Currently, March

Linking up with Jennifer for Currently:

Loving

1. The WhatsApp. What’s app with that? Oh, just being able to talk to my sister in Canada WITHOUT having to deal with any delays. When my sister and her family moved to Canada over fifteen years ago, we had to accept the fact that talking on the phone was going to be our primary source of communication since seeing each other often was not an option. So talked we did and talk we do…However, using the traditional way to phone somebody- eg typing in the number or going to frequent calls to access the number resulted in a communication wherein a noticeable delay occurred when speaking. 

Here’s how it would play out in an example of a phone conversation. Me, in America:  “We saw movie XYZ at the theater yesterday.” The listener, my sister, in Canada, hears about a two second pause at the conclusion of the sentence. Only I paused for just a millisecond and then continued. “We thought it was pretty good.” Now during the pause, which on my end was a millisecond but on her end was at least two sentences, my sister thought I was done speaking. So she’d say, “How did you like it?” at the exact same time that I started to say, “We thought it was pretty good.”  The number of times one of us started to talk over the other due to the delay was high. We kind of got used to it but it was also kind of/ extraordinarily annoying if that makes sense.  

I had no reason to download the WhatsApp until Abby went to France earlier this year. Since our phone plans don’t include Europe, to be able to talk to Abby, we knew (just from word of mouth) that we should download WhatsApp and use that to talk to Abby. I have no idea how a phone call through an app works but all I know is that it WORKS! In fact, when we first used it to talk to Abby, I was astounded by the clarity of her voice. I was expecting the US/ Canada delay in our communication. Instead, not only was there no delay but Abby’s voice sounded crystal clear, like she was in the room with us. It sounded better than a regular phone call. 

I told my sister about it and suggested that we use WhatsApp to talk to avoid the delay and so that is what we’ve done since January. It is such a blessing to have a truly normal sounding chat with my sister on the phone! In the past, whenever we’ve seen each other in person, one of us always remarks that it’s so nice to have a conversation with no delay. Now we have no delayed convos on the phone. 

2. Subbing 1/2 days- of course the pay is cut in half so making less money but there is something satisfying in working yet work not taking up much of the day at all. I subbed three 1/2 days in a row recently. 

3. Signs of spring- I don’t hate winter but there is something undeniably nice about walking outside in short sleeves, seeing flowers, hearing the birds sing, etc. I was shocked when I came home yesterday and saw these in one of our flowerbeds. I thought they bloomed a little later? I’m not complaining- they are so bright and pretty!!

This makes me wish I had a bunch of daffodils instead of a few :)

Looking forward to:

1. An opportunity to see my sister next month. And my brother and his family 💕

My sister with her dog Sami

2. An opportunity to meet/ spend time with some of my favorite bloggers.

3. Alyssa making a decision on college and her prom dress (the big and little things!!). She has both of those decisions narrowed down to two. And as for the dress, she’s pretty sure she knows what dress she’ll wear. So just the *minor* decision (lol) of where to go to school looms.

She said yes to the dress(es). We bought both of these but we’re 99ish? percent certain that she’s going to wear the butterfly dress (the one she’s holding) to prom.

Planning:

1. My garden- so many desired plants to grow, so little (relatively) plot of garden space, so many potential vermin to eat the plants. Sigh. What’s a would be gardener to do? Just dig, plant and hope for the best.

Wearing: Sub clothes- My new khaki pants from J. Crew and new black mules have been nice, albeit not super exciting  additions to my not very exciting middle school sub work attire wardrobe. 🤭

I tried to jazz up the pants with this belt/ bow adornment that I wore to school one day this week. A sub can try...

Eating: Friday night pizza many Fridays

Goodness, this does not look appetizing I know. It’s called dirty rice and I could have eaten three times the amount that I did. I made my own Cajun seasoning for it that has the potential to be life changing (forgive the excess drama- nonetheless, it is crazy good and I can’t wait to make more and use it (I could only make half a batch because I was low on oregano :(). 

This is the Cajon seasoning mix that I made.  I used smoked paprika and didn’t include the thyme. 

These are the veggies for the dish before they were added and lost a lot of their color. I thought they were so pretty here.

Lastly, CWEET- C what they did? Combined Chocolate and Caramel and Cookie pieces in one Crazy sCrumptious Candy

If you belong to Sam’s Club- get you some!!