Corona Can’t Keep Me Down

We’ve hit a level of insanity that is incomparable…

The dog is derpy.

The oldest child is asleep and was not subjected to the weird…

We’ve watched movies.

And drank wine.

And gotten excited about new lotion.

And advance copies of books

But mostly,

Today, we survived.

End transmission.

We took on a full blown rearrangement today… Swapped the kids bedrooms, shampooed carpets, set up computers in their bedrooms so they can do homework (and Roblox)…

Small child got almost all her homework done!!

She’s a very enthusiastic finger counter!

She also really likes to leave selfies in my phone! I love finding them from both girls. They’re so sweet!

We also swapped bathrooms today, so we have one bathroom for three girls to share, and Ben gets his own bathroom.

Like everything else in the house, Mom is the only one with no space for myself…

I could claim the whole house is mine (which it is) but really, I want a space that’s mine and nobody else messes with.

We are working on making some of that space, but it might take a bit.

Luckily, during this social distancing, we have plenty of time!

The rest of the house is relatively clean, though I had to break out the mega mom voice to get the kids to help…

The worst right now is my hammock in the living room. We will have to find a place to put that where I can be uninterrupted.

Our front yard used to have shrubs all around, and the most wonderful privacy, but the sewer line needed replaced and the rock retaining wall was collapsing, so now our yard is naked.

I could still put the hammock out there, but it might disappear. Ugh.

I do still have a really cool “platform” in the back yard where I can sit and read. As the leaves start to return, it gives me a beautiful shady spot to sit and read. That is, if the dogs don’t converge in the same corner to converse with the neighbor dogs…

We got a lot accomplished today, and I feel like this was our best used day yet! Only took three dozen days. That’s not so bad, right?

End transmission.

Mom has completely lost her marbles. She cried about 700 times today and wouldn’t let me climb in her lap and lick her face to make her feel better.

She says face licking is gross.

Dad calls me a nose nibbler, and he lets me, so I don’t know why Mom won’t.

She made me sit a lot today, too, when all I wanted to do was go talk to the kids next door and their really cool new small dog!

I think the small dog must be a young one like me because she wants to run and play, too. Not like Katie-the-dog who just wants to sleep a lot.

Katie-the-dog has been hurt this week, I don’t know what happened, but Dad took her from the house and when she got home, she smelled like the vet, so they must have taken her in.

I’m glad it wasn’t me.

I overheard something about fluid in her knee and she has to take it easy.

She gets a treat twice a day now, too, which makes no sense at all because I clearly heard Dad say the vet thought Katie-the-dog was too fat and needs to lose weight.

Well, they might have been more polite than that.

But serves her right. She eats my food all the time!

Dad says I’m too skinny. Mom says I’m perfect (awww!) But really, I just eat what I need. Dang Katie-the-dog swoops in and steals my food if I take a break though.

Small child has her room clean, so now I can get to her bed and sleep with her! She’s really a sweet kid.

Big child is pretty cool, too, but I think she likes Katie-the-dog better than me.

It’s just nice to have people to take care of. We guard the house really well!

I think Mom is about to have a total breakdown though, so I’ll be sure to be extra close and cuddly with her. She sometimes tells me to go away, but it’s okay, I know she loves me.

Dad only tells me to go away when I’m on his side of the bed and he wants to sleep.

Guess that makes some sense.

I hope they’ll take me for a walk again sometime, I just get so excited to smell the neighborhood!

I guess that’s all for today, nothing big going on.

Bye!

Love, Wally

I accomplished something truly remarkable today. It was difficult, and unique, and I nearly gave up…

I got the inkwell inside a new fountain pen!

I know it doesn’t sound like much, but the darn thing just wouldn’t pop open!

The pen was then used to create some much needed cheer for friends. Though the actual creating of the cheer came with some serious frustrations from us. The following caused tears today:

One kid used pen, not pencil, and couldn’t erase

They do not, in fact, know how to spell all their friends’ names

The paper must be folded in order to fit in the envelope

It’s unfair to write on 75% of the card, leaving 25% available for her sister…

Bright side? Pretty stationary and wax seals!

I dug through two drawers and a box trying to find my favorite wax seals, but they’re missing along with my glass pen, so that was the most devastating bit for me… I’ve had that pen since high school. I remem finding it at the store, The Tree House, and being absolutely in love with it right away!

I’m sure it will turn up…

But for now, I’m collecting and reorganizing my stationary collection.

I’m really excited to write letters to people!

I may even start to utilize letters and stay away from social media more.

I’ve decided, too, that if my current career of Mom/wife/housekeeper/distance librarian/homeschool teacher doesn’t work out, I’ll become a chef.

Breakfast this morning was DIVINE!

Salsa, chicken, beans, eggs, cheese, and a TON of fresh onions.

Let’s hope my digestive system feels as positively about the meal as my taste buds did!

For tonight, I’ve given up on constructive activity for the kids and they’ve been playing Roblox for so many hours I’ve lost count… But they’re happy, and healthy, and they’re having a really fantastic day. They rode their bike for a while today also, and that was really good.

Day 36, folks are talking about this all ending soon, but I think we are looking at another month or so at least, in all reality. It’s hard, and the loneliness sets in some days harder than others. Your think I’d be more used to this with my chronic illness and the time I’ve spent basically isolated anyway, but I wasn’t totally separate from people. My friend’s and parents could come see me, and there was no worry if I wanted to go out for lunch or to the grocery store. It’s a new reality. The longer we are in it, the more comfortable I get.

I’m not sure if that’s comforting or not!

For now, we roll with the flow.

End transmission.

Guest Blog from my friend Gail up in Canada!

Although Sarah and I live in different countries and belong to different generations we share an unwanted health issue:  adrenal insufficiency. We met online through support groups that help us live with this condition, and I’ve been following Sarah’s corona virus isolation blog.  A week or so ago I offered to write a “guest” entry, and I woke up thinking about it this morning!

Like Sarah, I’m isolated at home (well, my daughter’s home – my home is actually 4 hours away) with two little girls, am a retired teacher and am attempting to help said girls with home schooling.  Yesterday I was tasked with helping the first grader with logging on to her class meeting; she had planned her “show and tell” and prepared her “yes/no” card for another activity. She even let me brush and braid her long curly hair – usually an activity fraught with yelps and sobs!

No problem, though Grandma, I’ve used zoom for doctor consultations and group meetings, piece of cake.  Well, we finally joined the class meeting, just in time to participate in the “yes/no” activity, but long after “show and tell” had finished.  After 10 minutes of fumbling around on the ipad, texting Mommy at work (an infection control nurse – but that’s another long story!) and teacher, Mrs. P., we were close, but still not there.  Big sister joined the fun, and finally got us into the meeting. Little sister tells teacher that it’s Grandma’s fault she is late! Mommy texts Grandma wondering if I’d like a glass a wine?

Next Tuesday is another class meeting.  Wish us luck!

The apathy has set in deeply…

Children stink.

School work isn’t done.

I’m grumpy as hell.

I’m done cooking. We eat weird combinations of snacks and thank God we have fruit so we can avoid scurvy…

Someone sent me Turkish Delight, so that was cool.

Actually didn’t eat it all in one sitting.

Win!

Maybe we will care a bit more when the snow melts again… One can hope.

End transmission.

Well, between the snow forts in the front yard, the broken glass in the kitchen, and the suddenly severely limping dog, I’m spent today.

Bright side? I read “Whisky in a Teacup” by Reese Witherspoon today and died just a little.

Unless you’re a privileged, rich, Southern white woman, not much applies. It was awful.

For now, I’ll just read her book club recommendations which are pretty good.

I’m definitely brain dead tonight, and having a reaction to the popcorn I ate while we watched “Trolls: World Tour” (much more culturally significant than Reese’s book…) So while I wait for my face to stop tingling, I’m finishing yet another book.

Some of you may remember a 2000s movie with Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp called “Chocolat”? This is book three in the series (though it’s not really a series, per se) and I’m almost finished with it and then on to one written by a local gal that I started yesterday and am LOVING!

Keep an eye out for Lillian Clark, she’s brilliant.

So, my uber introvert is barely hanging on today, but that’s okay. A good trip to France while remembering my Southern manners is going to get me through today’s quarantine just fine.

End transmission.

Oh, the audacity these humans have!

Food!

All day long, food. Fresh, hot, delicious goodness, and they did not share with us!

We even asked nicely!

For some reason, the children were insane today, far more than their usual insanity.

The big one jumped on Mom really early and hollered in her face, “WAKE UP!” followed by something about a bunny. I didn’t see any bunnies.

I guess, sometime in the night a bunny snuck in the house and left food for the humans.

It isn’t fair he didn’t leave any for us.

The small humans played a lot today, they fought some, but it snowed last night, so they went out to enjoy that as well.

I think they tried to build a fort, but there wasn’t enough snow. They still had a lot of fun. I wish we could have gone outside to play with them.

We did get to play with the neighbor’s puppy, who broke into a different neighbor’s yard and was SO close to us! We really enjoy new friends.

Forgive my single-mindedness here, but Mom made a lot of food today, and we are still hoping she will share with us.

She even let the kids help.

It wasn’t fair.

Everyone is pretty lethargic now, and I’m not sure if that’s because Dad worked last night, and Mom got about 5 hours of sleep, or because of all the sugar everyone ate today. And didn’t share with us …

Come to think of it, we are pretty tired, too.

We hear it’s a holiday, so I guess we will sign off today. This quarantine would be so much better if we got to eat the same food as the humans. I guess we will keep trying.

Until next time…

Katie and Wally

Okay, it’s just day 29, but the last 45 minutes has felt really long.

I’d thought I’d hit the point in this where I was ready to sit back and accept things as they are…

… and then my husband hit something with my car. I’m a bit fuzzy on the details, but I do know it’s not pretty.

It figures that the one night of the week he still has to work, it would be snowing and all the plows are on the other side of the road.

But my poor Olaf (the kids named the car when I bought it shortly after Frozen was released) is injured.

Thankfully, my husband is not injured. He’s just fine. Maybe a bit shook.

I feel like it might be cool to tell people that he was driving through a massive April blizzard when he came across a snow shark! This shark hadn’t eaten in a while, because it only comes out when it snows and, being that it’s April, the snow hadn’t fallen for a little while. Poor Olaf, being badly disguised with all the mud on the white paint, was looking quite delicious to the starving snow shark. The great beast leapt through the falling snow, skidded across the great road, and CHOMP.

Et voila, there is a chunk taken out of the bumper.

Makes for a good story, right?

The other great beast who loves the snow is Katie-the-dog, who quite often would rather be buried under the snow on the back deck than come inside.

This time, she brought the snow in with her. She’s awfully cute…

The girls and I made chocolate cake today, in preparation for tomorrow being Easter.

The girls did most of the work on the cake, and then I did the frosting, since that can be especially messy.

I’ve never made a two layer cake before, so I’m pretty pleased with myself!

I can’t wait to devour it!

All in all, it was still a really good day. No school, a nice chat with my mom, Natalie read several chapters of her book to my mom… Come to think of it, Natalie was reading about a shark attack. That must be why I have sharks on the brain.

Though, I did play around with Google 3D last night, and we had a shark in the basement.

And a panda…

And a tiger…

And a bear…

I guess some days I feel like we live in a zoo, might as well fill in some of the missing wildlife!

Day 29 of this, and it’s just feeling a bit more normal today. We learned long ago that our life is full of adventure, and mishaps, and sometimes some real fears, but if we just remember to laugh a bit, it all turns out okay.

End transmission.

The final day of week four… And I’ve been serenaded by my sweet littlest:

“I like big butts and I cannot lie… All the brothers before me did not deny…”

And I’m not sure if I’m proud of her for knowing the song that was so popular in the Ninety’s, or if I’m embarrassed that she gets the lyrics so cutely wrong!

I did not teach her the song. That was 100% her dad.

We went for another walk this beautiful evening, and small fry led us to her “secret trail” in the park.

She sat by the river’s edge watching the sunset.

On the way, big kiddo slipped and skinned her elbow. I was impressed that she didn’t act like she was going to die…

I made my favorite croutons, but I didn’t let them dry enough before baking. So I have soft croutons. Eep.

When we were finishing up our wall tonight, we heard the insane honking of horns downtown and realized that Friday nights are Cruisin’ Main nights! We hurried down to join the fun.

I didn’t realize how moving it would be to join in the back and forth tonight. It’s a really cool way to show solidarity!

Too bad there was also a crowd at the grocery store parking lot who were parked and not in their cars…

It was a great night, which I’m grateful for because the banshee didn’t finish her school work… It was rough going this afternoon. But whatever we can do to salvage the day is okay with me.

Tomorrow, it’s supposed to snow again. Ugh.