March This and That

Saturday was an exciting day here at the House with the Picket Fence! We got in our car and drove to the Lutheran Church in our town where the wonderful folks at the County Health Department were dispensing Covid Vaccines!  We made the cut when our governor decreased the age to 60+ and I called to register at 8 a.m. the day the appointments opened. 

Our appointment was at 9 am. We arrived in the parking lot at 8:58 am, were immediately checked in by a masked worker with a clipboard, signed our names, and drove under the awning, I stuck out my right arm, my husband stuck out his left arm, and we exited the parking lot by 9:05 am. We actually could have left sooner but the couple in the van in front of us had to step outside and remove their coats. They efficiently administered over 500 first doses of the Moderna vaccine. 

Our only side effect was a sore arm for about 24 hours. I would say it was a dull ache which was much less than the constant pain in my "healed" left arm, which is more of a constant painful sharper ache. If I had been sitting on the driver's side, I probably would not have noticed anything. 

Meanwhile, I tried a new recipe last Friday. We eat fish on Friday for Lent and our last indoor restaurant experience was the last Friday in February 2020 at the Red Lobster. Our state has a mandatory mask directive, but our town interprets it to mean that you don't need one outdoors, even if you are standing right next to each other. Or if you are just "running in". This means we can't pick up carry out fish dinners at the local lodges or even stop at the drive in stands that are opening. 

I looked at Pinterest and kind of had the ingredients for this recipe. 

I halved the recipe and substituted 7 ounces of medium shrimp, which I cut in half, for the crab. I substituted red pepper for the pimento and substituted 8 ounces of shredded mozzarella cheese for the Cheddar and Swiss. Perhaps I threw in some diced celery, too. Measurements on all the vegetables were a little fuzzy. 

It was delicious and I will definitely make it again. My daughter is hinting that it would not be any harder to make two at once and send one home with her. I do have some imitation crab in the freezer, but I dont' think it would add enough flavor to this dish. 

Debbie at https://debbie-dabbleblog.blogspot.com/2021/02/a-trip-down-memory-lane.html  inspired me with her mammoth photo organizing project. I had been eyeing the photo keepers which were half off too long and they increased to the regular price of $44. For some reason I looked at them yesterday and they were on clearance for $12.59! I looked at the mountain of shoeboxes (and there are more in drawers and hidden places) and ordered 8 of the boxes. This morning I woke up and decided I would unload some of photos of my children to my children and ordered 5 more! 

https://www.michaels.com/photo-and-craft-keeper-by-simply-tidy/10174559.html

Now I HAVE to commit to this project! I need to figure out where I am going to put my command center - away from little fingers - and I hope to enlist some grandchildren on Spring Break to help me. 

 

March Word of the Month

 

This photo taken 18 months ago. The word for this month of March will be GRANDCHILDREN. 

I just moved the calendar from February to March and counted three days in February without grandchildren. We had two free Saturdays and a random Wednesday when we had so much snow that even parents could not go to work. And March looks much like the same. 

We care for my daughter's four year old and one year every day since she is a single mother and a school teacher. We also help her out on weekends so she can do grocery pickups and put groceries away without help. Now that my middle son has found a new job, his eight and six year-olds arrive at 7:00 a.m. for breakfast and the school bus picks them up at my house. My youngest son's father in law has been diagnosed with a rare cancer. Since they live 45 minutes away, we have been keeping his three boys under age 7 overnight when papa has had appointments and tests. Dad works as a police officer and mom is a school teacher.  

The co-grandparent is starting chemo this week so we are rearranging the child care set up so that it will include the five year old and two year old more often. Their oldest son attends kindergarten all day and mom can put him on the bus. If you add it up, it is an hour and a half to go and pick up these two and come back home. But due to the bus schedule for the oldest, even meeting part way is not a possibility. 

When we retired, my husband talked me into purchasing a Traverse which holds a combination of six different infant car seats, regular car seats and booster seats. I am so grateful everyday that we splurged on this school bus. 

We do what we have to do. I know it is a blessing in these times when many grandparents have not seen their grandchildren in person, we are more than lucky that we get to see our youngest grands ALL the time.  Our three oldest live over an hour and a half away and have busy lives with sports and school, even during the pandemic. We do visit them on zoom and by phone. 

While adding times and  names on my calendar today, I noticed that every school they attend is having their spring break on different days. Hmmm, that doesn't seem fair, LOL.