Online Summer Shopping

I have been doing some online shopping over the past couple of months!

When I'm not feeling well, I definitely don't want to go out shopping in person (especially when it's HOT), but I have had my eye on a few things, waiting for them to go on sale, and they did.  My budget allowed, so I ordered them!

A LOT of things have gone right back to the place from whence they came,

but the following items have remained and are being incorporated into my wardrobe.

What fun!

I LOVE the ruffle at the waist of these cute pants!  I love most ruffles.

Maison Jules pants

These drapey tencel pants will be wonderful for lazy days 

(and LAKE DAYS, which are coming my way soon!)

DKNY pants

I wear flippy skirts almost every day in the summer and early fall,

so I added two of these faux-suede ones to my closet.

Dasbayla skirt - Amazon

Dasbayla skirt - Amazon

These pants fit well, and have a nice cropped length.

They have a bit of a strange texture (sort of papery, somehow),

but I think they will be light and cool in the warm Arizona weather.

DKNY pants

Here are some more COMFY, CUTE pants!

These are light and flowy, and they have wide LACE on the bottom hem!

I will wear these at the lake, too.

Target pants - with lace hem!!!

I've been watching a couple of light, feminine sweatshirts from the winter collections

at Macy's, and I snapped them up when they were marked down to under $20!

sweatshirt from Macy's

Such cute patterns!

This one has a kangaroo pouch!

sweatshirt from Macy's

Since I'll be spending time at the cabin with our family members,

I wanted a couple of new pairs of pajamas.

I found these two at Target.

Target pajamas

This one is EXTRA fluffy and soft.  Probably too hot for summer, 

but it will be very nice for winter!

Laura Ashley for Target pajamas

I also bought another herbivore t-shirt for those days where I want to be more casual.

Amazon

I also bought two shirts from Target.

The lighting is weird in this photo, but it's a black & white striped shirt with 

sequin PALM TREES!

Here's how it looks in normal light:

find it here - and size way up!  I got a large

I also found a vertically striped blouse in white & black.  Love it!

This may be my airplane shirt because it's light and the sleeves can be rolled up or down, depending

on environment.

find it here

I'm trying a new cruelty-free make-up remover . . . 

find it here

And I'm trying out a new brand of skin care.  This brand comes in a 3-pack of some of the most valuable and proven ingredients.  They are gluten-free, cruelty free, and vegan!

Cosmedica skin care trio

Wow!  Lots of fun stuff!

I will show you photos of the new clothing as I wear it.

Stay tuned!

Independence Day

How was your Independence Day?
I ended up working a LOT on the 4th of July
because I had a bunch of Chirp Curriculum binders to ship,
but I also enjoyed some cooking and some Doctor Who 
(the old ones, which have been streaming on Twitch, and which
Greg has been recording so we can watch them later)!

Normally, Americans grill meat on the 4th of July. 
Of course, grilled meat is especially carcinogenic

and morally it's not good to eat sentient beings,

so I made walnut black-bean burgers instead!

(I adapted that recipe, of course, to fit my needs and preferences!)

They looked like big chocolate crinkle cookies while baking!

That probably means they needed a little more liquid, but

I was experimenting because last time I made these, they were a little dry.

I made my burgers in the oven because they're crumbly and

would end up in pieces in the bottom of the grill.

Greg grilled some spicy jalepeno venison burgers.

I also made fruit salad,

and realized afterwards that it was red, white, and blue!!!

I used blueberries, bananas, green grapes, and red grapes.

Normal people use strawberries, blueberries, and bananas, but

I really can't do strawberries (the itty bitty seeds aggravate my Crohn's disease).  

I'm happy I found a pretty alternative!

It was nice to have an extra day with Greg home!

Of course, there were some other fun things that happened this week!

I made some yummy pancakes this week - with chocolate chips!

One of my students drew this great scene of an alligator shark eating a boat with two sad guys on it

(because they're being eaten!).

In the ocean under the water you'll see a jellyfish, an eel, and some other fish.

In the sky you'll see some sea eagles.

I love the detail!

And I can post this because all my students are wearing masks!

Here are two wonderful volunteers and two wonderful students

(two of my favorites of both!)

What fun we have in our classroom.

Allistair and I rode my bike for a few miles this week, but

because there was a lot of work to do and because I'm still working on bouncing back

from a couple of very low energy months, I have limited my activity.

I love biking, though, and so does Allistair!

But there are lots of comfy places in our house to sleep!

Though Allistair is pretty large, and sometimes droops off the edge of this bench.

Claude joined me for a nice long yoga session, too.

And Allistiar enjoyed reading Dr. Greger's cookbook

and sitting in boxes!

These boxes are from some cardstock.

He loves his momma.

Little nosey boops:

Greg caught this cool video of a hummingbird at our fountain and

put it in slow motion.  I like the slower water sound and the hummingbird's

little chirp.

And check out this dancing can!

It's moving all by itself!

(It was sitting on a slight water bubble, and the air conditioning breeze

was making it spin a little.)

Today I'm having lunch with a friend, and then I'll be working on editing some YouTube videos for the ChirpSpecialNeeds channel to post over the next few weeks.  I look forward to staying inside because it's expected to be 110 and it's windy and dusty.

Yesterday it reached 112 and then we had a dust storm in the afternoon!

RAIN would be good instead of dust . . . 

Have a wonderful weekend!

A Slow Month

I'm grateful for extra super cute and loving cats to appreciate when I have to

take things slow.

I have done a little bit each day, but this whole month (plus) has

been not that great health-wise.  Wish I could say why (that would perhaps

lead to a solution!), but I can't.  I'm having some different symptoms

that I hope will be explained after the blood work I had today.

I did a video on what I do to help myself feel better,

and I think I need to rewatch it!

Today I feel a little bit more alive.

While I was assembling curriculum binders the other day,

Allistair created a little nest for himself.

Stephen just laid around being ADORABLE with his little pink tongue poking out.

Greg caught this photo of three cats on the bed, waiting for me

to join them for an evening reading and snuggling session.

I remembered to take a couple of outfit photos this week of outfits I really liked

and felt cute in.

Here's Sunday's outfit.

top: Tommy Hilfiger (Macy's)
skirt: Rekucci (Amazon)

I finally made it out to do a good shop - I hadn't done much shopping except for groceries in

a long time, and I find it calming even if I don't buy anything (especially if I haven't been getting out of the house much).

I went to Ross first, where I took this photo.

top: Tommy Hilfiger (Macy's)
skirt: Rekucci (Amazon)
bag: ABage (Amazon)
shoes: Target

Can you see me?

Then I went to Macy's.

I had to return a swim suit that I bought and hated, but of course, 

as long as I was there, I browsed.

This top is by Tommy Hilfiger.

The main part of the top is striped jersey material, but the sleeves are embroidered

blue cotton!

And look at the back!!!

It has a lace-up design, and the blue embroidered-ness continues.

I think it's interesting and adorable.

Add caption

I also bought this top (which I'm am wearing as I type this).

Oops - this one is slightly blurry, but you can see the little white/pink hearts and the

dainty bell sleeve.

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At Ross I found these FABULOUS WONDERFUL "rugs".

They are actually squishy chef mats!!!

So when I'm chopping veggies and washing dishes, I can stand on something

nice and soft and giving rather than hard tile.

Though I love our flooring, it is hard on the feet, especially on long holiday cooking days.

I LOVE the faux faded distressed Persian rug style!

This smaller one ended up in front of the fridge.

That's all for now, folks!

I wish you a lovely evening, and I hope you're feeling healthy and happy.

Grill and Gecko

Juvy watching the world go by

Even though it's hot here now, our backyard still looks refreshing to me.

I'm very glad we revamped it 

(with my parents' generous anniversary gift of the chairs and table last March!)

I get joy out of looking at it every single day.

We made another update by adding a new grill!

Our old one caught on fire awhile back, and we don't grill very often,

so we just never got a new one.  They're good to have, though, so Greg did

the research and found this beauty!

He courageously assembled it even though it was 108 degrees!

He drank lots of water and stayed in the shade.

Doesn't it look nice?

It got even hotter this week!

We're expecting it to cool off now, and we're hoping

for the monsoon to start early this year and bring us more rain 

than we've been getting the last many years.

We're excited to be expecting RAIN this weekend, starting tomorrow!

Claude has been on high alert the past couple of days

since she found a large gecko in the garage and brought him in the house

I picked her up (praising her for being a brave huntress, of course!)

and she let the gecko fall.  He then immediately ran under the fridge.

I figured he wouldn't ever come out and he would die under there and we would

have a stinky fridge, but he did come out.

In the process, he made mysterious slithering noises, which Stephen heard

and to which Stephen responded!

Stephen grabbed the gecko first, grabbed him, and carried him to the master bedroom, 

setting him loose on our bed.

Mr. Gecko ran behind our pillows, where I was eventually able to apprehend him (after quite some chase!) and escort him off the premises.

My dear friend Cindy was here and captured this photo:

isn't he cute?!

Claude is still spending a lot of time by the fridge because she didn't see 

Stephen run away with the gecko.

There has been a lot of cuteness around here.

Two cats: one little, one big:

Juvy and Stephen

Stephen

And there has been a lot of cooking.

I have been feeling like having lots of healthy tasty food stocked up in the fridge.

I was happy to be able to pass on a bunch of frozen tastiness to Cindy, who

hurt her thumb badly and would have had a hard time chopping and cooking stuff.

I'm happy she's vegan, too, and that she appreciates simple delicious plant food.

Tonight I made a lentil pasta casserole and from-scratch hash browns.

 My hash browns turned out perfectly for the first time!

Even looking at this casserole always makes my mouth water.  It's GOOD.

It feels like a vegan comfort food or the vegan version of chicken noodle soup.

It's got turmeric, pasta, veggies, and a creamy sauce.  Plus, it's pretty!  MMmmmmm!

I hope you've been eating tasty things lately!

Have a wonderful weekend!