Friday Photos

A look back at the week, Monday thru Friday, through pictures

It’s been a week... a pretty good one overall but it had lots of moving parts and elements. Definitely no cabin fever this week as I got out and about plenty.

Early in the week, I began to tackle one project for Alyssa’s grad party. That entailed culling through what I am guestimating to be about 15k photos that I have of Alyssa’s childhood and condensing them to... some number less than 15k for a slideshow. I spent close to seven hours on Monday alone and got through the year 2012!! (It’s a long story as to why but part of the time-consuming part is accessing each month’s worth of pictures. I have to click through several links just to begin the process of choosing which pictures that I want to look for each month). I am still not done but I am finished going through most of the pictures from my Nikon. Choosing iPhone photos will hopefully go much quicker in part because I didn’t start using my iPhone more regularly until about 2016 or 2017 and selecting the photos will not entail a bunch of link clicking. I am glad that I started the project when I did- it is definitely not a start- two- days- before- I- need-it done kind of project. 

And no, I will not come close to posting 1000+ pictures here (but I could if I wanted to ☺️). 

Tuesday was a momentous and fun day… It was Alyssa’s last day of going to a classroom in the school as a student (she had mandatory graduation practice later in the week). She only had to take a test- that she could flunk and still pass the class, so it was fairly anti-climactic. But it was also stress free so that was good! We went to Trader Joe’s when Alyssa got home from school and then had a celebratory lunch out (not at a fancy place- one that has traditional fare like burgers, wings, etc. I don’t have pictures of our food but we both liked what we got and enjoyed lunch quite a bit). The restaurant that we went to took us further north and east of our house (Trader Joe’s is already north and east of our house) and when we got into the car to start the GPS to go home, I realized that the route home took us right past a large outdoor shopping center called The Greene. It has the nearest Lululemon store to us. Alyssa had been wanting to go to it but we hadn’t made a trip specific to that purpose yet. Since we were so close to the shopping center, we went to it so that Alyssa could shop at Lululemon. She tried on a couple of things and bought them.

The day was a nice one and it would have been ideal to walk around and shop some more. However, we had food in the car from TJ’s that we didn’t want to spoil. (I had packed a cooler and the frozen items were in the cooler but I still wanted to get the items home and in the freezer.) As we walked towards our car and I saw Alyssa’s Lulu bag swinging in her hand as she walked, I was filled with one of those moments of mostly pure contentment. I thought of what the day represented- the end of an era that was kind of sad in the way that the end of something that has been a large part of someone’s life is but that was also the culmination of a lot of hard work and contained many good memories. I thought about what the bag represented- Alyssa’s hard work at her job the proceeds of which funded her purchase. She was the only employee in her position to earn a raise since last year. She makes well above minimum wage and is regularly told what a good job she does. Alyssa didn’t bat an eyelash at the amount of the purchase (I batted an eyelash if that counts, and I was not the one who paid for it!!). She was happy to have gotten to the store (unexpectedly) and made the purchases she’d been wanting to make. Just a good afternoon all the way around! (Heartstrings tugged notwithstanding 🤭)

Wednesday, I saw the surgeon who performed my surgery. Six more weeks in a boot. Ugh. This was the time frame that I was told prior to surgery. However, I had held some hope that the time frame I had been told was an estimate? And the time I would need to be in the boot would be less than the estimate?  Or that I’d heard and/or remembered incorrectly? It was depressing but whatever. 

Thursday, Donnie picked up Abby from college. I couldn’t go with Donnie to pick Abby up because I had a library board meeting that I needed to attend via zoom. Yah for having my daughter another driver in the household! I’m kidding. I would be thrilled that she was home had every tendon in my body been in pristine, functional states.

Of course, I had to take advantage of having another driver in the family- I made appointments for Abby and me to get our hair done Friday morning. We did some shopping afterward. I needed to take advantage of having a driver! 

Pictures from the week-

Here are a few pictures of pictures- these are ones that I don't have digital copies of so if I want to use them in the slideshow, I had to take a picture of them:

Flower girl(s) (Abby was one too but this photo shows just Alyssa’s cute profile

Dress up shoes at grandma’s

Lunch at a girlfriend’s place- Avery’s. We will attend Avery’s grad party this weekend. Toddlers don’t keep but some friendships do, thank goodness  💕

The family circa 2009

Trader Joe’s- non perishable haul (we put the frozen items away right away).

The sweet items we bought

Oh my Joe! These were soooo good. The pretzels were the thin ones- such a better choice than the traditional pretzel twists in my opinion. And the cookies and cream coating rather than just vanilla was a dreamy addition! We will get these again. 

Speaking of sweets... no, not a head start on Memorial Day baking. Rather, I bought these M&M's to use the red and white colors. I am making some desserts for Alyssa's grad party (we can bring in dessert ourselves rather than have dessert catered). I made some cookies that I placed in the freezer and will get out for her party. 

Not to toot my own horn but these are quite good... and I got a little creative to boot. They are partial peanut butter cookies... Not full out. They are a combo of a regular chocolate chip and a peanut butter cookie. I subbed a cup of peanut butter for one stick of butter. Added peanut butter chips, some chocolate chips and then red and white M&M's (OSU colors).

I plan on also making traditional chocolate chip cookies but wanted to try something different.

In an ideal world, the M&M’s wouldn’t have cracked open. But the most important thing is how good the cookies are. I think (/hope) that will be the lasting impression rather than cracked M&M’s…

His and hers Big Gulps before my doctor’s appointment... We stopped at a gas station that offers iced coffees that Donnie likes and that has robust fountain drink offerings that I like on our way to the appointment. 

Seeing this baby tomato in the garden brought me inexplicable and unexpected joy. We had plenty of rain this week- no watering was necessary. Temps are going to warm up here soon and I look forward to seeing more growth in the garden...

Speaking of babies, I brought my kindle with me to my hair appointment. I read this line when one character´s daughter faced a milestone moment in life- finding out she was having a baby.

The line from the book reads, “There were moments in life, Marion thought, when you reached back, baton in hand, feeling the runner behind you. Felt the clasp of their fingers resonating through the wood, the release of your hand, which then flew forward, empty, into the space ahead of you.”

No one around here is having a baby, but the words spoke to me regarding the vicissitudes of life, especially in this season of graduation and facing the prospect of our last born leaving the nest. Gosh, I didn’t anticipate tears in my eyes at the salon but tears are going to tear! 

For Mother's Day, Alyssa got me a Lego flower set and we worked on making these Lego roses throughout the week. Lots of laughter as I struggled with my roses (the directions were not... direct enough for me!). I love this bouquet and the time spent with Alyssa during this end of an era week.