All posts in category Odd & Ends

We made it through Wednesday.

It’s hard when you’re really busy with work and there’s nowhere to go and nothing to do. And we were pretty tired today from last night’s MLS is Back tournament matches that both went to penalty shootouts and saw my Minnesota United advance and FC Cincinnati get sent home.

But it was still a good morning from Northside…

I’ve been all about these Kodiak Cakes microwave flapjacks and muffins cups…

Today, I tried the chocolate peanut butter flapjack…

Just a quarter cup of water and 60 seconds in the microwave and you have flapjacks…

They’re really good. I like all the flavors. But the blueberry ones are really my favorites. Speaking of bears, Bear was all crashed out in the office while I was working…

This afternoon I was tinkering with the relatively new Photoshop Camera app and the Photoshop Express app on my phone…

Both of those apps are really neat. There are a lot features. I love being able to remove little blemishes and spots with the Spot Healing feature in Express. I’ll have to keep playing with them.

Good evening from Northside…

And that was pretty much our Wednesday. 😀🥞🐻📷🗓️❤️

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by Thadd F. on July 29, 2020 • Permalink

Posted in #SUMMERinCINCY, Odd & Ends

Posted by Thadd F. on July 29, 2020

https://tplusg.com/2020/07/29/we-made-it-through-wednesday/

Taco Tuesday!

It was a very pretty Tuesday morning…

Good morning from Northside…

Today was a silly busy workday. We had Taco Tuesday tacos for dinner tonight…

I promise there were actually hard shell tacos under that massive pile of delicious shredded taco cheese. And then we took the dogs on their evening walk…

There were pretty clouds this evening…

If you look really close in the center just above the lower group of clouds, there was a plane flying on a really low trajectory that planes don’t usually fly on…

And here’s another one with the plane just to the left of the branch extending into the middle of the frame…

It’s weird how when you live someplace for a bit, you notice odd things like planes flying at weird altitudes and in strange directions.

Good evening from Northside…

It was a pretty low-key Tuesday. But the tacos were delicious! 😀🌮❤️

Later in the evening, my Minnesota United knocked Columbus Crew out of the MLS is Back tournament with what was probably the most clinical penalty shoot-out I’ve ever seen. MNUFC didn’t miss a single spot-kick. It was a thing of beauty. And then FC Cincinnati took Portland Timbers to a penalty shootout as well. But FC|C was not nearly as clinical as the Loons, and were knocked out the tournament with their heads held high after their tenacious performance. This tournament has been so much fun.

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by Thadd F. on July 28, 2020 • Permalink

Posted in #SUMMERinCINCY, Northside, Odd & Ends

Posted by Thadd F. on July 28, 2020

https://tplusg.com/2020/07/28/taco-tuesday-12/

One year ago.

One year ago, we were at Great American Ballpark watching Reds baseball…

Remember when you could go to baseball games? In person? Those were the days.

Thanks for all the wonderful memories, Timehop. 😀🦕⚾️❤️

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by Thadd F. on July 28, 2020 • Permalink

Posted in #SUMMERinCINCY, Odd & Ends

Tagged #Timehop, 2020, Cincinnati, COVID-19, Jul28, July, MLB, Odds&Ends, Ohio, One year ago, Reds, Reds baseball, Seen and noted

Posted by Thadd F. on July 28, 2020

https://tplusg.com/2020/07/28/one-year-ago-7/

The last Monday in July.

Today is the last Monday in July. How crazy is that? I guess time flies when you sit home and rarely leave the house for four months.

This morning there were actually clouds in the sky for the sunrise…

Most of the mornings recently haven’t had any clouds in the sky for the sunrise. I think the breaking morning light on the clouds is what make the sunrise so pretty.

Good morning from Northside…

See? Not a cloud in the sky again…

This morning I buzzed the grass in our little front yard before I started work…

I swept our sidewalk to make the photo look nicer…

Here’s one from the other end of little front yard…

Our little shrub has a bunch of blossoms on it now…

On my way back inside the morning light was so pretty filling our living room, I stopped to take a couple of photos of our freshly painted living room walls…

Our living room looks so pretty. Genifer did such an amazing job with the painting!

For dinner tonight, we had the tortilla crusted BBQ chicken with cheesy potatoes and corn Kroger Prep+Pared Home Chef Express meal kit again. They changed the label design on the packaging for the Kroger Prep+Pared Home Chef Express…

It’s a really delicious meal. Even though we completely forgot to put the tortilla strips on our chicken. There hasn’t be much variation in the Prep+Pared meals at Kroger lately. I think this is the third time we’ve had this meal. We really like the Kroger Prep+Pared Home Chef Express meal kits a lot. But I hope next time we go to the grocery there are some new options.

This evening the clouds moved in and it got pretty overcast…

And good evening from Northside…

Of course when we got to the top of the hill, it started sprinkling…

It was a fitting end to another Monday. 😀🗓️❤️

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by Thadd F. on July 27, 2020 • Permalink

Posted in #SUMMERinCINCY, Northside, Odd & Ends

Posted by Thadd F. on July 27, 2020

https://tplusg.com/2020/07/27/the-last-monday-in-july/

Cool is being good.

I wish I could remember where I found this because it’s absolutely brilliant…

Brilliant because it’s true. I’m just trying to do a little better and be a little better each and every day. 😀💬❤️

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by Thadd F. on July 27, 2020 • Permalink

Posted in #SUMMERinCINCY, Odd & Ends

Tagged 2020, Cool is being good, Ffffound, July, July27, Odds&Ends, Quotes, Seen and noted

Posted by Thadd F. on July 27, 2020

https://tplusg.com/2020/07/27/cool-is-being-good/

Our Sunday on repeat.

It looked like it was going to be a very pretty Sunday. Good morning from Northside…

There wasn’t a cloud in the sky this morning…

With MLB baseball back, our natural inclination was, “Dang, we should go to the Reds game today.” But we can’t because you know, COVID-19. It’s such a bummer.

And since we didn’t go to watch the Reds game at Newport on the Levee yesterday, we did what we do almost every weekend since things have reopened. We went over to Taft’s Brewpourium this afternoon for New Haven-style pizza, a couple of beers…

And now… Reds baseball…

We’ve always loved Taft’s Brewpourium. But during the pandemic, it’s really become our go-to place when we need to get out of the house. It’s a big and airy space with lots of room for social distancing. And of course, delicious pizzas and great beers…

And now Reds baseball…

We ordered our new favorite pizza, a 10″ white pizza with prosciutto, cherry tomatoes, and arugula after bake. It’s so dang good. We paired our pizza with loaded tots now topped with pulled pork but on the side…

That pulled pork was just dynamite…

I ended up eating most of the pulled pork just by itself. We love Taft’s Brewpourium…

Oh, the Reds lost. Again. On our way home, we saw this stock car…

And then, it was good evening from Northside…

And I was tinkering with filters and stuff…

It was a pretty good Sunday. It was pretty much like a lot of other Sundays during this pandemic. I don’t know if having baseball back is really a good thing or a bad thing. It’s cool that baseball is back. But it’s already really frustrating not being able to go to the games in person. But then this entire pandemic is just pretty frustrating. 😀🍕⚾️❤️

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by Thadd F. on July 26, 2020 • Permalink

Posted in Odd & Ends

Posted by Thadd F. on July 26, 2020

https://tplusg.com/2020/07/26/sunday-on-repeat/

#TBT Pause for paws.

Milan loved his naps. Always remembering all the good times with the bud dog. 😀🐾❤️

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by Thadd F. on July 26, 2020 • Permalink

Posted in #SUMMERinCINCY, Odd & Ends

Tagged #TBT, #Timehop, 2020, Cincinnati, Dogs, Home Sweet Home, Jul26, July, Milan, Odds&Ends, Ohio, Pause for paws, Pets, Seen and noted

Posted by Thadd F. on July 26, 2020

https://tplusg.com/2020/07/26/tbt-pause-for-paws-57/

At least the BLTs were great.

We’re up and moving pretty early every morning. And today was no exception, we were up and walking the dogs before 8am. Good morning from Northside…

Apparently, I need to clean either my Moment fisheye lens or the lens on my mobile’s camera. I’ve been getting a slightly darker dot right in the middle of my frame. And that’s kind of annoying to notice well after the fact.

We ran over to Kroger to some groceries…

Kroger had more really cute balloons…

So cute. We stopped at Mad Llama again to get coffee and a breakfast sammich…

I got this sausage egg and cheese sammich on a jalapeno cheddar bagel…

And boy, those jalapenos were spicy! You could tell the bagels were super fresh and made from scratch. It was a really good breakfast sammich. But next time, I would definitely get it on an Asiago bagel instead so it wasn’t so spicy.

We didn’t do anything all afternoon. We thought about going to Newport on the Levee to watch the second Reds game of the season. They were projecting the game on a big screen outdoors “safely social distancing in our own game box!”

But then we looked again at Newport on the Levee’s Instagram and it just looked like too many people for us and it didn’t look like people were wearing masks in any of the photos. So we decided just to watch the Reds game at home because, you know… COVID.

So we just ate BLTs again and watched the Reds game…

And good evening from Northside…

And the Reds lost to the Tigers 6-4. 😀🗓️❤️

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by Thadd F. on July 25, 2020 • Permalink

Posted in #SUMMERinCINCY, Northside, Odd & Ends

Posted by Thadd F. on July 25, 2020

https://tplusg.com/2020/07/25/at-least-the-blts-were-great/

A Friday with Reds baseball.

We got up extra early this morning to run a couple of errands before work. But first, we had to walk the dogs. It was a little hazy this morning. The hill off in the distance looked extra distant today…

Good morning from Northside…

Our little shrub in our front yard is so blossomy…

We ran to Lowe’s so Genifer could get another gallon of paint for the living room. And then we swung through Mad Llama for coffee…

And we made it back home for my 9am meeting. It turned out to be a very pretty day…

Good evening from Northside…

And then we watched the entire Reds game, from the first pitch until the last…

The Reds looked formidable as they beat the Tigers 7-1. It was really good to watch the Reds again! And it’s so amazing to have MLB back in our lives. While we were watching the game, Oscar snuck in between the sofa and the ottoman…

It was such a pretty evening…

It was a really good Friday. It’s terrific to have baseball back! 😀⚾️❤️

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by Thadd F. on July 24, 2020 • Permalink

Posted in #SUMMERinCINCY, Northside, Odd & Ends

Posted by Thadd F. on July 24, 2020

https://tplusg.com/2020/07/24/a-friday-with-reds-baseball/

Baseball is back!

Welcome back baseball! Our Redlegs look like they have a pretty good team this year…

This is going to be a very unique, one-of-a-kind season the likes of which will hopefully never happen again. It should make the baseball really interesting…

With the COVID-19 shortened regular season only being 60 games long, every game is really going to matter. And I hope baseball can make it all the way through the regular season to get the expanded playoffs…

Because that sounds like it would be a blast! Fingers crossed that the COVID-19 doesn’t ruin this too. 😀⚾️🦠❤️

I don’t understand why baseball didn’t try to create a bubble just like the other major North American sports. After a rocky start, the MLS bubble seems to be holding really well and the so far the NBA bubble seems to be intact too. It’ll be interesting to see if the MLB made a huge mistake by not creating a bubble in Arizona with all the little spring training ballparks out there. I guess we’ll find out.

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by Thadd F. on July 24, 2020 • Permalink

Posted in #SUMMERinCINCY, Northside, Odd & Ends, Reds baseball, Sports