Social Distancing Diaries: Day 60

Dear Diary

Our mulching is done! That makes for exciting news for me, as a boring adult. But no doubt Eden will let me know that is not newsworthy.

One of us is wearing a wedding gown. One of us is fresh off of 3 hours of weeding.

I’m not sure what inspired Hayley to want to try on my wedding dress today, but she did. Ellen asked me if I would get the same dress again today. Well, no, of course not. The style has changed. But I have no regrets about the dress I chose 24 years ago! I still really like it. And, no, Hayley has no intention of wearing it someday.

Lily is ensuring that I will indeed never fit into that dress again. She baked cookies again today!

Hayley is done, done, done with her first year of college! Way to go Hayley!!! Ellen has one more final tomorrow…

I don’t know

And that’s the news.

Thankfully she’s sharing these with her friends’ families tomorrow!

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 59

Dear Diary

Thoughts on an Ordinary Day

Several of us in this family deal with anxiety. It’s a strange beast—it’s not particularly connected to a specific event. So it’s hard to say, “I’m feeling anxious about ___.” And it rears its ugly head suddenly and unexpectedly. Literally one moment you’re fine and the next moment your stomach is clenched and your muscles are tight and your heart beats abnormally. It might lead to a panic attack or it might just be a nagging feeling that sticks with you all day and you just can’t shake it. I’ve felt a level of anxiety since this quarantine began. Some days are better than others. It’s caused me to ponder what exactly I’m anxious about. I don’t have a great answer for that, but like the root of most anxiety, I suspect it’s the fear of the unknown. Despite feeling anxious myself I also find myself in the position to give counsel to the girls in dealing with their own anxiety. I try to remind them of times when they successfully faced something that frightened them. And I used words like “brave”, “strong”, “capable”, “choice”. And this might sound counterproductive, but I also remind them that any control we think we have in life is really an illusion. We can make plans and use wisdom and discernment and make good choices. But ultimately we are not in control in the way we like to believe we are. So when a situation comes along, like a pandemic, we can feel keenly out of control. Thankfully I don’t stop there with that bleak assessment. Instead I’m reminded that my life is governed by the God of the universe. I especially like the poetry of the book of Job. Job, you may recall, suffered nearly every calamity short of his own death. His friends and his wife were sure it was his fault and that he would be better off dead. They offered all kind of advice and platitudes—that makes up most of the book of Job. But at the very end God speaks, and that’s the part I love so much. Oddly He doesn’t give answers to any of Job’s “why” questions. Instead He so eloquently describes the kinds of things He does each day (and asks Job if he can do any of those things!).

            Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it?...Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? Can you loose the cords of Orion?...Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, “Here we are”? Job 38: 12-13, 31, 35

Those are just a few of my favorites. Events of this world cause us to ask “Why” more times than we would like. And we can make ourselves crazy with worry. Anxiety may always be a part of our constitutions, but we are not left without hope. The God who governs the dawn, the constellations, and the lightning bolts governs our lives too. It’s not necessary to know the larger picture. Not when we know the artist Himself.

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 58

Dear Diary

Mother’s Day Edition

*Not shown* Kid 3: “Proofread my paper on Wha Wha Wha What What” Kid 4: “What if this happens? But what if this doesn’t happen? Mom! Why aren’t you as upset about this as I am??”

What a Mother’s Day filled with laughter! It really was a great day. I’m often out of town on Mother’s Day. For years it was a tradition for my mom and I to travel to Pittsburgh to run the Komen Race for the Cure. It was always a fun 24 hour get-away for us. So actually being with my family on Mother’s Day is kind of a new thing. Of course, the only think I wanted was for all my children to get along. For the most part, they did. They all made an Instagram Mother’s Day “thing” where they described me in GIFs. That was good for a laugh. And Lily whipped up a super sweet video for me. It’s on my Facebook page if you haven’t seen it. Our church had solicited pictures and tributes to honor our mothers for Mother’s Day and I guess no one told my kids about it. So as we were watching it during the service this morning they felt overwhelmed with guilt. Thus they were prompted to create an impressive video!  Lily also wanted to make supper for me. Maybe it’s because I kept asking the family what they were making for supper. Not sure if there’s a connection there… She found a frittata recipe for which we had all the ingredients. With a little supervision (but she did it herself!) she made a delicious frittata! Bonus points for using up the leftover potatoes that I made Ellen cut up a few days ago!

Yes, it tasted as good as it looks.

Here’s where I say all the mushy gushy things about being a mom. First, I’d like to acknowledge all the women who desperately want to be moms and it hasn’t happened. God sees you. If you are a daughter but your mom isn’t here any longer, or you have no relationship with her, God sees you too. For those who are moms but the world doesn’t acknowledge it, God sees you. We lost our first baby, Elise, when she was born at 23 weeks. She lived for 8 days. The first Mother’s Day after her death was the hardest “holiday” ever. Our church acknowledged mothers by having them stand. I’ll never forget that moment. It was so hard to stand and yet I was a mother but I had no child. I’m so grateful for our friends who understood our grief and supported us through it. If you’re a mom and your child is not here or is estranged from you, God sees you. I’m grateful that God saw fit to fill my arms with children. I do my share of grumbling about lack of time alone and always having someone hanging off of me, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I’m human and I’m flawed and I don’t love perfectly. But being a mom has taught me the depths of despair and the depths of grace. I’m constantly amazed by each of my daughters. I’m awed that I get to be their mom. They are funny, smart, compassionate, empathetic, passionate, insightful, discerning, creative, and so much more. I look forward to walking through life with them. And I look forward to the day when I will be reunited with Elise.

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 57

Dear Diary

“Where’d you get those pants?” An innocuous question? Perhaps. It depends on the inflection. Repeat it with the emphasis on a different word each time. Imagine your 20 year old daughter posing the question to you. I’m feeling a wee bit judged. This is the second time during quarantine that Hayley has asked that question of me. The first pair of pants in question has since worn through in places that shouldn’t see the sun, so maybe she was on to something. But now she’s hating on my fleece-lined yoga pants. I’ll bet if I let her slip them on I’d win her over. Gen Z—they have so much yet to learn. To answer her questions, by the way: A. A yard sale and B. Goodwill. Truth be told, most of my clothing these days comes from BJs Warehouse Club. I am all aboard the trend of elastic waist everything! Life’s too short to waste time on a zip fly, Baby! Not to mention one stop shopping! I can get my bananas, coffee, and linen-look capris all in one place. I love this country!

Something happened today that has not happened since March 13. All of my children left the house! During the glorious 20 minutes I proofread 4 short answer essays for one of Ellen’s classes. Do I know how to live it up or what?! The girls all drove to the high school for the parade to honor the seniors.

I’m sad to report that my begonias did not survive the low of 32 degrees last night. And I’m not sure yet how the asparagus did. Looks like I’ll have to replace a few flowers, but I think most of them will recover. Please, please, please warm up!

Excerpt from Ellen’s short answer essay questions. Here’s where I proofread for grammar errors and not for content.

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 56

Dear Diary

Toss the sock ball into the bowl. The bowls were worth different point values. Lily and I tied at 3 points. I got it into the 1 point bowl 3 times. She got it into the 3 point bowl one time.

Today was National Field Day, or something like that. Lily was instructed to participate with family members. Many different “Events” were offered as possibilities and then she chose the ones we would do. Tom had phone appointments during Field Day, so it was just us girls who participated. It was way more fun than any of us anticipated. And way more fun than a typical field day. Ellen was quite competitive but Eden had the best razz when Ellen was failing significantly at the “toss the sock ball into the bowl” game. Eden quipped, “Theater kids!” Ellen is still salty about it, but it was hilarious.

Movie night featured High School Musical 3 on the living room tv. Eden and Lily rocked out to that one. On the basement tv Ellen and Hayley and I (and sometimes Tom) preferred the more high brow, but quite hilarious, The Importance of Being Earnest. Such a great movie!

Clothing relay. Eden got an A for Effort. But she did have both legs in one leg hole.

Hayley, Ellen, Lily, and I made an effort to cover all of our vulnerable plants that are outside and can’t be moved indoors to avoid the freezing temps tonight. But about half an hour later I noticed the wind had picked up. I ventured back outside to see all of our coverings had blown off of said plants. So I did my best to gather rocks and paving stones and recovered the plants! What a miserable night to be out! I hope the plants survive! My wisteria already succumbed to a frosty night a few weeks ago. I should be enjoying the sweet fragrance by now, but alas, no blossoms.

This picture cracks me up because it looks like we have a son!

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 55

Dear Diary

Looking good out there!

A satisfying day of mulching. Oxymoron? Perhaps. But things are looking good out there. Just in time for the polar vortex to wipe it all out! Nooooo!

The delicious homemade brownies that Jen gave me yesterday inspired to Lily to make…homemade brownies! Good heavens, you’re going to need to roll me out of quarantine!

Hello little friend!

Also, I have a new tactic to convince your kid to help make supper. Since I was outside mulching I asked Ellen to prepare the potatoes for supper. Part way through the cutting up of the potatoes she wondered if she needed to cut more because her arm was tired. I offered her the job of mulching if she preferred. That exchange took place a few times until supper was complete!

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 54

Dear Diary

I apologize if you found yesterday’s entry as boring as Eden did.

Right after this he guffawed and blew out my candle.

It’s my birthday! I really can’t keep track of how old I am, but I think I’m in the second half of the 40’s. The best news is that I received the only thing I asked for—for the children to all get along! They did! It was so funny because at the end of the day several of them told me how hard they were trying all day to get along with their sisters. In addition to that delightful gift, my mom surprised me with the gift of 3 homemade pie crusts! That might sound strange, but last year I asked her to make me pie crusts for my birthday and she did. My mom makes the BEST pie crusts and I am a failure at making pie crust. And this year she remembered how she had given me pie crust last year and made more for me. She really is the best!

Continuing the quest to redeem as many restaurant birthday rewards as is humanly possible, today I got a free burger from Red Robin and a Frappucino from Starbucks. I mentioned to Tom yesterday that he should probably take his car for a spin around the block since he hadn’t driven it since March 13. So he said he would go collect my rewards for me. He’s a keeper!

My dear friend, Jen, stopped by for a socially distanced visit and brought me homemade brownies!

Collected 2 more freebies!

The Hunter/Gatherer

After supper we all had an ice cream treat. The chaos of who was taking a video, who was taking a Boomerang, and who was taking photos was hilarious. As was Tom accidentally blowing out my candle. I was laughing so hard I was crying. Eden and Lily presented their gift to me. For the last 3 days, they have secretly taken video of our supper times! And that was their gift to me! Ha! But what was really funny was that they didn’t position the camera to actually see the action. So there are 3 30+ minute videos of the ceiling light, with our conversation in the background! Oh my goodness, these people crack me up. Maybe I’m more amused than they are. Eden has already told me that she’ll be choosing her next quarantine family more carefully!

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 53

Dear Diary

It’s my birthday eve! But it’s also my sister’s birthday. We’re 5 years + 1 day apart. Growing up we didn’t always appreciate having to share birthdays, but now I have twins so as a parent I get it! Happy Birthday, Karen!

My goal this birthday is to take advantage of as many restaurant birthday offers as I can. Houlihan’s offers a free entrée up to $15 when you buy an entrée. That’s such a great deal and Tom and I go out for lunch every year for my birthday while the kids are in school. Not possible today. And I didn’t want to buy dinner at Houlihan’s for 6 people, even if I saved $15. It would still cost too much. So I timed my Houlihan’s offer redemption to coincide with Taco Tuesday at Good Burrito Co. That way, we could order $2 tacos for the kids and Tom and I would order from Houlihan’s. I am SO brilliant! But then when I was finally ready to call in my order I couldn’t find my birthday coupon email! I was devastated. I still can’t figure out where in cyberspace it is. I called to order anyway. When the person on the other end told me my total I said, “Ok, this is going to sound really lame, but I have a birthday coupon email but I can’t find it.” She said, “Oh that’s ok! We can still give it to you. Things are hard enough right now. We don’t need to make it harder.” I just about cried. I couldn’t believe it. I was so happy. Kudos to Houlihan’s. Go sign up for their emails. It’s worth it just for the birthday coupon. AND, because it was Cinco de Mayo they were offering free chips and salsa if you spent over $30. And they gave us that even though our total after the coupon was less than $30. Tom and Ellen went to Good Burrito Co. to order the tacos. I had a birthday coupon for $5 off my order. So my 8 tacos only cost $11. Hee Hee! I have a coupon for a free burger at Red Robin. Not sure if I can get out to redeem that one this year. We’ll see if Starbucks will offer me a free drink tomorrow on my birthday. What’s your favorite birthday offer?

And besides my friends who thought my birthday was this past weekend, I received my first birthday wishes today from my dear friend, Joan, whom I haven’t seen since we moved from Pittsburgh 14 years ago. Her birthday is the day after mine so we’re Birthday Buddies. You know how some people cause you to smile just thinking about them? Yeah, that’s Joan.

I have no plans for tomorrow (my birthday). If the kids ask what I want for my birthday they know the answer—“I just want all my children to get along.” I’ll let you know how that turns out!

I had no interesting pictures from today. But Lily saved this scavenger hunt and she and Eden caused quite a commotion today when they competed against each other to complete it. Have fun!

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 52

Dear Diary

Favorite Quote of the Day: “This day is SO long!” Eden, 8:06 am

Game night!

Here are our 3 favorite foods of the day

Lily: cucumbers, s’mores cookies, spaghetti

Eden: spaghetti sauce, eggplant, egg taco

Ellen: 3 mandarins, rosemary fries with over-easy egg, ice cream cookie (s’mores cookie) sandwich

Hayley: mint Oreo, spaghetti and sauce, chips and queso (this might be everything the H ate today)

Theresa: scrambled eggs with bacon bits, cheese, and asparagus; iced tea; eggplant

Thomas: spaghetti, oatmeal, banana

Ellen passed 6th grade math tutoring

I ventured out to Sharp Shopper. Stocked up on chicken nuggets and French fries (‘Merica!). Also made a good haul of yogurt, Triscuits, and San Pellegrino.

Just discovered these delicious fries! Mmmm.

Rounded out the day by spending one-on-one time with Eden. It’s a good thing because when I returned from Sharp Shopper this afternoon Eden declared how much she had missed me while I was gone for 2 hours. We played Shut the Box and Trivial Pursuit. And then we both read our books silently until it was time for bed.

Next up: Tom is picking out a Star Wars movie for us to watch because, well, May the Fourth Be With You!

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 51

Dear Diary

I talk about the weather a lot, but if every day could be as gorgeous as today…

A Good Day

We gathered for Living Room Church this morning. Apparently 3 kids on the couch is too much because we had to pause the service to address the Heart Issues which were being demonstrated. Lest you get the impression that things are all roses here.

This afternoon the girls and I drove over to Marietta to pick up some homemade doughnuts from the marvelous Aunt Kasey of Moonlight Bakery Co. fame (also of extraordinary English teacher fame, but you can’t eat books now can you?). Apparently the Heart Issues expressed during Living Room Church were still in full force in the car. BUT, it gave us an opportunity to APPLY Pastor Adam’s instructions to “reframe” and practice patience.

Kahoot with Karen. Yes, there were two of her. She didn’t know why.

We also played Kahoot across the ocean, playing with my sister, Karen, in Israel. We finally figured out the technology so that she could see us and the computer screen. Good times!

The day ended with our first campfire of the season. Oh! It was glorious. And Tyler, who’s been such a trooper throughout this, came over to hang out around the campfire. And do gymnastics in the backyard. And carry heavy things for me.

I LOVE spring!

S’mores!

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 50

Dear Diary

Today was one of my favorite days of the year—Flower Planting Day!

Trunk full of Blessedness!

Taming the entropy

Sorry for any confusion—some of you thought my birthday was yesterday. Thanks for the well-wishes. But it’s actually on Wednesday (May 6). I believe in more of a Birthday Week anyway, so early wishes are fine! My birthday is perfectly situated right around the “Last Frost Date” that we need to be aware of, which means the perfect gift is for me to buy flowers and plants! Which is what I did today. I wore myself out, but accomplished much. Shout out to my sidekick, Thomas, who does the heavy lifting and shoveling. Thanks!

While I was outside all day I left some indoor tasks for the girls. Lily took the lead on decorating the living room shelf, and Eden updated the letterboard (which totally cracks me up!). I’m happy to report there was a little bathroom cleaning action too. And, be still my heart, Hayley even came outside to weed for a bit! This was quite possibly the longest time she spent weeding in her life. And I didn’t actually ask her to do it! I may have voiced a little passive aggressive guilt when I came in for a water break. I can’t say for sure.

The Cinco de Mayo feast from yesterday kept on giving and we had FFY lunch and supper! I guess I’ll have to cook something tomorrow. They’re going to start catching on soon…

Eden’s letter board creation

We spent a good while this evening playing Kahoot. If you don’t know what Kahoot is, ask a public school kid! But you can play at home. Go to kahoot.it. Choose a quiz and start playing. Each player will need a device (or play on teams). It was a lot of fun! I nailed the Bible trivia and thought I would excel on the History of the Reformation but Hayley bested me. We also did some Disney and Harry Potter quizzes. I was salty because Hayley won a HP quiz and she hasn’t even read the books. It’s going to take me a while to get over that loss. But I did will the 100 question random quiz. There was a lot of laughter and that just makes for a great evening!

The shelf that Lily decorated. We finally packed away the Easter decorations.

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 49

Dear Diary

Just ordinary life going on today. 

Guys! Beats are da Bomb!

I continued working on my mask order. Thomas thought I deserved to have my picture taken in all of my quarantine glory. I downloaded a new audio book today, so I’ll be taking a podcast break.

Shout out to Hayley from a few days ago. She NAILED her “opposing viewpoints” research paper. Who else can claim they earned a 100% on a college paper?? Today she turned in her last paper for the semester. The twins start finals next week!

Woot! Woot! Go Hayley!

Tom’s parents stopped by for a brief, socially distanced visit this morning. They came to wish me Happy Birthday, which was super sweet of them! As part of my birthday gift they bought a Cinco de Mayo feast for us from Acorn Farms! It was tons of food, so I look forward to eating it all weekend long!

While I weeded and various family members had Zoom calls this evening, Lily decided to make s’more cookies! Way to be spontaneous, Lily!

Cinco de Mayo feast!

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 48

Dear Diary

Lily can’t resist running outside in a rainstorm. She had ample opportunity today.

Working on an order of 50 masks this week so that meant several hours to listen to podcasts and watch instructional videos. Today I learned what my basic daily skin care routine should be from my lovely esthetician friend, Marci. (I can’t pronounce esthetician and I had to Google its spelling.) Marci has a gorgeous face, so Ima gonna follow her advice! Then I watched her tutorial about Advanced Skin Care but I’m going to have to work up to that one. You need to walk before you run. https://www.facebook.com/KairosMassage/?ref=br_rs

This girl is always reading several books. “Charles” is a loyal companion.

In the podcast world I caught up on the new podcast by friends Andy and Jodi. Andy is a super scientist (Seriously, he needs a cape. Actually, he probably has one.) His wife Jodi is a talented artist and superb photographer. Together they have a podcast where they tackle questions related to science and more specifically epidemiology. Andy earned his PhD in Molecular Microbiology & Immunology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. I don’t know about you, but that’s the kind of person I want to be chatting with these days. Look up Bio Break on Facebook to listen to their podcast. https://www.facebook.com/BioBreakwithAndyandJodiWalsh/

I also listened to an episode of Freakonomics podcast which discussed the supply chain issues related to grocery stores. This piggybacked nicely off an article posted by my dairy farmer friend Eric yesterday which explained why we can’t just snap our fingers and magically send food destined for the food service industry into grocery stores.

Why such an eclectic assortment of viewing and listening? When I see interesting things on Facebook, I place them in my Saved folder to read/watch later. Today I went through the folder to catch up on what I could listen to while I sewed.

I topped off my afternoon with a few episodes of The Office. Pam and Jim just went to the hospital to have their baby!

This was my FFYN dinner. See how standards are quite different from typically dinner nights??

I declared tonight “FFYN”. Fend For Yourself Night, which means you find your own dinner. I did provide some assistance. I can’t remember the exact circumstances but at one point it was starting to get Lord of the Flies-ish and I did announce, “It’s Fend For Yourself Night. Not Throw You to the Wolves Night!”

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 47

Dear Diary

The Homesteading Edition

Weeds in the foreground. Pretty Boy winds up for a menacing crow.

Want to know a little secret? When I sit down to write the blog each night, I have NO idea what to say. Ha! Maybe that’s obvious! So I look at the photos on my camera roll for that day to get some ideas. I try to remember to take pictures throughout the day, with the blog in mind, since I have NO idea what to write about. Did I mention I have NO idea what to write about??

This is the broody hen that doesn’t quite get it. She sits on the nest for part of the day and then abandons it. Sadly, she’s not going to hatch any chicks like that.

Chickens: We have 2 flocks of chickens—the 2 year olds and the 1 year olds. The 2 year olds are Rhode Island Reds and they are docile and friendly. They lay brown eggs. The 1 year olds are “Easter Eggers”. They lay blue eggs. One of them turned out to be a rooster. We call him Pretty Boy because he really is beautiful. But his looks don’t prevent us from having Unwholesome Thoughts towards him for his early morning crowing. This flock is flighty and scared of people even though they were lovingly hand-raised by the World’s Biggest Animal Lover (Shout out to Hannah H.!). We feed all of our non-meat table scraps to our chickens. Their favorite are melon rinds. We even have the neighbors give their melon rinds to our chickens. This spring we’ve been giving all of our weeds to the chickens too. We used to toss the weeds into the swamp behind our house but now the swamp has been fenced off for a goat pasture so we can’t toss anything in there. But the chickens seem to love to scratch and peck through the weeds, so I think this is a delightful solution!

I did a lot of weeding today and I feel accomplished! I’m also pleased as punch because I harvested the first asparagus of the season! Those babies will be sautéed for my breakfast tomorrow morning. Yum-O!

Look at those beauties!

My birthday is one week from today! I’m pretty easy to please when it comes to gifts. Gifts are not my love language. But Acts of Service are, so skip the fancy knick knacks and sling some mulch for your ol’ mum! I’m perfectly content to buy and plant flowers. And not cook. That’s what I did last year for my birthday and I’m hoping for a repeat this year. The coupon on the back of the Merchandiser this week for the Mother’s Day Potting Soil or Manure totally cracked me up today! Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! Here’s a bag of manure to express my love to you. That could be a lot funnier but Ellen told me to keep it rated G.

As if the marketing campaign wasn’t funny enough, check out that expiration date! LOL!

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 46

Dear Diary:

Today was heavy on the office hours. 

10am: proofread Ellen’s paper

My superpower is editing research papers over the phone while cutting out masks. What’s yours?

11am: cut out masks while coming up with killer sentences for Ellen’s paper

“No matter the physical manifestation of the tanninim, the challenge to Pharaoh’s power represented in the snake-like resemblance of the creature is clear to the audience.”

11:30am: help Lily with math (AKA Googled surface area formulas)

1:00pm: Watched “Hitler: Rise of Evil” episode 2 with Eden

2:30pm: Went outside to detox, I mean, weed.

4:00pm: Made supper (sweet and sour meatballs)

6:30pm: Watched “The Chosen” episode 1 with Eden

7:30pm: Did a birthday Zoom with my niece, Olivia. Happy Birthday, Livy!!!

Wouldn’t it be fun to compare what I thought I’d do today to what I actually did today?? I thought I would:

Go for a walk (did)

Read Ellen’s paper (did)

Cut out a bajillion masks (Um, only cut out about 10. Sigh.)

Watch Hitler with Eden (did)

Watch The Chosen with Eden (did)

Clean up my studio (didn’t touch it)

Vacuum the basement (nope)

Vacuum upstairs (yeah right)

Return to Giant to re-buy the tissues that I bought yesterday but failed to put into my car. (Tom did that for me).

That’s a pretty accurate proportion of “what I think I’ll do in a day” to “what I really did in a day.” I usually start with what people have requested I help them with that day. Fill in the essentials like making meals. And hope for a little something of what I thought I would do as a cherry on top. I only get stressed out when I have a deadline and people demand my time. Otherwise I pretty much roll with it. I am rather passive aggressive about the dishes in the sink though. Just ask the girls!

Quote of the day: “I’m so bored I have to fake cry!” (Eden)

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 45

Hello World!

It’s an Eden Takeover again. Hope ya’ll are doing mighty fine! Anywho, here’s the deets. I started my day with screen time and devotions. Then, I worked on school and I am pretty proud of myself on my Web Development accomplishments. Not much work today, so I investigated a video app called Marco Polo. It’s kind of like FaceTime but you video yourself and send it to your friend for their viewing pleasure on their own unique time schedules. Lily and I Zoomed our cousin Dori (A.K.A D-Dog) and it was pretty rad. I made Hayley and I ice cream sundaes tonight. I have been asked to explain the virtual retreat I was on this weekend. Basically, we met via Zoom for games and worship and then we watched a session of an AWESOME drama called Storymaker by ZETEO. And then we came back on to Zoom and broke into small groups to discuss the session. There were five total sessions.  Mom and I played Trivial Pursuit tonight and I won a round and she won a round, so all is fair in love and games! 

 Dede Nae 

Me and Hayley’s ice cream sundaes. I gave myself the hot fudge spoon!

Trivial Pursuit

Not very trivial

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 44

Dear Diary

Things I Learned Today:

Tyler parked outside of Ellen’s bedroom window. This was last week. Today he sat out in the rain and cold. I think Ellen gave him a pancake.

Young Love gets creative. Since Boyfriend Tyler can’t visit in the house, about once a week he brings over his lawn chair (and blanket today) to visit from outside.

I put Eden to bed tonight and Tom is putting Lily to bed. From the living room I can hear her go on and on in enthusiastic detail about which cereals get soggy right away in milk. He’s practicing Active Listening. This is why he was the right parent to put Lily to bed tonight.

Hayley gives the best massages in the family. Ellen and I both hold our stress in our shoulders. Where does Hayley hold her stress? In her armpits. 

This was the photo we took to show my dad where the wasp nest was. Which turned out to be a moot point when he walked up to us while I was texting him the picture.

When you finally, for the first time during all of quarantine, decide to make some cards, you will be out of tape. But you can text your Dealer and she’ll put some out on her porch for you to buy.

Savory pancakes are the bomb! Tonight I made 3 varieties: crumbled apple sausage and apple, bacon and cheddar, and chocolate chip (no, not savory).

Also, I took no photos today. Nothing interesting happened today. But early last week I found this strange mud wasp nest on the side of my house. The tines of my pitchfork fit so neatly into it—like it was meant to be destroyed. Luckily it was last year’s nest or the story could have had a very different ending.

I am a genius. Also, mud fell into my face.

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 43

Dear Diary

Mulching Mania in action!

OMG it didn’t rain today!! The fog lifted just in time for Ellen and I to take a walk. We were so stylish we took a selfie. Standards continue to suffer.

I was a Lawn Maintenance Warrior today! Edging, mulching, weeding. And there’s still So. Much. To. Do. Lily earned the Favorite Child Award by coming out to help. Of course, I promised to pay her, but I choose to believe she did it out of the kindness of her heart. While she was outside she had a quick lesson in how to mow the lawn. I have high hopes there.

My mom picked up a few things for us at the grocery store today, including a brisket for herself! My dad smoked it AND make real French fries, fried in oil. They invited us over for a socially distant supper on the patio. Mmmmm.

The mowing lesson

Eden was occupied for several hours today by the virtual youth retreat. I’ll ask her if she’ll share her thoughts when it’s all over. Hayley and Ellen were occupied all day by college-y stuff—writing papers and such not. Only a few more weeks until they’re MINE. ALL MINE! Mwahahahaha! (Hayley wants everyone to know she had a good hair day.)

Morning walk selfie

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 42

Dear Diary

It felt a bit like “Go to school with Eden” Day! First I helped her to record a video for youth choir. That’s not technically school, but I helped. Then we moved on to Web Development. We attempted this yesterday but it was complicated. She needs to follow a video tutorial at the same time that she types in the code for the program. Typing can be challenging for her, so she solicited my help. She tried splitting the screen so she could watch the video AND type the code. I was helping with the typing but I couldn’t see the video because it was too small! Oi vey! It was like a comedy routine. Without being funny. So today we got smarter—we pulled up the tutorial video on my laptop so she could type the code on her Chromebook. That was mostly ok except that the video would freeze about every minute so we’d have to restart the video constantly. And if she didn’t make the video full screen I couldn’t see it! #40somethingeyes. Eventually she hit a wall. I announced it was time for a lunch break. After lunch I ran to Walmart to pick up an online order and by the time I came back she had finished it. Hallelujah! Somewhere in there I helped Lily with her math which literally consisted of reminding her of the formula to find the volume of a rectangular prism. That was much more manageable.

My view for a few hours this morning. Hayley will kill me for this picture but it really does capture reality. Also, allergies.

Eden is on a “Virtual” Youth Retreat this weekend! Kudos to the youth leaders for making this possible. This was supposed to be the spring youth retreat but they figured out a way to do it virtually. Wow. Some people are really ambitious and I’m thankful for them! It’s especially cool because Eden wasn’t going to go on this retreat. And now she gets to participate from the comfort of her own home!

I was even able to spend a few hours updating my website. One day in the future you’ll be able to shop directly from my website! Welcome to the 20th Century! After typing in code for Eden and not understanding a single keystroke I am singing the praises of Squarespace’s drag and drop website builder!

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 41

Dear Diary

Just some randomness from today…

Seriously. Wash your hands!

Tell me I’m not the only one—how many times a day do you wipe off the fridge handles? Why are our hands not clean when we use the refrigerator??

(+) It’s great when the kids take the initiative and clean out their bedrooms! (-) In order to get it out of their bedrooms, it gets stored in my bedroom until I donate it. There’s nowhere to donate it right now…

Thrift stores are going to be SO busy when they reopen!

Lily jumped on the trending whipped coffee bandwagon. Having only a very limited supply of instant coffee, her experimentation was less than ideal. Yesterday when I shopped at BJs I fulfilled her heart’s desire and bought instant coffee. Unfortunately I was at BJs where the only option was a lifetime supply of instant coffee. (+) She has perfected her technique. (-) She doesn’t like the taste very much. Shocker there (did I mention this is instant coffee?). Hit me up if you want to try your own whipped coffee. I’m happy to share from my lifetime supply!

Not sure who the Tasters are, but they did not make good choices.

Beautiful eggs. Brown and blue.

Can we take a moment to admire the beautiful colors of these chicken eggs? If you thought white and brown were your only options, you were mistaken. We have a flock of “Easter Eggers”, the common name for various breeds of chickens that lay colored eggs. When I collected eggs today, I noticed a hen sitting on the eggs. Time will tell, but she may have “gone broody” which means she’s sitting on the eggs with the goal of hatching them. Normally I’d shove her off and take the eggs away from her. But we have a rooster that was mistakenly included in our order of female chicks last spring. That means that some of our eggs may be fertilized and therefore, if this broody hen is successful (and the eggs were fertilized), we could have chicks! The best part of that is that we want chicks but I much prefer if the hens raise their own chicks. I’ll know the outcome in 22 days…

That’s the randomness in our home. What’s the randomness in your house?