Our Latest 2 Weeks

As we continue the Stay at Home suggestions (Tennessee is done with the restrictions) we continue to adapt. Several of us have become masts of Zoom as that's really the only way to 'hang out' with people these days.

Shannon Beckstead, Linda Reece and I formed our own Secret Book Club. Its been fun! They both live in Hawaii, so Zoom is truly the only option anyway.

The cicadas are making an appearance. Their exoskeletons are all over. Apparently these are 17 year ones. Lovely.

Lee sets up his Zoom meetings in Amy's room. The blanket is his 'green screen' so he can superimpose his Star Trek background.

Lee and I celebrated our 16th anniversary. We are so low-key it's laughable. We each chose one thing we love and we do that. His is always eating at Outback (curbside to-go during this pandemic) and mine is bike riding. So we ate and then rode.  It was a perfect way to celebrate!

We were at our local park- but had never seen these before. Look at these weird benches! They are so curved you can hardly sit on them. We were very confused- I mean, what is the point? 

We paid to have the upstairs drywall mudded. Best money ever spent. Originally I was going to do it myself (with Dad's help and instruction) but when our stimulus check came in- we knew how to spend it. It was done in a week and way better than I would have ever gotten it. I'm so, so happy we spent the money on this. I know one day I'm going to look back on these photos and say, "I can't believe it was ever unfinished!"

I worked on the irritation system one day. I should have done it ages ago, I just never did. I discovered the art of "creating your own hose" and it's been wonderful. Who knew you cold cut an existing hose and then add the nozzles to make it exactly what you want!? Genius.

Amy was a huge help! ha!

We've had the most glorious, long spring. Really, it's been wonderful. But then it got hot. And given we all have to stay at home, the kids can only watch so much tv. We usually get a membership at the pool for the summer, but that is (so far) out this year. So we did the next best thing- I sent Lee to Walmart to buy the $25 inflatable 10ft pool. The kids have been having a blast.

(The neighbor ,Tristan, joins in as well. He also has one so they run between the two. Which is funny.) 

Another Zoom call. This one was with my old youth group church friends. It was my favorite. It was SO fun to see so many of them. I hadn't talked to most of them in years and years.

We got these Summer Bridge Activity workbooks and we are loving them. The kids do them every morning without argument. It's 2 pages, front and back, every day, and touches on all the subjects.

We've had a great monarch season. We raised all of these from itty bitty- can hardly see babies and they grew and grew and ate and ate. They are all now in their chrysalids. They should emerge next week.

Boys playing on the front porch.

Another zoom call. This time I took the picture because Amy's "away" picture cracked me up. She's so funny.

One of our eight.

Watching them eat, go into J and form their chrysalis was a daily joy around here!

Tyler found this cute bird just sitting on the fence. It was a baby and just kept looking at us. We could hear it's mother squawking in the trees. We left it alone, but the next day we found it dead a few feet down. We aren't sure of it couldn't fly, if the neighbor's dog got it, or if it was just abandoned. It was so cute!

Madison- who was our FLOWER GIRL 16 yrs ago is graduating high school this year. We wanted to do something fun for her so Amy and I wrapped up money in a bunch of fun ways and stuffed it all into a box. I think she'll be excited when she opens it.

 

I built a table for the front porch. Truthfully, I bought the wood forever ago. I just finally got around to building it. Which made Lee happy because the wood was always in the way.

Lee and I have been walking every morning and evening and now we've added in workouts. I was trying to show all my sweat, but I don't think it comes across very well in this picture. It is fun to workout together each morning though.

The finished front porch table.

We had a light rain for several days, and it brought in a visitor. It was a really big turtle. He was the circumference of a 5 gallon bucket. That's certainly bigger than we've ever found before. Amy and Lee took him back to a nearby creek. I'm sure he will be happier there. Although Lee has a theory that it just wanted the 'good food' in my garden.

While Amy and Lee returned the turtle, Will was inside watching tv and Tyler was outside playing in the rain, and yes, inside the pool. That sentence perfectly described each of our children's personalities. haha.

Now We Are Just Distancing

Official 'isolation' is over and now were are just continuing with the distancing way of life. We have been so fortunate to have the most wonderful spring. We usually get 2 weeks and this year we got nearly 2 months. It's been such a blessing.

I baked 2 different cakes and they were both incredible. A chocolate and vanilla. I have to force myself not to bake them again.

The kids got out the hose and made a mud pit. I didn't really mind, except for their "pool area." And only because I didn't want it to become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Tyler won the award for dirtiest this day.

I started cleaning out the garage- and then stopped because all the stuff from upstairs had to come down into it. We decided to hire out the mudding of the drywall. I think it was the best decision ever. One week and they'll be done. It would have taken me months.

While cleaning out the tool area I laughed at all the paint can openers. Dad is always bringing me stuff he's not sure if I have. I told him he could stop with these. Current count is 10, but I'm sure there are more.

Amy decided she hit the jackpot with two fruit snack packages that were packaged together.

 
We had a random pop up storm one evening. It blew in so quickly. It wasn't a tornado, just a LOT of wind. We were all watching the craziness out the back door when Lee noticed a tree falling. Turns out it was our neighbors tree and it fell right on top of his chicken coop. We were devastated for him. When the weather calmed down a bit, we ran out to see if we could offer any help.

Miraculously the chickens were fine. They were tucked into the only part of the coop area that wasn't crushed. One was a little stuck, but he was able to get her out and she was ok. By the end of the next day the tree and destruction were gone. They worked so hard and had a friend come over who has a bulldozer type thing. He is going to rebuild, so that's good.

I started deep cleaning. Did you know there is a filter in your dishwasher and you are supposed to clean it? Yeah, I didn't either. But now you know. Go clean yours.

Tyler and his neatness cracks me up. He took apart all his Beyblades and lined all the pieces up perfectly.

Continuing with the deep cleaning, I did something called "stripping" some of our clothing. It's really easy. You fill a bathtub with the hottest water you can get. Then you add 1/4 cup washing (or baking) soda, 1/4 cup borax and a heaping scoop of powdered Tide. Add your clothes and let them soak for 4-5 hours. Every hour you agitate them a little. It's AMAZING how dirty the water is afterwards. I even took clean clothes. Like straight from the dryer and tried it. Mom tried it too and had similar (gross) results.

With our government stimulus check Lee and I bought a new bed. We've been needing one for awhile so we took the plunge. We got a new headboard and bedding as well. Here is Will modeling it. haha. I am going to repaint the room and all that goes with that, I just haven't gotten to it yet.

 

 My monarch babies are doing great. They are getting bigger every day!

I reorganized the laundry area. My goal was to get rid of at least half of the stuff that was in there and I was successful. No wonder all the trash dumps are overflowing. Everyone else is doing the same thing!

 

I mentioned that we've had the most gorgeous spring. But with that we've had a few freak freezing days. I had to put on a winter hat two days in a row to go for a walk. A winter hat in May?? That's crazy!

I laugh at this picture because I had to take this panel off to hang the last sheet of drywall before the mudders came. (Originally I was saving it for dad, but the Coronavirus changed those plans.) He said, "Take a picture before you take it off." Well, I took about 15 pictures. Then realized I had 15 of the exact same photo and the wires weren't going anywhere. I successfully hooked it back up when I was done, which I was quite proud of. Nothing blew up and it all works, so I consider that a success.

Lee and I take a walk most every morning. Our kids are completely off their schedules. They all stay up late at night and sleep in late as well. So most of the time they are still asleep when we get back from walking. One morning we got back and found Will watching tv with the leftover pizza on our new bed! A big no-no! haha.

I started something called "Mega Monday." Basically it means the kids have to do deep cleaning in their assigned areas of the house. Their faces crack me up. They were miserable. And I loved every minute of it.

Tyler is becoming quite a reader this summer. He made this fort and sat under it for hours reading his book in several different voices. It was cute to watch him.

We had created a massive burn pile. We had 2 trees worth (smaller trees, but still trees) and random sticks that drop after every rainstorm. And since the garbage dumps are overflowing and the amount you can drop off is limited, we decided to burn several old, broken pieces of furniture. We were maxing out our redneck level. We finally burned it the other day and for fun said the kids could throw their disposable school books in there as well. I know that sounds awful! But honestly, they just go into the garbage anyhow and given the above restrictions, we thought this was easiest.

It was actually cathartic for Amy who loved seeing her dreaded math class go up in flames.

I'm always amazed at what is gone at the grocery store. Sometimes it's random stuff, sometimes it makes sense. Toilet paper has been gone for months. Rice and beans are usually gone. It's hard to get flour and there is no yeast to be found. This one actually puzzles me. Because there is no flour or yeast, which would make me think people are baking their own bread. But the crazy thing is there is tons and tons of bread. The bread aisle is overflowing. Are that many people glossing over the bread aisle and spending the time making it on their own? I'm all for homemade bread, but this is weird to me. Homemade bread takes some trial and error and skill. Buying ready made bread seems the easier option. So that one puzzles me....This particular day all the rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide were gone. As well as most of the canned beans.

Oh well. I'm sure this will just be the way things are for awhile. Basically, if I see something I think I'll need soon, I go ahead and grab it. How grateful I am that Lee has had a paycheck through all this!