Year 5, March 23rd-26th, 2020: See-Sawing

Covid-19, Days 4-7

Tuesday, wait, Monday. Oh man, I thought it was Tuesday! Maybe because I had slightly gotten used to Monday's being hectic with choir in the afternoon. Or perhaps because we didn't have church and youth group in the usual sense. But whatever the case, it's only Monday. And it was a good Monday. Ah, Spring Break for Mom means less nagging and keeping everybody on task. I can breathe again. I can tackle my own things away from formal schooling. I have less homework to go over (which can sometimes be a pain in the rear). I think the day went extremely well. I had Jared close and lock the bedroom door when he was having an office meeting with his Dad and Ellen and also when he was talking to his friend or working hard on the e2 website. Abishai didn't seem to bug Daddy too much. He's just old enough to kind of recognize and listen the changes and realize that Daddy will play with him and interact with him when he's in the main living area. After today, I think this will work! But after tomorrow, I might just hate it. Who knows! I refrained from going into the bedroom too much because I know that being interrupted is pretty annoying. I could have stayed away even more actually. I probably asked Jared questions the same amount of times I would have via text if he was at the church building, so maybe it was normal for him? I'll try to work on just asking him things when he's in the kitchen or whatever. I want this to work so badly I think because maybe he could work from home a bit more after this virus thing is over. I don't know. I just like having another adult around to be the disciplinarian and some times fetch the kids their lunch.

It was a cool and cloudy day again, so I didn't feel the need or urge to push people outside. I usually get antsy on the good weather days because it annoys me to have kids sit on their rears. But I get more lenient when it isn't possible to get outside. They still had the same amount of screentime, but there was a lot of wandering going on, especially by Keturah. She and Justin did get their math and reading done by noon. Jared had been up early to talk with his usual Monday morning friend, so we were all up pretty much on time. I didn't have to remind Keturah to get dressed either, come to think of it. Abishai needed a reminder though. Benaiah had to go into work at 2, so he was up and out by then. Today Governor Holcomb declared at "shelter in place" rule and made it mandatory for people to stay home except for essential businesses and errands like grocercies. Restaurants can have take out and drive thrus. In reality, the only thing that changed was that a) no more meeting in groups, so who knows how that will affect preparing videos for Sunday and b) law enforcement has a little bit more control, however they will not be stopping vehicles and checking. I think it will be more likely that they will make sure businesses aren't open and that people aren't lingering around. And yes, that includes all churches. So of course Gary was in a panic. This all takes affect at noon on Tuesday. And I'm sure there will be another run at the grocery store, which will be ridiculous because they all went over the weekend. Gary went and I told him that I need to go in person. I shop by eye, by what's on sale, what comes to mind for meals and such. That's not that as easy online. I want to pick out my vegetables and fruits. Plus, there is a delivery fee with all those services. Or I'm reminded by one thing of another thing. Anyway, thanks, but no thanks. We are allowed to go to the grocery store. And I just want to see how long we can last without going! Plus, I want to do one large load and I don't have room for it yet.

"Shelter in place." "Quarantine." "Lockdown"  Not much difference, is there? Well, shelter in place means "we care about you, so stay home and have fun. It's ok, this is a happy time." "Lockdown" makes me think of a police state, but this is NOT a police state. And "Quarantine" is the most restrictive in my opinion and worst case scenario, i.e. you have the virus. I have refrained from using quarantine after people started using "lockdown" and "shelter in place" and "social distancing." Social distancing comes first and is the least restrictive, fyi. It means keep as much distance as possible between you and the next person, preferrably 6 ft because "(nose) droplets" can reach a distance of 6 ft. That's impossible in a grocery store, but just be hyper aware, don't touch extra stuff, and keep your hands off your face. Use gloves, sanitation wipes, and wash your hands. I have never heard so many celebrities and social media influencers tell people to wash their hands! Don't your mamas drill that into you when you were a kid? But our culture doesn't think well.  Anyway, Indian is now on "Shelter in place" for two weeks. That's what Jared and I have been doing, but Gary and church staff have not been. That means no salons, no tattoo parlors, no photography studios, no Game Stop, no Hobby Lobby, no Party City. But the term "essential" is very vague. It included places like Wanamaker Feed and Seed because it has pet food and the big jugs of bottled water. It can mean drive thrus and take out food because people have to eat (I think this one is debatable, make your food at home). Realtors are still "essential." Uh, can we just not buy and sell homes for two weeks? Nobody needs to be moving right now! Banking can wait or carefully use an atm. Court systems will be shut down, but I think those are essential, especially on the front end when people are awaiting their preliminary hearing or say they were just put in jail but don't need to be held there (drunkenness, disorderly conduct). Large trials with criminals already behind bars for awhile being held without bond, sure, postpone those. Postpone those with traffic violations. But don't keep people with relatively minor offenses in jail in close quarters where they can pick up the virus. Innocent until proven guilty is a thing, right? Well, not in Lousiana when many such people died in a prison in New Orleans because they were literally forgotten by law enforcement during Hurrican Katrina. I was watching a documentary on that. 100's died. How can you just forget about a group of people? How could guards not speak up or worry about what happened to them? I know lots of things got knocked out, but this was MONTHS that they lived like that, over 100 days. Anyway, many courts and law makers are trying to figure out if they can keep going via teleconference instead of in person. If they tele conference, how is that going to change how future proceedings work when you are required to show up in person and if you don't, there are consequences? Can the Congress really vote over the internet? Will our votes be valid if we go to an online voting system? (Right now they are looking into paper mail in ballots, but even then, how do you prove your identity? And this just proves that our voting system is way behind the times. More people would vote if we could do it online like we are doing it for the census).

This virus will have MAJOR impacts for many years to come, from logistics, to best practices, to education, to how churches communicate, to completely changing the rules on major things like voting. This is truly historic and while it's awful, it's also kind of fun to watch it all unfold because we have a lifestyle that is unaffected by the chaos. Like our church finally taking on Instagram in all its glory and fully utilizing it! We've been so behind the times on social media, online services, etc. We do a lot of things well, in person, on the ground, in the community, one on one, but we have SUCKED on the internet. We don't have a very active Facebook group. Most people don't even relize we have a group, they just know the business page. I think it's also from the church transitioning from the older folk, especially people like Gary and Leah who refuse to be on social media (although many their age ARE on social media and use it well), to us younger folk who use it 100's of times a day for all communication. Gary was bemoaning all the texting we were doing as a family and I'm like, sorry, that's how we communicate. I don't have time to have the phone up to my ear. I have a question while I'm in the bathroom or I'm trying to quickly eat or something. Texting is my jam. I need time to put words together and phone conversations are too quick for me in that way. Maybe because we are on overload as a culture. I don't know. I'm just glad that this coronavirus crisis has been the impetus to our particular church FINALLY tappnig into the resources that are on social media. Honestly, it's probably one of the reasons we haven't grown in size. People aren't out and about in their neighborhoods. They are online as they wait for gymnastics to be over or in the pickup line for school. So for me, it's exciting. It's interesting to see what people view as "essential" or not. Is that diet coke from McDonald's "essential"? Some say, yes, as an extrovert, I have to get out of the house. I say, no, no you don't. Not during this time. That's the sacrifice YOU have to make, just like I, as an introvert, have to sacrifice the comforts of being behind a computer screen in order to mingle with others, serve in the nursery, or meet in person with homeschoolers. Of course we all know what helps us cope best, but, we can't always get those things. And just because we know them, doesn't mean we can't stretch ourselves and try to live without them. We are a picky, whiny society, myself included. Someone just posted how this "shelter in place" thing is proving that their only hobbies is eating out and spending money. Yeah, truly, we don't have hobbies anymore. We aren't getting true pleasure out of life. Our nation is learning what true sacrifice is right now. We've never had to live without or be afraid that the grocery stores will be out of food. This is our version of the depression and it really isn't that bad. It's a chance to start anew, to work on our family relationships (I recognize this isn't good for some families where abuse is very prevalent), and breathe and think "is this really the best way to educate/go to work/live our lives?" It's exciting to be part of history now that I have personally processed it.

Ok, I think that's enough writing for today. At least I had some clarity of thought. I'm starting back on being gluten free as of this afternoon after I ate some yummy brownies that Benaiah made and animal crackers that Abishai opened. If I had gone any longer with gluten, I would find it increasingly harder to go back off it, so the sooner I get off, the better. I bought my favorite gluten free cookies on Amazon last night (prepackaged for portion control), so I'll be fine. I don't think there's much difference in my cognitive abilities, but in my back pain, yes. And to be honest, gluten doesn't taste great either. I'm happier with the gluten free stuff. I don't know. We'll see. My shoulder was better today, but still a bit sore. I got a lot done, too. I'll talk about it along with the pictures this time since I wrote so much here.

Happy Monday!

I did this after lunch. Yup, let's be more productive.

This chore list looks great!

Soap isn't just for hands (but do use it for that!). This is Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer, a way to study the Bible that they have taught the students and now are sharing with the rest of the church. I actually am trying to get Justin to make an Instagram account (I can't believe I'm doing this!) so he can follow along, even if he never posts his own content. EVERYTHING is now on Instagram. I don't the kids to miss out. I'll share my Instagram with Keturah.

Yup, hi ho hi ho it's off to work Benaiah goes.

This box. I packed it 8 years ago. I unpacked parts of it, ok, maybe a bunch of it in Charlottetown, but left the little boxes inside the big box and put it up on the top shelf of the coat closet there. And then when it was time to pack up 4 years later, I just packed away my Scentsy stuff and added more candles. Well, it hasn't been opened in 4 years. I knew I wouldn't be using scented wax that you melt anymore because of the toxins now that I'm an essential oils guru. So, I knew that I would be giving some of it away. But they melt the wax using a low power light bulb, so they make great decorative night lights. I kept two and am giving away two of them. One of the two of them I'm keeping doesn't have it's top because it broke and it's got musical notes on it. The other one looks just like a sweater my mom used to wear. I left them in their boxes next to the piano for when I clean off the DVD shelf and put them and maybe those extra piano books up there in the living room. So, the picture is of stuff I'm giving away.

This is my keep pile, including those little piggy toes. Some candlestick holders (probably should downsize some more on those, but I threw them in the china cabinet to sort at a later date) and some things we've made. The bunny had to be fixed, but it was on an Easter mobile I made at MOPS. One side is very greenish looking from sitting in the kitchen window that faced the south in Beech Grove.

And lo and behold, I found the rest of my "bar" towels and some hand towels. I'll wash them up and replace our very stained ones we use every day as napkins. And then those stained ones can become rags or other kinds of towels. Yippie!

My very last Creative Memories box. It's a scrapbooking company, my first MLM, A big learning curve, but a fun time with a fun team, and I did make a lot of scrapbooks with their materials and still have a lot of their materials on hand. Anyway, operation "get rid of brown boxes" is nearing the end. Yeah! I'll have to redo the numbers on the boxes in permanent storage if we ever move again. Plus memorize what new boxes look like, lol. But I filled the rest of the box with the stuff in a smaller box of "giveaways" in the front closet. I did that in Charlottetown and I'm doing it here, keeping a little box on hand for the misc. items I find that I don't want. Keturah also had a box of giveaways in her room. So I took both boxes out to the garage towards the front to put in the car when we are allowed to go to charities again.

I also removed three book boxes from this area that I had sorted through months ago and put them with the other "giveaway" boxes. Then I moved some stuff over into their old spot and freed up the kids' Bible shelf. They should be allowed access to biographies on missionaries, concordances, Bible studies, maps, etc. My biggest pet peeve is having boxes block the bookshelves. The other shelves in this area are mostly history and language arts. They could do more with the other geography shelf or perhaps I can pull out some things from it. Otherwise, this is my office storage and they shouldn't be back here. I need to put some picture books back on the shelf and go through some digital cameras, but it looks neater now.

After Keturah's bed was redone, she left it more towards the middle of the room, which led to a major rearrangement of furniture again. I'm not sure it's the wisest move, but time will tell. She did make a stall for her other horse though.

Our neighbor Ali asked if anybody else would put up their Christmas tree just to drown out the doom and gloom of staying home and to have a little fun. Well, we always have our green and red lights on our garage. And I put out a string of Christmas lights. I got some strange looks. There's also some fun things going around like put teddy bears in your windows so that when neighbors are out for their walks, they can go on a bear hunt.

Christmas lights in March/April, why not?  Other things I did with my time today was prepare mailings, read Core 52, looked over school, and relax.

Mom, I found a pickaxe like in Fortnite! Oi! He put away two boxes for me since Benaiah can't seem to get around to the things he said he would help me with.

Making dipped beeswax candles for our colonial times unit. We've done them before at a place called Orwell on PEI so I understood the concept.

It actually worked pretty well and was quick! I was impatient and maybe didn't let the wax melt as much, but it worked in my favor. I did straighten them out, too.

I bought this kit when a blogger was having a huge sale I think before or right after we went to Canada. Anyway, I'm glad I bought the extra kits, too and have plenty of supplies. These are awesome! I have everything I need and the instructions are very clear. I have this kit and one for panning gold and a couple of other smaller kits.

Not too bad! Pretty thick this time. I'm leaving them here to cure overnight. It was supposed to be a project for Keturah and Justin but it was going so fast and I love doing this things, I just went ahead and did it. I probably should have let them do it. There was some leftover wax and some in the other kit, so maybe another time.

Sending more happy mail out. Abishai was busy in his screen time so I found an older print he had made and sent it along.

Here's his little initial A.

Justin's letter. Again with no capital letters at the beginning of the sentences. Oi! You learned that in 3rd grade! Ugh!

Keturah said she didn't know what to write, but she figured it out. Stefanie with an F and not PH but ok.

She drew up a shematic of her room. Stefanie is going to love this! The care pacakge had some things I had saved for awhile like the Finnish licorice that Gary and Leah got me, some post it notes, a teddy bear ornament that has her name on it, and something else. Jared had to put together a couple of orders so he just got the package label together, had Leah print it, and put the package altogether for me. Then he scheduled a pickup for the e2 orders and my package tomorrow. Woot! Woot! We don't have to go to the post office! Benaiah also asked for a stamp to send a card to Ava in the mail. I reluctantly let him have one of my super expensive "forever" stamps. Nah, I was happy to oblige. I had a lot leftover from sending out those postcards to the legislators, which are now null and void since everything shut down. Wow, I didn't even think about that! They were still good thank you notes, though.

Dinosaury found a new place to sleep.

We found an old game called Mouse Trap made with Legos. I set this game up time after time for the boys so I knew exactly what to do. Abishai listened mostly to the rules and seemed t like it.

Cheese blocks for the win!

Whose that knocking at my window? Justin AND Keturah, but Keturah walked away so I couldn't get her picture.

Dan's message on Instagram (with Hudson!) thanking everyone for tuning into services again. Unfortunately, I think there won't be any more of those or they will be done even more creatively since they aren't allowed into the building to meet anymore.  We'll see what the Creative Arts team comes up with next!

SOAP, wash your hands, reads your Bible, and follow along as a church on social media. Yeah!

Lockdown Day 5, Tuesday

Meh. That's how I felt all day. I think we all ended up wandering the halls today. I had made a list, but didn't feel like tackling it. Instead, we ended up doing more hands on things this afternoon. I spent too much on my phone, too. But hey, some days are like that. We did put up some decor in the windows for our walking neighbors. I showered and washed my hair. That counts! I think Justin showered, too. I actually heard Justin exercising again in the fireside room last night. Ok, go for it! The kids went outside to the trampoline twice today. It was almost 50 degrees, but gloomy, and I think that contributes to the blech feeling. I did "declutter" the floor in the living room by moving toys to other places and then picked up the sunroom. I also collected Abishai's arsenal of weapons and such. Sometimes a good pickup of everything is helpful. I'm much more comfortable with toys being left out, or at the end of the day pushed to the side of a room leaving a path to the exits, so I don't get as upset at the mess. I just needed a little more floor space. Especially as Abishai keeps bringing out the board games and I want them to play board games. I'm kind of sad that we bought all those nice Paw Patrol toys and he didn't stick with them for more than a year. I hate to just give them away just yet. I did think about when our kids have kids and how instead of buying new toys, I will just give them the kids the toys their parents played with, especially the more universal ones like the toy guns, trucks, hot wheels, lincoln logs, duplos and such. The more themed toys might not be a favorite though. That way I don't have to make the decision to get rid of them myself? I don't know. It's one of those categories I've never been good at going through and might not ever be. I'm trying not to worry about it too much because they are age appropriate toys. One of my friends said they didn't have any stuffed animals to put out in the front window for this thing we are doing in the neighborhood because they had given away all the kids' stuffed animals. The youngest is 7. Man, I don't know if Abishai could handle it if I started getting rid of the mounds of "friends" he has. Even his friends have friends. Anyway, that's where that's at.

I didn't correct math until late in the day, although the kids were done with it by noon. We had our main meal at 1pm as an experiment to see if we could get Benaiah involved and how it might be better on our health. I made the instant pot chili, where I saute the meat right in the pot and then throw everything together. I make sure the warmer setting is off and then let it cool down on it's own for a bit before letting out the steamer. It works really well and it tastes like it's been cooking all day. But then at 6pm Jared comes around the corner and says, "It's 6! Time to eat! (Why haven't you cooked anything?)" Um, I don't sit down with everyone at lunch. They typically piece meal it. And because I've heard that Aldi's is limiting the packages of meat you can buy on one trip and there's a shortage at other stores, I'm really nervous to go shopping tomorrow. I split the serving of chili Justin put in his bowl and no one was allowed to have chili for dinner. We can afford food, but there's the shortage I'm worried about and I don't want to go to several stores to find it. I do want my kids to feel the pinch a bit, too, and to challenge all of us to eat less and to eat differently. We will never be vegans, but one main protein is fine, with peanut butter, eggs, deli meat, milk, or something else being the alternative protein for other meals. But yeah, I'm not excited to go grocery shopping. I haven't been out with the germs in over 2 weeks. I've been advocating "stay home" and almost feel guilty for going out to get groceries. It's tough.  Jared doesn't want to go with me, but I want help, especially if we have to go to a couple of stores.

Jared seemed to have a good day today. He had a chiropractor appointment this morning which he had moved up from Thursday and it definitely helped. I think he might be on the mend. But I'm not sure. He'd like to space out the appointments more, but I know I couldn't at that stage yet either. He wears his shoes or at least the one shoe with the heel lift in the house to even out his body, too. He said he was able to figure out some things on the e2 website close to supper time finally, so he wasn't as productive as he would be at the office, but it wasn't a waste of a day either. Benaiah did his usual, get up, eat, and leave. He said he is working on his homework that is due next Monday, and staying up late when it's quiet is what is working for him. I mean 3 or 4am late. Ok, I will try to keep the house quiet until 10 and the door shut until 12. Tomorrow perhaps he can get up and get that mattress down and then talk to Grandpa on the phone for his "class" with him. I have a phone appointment at 4pm with my counselor while the kids have class with Grandpa at 4 as well. We all know what Abishai will be doing at 4 pm, lol. Oh shoot, I didn't think about Jared occupying the space I did last week. I'll have to go to a different room or kick him out or something. I can probably set up in the boys' room.

Anyway, I was trying to avoid screen time this afternoon, but Jared was begging me to let Keturah and Abishai because they were bored and wandering so they watched Iron Man 3. They finished it when Jared had Bible study through Zoom with the guys. I will have Bible study with the ladies tomorrow night.  And that's about it. Ho hum of a day. Not a waste, but not super productive or full of energy for me. Just kind of lazy and survival, emotionally neutral.

I do hear lots of giggles coming from the boys' room though. Jared showed Abishai a video of a year old Abishai attacking a spoonful of oatmeal that I was feeding him from my own bowl. Abishai loved it! That giggle! I'm so glad he still likes to snuggle and nestle into my neck. His hugs and love are so comforting. I hope he never looses that. Abishai keeps this household active and alive. My party guy. Jared seems ok when Abishai goes in and out of our room, so that's good. And Abishai doesn't stay too long either. He balled though when he almost didn't get screen time with Daddy. The tears were huge! So we let him and then Justin went on. Sigh. What can I do when it's cold outside and we've done some hands on things, we've played board games, they've wrestled, so, it's time for the screen. Oh well. They read and did math. And they seem to get along ok today. Yup, I'm going to try to catch up on my videos, maybe check out my crossstitch, but I prefer my phone games, so we'll see!

Abishai wanted milk in his cereal. We said no, so he dipped his cereal in his milk instead. SMH

Our new normal. Too cute! Daddy doesn't mind. I am grateful that I insisted on getting this desk, although I haven't used it myself. And the chair seems to be ok for Jared's back, too. Praise the Lord.

Cheese!

My brother nailed it! I'm so proud of him!

The conductor told us what was going on or what was happening next on our train ride at lunch today. It's a good thing I keep all his Sunday School papers! I want to go through them during meal time but keep forgetting. I'm sure he knows some of the stories well from the Bible app anyway.

We put hearts in the window for our neighbors to see as they walk. We've seen a lot more people out and about. Well, not in the last two days because it's been cold, but it's going to warm up!

Kind of hard to see, but that's ok.

It's noon. Time to get up.

Aww, so precious. Benaiah does love Socks, too.

I thought this was really cool! Tomorrow we will paint the driveway for everyone!

Keturah was actually willing at the same time I was willing to tackle her soap making kit. She didn't want to add tea leaves, but we did add lemon oil and colors! Pretty easy! Melt the glycerin and then pour it FAST in to the molds. And since it's just soap, it was easy to wash off everything.

Pretty!

Then we made Jell-O eggs. A bit early, but we don't have any other sugary things in the house so why not.

Abishai got to watch. Mommy was impatient and made a huge mess this year. Oi!

And Abishai wanted Dinosaury to watch, too.

We put Grandpa Gary bear in the front window as well. The voice box finally wore out. We need him to make a new one. It's a Build a Bear stuffed animal, so it should be easy to do. It was a sermon illustration and had Gary saying his famous lines like, "If it's repeated, it's important." "Incredible!"

Awww, we are ready for a bear hunt! Kids go around the neighborhood looking for teddy bears!

And the baker was at it again. I just had to clean up the bowl and the pans.

Looks yummy! But I'm doing gluten again, so bummer. They all can enjoy it.

Justin took up whittling.

You know you're part of some very organized volunteers and you've been to the groups more than your other groups when your Facebook search bar looks like this, lol.

Ooo, I think my face might be in there! We'll see! They are asking for a virtual choir kind of thing, so I need to do that tonight.

Eating a Jell-O egg after dinner!

Look, Mom, my Jell-O egg is sliding around!

Abishai, "I organized! Lots more room! And this is how you get on the couch (as he heaves himself around the table.)"

And I cleaned up in here, too. Same toys, just sorted and picked up. Ah...

Soaps are done! Hard to get out of the molds though.

Keturah really wanted to make this one.

This one came out better than we thought when we were mixing the colors.

Meh. But it's Canada, right?

A seashell that didn't quick turn out right.

We hope to put the smaller soaps into a bigger one in the next round.

"Dinosaury needs to stay warm in the basket tonight and then I'll snuggle him tomorrow." Ok, then.

Huggies! Awww!

He loves playing Risk by himself and it's totally obsessed with his phone, too.

I guess the "neighborhood" is well protected by the Hot Wheel police.

Lockdown, Day 7, Wednesday

If I didn't have my own blog counting the days, I truly wouldn't know what day we were on. What a mess! Today was just bad all around for me. I snapped at everybody and everything. I had one goal today, to get groceries, but I must have forgotten how stressed I get when I have appointments, even if they are only alone because having to be ready on time for them wow, I just snapped. The anger came out of nowhere, and I haven't quite processed it yet. Perhaps it was just the fact that we were finally going out to get groceries and I was very anxious about that would look like. Would the store be empty of people and food? Would everyone be wearing gloves? Would we need to go to a 2nd and 3rd store? How much should I get and plan for? And then on the way there, Jared told me our friend was in pretty rough shape with Covid-19 and he might not make it. I just about lost it. We were in the van in the driveway ready to leave but Jared took my hand and we prayed for Stuart Prawatt. He and his family have been family friends for years and years. He's in his late 40's or early 50's. He has three daughters and a wife. This hits so close to home. I'm just reeling from it.

I also had to wait to go to the grocery store with Jared because he wanted to finish something for work first. Well, that put me in a time crunch because I had a 4pm appointment with my counselor and I thought the kids had Grandpa class at the same time. Well, they didn't, it's tomorrow. The grocery store went well. There were a few people there, but everyone kept their distance. Most had gloves on, some had masks. The registers only allowed one order on the belt at a time and everyone had to stand away from each other in line. We went carefully and I made sure to peak at everything. I grabbed one of just about everything we usually have, except tortilla chips because we are already had 3 bags. What I didn't realize was that Jared put two more bags in the cart. So now we have 5 bags of tortilla chips, 3 salsas, 3 things of raisins, and two sour creams. Good grief! I did get some extra treats and went ahead and picked up Easter candy in case we don't go out again for it later. I wasn't worried about cost, and I don't think Jared was either. We'd rather fill the cart to the brim and not go back out again. We found a big thing of toilet paper and paper towels, although I found we had more toilet paper already in the cupboard. And we haven't been using that much anyway. Oh well. We are all set for months now. I did have to substitute get fresh chicken instead of frozen and ground turkey instead of ground beef. The only limits that they had on food items was mainly "two items per variety" of an item. So, only two loaves of the same kind of bread, meat, and 4 items per variety of canned goods. That's appropriate considering the hoarding that was going on. That didn't bother us because we don't have space for it anyway. I wish we had that second fridge so we had more wiggle room, but I made everything fit ok for now.

Jared did stop at Meijer and got different kind of cooking oils because he is picky about the brand and Aldi's didn't have regular canola or vegetable oil. They did have flour though! And we choose our regular Washington St. Aldi's because it had wider aisles, more stuff, and everybody kept talking about Meijer, Wal-Mart, Costco, Sam's Club, and Kroger but no one was talking about Aldi's so I figured it wouldn't be as picked over and I was right. I wanted to get more comfort food for me like pop but I refrained. I did get some quick chocolate granola bars that are small in size so less calories. Plus my order of my favorite Enjoy Life cookies and chocolate chips came in! I splurged and bought the cookies in the travel packs as a way to not over eat them. And chocolate chips are always a backup if I don't have regular candy stashed somewhere. And these are dairy free, so it's just cacao powder and cane sugar or whatever.

When we got home, we had the kids help us wipe every box and bag down with heavy duty antibacterial wipes. Abishai had a blast playing store as we brought them in through the garage. We also wiped down our bags and took out some of the produce and washed it, at least the ones that bags with holes and such. There was confusion on who was doing what and the timing of it all, and that was one reason why I was so mad. I said many hurtful things that I have probably had bottled up for awhile. I had gotten so angry that I wouldn't eat dinner with everyone and they all walked away from me when we attempted a family walk. I wanted to point out the hearts and teddy bears that my friends and I put in the windows, but they were too far ahead of me. We had a lot of people to avoid because they were out on their walks, too. It's great that we have a neighborhood full of healthy minded people though. Then I was still mad when we got home and started yelling loudly and Benaiah got upset. He took off to Grandpa's house, despite my desire to cut off all physical contact, because he had spent 6 hrs trying to understand his math and couldn't concentrate because of me. After my Bible study, I was still agitated, but tried to explain myself a little bit. I wasn't quite ready to apologize yet, but I did recognize my hypocrisy and why he was angry and it was ok he said what he did, even in the manner he said it.

Benaiah and I are struggling a bit in our relationship. He's stressed. I'm stressed in different ways. We both don't like how this semester has turned out. We are both trying to make the most of it in our own ways. We both don't know what to expect of each other. We both want to be in control. Some of it is normal teenager pulling away from family and being their own person type of stuff and some of it is from the chaos that is life right now. We certainly aren't unique. It's frustrating times. So, I will take it as it is. We both were mad and we both were right. And it's ok. We will be better tomorrow. Our relationship will not end over it. We both want similar things, which is we both want the other to be better. He's not wrong. He's often very, very right. And again, I'm glad he can express it and I will take it and ponder it and apply it. I love him. Truly. And I feel so awful that his senior year is ending this way. It's not fair at all. Ok, enough of that before I burst into tears again.

So we got everything put away. Appointment was done. Dinner done. Then Bible study through zoom went pretty well. A couple of glitches but overall, I think we all felt a little better that we got to connect. Praise God for technology! Actually, when I posted yesterday about the hearts and teddy bear in our window, I sent it to the other ladies in our neighborhood all at the same time in a text string and I have no idea if they all know each other or not! Whoops! That's ok, we'll soon find out who each other is. I'm kind of glad we got to interact that way. I love our neighborhood a lot. I know a lot of our connections started out through Gary and Leah, but we've made ourselves known too. And it helps.

The other issues today was that I have had a migraine all day long and nothing is helping. I've tried Aleeve, Excedrin migraine, all the essential oils I can think of, homeopathic migraine medication and the like. I don't know if it's because I'm tired or it's the anxiety or it's this darn shoulder and neck pain that won't go away. And now I feel pain the right shoulder too from being so stressed today and yelling. Yeah, it was no a good day for me. It was ok for everyone else. Just not good for me. I was also mad that it was the most gorgeous day outside and I had to go grocery shopping and be on the phone. And tomorrow afternoon it's supposed to rain again. Ugh. How am I supposed to get out to paint the driveway? Or walk so I can lose weight and build stamina for our Israel trip? And I just want to eat all the wrong things. Again, it hasn't been a good day for me. Tomorrow will be better. It has to be because today sucked in many ways, with a tiny bit of hope in some ways.

And in two days, our first online IAHE conference will begin, so I hope to be ready for that. It's just watching videos, but I need to do some promoting. And then my week of spring break is over. Can I have a second week please? We'll see. I'll think about that later.

Today's Instagram's fun things.

Refined Boutique is the store connected with the Hope Center.

Yikes!

Foggy morning. So Abishai declared "Outside is cancelled!"

He went outside with his favorite socks on, the ones with grippers, that he's worn for 3 days now and they got soaked. Finally, I get to wash them!

Today's political drama didn't help my attitude. They want people to keep working so the economy doesn't tank. But just a few days ago, they wanted everyone to stay home. So, which is it?  And the Senate can't pass a stimulus bill because the Democrats want to tack on unrelated items. What a mess!

I wanted to come back and do this as a family today but didn't have time. He seemed to love it though! We'll try again tomorrow.

Keturah was helping him by spinning the spinner that tells him what to do.

What's in this package?

It's an Abishai!

I accidentally caught one of Abishai's monster trucks in my phone cord and so he thought it was funny and put all of them on it. Don't worry, I was carefully holding the connection between the cord and the phone.

Too many trucks!

The cleaning brigade! Benaiah didn't understand why we needed to do this. He's been prety flippant about this whole thing. And that's what I worry about. Is he really washing his hands well and paying attention to people around him?

Wipe off containers and bring them.

And then Abishai set up this ltitle station and started scanning them like he was the cashier at the grocery store. Oh cute and innovative!

Cho-co-late cookies and chips! Now I call that a survival kit. Thanks Amazon!

I didn't get a picture of the first one, but I did see all my friends' handiwork!

Mickey Mouse stuffed animals.

A heart!

I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but I think I see something here, too.

Bible study through Zoom on MY desk with the pull down tabletop. Sigh. At least he's getting some use. It really is a nice piece of furniture.

Now THIS was a great song to share! 7 and 8 minute videos having very famous singers sing "He's Got the Whole World In His Hands." A lot of African American singers and boy, there's just something about their voices that blows me away. Black people can sing way better than white people I think.

The kids got into some miscellaneous stuff on my desk and when I was cleaning up, I saw this. Now what in tarnation is this very precious artifact doing on my desk? I bet it was because I found it in my jewelry box and wanted to take a photo of it. This is my first locket. I wore it a lot as a teenager. It's probably just some fake metal, but it made me feel special, because what was inside was even more special.

Yes, that's right. I cut a picture of Michael W. Smith out of a CCM Magazine and put him in the locket! And then a lined pieced of paper with a cross and JJ to represent Jared Johnson, almost as an afterthought. Oh my goodness. How precious! I thought I was all that and a bag of chips with this thing. It was on a simple sterling silver necklace that I probably then used with some other charm. It's kind of soothing to rub those panels and remember a simpler time. When I was young and hopeful and knew no pain. Oh how life changes in 20 years. For better and worse. What a reminder!

Isolation Day 7, Thursday

Today was much better. I still felt lethargic, aimless. I didn't make a to do list. I kind of just puttered all day. I ended up doing two loads of bedsheets. I also spot/lightly washed down the mattress that had been in the shed. Benaiah's current mattress has sunk in the middle. Thank goodness we have a newish one! Don't worry, we checked for bugs and mice and it's fine. It had been in the big barn where our stuff was stored when we were in the condo, so it was a bit dusty, so I vacuumed it the best I could. I took a 30 minute walk and you won't believe what I saw! Check out the pictures and videos below! The kids had Grandpa Bible class. And it was so warm out and mostly dry, that I finally put those silly totes of toys and the sleds away. We brought two big totes of toys in, but I think at least 5 large totes went out. And of course all the regular day to day stuff and chores. I didn't really want to check Justin's math, so I let him do it on his own. We'll see if that's a good idea or not. He seemed to spend a lot of time on it. Maybe it helped him to see the answers fully written out in the teacher's edition. Sometimes I don't think he's really listening to me when I'm correcting his work, and I do the rewriting of the problem to show the steps but he's not internalizing it when I do that. So, we'll see. The kids were in and out a lot today and I bet Socks is exhausted from all the activity. Jared made a post of some sort to help support the fold down part of my desk in our bedroom. He got about half a day's work done today, but oh well, that's life. Benaiah went to church all day to help with the Creative Arts team, whether that be tech or drumming or whatever. I'm still not happy that the tech team is still doing that not matter how far apart they stand, but it's not my call. I'd rather they be safe and my son be safe and watch canned worship videos on YouTube. I don't care if there's a "live" band on stage or not. But then I remember, oh yeah, most people don't actual understand that the band isn't live on that day. The video of them playing goes through the live feed, but they aren't at church during those hours. Anyway, it's not my call. We are doing what we think is best and insisting on wiping things down as they come into the home. That's all we can do.

Oh Abishai, his big boy giggles are hilarious. His big boy words, too. Words like "It's a gorgeous day!" And so many others I never remember. But many multiple syllable words. I haven't done a lick of schoolwork with him in two weeks thanks to my mind being focused on this virus. I woke up with only a slight headache, but still with neck and shoulder pain, although it was a little less than yesterday. Tomorrow I expect to wake up with a lot of pain from walking around the block twice and lifting all those boxes on my own. Sigh. I've always been very distracted by social media today. I'm bored and procrastinating. Yup. I need to make some new deadlines for myself. Like watch all those videos in my inbox. I've deleted half of them. I promise. That's it. I got nothing else. It was a warm, beautiful day. We got outside. We played inside. They screen timed. I screen timed. Jared worked. The end.

When I'm bored, I think of stupid things to put on Instagram.

I think I might just cry this weekend. This weekend was supposed to be a big one. Whereas I don't have to worry about Jared enjoying himself, how he is going to handle his back issues, and such, I will still miss our traditional convention. The online convention is up and ready to go though. Same topics for the most part. I have access for a year to recordings and so do you if you sign up in the next couple of weeks! Free for everyone, not just Indiana residents!  And then Sunday would have been the front row seats Michael W. Smith concert. Obviously no one is touring right now, so i don't feel as bad and it will be rescheduled. But I'm praying it's NOT on a day I'm out of the country (if they let us go to Israel in the first place). Ava was supposed to be on the Baltimore. It was going to be the last day for gym as well.  Ugh. At least Benaiah still gets to work.

Speaking of Benaiah, he did want to go ahead and do a senior spotlight on Instagram so he asked for pictures. I'm so glad I took the time to scrapbook all those years ago and I can also easily find the rest of our pictures digitally on Facebook and this blog. Benaiah still makes that kind of fishy face!

I LOVED that outfit. It was my favorite newborn Sunday outfit.

6 lb, 5 oz, 18 inches long has now turned into 245 lbs, nearly 6 ft tall 18 year old. The days are long but the years are very, very short.

Another favorite outfit of mine. And the bedsheets. And the quilt made by grandma. Our only thumb sucker. And blankie sucker. The rest had pacis.

He got an early start on all things electronic.

Musician in training.

Yup, still loves food.

Another favorite outfit.

Absolute favorite picture of them all. For all of time. Jared was working at the airport at the time. He was working third shift as a security officer (not TSA and didn't have a gun) after 9/11. Check out that hair!

Again, keyboards.

More keyboards.

And now the younger siblings looking at Benaiah's baby book.

As I pulled out my camera to take a photo of the hearts in the window I missed yesterday on our walk, guess what came across the yard?!

THE FOX MY FRIEND SAID WAS THERE YESTERDAY! Right stinkni' in front of me! A red fox, like in Canada! Scrawnier and smaller, but there it was! I could have walked up even closer to it! Ah!

NO zoom! Eek!

Trot, trot, trot.

Looking in the pots to see if there's something to eat.

I think the house that is far away is the house next to us or two doors down, I'm not sure. I tried to call and text Jared and Justin quickly, but I'm not sure they got outside quick enough. The last time we were that close to a fox was in Charlottetown when it sat at the bottom of our steps to the deck. And it stared hard at us, too, unafraid. Eek!

Then I saw, not one, but TWO pairs of healthy looking ducks! And lots of robins. And of course we have squirrels and mice, too. No bunnies though. I think they moved out.  Lots of dogs and a couple of cats I'm sure. So these are the "Smith's" ducks.

And these are on our street.

I could have gone for one more round but decided not to push it. I also didn't walk at a very fast pace either.

I started at 700 steps. And ended the day with a total close to 7,000 because I went in and out of the house many times carrying boxes. No wonder I'm tired an sore.

What about foxes? Lol.

The only senior picture I have of this guy. We were supposed to do pictures with our friend Ali, our new neighbor, on April 6, but now that can't happen, again. I've been planning family photos for years now....last ones were 4 years ago. And this one doesn't show Benaiah's long hair either. Bummers! It's from last fall.

Jared said, "Come quick!" So I did. Don't you love the stuffed animal Peep and the toilet paper, aka our version of kleenix, on the windowsill?

This is what Jared saw. A falcon or hawk, and it had a songbird in it's mouth at one point! Our neighborhood is teeming with wildlife! We even had a coyote last year. It's because we have 70 year old neighborhood, mature trees, lots of bushes and yard cover, sheds, fence lines, etc. We love it!

I'm sure many are bummed and yes, this is the first time it's been postponed. During the world wars, they just didn't hold it at all. Wowzers!  The month of May is going to look and feel very different this year. And we might not be able to do all the graduation stuff either. Weird!

Wait a minute, where did Abishai go?

Yes, I walked back into the house to find him IN the large lawn bag that had a few toys in it that he was trying to get out. No, I would have NOT let him do that if I had been inside. But it's such a huge bag and he had to go to the bottom, that he fit right in it! Whoops!

He wanted the 1980's little people from my childhood over the newer chunkier ones this time. And Geotrax. He LOVES the geotrax trains. So 2 large totes came in and 5 small/medium totes went out to the shed today.

I'm going to try this tomorrow when it's raining all day again. My friend did it with masking tape and watered down washable kid paint. It looks gorgeous!

Wait, when did Jared become an audio technician? When e2 decided to make their books audiobooks. I mean Jared has a very good ear, but shouldn't this be left to the professionals? I mean I've watched vloggers and bloggers talk about the process and they go to a studio to record and a professional cleans up the audio. This is a bit odd to me to see it done at home. But, whatever.  And Gary went to the office again today to record a message. I wish he would just bring the e2 logo sign home and do it at home. No one expects perfect video and audio quality in this quarantine. Instead, it makes them look like they are ignoring the quarantine. Sigh.Again, not my call, but it's annoying. I'm sure the message is good of course.

After we made candles the other day, Jared asked about our oil lamps. He had liked them years ago. I was able to easily say they were there and there and here's the oil in the china cupboard all ready to go. I just love it when my homemaking skills are so up to par that I know exactly where things are. That's one of my goals in life. Anyway, there ya go, an oil lamp.

This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine. It also reminds me of when people of olden times would put candles in their windows to say that they are alright. I think that happened during war times, or maybe the underground railroad or something. It's a symbol of hope, that's for sure.

Rose bush greening up.

Hm, I think this guy somehow transferred itself from the other bundles around the garden. The bulbs tend to populate themselves profusely. I remember planting half a dozen of them in a tiny plot next to our steps in Beech Grove and in just a few short years, there were two dozen of them.

The right type of greenery is growing. I think the black mat is holding off the rest of the growth for now. I haven't actually peeked under most of it, but the exposed areas aren't too bad.

They are getting there, just in time for Easter as always.

We might not have bunnies in the yard, but we have bunnies inside!

Hey, I did get one spot in front of a bookshelve clear today. Yeah! That purple box is the little bits of odds and ends for crafts that I'm avoiding. I hate making decisions. I'd rather just reorganize. But I should tackle that tomorrow or Saturday because I wanted to get some real decluttereing (not just rearranging) done this week. I think I'll feel much better going back to school next week if I do. It's that box, plus a few things on the art shelf to combine with it. We'll see.

The End