Crafts and Experiments

 We read that you could fit an entire cup of popcorn into a cup of milk.  So, we tried it.

It worked!  So, we tired water and popcorn, which worked too.  Water and rice did not, so we did not attempt milk and rice.

Emily spied an American Girl doll backpack at the store one day.  While she was admiring it, I thought to myself "I could make that."  So, when I had a bit of time to spare, I cut a template for the front and back out of some scratch paper, then pieced the pockets together from there.

I loved the big zipper pull that i had in my stash.  The heavy decorative pull will be appreciated by Emily I think.

All done.  There are a few things I would change, but I hope she will enjoy playing with her Coral and Coral's new backpack on her birthday.

I also found the motivation to finish the 2 almost finished projects that had been on my sewing desk for months (a pair of oven mitts and a small zipper pouch.) 

Since they were not for anyone special, it was really hard to find the motivation to finish them.

Grace really wanted to pass out mustache lollipops to her enrichment day friends.  I didn't have any black card stock, and ended up fighting colored paper, which was brutal.  Luckily, she only needed 20. They were so funny, I took one of the less than perfect ones for myself.  Juliet opted for lips, and I had plenty of cardstock for that.

I'm rereading some Agatha Christie novels which led to my decision to make Yorkshire pudding.  It was so good.  Since many in my crew opted against them, I ended up getting them for 3 lunches during the week!!

We were poised to do a bacteria experiment, but the dishes are supposed to be kept between 85-100F and there is just nowhere in our house that warm in February.  We'll have to try again once we are truly warm.

It's been a busy, fun kind of few months.

later days

Last Week of July

141st Day of Quarantine

The expected high today is 77F.

I didn't get out the door as early as I would have liked, but I was at Menards before 10am, so I call that a win.  They were still busy, since it is a Saturday.  I purchased all the things we need to fill in the wholes in the dining room wall.  I don't know when I'll paint, but at least the holes will be gone.

I've moved the backpacks into the room and hung them on the bunk bed, now that there is an easier path with the new twin bed in place.

My next stop was supposed to be game stop, but they no longer open at 10 on the weekends, so I ended up shopping for schultueten supplies at office depot, five below, and target.  On the way I picked up KFC which served both lunch and dinner.

Tonight Grace and I finished "Junie B Jones and the Yucky Blucky Fruit Cake" and next up she wants to read Junie B Jones "chubby cheeks"  (Junie B Jones and her Big Fat Mouth") I'm glad that she seems to like these books as much as Alice did. = )

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140th Day of Quarantine

The expected high today is 82F.

Our art project this week was colored pencil coloring pages.

We had the sausage for breakfast, and I froze the remaining ones for future breakfast.  We also shucked the corn and it is on the stove right this moment cooking!  It was so good we polished off all 12 ears. = 0

For dinner we had pizza and bueno nachos.

The Bueno Nachos go  particularly well with the Kim Possible marathon we had.

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139th Day of Quarantine

The high today was 81F.

I had dreams about thrift store shopping and buying a Nintendo Switch to play with my friends.

I made a trip to the thrift shop before Billy started his slew of meetings.  I grabbed Wendy's for lunch for all.  I ran out of time for Panera for myself, since I found some antique books just before running to the register.

Grace's doll Molly lost her head.  Since she is an American Girl doll, we are shipping her to the "doll hospital" to be repaired.  $32 is cheaper than buying a new one, and the price includes shipping, both ways.

Billy made a trip to the farmer's market today, brining back breakfast sausage, sweet corn, kettle corn, salsa, and cherry tomatoes.

For dinner we had chicken alfredo.

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138th Day of Quarantine

The high today was 86F.

I knocked out lots of little tasks, like finishing off the final 3 masks for donation to the school (or possibly somewhere else, since the school is now starting remotely.  The frame for the twin bed came in, so now we have 4 twin beds in the girls room, and Billy has his own table for his 3D printing.  I chatted with Haley to start a new order for us to mail into Amazon. And After dinner I ran some returnables up to a drive at the school.  I think it was for a baseball team.

For dinner we had orange chicken and rice.

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137th Day of Quarantine

The expected high today was 83F.

Every few lessons the twins use paper letters to spell out words during our reading time.  Since we only have 15 minutes each day, laying out and picking up the letters each time we needed them was starting to annoy me.  I decided that magnetic letters on a board would be a time saving solution.

I bought the magnetic paper that can go through the printer last week, and it arrived yesterday.  I was on the phone with Sarah, since she was heading to the store, when I finally thought to test the chalk/white board that we have for spelling this fall. I am so thrilled to report that we have a solution to the problem!  This board has been $5 well spent!

For dinner we had fish sticks and apple slices.

Hanging out on the porch after dinner with Billy, I found the breeze blowing in to be a little too chilly for my taste.  We are supposed to be in the midst of summer, "cold" should not cross my mind.  = (

I take screenshots of the same covid reporting website every few days.  Today marked the fourth month of taking screen shots.

The website has changed a bit, but I will continue to take pictures every few days.

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136th Day of Quarantine

The expected high today was 86F.

I made my regular grocery run.  Then came home and quickly put things away so that I could run to the dentist for a cleaning.

Sadly for me, the dentist's office was having some problems with their suction, and that's not good at all.  I hope it's back on when I return for my permanent crown.

I bought the new Taylor Swift album, Folklore. It's nice to have some new music on my list, since Radio Company teased a new album, but it is taking forever for them to release it!

After watching Rufus Sewell in Pale Horse, and enjoying his acting in Man in the High Castle. Billy pulled up one of his very old movies, Dark City, that I'd never seen and he hadn't see in a while.  For a 90s sci-fi movie that I'd never heard of, I thought it was pretty good.  

Dinner was stovetop Alfredo Chicken Penne.  It was pretty good, and most definitely gets points for easy to make!

The magnetic paper that I ordered came in today, so I printed off the letter cards for the reading lessons William, the twins and I are working through this summer.

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135th Day of Quarantine

The expected high today was 91F.

The twins were working through their Sunday School packet, before watching Ms. Jen's video.

After church, we prepared for tomorrow.

I finished my first Dresden Files book (but it was actually number 7 in the series.) But my hold for the first 6 came up, so I downloaded those.

We finished Upload. And then watched Agatha Christie's Pale Horse.  What's cool about having zero memories for plots is that I had no idea who did it!

For dinner we had a spaghetti casserole for dinner, because I'm worried that my upstairs freezer is going out.  I had to call into the warranty company yesterday for an error code.  We got it worked out, but that tends to be the beginning of issues, not the end.

Also, I got an email from the district, only for Alice today, which I hadn't been getting since the end of the school year.  I'm guessing her file was grouped in with some that moved up before I unenrolled her.  So, I guess I'll be withdrawing her again.  I'll see if any other paperwork comes through.

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later days

History for Sale

When we lived in England, we did not have any children.  I spent my days enjoying every novelty in Leeds that I could.  One of my activities was thrift store shopping (shocker) and it was then that I gave Agatha Christie a try.

After devouring Murder on the Orient Express, I purchased and read every used copy of her work that I could find.  When we travelled home, I continued my collection, and my mom added many of her titles to my bookshelf.

I've read every mystery novel that she wrote, as many short stories as I could find, and her autobiography (as well as a few biographies.)  She was an amazing, prolific writer. 

All of that to say, I decided to sell my collection.  Should I ever reread her work, it will be in a convenient format (like my kindle) not the TINY paperback print I read almost a decade ago.

So,  I took an inventory, snapped some pictures and posted it on ebay.  It was a week long auction that sold in the final hour.  I was sad.

But, upon boxing up, I reclaimed an entire shelf for our game collection.

This encouraged me to get a move on planning a party:

We played elefun:

Alice piloted her single player game and ended up playing for over an hour:

And we had to race to the top of the Scooby-Doo tower.

So, I traded books I had no intention of reading ever again, for precious game time with my family.  I'd say I came out ahead. = )

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I also made the tough call of getting rid of a beautiful turtle that Christin bought me when she lived with us, 20 years ago.

It was not a decision made lightly, and so I took pictures and sent her a message.  My turtle will now cycle through my digital picture fame, getting way more views than he has in a long time!

Today, at my yard sale, he went home (for a quarter) with a gentlemen who's intention was to put him out in the garden where he buried his beloved dog.  This thought makes me very happy. = )

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And, we sold a wig* today (or maybe we donated it.)  Avia has all the pictures of Emily donning it, pretending to be her twin, but I thought William wore it well too. = )

later days

*we'd bought it last summer for Emily's snowman box, but none of her snowmen ever wore it, so it had to go. = )