Games, Cookies and Other Things On My Mind

Hello. Remember when Wordle was the thing? Well... I am still playing but it has lost some of the joy lately. I don't know what is at fault, sometimes it's still so easy peasy and I figure the word out right away, other times I really struggle. 

Well at the beginning of June I discovered Heardle. It's the same idea, except they play small sound bites of a song and you have to figure out what song it is. I feel like this is my superpower. To a certain degree. If I know a song, I can pretty much guess it in 3 or under. (And my one-second stats reign supreme.) But there are of course plenty of songs I have never heard of. 

Nevertheless, Heardle was my favorite part of the day for a while. And then Spotify bought it. I mean, I get it. Large companies buying little guys is what this country has always been about, but man, since they bought it they have sucked the fun out of the game. 

One of the neatest parts about Heardle was the stats. Not only could you see how you were doing but you could also see how others did. Not right away, but like once a week they updated the history. My best one was "Fast Car" by Tracy Chapman, I got that in one second and did better than 82% of players. (Most people did actually get that correct, it just took them longer than one second.) 

Spotify doesn't do the history. And they also are Spotify so they're trying to showcase their catalog. Which... okay. But here's the thing: since Spotify took over not only have I not known most of the songs, but I have NEVER EVEN HEARD OF THE BAND OR ARTIST. 

This isn't a case where it's "Oh shoot, it's Janet Jackson or Lil Wayne" and those aren't artists with who I am super familiar. This is like "oh of course Spotify, it's obvious that it's the popular song "Action People" by the famous band Jello Salad.*" 

*I just made that song and band up. This is what Spotify has been doing on Heardle because no one has ever heard of these artists or songs before. And okay, did I get yesterday's song in one second? Yes. And today's song in two? Yes. But these are MAJOR OUTLIERS when before, songs I didn't know were the outliers. 

Anyway, I would have highly recommended Heardle to you a month ago... but I do not any longer. It will crush your spirit and make you sad more often than not. 

We had a Crumbl Cookies open up near us. And I haven't been like dying to go check it out but it was on my radar. They do the "rotating menu" weekly thing. For whatever reason, I looked at this week's cookies and the flavors all sounded divine. 

They always have their Milk Chocolate Chip cookie served warm, then the rotating flavors were Sugar Shark, Macadamia Nut, Sea Salt Toffee, Pineapple Upside Down Cake, and Coconut Cake. 

We went last night and got a box of all 6, plus an additional chocolate chip cookie. (Because my beautiful children both wanted one of those.) 

They were ALL smiles and loved the chocolate chip cookie. I wish I had snagged a bite. Husband picked the Sea Salt Toffee and said it was also tasty. 

Then we had small slivers of the other cookies to try. (Truly, these are huge cookies and most of the other cookies are still in the pink box in my kitchen.) Here is my review: 

• Sugar Shark is adorable and perfect for shark week. Other than that it is a completely unremarkable regular sugar cookie with too much frosting. 
• Pineapple Upside Down Cake... doesn't taste like anything. Way too much bland cookie to pineapple, which was the best part of the cookie, and then, just go buy a can of pineapple rings. 
• Macadamia Nut was a tasty cookie, but ultimately a super basic White Chocolate Chip macadamia nut cookie. 
• Coconut Cake was delightful. A coconut cookie, with coconut frosting and shaved coconut. If you like those things: you will like the cookie. 

Husband cannot with shaved coconut, he is the most unpicky eater I know, and that's his one eating hang up. So he tried one little bite of cookie and frosting I prepared for him with no shaved coconut and he thought that was tasty. This one was a home run, but since the cookies are big and it was a lot, I only ate about half. But it was the only cookie I had more than a test bite out of last night. Husband did enjoy the sour rainbow candy that came on the cookie. 

My overall review is that I wasn't that impressed with Crumbl, we have a local cookie place that does a better job, but I also would go back some time to try a chocolate chip. And maybe one of the rotating flavors if they were basic or a flavor that was especially something we are into. (Like Coconut.) 

But I am glad we tried it. 

As for other things on my mind, would you believe that it's nearly August? How can that be? Not to just skip over the last few days of July here at all of course. It just seems crazy to me that we are here at this point. School starts soon, and while that's totally fine with me, and for the most part I am prepared for that, there are some things still left to do. 

• School shoes for both? Maybe just C?
• Jumpers (I actually don't know if M needs new ones or not... jumper sizing is weird.) 
• Soccer ball, cleats, and socks for M. 

The good news is that I have all of C's uniform stuff including his gym uniform already. So that's great! And school supplies are all bought already as well! School socks are on the way but have been ordered. And now, we just prepare our minds and hearts for what the next little bit will bring. 

Happy Thursday! 

Other Summer Fun

Camp and all the excitement around that has taken up the blog news but that's not all we've been up to. 

Though, seriously, please say a prayer for the situation at the campground. All the first responders. 

Super weirdly, the little girl's name was Lula and her brother's name is Arlo. Which is the same as a sibling set of friends of ours, their Lula was even at camp with C!! I decided that it is so our parish community will remember their names and can pray for them. Both the souls of the three gone and Arlo who will be carrying the traumatic cross as a survivor. 

We've had a long discussion about this in our family and it hurts my heart that this hit so close to home. 

Before they left for camp we had some fun though. 

Another show! Cinderella. (Okay, I didn't actually go with them. I saw a different show that evening.) 

See, that's my show. 

Then the night before they left was our night in the company suite at the ball field care of Husband's work. There occasionally are a few perks to his job. This is one of them. 

That was a ton of fun and totally free which is the best kind of fun in my opinion. Dinner and snacks on the company is good, but it was also a double header so lots of game to watch. 

While C was still at camp, M and I went to the art museum with a friend of hers. They had such a good time! And I really enjoyed taking them. 

We had a great time picking out our favorite pieces of art in each gallery. One of the rooms was the local college's art competition and they had a guest book. This is what the kids wrote in the guest book. 

"I love art, so I love you!" M, age 7

"I love art, it can bring out expression, feeling, and everything else." G, age 7. 

Other than helping spell "expression" I had nothing to do with either of their entries, but aren't they the sweetest?! 

Then this past weekend, it was so hot. I had written in one of C's letters that perhaps we could go see the Minion movie in the theatre when he got home. So we did exactly that. 

It was actually the first post-pandemic movie for M and me. (Clearly, we aren't opposed to live theatre, or crowds, just movies haven't been on my radar just yet.) 

Admittedly, my favorite part of the movie was the preview for the new Julia Roberts and George Clooney movie. It is exactly my speed! I can't wait for that. Too many butts in the Minion movie for my taste. (I just don't understand lazy humor.) But we all had a nice time! 

Today is just a normal Monday. Well, we do get to pick up C's luggage and do all that stinky laundry. But besides that, a normal Monday. Work. Play. Fun. 

Camp! Part 2

 So on Sunday, I dropped my kids off at camp. Total throwback to the last blog post and Sunday with this picture but it's the one I have okay? 

On Monday camp posted a few pictures of my guy! 

So not the most exciting pictures ever, but hey, proof he was there and was doing well! I was able to see him with my very own two eyeballs on Tuesday when I picked up M. He waved at me from the top of a hill and that was it. But again, still, I was happy because I saw him. 

And then... crickets. No new pictures were posted. Not Tuesday afternoon. Not Wednesday. Not Thursday. And last night I wound up messaged the camp asking for more pictures of his section of camp since there were a ton of pictures of the older kids and none of my guy's age. In fact, while C didn't go to camp with a group of friends, there were 5 girls from his grade there and they hadn't even been in the Monday pictures! 

So we were all a little frustrated and just wanted to know the kids were okay. 

This morning was pick up, and Husband actually decided to come. Which turned out to be a good thing. Because we got an email that there was an emergency as we were en route. (Read the whole article. Really. It talks about camp. We even made the British news which is why I linked it.) If I had been driving I wouldn't have seen that email. And since I wasn't driving I immediately started calling and texting all my friends who were picking up kids too. There were a ton of kids from our school there this week, I ended up checking in with a bunch of other moms and wound up breaking the news to 4 of them. But we met at the new pick-up site.

The kids had absolutely no clue why there were there, the camp had them out of there within 15 minutes and did a great job. All of their luggage is still at camp. They are going to bring it down to our area this weekend. 

So we had closing worship at the park and then got our boy back!!

He had a really good time and besides some bug bites is completely unharmed. And even though I wish I had more pictures of his fun, I am just so so so relieved to have him home safe that I can't even care about that right now. 

Camp!

 Sunday afternoon I took my sweet cherubs to camp! 

They were decidedly unhappy with me for taking this picture because they just wanted to go join their cabin mates. Too bad, mom gets a picture, it's a rule. 

M went with 5 other girls from school. I nearly felt bad for the other 4 girls in their cabin but these are some of the nicest kids and I knew they would include the others. They definitely did! M was even bunkmates with a little girl named Fiona. 

M is so social, she could make friends with a rock so having her make some new friends wasn't a problem at all. 

The camp posted this on Monday. I appreciated seeing that she was doing well! 

Because M is just only going into second grade, she was only a mini camper. Like C last year. So just two nights. I picked her up yesterday and she was exhausted. But she had a lot of fun! She was so engaged with closing worship that she didn't even notice I arrived. 

M is a very good sleeper, but also a very high-needs sleeper. She needs it to be dark, not too hot, and include white noise. Oh and a bed. This gal hasn't napped in years. And doesn't fall asleep in cars. She says she was awake the whole night the first night but was able to sleep the second. I actually don't doubt that's true. 

Some of her friends crashed yesterday afternoon but M held on until bedtime. But the second her head hit the pillow she was done. 

It's very strange. For as much as I worry about her brother, I wasn't at all worried about her. She'd probably be fine going for the full week next year but she is only able to mini camp again next year. Nevertheless, I did miss her and I liked having her back home in the nest. 

I don't pick C up until Friday but I did happen to wave to him when I was there yesterday. He didn't come running over and he didn't look sad so that's about the best I could expect really. I miss him too. Hopefully, they post some pictures of him today! 

Another Weekend, Another Show and an Ordination

Saturday was just the best day! 

Our friend was ordained a permanent deacon. I got one of the coveted tickets to the Mass and it was so lovely and emotional. (In a good way!) The program very specifically said to not take pictures during the liturgy and I am a rule follower so I didn't. There were plenty of people taking them though so I do have a tiny little bit of regret for NOT taking even one quick one. 

It's hard to know what the most moving part was. 

Watching a Diocese's worth of priests and deacons process in? Hearing the consecration and doxology in surround sound? Watching the new deacons' wives carry their vestments to them and then watching them be dressed by another deacon? *These were in fact all the moments that made me tear up, however.

I think my favorite moment of the liturgy was when each Deacon was holding the Book of the Gospels and the Bishop said "Receive the Gospel of Christ whose herald you have become. Believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach." 

Then afterward there was a party with all my favorite people at the new deacon's house. And it was SO good. 

Yesterday was his first mass and homily, so it was packed. It was good. And I definitely teared up again when the three (2 deacons and Fr.) kissed the altar at the beginning of mass. 

Then after that, we went to see another show. Because the Summer of Theatre that's why. (For what it's worth, this was the last planned show on our schedule. The summer isn't over and there are plenty of other options and things to see but we haven't gotten tickets for anything else.)

But we ultimately had fun.  

It was bright so they're a little squinty. Nevertheless. 

Now it's Monday already, which seems crazy. 

4th of July and Other Things

 Hello! 

In wrapping up my "catch up on all the things" mode, here is a little 4th recap. It was good. 

We typically make a 4th of July flag strawberry poke cake. But this year we tried a variation and made a strawberry lasagna. My friend had made one for a gathering and one bite in I knew M would LOVE it. She sent a piece home for both kids and they did in fact love it. I saved the recipe for the 4th though to make our own. 

It's got a Golden Oreo cookie crust layer, a cheesecakey layer, a strawberry jello layer and a straight cool whip layer. And it is delicious. (There is still some in the fridge, but I suspect there won't be tomorrow.) 

We otherwise stuck to tradition of glow sticks and Macy's fireworks on tv. No crowds, no heat, no bugs, no problems! And now the kids are insistent it's the way to go so... who am I to argue? 

You know how the Dollar Tree raised their prices? Well that extra 25 cents must have changed the glowsticks because the longevity of those things is insane. There was still one glowing last night. I didn't even know that was possible! 

In other news from the last bit here, we saw two more shows for our "Summer of Theatre." 

We started with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I like the material. I didn't love the production and was glad I didn't have to write about it. 

Then we saw Electra. And it was good. 

Then because we were staying up late anyway, we decided it was a good night for catching fireflies. 

I'll take "Wholesome Summer Family Activities for $200 Alex" (Or Ken or Mayim these days I guess. RIP Alex!) 

Also, M "got" me this sign for my office. She said I needed it. Have you seen the Holy Spirit Activate Video? (Skip to 1:51 if you're short on time, but the whole thing is good.) 

Well we love it. And I am big into the Holy Spirit. So... the sign. Anyway I think that is officially me all caught up... Happy Friday!

And Another Thing

So I got back from MN and went to work for what was likely the most awkward work week of my life. 

Because I was training someone. And I think even in the best of circumstances training someone can be a tricky thing. Especially as a legal assistant, there's a lot of different things to know and some of it you just learn going through it. But the whole process took on a different spin because I was training this person to take over my job. 

And I had been gone for a week. 

And she showed up at 8:00 am on the dot. 

So it was weird because I was trying to reacclimate myself and dig myself out of the hole, but also say goodbye to clients and coworkers and close the chapter well. All while training my replacement. 

It was a lot. 

This was my view for most of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. As I sat behind new lady and tried to help her learn all the twists of my job. 

It was a bittersweet transition, but I am SO excited for the next step. Even though I will miss our work cats. 

Claws, Satchmo, Yes and Darlene. They're nice cats and these images brought me joy at work. Apparently even fake pets can calm people down. 

But... now I have a new job. I am the Director of Faith Formation at my parish and I am really really excited about it. So you see, VBS is was the first step and will be part of my thing for the foreseeable future. 

I got into my new office on Tuesday and dove right into the deep end. 

I got my Holy Spirit cross. (A goodbye gift from my favorite friend boss who I no longer work for directly. Who by the way, was ever so supportive of this change! She is first and foremost a faith sister of mine.) 

I got my Holy Spirit You Are Welcome Here sign. 

So on a wing and prayer I enter this new journey and we will see what happens next.