Good Friday

He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His would you have been healed. 1 Peter 2:24

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly date to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinner, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be save from God's wrath through him! For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be save through his life! Roman 5:6-10

A Thursday Quartet

One. Facts - I listen to a Washington Nationals podcast and they dropped some knowledge on this week's episode: this is the first April without baseball since the year 1883! Chester A. Arthur was the President during this time - if you were wondering. Also - I miss baseball. 

I suppose in an effort to miss baseball just a little less, I ordered the above game from Uncommon Goods! It allows you to "play" baseball with the roll of a die and the game board is so beautifully made! 

Two. Three Day Weekend - Let me just tell you that I don't really know what to do with a three day weekend at this point, ha-ha! I'm mostly excited about sleeping in tomorrow morning... As I've gotten older I've discovered that I usually can't sleep past 7:30 or 8 on the weekends - I guess I feel like I only have so much weekend? However, when there is quite literally NOTHING to do - I can sleep in like a champ! 

I would share weekend plans but I honestly don't know what they will be...besides sleeping in! Sunday is Easter and my family does have a lovely Easter Brunch pick-up scheduled for a nearby restaurant called Regions 117 and the spread sounds delicious! I am trying to convince my family to put on nice clothes to go pick up the meal and take some pictures by the lake while we're at it - just to feel human again for a little while. We shall see...

Three. Healthy(ish) Snack - I've been on Weight Watchers for three months now and so there have been times when I've had to get crafty with what I wanted for a snack - often by the end of the day I only have 3-5 points left and that involves some planning! Wednesday night I tried a Pintrest recipe that wasn't a fail and I thought I'd share!

You'll need one banana, 2 tbsp. of chocolate chips and 1 tsp. of PB Powdered Peanut Butter. Slice the banana up and sprinkle the PB powder and chocolate chips on top of the sliced banana, cook at 400 for 10 minutes and devour. It's really tasty and by my calculations only has 4 WW points! Winning! 

Four. He's Such a Cutie - I snapped this picture of Watson while we were out on a walk after a particularly stressful work day on Tuesday. Watson just happened to look back at just the right time and I got his "smiling" face.

He may be a little old man but he's still a very happy go lucky little fellow and especially loves taking long walks in the sunshine! He's the best! 

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This has essentially been a "Four on Thursday" post but it didn't have quite the same ring as "Five on Friday" - so there's that, ha-ha! Y'all enjoy your three day weekend - if you get one! It seems pretty similar to all the other days sometimes... doesn't it?

Watson Wednesday

Watson wanted to get in on the Quarantine Meme Game. Granted, we are way past Day 12 of this whole Shelter at Home business...

It’s Week Three (for me)

Well - here we are. It's the third week of working from home, the third week of doing a whole lot of staying at home and according to the CDC, this week will likely be the worst week for the virus here in the United States. How are we all faring?

Friday night has pretty routinely become take-out and a movie night... which I suppose isn't too different from life before COVID; we always ate out and then found something good to watch, be it a new movie or a TV series. Granted, often the movie was at a theater and I was out seeing it with friends and not sitting at home on the couch - but I suppose it's not that different in the grand scheme of things.

We did out take-out this Friday night from TGIFriday's and man - they give you a ton of meat! The amount of ribs/chicken was not very proportionate to the broccoli and potatoes we received but regardless - it was enough food to feed a small army! After dinner, we (like half the country) took advantage of Onward being on Disney+ and gave it a watch - I think I liked it even more on a second viewing! I still have no clue what the rest of the fam thought of it - but I know (thanks to Facebook) that half our neighborhood watched it on Friday night! 

 

The weather over the weekend - Friday included - was pretty much perfection! The skies were blue and filled with puffy clouds, there was a breeze (it was more than a gentle breeze on Saturday) and it was just the perfect weather for being outside! Now that we are in this phase of quarantine/shelter in place - we are having to get creative about outdoor time - there aren't many places to go beyond your own yard.

 
 

The gorgeous weather on Saturday meant that I took Watson on several walks all around the neighborhood - it was just too nice to stay inside and there will be plenty of days when it won't be so sunny and inviting; it's best to take advantage....so we went on several walks! In between the walks around the neighborhood, I went through some boxes that were in my storage area and sorted out things, worked on my puzzle, started reading a new book and just did some general tidying around my little home.

Another source of take-out that will seriously load you up on food is Panda Express! That's where Saturday nights meal came from and for just $21 you can build a box with two sides and three entrees and when I tell you it's enough food for multiple meals - I am not kidding! I spent a chunk of time on Saturday night catching up on some TV shows, taking a bubble bath and working on that puzzle! 

 

I joked with my sister that I was getting good at creating "athleisure" looks since that's almost all I wear these days - leggings or athletic pants, combined with sweatshirts, tees and sporty jackets to top it all off! I've even reached a place where I can designate my "fancy" looks separate for work - this is the place we are at! *face palm* After coffee and Sunday morning service, it was time to get outside again!

 

Once the walk was completed, I sat myself down and managed to get every piece of my puzzle that had any sort of land on it into the puzzle! Now I've just got to carefully sort out every shade of blue that makes up all the water on the puzzle, ha-ha! I'm sure I have plenty of time... right? The rest of the evening was spent on supper, a bubble bath, more puzzle work and reading... and all too soon - the weekend was done!

So - here we are. Still hanging out in our homes, staying safe by being apart "together". We shall see how this keeps unfolding! Stay safe, stay home and find a good book to read! 

Five on Friday

One. Stay at Home Order - I'm writing this from my "home office" today... not the first edition of Five on Friday to come from my home office, but the first edition where I realize that I might be sitting at this home office longer than I'd imagined. Earlier this week the state of Virginia was placed under a Stay at Home order that - at present - is in place until June 10th! 

Now only one person should be going to purchase groceries... only essential employees should be out and about... apparently you can still go outside for exercise and health, but it seems that everything around us is closing: the National Park closed last week, the VA State Arboretum closed this week - something tells me soon the only outdoors I'll be enjoying the are comforts of my back yard.  

Two. I Need A Laugh - So, having shared all that... who doesn't need a little laugh? I know that I always do! Please see below a few of the memes that have made me snicker a little bit this past week!

Did anyone else feel like March lasted for a thousand years? I know I definitely did. Granted, while we were still in this weird holding pattern... I suppose at least now that April is here, every day we are a day closer to moving past this whole crazy lifestyle?

Three. Birthday Celebrations - Thursday was my Dad's birthday and so we celebrated as best we could in this time of COVID-19... My sister was meant to be in town for the week, my Dad had the day off work and we had tickets to Opening Day at Nationals Park - but obviously none of that actually happened. *sigh* 

My younger sister is stuck in Las Vegas until this all passes, living with some extended "friend family" members, my Dad did his work from home because there was no point in taking the day off and we certainly didn't head to DC for any baseball - because baseball has been postponed until further notice.

What we did do is order take-out from the restaurant my Dad chose, opening presents with my sister via FaceTime and I made my Dad a Coconut Cream Banana Trifle - per his request. I usually make my parent's birthday cakes (or treats, as it were in this case) and so I whipped this one up! I'll share that recipe next week! Birthdays in the time of Corona... it's interesting...

Four. Weekend Plans - I want to laugh at even putting this on my post.. because what exactly are my weekend plans? I don't really know that there are many places we can go (or are supposed to be going)... so I'm not sure what I might be doing. I know we discovered a nearby outdoor location that is still open to the public - we may go have a picnic there on Saturday just to get out of the house a little bit. We are still allowed to go out in our own family groups to outdoor locations, as long as we keep apart from others...

I have already cleaned out my closet. I rearranged my living room during a lull in work earlier this week... I suppose I need to get to work on my 4-D puzzle, keep up with my exercise and just.. find ways to amuse myself! We shall see what I come up with! 

Five. Remember - I saw that someone had tabulated an accounting of what life is like right now and I thought I'd share that here, so I'll always have it to come back and remember what life was like in the time of COVID-19.

Remember...

Gas price a mile from home was $1.65.

School cancelled - yes cancelled at least 3 months.

Self-distancing measures on the rise.

Tape on the floors at grocery stores; workers hold sign to remind shoppers to distance (6 feet) from each other.

Limited number of people allowed in stores, therefore, lineups outside the store doors.

Non-essential stores and businesses mandated closed.

Parks, trails, entire cities locked up.

Entire sports seasons cancelled.

Concerts, tours, festivals, entertainment events - cancelled.

Weddings, family celebrations, holiday gatherings - cancelled.

No church services or masses - churches are closed.

No gatherings of 50 or more, then 20 or more, now 10 or less. 

Don't socialize with anyone outside of your home.

Children's outdoor play parks are closed.

We are to distance from each other.

Shortage of masks, gowns, gloves for our front-line workers.

Shortage of ventilators for the critically ill.

Panic buying sets in - we have no toilet paper, no disinfecting supplies, no paper towels, no laundry soap, no hand sanitizer.

Shelves at the grocery store are bare.

Manufacturers, distilleries and other businesses switch their lines to help make visors, masks, hand sanitizer and PPE.

Government closes the border to all non-essential travel.

Fines are established for breaking the rules.

Stadiums and recreation facilities open up for the overflow of Covid-19 patients.

Press conferences daily from the President. Daily updates on new cases, recoveries, and deaths.

Government incentives to stay home.

Barely anyone on the roads.

People wearing masks and gloves to go outside, to run errands, etc.....

Essential service workers are terrified to go to work.

Medical field workers are afraid to go home to their families.

This is the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) - officially declared a pandemic on March 11th, 2020.

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Well folks - here we are! It's the first weekend of April in the year 2020 and most of us are all hanging out in our homes for what amounts to the third or fourth weekend in a row... or longer! Stay home and stay strong - we can do this guys! 

It's Opening Day at Nationals Park

Facebook sent me a rather mean reminder that I had an event today: Opening Day at Nationals Park! Alas, that won't happen today. Instead, I'm sitting at my home office wearing my Washington Nationals World Series Champions sweatshirt and wishing that - at this point - we might at least get to see some baseball this year. 

On the bright side - I suppose if there is no baseball this year (is there really a bright side to no baseball, I don't know about that) then the Nationals will be the longest reigning World Series champs, right? *sigh* I miss baseball.

Watson Wednesday

Sunday, March 29th was the 10 year anniversary of Watson coming into my life! My Time Hop reminded me on Sunday that ten years ago, my family and came home from a weekend in Chattanooga to find this little stranger sitting in the shade of my car, with a sweet face and sores under his legs from a harness that had been on too long.

He was bony... and he immediately attached himself to my side and trailed me around. I decided by the end of the day that I had to keep him - and so I made a flyer to post to make sure that he wasn't anyone's lost dog. Six weeks later - I snatched the flyers down and officially made Watson mine. And he's been the best little thing ever!