I’m back to riding my bike, after a much too long hiatus. The freedom to be out and about (new scenery!) but away from people is exhilarating. I highly recommend bike riding, to expand your pandemic safety area & for exercise, but if you don’t already have a bike it will be difficult to get one. There is a world wide bike shortage, as well as a shortage in other types of exercise equipment. I’m lucky enough that I can ride for miles on sleepy suburban streets, through parks, and on a bike trail just by leaving my driveway.

I tried growing tomatoes, the first first time ever, but something ate the ONE tomato while it was still green. Oh well. My sister gave me the plant so my only outlay was a little time spent watering & fussing over it. No more friendly greetings when I see the bunnies and squirrels in the yard. 👩🏼‍🌾🍅🐇🐿

Coin shortage? Not where I live. We asked our favorite teller at our bank and she said they aren’t even taking loose coins anymore because they have so many! We have over a half gallon of loose change that I was thinking of taking in to the bank and she said please don’t.

So funny, we are right next door to MO in IL! I wonder why the difference?

Weird about the coins. We have a shortage here, yet with bank lobbies closed I can't turn in the $150 from our coin jar for dollars. I've already rolled it and I don't want to use the coinstar machine...plus they take a percentage don't they? Who knows...I usually take it to the bank to deposit. We hardly use cash any more so it took a long time to fill up this time.

I made my first non-grocery retail trip today. I had an order to pick up from Container Store and wanted to return some pillow cases to Pottery Barn. The Container Store in my area only has one tiny parking lot. Otherwise, you have to park across the street in a covered lot. I wanted to browse for a few other things at CS, then collect my pick-up. Unfortunately, they had closed the tiny lot for everything except pick-up and wouldn't even let me exit from that door if I did any inside shopping. As a result, they lost any additional sales from me. BTW, I was there right when they opened at 10 a.m. and they don't schedule any pick-ups before 11 a.m. so the only people that would have needed the lot were those whose pick-up was from a previous day, like mine. I guess I wanted to be a special snowflake today. :-)

The mall's lot was completely blocked off except for pick-up. No one allowed in the stores. I'll need to call to see how I'm supposed to return these pillow cases if I can't go into the store.

All-in-all, my trip was kind of a bust, but at least I know what to expect now.

We've been eating out at least once a week at our beachhouse, all of it outdoors. The tables are distanced and everyone is masked unless seated and eating. I've also been doing much more frequent grocery shopping. Mask compliance around here is just about 100%, thankfully.

I have discovered lots of new (to me) places to walk. Today I went here with a friend. Only about 1/2 hour from me but I’d never been. It was a lovely, peaceful spot. Only a few other people there, and masks/distancing were required. I’m only sad the gift shop wasn’t open.

https://www.nativeplanttrust.org/visit/garden-woods-2/

Tonight, DH and I are walking to a local restaurant to have dinner, outside. We have only eaten out about 3 times since March, so it’s very exciting!

Masks are now required statewide in MN so good to see that though some people wear them below their nose or otherwise suboptimally. We have dined out a few times on the patio at a couple places. We’ll be doing that for our anniversary next week. About our only social life is golf. DH and I play together and each with our own friends. We also play with another couple occasionally. Last weekend our neighbors at the lake cabin came over for an outdoor fire - first time it’s been cool enough for that and no fire danger. It was fun! We’ve had no overnight visitors at our cabin though some of our neighbors have had a houseful on more than one occasion.

I’m not looking forward to going back indoors for winter.

New today is a pair of Nike running shoes. I have been walking with a friend for over 20 years. We meet at a path and walk for an hour. We have masks to put on if we encounter other people. Otherwise, she takes one side of the path and I take the other. Sometimes her darling granddaughter joins us and we take turns pushing the stroller. During these challenging times another friend and I also meet to walk and talk (in lieu of other activities that we would be doing), but she is much slower so sometimes I walk twice a day. It's all good.

SueB - I love Garden in the Woods! I went there a few times when we lived in MA. I have been thinking I need to try some new trails around me (there are many). THe ones in my neighborhood are so easy to access that I am lazy about venturing out.

Going out to dinner with dh. It’s the second time since March. Great social distancing too.

I also applied the other day for a job as a tour guide for a historic Segway tour of my colonial (summer) town. I saw the job on a private local FB page. I don’t need a job but this one was right up my alley and I knew I could bring experience and enthusiasm to the role And help them out of a bind. The ad showed Segways and clearly spelled out the demands of the job. I sent an email outlining my experience and also replied, via FB, to the original poster to check her email. The ad said that they needed someone immediately. In my email, I said that I could work through October 15 which is probably around the time that outdoor tours end. The response I received within an hour saiid that they wanted to make sure that I was aware that it was a Segway riding tour. If I was aware, then they would like to talk to me. Honestly, I was offended. The ad had a big picture of Segways. it felt like they thought I might be to old for the job ( and also have learning difficulties to boot. ) I replied that yes I was aware of the mode of transportation and that that was part of what interested me. Sounded like fun and I have lots of experience as a seasoned tour guide.

their response?

crickets.

Although not exactly. Yesterday I saw that they are re-running the ad. I feel like it is micro aggression ageism. They saw (based on my Facebook profile), that I am older than what they had in mind. Which really isn’t fair, because I think I could do a great job for them.

sigh.

on a positive note, we just returned from a wonderful, secluded dinner.

Liked your dinner :)

Did not like the Segway people :(

I'm so sorry, Jojoco. Keep an eye on it, though... In the end, reliability and accountability win. Not saying these are characteristics of our age only. But when a potential employer initially screens by age, they often realize they're missing out on a good pool of candidates.

I've noticed the "coin shortage" signs among businesses in my area, and I wondered where all the coins went? Here's a good explanation.

Yesterday, my young adult kids and I went on an outing and grabbed lunch at a restaurant with outdoor seating. Without my prompting, my kids wore their masks from the car to the dining patio, and on to our seated table. They put their masks back on each time our server came to our table. I followed their lead, and our server was attentive and seemingly appreciative. My kids just naturally approached the situation as one of mutual respect--if our server wore a mask to serve us, we wore a mask to be served. I was a very proud mama.

Oh what the heck! I just sent a follow up email expressing my interest in the job and enthusiasm to be a part of their team. We will see.

Congratulations CYN427!!!!

Thanks, Reff! We are over the moon. Now, if we could only go around the town!

Cyn427 that is wonderful news about your twin babies! Very happy for you and your family!

Cyn, wow! That’s big news! All the best!

My kids just naturally approached the situation as one of mutual respect--if our server wore a mask to serve us, we wore a mask to be served. I was a very proud mama.

It sounds like you've raised them right!

Cyn, congratulations on the birth of your twin daughters!!!! Wow!

Congratulations cyn!! I realize it must be stressful to not have your babies at home, though.

Jo, what jerks!

Congratulations, Cyn! Glad they are doing well and gaining weight. So cute about DD.

Haven't been out much at all, so no coin shortage experience. We put everything on CC and pay off monthly, and I started using Venmo for appointments. I did start going back for my MSI muscular therapy every other week, and hair appointment every three weeks. I am always first appointments, both small businesses. I even went ahead with my dental cleaning this week. I saw no other patients, although I am sure the Dentist had one somewhere. New office is a year old and I've only had cleanings there. She had on an N95, a cloth mask over that, and a shield mask. Hair and ears covered with a cap. A scratchy (according to her) LS cover over her scrubs. The dental tools were opened/put on tray in front of me.

Our newest grandchild is now 8 months old and just a doll. She smiles when she sees me, but we are still maintaining distance. She smiles when we FT too. She is not sure about DH. LOL My SIL was exposed at work (and he only goes in 2x a week for a very short period of time), but has tested negative 2x and no symptoms. So I guess practicing social distancing would have paid off if he had gotten sick. I still want to hold my granddaughter though.

My massage therapist started getting Hello Fresh meals, and mentioned twice how impressed they were (her SO is a total foodie and in the restaurant business aka very picky). I started ordering last week. I have enjoyed cooking different things, everything is included but oil, S/P and butter. Everything has been so delicious. Doing 4 nights a week, but went to 5 for next week. Added bonus: I lost 5lbs the first week. We eat lunch/dinner around 2pm, and I haven't been hungry the rest of the day.

Cyn, congratulations on your twin girls! I know you must be excited to get them home soon.

Jo, that seems so unfair, but bravo for hanging in there.

Not a lot of ‘new’ here except some new running shoes. I ventured to the Fleet Feet store early this week and was one of two customers. They are my favorite store anyway, and did not disappoint with their Covid care with customers.

DH has a new tractor. He downsized from a larger Kubota to a smaller one and added some implements he didn’t have but needed. So he has been getting some chores done around the property that needed to be done.

DH made reservations at our favorite restaurant for my birthday so we went out Wednesday night and had a lovely dinner.

The only other new thing for me is a new medical diagnosis that has been bubbling around. It’s nothing serious, but annoying and it had to be confirmed after a test. Getting old definitely sucks, as this is one of those ‘affects older white women’ diseases.

It just happened again and reminded me, the oddest thing that I’ve discovered during the SAH/WFH situation is that my husband whistles. I’ve never heard him whistle in the 30-ish years I’ve known him. Does he do that in his real work space? I guess there are still things to discover about him. 😆

Allison, I want to order Hello Fresh for my SIL for a gift. Do you think the recipes are straight forward enough for someone without much of a cooking background? Thanks.

Allison, we must have posted at the same time.

I used Hello Fresh a few years ago and was very pleased with their meals, especially at first. I was ordering 3 meals/week. I found them easy to prepare, but at first it took me slightly longer than advertised to prepare and cook. Maybe I am just slow at following a recipe for the first time. Anyway, a few times later some of the ingredients weren’t quite as fresh as I would have liked. It was usually a vegetable or something, then a time or two some ingredient was left out so I had to sub. I finally cancelled after a few bad experiences. I hope your experience remains consistent. I actually saved the recipe cards we liked as I figured I could replicate them easily.

Congratulations Cyn!

Not new with me, but my computer science son has been taking videos that have been posted and adding masks to the faces in the video.

Congratulations, Cyn.

We tried several meal kit delivery services a couple of years ago, including Hello Fresh. Our favorite was Home Chef.

Twins! You win! May they continue to gain strength everyday.

New to me has been a summer of no travel, no seeing family, no celebrating many milestones. We’re fine. We are healthy. 2020 mostly sucks.

Cyn, that's so great! I have twin great nephews that were also born 28 weeks. They are going to be 6 this fall and are doing incredible. But they couldn't really go anywhere other than doctor appointments at least their first year.

DH is going to grill tomorrow afternoon and MIL will come over. We will be outside only on the deck.

Classes start next week. I am teaching online only, which will be an interesting challenge for lab. It is better than trying to teach masked and socially distanced.

Cats are doing well. Blue has that kittenish energy, but overall a great cat. He loves to squirrel watch.

Congrats on those sweet babies, Cyn!! 💕

Nothing new or even remotely interesting here...ds goes back to college next Friday, and I can’t even go bc they only allow 1 parent on campus, and ds gently told me, “Mom, I wish you could go, and I know how you like to organize my room...but no offense, Dad is much better at carrying stuff.” 😩😩😂😂😂

Usually this time of year, I automatically order my next year’s calendar, a “Monster Grid” with 2”x4” dates, even with only a college student at home, I appreCiara the big squares for writing things in. But, there are so few things written in for this year! I think I will take a leap of faith and order it anyway, at least I can read what I’ve written.

Thanks for the good wishes, Bpath, Nini, Gscience, Maddielee, Fun2behere, Suero, Outside, Allison, Bonnie, Zalco, and Yeona!

I do need to point out that I am the grandma, though! :-) Thank goodness. Ha. Big sis Emma spends her mornings with us to give mommy and daddy time to work and go visit the babies in the NICU. My grandma name is Bibi which is Swalhili for grandma because my daughter-in-law used to work in Africa with a non-profit and she loves the language.

All is still looking good. Gscience, isn't it amazing what our doctors can do these days with such tiny babies? I am so glad your great nephews are happy, healthy boys. Six is such a grand age. Yes, the first year will be a big one in catching them up.

Cyn, twins “run” in my family. My mother was a twin, Mom had twins, her twin had twins, two other sisters had twins, one of those twins married a twin, a half-brother had twin stepsons, and a sister has twin grandchildren. Karma or biology, they definitely double the love!

hhireno, each recipe comes with large recipe card. Granted, missing in my first box but used website/laptop. I don't consider myself to be a great cook. I can follow recipes, or make a change to one, but not create something out of thin air. I would say the meals I have made (8 to date) have been easy.

I could not see what meals were offered. before creating an account, and giving credit card, but knew I could cancel. After selecting number of people and number of meals for the week it took me to a page that was easy to navigate. Don't see something you like, delete that meal and substitute with one of 17 more to choose from. Then their are usually 3 lunches or breakfast meals that can be added, 2 or 3 sides, and around 6 meats that can also be added. Desserts are limited to 1 or 2 (have only seen 2 choices) but not ordering those. Meals are labeled gourmet, carb smart, calorie smart, oven ready, vegetarian, hall of fame and surf & turf. The first and last on the list are additional costs. There is also an app, and over 2500 recipes to search. I plan on going through them and saving some for future reference, in case we decide to cancel. You are also able to skip up to 6wks at a time (vacations, etc).

Probably more information than you wanted, but without signing up, I couldn't see anything! I Googled and found $80 off, but now sure that would work when gifting.

Thanks, Allison, that was very helpful.

OutsidePlaying, I've read some bad reviews about shipping issues, but so far *knock on wood* we haven't had problems. I could see it being slower for those in more rural areas. We are in central AL and our boxes come from ATL, so not far away and direct. I will look into Home Chef that terezosa mentioned if we start having issues.

Too funny, but after saying we had not tried eating outside in the big city, we did that very night! It was not actually in the city I was referring to but a bit further out, in a city just outside that area. I had ridden with hubby for him to make a business call and due to a bit of a road-block, etc. we were both pretty hungry and it was still a bit of a drive to home. Apparently some Cracker Barrel restaurants are doing the outside dining so we decided to go for it! We've had some cooler mornings/evenings this week (I think due to all this tropical rain moving in) so it was a nice evening to eat out.

I've never tried the meal services but I've seen a few of the recipes that I would try. I love to cook and one thing i've enjoyed about not working, is more time to prepare meal. For myself, I don't think I'd every do a meal service because as mentioned, I really enjoy cooking. I love trying new recipes. I am very particular about ingredients though, especially produce and meat, and just would not want someone picking that out for me. We are fortunate to have a store with a butcher nearby and of course this is the time of year for produce!!

Only thing new for us is finally having our internet upgraded LOL. Our equipment was about to not be supported any longer and although I hated having someone in the house, we did so. The technician wore a mask the entire time, big bootie things over his shoes and bless his heart; he had to go in the attic. But this fiber optic seems to be the bomb, extremely fast!!

Will be doing a door visit with my dad this weekend, guess those are new and working well. I am so grateful to FINALLY have dad in a facility where he is happy and well cared for. He did spend a night in the hospital last week, not sure what happened, maybe a small seizure. He was in the process of withdrawing from Tramadol, which was causing hallucinations (!!! very scary) so perhaps that had something to do with it. All the tests turned out fine.

Cyn congrats on those baby twins! How exciting! Jojo, keep on trying if you are interested in the job, you would be great!

bpath, my great-grandmothers on my mothers side were twins, too. I have twin cousins on my dad's side, but that is it for us. Your family must have such fun when you all get together!

Thanks Tina. It is exciting.

Tina, so glad you are getting to see your dad!

Congratulations on the grand babies cyn!!

I am going back to the workplace soon after five months working from home. Our cases are low and I’m ok with it.

emmett is getting his “big boy bed” tomorrow! Mattress on the floor until the frame comes from wayfair. He requested “trucks” and I found a sweet comforter with all the construction trucks he can handle. Thank you homesense! I scoured the internet and couldn’t find a thing.

other than that we went on vacation on PEI with Emmett’s cousin. The highlight was visiting a goat farm. Here they are checking for poop.

taking a tour of our local private swimming/tennis club tomorrow. I keep telling myself it’s cheaper than putting in a pool....

Robo, it’s cheaper and a lot less headache. And when you are weighing the cost don’t forget the bump in the cost of your home insurance if you added a pool.

Cyn, congratulations on your twin grand babies! our first is arriving in November and we are so excited. The Great Grandparent Name Challenge is finally over with all parties agreeing that no one (me) can take our family’s traditional grandmother name while the current Lolly is still using it 😉. So after November 20th I will be Kitty and DH will be Poppy. I envy my Greek BFF who already knows she will be a YaYa and her husband will be Papou. Our GP names definitely lack any interesting flair and kind of sound like players on a suburban tiddlywinks team, but I assure you some of the alternatives were, hmmm.

We canceled our upcoming yoga retreat this weekend because all the rain expected means the classes will not be out of doors. I am just not ready to do indoor yoga with a group and am not sure I could even do it masked. Later in the fall is an interesting weekend of forest bathing planned at the same resort and I might sign us up for that Just to see the expression on DH’s face when I tell him where we are going.

We are taking the dogs out daily on the new golf cart which is a pleasure to drive—-more power, lift kit, bigger tires, etc, looks like it could eat our old one that now lives across the street as our neighbor bought it. Early am or about 6 pm we take the golf cart path around the entire course and we’ve seen deer, foxes, wild turkeys and smaller fauna. It’s a fun trip and so far neither of us has gotten tired of it. We use the golf course lot for ppl who don’t play!

We’re going out for dinner tomorrow night for our 42nd anniversary - at our golf club down the street. I had planned to walk over and dine on the patio. However it’s supposed to be 90 degrees with dewpoint in the mid-60s so I’m taking a chance and going inside. The place is not crowded and the precautions are rigorous so I’m not worried about doing so. I think we’ve only dined out indoors once since the virus.

Robo, that goat picture is the best. Too funny. Thanks for the congrats and congrats to Emmett on his big boy bed! That is a milestone. My son and belle-fille are trying to keep Emma in her crib as long as possible-she turned two on July 25 and has climbed out once, but apparently she was a tad angry that time. Ha. I remember the days of cars and trucks on sheets. Gosh I miss those times.

Kswl, how exciting-your first! It is the most wonderful thing ever, being a grandma. I love your names! Kitty and Poppy. So cute. We are Bibi (Swahili for grandma) and Papa. It is so fun to hear Emma calling through the house for Papa or Bibi. We had electricians here yesterday and Emma was calling, "Papa, Sam caught a mouse!" obver and over until she found him. The electrician was quite amused. She is a pip. Do you know if yours will be a boy or a girl yet?

Cyn, Bibi is cute and since my name starts with B, I think it could work for me (if you don’t mind sharing, that is). But I worry that I will be Granny, as that is what all the kids call my DMIL. It suits her just fine, but I don’t feel like a Granny. My mom was Grandma or a “Bibi”-like version of her name, so I can’t be that. My Danish name I think would be farmor, and that doesn’t appeal to me at all. We called our farmor mormor, which wasn’t appropriate because she was our father’s mother, not mother’s mother, but that’s what the first grandchild called her so it stuck. But why am I getting ahead of myself! All these adorable grandbaby pictures and stories are so enticing! patience, bpath, patience.

Robo, what an adorable picture, looks like it belongs on the cover of Farmers Almanac or something. Cyn very exciting news about your twins. When dd1 was expecting she told me it was twins then made me promise I wouldn’t tell a soul until she got further along. I did break that promise, I didn’t tell my BFF or my sister I told a lady in the line at the grocery store I just had to or I’d explode. That was 11 years ago and I still remember how excited we were.

Kswl congratulations!!!

Update: my husband was skeptical about the club but the tour, as I thought, totally won him over and he whipped out his credit card on the spot. Very catskills, dirty dancing, summer camp for the whole family type of vibe. Plus check out the views... (not my pics)

There is a giant (40x40foot?) sandbox and beside it the lido pool is partitioned into a toddler splash pool that is "sand friendly" aka apparently they won't yell at my toddler for running directly from one into the other. I checked.

The three other pools, one of which is 21+.

They also have a lot of tennis and sailing facilities - not for me but maybe Emmett will enjoy them if we stay members. The thing that would make this place absolutely perfect is if they had a year round indoor fitness facility, which they do not. But they do run summer camps for kids, which I am excited about!