luvteaching

Good morning, We're having a lovely day today with a projected high of 71. I can handle that. The long range forecast doesn't have any rain in it so this could be a sign that Spring is really here. Thank you, again, for all the kind thoughts yesterday. I did well and though I of course miss DD DH tons I was able to get through the day and carry on. Now the last "First" will be June 27th which was the day he passed. Today is staying home. I'm looking after the dog next door and have already walked over, fed her breakfast and let her out for the day. That added 1000 steps to my pedometer since I went the long way. I am going to make a lemon pound cake to take to the widows support group potluck tomorrow and probably a batch of chocolate chip cookies. It's time to move the Spring clothes over to the closet so hope to make a dent in that task. Moscato was DD DH's favorite but I'm more of a Riesling fan. I found the Moscato a tad too sweet. Happy Thursday! Karen

Good evening, Thanks for all the good wishes today. They worked! Not much in the way of tears and I even got a new picture of the great-granddaughters texted to me! I've toasted DD DH with a glass of wine (Riesling) and will have a special dessert for him in a bit. I appreciate all the good thoughts and thank you! Karen

Good morning, We have sunshine and that's all I see in the forecast for at least a week! Highs in the mid-high 70's by the weekend. Thanks for all the good thoughts on DD DH's heavenly birthday today. It's the first one so we'll see how I do. So far so good. He loved his hummingbirds so I'll wear my hummingbird socks and earrings in his honor today and have some salmon with the brown sugar glaze for dinner. His fave was meatloaf but not mine so we'll go with his second favorite. So far I'm doing fine and I hope it stays that way. It's also our great-granddaughter's first birthday so keeping that at the forefront of my thoughts. Off to the pool, a few errands, and I'm looking after the puppy dog, Bella, next door until Sunday. Plenty to keep me busy. Karen

Good morning, It's overcast but the sun is trying to shine through. We didn't get the hail that @Cruising-along mentioned yesterday but we did get some rain. Now there's no rain in the forecast until next week sometime. I can handle that! Today is a day to stay home. I have several things I'd like to get done - unless a good book calls my name! I've been working on some banking items. Next up is wrapping some birthday gifts for the "greats" so they are ready to go. Our youngest great granddaughter (Ivy) is 1 tomorrow and I'll focus on that as it's also DD DH's 84th birthday. Our great-niece is 7 on the 20th and then the other great granddaughter is 4 on June 15th. Wrapping will keep me busy. There's always clothes to put away and I'm going to start tackling packing up DD DH's clothes - a little at a time probably. All is good and I enjoy the time at home. Tomorrow is the pool for two water aerobics classes. The pool is my happy place. Also starting to get prepared for the first cruise. It's on Majestic Princess on June 2-9. This is one I'm going solo on which I'm looking forward to. Karen

GOod afternoon everyone, It's a soggy day here but we have had some sun breaks. That's ok. I did the pool this morning and the first class only had 11 of us where we are usually closer to 20. By the time we got to the strength training with the buoys there were only 6 of us in the pool! The arthritis class had 10 so that's good for us. I stopped at a couple of places on the way home and now the washer is going to get the bathing suit and towel done and I'm trying to get a few things done around here. Nothing else too exciting. @kazu Thanks for starting us and I hope your foot responds well to the antibiotics @JazzyV Yikes on BFF! I'll see if I have any bubblewrap around for your both. Karen

Good morning, The day is starting out overcast but never fear - rain is coming! We have a couple of soggy days forecasted but highs in the mid-high 70's by the weekend so that's life in the Pacific Northwest. Welcome home @kazu. Enjoy a day cuddling with Ivan. Congrats to Morgan @StLouisCruisers! Today is a stay-at-home day and I'm hoping to get the closet changed over to the Spring and Summer clothes. Since it's Cinco de Mayo I may have a chicken burrito for dinner. I got some nice ones at the big box store and they heat up very nicely in the air fryer. I coat them with a bit of olive oil and wrap them in foil. They are filled with chicken and quite tasty. This week is busy with the pool and the widows support group potluck on Friday. Wednesday is my day I'll see how I'm doing on as it's DD DH's birthday (he'd have been 84) and more importantly our great granddaughter's 1st birthday (her name is Ivy). Have a lovely and relaxing Sunday. Karen

@YVRteacher I ordered the school teacher book today. Am looking forward to reading it. The first book in the Sue Henry series is "Murder on the Iditarod". If we were closer I'd loan them to you as I have them all. I'll check out the Rainy Retreat books in Juneau when I'm there in June. Karen

@kazu and Deb - have a safe trip home! I'll look forward to reading your wrap-up of the cruise. Karen

Good morning from a grey overcast Pacific Northwest. That's ok - the rain is supposed to hold off until tomorrow and by mid-week we're in the mid to upper 70's. I'm taking that as a hint to get out the Spring/Summer clothes and change over the closet. I need to start packing DD DH's clothes and get them ready to donate. Just haven't done it yet for no good reason other than procrastination. Wednesday, the 8th, would have been his 84th birthday and last year our great-granddaughter was born on his birthday so I'll concentrate on that. Yesterday was the pool and errands as well as getting a few things done around here. I have a month until my first of 4 Alaska cruises. This one is by myself on Majestic Princess. I want to get my dining booked and then I can relax. Today will be a stop at a friend's Open House (she's a realtor and we get a visit in) and calling my Mom who will be thrilled the Vancouver Canucks won last night. I'm still working on getting my desk cleaned off and other lovely fun things. Have a good Saturday and enjoy the weekend! Karen

@YVRteacher Have you read the Sue Henry Alaska mystery series? It's a set I really enjoyed. I love how you are showing bookstores! Where were the ones in Juneau? I know there's one by Hanger on the Wharf but hadn't found any others. Thank you! Karen

@ger_77 Yay!!! What wonderful news. I tend to cry easily so I tell people I was born with my bladder behind my eyes. Maurice had a great comeback. Karen

Good afternoon, As @Cruising-along mentioned we're having a lovely day here with sun and nice temperatures. Tomorrow is to be a repeat and somewhat warmer and then back to rain. Yesterday was busy with 2 water aerobics classes in the morning and then I met a friend at Panera for lunch. We taught together and it was nice to catch up. Today has been laundry and getting some walking in. My goal is my craft room/office/mess and I promised myself I wouldn't start a new jigsaw puzzle until I got it more organized. Notice I said "more" and not "totally". I'm also gearing up for graduation. I have up to 24 former students graduating this year so need to track them down and double-check on their status. I'll be on the Majestic Princess on graduation day. I send all my former students I can connect with a card and a $5.00 Starbucks gift card. Next year will be my last class. We were a small rural school and I have kids graduating this year, and next, who I taught their parents and siblings as well. No to the drink and meal, maybe on the wine on a BHB. Have a lovely rest of the day! Karen

It's unusual to see HAL at the Franklin dock - they're usually at the first 2. I'll be waving from a HAL ship on July 9 and Sept. 9th. On both cruises I'm taking friends who have never been to Alaska or on a cruise ship before. This could be interesting! Karen

@rafinmd. Regarding the map. I'm on Safari and have it on "satellite view". I can zoom in and out just fine and it refreshes. Karen PS: I'm also on a MAC.

Good afternoon, It's a cloudy/sunny/windy day - typical for the Pacific Northwest! I'm finally home. Today was two water aerobics classes and then I did the banking since tomorrow is payday and I'm within minutes of the bank. That saves a trip to town tomorrow which takes about 25 minutes. I got home and my wonderful DS had been here. My new office chair was put together, he'd filled the hummingbird feeders and brought in a package that came in the mail. I missed seeing him and having a visit but it's ok. He's gone back to school this quarter (first time) and told me today he has 1035 in his Communication Class! As an adult ADHD with a tendency to not be focused and organized he's learning time management and how to make things work. Yay!!! Now to put the new chair in place and I want to get some cleaning done in my craft room - particularly my desk as I know there's an Amazon gift card on there somewhere! Karen

Just checked the webcam and it's a nice day in Juneau with clouds and sun. Let's hope it holds for the travelers.

Good morning, It's a soggy start to the day and the weather forecast calls for more rain. That's ok - nowhere to go today and I can get things done here. I have a craft room and desk that really need some attention and I can find lots of cleaning to take care of. Yesterday I ran to town (about a 20 minute drive on back roads with little traffic) and put a card in the mail and then got rid of all the expired meds at the drug take-back day. What a relief to have that taken care of. DD DH had so many meds he was on and I had quite a stockpile of them as well as old over-the-counter ones that it was rather cleansing to have them all out of the cupboard and out of the house. Now I'll get that cupboard wiped out and maybe do some rearranging. DS just informed me that he'll be over tomorrow instead of today, which is fine. I have a few "son do" jobs that he claims I can no longer do on my own. I'll gladly give up the lawn mowing (although it will be too wet for him to do it tomorrow) but I can do a few other things. I have a new office chair that I would like him to put together for me but I may try and do it myself today. Have a lovely and relaxing Sunday, Karen

Good morning, It's a grey breezy and soon to be wet day here in the Pacific Northwest. A good weekend to get things done here at home. I had problems yesterday getting on CC but not this morning so fingers crossed it keeps working. Today I'm heading out to get rid of medications. I have 5 grocery bags of DD DH's old meds and over-the-counter expired medications. I'm going to our local City Hall where they have a drug take-back day from 10;00 - 2:00. After clearing out the cupboards and going through everything I have more cupboard space! Since nature abhors a vacuum I'm sure it will fill up in the near future. Karen

@marshhawk. Me too! I was on Safari and am on a Mac. I switched to Chrome and it's working. Karen

Good evening, I had to switch browsers to get on CC this evening. Weird. All I get is a white screen on Safari. @Quartzsite Cruiser Here's the chocolate snickerdoodle recipe. I get about 2 dozen cookies off of this one but they aren't that big. Oven at 350 for 9 minutes 3/4 c sugar 1/4 cup margarine (or butter) 1/2 tsp vanilla 1 egg 1 1/8 cup flour 1/2 tsp cream of tartar 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/4 cup cocoa. I put it all in the Kitchenaid mixer and let the mixer do it's magic. Then I refrigerate the dough for at least 4 hours and even to the next day. I use a scoop to get the cookies on the cookie sheet. I make them into balls and dip then into a cinnamon sugar mixture and then bake. They come out a bit puffy with a cracked top. Karen

Good morning, @kazu so glad you are having a good trip and I really enjoyed seeing all the photos and reading about your trip to Boston. I've been debating about the filet with lobster dumplings for my next Pinnacle Grill dinner in July. Tell me more please! Have a wonderful trip! Karen

Good morning, It's a rather dreary day here but rain isn't in the forecast. Never fear it's back with a vengeance tomorrow. Happy Birthday @dfish! Safe travels and enjoy your day. Today is some errands in town and I'm going to try a new water aerobics class. I'm taking a hiatus from PT so this will add a 3rd day of pool time which my body will enjoy. I also have to stop and top off the gas tank and get a few groceries. Nothing too exciting. I got the chocolate snickerdoodles made yesterday and that was the highlight of my day. Happy Friday! Karen

Good morning @YVRteacher! I taught a 5th/6th split for a few years then mainly 6th grade. In my district 6th grade is the last year of elementary. I love that age group - a special combination of still being kids but wanting to be older. My classroom was filled with books - more than our little library had! When I started my school was 4 classrooms with a 1/2 split, 2/3 split, 4/5 split and 5/6 split. Over time we added two new classrooms so no splits and we had a kindergarten and then we added 4 more. When I started we had less than 100 kids and when I retired it was closer to 150. My drive was 8 minutes with 3 stop signs on the way over and 1 on the way home. Love Parnassus books!!! Go in each time I'm there. There's also a nice local bookstore in Juneau in the same building as the Hanger Restaurant. It used to be up by the Ben Franklin and I would go in every trip even if I only got postcards. Same in Sitka. I really enjoy the local shops. Karen

@YVRteacher - so looking forward to another trip report from you and DD. I'm a retired teacher and a Canadian citizen/permanent US resident. If you need a book fix - try Parnasus books in Ketchikan. It's a favorite local book store! Have a wonderful cruise and enjoy your last few months of school. Karen

Good morning - almost afternoon, It's a soggy day here and that's the forecast for the next several days. It's ok for me today as I need a day to stay home and hopefully get things done. This morning I have a load of laundry going and have chocolate snickerdoodle cookie dough chilling in the fridge. I'll get them made up in a few hours. I've talked to my DBIL to check how he's doing after the death of his DW earlier this month. So far he's doing ok. I shared some information I had about a drug take-back day this Saturday. I have so many meds from my DD DH that I've been waiting for one of these days to get rid of them! Later I'll go through the cabinets one more time to make sure I have everything. They take both prescription and over-the-counter ones. Other than that nothing too exciting in this section of the Pacific Northwest. Karen