Makai’s Class Project

Hendrix + Makai

Makai’s square

Mary Jo went into Makai’s classroom and helped them all make this quilted wall hanging to auction off at our upcoming fundraising gala. Each kid colored one square and Mary Jo sewed it. It turned out SO great

Masks

Some aunties in Hawaii – Nancy and Jane – sent several masks that they made for Makai. They also made a couple adult sized masks for me and Dallas. It’s been a bit tough with the people on Kauai. Covid has not affected them and it’s hard for them to relate to what’s going on outside of the island.

My mask is one Mary Jo made.

Coronavirus Quarantine Week 6: April 19-25

I made these cookie bars with chocolate chips and dumped in a bag of heath toffee chips I had in the pantry. The result was this super rich, delicious, gooey mess.

 Dallas may have missed his calling in life, given how nicely this quarantine buzz cut came out. He also cut his own hair with minimal help from me! Clippers were hard to find online, but he finally got some off eBay.

Spider

People online are idiots.

I drank a Revolution Brewing Rosa out of my new Perkolator coozie. I haven’t been drinking at all and felt drunk after a half of a beer!

Makai and Charlie started to play ball and frisbee over the fence. They eventually had water fights too, when it got warmer!
Uncle Richard gave Makai this remote controlled car for his birthday.
Makai calls in 3 days per week for school.
Made a fort.
Stickers and mail from Uncle Richard!
Now they’re telling people to wear masks. I freaked out because I couldn’t figure out where to get them. I bought some disposable masks for an exorbitant price in desperation. Mary Jo, who I know from the neighborhood group and who also is a class parent, was making masks for essential workers in hospitals and the police departments. She agreed to sell me some masks, one for me, one for makai, one for Dallas. My hair looks really gray!
Math class.
Cross stitch update. My coronavirus piece is finished, framed and hung!
In Kilbourn Park they took down three out of four rims on the basketball hoops so no one plays basketball anymore. Makai likes this because it provides a nice place for him to scooter!
Makai had to make something out of recycling for school and I had zero brain power to help much, so I don’t even know what this piece of trash is that he hobbled together and presented on Friday!
I made sour cream and onion biscuits to go with our ravioli lasagne from Costco. I’ve never made biscuits. This recipe was super easy and turned out great!
It was so nice out today. I started with breakfast in the deck. We all played ball and frisbee outside, Dallas grilled, mowed the lawn, and took Makai for a walk, and I soaked up as much sun as I could while sitting on the back deck and front porch. We also organized the garage a little, took out all the recycle and finished laundry. Sometimes weather makes ALL the difference these days.
This was making the rounds as a thing to do with kids. We filled out 2 pages, but Makai didn’t really have much interest.

Osteria Nonna Maria, Sheboygan, WI

While I was staying over in Kohler, WI, we went to dinner at Osteria Nonna Maria in Sheboygan, WI. It was just a short drive from Kohler. Jill had somehow heard about this place while looking up restaurants online. It’s a small hole in the wall kind of place. It’s a house in a row of houses in a residential area. When you see the sign pointing to downtown, go the other way, basically! It’s a “hidden gem” according to our hotel concierge when we asked for directions.


SEE YOU IN MY NIGHTMARES!

When you walk in there’s a dining room with booths to the right. It has the feeling of a diner crossed with your grandma’s house. In fact, the owners, Bill and Mary Jo (Nonna Maria), have photos of all of their grand kids on one wall. To the left is the kitchen. We were lead through this area to a room in the back with a bar and some “interesting” wall mountings.


Parmesan Artichoke Crostini – Fresh grated Parmesan cheese and artichoke on toasted Italian bread


Fresh-baked olive bread


Salad with homemade creamy dill dressing


Chicken Cacciatore – Chunked chicken in Nonna’s creamy Sicilian marinara and vegetables served with Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese on imported capellini

Our server for the night was Kim, who is the grand daughter of the owners of Osteria Nonna Maria. Kim was perfectly nice and attentive, giving us recommendations off the menu. We had a super delicious parmesan and artichoke crostini for an appetizer. We all got salads to start and most were obsessed with the creamy dill dressing. It was like putting dill dip on top of your salad. So good. Our bread was hot-out-of-the-oven olive bread. And for my entree I got chicken cacciatore. At some point during dinner, the owner/grandma stopped by our table and chatted with us a bit. I thought that was nice.

I couldn’t finish all of my pasta so they wrapped it up for me to go in this cute duck made of aluminum foil. Actually, mine was more of a duckling, because Jill had a big portobello wrapped in hers which made it a lot bigger duck.

When Jill made the reservation she spoke with Kim and asked her about cake for dessert for Jen’s birthday. Kim said “let me talk to my grandma” and her grandma ended up making a whole entire cake for us! It was the lightest angel food cake, which was perfect since we’d just eaten a somewhat heavy dinner. Kim said this is the cake that her grandma has made for her birthday every year for as long as she could remember, so we made her take a slice to eat as well.

It was Jen’s mom, Nancy’s, birthday just a few days ago, so Jill arranged for her to get a slice of tiramisu with a candle in it, not knowing that we were getting a whole entire cake for Jen! We passed the tiramisu around the table. There was a lot of whipped cream on it, which Kristin loved and took care of. I really liked the part that was soaked in the strong coffee/espresso. So good.

Overall, I’d say that Osteria Nonna Maria is a hidden gem, as our concierge had said. The food was great, the prices were reasonable, and with Kim and her grandparents, and the fact that you were in a house-like building, you almost felt like you were dining in someone’s home.

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