Small changes can make a BIG difference!

Happy Wednesday everyone! Today the sun is out and it is supposed to be in the mid-60s today. Tonight and through next Tuesday it is supposed to be cloudy and stormy/rainy. I am hoping to get out to walk/hike with the kids and Bill later this afternoon.

First though, I thought I would pop on here real quick to do a quick odds and ends post with pictures highlighting some things I have done to make my home a bit more happy or organized during this COVID-19 Stay at home time. Since we have been spending most of our hours at home, I found a couple of areas that needed a facelift or could use a pick-me-up. And it is true that small changes can make a huge difference!  

First up was in our living room! Our couch and loveseat are old. They have dark blue covers on them that are old. We have cats and kids; new furniture is not in our budget right now so we work with what we have. I have had Christmas pillow covers on our couches since before Christmas.  I finally decided it was time to switch them out. We had a dark brown blanket with a deer on the back of the loveseat so the cat won't scratch the corners and a snowman covered blanket on one corner of the couch. I ordered pillow covers and a new blanket off of Amazon (using some Swagbucks credit that I had to cover half of the pillow covers)for the loveseat. I reused a bright pink snuggie covered in owls (as it had that pop of teal that I love) over the couch corner to replace the snowman blanket. I 💖 the new look! Makes me smile!

BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER

I did a big organizing project in my mud room/pantry. I bought a new wire shelf to put in and organize my canned/boxed goods. I have been trying to make a little stockpile so wanted to be organized to see what we have and if there are any gaps. I love how it turned out.

BEFORE (view from back door)

  

BEFORE (view from the door in the kitchen)

AFTER

AFTER

Bill cleaned out the side flower bed for me and put down red mulch and some metal flowers that I picked up at Dollar General a couple weeks ago. This bed does not get much sun. It is also right next to the driveway so I don't want to put real flowers down that people can step on when they get out of their cars.

AFTER

AFTER (Close-up of one of the metal flowers)

These are just a couple little things that are making a big difference and giving a quick uplift to a place that we are sheltering in. Sometimes you don't realize the difference just making a few simple changes will make. Have you changed anything up in your house during this "Stay-at-Home" time?   

Mother's Day, 🦝🦝, Fajitas and Cards Against Humanity

Happy Tuesday everyone! Today the sun is out and that is so much better than the dreary weather we had yesterday. It started out cold today (in fact we had a freeze warning last night) but is supposed to warm up in to the 50s. 🙂 Hopefully I can get the kids outside and maybe work on a project in our yard. 

Speaking of projects, yesterday I took advantage of the dreary day and worked on organizing our mud room/pantry. I am not finished yet so I will share that project tomorrow or Thursday when I finish. 

For now I want to recap my Mother's Day on Sunday. In the morning, I came down to a homemade book by the kids that was very cute and made me giggle. Bill also got me a book and a card. I spent the morning watching Mass on Facebook Live and folding laundry while watching the live-action "Lion King" with the kids. 

In the afternoon, we went over to my parents' house so we could spend time with my Mom. When we got there we got to see 2 baby raccoons that were in my parents' yard. 🦝🦝 My mom said that they didn't know where the mom was but they had been in the yard all morning. I am sad that mom probably was either hit by a car or eaten by a coyote. (My parents have woods behind their house and then a field behind that, and woods across the street from their house.) The babies were so cute. I felt like a nature photographer who was out and wasn't ethically allowed to help.

My sister and her girlfriend prepared a yummy Mexican fiesta dinner for me and mom. They made chicken fajitas and Mexican rice and beans. So yummy! 

After dinner, the kids went to play card games and Legos  in the family room (as a nasty storm system came through) and the adults played a game in the dining room. My sister introduced me to the game "Cards Against Humanity." All I can say is that if you don't like being politically incorrect or using foul language or are very conservative that this is NOT the game for you. But oh my word it is so funny! (And if you would have told me 5 years ago that I would be playing this with my parents and siblings I would have said there was no way. But here we are.) My sister's girlfriend and I actually tied for winning! 

We headed home shortly after as Bill had to work. On our way home, we saw a rainbow in the sky that was cool. Overall, it was a good day! 

Today the kids are doing their school work. This is the last week of new school work-- thanks be to God! I am ready for them to be done and they are ready to be done. I have several things on my to-do list today including looking up info on a new phone (mine is dying) and completing a resume to send out for a potential teaching job. Right now I will finish this up as Ben needs help on his math assignment! Hope everyone is having a good Tuesday! What are your plans for today? If you are a mom did you have a good Mother's Day? 

Life lately...

Happy Saturday! 

COVID-19 Update: Last time I wrote an update (5/2) Ohio was  at 17,962 cases, 922 deaths and 16 cases overall in my county. As of today, Ohio is at 21,969 cases, 1,185 deaths, and 20 confirmed cases in my county. Ohio has begun opening up some things (i.e. some retail stores are allowed to open up on 5/12, restaurants are allowed to open back up for in-person dining on 5/21, salons are allowed to open up again soon as well.) Slowly things are opening. So now we wait to see what happens. 🤷

Personally, I don't see much changing in what we are doing. I have expanded our circle to include my parents and those living with my parents. Other than that we will continue with what we are doing. I was supposed to start babysitting "A" again but her parents' layoff has been extended for another week so that has been pushed back a week. (The company they work for contracts for Honda, so they are waiting for Honda to get back to work).  

Here at our home, we enjoyed going to my sister's girlfriend's graduation party last Saturday. The kids had a blast and we ended the evening with making s'mores around the fire and hanging out. Was a needed time with family. 

This week was another week of school work for the kids. Thankfully, next week is their last week of new school work! YAY! This week Jacob had to do an "egg drop" STEM challenge. He had to design a container that would cradle a raw egg and not have it break when dropped from 10 feet. He created a box out of a tissue box, bubble wrap and cotton balls. His design worked and the egg survived! 🥚 LOL

Yesterday, we ran a few errands in the morning. We stopped off at North Main Cafe where I had won a Facebook giveaway for a prize for my mom. So I picked that up and surprised the kids with smoothies. Then we went to a local farm stand and picked out a hanging basket for my mom. Then we had to run by the middle school so Rebecca could turn in library books that she had (they had a box at the entrance of the school to put them in). 

Yesterday, the boys' school had virtual field day. They were not assigned any school work for the day. Instead, they were asked to do some field day type activities that were provided. The boys had lots of fun doing activities like bank-it basketball, spoon relay, "bowl"ing, flip-a-lid, etc. 

Fridays are also becoming a favorite day as it is our YellowBird Foodshed delivery. This week we got lots of yumminess in our box!

Friday nights have also become a date night (or a Rachel has completed another week of virtual learning teaching so needs a treat!) This week, Bill and I ordered in Chinese food from our recently re-opened China buffet! 😋 It was SO GOOD!

Today, I have gone to the grocery store....I was hearing stories of lack of meat (especially chicken and pork) in our stores and there was definitely a lot less than normal (empty meat shelves). We are okay on meat, except for chicken breast. We have one bag of chicken tenderloins in the freezer and we typically go through one bag a week. I can't eat dark meat chicken as it upsets my stomach. Thankfully, I found 2 bags of Tyson frozen chicken breasts in the freezer section so picked that up. They only had one other bag of the Tyson and one bag of Kroger brand. I also picked up butter as that also seems to be a hot commodity. We have several birthdays coming up and since Rebecca has found a yummy homemade buttercream recipe I am planning ahead. It was a stressful trip. I wear a mask but about halfway through the last 2 weeks I have felt like I am suffocating and stressed out. Oh well, it needs to be done. 🤷 I also ran over to Dollar Tree as I needed shower curtain hooks (as the boys have broken several of ours the last few weeks as they have started taking showers and not baths) and the mood in there was worse. Depressing.

My mood was lifted a little when I came home to get the mail and we got a rebate check from Geico. I had just paid our 6 month auto premium in April and they announced they were giving 15% discounts due to the Coronavirus and it was supposed to be taken off your bill. Well ours wasn't and I was told it would probably be reflected in October's bill. Well, instead they sent me a rebate check. That works for me. 😊

Oh and I can also mention that there was snow on the back of my van this morning! We had a freeze warning last night and it was COLD this morning. The sun is out now but it is still cold. I have apples in the crockpot to make homemade applesauce to go with dinner. Not sure what we are going to have tonight as I don't really have the energy to cook. Might just do chicken nuggets and fries. LOL I will figure it out.  

What are you doing on this fine Saturday? Is the weather where you are crazy? Are you seeing meat shortages in your area?  

HIghlights from this week....

COVID-19 Update: Last time I wrote an update (4/22) Ohio was at 13,609 confirmed cases with 584 deaths. In our county, they had just announced the 13th confirmed case. Today May 2, Ohio is at 17,962 cases, 922 deaths and 16 cases overall in my county. Our stay-at-home order has been extended until the end of May and basically more restrictions have been put in place, although some things are being allowed to open back up like retailers of non-essential things, etc. Offices can reopen but childcare has to remain closed. Dentists and Vets can reopen. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense. 😢 I have been doing some research and fact checking this week and it is annoying as 75% of our new cases seem to be from nursing homes and prisons, not the general public as it was before. I am at the point of saying opening the state up and let people make their own decisions about what they want to do. They didn't sign this new order or announce it until late at night like they were trying to hide something. Then over the past week our governor can't make up his mind about who needs to wear masks and when, what business can open or when, is it a "stay at home" order or is it a "stay safe Ohio" order? It is almost like they expect everyone to rush to Walmart and start licking people when they open the state completely. 

Ok my rant is over. What have we been up to this week? 

Honestly schooling was rough this week as I have been getting more attitude and whininess as the kids don't want to do their work online and they are frustrated and just don't want to do school anymore. Even Rebecca was behind on her work and had a lot to do yesterday (the middle school uses Friday as a make up work day or finish what you didn't get done during the week day). 

Other things we have been up to: 

Ben has fun waking his dad up each day! Nothing like having a 90 pound kid jumping on you and sitting on you to wake you up! LOL 

One afternoon we were just chilling at home and there was a knock on the front door. It was the principal of the boys' elementary school. She had all the teachers nominate 3 kids in their classes who had been going above and beyond during this distance learning time. Well, Jacob's teacher nominated him and the principal was bringing by a certificate for the kids. She got here around 4:30-5 and said she had been driving around all day! LOL The boys loved seeing her and I thought it was a nice gesture and it meant a lot to Jacob as he had been having a bad school day that day with lots of frustrations. 

One of the nice things about this stay at home is that we have been having dinner together each night and I have been making things that I haven't made in a long time. I made french toast one night for dinner and it went over really well and was really good! 

The boys' art teacher held a Facebook Live art class this week making "May Flowers." The boys loved seeing their art teacher and following along. 

I got "wined." A friend of mine added me to a new facebook group for our county that is basically a group for women in our county to do random acts of kindness or "wining" of other women. You put your likes on there and other women can choose to wine you. Well, the day after I was added a friend of mine texted me to see if I was home and then said I will be there in less than 2 minutes! She dropped off this basket and it made my day. It was so sweet of her and unexpected! 

On Friday, I woke up in a bad mood. I really didn't want to do schooling with the kids. The weather was dreary and wet. Kids didn't want to get up and do work. It was just a blah feeling. Well, when I got the mail I had a surprise package from a blogging friend. Really made my day and the kids' day as well! We can't wait to play the "Phase 10" game! 

Also on Friday, I got our first YellowBird delivery. I had given Misfit Markets a try again when this whole Covid-19 thing started as a way to get fresh produce to our door. Well the last 2 deliveries have been very disappointing and most of the items I ended up giving away as we would not eat them. A friend recommended YellowBird as they are are a local farm coop and they source from Ohio sources. I feel called to support local more now than ever and they were similar in price to Misfit. So I figured I would give them a try. Our first delivery was yesterday and I am happy to say that we will eat everything included! I do need to figure out how to cook the quinoa as I have never made it before (if anyone has any recipes please feel free to share!)

Last night, Bill and I had date night. He got us takeout from our local Mexican place that opened a few weeks ago (for takeout as eating in is still a no-go due to restrictions) but we wanted to wait until the newness of it died down. It was so yummy! 

Today we are going to go out to my parents house for a small graduation get together for my sister's girlfriend. It is going to be a cookout so we are going to be outside. She asked me to make a cake and I had Rebecca make it as she is working on her cake decorating badge for AHG. Rebecca made the cake and homemade buttercream icing. I think it turned out really good.

And finally, I had to take this picture this morning. Gronk the cat is so funny sometimes. Rebecca was eating breakfast this morning and he jumped up behind her and basically demanded pets. He was purring so loudly! Silly cat. 

Well, I think this is way long and if you have gotten this far thanks for reading. I should go do some laundry, and I just heard the mail being delivered so should get that. 

What have you been up to? Any fun, exciting things going on? Any fun plans for this weekend? Whatever your plans, I hope you have a great weekend!  

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!