God has given us another weather trifecta – cool and sunny with a subtle breeze. I am just now on my first cup of coffee. We all slept late, including Potatoe. Aren’t doggies supposed to wake their person up? Not Potatoe. He would have stayed in bed yet another couple of hours if it were up to him.
Little Chirp is out at his basketball court enjoying the amazing weather. Brainy Bird is writing the draft of his research paper for the scholarship application. If nothing else, he is learning a great deal about his topic. The kitties are enjoying their afternoon naps. I guess they deserve their naps as they were the only ones up before 10 AM this morning. I spoiled Potatoe with a fried egg on top of his food. He is now sleeping off his full tummy.
I plan to go outside with Potatoe and enjoy the weather myself once he wakes up from his nap. I am slowly working my way back up on the running front. I went from running a half marathon on the first of January in 2019 to not being able to run a mile at the start of this year. This is a result of a foot injury and then an insane work schedule at the conclusion of the year, which did not allow me time to work out. Potatoe is happy to be back to running. He gets so excited when I put my shoes on. He needs to get more exercise too. I keep telling him that he is fluffy, not fat, but the vet had a different perspective.
Once Brainy Bird finishes his last scholarship application, we are going to turn our attention to Little Chirp. Little Chirp met both of his fall school year goals – making the basketball team and making all A’s. His grades are outstanding, and he made a 100 on his Algebra final. He will be rewarded in the form of family game time and a couple of special dinners over the next couple of days. He gets get to pick the games and the dinners. For the dinners, he picked vegetable chili and Thai basil chicken.
I find it ironic that, vegetable chili, a dish that I first made for myself to take to work for lunch during the week, is now Little Chirp’s favorite. Anytime he gets to choose, he goes with the vegetable chili. The name is a misnomer, it has ground beef in it, but for every pound of beef, it has a pound of vegetables. It is delicious and extremely healthy.
The request for the Thai basil chicken is a feather in my cap, as it is one of the few dishes that I perfected myself. It expensive to make because of the fresh Thai basil, so it is great choice for a reward. I am trying to grow my own Thai basil. I should have grown enough to make our Thai basil dish once by the time that Little Chirp goes to college. In other words, this is a very slow growing process. In the spring, I am going to get a herb table, and I am going to buy medium sized plants. Trying to grow from seeds is painful. Usually, one can by a producing plant at a nursery for the same price that they can buy a bunch of the herbs at the grocery store. The economics are there.
I return to work tomorrow after just a couple of days off, and I am looking forward to it. The boys return to school on Wednesday. A few schools in Texas are delaying their spring start because of the pandemic. So far, the plan is for us to return to school on Wednesday.
A woman that I know and absolutely adore has been hospitalized with COVID. They have things under control, but she will be in the hospital another four days. There is a new strain of the virus that is believed to be even more contagious. It feels almost as if we are in the same position this year as we were this time last year. Is this new strain of the virus going to wreak havoc on 2021 as the previous strain did to 2020.
As the shutdown was happening in March of 2020, few thought that this would last into the fall of 2020 much less the new year, and here we are. The businesses of many states are still mostly closed. Our businesses in Texas are mostly open, but we are handling things county by county, and some counties have again shutdown and limited capacity of bars, restaurants, churches and gyms. In short, the pandemic is far from over.
Brainy Bird and I had a heart to heart yesterday. I never would have thought that his senior year would be impacted by the pandemic as the high school seniors were impacted last year. We both agree though that he would much rather this last semester of high school cancelled and be without prom or graduation than to have the start of college cancelled in the fall. Emotionally, he is done with high school, and he is ready to start the next chapter of his life.
Potatoe just woke up, and put his head in my lap as if to say, “Outside time Mommy?” Off we go to enjoy the beautiful day.
It is the little things in life.