Some Things We Learned About Ourselves

Yet another week of quarantine are we closer to "opening day" or will they move the goal again?

Yes, I know that we are closer to some kind of resolution but our governor (bless him)

moved the opening day out another two weeks.

We will celebrate some important days while under quarantine.

Hope's birthday...

Hope was less than impressed with the status quo, but we tried to make the day special.

We managed to do a mother daughter shopping trip for "essentials"

but the shopping venues were limited.

I have a birthday coming up too...I guess we will order in food and eat on paper plates.

I want three things for my birthday.

No cooking

No dish washing

No teaching math.

I know the gift I'm getting....

 a mop and bucket

--it's ok, it's a fancy spin mop and I ordered it.

My husband wants to get me a dishwasher, but those stores aren't really open.

This is the sixth Sunday of quarantine and there are rumblings of discontent in our state and others.

People are debating the value of masks, social distancing, and wearing of gloves.

I'm not going to weigh in on that cause it serves no purpose, but I think we learned

some things about ourselves.

People are mostly willing to help each other.

When we heard there was a need for fabric masks, many people dropped their plans

for the week and the next few weeks and donated many hours cutting and sewing masks.

Yes, some people got paid to make some of the masks, but a whole lot of them were 

donated. Some of those people that were sewing were not able to go to their normal jobs, but

many other the sewists (sewers....just looks like "sewers" and how is anyone supposed to learn English?) were moms who had plenty of other stuff to do.

We learned that some people get nasty while under stress--shouting at store clerks doesn't 

serve any useful purpose. Thanks to all the nice customers that smiled from behind their masks and were understanding when the young clerks seemed frazzled.  Keeping up with all the new mandates placed on essential businesses is nerve wracking.

We learned a lot of things about sanitizing

We learned that info gathering can be a confusing task.

Datelines on news stories are very important pieces of information.

We also learned that some people are not going to the hospital when they should.

Please if you have chest pain, shortness of breath, left arm pain, or jaw pain, don't ignore it!

If you are female and have similar symptoms but your chest pain is between your shoulder blades,

please see an ER.

The above are signs and symptoms of a heart attack.

If you have FAST symptoms 

Facial drooping

Arm weakness

Speech difficulty

Time to get to the ER.

Even if they symptoms only stayed around for a short time.

These are symptoms of a stroke.

Get to an ER

This has been your public service announcement.

I haven't taught a first aid class in  more than seven weeks, I wonder if I'll remember 

my stuff?

Since the paint job in the girls' room turned out so nice, Zeke decided that

airplanes and hot air balloons were not very masculine.

Out came the primer and the paint.

and we covered over the 23 year old decorations.

I had a lot of extra time on my hands back then. 

Since he helped the girls with their room, they helped out in his.

Something else we learned with this pandemic...sometimes you realize that you recognize people by their walk and mannerisms more than by their face.

I think I know who that girl is. 

Then due to the wonders of the digital world, we were able to take in two 

sermons this morning. (Yes, that is Ben, no he's not a preacher. Their one minister died a few months ago and they are asking lay members to take turns preaching for now.)

This girl got her birthday treat from school. She had a choice of Pop Rocks or a Slim Jim. "I'm glad I picked a Slim Jim, those Pop Rocks are gone in no time." After she saw the size of the Slim Jim. "I'm gonna save this to eat during church on Sunday."  

QOTD: "Mom, I'm done with my homework and no tears fell!" 

Challenging Times?

 I don't know if we can really call them challenging and yet... We are definitely living in different times. I think the biggest reality check I had was when I went to our local grocery store and saw many shelves completely bare. And Sam's club says they are out of Ramen noodles! Yes, we see that kind of thing when a snow storm is predicted, but the next visit to the store has the shelves stacked back to normal.

 Of course the other big change is the masks, we used to smile smugly about other country's customs of wearing masks when out and about. After the thousands of home-made masks that home-based sewers have made in the past few weeks, I'm thinking we all should have plenty.  "No, my dear, you don't need to have one to match every dress."

I am thankful that my husband's job was deemed "essential" or we wouldn't have any more trees in the forest in front of our house. Actually he was planning to take trees down sometime this summer and just started earlier.

 I am very thankful that we didn't have a graduating senior this year. I also learned something about myself--as much as I complain about running around on the road, I do like going away!

We of course decided to join the thousands of people doing home improvements. This week out new roof was put on. It was scheduled in March and the virus postponed it.

 I reupholstered my old recliner.

 If you figure the time it took, it really wasn't less expensive than buying a good used one, but right now I have time, not money. (My CPR classes have all been cancelled for a few months). The chair turned out pretty good. It's still a used chair, but it's ours.

 Now that other chair looks really bad....do I?

The girls repainted their room with a little help him dad and Zeke. 

Now all the stencils from the days of  the little boys are gone.

From the sound of the plans I heard, the room will look quite a bit different.

Shekinah thought a mask might help cut the odor, but decided it was too hot.

 I miss going to church with other people. The one thing I started doing that I will miss when church resumes is illustrating my sermon notes. Somewhere along the line, I found watercolor pencils and I rarely get the chance to use them.

 Our small youth group had had to cancel all their planned events. But the youth advisers came up with a few home-based activities. One week they were challenged to cook a meal for their family and take photos for their chat group. They then voted for the best looking meal. There were some pretty impressive meals, but I know the one at our house was very good. Hope worked most of the day to present this meal and I didn't. That makes a delicious meal every time.

That dog is spoiled!

QOTD: Daughter that was supposed to clear the table after supper,"Wait, I'll just eat the rest of that stuff so I don't have to put it in a container for the fridge."

QOT Week: " Long Division!!! That's not how my teacher does it!"