…and they are ugly.
My friends were telling me about these super comfortable shoes called “oofoos,” which honestly sounded made-up to me. I looked them up (Surprise! They are real!) and decided to try a pair.
I have to tell you, these rea the most comfortable shoes I’ve ever tried on.
And they are SO ugly!
But, luckily, I am at that stage of life where comfort is much more important than beauty.
That stage is called “I’m An Old Lady Now.”
On the first Sunday morning of the new year, I was going to church with my family.
Right away we seemed to run into trouble. When we got there, the church building was shuttered and the parking lot empty. Apparently, the service was online only that day. You know, because of COVID.
So we put plan B into action: Let’s go out to lunch together!
Unfortunately, due to a Emergency General Order issued by the command of our local Army post, my husband (as an active duty soldier) is not allowed to eat inside restaurants. You know, because of COVID.
He can, however, eat on a patio, if the restaurant offers uncovered outdoor seating.
Which is how we ended up sitting next to a busy road outside the local pizza joint today, freezing to death.
Because, OF COURSE, no one had brought a jacket to church. Except my husband. Who, as an Eagle Scout, is ALWAYS prepared.
Anyways, so we enjoyed a lovely lunch al fresco.
In January.
You know, because of COVID.
Happy New Year, everyone!
So, it’s been a year since my oldest daughter ET got married.
Click for more information on that: (https://christinakosatka.wordpress.com/2019/12/19/so-now-im-a-mother-in-law/)
She and her husband decided to go on a tip for their anniversary, and she asked me to come and babysit her kitten, Jellybean.
She’s six months old and pretty cute.
I figured this sounded like a pretty easy gig: I sit around the apartment for a few days, read and watch TV, and feed the cat occasionally.
But then I arrived and saw the LIST of instructions she had left about caring for the kitten.
It was a full page long. No lie.
Anyways, Jellybean was perfectly fine when ET came back. But then after I got home, I received a phone call.
But hey, the cat was alive when she came back, right? And when I babysit, it’s Grandma Rules!
Little Girl (aged 12) came into the kitchen to find a stack of newly-folded (by me) towels on the counter. She was indignant.
On that exit line she swept grandly from the room.
And THAT’S why the towels are here.
So after the three-plus-months-long homeschool experiment of last school year, I’ve been looking forward to having my kids go back to school IN PERSON.
They have given us as parents the option of using a “learn-from-home” model, which of course translates to “you-deal-with-your-own-kid-while-we-force-our-teachers-to-work-with-you-online.”
No thank you. That sounds like a nightmare for me AND the teachers.
Well, it’s August, and my kids will be starting school back in person, BUT… They will only be able to go every other day.
How do they decide who goes when? Well… Kids with last names beginning with A-K are in Group A; kids with last names beginning with L-Z are in Group B.
Group A will attend Mondays, Wednesday, and Friday of one week, and then Tuesday and Thursday of the next week. Group B will attend Tuesday and Thursday of one week, and then Monday, Wednesday and Friday of the next week.
Until there’s a holiday that messes things up.
Yeah. This ought to go smoothly….
This was the first Sunday we were able to go back in the church building. We were pretty excited.
The church had already informed everyone that masks would be required, and that we would sit distanced from each other in the pews, so we were prepared.
When we arrived at the church building and parked the car, my husband turned around to speak to the kids: “Okay, has everybody got their masks on?”
Then he pointed to us each in turn and said, “You hit the teller window; you bag the cash; you watch the door! I’ll start the getaway car!”
Per my previous post about the baby birds who hatched and flew the nest on my front door, we have some news!
I noticed an increase in bird poop around my door again, so we looked into the abandoned nest. There were eggs!!
It looks like the adult birds even rebuilt the nest a bit and cleaned things up, so that the new hatchlings won’t have to lie in the leftover filth of their older siblings.
I’ll bet these new babies will be just as messy though…
Here’s a picture that made me super excited pre-COVID:
And here’s a picture that makes me super excited post COVID:
I discovered a nest on my front door wreath with baby birds in it!
I was super excited. I taped a piece of paper to the front door to remind everyone not to open it so we wouldn’t disturb the babies. (We usually go in and out through the garage anyways.)
The kids and I checked on them a few times (carefully, without touching them), and in less than two weeks they looked like this:
They were so adorable! Except, I wondered what all that black and white stuff was….
That would be bird poop.
The entire nest and the door behind it were completely covered in bird poop. Ewwww.
But still, they were awfully cute! And the next day when I looked, there was only one baby left. The others had all flown. I guess he was the slow one?
Later that day, the last baby flew away, leaving behind an empty nest… full of poop.
Just like kids, right? Leave that mess behind. Mom will clean it up…
