Home Sweet Home

Yesterday was a loooong travel day home from the upper peninsula. I do plan to write about our trip; I'm still trying to gather pictures from everyone. Hopefully I'll write about it tomorrow. Today, I'll just write about the "great" start to our trip home yesterday.

We were in the upper west peninsula (where Jerry's face is). When I took this screen shot, the kids had gone out for a few hours, which is why they are farther north on the map.

Since it's a long drive from Jeanie and Shawn's cabin to our house (anywhere from 8-1/2 to 10 hours, depending on construction, rest stops, and traffic), we wanted to get an early start. Ava had to be home for cheerleading by 6:00, which was plenty of time, and I wanted to get home and unpack, shower, eat dinner, and start laundry before bed. (Getting home from a trip and having so much to do is the worst!)

Surprisingly, all three of the teens were ready and packed in time to head out. I had been planning to bring Joey home with us, but he was having so much fun on his "vacation" that I felt bad. (Jeanie said his favorite thing is the doggie door--being able to go outside and come in over and over whenever he wants, haha. If we had a fenced in yard, I was definitely get one!) Shawn is coming out here next weekend, so he said he can bring Joey with him then.

Anyway, we all piled into the rental van (our cars were just too small to take essentially five adults and all our luggage). We barely got into the van before the kids were all asleep.

And then.

We turn onto Jeanie's road from the driveway and I noticed that the light for a tire being low on air came on. Whenever that happens (where I live, anyway), 99% of the time it's because of the change in air temperature and the pressure will go back up after a little driving. This time, though, the pressure of the left rear tire was at 7--it should have been at 35!

Jerry got out to look at it, and sure enough--it was a flat tire. FLAT flat. I immediately started to feel panicked. We were in the middle of nowhere (cell service is really sketchy there), with a rental van, and a nine-hour drive ahead of us. I called the roadside assistance number for the rental car company--since we were in a safe location (back in Jeanie's driveway) it wasn't considered an emergency.

The person I spoke with said that she couldn't find my location via my phone GPS or by my sister's address (which is new, now that they moved up there only a month or so ago). That took a while to straighten out. We confirmed that the van did not have a spare tire. Then she told me that because there was no emergency, we would have to wait for the nearest Enterprise to open, which was at 2:30 pm at some airport we'd never heard of. And we would need to get a ride there if we wanted to swap vehicles at 2:30, or we would have to wait for someone to drive out to us after they opened (she said it could be 9:30 pm).

At that point, I kind of lost it and I could feel a panic attack coming on (ever since I started my mood stabilizer, panic attacks don't happen nearly as often as they used to--maybe twice a year?). I handed the phone to Jeanie, who was trying to describe exactly where her house was located. Then I took a walk around her property, fighting off the panic attack.

If you've never had a panic attack, all I can say is that it's super scary. It feels like you're dying. My heart felt like it was going to pound out of my chest, I got really dizzy, and I felt like I couldn't take a breath. The breathing part is the hardest for me--I can't take a deep breath, which causes more panic because I feel the need to, you know, BREATHE.

Meanwhile, Shawn and Jerry checked out the tire to see what the problem was. If they could fix it, we wouldn't have to wait until 2:30. There was a very small nail, basically the size of a trim nail, in the tire. They pulled it out and managed to patch the tire--I can't even describe the relief!

The panic attack may seem totally dramatic, but I could feel it coming for weeks and I just kept trying not to think about it. With so much piling on over the last year, my mountain of overwhelmedness just got to be too much. 

By this time, it's 7:30 or so, and we finally get on the road. I took my anxiety medication and just tried not to let the morning cause a damper on our trip home. Noah had mentioned previously that he wanted to try a coffee shop that was slightly out of the way on the way home (only 10 minutes or so) and I insisted that we still do that. The shop had the coolest little table set up with a bunch of clothing on it and this sign:

I thought that was such a great idea! Especially considering the cost of thrift store clothes now. Basically, you just bring in (gently used) clothes to leave and you can take clothes you see and like. Isn't that a cool idea?

And then we drove the rest of the way home without event (a good thing at that point). The kids slept almost the entire time and Jerry and I listened to the Stuff You Should Know podcast (a podcast that both of us actually really like--the rest of our podcasts are totally incompatible with each other's). The drive felt twice as long going home as it did driving up there, but we finally made it home.

Not even an hour after we got home, Jerry went to the store to get some sourdough bread because one of the episodes of SYSK was about toast--and it made us crave toast so badly! Hahahaha. However, while he was there and getting back into the car, he heard some tires squeal and he looked up in time to see a car pull out of a parking space (it had been backed in) and slam into the car across from it.

Suddenly, two young girls (Jerry guessed about 10 years old) jumped out, grabbed a baby from the back seat, and ran inside the store (to find their parent, one can only presume). Jerry ran over to the car, put it in park and turned off the engine. Then the mom came out, carrying a toddler, and was screaming at the girls for ruining the car. (Jerry felt bad for the girls, after what happened with Eli's accident.)

Long story short(er), Jerry called the police; and because Michigan is a "no-fault" insurance state (remember, I just wrote about how it sucks if you get in an accident in Michigan, even when it's not your fault?) and the accident was on private property (Kroger parking lot), the police wouldn't even come take a statement. Jerry explained the situation about the kids being alone in the car--it wasn't a normal fender bender--but they brushed it off. I couldn't believe it! Especially considering there was an infant in the car (Jerry said the baby was in a carseat, but the carseat was turned sideways in the car).

Anyway, by the time he got home, we were hungry and exhausted from the long day, so we made our toast (it was so good!) and went to bed early. Today, I've been working on laundry and all that fun stuff. I was SO happy to see Duck when we got home! (And the other cats, of course, but you know how close I am with Duck.) Our cat/house sitter is FANTASTIC and the cats (and squirrels) were all well-fed and happy.

Duck was probably just smelling my breath, but we'll pretend he's kissing me on the cheek.

I was really great to see Jeanie and Shawn without a ton of other people around because we got to catch up with them one-on-one. But I'll write more about that tomorrow. Today--it's cleaning and finishing up laundry before going to Jerry and Eli's softball game! (Did I mention Eli is playing softball all summer/fall with Jerry and his coworkers? They needed a player a couple of weeks ago, so Eli filled in. The guys asked if he wanted to play weekly, and he said yes. I love that he and Jerry are doing that together.)

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Friday Night Photos #124

It has been a whirlwind couple of days up north! I have a ton of pictures, but I'll wait to post some more later so it's not complete overload. These pictures are only from the last couple of days...

The ride to Jeanie and Shawn's is 9-10 hours, so we were in for a long car ride. Jerry and I listened to a good 90's playlist and some podcasts...

...meanwhile, in the backseats, the teens (Noah, Eli, and Eli's girlfriend Ava) slept pretty much the entire way ;)

 

This is the Mackinac Bridge that connects the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan. It's actually five miles long! This is a little past the halfway point to Jeanie's.

Almost as soon as we arrived, Noah wanted to set up a hammock he'd just bought. His hammock is as easy to set up as mine, but his also has a mosquito net and a weather canopy. I was totally unfamiliar with those, but we worked on it. (Can I just say that I despise that some companies don't include instructions now, and only a link to a YouTube video?!)

This is what it looked like when we were done. He slept in it that night and said it was super comfy.

While we did that, Eli and Ava played corn hole.

Joey was SO excited to see us! We all missed him, but it's very clear how much fun he's been having. Jeanie's dogs are happy to have him visit, too. Jeanie and Shawn offered to let him stay longer, but I think we're going to bring him home with us. Hopefully he'll want to come! ;)

I took this picture of Noah because it made me laugh that he looked like an old man. Early in the morning (on his 19th birthday), he was sitting on the porch in a rocker, reading a book and drinking coffee in his pajamas.

I don't know why I got so emotional about his birthday (maybe because it's the first one since he graduated high school?) but I love this picture that Jerry took of us. Definitely more than Noah does, hahaha.

Since Noah loves Shrek, and he saw the picture I posted of him wearing the Shrek hat I made for him ages ago, I decided I wanted to knit him another one. Being in the middle of nowhere, Jerry and I drove an hour to a Walmart to get the ingredients for his cake as well as some green yarn. I had luck with the ingredients, but they didn't have a good green yarn for his hat (the shades were very off).

By some crazy miracle, on the way back to Jeanie's, we saw a sign that said, "Yarn Store, turn right and two blocks ahead." A yarn store in the middle of nowhere? It was perfect. I wanted vegan yarn (I won't buy wool) and the store owner (who definitely wasn't happy that I wanted "fake" yarn) said she only had one skein of that color that wasn't wool. So, I bought it and started knitting his hat while the boys were fishing.

Noah asked for that *amazing* chocolate cake that I'd baked and reviewed (you can find that here) for his birthday dessert. I was worried about messing it up and then Jeanie and Shawn might be turned off to vegan cake, but it turned out perfectly. So much so that Shawn requested I make another before I leave! I think Jeanie and I are going to do that tonight.

We forgot to buy birthday candles, so we used what Jeanie had--a 1 and a 2, plus 7 stick candles to add to the 2. So, 19 candles for 19 years. Or something like that.

Today, we went tubing down a river (I usually don't go with everyone when they do that, because I really don't like the water). I haven't bought a bathing suit in about a decade, so I didn't have one. Jeanie started laughing and told me that she had a disposable one! HAHAHA, I'd never heard of such a thing.

When she brought it out and I tried it on, I was cracking up. I may post the picture if I'm feeling brave next week; I don't even like to see *myself* in a bathing suit, let alone post a photo of it on the internet! But Shawn and I have talked a lot about stepping out of our comfort zones, so I'll try. Going tubing was a big step today.

Anyway, I'll write about it soon--right now, I think Jeanie and I are going to bake a cake ;)

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Three Things Thursday: 19!

Well, today my first born turns 19 years old. I don't know why, but this is hitting me harder than when he turned 18. I think I'm just dreading the day that he moves out (he doesn't have plans to yet, at least until he's done with school). And the older the boys get, the less I see them at home.

It's something you don't really think about as a parent until you realize that the kid(s) have become super independent and don't really need you anymore! I should also mention that raising teen boys of this age is SO MUCH HARDER than I ever imagined. However, I am super proud of my boys, and I wanted to write a few things about Noah since it's his birthday today (and it happens to fall on Three Things Thursday).

I thought it would be fun to pick a few categories and list three things for each of them...

Three Things I'm Proud Of:

1. Taking college classes in high school and graduating with 60+ college credit hours.
2. Saving up his own money to buy a car--he did all the research, the inquiries, the financial stuff, etc.
3. He's very self-driven and I've never had to push him to do homework or anything like that.

Three Random Things I Remember From The Day He Was Born:

1. Jerry almost passed out from emotion and the nurse made him go sit down.
2. I was so surprised at how warm Noah's body felt when they set him down on my belly right after birth.
3. I fell asleep while standing up when the nurse was trying to explain things to me--I was walking from the bathroom to the bed at 1:30 AM after giving birth, and I don't know why she thought I could keep my eyes open, hahaha.

Three Things That I Loved Doing With Him:

1. Running a long run with him riding next to me on his bike.
2. Running races with him.
3. Walking him to the bus stop before school and being there when he got off the bus after school.

Three Funny Things He's Done:

1. On Eli's first day of pre-school, Noah colored all over him with Crayola markers.
2. Emptied an ENTIRE bottle of baby powder in my living room while I was taking a shower.
3. He was such a good sport about our impromptu "senior photos" session--I laughed so hard at some of his cheesy poses.

Things I Loved Teaching Him:

1. How to knit when he was four years old.
2. How to straighten his (newly long) hair when he was 18.
3. The names of the bones and organs in the body--he was very interested in anatomy from age three! (I've always loved anatomy, so it was fun to teach him.)

Things Noah Has Taught Me:

1. What a "poker run" is. (You can find the answer on this post)
2. What the word "salty" means (as slang, not seasoning)
3. How to use a DSLR camera ("taught" is a loose word--I'm not good at it, but he showed me all sorts of cool things!)

One of my favorite photos I took! I was WAY out next to right field when I took this.

Three Sweet Things Noah Has Done:

1. He took cake decorating lessons and he made me a birthday cake all on his own.
2. He's come to some of my races with signs to cheer me on.
3. He's always been sweet to Eli--from the time they were babies until this very day.

Three Things I Miss About His Early Years:

1. His "Bambi" laugh (his laugh was very high pitched and giggly).
2. Asking questions about *everything*.
3. When he and Eli would wait in front of the living room window when I told them daddy would be home from work soon. They got SO EXCITED when he came in the door!

Noah, Eli, and their friend Kaden waiting to see Jerry's car turn onto our street :)

The day that Noah was born, I had absolutely no idea what kind of person he would grow into. It's kind of scary as a first-time parent; you have no clue what to expect and you just do the best you can with the knowledge you have. I know for sure there are a lot of things I would have done differently as a parent, but I can say without a doubt that I am so proud of who Noah has grown to be in the last 19 years! And I look forward to seeing what's in store for his future :)

And because Noah LOVES Shrek, I'll close with this photo...

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Wednesday Weigh-In: Week 111

This is one of the shirts I bought at the thrift store with the intention of using part of it for something else--but I liked it so much when I put it on that I decided to keep it ;)

I am currently writing this from Jeanie and Shawn's place in the upper peninsula! It was a long day of driving, but it wasn't too bad, actually. It went by quickly. The kids slept most of the time and Jerry and I listened to some podcasts. 

I'm going to keep this short (for obvious reasons) but I still wanted to do my Wednesday Weigh-In for accountability. On the scale this week:

I was at 137.6 today...

Considering I was at 141.0 last week, I'm down 3.4 pounds! I wish I could say it was due to great eating habits and exercise, but once again, I feel so overwhelmed that I haven't been able to eat much. This is so weird to me! I have never been one to lose my appetite like this--usually I eat MORE when I'm stressed--but feeling overwhelmed and feeling stressed are two different things to me.

I feel like stress is very fast-paced, kind of like a "to do" list--lots to get done and feeling rushed and just being busy. To me, feeling overwhelmed is a huge overload of things happening in a short time period--not just things to do, but also just things that are happening. When so many things are going on at once (even if it's something that doesn't directly affect me, like Brian and Becky getting divorced in February) I get extremely overwhelmed. I tend to close myself off from people (which I'm sure is the opposite of what I *should* do) and get too much in my own head. It makes me want to just go hide somewhere and come out in a year--ha!

I've had an overload of things on my plate right now and it's very much affecting my mood. I'm hoping that being up north for a few days will help me to chill and hopefully take things off my mind. It's been really hard to talk to anyone about anything lately, so I may try to find another therapist. I really liked my last one, but I didn't feel like we were getting anywhere or that there was really a plan in place. Despite a rocky start with my psychiatrist, though, I actually really like him now, so I think I'll ask him for suggestions for a therapist.

Anyway, I didn't intend to go on that tangent! Being up north, I'll probably eat more, so I may gain some of this back next week. But I'm happy to be back in the 130's for sure. My clothes are starting to feel a little less tight, which usually happens when I get to about 135 pounds.

This week, I'm going to try to take time for myself (reading in the hammock!) and playing some board games and sitting around the fire with my family. Hopefully I'll be in a refreshed mood next week. And tomorrow is Noah's 19th birthday--I can't believe it!

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The One Where Jerry Interviews Katie

Jerry and I are getting ready for our trip up north (gah, so much stuff to do!) and I was putting away laundry while Jerry decided to work on his "deep thoughts" post. He started asking me about questions he could answer, and then had the idea to interview *me* while I was putting away clothes. I thought that sounded fun!

So, I didn't choose these questions (neither did Jerry--he got them from a list of ice breaker questions). But here goes...

Jerry: I'm going to keep it short and sweet today. Katie and I are getting things ready to go to the UP (upper peninsula) tomorrow. Today I thought it would be cool to interview Katie by asking some fun ice breaker questions. This should be fun.

Q. What is the worst haircut you've ever gotten?

Is it any question that a mullet would be the worst? My mom used to tell me that my hair was "like a bush"--so thick and curly. I don't know if that's why she gave me a mullet, but a mullet is the worst. There are a couple of years of photos of me that proudly show off my mullet.

Q. What is one thing you can't live without?

[Eyes super wide as soon as I asked this question] Jeez. That's a HUGE question. As lame as it sounds, it's got to be Google Maps. It's the only way I can find my way around anywhere because I have a horrible sense of direction. You know I'd still be lost in New York somewhere without it.

Besides, sometimes you accidentally come across funny things while looking at Google Maps, like this crop phallus circle. 

Q. What is your biggest phobia?

Getting Alzheimer's disease. It's kind of weird to have that as my biggest phobia, but when I can't remember something, it freaks me out beyond what is normal. Gobby [my grandma] was heartbreaking to see in the end. I hated every second of it. And when I was in the hospital for my broken jaw, I woke up with NO memory. (The whole story about this fear and how it came to be is in this post.)

Q. What was your favorite breakfast cereal as a kid and what is it now?

As a kid? Ughh... Did I eat cereal as a kid? Probably Lucky Charms. I can remember eating all of the brown pieces first and then eating just the marshmallow pieces after. My favorite now is Grapenuts--how old am I?!

Q. What is the most out of character thing you've ever done?

Flying on the Breezy, hands down. (I wrote all about that on this post.) Anybody who knows me knows how much I *hate* flying! I hadn't flown in years and I was terrified of it. Remember how I was DYING and crying and dry heaving at just the thought of doing it? Totally out of character.

Q. What is the dorkiest thing about you?

Ummmmm.... there are so many! I think the dorkiest thing is probably that I love numbers. I'm always looking at numbers and associating them with other numbers. Sounds weird and is totally unexplainable, but that's it. I add up numbers on license plates or I look for patterns on things that have numbers. God, I didn't realize I was this weird. Aside from numbers, I also love logic problems and I actually do them for fun. LOL

Q. How did your parents choose your name?

My mom told me that the delivery room nurse's name was Katie and she really liked it. It wasn't Katherine or Kaitlin or any other version--just Katie. And I LOVE my name!

Q. What two things do you consider yourself really bad at?

1. Replying to people either by text, email, or phone. I have said it a million times over, but it's literally my biggest vice. And it's one thing that I feel absolutely terrible about!

2. I'm also REALLY bad at remembering names. Another thing I feel terrible about! Remember during cross country season, I finally remembered everyone's name by probably the last practice. I don't get it! Renee knows all of their names by the second practice. I am always trying to remember, and I'll ask Renee, "That's Sara, right?" "No, that's Catherine. Sara is the one with the pink shorts." CONSTANTLY. It's embarrassing at how bad I am.

Q. What is your favorite meme or viral video? 

Hahaha, you know how obsessed I am with memes! There is NO WAY POSSIBLE to pick a favorite. It depends on my mood and what I'm interested in at the moment. Lately, I've been loving the dad jokes that people write on stock photos. Here is a fun one:

Q. What is your biggest pet peeve?

When people are on their phones while "spending time" with other people. Instead of interacting with the people they're with, they're on their phone. It's just rude. It always makes me feel sad when I see kids trying to tell or show their parents something and their parent tells them, "Hold on." or "Oh, that's so neat." while their eyes are glued to their phones. Maybe it's just me, but if I'm having a conversation with someone and they check their text messages or Facebook or whatever, it makes me feel like what I have to say is super unimportant.

Q. What is your favorite useless fact?

I don't know that I'd call this "useless", but it's definitely a huge eye-opener.... If we killed people at the same rate we kill animals for food, the entire population would be gone in 17 days--all 7.7 billion of us. If we include fish, that number goes down to about 27 hours. My jaw dropped when I read that.

Q. Can you do an impression of someone famous?

You've heard my perfect Cookie Monster voice! LOL. I also do one of Chewbacca, remember? I even have that one video when I was trying to make the kids laugh when they were little. So funny!

Q. Who was your role model as a child?

It's cheesy, but Jeanie and Brian [my older sister and brother by 8 and 6 years respectively]. I just thought Jeanie was SO cool and I used to borrow her clothes sometimes, which is funny because she is literally eight years older than me. I wanted to be just like her. I looked up to Brian because he was the smartest person I knew and he was super funny.

Q. What is something you think is totally overrated?

This is a hard one, but I think I would have to say coffee. People put so much emphasis on how important it is the mornings, but I just don't get it. This tweet sums it up (for me, anyway--coffee gives me bad anxiety):

Q. What was the worst idea you've ever had?

I'm bipolar!! What kind of question is that?! I've never had a bad idea ;)

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Reader Mail

I'm so excited to have reader mail to share today! Until 4:00 pm, I was 100% sure that today was Sunday. When I mentioned it to Jerry, he told me it was Monday. I'm STILL shocked. I am absolutely not ready to go up north in a couple of days.

Anyway, when I read this email from Valerie, I knew I had to share it. You all know that I'm a "cat person"--I completely adore Joey, of course, but I am a cat person, through and through. When I read this email, though, holy smokes--I couldn't believe how cute this dog is!

I asked Valerie if she minded that I share this, and she was happy to. I love a good heart-warming story!

When my son’s hamster passed away recently, he immediately wanted to replace him with another pet--a hamster or a bunny. I didn’t know anything about taking care of a bunny, and after researching the care required, I was not thrilled with the idea. It seemed like a lot of work and not much reward. 

A dog is a lot of work, but they love you unconditionally. I told my son he could get a dog, even though we already had two--Snickers and Twix. I started looking at the rescues to find a dog and was shocked to see adoption rates of $400, $500, $800! I understand needing to recoup expenses, but with shelters being so overcrowded, I would think it would be more reasonable. 

My son wanted a small dog, the size of a bunny, and fluffy. I also quickly learned there were no dogs like that in the shelters nearby. They are all big. The couple that were small came from a home where the owner had passed; those dogs were eight years old and blind. (Not a great option for a young boy.) 

I decided to go a different route--Craigslist. I ended up finding this cutie, a six-month old "Pomapoo", half-Poodle half-Pomeranian. Her family wanted to re-home her because she was a fourth dog and they were busy with jobs and teens who had school activities. They told me they wanted $200 for her. We picked her up the next evening.

I was nervous not knowing her personality... was she a little devil dog? But she is literally the sweetest dog ever! Her name is Dixie and she needs a candy bar name. My son loves baseball so I think Babe Ruth, and call her Babe or Baby. Or Kisses because she is full of kisses.

 

We have hypothetical names for other animals…if we ever get a cat it will be Kit Kat; if we ever get a cow (I love cows) it will be Milky Way. Our Pomapoo is six pounds and I’m told she’s full grown. We are taking her to get groomed on Wednesday. Her crazy hair is her trademark I feel like so I plan to have it put in a ponytail and we’re going to have her tail dyed hot pink. I’ll show you pictures after!

[Katie here now.] How stinkin' cute is this dog, seriously?!

I want to note a couple of things: For anyone who knows anything about me, it's obvious that I'm VERY much an advocate for: 1) having pets spayed or neutered; and 2) rescuing pets from shelters or organized rescues, or places that have pets who are unwanted and need a home. I am 100% against buying from a pet store or breeder (this was true long before I became vegan). 

If Valerie had bought her dog from a pet store, I wouldn't share it here (even though I adore Valerie--we've been in contact for years.) I just wanted to say that I love how she thought outside the box on this one. She *tried* a rescue and shelter. And she didn't give up-- she found a dog that was being re-homed because it was unwanted. And it was exactly what she was looking for. A great story.

That said, HOW COULD ANYONE NOT WANT THIS DOG?! ;)  That's how I feel about Joey. He was in the shelter for three months before we adopted him, and he's the best dog ever. Somebody really missed out, and I'm glad, because we had the privilege of adopting him into our family.

I am so happy for Valerie and her son for finding a great dog for their family. I love the candy bar theme for the pets! (We have hypothetical names for hypothetical pets as well--although we are running out of Friends characters, hahaha.)

Remember: If you ever have fun news to share, please email it to me! (With permission to use it, of course--just specify what/if is okay to share.) Whether it's getting married, buying a new home, getting a new pet, etc., let me share the news for you on my blog! katie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com.

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Friday Night Photos #123

Just like the intro to yesterday's post felt very overused, today's is as well--some weeks I have a ton of photos, some weeks I have next to none; and some weeks, I have photos but they're hardly worth bothering to look at. This week, it's mostly the latter. I didn't have a very exciting week. Next week, I should have photos from up north--hopefully more exciting ;)

Anyway, here is what's on my camera roll...

Jerry had the day off work a few days ago, so we went up to Ann Arbor to the Salvation Army. They have a huge store, and Jerry wanted to find some summer clothes. I bought a few things, this shirt being one of them. It says, "Always be kinder than you feel"; Jerry and I had just had a conversation about that very thing on the ride up there.

I also found these overalls. I've wanted a pair of overalls for years, and I never see them at the thrift stores (probably because nobody has worn them since the 90's?). Anyway, I saw these ones and I fell in love--I absolutely love them! I love the color of the denim and the wide legs with raw hem.

They looked a little small, so when I checked out the tag, I saw "GAP Kids" XXL. Bummer! This picture below shows them next to a pair of jeans--so you can see just how small they are!

Despite the fact that I could JUSTBARELY pull them over my hips, and the straps weren't long enough over my shoulders, and the legs are somewhere between "cropped" and "capri", I bought them anyway--and I've made this into a project that I've been working on before bed. Make them wearable and not bad-looking.

I love how they are turning out! This is what they looked like when I opened the side seams. I felt inspired and overwhelmed at the same time, but they've been really fun to work on. A make-up-as-you-go-along project. I'll post pictures once they are done.

Duck hates it when I pay more attention to anything at all than I do him; so while I was trying to measure and cut fabric, he decided it was time that I show him more attention.

Eli went up north with his girlfriend Ava's family for a few days. The only pictures I ever manage to get of my kids is from their social media! Even when I ask them to send me their pictures, I only get a couple. But here is a cute one of Eli and Ava...

I always like looking though the odds and ends at the thrift store, and I happened to come across these stickers that someone printed. What the heck--?! So weird. And who the heck would dislike cats *that* much?

It's been a tradition since the kids were little that I would give them each a chocolate orange in their Christmas stockings. (I loved chocolate oranges and had one every Christmas, too.)  However, I haven't been able to find them since 2019! I have no idea if the pandemic caused a chocolate orange shortage or what, but the kids and I have been disappointed every Christmas when we look for chocolate oranges.

Then, while Jerry and I were in Ann Arbor, we stopped at a store called World Market that has some interesting stuff in it. And they had chocolate oranges! In July. I couldn't believe it. So I bought each of the kids one (Noah likes dark chocolate while Eli likes milk chocolate--and World Market had both.) The kids were excited. Now that I think of it, I don't know if I ever unwrapped a chocolate orange with Luke and Riley. I feel like Riley would *love* this.
 

Jerry stopped at the store and when he got home, he noticed that the person who bagged his groceries put two 16-oz containers of fresh blueberries in there by accident (they must have belonged to the person behind him). He called the store to let them know what happened (because surely someone would notice their blueberries were missing); but then we had lots of free blueberries. I ate them ALL. I love blueberries, but they're so expensive--I buy frozen ones to eat on my cereal every morning.

I happened to notice that Chick had arms and legs sticking out of this bed all over and he just looked funny while he slept. When I grabbed my phone to take a picture, I held it up to take this picture when I noticed that Chick's eye was open and he was watching me! It scared the bejeezus out of me because I'd been taking a picture of my sweet "sleeping" cat.

My favorite snack lately has been anything with cinnamon sugar on it, pretty much. I do a bigger ratio of cinnamon to sugar than most, but I probably make up for it in volume ;)

And finally, here is a (sad-looking) photo of Joey that Jeanie sent me yesterday. She said that Joey *loves* the campfire and he saw her out there starting a fire, so he came out to lie down. She wasn't even really starting the fire--just burning a few pieces of trash--but Joey was excited to lie next to it. (It's not nearly as hot as it looks in the picture--I think the temp is only in the 70's right now. It's not going to be a very hot trip, which is nice.)

I miss Joey a lot more than I thought I would--we get to see him soon!

And that's all I've got. Have a great weekend! xo

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