Saturday Random Bits and Bobs

      Am I even using that expression right? Bits and bobs? I think it's supposed to mean things, items, to pick up in a store, around the house, but probably not thoughts. Well, I like it for my various thoughts in my head and things I am putting on lists. My daughter is gone this weekend, so no latching on to her free time this weekend. We're still a week away from our second vaccination so unless it is to meet up with someone outside, I'll likely hang out with no one this weekend but DH. Well, I do have a lot of projects, many inspired by you all. We still haven't hit multiple days without frost, so not pushing the yard work too much, but likely DH will be out there tomorrow as the grass is starting to get long. No signs of my hostas yet. 

      I'll do another walk around and pick up stray sticks and other yard clutter-we get incoming toys from the large family of kids next door. I collect  multiple pieces of toys, balls, shooty things (end up in our gutters) on a regular basis and toss them back to a corner of their yard, or make a neat pile and leave by their fence gate. I lose track of the number of kids they have-I think there might be 7 under 12? She has  five children from her marriage, two who are adults-one who married young but doing quite well as a nurse, with a husband and two children, and the son who must be 23 now, but no clue what he is up to. He had troubled teen years, but I' hoping for the best for him. She has a  a 17 year old that just had a child, and I just learned was diagnosed with leukemia (17 year old not baby) and twin 10 year old's, one of which has down syndrome. He absolutely loves DH, and whenever he sees him working outside, he has to know what DH is doing and will come over and pick up sticks and put in our fire pit for him, or just watch what he's doing.  The man neighbor has  the 12 year old from his marriage, who I think lives there most of the time. 

     Then, I think there are four kids they have together-nope five-they had another baby last year, so eight children under  12. Other than just loud kid noise, the occasional fights, crying, and mischief you would expect from a lot of kids, they are Ok as neighbors. We don't know them well, but chat when outside. He tends to yell out their back window to their fenced yard when the kids noise and fighting gets too much, but I don't know if I've ever heard her raise her voice other than to maybe call a child back. The girl twin and the next in line girl who might be 8, like to rollerblade and bike together and when they see me outside or walking always wave and say hello, share if they were in school or  did online school. One asked me why I am home alone all the time-she noticed! They both take the younger two boys, maybe 6 and 4, and a perhaps two year old girl to the playground, pulling the littles in a big red wagon. They are very nice young girls from what I see, and must be a lot of help to mom. They do have a nanny that comes everyday with her own child, but  mom works outside the house. It's all very fascinating and I can't imagine I would cope 1/4 as well, but I guess it works for them. Do any of you care about my neighbors? Probably not, but  was thinking about them as  I saw the girls out early on their bikes this morning. 

     Being nosy about my neighbors aside, I've decided I will drop in at the church garage sale and the thrift store this morning and see if I can find any big pots to transplant my very large out of control plant. Then, a stop at the hardware/garden store for the flower seeds for the pots. Does anyone know how deep Sunflowers need for roots? The little tiny pots I planted last Sunday are growing like crazy. With plans to rip up the deck and the things in the backyard, I want to do things in pots so I can move around. 

     Supper tonight will be the homemade pizza I talked about yesterday. I'm going to even make a yeast dough for the crust, and do the nice garlic and herb butter for the crust. I'll load with veg-onions pepper, mushrooms, artichokes, tomatoes and pepperoni. On Thursday about 1:00 I mentioned to DH I was hungry for Chinese food. Well, that went away and he cooked pasta. I must have planted a seed for  him though because he called at 5:30 yesterday and asked me to order at 6:00 and he would pick up after work. He devoured his cashew chicken, but  the  sesame chicken I got was so filling, I have more than half left. We each had an egg roll and a couple of the cream cheese  wontons too, and there's a couple of them left as well. The egg rolls were free with a $20 order so after tax, our meal only came to $24, so not too bad for take out with leftovers. Lunch tomorrow (and for me today) will need to be  all the random leftovers  that have accumulated this week. Meal plan was really just a bunch of suggestions this week. Grocery needs are slim-the milk went bad early-I hate that. So besides milk, we need  a bit of cheese and fresh fruit, and coffee. I even have a few seltzers and a couple unopened bottles of wine, so feel our take out splurge was mitigated by limited grocery needs. I found enough coffee to make it this morning-sans milk, but won't treat myself again. 

     It's time to get myself going I guess. I feel a bit less hopeless today about society and plan to throw myself this weekend into good and positive things. I got decent sleep last night and woke up before the sun, so nice to see the day begin not feeling  dragged down. Wish me luck on my hunt for pots and planters. I will be sure to share any success I have.