Easter and Birthday in Quarantine

Happy week after Easter – one to remember, I’m sure.  I hope we all found that doing things in a new way made us creative and happy and not feel too cheated out of life’s celebrations.

My dear friends Evon, Cindy and Sara gave me a surprise birthday party Sunday.  Yep, on Zoom.  I was so touched and happy, it really could not have been better than if it was in person.  I had more Face time, text messages and phone calls than I could count.  Sharing my birthday with Easter this year double blessed me with sweet messages from family and friends.

I attended church for the third week in a row – watching Joel Osteen online.  Tyler Perry spoke and I am always so touched by the words he brings from his soul.  I have often said that if I had natural-born children I would want Tyler and Taylor.  I just found out Tyler is 50 years old, so maybe not a son quite that old!  You know which Taylor I’m referring to, right?

I’m sure a lot of people didn’t do a big, traditional Easter meal this year, so meals were probably pretty creative.  We ended up with meatloaf, potatoes and carrots.  Oh, and champagne, of course – that’s non-negotiable on holidays!

What I’m Eating

In the meantime, I have to say all this eating at home has not expanded our menu options.  So, in an effort to not re-share any of my previous recipe posts, I reached out.  My friend Evon is a wonderful and adventurous cook and made rosemary leg of lamb with rosemary roasted potatoes from Ina Garten, sharing pics and the recipe. Technically, it’s not what I’m eating, it’s what she’s eating.

What I’m Reading

On audio, I listed to the fifth Tres Nevarre by Rick Riordan, Southtown.  It’s a little hard to determine on audio, but there are at least two points of view narrating this story.  An escaped prisoner’s and Tres’s first-person narration which I preferred in this book.  Every book in this series gets better and better.  Tres is just enough of a jerk that you can see why he gets the women and just smart and sensitive enough to like him nonetheless.

In print, I finished the Baldacci and in the manner of not saying anything if I can’t say something nice, I’ll pass on a review.  I started The Chatham School Affair by Thomas H. Cook.

What I’m Doing

Evon’s daughter Jessy is a brilliant business woman who is assembling and delivering home facial kits after closing her salon Skin Esteem for the COVID mess.  She personalizes the kits with product and instructions.  She delivers free locally and for only $5 outside AZ.  It was such a treat this weekend to give myself a facial and to not leave my bathroom.  I swear my skin looked better afterwards.

I’m on “vacation” this week burning PTO that will stop accumulating.  We had hopes for Nashville in April and Mackinac Island for May.  Looks like we are going to spend more time loving Anthem, Arizona.

Indoors Projects

John is faithfully spending time working on the tub re-tiling job and it’s starting to look really nice.  Our office redecorate is on hold until the painters feel confident to work inside homes.

I am not one to get dressed up or made up for no dang good reason, but I do like to use my pretty things and appreciate them.  I like the perfect glass, mug, dish, blankie.  Likewise I have some silver and silver-plated items I use for every day.  I don’t care if they get rusty or tarnished, it makes me happy to see them out.

Case in point is this tray I received as a gift from my brother too many years ago to count.  In fact, it might have been given to me by someone else, but it makes me happy to think it might have been from him since he’s no longer with us. 

Anyway, I digress.  You can see I use this for my corralling my bathroom countertop items.  But it gets rusty and tarnished.  You know I’m no expert and someone who is would probably crucify me, but I’ve found the quickest way to get silver-plate polished up is using Bar Keepers Friend.  It’s not at all harmful for hands, but my hands are such a mess, I use rubber gloves.  I used my fingertips to get in the grooves and rub the cleanser around to remove the tarnish.  I do like to leave a little color on the piece to highlight the design.  Maybe that’s just plain lazy, but I honestly do like the look. I even polished up a pair of silver earrings while I was at it.

Outdoors Projects

Arizona yards may not appeal to many because there are more rocks than plants, but I think our yard looks really pretty right now.  We redid much of our yard last year removing overgrown and tired plants and replaced with new and fresh. 

As a sweet surprise, this poppy seeded itself from somewhere and is growing wild without water or care.  The blossoms have lasted for weeks and make me so happy.

I love animals, but have to draw the line at birds being born on my patio.  We’ve had disastrous results when we’ve tried to leave them alone in the past.  A quail decided to lay nine eggs in our sego palm planter on our patio.  Roxy found them for me and pointed them out after chasing mama away.  We removed the adorable, spotted eggs, but I see one we missed.  Mama hasn’t been back and everyone is safe and sound in our backyard.

The impact of the quarantine on my life has been pretty small, but I know others have a lot to juggle in their homes and with elderly parents.  I know many miss their grown children and are missing out on grandchildren.  I know many report to work every day and are concerned about what they might be exposing themselves to.  I know many have lost their jobs or are about to.  There is so much worry and anxiety right now.  My prayers are with you, and I lift my voice to God with millions of others asking for blessings in this time of need.  May your week be filled with grace and peace and small miracles!