January 21, 2022

Friday Night Photos

I have kind of a lot of photos this week! So I'll get right to them, because this will be a long post...

I got a surprise package via FedEx a couple of days ago, and THIS is what it was!! I had no idea who they were from and I'd never heard of Crumbl Cookies before, but they looked delicious. The only person I could think of that might have sent them was my friend Caitlin in Boston. I texted her and she said yes, they were from her--there was supposed to have been a note inside, but somehow that got left out.

Anyway, there were six enormous cookies, two each of: peanut butter, rocky road, and chocolate chunk. Considering I'm really working hard to lose weight, I knew I was going to have to share them with the family.

I couldn't help but dig right into one of the peanut butter ones, though. I ate the whole thing myself and it was worth every. single. calorie. SO GOOD. For the rest, I cut them into four pieces each so that we could all taste them--so overall, I only had one and a half cookies. I'm pretty impressed with myself! I indulged, but didn't go overboard. (And no, there is no way I could have saved them for another day; I envy people that have the self-discipline to do that!)

These were SO much better than the ones we got from Detroit Cookie Company for Eli's birthday a couple of weeks ago. And there is a Crumbl Cookies in Ann Arbor! (That's where we went for Detroit Cookie Company.)



Speaking of surprises in the mail, my friend Erin sent me this adorable squirrel bag! (She ordered it and said when it arrived at her house, she thought the squirrel looked kind of creepy; I disagree.) I think it's super cute.


And speaking of squirrels, my brother (Brian) gave me this metal squirrel decor that his neighbor made--isn't it awesome? He apparently makes metal art like this for a side business.


These two. So spoiled! 

So, the cats (and Joey) have trained me into a routine each morning into giving them canned/wet food. (I used to just give them dry food but when they were sick, I was giving them "the good stuff" in order to get them to eat.) Now there's this whole routine:

Estelle doesn't like the "chunks" from canned food, so I give her the squeeze tubes of puréed tuna or chicken (that's the stuff on the white plate).

Other than that, I divide up a can of food for the other three cats:

  • I give Phoebe the smallest amount but with as much of the gravy as I can (she mostly just licks all the gravy and then leaves the rest). She doesn't like the squeeze pouches, probably because it's what I had to force feed her when she was sick.
  • I give Duck the most food because he eats the fastest and I don't want him going after Chick's.
  • I spread Chick and Duck's food all over their plates so that it takes them longer to eat it. They are little piggies--you can see in the picture how they jump up on the bar stools to watch me impatiently while I'm prepping everything. (Meowing the entire time)
  • I used to just let Joey eat Estelle's and Phoebe's leftovers, but since I started giving Estelle her puréed stuff, I bought some small pouches of food for Joey to have along with leftovers.
  • I set down Chick and Duck's plates first, because they are going crazy for it, then I bring Estelle's and Phoebe's into the living room away from the kittens so they can eat in peace.
  • Estelle eats all of hers and leaves.
  • Meanwhile, Joey is done and sits and waits for whatever leftovers Phoebe leaves.
  • When the kittens are done eating, they go stalk Phoebe (I have to watch them like a hawk and shoe them away).
  • When Phoebe is done licking all the gravy, she leaves and then I let Joey eat the rest. (The kittens are disappointed they don't get Phoebe's, but I need to watch their weight.)



Moving on...

I was so excited when I got this letter in the mail for Jury Duty! I've been summoned twice before but it was when my kids were little and I had to excuse myself because I didn't have childcare. I think Jury Duty would be so interesting, and I was looking forward to it for next month.


Then a couple of weeks later, I got this in the mail, excusing me from Jury Duty--I was super bummed. I just got done reading a book that was a memoir/true crime book written by a lawyer and it really made me interested when I got the summons. Oh well--hopefully I'll get to do it another time. 


I just turned over 10,000 miles in my Jeep--and it's now two years old!! Isn't that crazy? Because of COVID, I just wasn't driving anywhere. And since Noah got his license, I don't have to drive him to/from school. 


I went grocery shopping for the week and I planned to make pico de gallo to put on some black bean enchiladas I was making. When I got out the ingredients to make it, I realized I forgot the jalapeño. I really didn't want to make it without jalapeño, so I asked Jerry to go get one. Out of ALL the things for the store to be out of, this was the sign on the shelf: "Sorry for the inconvenience. We'll restock this item as soon as it's available." 


I've been doing a lot of reading so far this year! I just started my fourth book, actually. The ones I just finished: (Amazon affiliate links)


'The Fact of a Body' by Alex Marzano-Lesnevich - This book was written SO well. It's a memoir/true crime book which sounds like an odd combination. The author is a lawyer who took a huge interest in a case and wrote the case out in a story-like way, using the facts (30,000+ pages of documents!) from the case. The crime was horrendous and horrible to read about, and I would only recommend it to people who are okay with reading about the details of such crimes. (I don't want to spoil it, and I definitely would NOT read about the case before reading the book. I would read the book blindly--not reading reviews or anything like that.)

'Never Saw Me Coming' by Vera Kurian - This was a refreshing psychological thriller! It's about a group of students who take part in a study at a university; they are each diagnosed as being an actual psychopath. The general students on campus at the university don't know about the study (other than the 7(?) kids that are in it). The professor running the program wants to study psychopathy and see if he can't help diagnosed psychopaths lead relatively normal lives. They each have their individual set of problems/agendas, and it's super interesting to see how it all plays out.

'The Lobotomist's Wife' by Samantha Greene Woodruff - This book is basically what the title says: about a lobotomist's wife. It's inspired by the true story of how the lobotomy procedure came to be. The psychiatrist who started performing them became quite obsessed, without worrying about long-term consequences (or short-term, for that matter). I'm super interested in anything have to do with mental illness, and I thought I'd love this book. But I only gave it three stars. It was kind of redundant and I was just waiting for it to be over. It did make me look up lobotomies online and I fell down a rabbit hole reading about that, however!

'Rock Paper Scissors' by Alice Feeney - I literally JUST started this book so I can't even comment about it yet.


And finally... here is the random fact of the day:

Have a great weekend! xo

12 comments:

  1. January 21 is National Squirrel Appreciation Day (this link tells about it: https://www.google.com/amp/s/nationaltoday.com/national-squirrel-appreciation-day/amp/) he metal squirrel and bag are perfect. We have Crumble cookies and enjoy them too.

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  2. Katie your morning routine is so precise. Making sure all the babies get just what they need/want. We started feeding our little Ivy Cesar pouches of wet food, and she has two or three a day. She does the weirdest thing like she has to sneak up on it. And when we give her a Greenies treat, she always looks to the right before she takes it. I think it's because of something she went through before we rescued her. She had a bad start in life. I wanted to tell you that after two years of not running AT ALL, I'm trying it again. The first time, 16 minutes, and two days later, 19 minutes. IT'S REALLY HARD! The breathing thing, and sore muscles! And being 62 makes it harder, but it's not an excuse. I hope I stick with it.

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  3. The squirrel items are perfect, as Friday was Squirrel Appreciation Day! :) The kitty-Joey feeding routine is adorable too.

    I've really enjoyed jury duty (I know that I'm a bit odd), but I don't even get summoned for it anymore. My last jury was 20 years ago.

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  4. Ha, glad I'm not the only one who has excitement instead of dread about jury duty. I got selected the third time I got summoned, and found it so interesting (because I had NO IDEA WHAT TO EXPECT going in) that I blogged about it. :D (I never did write a follow-up blog about the actual case. Ended up feeling too weird writing about it.)

    https://shubbe.livejournal.com/153777.html

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  5. I just finished reading "Hidden Valley Road" a book about a family with 12 kids, 6 of whom were diagnosed with schizophrenia. The book is a biography and covers the history of the disease too. I found it fascinating.

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    Replies
    1. Ooh, I read that last year - it was excellent.

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  6. Those peanut butter cookies looked so delicious. I am going to Google this company.

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  7. Rock Paper Scissors was so good! I couldn't put it down. Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney was really good, too.

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  8. Crumbl cookies are THE BEST! Expensive but soooo good! When we do go, I like to buy a dozen and freeze them. Then pull them out for special treats! I'm so glad you got to try some!!

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  9. Long time reader, first time commenter. My mother's mother was one of Dr. Walter Freeman patients. (I never knew this grandmother, she died before I was born.)

    My mother wrote a book about her mom's life. Full disclosure - I only read a draft once. I felt it needed a lot of polishing at the time but some of it was cringy to read as the daughter of the author so I never read the final piece.

    That said, the background and consequences of his lobotomies might be of interest to you. (She self-published so the physical copies are quite expensive.)

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FY8NFXB/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0

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  10. Use pickled jalapeno instead! It keeps for a long time in the fridge and is a great addition to salads, burgers etc. Those cookies look amazing!

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