booklovers! whatcha reading? weekend~ 4/11-4/12

Good morning.
29 right now, expecting 55 later. That will be the last of spring for us for at least 9 days. Tomorrow and Monday are going to be a day to stay home.

Let me get this out of the way first, then I can look beyond this: DH will be wearing a mask today,  because half way to the small town they are going to, for the boat, his friend will be in DH jeep with him, and when they get there, they will be dealing with the guy selling the boat. DD dropped off some hand made masks yesterday, and 2 of them are Packer masks, so he will wear one of those. This is the only way I am letting him do this. He has called me paranoid about the virus, so believe me, he knows what he has to do, in order to get this blooming boat. I am confident that he will do the right thing by me, with the mask.

Pinky, very interesting about the scraping, but glad I never went thru that! My first one was induced, the 2nd came without me hardly knowing I was in labor. 
I too will be doing Easter, but very small scale, with a small ham. It will be a challenge making scalloped potatoes for just 2. DD2 said last night they (probably really DSIL, as he does the cooking!) had a challenge scaling every thing back for Easter, as normally they have quite a few people there, our whole family, plus my sister and her DH, and my older DB.
About the spring breakers, there were I am sure, a big group of them going from Wisconsin too. But with that being so long ago actually, anyone that brought the virus back to their hometowns, should have by now recouped from the virus. We were just talking about how our Governor, on St Patrick's day, came out and said: at 5 pm all the bars have to close! Bars are a big business here, and it being the holiday, that hit that industry so hard! I was wondering to DH if all those bottles of alcohol that were opened at that time, are any good at this point. Silly me! He said yes, they are fine.

Robin, how is DDIL doing? Lol, you know, we will be asking that every day now, till she delivers!! (Sorry in advance....not sorry!!!)
I just love how these younger men are raised to do the cooking!!! Both my DSIL's cook, but #2 cooks all meals, with DD2 helping, I guess you could say she is his sous chef, but with DD1, and DSIL1, it is more shared.
That is so nice of your dry cleaner! And of you, contributing fabric! I like how there are different ways we can give back to the cause, things we in normal times wouldn't have dreamed of!
You have it right, about that Governor of Florida. With that state so full of elderly citizens, he sure dropped the ball there. Then he wouldn't let those ships dock there!

Gareth, we had the graupel too. That has been a joke among some of our weather people, for the last couple years, as we have had that before. We had a little pile of it on our balcony the other day, when it kept doing it off and on. That was such a strange day! Goes hand in hand with it being such a strange way of life now.
We have the same thing going on here too, with the kids birthdays and the fire depts. I think the guys at the fire depts. like doing that, as their days have gotten a little bit slow, with not much traffic, and such, they are probably bored. I watched one video, that had that done in a neighborhood in town, and it gets quite noisy! Of course those little boys just love that noise!
Will you be getting some kind of dessert for tomorrow? I had carrot cake cupcakes on our order for pick up yesterday and sure enough did not get them. So DH and I ran to our most special bakery and bought one of their great carrot cake's, that they had frozen. We will have a piece, most likely share a piece, as they are very rich, then freeze the rest. I bought, last year a freezer container that can freeze a layer cake, so I will be fine on that. I switched back to the Green program yesterday, and am serious about sticking to the plan. I see on the WW app we can track water now...yay!

Carol, I had not heard of graupel till a couple years ago, when we started getting it. I wouldn't doubt it has something to do with global warming, since here in the Northwoods it is something new.
I was so happy yesterday, not having to clean everything we brought from the store!!! That would have taken quite awhile. Of course there were things missing from the order, so I have another grocery list started. DH suggested that since we have masks now, we got to the store I prefer, Tuesday or Wed. morning, when they have their senior shopping hour, and shop there, so we can get what we really need, instead of finding out when we get home from an online order, that we do not have it. I am thinking seriously of doing that.
I too am wondering how the Governor's will proceed with opening the states. This will be very interesting!

Anngie, we will have all that miserable weather tomorrow, and into Monday. The head doctor of one of the bigger clinic system here in town said on the news yesterday, he is happy that we will be having such icky weather on Easter, as they are stressing NO GET TOGETHERS. We have been hearing of groups of people in town, of around 20 or 30, being reported to the police. So the officials are expecting to have their hands full tomorrow.
DH did have a boat picked out, with an over the phone agreement, then he heard from the guy selling it, that with the economy and all, which he was planning on buying a pontoon boat, his wife would not let him, so he is keeping that boat. So DH found another one, on Facebook marketplace.
I love the idea of lasagna tomorrow!!! I would do that too, if I could get away with it, as DH is a stickler, for having ham on Easter. (eye roll here!!!). My down fall is the garlic bread that goes with it. Now that you mention it, I better get my holiday look on tomorrow, as we will most likely be doing face time with all the grands.

Hi to Marsha, hope your holiday went well.

We all got a surprise last night, from DD2. Her and her DH are both going back to work Monday! Shocked to hear that is putting it mildly!!! Her work called her back as for some reason they are swamped. She did say her boss is working on getting DD a license for remote desktop to work at home, but I am thinking that will not happen. They are even thinking there will be overtime with each job. It sounds like they have it all worked out, with the kids and their school day at home, so Grandpa and I will not worry about them.

Today is supposed to be a nice day, the calm before the storm, so I will be able to get a walk in, outdoors. Most likely my last one in a long time.

My sheets came yesterday from Kohl's. Got them washed, will put them on the bed today. Not much more going on here. Once DH gets the boat over to the storage unit (if he buys it), he will come and get me to take me over to it to see it. I am so darned happy for him, he has been wanting a boat for many years. He had one years ago, but it was a cheap one, more like a row boat, with a little motor. So he deserves this. 

Have a nice day everyone, and stay safe.
 

Karen---hope your DH finds the boat to be just what he wants and comes home with it. Interesting that both DD and DSIL got called back into work---do they work at the same place?? I cannot remember what they do. I think it is your DD#1 that is at the school---am I right? We are supposed to miss the worst of the snow and rain so keeping my fingers crossed that is how it turns out. The snow has begun in western SD and supposed to stay south of us as in southern SD. Guessing at some point it is turning north to get up to you so I hope that northern turn happens somewhere between Gareth and I. Most likely will and go up through the twin cities. Hope it blows itself out before it gets to you.

Gareth---Thanks for the zucchini recipe---I will try it sometime. Not sure if I will get some the next time I go out for groceries or await until the abundance hits come zucchini season.

Hello everyone!  Just stopping by to wish you all a blessed Happy Easter!

I just finished putting together the lasagna but decided to actually bake it tomorrow. Sometimes I bake it ahead of time and then re-heat it but not today. I combined and cooked the Italian sausage and Hamburg and froze it earlier this week. It should work out as it’s pretty hard to ruin lasagna!

This morning we FaceTimed with DS2 and his girlfriend since it’s his birthday. She’s cooking dinner and baked him a cake, go for a walk and still stay safe! The best part is she got many of his HS and college friends, along with family members to text birthday wishes to her and she compiled them into a video. It was great - what a nice idea. He loved it. 

Karen, glad to see DD & DSIL will be back to work! Robin, I’ll bet you feel like calling DDIL periodically just to see how she’s feeling! Gareth, a friend of mine went 6:00am and said never again! It’s quieter during the day! lol  Pinky, how are the calves doing?

Happy Easter!
Good morning.
Very cloudy here, waiting on the storm, which should arrive early this afternoon, most of what we are expecting will be rain, northern WI, is looking at possibly 12"-14"of snow! We may get a few inches by tomorrow. With high winds, they are saying flooding is possible, and power outages. Typical April storm.

Gareth, how is your job going, working from home?
Thank you for the advice, I think that is what I will do; go Tuesday, late morning. Since this pandemic, it is hard to guess what is the new normal, for the quieter times of the stores.
Did you get a lot of rain? I checked the radar last night, and saw a huge blob of rain on it going thru northern IL.

Pinky, no my DD2 and her DH do not work at the same place. DD works at a business that designs promotional items for businesses, such as yeti mugs, scrubs, outwear, anything that would have a company's name on it, or their logo. All of that is done on the computer, of course. DD2 DH works at a plant that makes the packaging for dog treats; he runs a machine. He is the one that I was telling you all how mad he was, when the virus was getting really bad, and they were stressing 6' distance, that where he works the employees work very close to each other, and there was a homeless man right next to him, so the new law said that if the employee did not feel safe at work, they could stay home and not get fired. The president of his company called him at home and they worked it out that he would get paid, and not have to use his PTO. So, since his wife is going back to work, I guess he must have decided to go back to his job, but am not sure what really happened. Maybe they called him and told him to come back...I don't know. My DD sounds very happy tho, so hopefully there won't be any problems with that homeless person, and working so close to people for him. Maybe the employees are wearing masks. 

Robin, I was surprised that DD got called back to work. She said they are swamped with projects. I hope they carry through with them getting her a license to work at home, I worry about the kids, but I guess they have it all worked out that they won't be home alone too long, mostly just during the time they will be doing their online schooling. 
I do know about the masks, but I want DH to get used to wearing it, and he said he did. He did good yesterday.
About all the people that left NY city, there is such an uproar here in our state, and from what I am reading, in MI, about people going to their secondary home. The locals are madder than heck, as it seems the seasonal people are treating this as a vacation, going up north to their cottages/cabins, whatever, and are grocery shopping in these small towns. As I said the towns are small, which means their medical systems are small, and most of the residents are older. This looks like if it goes on for a long time, it could really turn nasty. The people doing this insist it is their right, that they own those places, and should be able to go to them. It is quite the mess. All the boat launches in certain counties here closed, since there were so many out of state license plates at the parking lots. 
Robin, I agree....start that clock ticking ASAP!!! Good luck to them and you all. We also will be waiting to hear!!!

Anngie, oh how I want lasagna now!!! Lol!!! Maybe I can work it into my scheduled menu list. Are you able to make a small batch of it? That is my issue with recipes like that, I don't scale back the recipe, and then have to freeze the rest. So far there has been only 1 recipe so far that I have found is not freezer friendly.
What a nice idea your DS2 girlfriend had!!! I admire people who can think outside the box!!! 
I think, about the shoppers going early and there being so many of them, they all think the same thing, that it will be quiet then, as that is how it used to be. So I will be going later in the morning instead. I sure hope everyone is doing what they are supposed to be doing, and wearing a mask. I stopped at a gas station yesterday, and when I went inside, I was the only 1 wearing a mask! And there were quite a few people in there...even the employees were not wearing 1. What the heck??

DH is very happy, and I am too, as he bought the boat. He took me over to the storage unit he is using and showed it to me. I posted pics on FB of it. I am so happy he took his dear friend with him, as DH asked him his opinion after the guy showed it to him, and his DF told him to offer $500 less, and the guy took the offer!!! Sweet! It does need some cleaning up, and some of the chairs need fixing, maybe even replacing, but that is minor. A little elbow grease goes a long way! I am sure our grand son will be a big help with this cleaning, maybe next month. 

We will probably do face time with the girls and their families later today. The girls and I were talking on messenger last night that it just does not feel like Easter, as we had gotten into the habit of going to DD2  house, and the first thing they would do was Easter egg hunt, around their yard. We would have an big dinner of smoked ham and all the dishes that go with it, with my sister and brothers there also. DD2 remarked they had to refigure their menu for just the 4 of them this Easter, as their usual Easter menu was so big. I know how she feels. 

Have a happy day everyone, stay safe, stay home.

Happy Easter to all. I hope you all figure out a way to celebrate and be happy today. 

I do have a box of no boil lasagna noodles in my pantry closet. Karen, I don't end up using recipes for most things, so scaling down is not a problem for me. I would just use a small container of ricotta, one egg, with seasoning, brown 1 lb of chopped meat and mix in a jar of tomato sauce, and layer with shredded mozzarella. There would be left over, but that is always good to heat up a small piece for lunch. I am lucky if I have menus planned out 3 days in advance, I give you a lot of credit for planning out like you do. I scaled back what I made in both variety and quantity, but because I did not stretch it out over a 2-3 week period, it was a lot of work. I made 1 vegetable side and 1 starchy side for each meal, and 1 entree for each meal, 2 different soups, so it was extra work. I only cook for 1 seder, but for a lot more people, and have a lot of things frozen. 

Here, a lot of the people who left the city went to stay with parents who live in the suburbs, although many did go out east to summer homes. I see though that the incidence of positive tests out there is not very high, so it didn't seem to be a problem. It looks like we have nice weather today, but we are getting a big storm by morning that is coming up the coast, heavy rain and then very high winds. I am hoping it drifts out to sea before it reaches us. If it comes here, I really hope we don't lose power. The last few times we lost power we went out to eat, but can't do that now. We could order in food of course. 

We had a thunderstorm early this morning. We had over an inch of rain. It was cool and wet yesterday. Today it is already 70, but is supposed to cool down with highs in the 50s and lows in the 30s until Thursday when it should warm up again. I don't have a big clothes closet so I store my off season clothes in a chest. I keep thinking I need to put my sweaters away and then it cools down again. It's not really a big deal to switch out, but I'm ready for Spring to come and stay.

The internet at the church building was down so we weren't able to have our Easter service. I think they are going to record and then post it on Facebook so we can watch it later.

We facetimed yesterday with DGS. We got to see his new big boy bed. It's not really that big. It uses his crib mattress but is lower to the floor, maybe a youth bed. Anyway, he has adjusted to it. Now though when he wakes up, he can get up and start playing or whatever. They have a baby cam in his room so they can see when he gets up. They miss taking him to the library for story time. He loves books.

We don't really have a traditional Easter meal. Both my and DH's parents always had ham. DH isn't crazy about ham and neither are our kids so we wouldn't have it just because it was Easter. I don't really remember us having anything special when the kids were still at home.

Karen, great on DH getting his boat and at a lower price!

Robin, still waiting with you. I'm sure DS and DDIL will find there are things they didn't get. Nice there is a Target close.

Hello everyone and Happy Easter!

Karen, glad to see DH found his boat and cheaper too!  Nothing wrong with that!
Do you fish too? Same thing here - some upstate counties, especially those around the Adirondack Mts. and the lakes, are all in an uproar over downstate people coming north possibly infecting those areas. Needless to say, this is all a mess!

Gareth, I might find myself going to WM tomorrow, but the weather is supposed to be so bad I just might stay home. I have a script to pick up so we’ll see. Tapioca is one of our favorites too! Just to have a dessert I made a small (6x6) spice cake in the microwave. 

Pinky, this is by far the quietest Easter ever!  We did FaceTime with DGS’s which is always fun. They were so happy!  So sweet!  I just want to hug and kiss them. 

Robin, I think we’re all counting too!  If I remember right, her due date is April 23rd - but who knows!  You sure did a lot of cooking!  Just think, next year you’ll have a houseful and one of them will be almost a ONE year old!  How much fun that will be!

Carol, our church had a sunrise service and regular service which was recorded and put on YouTube. I didn’t mind sitting on the couch listening to it at all! Past weeks they’ve had some technical difficulties! 

Yes, DS’s GF is a keeper!  We like her very much. She’s giving up her apartment May 1st and moving into his house. At least it’s a step forward!  DH and I think maybe they’ll become engaged over the summer. Frankly, I’m considering bringing him to a jewelry store and dropping him off. 

I made my lasagna in a deep 10x8 dish. I’ll either freeze the other half or eat it later in the week. Sometimes I make it in a loaf size pan and that’s just enough for one meal. No recipe, just a smaller amount of everything.