



Grannie and Katie started a puzzle while we were out—they had over half done when we got home and I can’t just let a puzzle sit so it immediately sucked me in! We were almost late to Anna and David’s because we lost track of time! So we took a break then finished it in about five minutes once we got home.

No better time to have an unusable shower than when we have houseguests! Tom tore all this apart but we’re still waiting for the contractor to see just how bad it really is.


The story of my life.
I’ve been casually looking at birch prints, saying if I ever found one I loved (and it was in budget) I’d get it. So when I saw this artist on Facebook and fell in love with the style, I searched and he had birch options! So I found one I absolutely loved and after much thought, went ahead and got it.
Aaaaaand…it looks totally different and I don’t like it. I mean it’s similar and obviously the “same” but it doesn’t have the same feel at all.
The birch trees don’t look enough like real birch trees. (The ones along the right side don’t look like birch trees at all.) The limbs on the left set of trees look like half circles instead of branches. The path is too defined. There’s too much orange and red. The style is similar but not what I wanted.

Now, caveat, these are copies of originals. As in painters copy the style of the original. But I thought it would be a much better copy.
They do have a return policy so I started that process. Their customer service is pretty good and they gave me some options:
Thank you very much for your purchase. I’m sorry that you do not like the painting. We want you to be satisfied with our services. We have the following options for you
1 – you can return with prepaid return label . After the return, we issue a full refund. Please request the return label if you wish one
2 – we can provide a replacement of the same piece/s in form of prints on canvas. This way the image of the master original will be reproduced by a machine in its original size. This option does not require return
3- Free exchange for a different painting altogether or exchange for the same painting that you will like better
For all options we will be sending images for approval prior to shipping . Only after you approve the new piece, we will proceed with the shipping.
I was debating 2 or 3 and ended up going with 3 to try again…and that piece was just as bad. I don’t think they looked at my feedback at all—they just grabbed another off the shelf and sent the pic. Nope. I’ve asked for a return label.
Just out of curiosity, I asked what Facebook thought and everyone agreed it was pretty much a shitshow. So I’m disappointed.




This is her new cuddle spot—as soon as Tom lays down, she moves here.

Apparently the main bedroom shower grout has been leaking for a loooong time. Likely before we even moved in. And it’s not covered by the home warranty since it wasn’t a plumbing issue.
Yay for home ownership, right?


A friend’s dad is a contractor so he came over to check it out. He doesn’t think it’s too bad but we have to pull off the tiles to look behind to make sure.
Anna had three briskets in her freezer and we’re both on Project Freezer Cleanout…

When you get called in for a standby COVID vaccination, you drop what you’re doing and go.





Seventeen years is a long time for a cat, but it was still too soon. I hated to make the call but she told us it was time.
We are all devastated of course, and the kids are really taking it hard—especially Katie since Charlie has been her best buddy since Day 1.
It’s hard to pick from all the thousands of pictures I have, so here’s just a few of the more recent ones.

Rest in peace, Charlie.

Enjoying the Yukon for the first burn of the season… Before it gets too chilly tonight and then snows later this week.

This is how my day is going. And guess what? It happened on the second batch, too.



Random selfies during the day!



My mom friends have been doing ninja porch drop offs with random gifts every so often (it’s hilarious what some will do to try and avoid the Ring)!! And I’ve been wanting to return the favors but just couldn’t come up with the right thing. Then I hit on these tumblers. It took awhile to decide on the perfect saying but once I found this one I knew that was it! (Piper Lou has great stuff and great deals, BTW.)

Needless to say we’re all looking forward to using them together again this summer!
Katie has been begging to go back to gymnastics class so when they finally opened, we had to go in to get her evaluated (since it’s been two years since she finished her class). She picked up most of it pretty quickly.


Today I learned that some of my socks have definitive letters on them for (L)eft and (R)ight. Huh.

We had not planned to send the kids back to school but due to unforeseen circumstances, we changed our minds.
This is definitely not what we had anticipated for his first day of middle school but we’re rolling with it!



And waiting at the bus stop! Normally his stop would be in front of our house but with remote learning plus hybrid and whatnot, everything is abnormal.

The kids were super excited to get back to the pool! They haven’t been in lessons in over a year, but they both got right back into it like pros.




We all decided to go out Pokemoning and I felt guilty about leaving Maggie so I bundled her up in a blanket and brought her with us. She loved it. She just curled up on my lap the whole time.

Anna is running for school board so asked for help passing out fliers. Angela and I did a few neighborhoods today—she drove and I delivered! I was surprised how tired I got!
This was our proof to her that we were actually doing it!





She was asleep in Tom’s chair in the sun as I sat down on the couch with the blanket. Within 30 seconds she had popped her head up and came over to cuddle with me.
