Outside time and Grocery shopping

Linda commented on my hike post from yesterday that I looked happy. Yes I was happy...happy to be out of the house and away from home. Happy to be out in nature and taking in a good LONG walk! I have stayed at home and only went out on short walks to the kids' school to pick up their lunches. I needed to get out. I didn't realize it but I was craving it. So yesterday when my sister texted and said she wanted to meet up at a local park so she could see the kids, I decided that since we would be outside that this was okay. So I took the kids to the park and met up with my sister, her girlfriend, my parents, niece and nephew and my brother. My dad had bought kites and bubbles for each kid to play with. They had a blast running around flying their kites and blowing bubbles. We were pretty spread out and honestly it was what my soul needed. 

Rebecca got her kite all the way up and to the end of the string. 

Hers is the highest one in this picture.

Jacob also got his kite up really high and was able to keep it up. 

Ben just had fun running around with his kite.

Bubbles

This morning I also went out on my own for the first time in almost 6 weeks the grocery store. I went at 7:30 figuring that the store would not be busy AND I did wear a mask.( A friend made masks for me, Bill and the kids.) 

My new fashion statement

Kroger wasn't that busy. About half the customers had masks on, the other half didn't. I was able to get everything on my list and a few other things. I noticed that some things were priced higher, but others were not. Eggs, milk and cheese were all about the same as they were the last time I was there. Frozen foods seem to be higher in price and Pop was more expensive. I didn't really notice any gaps except in the toilet paper aisle and cleaning supplies. The only limits were on toilet papers and paper towels. I did pick up a pack of toilet paper to start a little stockpile of beauty supplies. Our freezer and pantry are full again. I have a better idea of things I need to stock up on and things that I had bought when this whole thing started that we really don't eat (canned soup anyone?). 

Bill has done a great job grocery shopping for our family over the last 2 months, but it was time for me to take it back over. I cannot live in fear, but with the right precautions start getting back into some sort of routine. I will say that I was apprehensive going but like I told Bill last night, if not now when? I am glad that I went, however I will also say I was glad when I got back home. It is a really odd feeling but I guess is probably normal. 

How do you feel going out in public? Do you wear a mask or not? Are you looking at your grocery shopping differently?  

Took a nice long hike yesterday...

Yesterday the weather was beautiful...partly cloudy, low 60s, not windy (important in Ben's book) and just begged for a nice long walk. Which is what we decided to do once the kids' schoolwork was done. 

We went to the Brown Family Environmental Center and walked some of the trails, including some with some huge inclines! We ended up walking about 2.75 miles in all.

It felt so good to get out of the house and to be somewhere other than in our neighborhood. Kids had fun and it was a nice walk/hike! 
Today we might go to the park later (my sister wants to do a social distanced meet up-- I think she is going stir crazy as well.) Other than that I have no plans today. I SHOULD be doing laundry and other stuff but my motivation is at ZERO! 

What are you doing today? Any tips on getting motivated? Are you feeling stir-crazy yourself?

Have a great Saturday everyone! 

A Day in the "Stay-At-Home Order" Life...

I thought it would be fun to do a little day in the life post on what a somewhat typical day looks like around here during these stay-at-home time. 😀 So here is what my day looked like yesterday: 

7:45AM: I wake up to the sun beaming in my face. I forgot to close the bedroom curtain last night before I finally fell asleep around 1:30AM. 😕 I hear the boys downstairs. Bill comes upstairs to go to bed after his overnight shift at work. 

8:00AM: I get up, shower and am greeted at the bathroom door by two meowing cats. They have gotten into the habit of meowing when I turn the shower off. They want treats! I give them treats and then get dressed and head downstairs to start my day. 

The boys have had breakfast. They clean up their messes and I send them upstairs to get dressed for the day and to do their morning chores.

I open our front door and the curtains to let the daylight in and am greeted by a fat robin sitting in the tree outside of our front porch. It puts a smile on my face. 😃

I sit down to figure out the boys' school needs for today. I make Ben a checklist and both boys get onto their Chromebooks to get started. 

10:00AM: Rebecca emerges from her room (what can I say except she is a teenager? 😀) and gets breakfast. She starts her schoolwork. I make myself some breakfast and peruse blogs while I am eating. 

The boys are working on their work. I gather laundry from yesterday (and discovered a stash of dirty laundry in the back of the boys' closet 😞) and started laundry. 

11:30AM: We took a break from schoolwork to walk down to the boys' school to get their free lunch (and breakfast for tomorrow). We also worked on a scavenger hunt that Ben had to do for his Science Earth Day activity! 

12:00PM: Kids ate lunch and then worked on their few chores. I flipped laundry, opened some packages from Amazon and cleaned up kitchen. I also made up some Crystal Lite, using a trick that my grandma used to use--- use an empty, clean milk jug to make a double batch of when you can't find your other pitcher. LOL 

1:00PM: Jacob finished his school work. Ben read to me while I ate my lunch. Rebecca finished up her school work. 

AFTERNOON: We spent time doing the Earth Day art project that I shared yesterday. Bill mowed the grass. I sent off a couple emails to the boys' art teacher to show their work. I also blogged. Bill and the boys played outside. 

EVENING: I made a quick dinner of hot dogs and French fries. Bill left and came back surprising us with a blooming onion and onion rings from a local food truck. I had mentioned to him last week that this person was opening up at a local car lot and that I wanted a blooming onion from there whenever we could get out as I really want to be better at supporting local businesses. It certainly wasn't the healthiest of dinners, but it was good. 

After dinner, the kids did their chores. Bill and the boys played Sorry and I folded 2 loads of laundry and put them away. Rebecca was chatting with her friend on a video call. I then laid down and played Sudoku on my Kindle until it was time to get the kids to bed. After tucking them all in, I headed to bed for the night. 

So there you have it... a glimpse into what is turning out to be a typical day here in our household during this "Stay-at-Home" time.

How do you spend your days?   

Celebrating Earth Day...

… during the Coronavirus 2020 outbreak. Before I talk about Earth Day, let's do a recap of where our state stands. Last week, we were at 8858 confirmed cases and 401 deaths. This week, Ohio is at 13,609 confirmed cases with 584 deaths. In our county, they just announced the 13th confirmed case. 

🌍🌎🌏🌍 So today is Earth Day. 🌍🌎🌍🌏

In a normal time, the kids would be at school doing fun Earth Day activities and we would be planning on going to an Earth Day festival this weekend. Of course with the virus, this is anything but a normal time. The kids did have a few things Earth Day related in their school work today. Ben had to do an Earth Day scavenger hunt and take photos of what he found. He had to find::

-3 kinds of flowers

---a pinecone (He found a squished one on the road on our walk back home from getting lunch. 🤣 )

--- A recycling sign (He took a photo of our bin)

---A rock

---and a nut and 3 leaves.

The boys also had an Earth Day art project to do while following along on a YouTube video.



I even took time to do it with them. It was fun.

Are you celebrating Earth Day today? How are things in your part of the world today? 

Online learning the rest of this school year...

… is apparently the way to finish out this school year as directed by our Governor yesterday. ☹️ He also said that it was too soon to say what would happen in August when school goes back but it could be a mix of online and in school. Jacob and Ben cried when I told them. Ben gave me a thumbs down when I told him that I would be his teacher the rest of this year. LOL I feel so bad for the kids AND their teachers. 😢 It is so hard. I feel bad for the kids whose parents can't/won't/don't have time to be the support that their kids need right now to do their school work. 

In other news...let's see...laundry is ALL caught up. I worked on laundry ALL day on Saturday and then did 2 loads yesterday and got it ALL done! That lasted until the kids took their showers last night and gave me another load to do this morning. LOL 

Yesterday the weather was beautiful! Mid 60s and sunshine. Today the weather is in the mid 40s, windy and chilly again. We played outside a lot yesterday in between the kids doing their school work. 

I cleaned out the freezer and took out a bunch of containers that had one or 2 servings in it for dinner. Jacob and Ben finished off a container of spaghetti and meatballs. Rebecca finished off a container of just meatballs and hot dog buns. Bill finished off the ribs from dinner the night before and I sent the container of chili with him for his dinner at work. I did have to throw out a serving of Mexican pasta as when I opened it up it was freezer burnt and smelled weird. I ended up making myself 2 fried eggs for dinner. The only thing I have left in the freezer for leftovers is a container with tikka masala (this will be added to a fresh batch next week) and a container with pasta that will be the kids dinner one night while Bill and I have date night. I am really trying not to have any food waste. 

The kids have been working on their school work this morning. We walked down to school to pick up their lunch for today and breakfast for tomorrow morning. I am typing this up while they are eating. I will make myself lunch in a little bit and have Ben do his reading to me. (He has a book to read each day out loud.) 

I have implemented the chore charts again. I was finding that in the last couple of weeks I have been doing everything again. Now that we kind of know what to expect the kids will be taking on more chores as well, like they used to. We shall see how this goes.

Other than that, things are moving along. I am staying home, being mom, teacher, cook, housekeeper, etc. Bill is going to work, running errands as needed, and just being him. Kids are doing okay. It is what it is. Oh and I also totally relate to this meme I saw last week on Facebook: 

How are things in your neck of the woods this week? Do you feel like you are cooking ALL the time?  

April 17 2020...

Otherwise known as another day under stay at home.....

For the case of posterity, here are the numbers for Ohio. On April 8 (the last time I posted) Ohio has 4782 confirmed cases and 167 deaths. Today, our numbers are 8858 confirmed cases and 401 deaths. :( Numbers just keep going up. 

This week has surprisingly been busy. Kids are back to their online learning. Monday I had a tele-conference with Ben's Speech therapist. Tuesday, I had a virtual IEP meeting with everyone involved in Ben's schooling. Wednesday, we had a follow-up telehealth appointment with Ben's nephrologist in regards to his blood pressures. All were good meetings. 

The best meeting was with Ben's nephrologist. About 2 weeks ago he lowered his blood pressure readings by a ML to see how his body would react. His numbers have been holding steady and even with the reduction his numbers look great. So after the phone appointment we are going to reduce his blood pressure med to just 2MLs a day. If his numbers stay well, then we will talk about weaning him completely off next month :) :)  

Schooling has been rough this week. Getting back into the swing of things. Today several websites didn't want to load on the kids' Chromebooks. Thankfully clearing data seems to have fixed that problem. Right now all the kids are done with their work for the week...YAHOO!...and Ben and Rebecca are both on Zoom calls with their classes. 

This week has been rough. I think we are all so tired of being at home and any motivation has left. Bill has been uptight as one of the places that his work deals with has a confirmed case of COVID-19. He says that there is a big possibility that they will start requiring masks so I am on the hunt. He had a horrible time grocery shopping yesterday as he had a panic attack as no one is social distancing, etc. We have been arguing more this week and just been stressed out. 

One of other main activities in the house this week has been playing the game of "Sorry" otherwise known as "Ben wins!" Seriously that child has won most of the games that he has played; although I have beaten him a couple of times. LOL 

Well, I need to go take some zucchini bread out of the oven. Rainy, yucky weather here just begged for baking. Hope everyone has a wonderful Friday. 

How are you guys holding up where you are? 

Easter came and now back to schoolwork...

Yesterday we had a nice Easter day. Kids got us up early to get their baskets. They enjoyed their treats that were in them. Ben and Jacob both got WWE themed shirts in theirs and Rebecca got a t-shirt that said "It cost Nothing to be kind" in hers. 

After the kids saw their baskets, Bill went back to bed and I made breakfast for the kids and I. I made cinnamon rolls and fried up some bacon and we had grapes to go with it. After breakfast I watched mass online. Our priest gave a wonderful homily about how this time does suck and it is okay to be sad and angry but know that in the end it will be okay. Message that I needed to hear as there was an air of sadness all over yesterday. 

In the afternoon, we Zoomed with my parents. It was hard being the only ones not there. My parents, sister, her girlfriend, my brother, his girlfriend, my niece and nephew, and my other brother were all there. I could tell that my mom and brother were mad that I wasn't there. I feel at peace with our decision even if it was hard. Bill tried to call his parents and they answered but were on their way out the door to their friends house for Easter dinner. He spent 20 minutes on the phone with them arguing over why that was not safe and how it was not a good decision, etc. It wasn't a good conversation at all. 

The kids spent a lot of time playing games and getting along yesterday! It was nice to see them all getting along and not arguing a ton. 

I made a nice dinner--- ham, augratin potatoes, steamed green beans, cole slaw, deviled eggs (the first time EVER I have made these) and crescent rolls. 

I also made a chocolate pie for dessert with a homemade crust made out of Oreos. Rebecca was amazed that I made the crust by myself and she LOVED it. I looked over and she was licking her plate clean! LOL 

After dinner, Bill and the kids played Ben's new Sorry game and Ben won 2 times! LOL 

Bill then went to work and I got the kids to bed. It wasn't all without drama though. Rebecca broke down in tears as the stress of not going to school or seeing her friends or her teachers really is weighing on her. She confessed that it is frustrating because she doesn't feel she is learning as well remotely and needs that interaction with her teachers to help her progress. My heart broke for her. 

Today we are back to remote/online learning. I am frustrated today as the 2nd grade is going to ALL online....no worksheets, no way for me to print out the pages, etc. This means that I need to come up with a reading/phonics/spelling curriculum for Ben to work through that will also involve him writing and not typing on a Chromebook. :(  All three kids were able to complete their work in a more timely manner today (except Jacob still has one assignment that we could not find online). They even did gym class today (which was sets of exercises including lunges and sit ups among others). 

We are supposed to have fish for dinner tonight but I am not sure if I am feeling it. I really want a juicy hamburger but not sure what we will do. 

How was your Easter? Are you having a good Monday?