My Birthday Month

One thing about having a birthday on the first of a month is that it sneaks up on everyone, including the birthday girl! So I'm "all in" on celebrating for a whole month... which I don't do actually. But it's nice to think about, and it allows me to splurge a little bit when I feel like it.

Lew did buy a chocolate cake for me. It cost over $30! But it was delicious, and I had several pieces. Yummy!  (I wouldn't let him light the candle since it is too cute to let melt.)

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!

🎂🩷🕺💗🍨

It's May

Happy May!

I meant to post on the 1st... my birthday... but didn't. It was a lovely day. Lew made breakfast, and then I pretty much was a bum for the rest of the day. Lots of reading and resting. Just what I needed.

I meant to post on the 4th... Star Wars day... but didn't. "May the Fourth be with you!" The best meme I saw for this was Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. They were joined by a Fourth, the Son of God....

Yes, may the Fourth be with us all!

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.)

A Cat-Proof Solution

Lew and I finished decorating our "tree" today! It was a task that spanned several days.

I purchased the triangle shelf, light, and garland on Amazon. 

I strung up the garland on a peg board that we had attached to the wall several years ago. ("Strung up" = used paper clips!)

Lew installed the triangle shelf and light. He said it was a tougher project than it may appear to be.

The tree skirt is exactly that — a tree skirt that we already had. Lew suggested I cut it, but I didn't want to. I like the 3-D appearance.

I broke only two, inconsequential ornaments.

The light isn't on in the picture, but imagine a colored light fading into another color... and another... and another.

Not pictured: A bunch of ornaments hanging from the beam in our living room! 🎄

The Christmas Spirit

I haven't done much decorating for Christmas the past few years. I decided to do so this year.

The day after Thanksgiving I brought down all the boxes of decorations from the attic. After piling the boxes throughout the downstairs, I asked Lew how he liked my decorating. He said, "The feng shui is off a bit!" Hee hee!

I am taking my time going through the boxes and putting the items out. Our cats would absolutely destroy a tree if we put it up, so I have come up with my own solution for hanging ornaments. (Picture to come when I'm finally finished.)

Lew has always made the outside of the house look festive, and I am glad we are making the inside look festive, too.

Lighting by Lew.

Happy Veterans Day!

Thank you to all veterans for your service to our country.

A special shout-out to my favorite veteran — my husband, Lew.  💗

May God bless America!

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!

🍨

Baseball's Best

The team from Lake Mary, Florida won the Little League Baseball World Series today! Lew and I were rooting for them. The players had lots of personality and were fun to watch. Congratulations to a great bunch of kids!

What sports do I watch now? I will have to be content with Indiana Fever games (Caitlin Clark!) and NFL football, which is coming right up.

Health update: I'm feeling much better and hope to make it to work tomorrow. Lew is still suffering, but he caught it a couple days after I did. Hoping he gets well over the next couple days.

Sharing

It usually is good to share what you have with others.

I have shared my cold/flu illness with Lew.

He is grateful.

My unselfishness knows no bounds.

😳

The Annual Trifecta

Happy Birthday to my father! (86 years.)

Happy Anniversary to Debbie and Glen! (28 years.)

Happy Anniversary to my husband! (24 years of wedded bliss. I'm still not sick of him. 💗)

Mouse Out of the House!

Not wanting to risk another middle-of-the-night ruckus due to the mouse, Lew and I decided to flush him out.

Because of how the kitties were acting, we knew the mouse was behind or under the bookcase beside my recliner. Lew pulled the bookcase away from the wall, and the mouse went scurrying.

He made it underneath a corner piece, safe from the two kitties that were stalking him.

I tried to lure the mouse out with cheese, but he wasn't biting. He eventually ran back under the bookcase.

Lew believes the mouse was getting desperate for food, because he (the mouse) eventually emerged. The kitties chased him back to his hiding spot.

He came out again. The kitties chased him.

This went on for about an hour. At one point the mouse came out and sat still, as did the kitties. It was at this point I realized our cats were "playing" instead of making serious attempts to catch the mouse.

When Marilyn chased the mouse into our small bathroom (which is beneath our staircase), we knew we were in luck. Although it is small quarters, Lew and I both went into the bathroom and shut the door. The space under the door is tight (old house!), so we knew the mouse couldn't get out.

So it is the mouse, Marilyn, Lew, and I in the bathroom. Marilyn and the mouse are playing peek-a-boo back and forth behind the toilet.

I had brought in the tupperware bowl (from yesterday's post) and was ready for when the mouse decided to come out into the open floor.

And he finally did!

I trapped him under the bowl. We put Marilyn outside of the bathroom, and I carefully slid the bowl over the small area rug. Lew took it from there.... He folded the area rug around the bowl, tipped the bowl over, and subsequently released the mouse outside.

Phew!

Jerry and Marilyn then crashed, exhausted from the "hunt" — and I use that term loosely!

🐭😼😸

Mouse in the House!

Last night around 2:00AM I was awakened by a loud noise. Then I heard one of the cats madly dashing around downstairs.

I went to investigate.

Marilyn was at the foot of the stairs, playing with one of her toy mice.

Upon further inspection, I saw that said mouse was able to move all on its own.

The mouse ran behind the speaker we have next to our electric keyboard. Marilyn and the mouse then played an amusing game of peek-a-boo back and forth around the speaker.

By now Lew is downstairs as well. Jerry seemed to be just a casual observer at this point.

The mouse got brave and ran into the dining room. Both cats now were trying to catch it. Lew tried to trap it with a tupperware bowl, but the mouse was too fast.

Eventually the mouse dashed into the living room, and it is there we all lost sight of it.

Lew and I went back to bed while the cats kept watch.

No sign of the mouse today.... It's freaking me out a little!

🐭

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!

Lew Saves My Day

My alarm went off at 6:00 this morning. I "waved" the snooze button. (It's a motion sensor.)

It went off again a few minutes later, and I again waved.

The next thing I knew, Lew is saying, "Hey, babe...."  It was 7:30!

He had been downstairs taking care of the kitties and realized he hadn't heard anything going on upstairs. So he came to wake me up.

Thank you, Lew!

P.S. I was only a few minutes late to work.

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.

We Fix a Clock

Lew and I bought a large clock for our upstairs bathroom when we moved into our house in 2007. I am blind as a bat, and I want to be able to see the time when I get out of the shower. Hence, a large clock.

The clock stopped working a few weeks ago, so I ordered a new "battery movement" from the clock's manufacturer. It came in the mail several days ago.

I kept thinking it would be a major, time-consuming project to fix the clock. So I was kind of avoiding it.

Earlier today I decided it was time. (Pun intended.)

I brought the clock and the parts downstairs. Between Lew and me, we were able to get the clock working within 10 minutes! And most of that time was just figuring out what we had to do.

The clock is now on our bathroom wall and is working great. We are both glad to have it back!

A Win-Win

With Michigan's win over Washington in last night's college football championship, Lew won the dollar bet with my father.

My father was happy to pay up, since he wanted Michigan to win anyway!

Christmas Lights

Our house is looking mighty festive!

Lew did a great job. 💗🎄

A Birthday and a Monday Update

Happy Birthday to my husband, Lew! It's a milestone year for him. (Hint: Three quarters!)

As long as all the insurance paperwork goes through as expected, Dad will be transferred from the hospital to rehab tomorrow. He needs to have a short-term stay since he isn't allowed to put weight on his left foot yet. We are expecting him to be in rehab at the same facility where Mom is in long-term care, so that will be handy... one-stop visiting!

Lew and I are still keeping up with the Little League World Series even though the team from Maine is out of contention. We always enjoy this Series, even if Maine isn't represented. It's fun to watch the kids play.

Check back tomorrow for another update!