Easter 2022

I just thought about it, and realized that we haven't had a big Easter dinner here since before the Pandemic began, and that was in 2019. Last year we were staying with Katie and little boy in Maryland over Easter when Avi was away on a work trip, and the year before it was just me and Bruce. 

It ended up to be a smaller group this year. Avi was again away on a work trip, and Nick was on call for work. We decided that we'd try to get Mom here, but while talking to her on the phone the night before, we found out that she was losing her voice and had a cough. That was a sad thing, but in this day of Covid, you have to be more cautious. So, there were just six of us plus little boy.

We had our Easter Ham dinner, which was delicious. And, Katie brought a Bunny Cake that little boy picked out at Cub Foods. We ate the cake with Neopolitan ice cream because little boy loves pink strawberry ice cream. 

We had an egg hunt for little boy, and the Easter Bunny brought him a stuffed animal guinea pig, plus a couple of books. Uncle Jake and Aunt Brianna also gave him a couple of books. He held up amazingly well with all the people and excitement going on.

This year I dyed hard boiled eggs using the Cool Whip method, just google it if you're curious. It was kind of fun and a little time consuming, but in the end the eggs looked like they'd been tie dyed, which was cool.  One egg slipped out of my hand as I was rinsing off the dye, and got cracked. Katie and Brianna were the recipients of the eggs, and we decided that the person who found the cracked egg in their carton got to choose between taking the tulip or hyacinth plant. Brianna chose the tulip, and Katie took the Hyacinth.

Little boy looked dapper in his Easter outfit, complete with yellow bow tie.  💕

Mark did stop by to see Mom before coming over here, and today I brought some Easter goodies over to her when I visited. She seemed to be feeling much better this morning, too, which was a relief. Maybe we'll be able to get her over here again on Mother's Day. 

Wordless Wednesday

 

41 Bags

As the Lenten Season was about to begin, someone asked me if I was planning on doing the 40 bags in 40 days challenge that I had done a few years ago. I had to stop and think about that. The idea is to find 40 bags of stuff to donate during the 40 days of Lent. Of course in my mind, I'm always thinking about my Swedish Death Cleaning endeavors, but lately life has been so busy that it hasn't exactly been a priority. I said, probably not.

But then a bunch of Mom's old clothes came into my house after her move to memory care. So much of it she would never wear again, so I started going through them. I washed them, and folded them nicely, trying to honor Mom, plus I wouldn't want to give away anything in bad condition. And, I found some bags that we could let go of.

Bruce started to look through his things, and found 29 pairs of reader glasses to donate! (That's a lot, right? 😉) So, I looked around for a place where the Lions Club collects old glasses to be re-purposed for people who need them. We ended up dropping them off at the American Legion.

And then there was the huge collection of large, framed wall pictures accumulating in the storage room. Eleven of those were dropped off at Bethesda Thrift.

The kids even took a few treasured mugs.

It kind of took on a life of it's own, and between additional charity pick ups from the VVA, DAV, and the Epilepsy Foundation, I made it, with even an extra bag to make 41...

Now, can I see a dent yet in the house? Nope, but, never give up.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Supper With Jake and Brianna

My dining room has been kind of a mess since we moved Mom into memory care 😉.  Not everything could go with her to the new apartment, and though a few pieces of furniture went into their storage unit, there was still plenty of stuff to go through once again. And, those things unfortunately landed in the dining room, with me thinking that it would be a motivation to get things done faster if I had to look at it everyday.

Well, not so fast, as I found out. But then we invited Jake and Brianna over for Supper last weekend, and that was motivating! Some things did end up in the donation pile, and some things were set aside for Mark and I to look through when he comes over for Wednesday Suppers. I brought the few last boxes upstairs into the spare bedroom so I could clean and set the table. 

I can't believe how having my dining room now back to normal has calmed my mind.

I made a corned beef brisket in the crockpot, with steamed little potatoes, salad, and roasted Brussels sprouts, with ice cream pie for dessert. I also found a new recipe for an oatmeal bread, which turned out pretty good.

We settled in front of the fire with a glass of wine, and got caught up with what was going on in life. I love getting together with my kids. 💕