Gorillas & Monkeys on TV

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We don’t go shopping just to look for stuff very often anymore, but we were bored recently so on Saturday (08/20) we went to Half Price Books and actually found a few things.

I had no idea Donkey Kong for the Atari 2600 even existed so it was a cool find. Unfortunately, we were unable to test it out when we got home because my Atari (from my childhood in the mid 80’s) decided to stop working. But no worries – Joe did some research, ordered an Atari repair kit, and was able to bring it back to life!

This game is so lame haha!

DK looks more like Oogie Boogie than a gorilla, but I still think it’s cool to have the game. I added it to my collection. I still want to get SeaQuest and a few other games that I think my brother still has in the depths of my parents’ house, but no one can seem to find (Jungle Hunt, Keystone Kapers, and Pitfall).

We also saw Code Monkeys on DVD but I was leery about getting it as they wanted $8 and it said made in Mexico on the back. I checked Amazon and they were selling a new copy for $11 so I ordered that instead.

I hope they end up releasing the second season on DVD too. It’s so funny! You can stream it on Peacock if you want to check it out.

Saturday (08/27) we stopped at Kiss The Sky record store. I love that place! We didn’t end up buying anything, though. Saw some interesting things, though, including a Cure record which was really songs of side projects which I ended up listening to on Spotify. So glad I didn’t get it! I’m not against collecting stuff, but I’ve grown more intentional about what we bring into the house. I don’t want to end up with a ton of stuff that never gets touched.

August Nature Excursions

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We typically visit nature spaces on the weekends in the mornings before it gets too warm, but on Wednesday (08/17) we decided to go for an evening walk at the park. We came across this interesting feather that I later learned once belonged to a Northern Flicker, which is a type of woodpecker.

I hope to see the actual bird one day! They seem to be just as elusive as Blue Jays. I hear them often, but rarely ever see them.

Speaking of elusive, it’s not often we’ll see a dragonfly that isn’t zipping around, but one decided to hang out right by our front door.

We’ve never seen this particular color before. It’s a Emperor Dragonfly.

Saturday (08/27) we visited Mount Saint Mary Park in St. Charles. We’ve been there once before I believe, but it’s been many years. I read they were wrapping up their annual Sculpture in the Park event so I wanted to check it out.

In addition to all the cool sculptures, we saw a lot of wildlife including ducks, pigeons, finches, a hummingbird, and this awesome bird of prey that is either a Red-Shouldered Hawk, or an Osprey.

My bird app says it’s an Osprey (based off the photo), but around the same time I was using it to listen to bird calls and it identified a Red-Shouldered Hawk, so I’m not sure which it was, but it was cool to watch. It even dove and caught a fish at one point, although I was unable to catch that on my camera.

After the park and a trip to a nearby record store (more in another entry about that), we ended up at Stone Creek Miniature Golf in Geneva.

We’ve been there years ago in the evening but I don’t think we’ve ever played during the day. It was perfect weather-wise and it wasn’t too crowded either. Pictures of You by The Cure was playing over their speakers when we arrived which I thought was cool.

Although it wasn’t crowded, there was a large group playing ahead of us, so we were forced to really take our time on each hole as we’d be waiting for our turn at the next one anyway. It took us an hour to play all 18 holes and I’m thankful for that delay. Otherwise we likely would have blown through the course much quicker.

Despite Joe’s teasing about beating me, I actually won by two points!

If it wasn’t for Joe’s recent oral surgery, and having to be careful about what he was eating, we would have stopped somewhere for food, but we ended up going home after golfing. We were away from the house for five hours as it was, so Wookie was happy we didn’t stay out any longer.

McDonalds

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I really need to stop looking at the McDonald’s app because the deals draw me in all the time. For awhile I was getting an iced coffee 1-2x weekly because they had a $1 special. Then one day it disappeared and was replaced by an offer for a free coffee when you spend $1 or more.

At first glance it sounds like more for your money, but nothing is only $1 at McDonald’s. They were running a 2/$2 sausage McMuffin special so I ended up getting that and splitting it with Joe. He got himself a $1 iced coffee because his app still had the deal. I didn’t want to continue doing that, however, because it’s not healthy.

We surmised they change offers based on user habits which I confirmed when speaking to friends who noticed the same thing between their account and their spouse’s. It took me a week to have a lightbulb moment – we can use the new deal in my app to get two iced coffees for $1 each instead of each using the app separately, so that’s what we did this past weekend.

When I was at the vet this morning I pulled up the app to see a special one day only deal I could not pass up because I have no self control.

The chicken McGriddle isn’t bad (I usually get the bacon one). A bit spicier than I would like, but I added some honey to it which made it better.

Incidentally, I was pleased to see the correct location come up in the app automatically this time around. I have a specific location in my favorites, but I noticed that it will automatically select the nearest location without you noticing until you see the prices are higher. There’s one location in particular that charges almost $1 more for most items so we never go there.

A few weeks ago I was literally across the street from my preferred location and it still selected the more expensive location further away. I was so annoyed that I went home and immediately filled out their survey online to complain. I feel like that location is paying them to push them in the app. In any case, either they fixed a bug, or I got lucky, but the correct location came up this time even though in the past it would still select the restaurant three times further away.

Family Dinner

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The kids came over Friday (just them) for dinner. They were a bit late (we agreed on 5:30, they texted earlier in the day to say they’d be over closer to 6, but arrived around 6:10 (turns out K had been at Indiana Beach with her SO and they caught traffic getting home)).

E brought us another copy of Aggravation.

I’m not terribly fond of this version. It’s sweet how he always buys them for us, though.

He also got me a Cure vinyl import called Pillbox Tales I had never even heard of!

I made spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread for dinner, which they loved (my meatballs came out fantastic even though I haven’t made them in years) and we played UNO all evening. They left around 11 pm.

Yesterday I realized you can make public portions of your collection in Libib (a free app/website I use to track all our music, DVDs, and video games) so I published my vinyl collection and shared the link with E. He in turn shared his whole collection from the same app, haha! I wonder if he got the idea to use it from an Instagram post I made a few years ago when I started using it. I’ll have to ask him next time I see him.

COVID Positive

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Not me, oh no, but Joe. It was going around like wildfire at his job the week before he got it.

Monday (7/18) evening he started sneezing and I was like “stay away from me, germy”. He teased me for being paranoid, but the following morning (Tuesday 7/19) around 11 am he texted me from work saying he suddenly didn’t feel well and was coming home. When he got home he took a home test and it was positive. He told his job who told him not to come back to work until the next week. Then he called his doctor who ended up prescribing him Paxlovid.

We set it up so he stayed isolated in his office upstairs with the door closed. Anytime he came out to use the bathroom or I brought him food we’d both wear N95 masks.

The week he was sick (with a slightly sore throat, mild cough, and fatigue) was strange as we had to do our own thing and I was in charge of all the cooking which seemed to take up a lot of time. When he’s at work I usually only have to worry about dinner and on the weekends he’ll often make breakfast and we’ll skip lunch and get take out around 3 pm for an early dinner. I didn’t want to watch any of our shows without him, so I got back into watching Dateline. I’ve been watching it in the afternoons during the week now.

On Sunday (7/24) he tested negative so he came out of hiding and was able to participate in the butterfly release. I had purchased a cup of caterpillars earlier in the month that had quickly formed into chrysalis and while Joe was in insolation they started emerging. I fed them sugar water and orange slices for a few days but released them on Sunday to ensure they had time to do their thing as their lifespan is about two weeks.

Anyway, I’m happy to report our efforts worked and I never ended up catching anything. I’ve still never had COVID (unless I had an asymptomatic case at some point) and I hope to keep it that way. I’m not worried about dying from it but the long-term damage it can do, even in mild cases, is concerning and not entirely understood.

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A funny thing happened the day Joe tested positive. An hour or two later the doorbell rang. I almost didn’t answer, but then I spotted the unmistakable Crumbl cookie pink box through the video doorbell camera, and got very excited as I knew it was my bestie who had sent them.

The message on the side of the box was funny:

I liked all the cookies except for the chocolate chip which I actively disliked. The two all-chocolate ones were my favorites. They may be on the pricey side, but I’d say they are worth it.