2024 Project 365 – Week Thirteen

Hello from the other side of Holy Week! We had church early today (8:00, but the choir had to be there at 7:15) so I am possibly a little delirious. Yes, I know that 7:15 is not EARLY early like some churches do, but let me have my moment of drama.
Sunday, March 24^th              
I had gone out but then I couldn’t get back in the house because reasons. I know that paper wasps aren’t really a threat, but I also know from experience that they will sting if you accidentally grab one.

 Monday, March 25^th
Not pictured is my bracket, which at that time looked rather lovely, but has since been shredded (I posted a video on the socials, but I shall spare you). All I can say at this point is, go NC State (men and women)!
 
Tuesday, March 26^th                          
Freshly scrubbed and ready for bed.
 

Wednesday, March 27^th  
Since I started back singing in choir I decided to use the binder of one of our former choir members. I opened it up & smiled to see four year old cough drops and lip gloss. Miss having her around!
 

Thursday, March 28^th                               
Maundy Thursday. It was a lovely service & I enjoyed my soup and traditional Maundy Thursday donut.

Friday, March 29^th            
I had the day off from work and made a ginormous breakfast sandwich. It has two eggs, three pieces of livermush, & laughing cow cheese. You’ll be shocked to note that it actually fit in my mouth.
 

Opening Day for the Braves! They look pretty good this year.  
 

Saturday, March 30^th                             
This is Dr. M’s view out of the office window. Lovely!
 

Progress report on my latest cardigan, otherwise known as the Thanksgiving table runner. I still need to do the sleeves and then sew it all together. I’m trying to decide what color to use as the trim (I’m leaning toward the darker rust color or the dark brown – which looks black in the photo).
 

Dr. M got me another excellent t-shirt. This is one of the main NC State players who is a beast and also apparently an all round great guy. They play Duke today for a chance to go to the Final Four. Won’t you be glad when all of this is over?
 

I’m home from church, working on my blog post, and then going to see Dad & Sue for a bit before coming back home to watch baseball and basketball. It’s a beautiful day and I bought two new albums yesterday (Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter and Songs of Our Native Daughters. Both are excellent. So life is currently good. How’s about with you?

2024 Project 365 – Week Twelve

I woke up not feeling well and skipped church (for the second week in a row - oops), but that doesn’t keep me from being deep in the throes of March Madness. It’s all been very exciting!
Sunday, March 17^th             
One of my cousin’s daughters is graduating from the University of Michigan and had her senior recital. She is a BRILLIANT viola player – remember her name (Margo Cunningham) because she’s going places!

 

I had to laugh at how the prop guys color coordinated their outfits (it's hard to tell, but the guy in the background has black pants on).
 

Monday, March 18^th
I was checking to see if I should get a trim to clean up the back & then I had to take the second photo as a palate cleanser. Sheesh.
 

Tuesday, March 19^th                          
Dr. M’s Pop’s house, plus a bit of the ancestral phlox with surprise dandelion.
 

Wednesday, March 20^th  
I was trying to get home & this not too bright trucker was trying to turn right. It’s hard to tell, but those back right tires are about a foot off of the ground. There are signs telling trucks not to try this maneuver, but they still think they can. He ended up giving up & turning left.  
 

Thursday, March 21^st                               
It was World Down Syndrome Day and Dr. M & I wore mismatched socks in honor of Elliott. I need to get some more fun ones for next year.

Friday, March 22^nd            
Signs of spring in the neighborhood. The temps have dipped back down, but it’s pretty.
 

Saturday, March 23^rd                             
Bracket update, for those who celebrate. I’m not doing too badly!

New shoes! I love the description: “Have you ever wandered across the desert after a hard dose of LSD? Well, apparently the designer of these wonderful pair of shoes actually did that, and he was so impressed by his psychedelic visions that he decided that he wanted them painted here as a testament of creativity! There isn’t really a color that is not at least partially employed here, a wonderful and beguiling atmosphere.”
 

I was feverishly crocheting while watching basketball and Dr. M was snoozing in his chair when I got this message on my watch. Hahaha!
 

It’s already the last week of March. We’re quickly heading into an extra busy season at work and I am not ready. I’m just going to have to do the one day at a time thing (while also paying attention to what’s coming up so I can be prepared). Rest assured, you will hear all about it!
 

2024 Project 365 – Week Eleven

This week at work was brain intensive which means I’ve spent the weekend trying to use as few brain cells as possible. That might affect the quality of this post. We shall see!
Sunday, March 10^th             
Potluck at church. Of course I had to get a piece of the fruit cocktail cake I made. It was so good!
 

As I mentioned last week, came home and did my annual cleanup of the wildflower bed. I’m always surprised at how much hard work it is for me.
 

Monday, March 11^th
I dressed some leftover chicken and dumplings and lima beans with Chex Mix. Personally, I think this is just a version of the Midwest Hot Dish, but my Facebook friends weren’t very impressed.
 

Tuesday, March 12^th                          
Phlox photo shoot.  
 

Wednesday, March 13^th  
This water bottle is ancient & the finish is coming off, but it still works & it fits exactly into the slot in my car so I haven’t wanted to spend the energy to find a new one. So when I got an extra Oh Happy Dani sticker, and my coworker gave me some others for my birthday, I decided to dress the old bottle up.  
 

Thursday, March 14^th                               
Dr. M says: Military Appreciation Night at PNC. My KA-BAR and I salute the USMC and House Atreides! May Frederik Anderson defend his fief like Duncan Idaho, and may Matthew Tkachuk’s blade chip and shatter. (Note from the Bug: the Hurricanes won!)

Friday, March 15^th           
The only time I care about college basketball is during March Madness. This week was the ACC men’s tournament and this game with my NC State Wolfpack was VERY exciting. They ended up tying the game in the final minutes and then winning in overtime, sending them to the championship game. But this was their 4^th game in 4 days and they were going to have to play UNC Chapel Hill on Saturday, for a 5^th game in a row so I didn’t have a lot of hope that they’d win the tournament.
 

Saturday, March 16^th                            
Dr. M took one of our favorite photos. Happy sigh.
 

Oh ye (me) of little faith! This is the first time the Wolfpack won the ACC tournament since 1987 (the year I graduated college). It was a great game!
 

In the midst of watching the basketball game we also watched hockey, and the Hurricanes tied the game in the last few minutes & won in overtime. I’m not sure the Bug Household can handle this level of excitement. Perhaps a calm week ahead? Please and thank you!

2024 Project 365 – Week Ten

Once again, I’ve got nothing here. Let’s just dive into the photos.  
Sunday, March 3^rd            
My birthday! Here are my birthday flowers from Dr. M (which are gorgeous), and the aforementioned cake from church. It was good!
 

I went to brunch with friends and took no photos of other people. I felt it was more important to take a photo of my livermush benedict and peach cobbler. Yes, I know I had just had a slice of chocolate cake.          
 

Monday, March 4^th
Dr. M caught this bluebird taking a bath. Makes me smile.  
 

Tuesday, March 5^th                          
That feeling when you wear a sweater and everyone thinks you made it (I did not).
 

Wednesday, March 6^th  
Choir practice. We’ll see how long I keep it up this time (last time I got COVID almost right away & couldn’t really sing for several months).
 

Thursday, March 7^th                               
My office smelled extra eggy this morning (from my breakfast sandwich) so I grabbed this & it made me wonder what would happen if we just went around spraying it at people until they decided that caring for people in the margins is a better idea than whatever it is that we’re doing now. Who’s with me?

Walked downtown to a shoe store in the square, got my feet measured, purchased new walking shoes, & walked back to work in less than half an hour.

Friday, March 8^th           
Came home to chaos. Was this a lemming situation? Cowabunga? A metaphor for the political landscape right now? But seriously I think I need a better yarn containment situation.
 

Saturday, March 9^th                            
Made my mom’s version of Fruit Cocktail cake for a church potluck & it was a slice of bliss from my childhood. So good! Also, vaniall forever (she consistently misspelled vanilla).
 

It’s a gorgeous day here and after I got home from church I spent some time cleaning out the wildflower bed. Now my arms are noodles. I think I need to start doing some arm workouts. Wait, this sounds familiar. I think I do this every year. Maybe one year I’ll actually do it! What do you wish you would actually do?

2024 Project 365 – Week Nine

It’s my birthday! It’s my birthday! I’m so full of chocolate cake it’s just crazypants (details below). Lots of photos from this week, so buckle up.
Sunday, February 25^th           
Went to dad & Sue’s. My dad was in charge of the pizza and he got PINEAPPLE on it. It was delicious. I asked the interwebs yay or nay, and got 24 yeses, 10 nos, and 3 not sures. That’s the most comments I’ve gotten on a post in a while!
 

Meanwhile, Sue’s orchids absolutely love their sun room. And I had to ask if the poinsettia was real because it looks so gorgeous.  

Monday, February 26^th
Dr. M took his annual photo of the ancestral Flossie Phlox (Flossie was his grandmother) at his dad’s house. It’s (barely) hanging on.
 

Tuesday, February 27^th                          
I’ve gained some weight in the last year. But even so I think I see myself as larger than I actually am. Exhibit A: I was making the 2X version of this sweater but I thought it didn’t look big enough so I added a bunch of extra stitches. Now I have a sort of cape-like shrug situation. It’s lovely as long as you don’t compare it to the original pattern (also let’s not talk about how I didn’t swatch so it’s way too short). Lesson learned? I don’t know - I probably still won’t swatch. But I might actually measure myself to see what size my item needs to be.
 

Went by dad & Sue’s and finished the most recent puzzle (“most recent” – ha! They’ve already finished another one & started the next one by now.)
 

Wednesday, February 28^th  
Happy happy…
 

I started a new project, which right now kind of looks like some sort of Thanksgiving craft. Not my usual colors. We shall see!
 

Thursday, February 29^th                               
Happy mail from Oh Happy Dani. She is such a force for good in the world.
 

The ancestral phlox is really thriving in our yard. I love it so.
 

Friday, March 1^st           
My crazy coworkers had a mini party for me for my birthday! (I say crazy, but we basically do this for every birthday.) This is the first of THREE chocolate cakes that I have had this weekend.
 

Saturday, March 2^nd                           
Went out with the family and then back to dad & Sue’s for chocolate cake #2. It had a penguin on it! (Note: dad & Sue were there, but I didn’t get a photo. What the heck.)
 

Today is my actual birthday & after church my cousin organized a little reception with yet another chocolate cake. I’ll post photos from that next week. I feel well and truly celebrated and now I’m wondering why I didn’t plan to take tomorrow off from work because I need a little rest from all this partying. Ha! Also, I’d like to state for the record that every one of those cakes was DELICIOUS. But perhaps I’ll steer clear of cake for a while (after I finish the leftovers of course). What are you celebrating lately? Does it involve chocolate cake?