the best yard sale advertisement, which went something like this: "Come buy our stuff. We don't want it anymore!"

Remembering Mom

We had a lovely time last night as our family dined on brisket, corn on the cob, bread, watermelon, cookies, and chips 'n dip. (I may be missing something.) The meat and the corn came all the way from Illinois. Yum!

In attendance were Dad, Lew & I, Kim & Joe, Kaelen, Kelsey & Zach, Bode, Boston, Debbie & Glen, and Zack. We were short one member because Josh is working his 90-day shift on the ship. (We missed you, Josh!)

After the meal we had a brief time of remembering my mother.

Kelsey and Kaelen led by reading the obituary. I then read Mom & Dad's wedding invitation, after which I shared the Bible passage Mom and I often read together.  Said passage was Genesis 1, with Mom providing "good" after I read "and God saw that it was..." — my family performed Mom's part last night. I told everyone they were on Mom's heart until the end as I sang to her, "He's got Mary Lou's family in His hands."

After I finished the "planned" portion of the evening, the rest of the family shared (mostly funny!) stories about Mom. It was a nice time of remembrance.

We will always miss her.

💗💗💗💗💗💗💗 💖 💗💗💗💗💗💗💗

Miscellanea

I just googled the plural of "miscellaneous" so I hope the title of this post is the correct usage.

Lew and I watched the final round of the Women's College World Series last week. Congratulations to Oklahoma on the FOUR-peat! Over the course of four years, the seniors played 250 games together. They lost only 15 of those games, they were never run-ruled, and they were never shut out... not to mention the four national championship titles. What a great softball squad!

I did some much-needed organizing/cleaning on Friday. I still have lots more to do, but I'm tired. Plus it will still be here later, LOL!

Dad will write more about this on Wednesday, but he DID go yesterday. The weather cooperated after all.

The weather today... well... it's raining. It must have rained really hard at some point during our church service; we could hear it pounding on the roof for several minutes.

I've been reading some interesting novels. (What about you?)

We finally went for pie & fry (Bill's Pizza and Pier Fries) with some friends last week. We followed up our fine dining experience with delicious ice cream treats at Fielder's Choice.

Now I'm off to have some lunch!

13-3 in 5

13-3... The score of Eli's little league game last night.

5... The number of innings played due to the 10-run mercy rule.

Additional comments:  Eli's team won!  He also had a couple hits, one of which was a massive triple.

Congratulations, Eli!

P.S. Lew and I got our dinner at the field's incredible snack bar.

How I Spent My Birthday (and the Next Two Days)

I was a complete sloth for three days. All I did from Wednesday through Friday was sleep, read, eat, and watch stuff on TV.

I did go visit a friend yesterday morning, so I guess I should remove the word "complete" from the first sentence of this post.

I am paying for my slothfulness today. I dealt with the mail piled up on my desk, used the elliptical machine, took a shower, and I am currently doing laundry.

I will close this post with a photo of my birthday cake. It was chocolate. The frosting was sickeningly sweet... just the way I like it. Yum!

Leftovers

Breakfast out with Lew, Carole, and Donna.

The rest of today's dining:

• Lunch: Leftover Chipotle.
• Dinner: Leftover lasagna.

Yum!

A New Dining Experience

I had a late lunch with a friend today.

She suggested going to a place I had never been.

That place? Chipotle! (Yes, I am behind the times.)

I enjoyed the food and I even have leftovers for tomorrow's lunch.

When I see the commercials I now can say, "I've eaten there!"

Monday Musings on Super Sunday

I was rooting for the 49ers, so I was a little disappointed in the outcome of the game. But it was fun to watch. Congrats to the Chiefs. 

I thought Reba McEntire did a nice, respectful job singing the National Anthem. 

The half-time show. Eh. I'm of the opinion that the half-time length should be just like it is all season. Don't need to have a longer half-time just to have an elaborate production. The drama of the game is enough. 

I just listened to a few snippets of some Taylor Swift songs. Eh. I want to like her, I really do want to, but I don't understand why her music is so popular. Apparently I am not her target audience! But I guess she was good for NFL viewership this season, since all the "Swifties" were watching just to see her sitting in a box at the games. Now that the season is over, will her romance with Travis Kelce continue much longer? Stay tuned, Earthlings!

As for the commercials, I did enjoy many of them. Some were trying so hard to be unique that they fell flat. I didn't have a favorite, and I didn't rush out to buy any new products today.

Our Super Bowl special food: Lew made cheese nachos. Yum. Thanks, Lew!

Divine Chocolate

I often wonder whether there will be chocolate in Heaven.

Then I remind myself that our present food won't compare to Heaven's feast.

Note to self: Rest easy!

Mac & Cheese

I like macaroni & cheese!

Lew and I don't try new restaurants very often, but if there is macaroni & cheese on the menu... well, I order it.

Several weeks ago I tried the Baked Mac & Cheese ("four cheese blend") from Amato's. YUMBO! I now order this every time we get Amato's food. The portion is so generous that I get two meals out of it.

Thank you, Amato's, for your excellent version of this delightful dish.

Home Sweet... Oh, Rats

The title of my blog post tonight was going to be "Home Sweet Home" because all of the home teams won the divisional playoff games this weekend.

But one of the home teams just lost... the Buffalo Bills... the game that I cared the most about. Ugh. Sad.

As for the other three games, I did find myself rooting for one team over the other: the Texans (lost to the Ravens), the 49ers (won over the Packers), and the Lions (won over the Buccaneers).

So I went 2 and 2 this weekend. The second 2 feels a lot bigger, though.  Maybe I should write my weekend record this way:

       2 and 2

And the weekend record for the home teams:

       3 and 1

A week from today the Super Bowl matchup will be set. The order of my personal preference for said matchup:

1. Baltimore Ravens vs. San Francisco 49ers
2. Baltimore Ravens vs. Detroit Lions
3. Kansas City Chiefs vs. San Francisco 49ers
4. Kansas City Chiefs vs. Detroit Lions

My biggest hope for Super Bowl Sunday is that Lew will make cheese nachos.

Ice Cream for Lunch

My friend Carmen came by after church. The Dairy Corner closes for the season tomorrow, so she took Lew and me out for a "summer-is-officially-over" ice cream treat! Yummy! Not one of us felt guilty about having ice cream for lunch.

And if that yumminess wasn't enough, Lew went to Amato's to pick up dinner for Dad, himself, and me. A few weeks ago I discovered they have a baked macaroni and cheese dinner. It is delicious, and the portion is large enough for two meals. So, so, so good.

It was a great day of eating!

Tomorrow night I am planning on having a salad.