Crazy4books

The grocery store that was on strike here is owned by Kroger but calls itself King Sooper’s in the metro areas and City Market in the mountains. I don’t why they do this but anything generic sold in the stores is labeled Kroger. I finally got to go shopping this evening and it was wonderful…no crowds, great selection. I don’t know what that says about me that I grocery shopped on Saturday night and enjoyed it

We have Sprouts, Whole Foods and Safeway here too. I do some shopping at Sprouts and the selection is usually pretty good. Safeway is expensive and doesn’t have a lot to choose from while Whole Foods is the only place that sells the flavor of Larabars that my daughter loves. We have Trader Joe’s but the closest is in Boulder, about 30 minutes away, and I hate driving over there so I don’t go all that often. When we lived in Boston they had a store on every street corner it seems but here they are much pickier where they put them. The store closest to me doesn’t sell alcohol so that kinds sucks but they do have a great frozen food selection and their flowers are SO cheap.

One of the entertainment bloggers I follow was saying how scary Archive 81 is too. I don’t want to watch the last episode of Yellowjackets even though I keep hearing the last 10 minutes are insane. I’m doing the same with Yellowstone and the last few episodes of the current season because I don’t want either show to end and have to wait until later this year for them to come back. It’s not like I don’t have other stuff to watch but it’s hard to find something that makes me just want to binge it non stop.

SouthernSweetieTX

I finished first season of The Mayor of Kingstown last night. OMG! Crazy and intense!
I’m on episode 5 of season 4 of Yellowstone.

I’m loving my hot tea on these cold days. The kids said I’m going to turn into a proper Brit. OM tried it, but she didn’t like it. I’ve got an apple cinnamon one that I think tastes just like apple cider. She disagrees.

I moved some stuff around in my office and I have more room to craft now. That makes me happy.

worthyoflove

I have a Whole Foods a few miles from me but I don't go there a ton. I feel like I can get equally good produce at my local market, and it's cheaper...I used to go there more often for their salad bar/pre-cooked food for dinner, but they took that away during Covid. We have a lot of comparable places to Whole Foods around here, Westborn, Plum Market, Nino Salvaggios so they give Whole Foods some competition.

Archive 81...I'm not sure how I felt about it. Worth the watch? Sure. It's different but decent. Definitely sets up for a season 2.

We had two Clippers move through this weekend and they're my least favorite type of snow. So they called for maybe a dusting this weekend and we've gotten like five inches. Go figure.

And then I spent much of my afternoon without power for no reason, it's 20 degrees, no wind, sunny. Who knows. Of course it was right after I put my white chicken chili in the crockpot so I'lll be eating dinner at like 8 o'clock now.

elherts

I go to Whole Foods, Wegmans, Costco, Trader Joes, and ShopRite. I haven't actually been IN Whole Foods since the pandemic so I don't know if they have the salads and hot food. I was going to pop in their this week to check. I got my hair done yesterday and its more like a therapy session. My hairdresser convinced me to do Home Fresh so I am going to do that. My goal for today is to do that and order some groceries. Wish me luck. I really just want to go take a nap.

I wish I liked hot tea. I just can't get into hot beverages... except hot chocolate of course. I can do a peppermint tea or a strong citrus flavored one from time to time after dinner at a restaurant, but that's it. I like cold tea though but with lots of lemon and not strong. As for coffee, I can't even do coffee flavored ice cream.

All of the soccer blogs and Social Media accounts I follow are raving about Yellowjackets. I may have to watch it. But I'm scared!

My Starbucks has been randomly closed and its annoying. Everyone says staffing bc of Covid but none of the others have needed to close, and no other DD or pizza place etc. that I know of. I think it's just poor planning. Maybe I am being insensitive. BTW, speaking of pizza places, I went into mine on Friday night and the owner was there, totally saw me, didn't even say hello. Granted he was in the back and looked really busy.

I feel a little off today. I tiny bit achy and stuffy. I took a test and it was negative. I was with my parents last night so I just wanted to be on top of it, otherwise I wouldn't have tested. Hopefully it won't get any worse. My niece tested negative 4 times before testing positive.

I love blackberries. I can eat a whole pint in one sitting, especially if they are the perfect ripe.

I need to get my hands on some high grade masks.

Crazy4books

Well the rona finally got us. My oldest started complaining of a headache yesterday and a stomachache today so I decided to test her before school tomorrow & she tested positive almost immediately. My husband had some congestion so I tested him and his was positive too. At that point, I decided to test myself and my youngest just to be safe and she came back with a pretty faint line and I’m negative. We’re getting PCR tests in the morning to confirm the results but I expect to be stuck home the rest of the week. None of us feel awful and honestly without this crap floating around I probably wouldn’t have thought to test either of the girls but not surprised that one of us caught it. I feel like I’ve either had it and not known or I’m going to be the one who doesn’t catch it. Right now I have the urge to Lysol my family and lock myself in the bedroom

The only hot drinks I like are hot tea and hot chocolate. I can’t stand the smell or taste of coffee. I am a huge ice tea fan and until recently liked it with a lot of crushed ice and lemon but lately the lemon feels too lemony which just ruins it for me. We have a DD right by the house (my fave place) and a ton of Starbucks all around us. A few of the Starbucks have been closing because of staff shortages but the DD hasn’t that I know of. I kinda gave up on Starbucks when they didn’t have my favorite drink this summer. I was a big fan of the Peach green tea lemonade but they ran out of it and never brought it back so I stopped going there.

Kiki- Yellowjackets is SO good & has a very Lost vibe to it. Maybe watch the 1st episode, which I don’t think was scary to see if it appeals to you.

A- I hope your power came back on & you were able to enjoy your chili. Losing power stinks but it’s even worse in the winter.

SouthernSweetieTX

I’m so sorry it got y’all. Hopefully, it’ll be mild.

I love the smell of coffee. I never liked the taste, but I cured that when I worked for a small coffee roasting company for a while. I need sugar and cream, but I enjoy it. I’m not a drink it all day or even every day person. I like hot apple cider and hot chocolate too. Peppermint tea is good too. I’ve never really liked any green teas though.
I LOVE iced tea. HTeaO is my favorite! I so want to buy a franchise! Our favorites are Georgia peach and Watermelon, both unsweetened. I do not like sugar in my cold tea, but I do like it in hot tea. That’s weird, I know.

Did you get your power back, A ?!?

I love berries, all berries. Blackberries grow particularly well in this area. I would love to have a bush or 12. My friends planted one a year ago, so I’ll be interested to see if they get berries this year.

So, random story. I got a sterling silver ring when OM was 3. I wear it everyday, I never take it off. Baby M has always liked to play with it. When he was little he stuck it over a plug-in nightlight and tried to plug it into a socket. He melted the ring. I took it to the jeweler and they took off the dripping fangs of silver and added it back to the ring. It will forever have prong marks. Jump to a year ago, I took it off while sitting in a chair in my living room. I dropped it and the chair ate it! It’s been missing ever since. We’ve moved the chair, turned it upside down, looked everywhere for it. TODAY, as we aware looking for OM’s phone she saw a circle in the chair. We flashed the light in that direction and it was my ring! It was black! I don’t know where in the chair it was, but it was well hidden! We pulled the polishing cloth out and it’s all shiny again, and back on my thumb where it belongs! I am so so so so so so happy! I told the kids we would have to chop the chair up at some point to find my ring.

The football games today were crazy that the end! We saw the ending of both games.
Speaking of football, the super bowl game is my new current currency with Baby M. I’m taking or giving minutes of the football game to him based on good behavior. I catch him doing good, I give him minutes to his bank. He fails to do homework, or a chore, or says a curse word and he loses minutes. So, say he loses 15 minutes…he can’t watch the last quarter of the game. He about died when I said I’d take them from the end of the game. I started this today and he’s banked 10 minutes and lost 5. So he’s still in the black for the day. We’ll see how this goes.

worthyoflove

I'm sorry you guys finally got hit! I feel like if you have kids in school it's just inevitable. I'm glad to hear you guys are mild so far. If it's omicron hopefully it'll stay that way.

My power was not out for too long, it was a huge swatch of us out so they got to it pretty much right away. But still inconvenient when it happens in the middle of the afternoon on a weekend. Well, I mean it's never convenient.

I never drank coffee in college and really didn't until after I turned 30 but I very very rarely drink it hot unless it's a Spanish coffee. I'm just not a hot drink person, don't love hot tea, coffee, hot chocolate even. It bothers my stomach. I'm weird. I will only drink iced coffee and I'm getting pickier, like now I really prefer cold brew. So usually I get cold brew with sugar free vanilla, heavy cream and cold foam. That's my go to right now. I do love espresso martinis, I'm on that kick right now.

So glad you found your ring! That's the worst knowing where you lost it and then not being able to find it.

Kiki, my friend who is afraid of basically everything scary watched Yellowjackets and said she only had to avert her eyes once. So there's that.

We finally got a decent amount of snow today, enough that I had to shovel twice. But a good excuse to work from home.

It's a momentous day. My stray outside black cat went into the heated house I have set up for him on my back porch. I guess the snow was enough to make him go in.

SouthernSweetieTX

That’s awesome! I’m glad he was warm!

Crazy4books

Happy news about your ring!!! I hate when I lose something that I know is in the house but can’t find it. I’m still trying to find my resistance band that I was using and no luck so far. My MIL had bought necklaces from Brighton to give to all the girls in our family on their birthdays and she put them in a safe place then forgot where it was for awhile. One day she opened up a basket and there they were.

Peppermint hot tea is my favorite. Tazo makes a vanilla bean macaroon that is incredible. I use Bailey’s as my creamer in it and call it a dessert tea. I like sweet tea too but unless you’re in the South it just doesn’t taste right anywhere else that I’ve had it.

I watched the Yellowjackets finale last night and WOW. I was wrong about Jackie and now I have so many more questions than answers.

I’m glad your stray finally decided to check out your shelter & hopefully he makes good use of it.

My niece had Crumbl cookies delivered tonight & it was a huge hit. The girls are super restless today and I feel paranoid being around sick people all day. We got our PCR tests done this morning and hopefully we get results soon. I just want to know if I got a false negative & if my youngest really does have it.

It’s supposed to start snowing here in the early morning and continue through the day. I think they said to expect 3-6 inches with a messy morning commute. I’m just happy to not have to drive in it so it can do whatever it wants tomorrow.

worthyoflove

I was a little underwhelmed by Yellowjackets but that had more to do with just Jackie and something we were teased with earlier in the season.

I still haven't started Ozark, that might be a this weekend project.

How are you guys feeling? I felt super run down today, I'm out of at home tests so I'm just kind of keeping to myself again. Between the winter blues and covid isolation I'm beyond stir crazy at this point.

Crazy4books

I thought most of the last episode of Yellowjackets was slow but the last 10 minutes were good and set up next season to get into what really happened in the woods.

We’re all doing good but my oldest is still complaining of a headache. If anything, we’re going stir crazy being cooped up together. I still have no symptoms but get more paranoid each day waiting for our test results.

We got a few inches of snow today with another snowstorm happening on Thursday. On average, we’re getting a few inches each time but still need a couple big storms to get caught up to where we should be this time of year. Since we’re all home my husband was able to use the snow blower instead of me shoveling so that was a plus.

SouthernSweetieTX

I did the most amazing thing today! I got a lymphatic drainage massage!!! Y’all! It was so awesome! I felt like I’ve needed it for awhile, so I found a place and made an appointment. Nothing was clogged, but I did have areas that we very fluid and needed help to drain. I cannot wait to see how I feel in the morning!
BONUS! I think I found my new chiropractor! I have an appointment with him next week!

worthyoflove

I have never had a massage, I'm weird about strangers touching me and I'm super ticklish, like I don't even like getting pedicures. But I have a friend who swears by the lympathic massage.

I went to Target just now for no reason other than to pick up sunscreen for my trip next month and ended up spending over $100. It always reminds me of my favorite tweet about Target: "No one goes to target because they need something. You go to target and let target tell you what you need."

Crazy4books

I’ve never had a lymphatic massage but I could see where that would feel heavenly. I had a massage once when we were in Hawaii & the masseuse was so rough that I had to tell her to stop. Ever since, I have stuck more to facials but when I was pregnant with my youngest I got a prenatal massage because I had so much swelling in my legs and feet. Good for you Kayla for making some time for self care.

I never go into Target without spending at least $50 or more. I call it the black hole because even if I intend to be in & out quickly it never happens and I just lose all track of time. I’ve been doing more order pick ups lately to save time but sometimes I just want to grab Starbucks and wander around.

Our PCR results came back today & my husband and girls are still positive while I continue to test negative. I really have no idea how that is happening but it’s ironic that I’ve stayed in the clear because ever since the girls have been born they have given me every germ they have ever had.

Amanda- I got our test kits from the government today. Did you get yours yet?

elherts

A lymphatic massage... hmmm. I don't think I know what that is, but it sounds amazing. I LOVE massages and facials. I don't like it too rough though.

I hope everyone is still feeling okay at your house. I have two weekends of birthday shenanigans coming up so I hope Covid stays away from us all.

We have a HUGE snowstorm coming this weekend. They said between 2-20 inches. Ha ha.

I finished Season 6 of Below Deck Mediterranean. I didn't watch the earlier ones though. Are they all in Croatia?

Currently I am reading Will Smith's biography. I LOVE it. I have always been drawn to him for some reason. He's so positive all of the time... and of course, he's from Philly. I knew he was from West Philadelphia (born and raised...) but I didn't know that he was from the Winfield section which is basically a middle class section. Well, at least it was. I did my student teaching in that area. His mother went to Carnegie Melon which is practically Ivy. It's been interesting so far. He's just been introduced to hip hop by a cousin and he's entering 9th grade. I basically just started it but I couldn't put it down. I laughed out loud several times so far.

I think I am going to pass on the new season of Ozark. I love Jason Bateman but I have never loved the show. I feel like everyone loves and I am like... "What am I missing???"

A- I tried to order HTeaO but they don't ship to New Jersey. I found it on Amazon too but it was out of stock. I only did a quick search on Amazon so I will keep looking. I always get two green iced teas unsweetened with lemon in the morning. I drink one and save the other for later in the day. They messed up the order today and sweetened one of the drinks, just one! I literally go there everyday. Weird.

My opinion is that hot beverages are stupid. They are too hot to drink most of the time and then they are perfect for like two sips, then too cold. I do wish I had something in the morning that was my go too because everyone seems so excited and happy to have their damn coffee. I like the smell but not the taste.