Freaky-ish Friday

 

Wisconsin's version of "Stone Henge" comes a day after a significant wet snow when the icy chunks plowed to the side of the road become individual stone-cold monuments. Look around before they all melt by the end of day Saturday. You'll see what I mean.

A little freaky. But interesting.

One of the other freaky things this particular Friday is the foreign invasion in our home.

Are they quaint old Lady Bugs or are they invasive and annoying Japanese beetles? They're showing up throughout our house just because the sun is shining and the temperature is technically above freezing. I'm not a fan. Especially when their distant cousins the "stink bugs" have been mooching off our heat bill all winter. 

You know me. Creepy crawly things are not my jam!

The only other item that did not go my way this Friday was that I had hoped to take the afternoon off – mainly to finish editing hundreds of girls hoops photos from last night so I could go to tonight's boys' playoff game. But an unusual "rush job" at work came up so I finished the photos just late enough that I sat back and watched the livestream of the game. Jim had to work his church fish fry so I would've had to travel nearly an hour to Marshfield Columbus for the game – and I wasn't feeling it after my afternoon schedule change.

I do thank our local livestreaming channel Zaleski for broadcasting it. But it was such an adjustment to just watch a game unfold without having to just focus (literally) on one part of the game at a time. The only downside is that our Royal boys were convincingly eliminated from the final playoffs. 

And now we just cross our fingers for the Lady Royals tomorrow night... and the Lady Bugs tonight!

Playoff Power

We're in the heart of high school March Madness with playoffs and state tournaments. Since the Royals boys team won first round of Regionals Tuesday, they'll play Friday at Marshfield Columbus. Since the Lady Royals won their Regional championship on Saturday, they played the Sectional semi-final tonight. As No. 1 seed they ended up facing No. 2 seed Pacelli at a neutral site at Adams-Friendship High School. 

Hubby enjoyed a nice pre-game meal at Mo's Bar on the way – just on the north side of Friendship. It happens to be owned by our assistant coach's sister so there were a few Assumption fans grabbing a bite there as well.

The game was a quite a physical one! Pacelli beat us a few weeks ago, it seems, in the regular season, and both teams were ready to play hard (and tough) to advance in the playoffs.

Due to quite a few missed shots in the first half, it took a bit for the Lady Royals (the guest team) to capture the lead. And even at halftime, it seemed it could be anyone's game.

I never feel completely comfortable or confident with a lead until there's like 90 seconds left. But our kids were doing the "I believe that we will win" cheer way before that. So glad they were right!

So now our girls our one game away from state – facing Sevastopol at 7 p.m. on Saturday night at Waupaca High School. 

Coincidentally that's the same time our boys would play for their Regional championship "somewhere" if they beat Marshfield tomorrow night. 

See what I mean by March Madness?

I may need more than one Shamrock Shake to get through this! How 'bout you? 😁☘ 

Before and (Unfortunately) After

After a very rainy Tuesday, I decided to take a "before" picture of our front yard after work, knowing the scenery was going go change in less than 24 hours.

 

And it surely did. And since they did classify today's weather as a Winter Storm Warning, I worked from home and didn't want to deal with that early morning transition from rain to ice to snow on my commute.

Although we were in the 3-6 inches of snow range, I think we just got like 3-4 inches of really wet, heavy stuff. Thankfully, the snowblower dude in my home office could handle it.

This Bluejay Drive Office has such a talented and committed team! Love it! (And him, of course.)

After work, we both were planning to go to Ash Wednesday service – he was reading at his church and I was singing at mine – but the weather changed my plans, at least. I guess when we're Lutheran we can postpone Ash Wednesday to "Ash Thursday." Either way, it's better to be safe, I guess!

But in between the rain and winter storm, there was some excitement. We went to our boys regional basketball game last night. Almost always it works out that Assumption plays at Port Edwards and gets eliminated from the playoffs from the get-go. But last night we faced New Lisbon. And although tied at halftime, we came away with a 19-point victory. What a fun game! 

So if you're following Assumption sports, our Lady Royals play a sectional game against Pacelli Thursday at Adams-Friendship. And our boys travel to the #2 seed Marshfield Columbus Friday night. 

The weather dudes say we're tracking to hit 63 by Monday so I think we'll be free to move about the country, or county.

Be careful out there!

Fake Spring

The sun was mostly shining during my work from home Monday so it felt like spring with the last of the snow in the yard melting. 

After work, I did a quick mile walk to the end of the street to see the sun  – and admit I did not have a shot of all the planets aligned this weekend. So bummed that didn't work out.

But still, I saw some puddle reflections that looked like spring is on its way. I am forever the optimist! 

P.S. No need to mention the forecasted snow by midweek! Not a good sign for Ash Wednesday commute, church service, and choir. Keep thinking good thoughts upward this week!

No Need To Shout BINGO

I should blame myself fror telling eveyone to attend the Sunday BINGO at Assumption. Because we ended up with hundreds of players and that reduced my chance of winning. I mean to the point I didn't win anything.

But on a positive note, I'm sure the 8th-grade class recipients got a lot out of it.

It was fun to see usual BINGO friends and even my sister-in-law today. But we all unfortunately came away with empty pockets and hopes we can yell BINGO at the top of our lungs the next time – especially since the big jackpot will be more than $4,000+ and the 50/50 should be $1,000. 

I hate to tell you to join us since it reduces my chances, but it's so nice to support the cause.

Look at this full gymnasium! Crazy!

So when I was just 3 spots away from the big coverall jackpot, it was a tough pill to swallow. But guess what? No one won the big one so it's all available again in two weeks.

Obviously, that was my Sunday excitement. Now we'll watch the Oscars and pretend we know what they're talking about when WICKED is the only movie I've seen. Good luck, winners! 

Hello, March and Madness

New month means a flip of the calendar and new (but familiar) faces! Love seeing the two older boys with their special ladies!

March also means it's pretty much March Madness for every sport. 

Last night I was thrilled to see my friend's daughter earn her way to state in two gymnastics events – the bars and the beam. She did awesome despite having a really, really sore foot! Hope it heals so she can rock it at state next weekend – which happens to be in Wisconsin Rapids. There's an advantage to living in the center of the state sometimes!

And tonight March madness was in high gear as our Lady Royals dominated Almond-Bancroft to earn the regional championship! Way to go, Lady Royals! Now the toughest game of the season comes Thursday when we play Pacelli, who we just haven't managed to beat. It will be a good game!

Other than that, it's been a quiet weekend. The mild spring temps of earlier this week have now dipped below freezing. So even though it was sunny out, do we say March came in like a Lion? Or a Lamb?

Since the Royals' mascot is a lion, let's go with that!

Thursday Deets

In case you wanted all the details of Thursday... the chocolate-mint trifle was a big hit. And the birthday boy, who has known both Jim and I for decades after working in Iola together, was kind enough to be sure there was ONE serving left for hubby.

I think I'm putting a time limit on that because I will definitely devour that serving if he isn't committed to it!

The other excitement of the day was shooting hoops – or photographing our boys playing hoops tonight. I haven't been able to shoot a boys' game in a while and the season is winding down. Stratford is always a tough opponent. 

In the end, we lost, but it wasn't for lack of trying.

We had lots of our guys taking shots and a lot of them making them. It just wasn't enough to overcome the consistent 3-point shots from Stratford.

Still in the end, we really just like to include all our players in our successes. Onto the post-season! Go Royals!