second verse, same as the first

lockdown life is pretty much the same as it was a week ago.  two weeks ago.  three weeks ago.  four - well, you get the gist.

i'm still making masks.  actually, this time i put together a bunch of kits at the request of the bean's girl scout troop.  they'd decided to make masks to be donated to a local animal hospital as their community service project, and were hoping to do them in some sort of animal print.  i didn't have any on hand (i really don't have much woven cotton fabric on hand left anymore), but i decided to shop around to see if i could find some sort of animal printed bedsheets.  as long as they're 100% cotton, i figured they'd work.  and since i needed enough material to make at least 50 masks, a sheet set was perfect with lots of usable fabric from the flat and fitted sheets plus the pillowcases.

i figured the best way to handle it was to cut out the pieces, sew down the center seams for each layer, cut the elastics and then make a video tutorial to show the girls how to assemble the masks.  my hands were pretty tired when i finally finished cutting.

the bean helped me make the video, holding my phone so that just my hands were visible while i narrated in the background.  i really hate how i look and sound on video, so it was a good thing i didn't really need to be visible.  here's the finished product:

and i put all of the pieces in gallon sized ziploc bags to be handed out to each girl who'd signed up to sew the masks.

i've already heard from a couple of people who said that the video was really helpful and made the process super easy, so i'm glad i did it.  even with the troop leader title stripped away, i was still happy that i was able to help the girls out in some small way.

in other news, the knitting and crocheting continues.  except that i keep running out of yarn - this newbie is terrible at counting stitches and rows and so i have two projects that are unfinished.  joann's is taking forever to process curbside pickup orders, and while the online companies are still shipping out that's also running slower than normal.  i've got another kit started - this one for a beginner level cardigan using yarn made from recycled denim.  i stupidly left my knitting bag on the table in the back yard one day and went to run a quick errand, and when i got home i found a tangled mess of yarn, a half-chewed up knitting needle and one very guilty-looking dog under the table.

it's a good thing he's so cute.  yarg.  it took me a solid hour to get the yarn untangled and rolled into a ball, but i'm glad i managed to finish it.  i was extra glad that i'd busted out the package of stitch stoppers from my last knitting order, because putting that little thing on the end of my needle holding my work in progress saved it from unraveling at the hands of teddy.

speaking of teddy, i got a little payback when i got to the end of the first part of my crochet pattern for "the child" and realized i'd totally screwed it up.  i was a little bummed, but i turned it into a hilarious photo prop for teddy.  it looks like a cross between a beanie and a yarmulke, and he looked super happy to try it on.  not.

and lastly, here's the newest update on the house.  there's been a lot of progress in the last week or so - cabinetry and paint make a huge difference.  this is the new kitchen as you enter from the back yard:

in the laundry room - the washer goes on one side and the dryer on the other so that they face each other.  i cannot wait for this part to be done so i can stop having to go to the laundromat.

the guest room is coming along, too.

the living room is beginning to take shape with the fireplace, cabinets and shelves in place.

and my office is my favorite part.  i even got the okay from the hub to pick a pink shade for my walls!  if you know him at all, you'll understand how big of a deal this is.  and look at all that storage space!  ooooh, i can't wait to move in.

the powder room doesn't look like much yet, although all it needs aside from flooring is the vanity/sink, mirror and toilet.  so pretty much every component needed for a powder room.  heh.

and this is the old lady's former bedroom, which also served as my office for the last year and a half.  we're going to move the elliptical in and add mirrored doors for the closet and put a tv in there, and it'll become our home gym.

that's all i got for you today.  i know the blog hasn't been super active lately, but what can i say?  i can only post so many dog and workout pictures, and while our days are never boring there's not really a ton of exciting stuff to share.  i'll try to be better about posting though, i promise.

at least, i'm really gonna try.

squeezing in some girl scout cookie fun

cookie season is finally winding down, thank goodness.  and because of extra cheer practices in preparation for our florida trip, the bean hasn't been able to work at as many booths as she used to in previous years.  kind of a bummer, considering that i was looking forward to her being able to spend a little time with her two besties since they aren't at school together anymore.  plus, a lot of the booths that our troop was able to get start at 3:00 - which sadly doesn't work because she doesn't even get out of her last class until that time.

she finally got to work a weekday booth last week along with one of her buddies thanks to early-out wednesdays, though.  and then on saturday she was super stoked to reunite with her very best friend, selling cookies at the grocery store while chatting and hugging as much as possible.  the third musketeer even showed up for a quick visit, which made for a fun added bonus.  it was really sweet and also gave me a chance to spend some time catching up with both of their moms, who are some of my favorite people.

when the booth was done, we headed down to the mall to drop off my laptop.  i don't even know what happened to it, but i went to do some stuff on it and opened it up, i'd found this:



luckily, there were plenty of appointment times available for me to take it to the apple store.  and the bean was extra excited because that meant that we could grab some sushi at her favorite spot.  once we left the apple store and headed towards the restaurant, something caught her eye - a girl scout cookie booth set up right in the middle of the mall.  and i wasn't really planning on stopping until she reminded me that since we were in orange county they had flavors that our council doesn't sell.  as we chatted with the girls working the booth and browsed through their selections, one of the girls' moms came over and i realized that it was andrea barber - aka full (and fuller) house's "kimmy gibbler."  she was dressed casually, just as you'd expect, and she was fresh-faced without makeup...and still instantly recognizable.  heh.

we picked out our cookies and then i stopped to chat with her a bit, asking her if she was still running races and mentioning that we'd met at the hollywood half a couple of times, and she was just as sweet and friendly as always.

by then our table was ready over at kura sushi, and so we made our way upstairs and happily sat down for some grub.

on our way out we peeked down at the booth again, like creepers.

later that evening we headed back out to have some korean bbq with the hub.  when we were seated i noticed this at each place setting, which made me smile and a little sad at the same time.

dinner was delicious as always, and i was super amused when the hub said "here!  we need a picture with this guy."

the bean had requested boba for a final stop before going home, so we headed over to the happy lemon for some dessert.  she picked up a piece of cheesecake and i ordered a chocolate bubble waffle to go with our delicious cream-topped drinks.

we packed a lot of fun in one day, didn't we?  it's all in an effort to get us out of the house, where we're wrapping up our first week of living in two rooms and the garage.  heh.

it's gonna be a long several months.

getting bronze-d

while the bean's girl scout troop has been meeting regularly since school started in august, they just had their annual investiture/rededication ceremony last week.  that's when they welcome new girls to the troop and hand out awards that have been earned. 

i'm not sure if other girls who were in our now-defunct troop have moved on to new troops, but i'm pretty happy that the bean was able to stay with her two BFFs.

her new leaders are great, and i really like them.  they do a great job of keeping everything organized and always pull off wonderful gatherings like this one.  the girls all had assigned speaking parts during this ceremony, from the presentation of colors to the pledge of allegiance to reciting the girl scout law and promise.  i was particularly proud of the bean as she led the room in the girl scout law - which she memorized years ago and didn't need to turn around to look at the text that was displayed on the screen behind her.

along with a good number of the other scouts, she was the proud recipient of the bronze award.  they'd worked on earning it over the last year, putting together and delivering care packages for cancer patients at the city of hope. 

and she also received her 5-year pin, a nice addition to the membership pin on her vest that consisted of a little gold 5 attached with a chain.  hard to believe she's been a girl scout for that long.

and then each of the girls was given a piece of the girl scout promise to read, along with a line about how she worked it into her everyday life.  she got the "respect authority" portion, which was pretty much the most perfect one for her considering the fact that she's always been a stickler for following the rules and listening to authority figures.  then they got to "light" a candle - but this year, instead of having open flames in the room they used LED candles that lit with a twist. 

here she accepted her certificate with her bronze award and rededication patches.  that reminds me, i better make sure i sew those babies on before i lose them.  heh.

group photo!

and then we had to skedaddle outta there because it was time to head out for cheer practice.  they couldn't have timed it better.  i even had enough time to snap one more picture with her besties before we left.

and now they can start brainstorming for ideas on their project to earn their silver award.  just one more step towards that all-important gold award, and hopefully learn something and give back to the community along the way. 

a mini troop 1794 reunion

with the hub gone on a fishing trip for much of last week, the bean and i were left to navigate through the rest of the (typically busy) week by ourselves.  well, and with the puppies too.  stevie came over often to play, and i couldn't help but snap this while he and cocoa wrestled and teddy pouted because he was left out.

also without the hub around to judge me, i happily went to mcdonald's for lunch one day and grabbed my first mcrib of the season.

we were excited to meet up with our friends from hawaii, who were in town visiting family and friends during the kids' fall break.  their brief return prompted us to do a mini reunion with a handful of our girls and moms from our now-defunct girl scout troop, and it was so nice to see everyone and catch up.

it was just like old times, and even though the girls are older and so way cooler now than they were before, they reverted to acting like little kids again while they were together.  it was so sweet.

even though the bean is settled into her new troop and i'm perfectly happy being a drop-off parent, there are lots of times when i miss our troop.  we used to do so much fun stuff together, and being with the girls and my co-leader was always a good time.  i'd had such high hopes that we'd take the girls all the way through all of the levels of scouting, maybe even saving up for a big trip somewhere, but i guess it wasn't meant to be.

oh, well.  at least the bean has at least two of her buddies in her new troop, and they all seem to get along pretty well with the other girls too.  plus, her leaders are super organized and i have no doubt that they'll be successful in getting the girls all the way through their silver and gold awards someday.  they just finished working on their project for their bronze award, so they're well on their way.

girl scouts 4 lyfe, eh?

checking out "the rock"

our last day in san francisco had an early start.  we'd gotten instructions from our troop leader to check out and leave our bags with the bell desk before meeting at 8:00 to get started on our visit to alcatraz.  once that was all done and everyone was groggily assembled in the lobby, we headed out of the hotel and began the walk towards the pier.

it was a relatively short walk and we were there with plenty of time to check in, look around and take pictures.

i'm such a rebel.  heh.

time to board the ferry!  it was a pretty short ride to alcatraz island, although the bean still found time to whip out a sketch pad and start drawing.  it kept all three girls busy though, so it was all good.

once we arrived, we headed over to the building to listen to the announcements and then make our way into the building to watch the video about the history of the island.

we made it through about 3/4 of the video before our phones started blowing up with text messages from the troop leaders.  apparently, we'd missed the instructions that said we were to gather together and tour the cellblock as a group.  oops.    so we skedaddled out of there and headed back outside to find the group, pick up our audio tour equipment and start our tour.

it was a lovely day, and we walked past what was left of some of the prison buildings.  there were remnants of where ammunition used to be stored when the island was used by the military, glimpses of the period when native americans took it over, and the building that served as the morgue.

we headed inside the main building and got in line to pick up our headphones for the narrated tour.  once inside, we found ourselves in the shower room.

 we climbed up the stairs and the tour began.

the tour took me outside to the recreation area, which was the most popular section of the prison while it was in operation.  outside, the inmates were able to get some fresh air, exercise, and if they were lucky they could hear the sounds of the city that was just out of their reach.

this cellblock was reserved for the roughest, most dangerous and difficult inmates.  you had to be one hell of a troublemaker to be sent here.

there was a library where the prisoners were able to borrow books and magazines.

this was the gun gallery, where all of the weapons were locked up using the key that dangled on a string high above.  one of the attempted escapes involved a couple of prisoners who managed to get ahold of that key, which got them guns but not their freedom.

in this room you could still see where bombs went off during that escape attempt.

apparently i really like visiting filming locations for nicolas cage movies.  remember "the rock"?  i love that movie.

in some of the old cells you could see items that some of the more well-behaved prisoners were allowed to use to keep themselves busy.  art, music, radio - things we often take for granted but kept many of those men going from one day to the next.

the really lucky ones got to come here for short visits with folks who took the ferry ride across to see them.

during the time that alcatraz operated as a federal penitentiary, they had four different wardens.

just outside the warden's office and control room, you'll find what's left of what was the warden's home.

they had a pretty awesome view.  along with the warden and his family, there were also a good number of employees who lived on the island with their families.  the narration goes on to say that despite the prison aspect, alcatraz was a pretty nice place to live.  the kids would take a ferry to the city every morning to go to school, and usually by the time they returned all of the prisoners were back inside, locked up tight.

the knives and utensils in the kitchen were stored in such a way that they could be easily spotted if any items were missing.

that's where the tour came to an end.  and just in time too, because it was time to meet the troop at the dock for the ride back.  everyone had gotten separated, so i walked through the gift shop solo and found a couple of things i wanted.  too bad the line for the cashier was almost a mile and a half long.

as luck would have it, there was a little shop right by the dock that had zero line and carried all of the items that the hub, the bean and i all wanted.  score!  and then it was time for the ride back, during which the girls all buried themselves in the books they'd bought and the hub found time for a quick catnap.

once back on the mainland, we managed to get our little group together for a picture.  these girls have been friends forever, and their families have become our extended family.  all three are going to different schools next year which makes me sad, but i'm hopeful that we'll all stay in touch and get together as often as possible.

lunch was a prepaid box from the alcatraz landing cafe.  there were several types of sandwiches and salads, and everyone got a bottle of water, a bag of chips and cookies.

once we got back to the hotel, the official trip with the troop came to an end.  our troop leaders had done a fantastic job of organizing and keeping everything and everyone together, and it was an awesome way for the girls to "bridge" to the next scouting level.