A prayer request, a kalanchoe, and another chicken recipe.

Has it really been over a week since my last post?  You would thank that with all this spare time on my hands I would have time to write a blog post but - eh, I guess my motivation is nowhere to be found.

The weather here has been glorious since the weekend.  It's been in the upper 70s and sunshine and that has done a lot to lift my spirits.  I've been walking every morning in an attempt to get rid of all the extra weight that I have put on in the last year.  I could blame it all on the quarantine but I would be kidding myself.  I was at a wonderful weight early last spring and then proceeded to gain a lot of it back on our vacation last July and haven't been able to lose it again. 

In fact, it's almost as if I turned 50 in September and my body was like, "Oh, you think you want to lose some weight, do you?  Well, guess what?  You're an old lady now so not only will losing weight be harder but you will automatically gain extra weight even though you are not eating any extra and exercising the same as before."

Apparently not only is my body against me but it's now talking to me as well.

Perhaps turning 50 also brought on a little craziness?

I guess all of this to say, I'm working against age-related weight gain AND a quarantine so all my clothes are getting tight.  And it really stinks because I bought a bunch of new shorts last spring since I was at a nice new low weight and guess what doesn't fit now?  Yep - all those cute shorts.

Okay - so I've addressed the weather and my weight.  Is anyone still reading?  Have you all fallen asleep? I really wouldn't blame you if you had.  :)

So, what's been happening around here?

Dan's 84-year-old uncle has tested positive for COVID-19.  He is a retired priest living in a priests retirement community.  4 other priests had tested positive two weeks ago, one of which was a good friend of Uncle Bob's. 

Uncle Bob has a mild case of it and was being tended to at the retirement community.  However, on Monday the staff didn't like his oxygen levels so they took him to the hospital. He as admitted and given oxygen through the nose.  Thankfully he is not on a ventilator and they are expecting to move him from the hospital to a rehab facility today so they can continue to monitor his levels and make sure he is well before they send him back to the retirement community. Your prayers for him are appreciated.

I picked up this cute little kalanchoe from Aldi this week during my one trip out into the world and was very pleased to discover that it matched my Mrs. Meyer's products.  It's the little things, y'all!

I tried a new recipe this week and everyone liked it so I will definitely be making it again:

I know it doesn't look like much but it was delicious from this picture but it was really good.  It's Coconut Chicken Tikki Masala from Half Baked Harvest.  Check out her pictures.  It looks much better!  I served it with rice and grilled naan bread and was told to make it again.  So I will!

I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of my hummingbirds and yesterday I spotted one on one of the feeders!  I was so happy to see it.  But it flew away and I haven't spotted another one yet.  But don't worry - I'll be filling up the pages of this blog with pictures of them soon enough.

I made a chocolate log roll for Sunday dessert and it was delicious.  They are a lot of work but one of Dan's favorite desserts and what else is there to do these days so I had no excuse.  I overbeat the egg whites and I think that's why the cake came out a little fluffier than it should have.  This extra fluffiness made it harder to roll so it wasn't as pretty as it could have been but it tasted delicious.

Do you remember the one I made in December?  It's right here. It's so much prettier (because I was trying to make it look like an actual buche de noel.)  Anyway, the one I made in December wasn't as tasty so I guess I'll take good taste over good looks any day.

Starting today, the kids are on Easter break until the 20th.  They are excited not to have any school work to do over the break but other than that, there's really no excitement.  Peter was supposed to be touring colleges with his friends and then we were all going to Charleston/Folly Beach for a long weekend.  Now, Peter's going to try to help his uncle for some extra money and Sarah's going to do an online class to work towards her lifeguard certification.  (She was supposed to be doing all the in-pool and in-class portion of it over this break)  Hopefully, the pools will be open in May so she can complete the rest of the Red Cross training but I'm not sure.  She was hoping to be done with it this month so she could get a job this summer lifeguarding.   

Right before everything was closed down, a new shop selling ice cream and coffee near our house was in the process of opening.  Obviously, they haven't opened yet and I'm hoping that they will still be able to when life goes back to normal.  Sarah, who loves coffee, has also decided that she would like to work there as well when she turns 16.

Oh, and by the way - MY BABY WILL BE 16 IN TWO MONTHS!!!  She keeps reminding me of this but I keep trying to put it out of my mind.  She's even sending me links to cars so I guess it's all happening whether I want to admit it or not.

All right this post is getting away from me.  I am going to attempt to write more this week.  Not that I will have anything exciting to write about but at least it will give me something to do. See you tomorrow - maybe.