COVID-19 Quarantine Day 79

Good morning, everyone!  I had a crazy dream last night!  As soon as I woke up I started texting Sis about it so I wouldn't forget it.  This is what I sent her!  😂  Enjoy!

Dude, I had a wild dream last night.  I dreamed I got tattoos down my body from my boobs to my ankles, right down my front.  In between my boobs were a bunch of stick people, kind of like our sister tattoos, then giant flowers, all didn't kinds.  Each flower featured one color and each flower was a slightly didnt shade, changing from neon pink through purple to blue for the flowers on my feet.  They went down my stomach to my underwear and picked up on my upper thigh where each image was split in half, half on each leg.  They continued all the way to my feet.  Apparently I had been drinking a little before getting these tattoos, but I was holding it together well, so when I asked for all of these tattoos he thought I was serious.  I wad behind a screen, so you didnt see what all was happening.  Also, the artist I used had been on a tv show, and you assumed if I asked for something outlandish, that he would have stopped me.  There were so many of them!  Straight down the front center.  And boob tattoos!  Which are so not classy!  By the time I woke up, it was too late to be upset, so I just decided it was a good jumping off point to go ahead and cover my whole body in tattoos.  🤷🏼‍♀️  Michael was there too and never intervened, but he did pay.  So when I "woke up" after getting them all, I knew I'd have to look at the online banking to see how much they all cost, but I assumed it would be at least $1000.  The good news was, that next "morning" I wasn't sore at all!   The whole thing was do vivid and real I checked my boobs for tattoos when I really woke up!  And immediately started texting you so I wouldn't forget it all.  So there ya go!  

Weird, right??  Guess I shouldn't drink Sangria before bed...  😳😳😳

But it's morning now and I'm back to coffee.  😉😂☕  I'm out on the deck listening to music and enjoying the beautiful weather.  I saw on fb this morning that the Farmer'a Market is open again!!!  😭😭😭  I want to go so bad!!  But since we saw people the day before yesterday I should probably just stay home.  Boo!!  👎  Being responsible stinks sometimes.  😋  We're hoping that if we quarantine for about 10 days, that we'll be able to go over to Mama and Daddy's for lunch a week from tomorrow if we're still healthy.  Maybe the week after that we can go to the market on Saturday.  I know the kids love getting the sweet breads, cherry limeade, and kettle corn.  I love the fresh tortillas, street tacos, chips, coffee truck, cheese, and fresh bread!  We've got some veggies already in the fridge at the moment, but by the time we make it over there I'll be ready for those too!  I love going there!  It's more expensive, but I love it.  It's just better.  ❤  Crunchy Jen, for ya.  🤷🏼‍♀️

I went to the store a while back and got more solar lights.  Some friends of ours gave me a chandelier at Connor's birthday party, so I'd like to get it all put together and hung soon.  I still need to use that organic insecticide on my broccoli and cauliflower, and I need to plant beans.  So I have a few items on my list to do today.  Michael wants to get the laundry done today and watch the space shuttle launch with the kids.  I also need to do a little work in my herb garden.  It looks like one of the dogs managed to get into it a bit.  Fortunately nothing was growing in that spot yet.  I'm struggling to get chives to come up from seeds, in the garden and in a separate pot.  I know they're invasive, but maybe I'll go ahead and plant dill there instead.  🤷🏼‍♀️  The kids made a deal with us that on Saturdays they only have to read and brush their teeth to get technology, not do their whole list.  While we reserve the right to change our mind, we agreed for now.  We don't have to fight them much to get theirs lists done the rest of the week, so it seemed like an ok idea.  Connor also said he doesn't need technology on Sunday anyway.  I was shocked to hear him volunteer to give up technology one day a week, but I didn't complain!  We'll see how much he really wants to stick to it.  😉

Anyway, that's all I've got for now!  Have a wonderful Saturday!  ❤

Be good to one another.  ❤

COVID-19 Quarantine Day 78 - Cooling Down

Hey guys, I just couldn't leave things like that.  I am upset about what's happening in Minneapolis, but that isn't all this blog is about, so I want to write some more.  I'm glad I said what I did.  I'm glad I wrote it down.  Because it's all too quickly forgotten when you're not the one being directly harmed.  I need to remember this moment, this visceral fear and anger.  It's very real.  And while it may be forgotten, in time, it shouldn't be.  So putting it down keeps reminding me that others are struggling and scared and dying in ways my white brain can't comprehend, and their pain should not be forgotten or overlooked.  It needs to be combated with policy change and accountability and a dedication to creating a better nation for all the people who live here and who seek the freedoms and safety that we enjoy.  All that being said...

We had a really nice time at our get together last night!  Jason, Ashley, and Madison didn't end up coming.  Ashley is pregnant and her doctors advised her not to join us.  As she's over 35 and diabetic, she's already a high risk pregnancy.  I completely understand them staying home.  One dinner isn't worth risking your baby's life.  It was good to meet Kelvin and his wife Jen!  They seem like really great people and people I'm interested in hanging out with more over the years.  Jen is a math intervention coach in Derby.  They brought a delicious Japanese potato salad as well as flan!  Yum!  Our food was wonderful!  Michael got lots of complements on his Kippy Burgers!  Uncle Ed and Cathy made a cheese board, which they always do well.  I even found out that Cathy has started ordering cheese from Jason Wiebe, who's a farmer we loved when we were going to the farmer's market regularly!  Apparently he'll ship his cheeses right to your house now!  How cool is that?!?!  I miss the farmer's market!  Everyone seemed to like my garden, the boxes, the fence, the chandeliers, and the plants!  It was fun showing them off.  The kids were happy to see Unle Ed and Aunt Cathy.  It's obviously, been a while since we'd seen them.  I think it was good for everyone's soul to get together and share a meal and be face to face with one another again.  It was also really nice to spend time with Kelvin and Jen and get to know them a little.  I don't think Kelvin worked in the office for 2 weeks before everyone began working from home, so this was a good, informal time to spend together.  AeTR has been such a good company to us, and, in my opinion, is very family friendly.  It certainly felt very family oriented having that small group of engineers together with our families, watching the kids play and show their rooms to people.  I hope that we gave Kelvin and Jen a nice impression of the people behind the company.  :)

I swear, my garden is growing more every day!  I've had 3 new asparagus pop out of the soil in the last 2 days.  There still isn't much asparagus, but I'm well over a dozen spears now, so that seems good!  Some bug is eating my broccoli and cauliflower leaves already!  Grr!!  I was hoping that they'd have some more time before the bugs noticed them, but I was wrong, apparently.  I have an organic insecticide that I got from the farmer's market last summer (Have I mentioned that I miss the farmer's market?) that I'm going to try spraying on those plants.  They are the only ones I've noticed damage to, so they're the only ones I'll spray for now.  I have some of the Seven insecticide stuff, but it just seems so bad and full of chemicals, I'd really like to avoid it if I can.  Getting crunchier and crunchier by the day, I know, I'm a hippy.  What can I say?  :-D

We've been having some issues with ants around the house and a few inside the house lately.  Grandma Counterman told me about a Borax/Sugar mixture that she used to help kill ants.  So I made some of that and sprinkled it around in a few places.  Michael, my less crunchy counterpart, spayed around the outside and inside of the house really well the other day with all the chemicals.  Lol!  So hopefully between the two of us, we can get those darn ants under control.  I'm not sure what's gotten into them this year, but there sure seems to be a lot of them.

The kids want to go to the pool.  I haven't heard from our HOA on whether it's open now or will be this summer or not.  They are working on completing their lists, then we're going to drive over there and check things out.  I'm sure, even if it is open, that the water is freezing!  The kids will love it though!  I'm slightly apprehensive since they haven't been swimming in quite a while.  I intended to have them take swimming lessons again before the summer got here, but the COVID made that not happen.  I only remember taking swimming lessons one summer when I was growing up, so hopefully it all comes back to them fairly quickly.  We shall see.

Alright, well, that's all I've got for the moment.  Hope this blog was a little more of an upper.  Talk again soon.

Be good to one another.  <3

COVID-19 Quarantine Day 78 - Another Rant

Oh man, I have so much going on in my head right now.  I debate whether or not to type this and post this blog, but it is a critical moment in history that I feel, bears telling. 

I try not to be political on facebook because no good comes of it.  Friends and family members get mad and angry and shout and then I get mad at them.  No good comes of it.  So I try to stay out of it.  Because I have yet to hear someone say, I changed my stance on something because someone on the internet had an argument with me and convinced me I was wrong.  All that being said, I had to get off of facebook this morning because it was just too much.  I had to stop going to my news outlets and I had to stay off twitter.  This first thing I watched this morning when I woke up as This Video that Michael posted on facebook.  It was like watching something out of a post-apocalyptic zombie movie or something. 

I am heartbroken.  I am terrified.  I am sick over what's going on in our country.  Over the systemic racism.  Over the hurt and fear that people of color carry with them each and every day.  Over the injustice that a police officer can kneel on a man's neck, as he gasps for breath, until he lays motionless, unconscious, dead.  It is sickening.  I can't even wrap my mind around what all is happening at this moment.

Ahmaud Arbery was gunned down by two men while he was taking a run.
George Floyd was nealt on, his breathing restricted, by a police officer until he was dead.

These are only the latest two in a series of unforgivable violence.  Unpopular opinion time: I believe President Donald Trump has furthered, fueled, made excuses for, forgiven, and allowed this racism.  I also think that we need drastic change, because peaceful protests and people of color pleading to not be killed is not getting the job done.

Friends of ours lives in Minneapolis where so much unrest is happening at the moment.  They are mere blocks away from where rioting is happening.  They can see and smell the smoke from the buildings burning nearby.  I am so glad they're safe.  I'm glad they're coming home soon.  But I get it.  I understand.  I know why the people of Minneapolis are furious.  I am too.  Where are the murder charges for the officer who took a man's life on camera while he pleaded for air?  Where are the charges for the three other officers who stood by and did nothing as a man's life was taken under the knee of a police office?  Aren't these the people I tell my children to go to in an emergency?  Aren't these the people who have sworn to protect myself, my family, and my community?  WHAT IS HAPPENING?!?!?!?!

Please do not misunderstand.  I know there are good police officers.  I know that a few bits of bad publicity puts a dark stain on many wonderful, undeserving people who put their lives on the line daily to protect others.  But I have had enough of this madness!  I spend my mornings crying as I read and watch the news.  Why are we killing each other?!  Because of skin tone?!?!  Excuse my language, but that is the biggest bullshit!  WTF?!?!?  Why??? 

I am so upset.  I am a white woman, married to a white man, with two white children, in a predominanty white state.  I don't have to teach my children to keep their hands up, look at the ground, say yes sir, keep their license and insurance in the visor, never wear hoodies, don't put their hands in their pockets, don't make sudden movements, when approached by an officer.  I am privileged.  They are privileged.  People of color live in chronic fear.  It is unacceptable. 

This world is so broken.  This world needs Jesus.  I want to love people.  I also want people to feel safe in their home, neighborhoods, and on the streets.  Regardless of the color of their skin.  Why is that so difficult for some people to understand.  I just can't fathom it.  I understand the rioting in Minneapolis.  They're mad.  They're hurting.  They're tired of living in fear.  Peaceful protests aren't getting policies changed.  People of color are still being gunned down by civilians who think they know the best way to handle things.  Children with candy are stalked and gunned down for wearing hoodies and being black.  It's unacceptable.  Our president tweeted that when the looting starts, the shooting starts, indicating he would allow military action on citizens, inciting more violence.  It is tragic.  I cannot believe that I'm watching unfold.  But to the people in Minneapolis who are fed up, that I get.

I'm sure this is a jumbled mess of emotion, but I'm not going back and editing.  This is the stream of consciousness blogs I post.  The anger and fear, straight from my brain to the page.  This is unacceptable.  I just wish I could wrap my head around all of this.  But I think it's beyond me.  I am just dumbstruck.  I want change.  I want light.  I want goodness.  I want love.  I want compromise.  I want justice.  I want safety.  I want these things for everyone. 

Be good to one another.  Please.

COVID-19 Quarantine Day 77

Good morning!  I've been working for the last couple days on cleaning the house, back yard, and deck really well.  We're having guests over for dinner tonight, the engineers Michael works with and their families.  I've missed having people over.  Michael always says he doesn't mind when we host people because it forces us to clean the house really well.  Well I can tell you, our house looks awesome!  Our room is always the part that gets overlooked though.  We just close the door and keep people out of there.  That might be a next week kind of project.  But I got the bathroom cleaned up last week, so at least part of it is done.  And, honestly, once laundry mountain is folded and put away, things will look a lot better in there.  Once the house is all clean I might start packing some stuff for our vacation!!  😁  I'm getting excited for it!  It's only 4 weeks and 1 day away!!  Here's our tentative itinerary at the moment...

Friday, June 26th - Drive to Glenn and Linda's house after Michael gets off work

Saturday, June 27th - Leave Glenn and Linda's house super early to begin our all-day drive to Murfreesboro, TN (9 hrs 45 min, 660 miles)

Sunday, June 28th - Hang out with Chuck and Shanna in Tennessee 

Monday, June 29th - Drive to Austin, KY (1 hr 45 min, 90 miles) 

Visit Kenny's Farmhouse Cheese Farm

Tuesday, June 30th - Visit Mammoth Caves National Park (2 tours if we can schedule it right)

Drive back to Murfreesboro, TN (1 hr 45 min, 90 miles)

Wednesday, July 1 - Stones River National Battlefield?

Thursday, July 2 - Nashville?

Friday, July 3 - US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL?

Saturday, July 4 - Fireworks a la Nashville?

Sunday, July 5 - Drive home?

As you can see, the first half of the trip is pretty set.  The second half is more open.  We're even open to taking the drive home over 2 days and Michael taking Monday off too, stopping in St. Louis, and showing the kids The Arch.  We'll see.  We're still talking.  Alabama is one of our flexible states.  We can add it to this trip or it will be a part of our Gulf Coast trip.  So I guess I have to figure out which we'd like to see more, the Space and Rocket Center or Mobile, AL.  Of course, at the moment, the Space and Rocket Center is closed, so COVID-19 could make the choice for us.  🤷🏼‍♀️

I need to go finish cleaning, but I hate sweeping and mopping and I's rather sit here on the deck and listen to music and drink coffee.  😊

COVID-19 Quarantine Day 75

Sorry for no new blog posts the last week.  It was the last week of school and we were just busy.  Here is a very brief update of what's been going on: 

*School is done for the year 

*I might be getting a new job

*Sis dyed my hair pink and purple again like last summer

*We went to the farm for Memorial Day weekend

*We're still going on our vacation in about 4.5 weeks

*We're planning on having the engineers and their families over for dinner Thursday if the rain will stay away 

*It feels good to be sleeping in my own bed again

*My garden looks great after a few days away

*My friend Kelly made me a Harry Potter mask 

*Linda sent Michael and I K-State masks in the mail

*While dying my hair this weekend, we're also did Avery's, Laney's, and Mama's

*I'd like to do a little clothes shopping before vacation, but I'm not sure if any stores have dressing rooms open 🤷🏼‍♀️

*From today I have the next 12 weeks off work!  Money wise it will stink, but not be unbearable.  Mentally, I'm looking forward to it. 

*I have a real Pea pod forming on one of my pea plants! 

*My corn is finally about 6 inches tall, so I need to plant beans this week!  The three sisters are almost complete! 

*I planted more seeds a week or so ago and now have more flowers, herbs, and cucumbers coming up! 

*Michael's and my 11 year anniversary was Saturday

I think that's about it.  Not really in any sort of order.  Here are a few pictures too.  ❤  I'll try to sort out this jumbled mess last today, but it's not even 8am yet, so this is what you get.  😉

COVID-19 Quarantine Day 67 - Coronavirus Through the Eyes of a Child

I posted this on FB and I thought it would be worth saving here as well.  😊

🦠 Coronavirus through a child’s eyes. 🦠

Ask your child the questions and have a giggle, not only now but in a memory a year from now.

Avery 7, Connor 6

1. What is the Coronavirus? 

A- A kind of sickness that can make people really sick or sometimes kill people

C- A bad allergy

2. Who is the president of the US? 

A- Don't know

C- I do not know

3. How many days have we been on lockdown?

A- 2 months

C- 50,000

4. Do you want to go back to school? 

A- Yes

C- Yes

5. Who is the first person you are going to hug when lockdown is over? 

A- Mrs. Miller

C- Dax Wilde

6. Where is the first place you want to go? 

A- On a field trip with my class to Jumpy Jump Land

C- Braums!

7. What do you think we can do to get rid of the Coronavirus?   

A- Everybody could take medicine every day, then when we go out and come back we take showers.

C- Use torches and fire it away.  It probably won't even work.

8. Are mommy and daddy good teachers? 

A- Yes.

C- You are, but dad's not a teacher.

9. How did the Coronavirus start? 

A- It started on an animal, then it suddenly jumped onto a person.  I don't know how it's made, but a lot of sick people got together and made it.  At the hospital. 

C- With Grandma

10. If you had to wear protective clothing to help you, what would it be? 

A- All my socks, all my pants, all of my underwear, all of my shirts, all of my gloves, and all of my hats

C- Space suit

11. Are you enjoying the lockdown? 

A- Nope!

C- Yeah.

COVID-19 Quarantine Day 67 - A Favorite Small Business Closes it's Doors Permanently

Guys, I'm so so sad.  Sente is closed permanently.  I know it's only the first of many wonderful small businesses that will be forced to close due to COVID-19.  I'm so sad.  I'm just glad we were able to take the kids and Mama and Daddy to enjoy it before it closed.  Michael and I had several dates a few months before COVID-19 hit, and I'm very glad we did.  This special business will be greatly missed.  Here are some pictures from our time there.

I hope I'm not making blog posts like this often as my favorite places go out of business.  This is one of the businesses that we have been unable to help during this time of closures.  We've done our party to help coffee shops, restaurants, and breweries, but this type of business we just couldn't help.  We will maintain memberships at the Zoo and Exploration Place, and Michael and I were already discussing the monthly membership at Sente, but it didn't come back after it shut down in March.  I'm so so sad.  

COVID-19 Quarantine Day 64 - Sunny Garden Make Up Post - Number 3

Yay!!  Two down!!  I guess it's no wonder that the one yesterday crashed my app.  🤷🏼‍♀️  Here are the rest of my garden pictures.  😊

Overall, everything looks pretty good!  A little messy from mud splashing up onto plants, but not too bad.  They probably wouldn't have got so muddy if I had hay laid down around the plants like I did last year.  But I can't run to Lowe's as often as I need things anymore, so I'm trying to get by with what I've got.  Also, see my helpers coming in to assist me with my gardening?  😂  Some day I'll trust them and be able to let them in a little more freely, but for now they're still under close supervision!

So pretty!  😍

They yellow squash is at the bottom of the stairs, so the house protects it from the weather a lot.  They seem to be doing very well!

Did I ever explain why I have 2 yellow squash plants in a pot?  I planted seeds and they never came up, so I planted more seeds and bought plants and finally got some yellow squash in my garden.  Then the seeds decided to come up in the little pot I planted inside.  Oops!  So these squash are for the kids to take care of.  We also painted "cactus" to keep them company.  😉😂

I'm also starting to have some herbs come up in my herb pot on the upper deck.  Later yesterday I also saw basil seedlings coming up!  Didn't get a picture of them though.

So there you have it!  The sun came up and I ran out to check my garden while there was time!  Turns out the sun was out all day yesterday.  The kids went out to play and had popsicles while they laid in their pool floaties on the driveway, it was really good.  😊  Only 1 more week of school, then Memorial Day out at the farm (Michael said we could stay until Monday, well, the kids and I could anyway, but he can join us until Monday since he has the day off!!), then sweet summertime!  ❤🌞

COVID-19 Quarantine Day 64 - Sunny Garden Make Up Post - Number 2

Back again!  Fortunately I had the foresight to copy and paste that last post before I tried to exit the screen I was in, because I would have definitely lost it.  One thing you're missing in this post versus the one yesterday is that I was super jazzed and enthusiastic that the sun had come out.  I'm not quite as giddy today, but I am happy the sun is out again today as well.  When are these storms supposed to end, anyway?  We had a monster of a storm last night!  Anyway, back to pictures...

Peas and green onions look good.  I'm trying to guide the peas over to the fence so they'll climb up it, but they want to go the other way because it's where they get sun.  If I can get them to at least start growing up the fence, they'll keep going.  They just have to get a little taller and I can get them over there.  😊

Zucchini, yellow squash, and butternut squash look good.  Flowers are persevering despite being hit pretty hard by the storms.  Okra is still teeny tiny.  🤷🏼‍♀️

I have some tiny asparagus coming up!  I think I have about a half dozen stalks.  Figured I would have had more by now, but who knows.  At least I have something!  Hopefully the rest are coming soon!  🤞  I need to add some more dirt to the trenches, but I don't want to discourage more spears from popping up.  🤷🏼‍♀️

Avery's carrots continue to grow like weeds!  Really probably need to thin those out some...

Lettuce and most of the strawberries look good!  The head lettuce didn't take the beating from the rain as well.  Also, I think my Honeoye strawberries are completely dead now.  Note to self: get strawberry plants earlier next year and don't buy the ones of clearance on their last leg.

Ok, there are still a few more pictures I want to post, but I'm getting nervous again, so I'm going to copy and paste this and then try to post it.  Stay tuned for the next installation!  😉

COVID-19 Quarantine Day 64 - Sunny Garden Make Up Post ‐ Number 1

Hey guys.  I wrote a nice long blog yesterday, but put too many pictures in it and it crashed.  Then I was defeated and never reposted.  The gist of it was that I was happy that the sun came out for a bit, so I went out to the garden and check on things and took some pictures.  I'll have to make it two posts now, obviously.  Here we go...

My boots came in, so I slogged through the yard to go out and check on my garden.  Aren't they pretty??  Between my birthday and Mother's Day I have 4 new pairs of shoes!  😁😁😁

I believe this robin is the reason I have all sorts of holes in my strawberry patch.  I love that he's here eating bugs, but he sure does make a mess.  He's here every day and when I'm in the garden he waits on the fence and watches me.  🤣

I was thinking of possibly getting some dowel rods to prop up some of my corn.  They're leaning, probably a combo of trying to get sun and getting hammered by rain the last week.  Zucchini plants look good!!

My basil looks like it's kind of over the rain.  The peppers, chives, and tomatoes seem to be doing fine though.

Zucchini and cucumbers look good.  I need to plant a few more cucumber seeds in the pile.  But I need to fertilize everything too and haven't gotten around the that either...  Looks like the sun is shining today too, maybe I'll get all this stuff done, finally...

Green onion, broccoli, and cauliflower all look great!  They are probably most protected from weather.  I also learned last year that they prefer cooler weather.  So I think they're really thriving at the moment.

Ok, I'm only halfway done, but I better post.  Because if I lose everything again, these pictures will never make it up...

COVID-19 Quarantine Day 63

Good morning, everyone!  

The kids are down to 7 days of school, they're done with their work for the week, and I don't expect them the be assigned much more.  Should be a pretty quiet next week.  I'll do a little work, but with students finishing up their assignments, there isn't much for me to do either.  I know I said most of this yesterday, but I'm totally looking forward to summer and being done with home school.  

I'm also desperately missing the sun and wishing it would come back out.  

It's been 7 days since Connor's party and since we left the house.  Everyone is healthy and no one has spiked a fever yet.  That makes me feel pretty good that we didn't catch anything when we all got together, but we'll wait another week, just to make sure.

When that week is up, though, I have plans to get out of the house!  Michael and the kids bought me another massage for Mother's Day!!  And I got an email from Beau Monde saying they were opening up again soon, so I sent them an email and said, any day, any time, I want in!  I figured being one of the first people into the spa after they've deep cleaned and reopened limits my exposure, plus, they have a shower in their locker room, so I figured I'd just bring a change of clothes and shower right there, then I won't have to come home and disinfect my car and take my decontamination shower at home.  So yeah, long story short, I have a 60 minute massage followed by a 15 minute steam+scalp massage on Wednesday next week!  Wednesday marks day 14 of our post-birthday quarantine, so I figure I should know by then if I'm sick.  I am really looking forward to this massage!  It's a stress reduction massage and I would say that in light of the way things have gone in the last few months, I need it.  Of course I haven't been nearly as stressed as others, but the massage is going to be a welcomed relief and a nice, temporary trip outside of the home to focus on self care.  I think the last week indoors because of rain has figuratively (and literally) dampened my spirits.  I'm not nearly as positive when it's raining all day, every day.

Good news, though, my rain boots came in!  So I can slosh through the yard to get out to my garden and check on things today!  Yay!!  What's funny is that as soon as Michael got my sprinklers installed in the other 3 beds, the rain came and we ended up turning the sprinklers around all of the yard off.  So we haven't had a chance for the sprinklers to do their work.  Maybe today while I'm out looking at things, I'll snap a few pictures so you can see how the sprinklers look, even if they aren't being utilized at the moment.  Rain is free, so we'll take it.  This reminds me of a woman from Valley Feed and Seed a month or so ago, when I was buying seeds and plants.  She said hopefully we wouldn't get so much rain that everything floods again like it did last year.  I told her I had raised beds, so the flooding didn't hurt my garden nearly as bad, because it just ended up running out the bottom (and sometimes sides).  I'm glad again, for the raised beds.

Yesterday the kids had an assignment at school for art class to recreated famous works of art.  Connor really didn't want to do the assignment and I was getting frustrated because he was saying no to EVERY painting I suggested, so I tapped out and Michael worked with Connor, while I worked with Avery.  They're not perfect, but I think they turned out pretty cute!  😉

Alright, I have a Zoom in an hour.  I better get up and around.  Have a good, rainy day!

COVID-19 Quarantine Day 62 - Video Game Shopping

Connor is downstairs with Michael looking at video games online.  He got a lot of gift cards and money from his friends for his birthday.  They are cracking up looking at all of these silly games!  He's having a really good time looking at videos of games to pick what he would like.  I think we'll have to keep that in mind and give him money in his stocking for Christmas so he can choose his own game.  I just love him so much.  He's growing up so fast, spending his money on expensive new video games!  😂❤🎮

COVID-19 Quarantine Day 62

It won't stop raining.  I haven't been out to check on my garden in a few days.  It's soggy out.  The rain boots Michael bought me for Mother's Day haven't come in yet.  This kind of weather doesn't leave me motivated to do much more than lay in bed and watch TV and drink coffee.  All the rain lately reminds me of last Spring when we got so much rain.  Nebraska was really badly flooded when we're drove through on our Memorial Day vacation.   The kids hustled through their school work this week, so they're basically done with school now, a week and a half early.  I think I'll give them a few days of not doing much before I enforce the daily summer checklist.  I know the work hasn't been that bad, but I'm with the kids and ready to be done with online school for a while. 

COVID-19 Quarantine Day 60 - Healthy Meals

Sis and I are trying to eat healthy, so here's what I enjoyed today!

Avocado toast, probably my favorite breakfast!  On the left is toast wish mashed avocado, sprinkled with shredded parmesan, and topped with a fried egg.  On the right is a slice of bread with mayo spread on it, topped with sliced tomato and sliced avocado.  On top of that is a slice of swiss cheese and then the whole thing is broiled until the cheese is melted and the bread is toasted.  I love this meal and have some variation of it every time I have ripe avocados on hand.  ❤🥑

For lunch I tried a new recipe!  These are cauliflower fritters.  I had a green cauliflower in the fridge that I wanted to use up.  I went to pinterest and found the recipe.  It's got minced garlic, chili powder, green onion, and parmesan cheese in it (among other things to hold it all together).  I air fried them instead of frying them in oil.  They turned out really tasty and are super filling!  I saw cauliflower crust pizza recipes and thought about making that, but I've made it before and it takes a terribly long time, so I skipped it this time.  

For dinner, Michael made fajitas!!  Don't they look delicious!?!?!??!  I accidentally bought 2 lbs of key limes on the click list last week, so I'm trying to find ways to use them.  🤦🏼‍♀️🤣  We also got a couple things used up out of the freezer (chicken and peppers).  I got a bag of avocados on the click list too.  If you've ever used avocados, you know their perfectly ripe timing is about 23 minutes.  So I'm using those bad boys in everything the next couple days!!  Michael made an avocado chicken salad yesterday for me for lunch for Mother's Day.  It was amazing!  If I keep posting pics of my food, you'll see lots of avocado recipes for a couple days.  😉

That's all I got.  😉  I took pictures of my food today and just had to share!  😁

COVID-19 Quarantine Day 60 - Mother-Daughter Trip Planning!!

Yesterday I sent a lot of pictures to Mama and Sis of the 3 of us together.  Several of the pictures were from the Mother-Daughter trip we took 3 years ago.  

In our group chat we were talking about how we needed to plan another trip together!  The three of us had so much fun that weekend!!  So here are some ideas of places we could go....

-Vegas

‐OKC

-Branson

-KC (again)

-Austin

-St. Louis

-Chicago

-Denver

-Colorado Springs

-New Orleans

Obviously, we're not going anytime soon, but maybe things will have settled down more by this fall and maybe we could get away for a weekend.  😊  What do you think?  What's the best spot for a girls weekend??

COVID-19 Quarantine Day 60 - Happy Mother's Day!

Another holiday spent in quarantine.  Yesterday was Mother's Day.  Fortunately, our family was able to get out and see family this week before Mother's Day.  We had a nice quiet day as a family.  Michael made me breakfast, the Kia made me gifts, Avery and Connor spent a lot of the day sweeping and mopping floors for me, Michael and I played a lot of games of Dominion, I enjoyed Mimosas from the supplies Sis gave me for my Mother's Day gift, and Michael and I watched a lot of Bones.  It was a very calm and chill day.  😊  Check out my awesome gifts! 

New Under Armour sandals, Rain boots to garden in, Ding Dongs, flowers, a massage, and a hand drawn picture of Buckbeak the Hippogriff, Harry Potter, and Hagrid.  I didn't get a picture yet of the paper cake Avery made me that my gifts from her were in. 

Mama and Daddy were at an estate sale over the weekend and got these for me!!!  They're both signed by Bill Snyder and Willie the Wildcat.  😁  I love them!   Can't wait to hang them up!  💜🖤💜🖤💜

Sis got me supplies for Mom-osas!  She also gave me homemade baked goods, but I don't have a picture of them because I ate them too fast.  😍

Throughout the day I drank the whole bottle of champagne.  🤣  I had lots of fruit here st home that I could add to them, so they're all super pretty!  ❤  Of course, after my fun holiday, I'm back to eating healthy today.  😉

I hope all of my fellow moms had a terrific Mother's Day as well!  I love you all so much! 

Happy Mother's Day!!!!