ChiCricket

Thanks for posting all the details on how your church handled everything. My husband is chomping at the bit to go to a real Mass again. I hope his is just as cautious when they open up again. I have to admit I don't want him to go yet, because he will be hard pressed to follow social distancing rules... (I love him, but he's kind of clueless.)🙄 She'd better call ahead to be sure.😯

Speaking of downtowns..this is what Chicago did. They raised all the bridges except one, to control access in and out. My granddaughter's best friend got stuck downtown for many hours with no way to get home, because they shut the L's down too (this happened yesterday.) Ps L's are elevated trains 🙂

Oh my.

My daughter just posted this: "Cops chasing people all over and my stupid neighbors are standing on the sidewalk holding their baby in their arms watching it all go down. Wth is wrong with people?" She lives right near the Brickyard Mall in Chicago, her husband works in the Home Depot there. They closed down that Home Depot at 3pm and sent everyone home. We don't know anything else (if it was damaged later or not.) They closed the one in my suburb too. But don't forget... (found on Facebook...not mine)

Ooooh..it's on Amazon Prime...now I can watch it to see how you think RFP would pronounce Irene.😁 I love finding new stuff to watch..how do the Duggars stand not watching TV? Going to normal movies?? I guess if you don't know any different... I mean, I (probably) could do without TV if I still had books..but they only allow religious books, right? I can't imagine all the things they missed growing up. Blah.

I miss my grands SO much. I have found it too chaotic to try and talk to a big group of my grands by zoom, messenger, or hangout (the ones they are all allowed to use..the parents monitor them.) So I have been calling each of them one at a time...I talk to them a bit, and it seems so much better for me and them. They know I'll always keep it very short (because I told them this all upfront when I started these calls. ) So far, they're always willing to answer my calls. Then I say " OK, I just wanted to say hello and "see" you...so I'll say goodbye now..unless you have something you want to talk about..." I'm really happy about how much most of them do want to talk longer.💖 Sometimes after we talk a bit, I'll say, "is/are there any cousin(s) you want me to invite to this chat?" (they usually do!) For some reason, they don't initate the chats themselves, but love it when I do.

Happy Birthday @Rabbittron and happy house getting!!

Today is my birthday, and so two of my kids came over with marigolds and tomato plants and planted them for me, while I watched through the storm door. 😊 They tried to bring me some Taco Bell, but they had run out of beef! 😱 (they got me a chicken sandwich at Popeyes instead)😋 Are meat shortages like this happening near any of you?

What? This is my only safe place to vent and complain...do I have to stop?😁 Ps....to stop myself from typing out a long angry post about one of my daughters, I decided to add a mask to my avatar instead. (Very badly done)😂 Anyone else want to try? Here's the site I used: https://www.kapwing.com/explore/maskon-your-profile-picture-for-covid19-safety

Aaaand..it didn't even sprinkle here😂 (it just started pouring..I jinxed it)

My area is under a tornado warning right now 😱

Here's an update.

So sorry to hear of this 😢

This week , I have virtually attended one high school graduation, two 8th grade graduations, and a kindergarten and preschool graduation (give me a break on the preschool one🙄 😄) They all were very different from normal ones..that's for sure! They were all prerecorded, and all of our family had a watch party for each one, so we felt like we were there together..since we watched at the same time. I am so tired just from the virtual ones..imagine if we actually had to get dressed up and really go to them all! One upside is that normally everyone is admonished not to clap or cheer for your graduate, until all the names were called..well, we all whooped and cheered LOUDLY for our high school granddaughter Elizabeth..and nobody but my own family knew.💖 Ps we had a graduation birthday parade for her..but it was pouring rain...of course.🙃 (2nd pic is of my German granddaughter Jasmine, who was attending a virtual honor roll assembly and was surprised to find out she made the principal's honor roll.)🤗

We have a bird's nest in our upstairs bathroom's exhaust vent. It has babies in it chirping away at all hours. I can't wait until they vacate and we can clean it out and fix it so the parents can't build a new one after they leave the nest. I'm not even sure if that happens more than just once in the spring? But I want my bathroom fan back! I need to be able to use it with the husband I have! (He needs more fiber.)😝 We had to put tape over the switch to the fan so we wouldn't forget and use it, and hurt the babies. But I'm ready to evict..they have to be teenagers by now.😂

My mom went to a strict German-Lutheran school..and got her hands beat with a ruler to make her change.(1930's) She said it was considered evil to be left handed. Wtf. She always said "but actually, it was good in the long run, beause it made me ambidextrous!" (but our whole family knew it f'ed her up mentally, big time.) Dark times. And people like Jeremy want to drag us back...little by little..step by step...

Free for 48 hours only! The award winning play..not the bad movie..although I haven't seen either one (yet) to judge how good or bad they are.😊 Ps..I was today years old when I learned you can watch YouTube AD-FREE if you open it up in the free Ad blocker browser! How did I not know this before?? 🤔

They went by our town the other day here in Illinois. I sat outside at the time they said they'd go by, but didn't see or hear them myself. We must have been too far away. This picture is from someone else who caught them going by the Sam's Club.

That was SO good!!!! So well made. And yes, I had to get past the fact that she does look so much like Jill. Can't mix up my Hamilton love with my Duggar snark..my mind might explode.😂

I had never heard of a Leeroy Jenkins moment, so I googled it. Looked like all the players died at the end...that doesn't sound good... Also, how old were the guys playing this weird fantasy game in this video? They sounded like grown men.😱 (btw, if cursing offends you, this is not for you) PS..I learn something new every day in these forums... 😂

I really am..and feeling much better today, finally. Thanks for all the well wishes 💗 Ps just opened my gifts..now I need to figure out what an echo dot is used for, and how to use it..😁 Ps...and a...smart plug? Huh?

I may have mentioned my (huge) old lady crush on Lin-Manuel Miranda, and my obsession with Hamilton?? I am soo happy to see this coming. I'm getting Disney+ just for it! 😁 I better have SOMEONE irl I can watch it with! I don't care if we have to still sit outside six feet apart while watching on separate computers😂

I've been sick with a stomach bug for two days, and was still in bed around 2 this afternoon, when my husband came in and said "you have to come downstairs!" I groaned "leave me aloooone!" Then I heard honking, so I got dressed. My 3 Illinois kids and my 6 Illinois grands did a drive by mothers day parade for me. I mean..as much as a drive by as you can do on a little dead end street. 😊 So cute, so nice of them, so cold and rainy outside! They made me stand way back and opened the door and threw all the posters and gifts and balloons in (they didn't want to leave them on the porch to get soaked.) They called and included my other two kids and 7 grands (the ones who live on a boat, and the ones who live in Germany) on a video call while everyone was parked in front, so I got to see everybody at once ! :::::sniff:::::😁 now I'm going to crawl back into bed and open cards and gifts when I feel better.

😊

Just to prove my point (and to brag) this is MY niece Samantha on this Huggies package. Can't get much whiter (and cuter, if I do say so myself) than this! She just graduated high school this year, btw. ❤