The Summer of 2020

This summer has been a long one. I enjoyed a lot of it. This little one has been

a joy. She likes her "gu-gu" and her "grandma". For whatever reason I have been "gu-gu"

to this little one and her older brother. "grandma" is her other grandma.

She's easy to babysit and hasn't gone through the stage where I was only tolerated like most of my grands have done at one point or another.

The other necessity for this summer was a new set of swim suits for the girls and

for the first time--myself. Hopefully these last for three years like the last set did.

After finally finishing the patio we had a stretch of hot and humid weather and really

didn't feel like using it.

Then the past two weeks were blissful.

I think I should try to come out here for my morning devotions, but

somehow the kitchen table still works the best.

This girl has spent the summer honing a new skill...

well actually a few--one was a cartwheel- no it's not perfect but she has worked hard.

I'd love to share the video she made when learning the skill,

 "Even you, at any age can learn a new skill"

Trash can sitting isn't one of them, but a decent level of typing proficiency and 

I broke down and bough Times Tales download and I think we have mastered those

pesky times tables once and for all.

We had a small scare when a raccoon decided to spend the day in our garage acting very out-of-the-ordinary. After it hid behind a pile of salt bags, and wouldn't come out we/he took drastic measures.

As of this summer we know much more about "universal precautions" than at

any other point in history.

Ohh and stay tuned for an announcement from Once Mine Boutique in BlueBall.

A great summer project...splitting ice with hammers, looking for treasure.

Then suddenly it's August 8 or 10 or something and

 I FORGOT to register my home schooled student!!!

You get a letter in the mail.

We are trying to play more board games...The Logo game is a new one for us.

We're learning new things.

And since our youngest has never slept in a tent...outside, we needed to do that this past weekend when the older kids were away.

She snapped a picture of her sleepy old parents.

Because Saturdays are still not a day to sleep in!

"We aren't going to bring in any caterpillars this year."

Until we did.

Then two more came in with the food for the first ones.

This one snuck in with a tomato that I brought in in the rain...so we didn't have to feed him.

So Far in June

We spent a weekend at grandpa's cabin with 

no internet and no phone service unless we went to town.

Hope honed her photography skills with some semi-willing siblings.

I'm not sure what was happening there but Shekinah often gets those kinds of looks from her big sisters. They are good for each other.

Somebody read most of the Mandie series and set off on an adventure one day.

We had VBS and the craft for the boys was leather boxes with a baseball stitch.

Daddy made a splash pad/pool with an erupting fountain.

Because of the wonderful virus the grandkids haven't even been over to see it yet.

We had two birthdays....a 10th (her's not mine)

and a 15th!

In keeping with distancing things, both girls blew out their candles by waving objects at the candles. (Might actually keep that tradition)

And we started a patio in the formerly wooded area in front of the house.

I spent Saturday afternoon learning the intricacies of using Quik-crete.

I worried I might not be able to crawl out of bed this morning, but I was pleasantly surprised.

The goal is for the girls and I to do a few blocks a day until all 49 are completed. 

A block is this shape.

Events from this past week reminded me to appreciate the time I have with loved ones.

 Life can change so quickly--Love well.

End of May

Shekinah demonstrating her CPR skills, she hasn't been in a class lately....

but she knows that manikins are a great size to wear all her doll clothes.

The sad thing is that they are more expensive than American Girl dolls so 

she can't drag them around the house much.

Any stray (clean!) PPE that is around the house, gets used for dress-up.

The other new skill that I've let her practice in the house is roller-blading.

Holiday weekends are for cousins!

One thing we've probably spent too much time doing lately is watching YouTube videos. We enjoy Kara and Nate's  travel vlogging videos. They love food and I often go looking for recipes after they eat something that looks tasty. This time we tried "Schwarma"  It sounds like it should be a German word, but it's middle eastern and is great eaten with our fire bread (probably the closest thing to Naan that I can make). It contains chicken, chick peas, sweet potatoes and many spices...and it was yummy.

Thanks to modern technology, we sat in suspense and watched history being made when "Bob and Doug" blasted off into space.

Other things are going down in history too this week that are hard to talk about.  A man who when he took his job, swore to serve and protect the public and from all appearances has utterly failed.

 All life is sacred.

 It also reminds me that one stupid decision by one person can cause so much havoc in a nation that doesn't need any more hot-headed rhetoric. We all need more Jesus and less self.

People are also passing judgement on a family who made some really hard decisions in regards to their child.  I have learned so much from people who blog and vlog, but it is tricky to know what to share. 

QOTD: When I have kids I will NEVER spit on my finger and wipe something off their face! That's just gross."    There now it's recorded for posterity.

As we all blew on our soup at lunchtime, Shekinah noted, "We could all try that Life-hack I saw, we could just patiently sit and wait till it cools instead of blowing across the table."

Mud Kitchen, Bag Inserts and Tack Strips--and Thought for the Day

This week I was determined to finish this chair. 

The covered buttons worked out pretty well and I could easily place them at the original spots because they had cut holes in the foam when the chair was manufactured in 1984.

I bought tack strips in an effort to replicate the original work.

I was not really sure it was worth the effort, but I'm 

really glad I got them. They made finishing the back and sides so much easier.

The skirt even fit back in place!

So I started with these two chairs (I'm sure there is a better picture somewhere)

and ended up with the ones above. I Scotch Guarded the fabric afterward and hopefully they will look decent for a few years.

I'm trying to think if there are any good lessons I learned from doing these.

Was it worth the money?  I think so...$113 for the fabric (bought on E-bay) and I still have some left. I started with 12 yards of 60" wide fabric and have almost 2 yards remaining.

I bought the covered button replacements at about $15

Metal tack strips..$27 and I way over-estimated what I needed and used only 1/2 of what I ordered.

Staples...not sure what they cost.

We had a staple gun...about them...I would probably have looked into getting a better one,

BUT the whole idea was to save money.

If I decide to fix up another chair I might look around for a more powerful stapler.

So I spent a little less than $75 a chair and about 2-1/2 weeks of "me-time" .

Yup, I think it was worth it.

So school is over...all except the report cards.

Someone needs to write a book about the "Longest Summer EVER!"

I really need to figure a way to keep my child/ren occupied and off the screens.

One might have a job but this one...

She is busy reading the Mandie series, thanks to our neighbor who loaned them to her.

We are doing a math curriculum and learning to type (much to her dismay)

Actually most days she does enjoy it.

But what about the hours in between? There are times when independent play would be a good idea.

I was scrolling through Pinterest the other day and came across a "mud kitchen"

It might be a hit!

I'm sure this munchkin would love to help in a mud kitchen. 

I love when my grands ask to call "ga-ga" and reach for me when I show up.

I'm told she does this to her other grandma too, but it makes me feel important.

I finally made an insert for my leather bag.

I've been toting this one for more than a year and I love it BUT

it could use another pocket inside and I saw removable bag inserts and thought I'd try it out.

I made it of mostly canvas so I don't add extra weight.

I skipped a closure for now...see how it works.

My bag did go for a tumble the other day in the van and nothing fell out.

Thought for the day: About social distancing...I've sat through a few lectures on how trauma affects children. Most experts agree that safe touch is especially healing for a child of trauma. Most of those same experts say that our current (back then  BC=Before Covid) hands-off approach to our children in schools etc --while understandable was  not a good way to work with hurt children.

Now we have another layer of  distancing for our hurting population (this isn't just kids BTW, it includes adults too).  Masks and gloves are not the way to communicate trust and calm fear. When I meet a patient while on ambulance duty, I often lay a hand on their shoulder, but now I find myself second-guessing that. I'm not really afraid of catching something, but I have to clean every surface I touch after I touch my patient.  What a pain!  But people still need safe-touch, they need a smile--smiling eyes.  I'm not totally against the masks, because I know that you can tell much more about a person by looking at only their eyes. Today with masks you can tell a lot more about what's going on inside a person because you look at their eyes than when you are distracted by a big...but fake...smile.

So smile--with your eyes too.