Jared and Lydia have been spending some good time at our creek the last week or 2. I went down and joined them one afternoon and we had a lovely time together. I hadn't spent any significant time by our creek for years. We can see and hear them from our deck and let them explore by themselves. They built villages and towers and lookouts and had some figures to use with them. I got down there and decided it was time to clean the leaves out of the creek bed so there could be more flow and less decaying stuff and got a lot cleared. The stepping stones we placed to cross the creek with had been buried by leaves and sticks from when the creek filled up from rain storms so we got them back in place. It looks great.
Final mile for marathon in a month! We did our last mile Tuesday and finished with medals and Klondike bars. It was a little sad to not be with friends to cheer each other on when they crossed the finish line and have a Popsicle party with but Lydia and Jared were great sports.
Some friends here in Charlottesville decided they wanted to do a marathon in a month too after seeing our pictures but then the husband challenged then to do a marathon in a week so they decided to go for it and Jared, Mark and I are joining in. Jared and I went on a 4 mile walk this morning and it was so great. I loved having that one on one time with him. It was so lovely. We had lots to talk about and just enjoyed being outside together. He is a really great kid. We need to finish by Friday so it will be intense. After 2 days (we started yesterday) Jared has 8 miles, I have 10 and Mark has 12. Mark really wanted to go on a walk this evening and Jared and Lydia were not buying it so he and I decided to go and had a nice brisk walk together. Like a corona virus date. Mark set the pace and he is much faster. He pointed out that today is April 26th which is the day we got engaged 16 years ago so it was perfect to slip away together for a little bit.
4 miles later!
Work project: This week I had a nice time intensive project to work on which made me happy. I even spent one day at the office (well 2 hours there) working on it. UVA's Spring semester is ending soon. This coming week is the last week of classes I think. Normally there is an end of the year awards picnic for the Chemical Engineering undergrads but clearly that was not going to take place this year. So it was my job to collect the engraved Jefferson cups from the business and get them ready to mail to the students who received them. I went to the post office and waited while the sweet worker processed the 35+ packages needing to go out. Fortunately only one person had to wait and they came in when we were about half way done. It was a lot.
UVA Virtual Run With Jim. I really like UVA President Jim Ryan. When he started working at UVA in 2018 he started organized school/community runs a few times each semester. I have wanted to attend one but timing is hard. I am a sweaty mess after I run and driving to UVA, finding parking then running and either going to work all gross or coming home and then driving back seemed wasteful. So I have yet to attend. Friday night I saw on Instagram (yes I follow him that is how great I think he is) that he was hosting one virtually Saturday and decided to join in. It was fun. Jared and I did 4 miles and Mark ran 10. He just keeps adding another mile each week, he is dong great. Over 3,000 people signed up just over night! When they start up again in person I am just going to go for it.
While I was making donuts Lydia and Jared were having a mini Harry Potter marathon. They both started reading the books again this week. I knew it was only a matter of time before they did during COVID 19. Jared read 1-4 this week and Lydia read 1-3. We decided Lydia could read 4 but will make her wait to read 5 and 6. We had planned to let Jared read 7 after the school year ended but he gets to start a little early due to this pandemic. So they watched the first 2 movies and enjoyed some delicious butter beer. They both want to do some more exploring on Pottermore and I told them about the new site J.K. Rowling put out because of the pandemic so we will do that too.
In between movies they got some good time jumping on the trampoline in the rain which made it extra fun. They always want to do this and were so happy it was just rain not thunderstorms. They got drenched and loved it.
Donut Saturday:
I have noticed that Saturdays are my hardest day. A full day of no structure and not many places to go is really hard on me. So I decided to choose a day long activity for myself. This week was donuts. I love to bake yet I had never made donuts. They always seemed like such a hassle and I like how store bought ones taste better so I did not see any reason to make them at home. But should I ever live somewhere and not have access to American style donuts and find myself really wanting some I figured I better learn how to make them myself. I tried 3 no yeast but still fried in oil recipes and 2 baked donut recipes so 5 recipes in all. It was a great, time intensive activity, just what I was looking for. The first baked recipe was a total flop but the second one was pretty good. Not what I was looking for but good. The fried ones were better and I think the third recipe ended up being my favorite but still not quite what I was looking for so even though I was trying to avoid it (2+ hours for donuts is so long!) I think I will have to try the yeast ones to see if I can get that store bought/bakery taste. I was trying to replicate Duck Donuts and wish I could have found a copycat recipe online. It was fun to try out lots of different glazes. I don't generally choose chocolate donuts when we get donuts but it was my favorite. Surprisingly they actually tasted better the day after which I thought was impossible. Maybe I was just burnt out on them yesterday.
Vanilla, Chocolate, lemon, and maple glaze. Lydia suggested PB glaze after I had glazed the donuts and I wish I thought of it when I started. I made all the glazes before cooking the donuts so I could dip them soon enough. We added cinnamon sugar mix and sprinkles as well.
Got a fun, safe visit with a good friend to borrow her candy thermometer. It was nice to visit with someone in their driveway and even be in a different driveway. I also chatted with a friend who lives far away for tips and loved that this activity helped me check in with people.
Baked donuts. The mini ones were fun.
My poison ivy is finally starting to clear up. It has been so rough this week. It was waking me up at night and just being irritable and itchy and gross all week. I finally called my doctor's office to see if they could get me some relief and after a video appointment I got a prescription. I so wish I had called sooner. Hopefully it will get better in just a few more days. So that was week 6. School was fine, much the same and we are just going to keep on trying to stay positive. Jared and Lydia are being such good sports and enjoying being together for which I am really grateful.
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