{"id":15182,"date":"2026-03-31T20:20:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T01:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/?p=15182"},"modified":"2026-04-01T12:38:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T17:38:46","slug":"i-thought-it-would-be-better-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/31\/i-thought-it-would-be-better-this-year\/","title":{"rendered":"I thought it would be better this year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For <a href=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/2022\/05\/15\/coming-up-for-air\/\">many<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/2023\/04\/06\/where-to-begin\/\">many<\/a> years, late March into the first two weeks of April has always been a busy busy time for me. My regular job and side hustles always converged, advising week and the spring election and the WI Film fest and the Friends of the Libraries Book sale. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/2025\/03\/29\/right-in-the-thick-of-it\/\">Even last year<\/a> when I was retired it was bad.<\/p>\n<p>This year, because there&#8217;s no book sale, I <em>thought<\/em> things would be better.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15186\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/nobooksale.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"448\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/nobooksale.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/nobooksale-650x324.jpg 650w, https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/nobooksale-150x75.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>So no book sale. And no election day, because back in February when I was in a meeting of a smaller group planning a meeting for a larger group, I didn&#8217;t recognize April 7th as election day until we got too far along to change. Although to make up for not working election day itself, I did take on more early voting shifts, seven in all, and some are long ones, like 11:00am to 7:00pm. And, I&#8217;m skipping the film fest too, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/2023\/04\/16\/another-six-weeks\/\">sorta like 2023<\/a> when I got busted back to crutches so didn&#8217;t work, but did see movies. This year I went to the general training, but then I started having trouble fitting in a specific venue training, not to mention movies, and then when the schedule came out, it turned out we&#8217;d already <a href=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/2025\/09\/10\/tiff50-contd\/\">seen the opening night movie at TIFF<\/a>. So no film fest.<\/p>\n<p>And I did finally sign up for a short shift on election day, 4:00 to close. I&#8217;m not chiefing, just going in to help out.<\/p>\n<p>So somehow, things remain busy. And being continually horrified by Trump adds a layer of exhaustion.<\/p>\n<p>But we do have food pics and Jasper pics and Chicago pics.<\/p>\n<p>First, a week ago Sunday&#8217;s cooking class. Savory and sweet kolaches. The sweet ones are rhubarb and cream cheese, and some with cherries and some with cherry jam. The savories have pepperonata and goat cheese.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 100%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-15182 gallery-columns-1 gallery-size-full'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/31\/i-thought-it-would-be-better-this-year\/sweetkolaches3-22\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"541\" height=\"650\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/sweetkolaches3-22.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-15193\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/sweetkolaches3-22.jpg 541w, https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/sweetkolaches3-22-125x150.jpg 125w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 541px) 100vw, 541px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-15193'>\n\t\t\t\tFull tray of sweet kolaches\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/31\/i-thought-it-would-be-better-this-year\/savorykolaches3-22\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"444\" height=\"650\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/savorykolaches3-22.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-15192\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/savorykolaches3-22.jpg 444w, https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/savorykolaches3-22-102x150.jpg 102w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 444px) 100vw, 444px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-15192'>\n\t\t\t\tFull tray of savory\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/31\/i-thought-it-would-be-better-this-year\/emptykolaches\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"488\" height=\"650\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/emptykolaches.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-15188\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/emptykolaches.jpg 488w, https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/emptykolaches-113x150.jpg 113w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 488px) 100vw, 488px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-15188'>\n\t\t\t\tempty\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/31\/i-thought-it-would-be-better-this-year\/sweetkolaches3-22-2\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"650\" height=\"490\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/sweetkolaches3-22-2.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-15191\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/sweetkolaches3-22-2.jpg 650w, https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/sweetkolaches3-22-2-150x113.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-15191'>\n\t\t\t\tcloseup of a rhubarb\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/31\/i-thought-it-would-be-better-this-year\/cherrykolaches3-22\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"488\" height=\"650\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/cherrykolaches3-22.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-15190\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/cherrykolaches3-22.jpg 488w, https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/cherrykolaches3-22-113x150.jpg 113w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 488px) 100vw, 488px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-15190'>\n\t\t\t\tcloseup of a cherry (I think)\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/31\/i-thought-it-would-be-better-this-year\/savorykolaches3-22-2\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"488\" height=\"650\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/savorykolaches3-22-2.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-15189\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/savorykolaches3-22-2.jpg 488w, https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/savorykolaches3-22-2-113x150.jpg 113w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 488px) 100vw, 488px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-15189'>\n\t\t\t\tclose up of pepperonata\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>Jasper came Wednesday and there was a play date for his preschool at a park that&#8217;s near where we used to live when Al and John were small, before we moved to Chicago. There was a kind of wilderness area, where we sled-rided once and Al called it the crash course. In the wild there were steep dropoffs and kids crawling through culverts. There was also a playground. I think me &amp; Jasper spent more time on the playground, though we did climb around some in the wild area. Another family brought popcorn and Jasper wanted it, but we only had apple slices and graham squares cereal &#8211; the co-op version of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.generalmills.com\/food-we-make\/brands\/golden-grahams\">Golden Grahams<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_15197\" style=\"width: 498px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15197\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15197\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/jasperwedsplayday.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"488\" height=\"650\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/jasperwedsplayday.jpg 488w, https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/jasperwedsplayday-113x150.jpg 113w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 488px) 100vw, 488px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-15197\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Swinging in the playground &#8211; you can see the wilder part in the background<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_15196\" style=\"width: 498px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15196\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15196\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/spiderdinomutant.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"488\" height=\"650\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/spiderdinomutant.jpg 488w, https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/spiderdinomutant-113x150.jpg 113w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 488px) 100vw, 488px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-15196\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Spider dino mutant we taped together<\/p><\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-15195\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/spiderdinomutant2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"488\" height=\"650\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/spiderdinomutant2.jpg 488w, https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/spiderdinomutant2-113x150.jpg 113w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 488px) 100vw, 488px\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_15194\" style=\"width: 498px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15194\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15194\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/lambshapedpopcorn.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"488\" height=\"650\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/lambshapedpopcorn.jpg 488w, https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/lambshapedpopcorn-113x150.jpg 113w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 488px) 100vw, 488px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-15194\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Finally he got some popcorn and found one shaped like a lamb<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_15200\" style=\"width: 498px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15200\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15200\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/wegotanupgrade.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"488\" height=\"650\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/wegotanupgrade.jpg 488w, https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/wegotanupgrade-113x150.jpg 113w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 488px) 100vw, 488px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-15200\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Our last overnight trip to Chicago, we got an upgrade. Big room.<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_15199\" style=\"width: 498px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15199\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15199\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/coffeewithmuddy26.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"488\" height=\"650\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/coffeewithmuddy26.jpg 488w, https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/coffeewithmuddy26-113x150.jpg 113w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 488px) 100vw, 488px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-15199\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">I had coffee with Muddy in the morning.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>We had dinner at Cafe Yaya and then breakfast with John &amp; Megan at a place in Roscoe Village called Lucy&#8217;s Cafe, that had plenty of eggy things for us, and also vegan things for John and Megan. No pics of Lucy&#8217;s; salad and orange squash dip at Yaya.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-15201\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yayasaladanddip.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"488\" height=\"650\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yayasaladanddip.jpg 488w, https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yayasaladanddip-113x150.jpg 113w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 488px) 100vw, 488px\" \/><\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For many many years, late March into the first two weeks of April has always been a busy busy time for me. My regular job and side hustles always converged, advising week and the spring election and the WI Film fest and the Friends of the Libraries Book sale. Even last year when I was &#8230; <span class=\"more\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/31\/i-thought-it-would-be-better-this-year\/\">[Read more&#8230;]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15198,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[31,13,214],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-ds83473gmail-com","4":"post-15182","6":"format-standard","7":"has-post-thumbnail","8":"category-blogpost","9":"post_tag-busy-busy-busy","10":"post_tag-chicago","11":"post_tag-spring"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15182"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15204,"href":"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15182\/revisions\/15204"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}