Cookies, Christmas Lights, and More

Happy Wednesday everyone! How is your day going so far? The boys are watching "American Ninja Warrior" and Rebecca is still sleeping (typical teenager. )Here the sun is out for the moment after being cloudy the first couple days and rain and snow is predicted for the next few days. I can't complain about snow... it looks like we may (fingers crossed) have a white Christmas.

Yesterday I really wasn't feeling very Christmas-y. Found out in the morning that my Great Aunt Sis has been placed in hospice care while battling dementia and other health issues. Makes me sad as I was just thinking about her the other day. When we were kids she always bought my cousins and I Avon Christmas ornaments; my Grandma would buy her grandkids ornaments as well. It is a sweet memory. Also, found out that my mom was at the ER with what they are thinking is kidney stones. I am thankful that the CT scan showed that and nothing to do with her colon cancer. However still sucks. She was back at home last night with pain meds and medicine to dilate her kidney tubes to hopefully help pass the stone naturally. Having had kidney stones I know the kind of pain that it is. 

In the afternoon, the kids wanted to make some cookies. Honestly I wasn't feeling it but I know that it is important for the kids. Rebecca made peanut butter kiss cookies almost 100% by herself. The boys each made a batch of chocolate chip cookies. I made up a batch of sugar cookie dough that we will roll and cut out and bake later today.

 

As we were finishing up cookies, I got a text from a friend who told me to check my back porch. A fellow mom friend left us a Christmas card, a batch of chili mix, and 2 canned jars of apple pie moonshine (for the adults only!).

After Bill got home from work, we heated up leftovers for dinner and then decided to do one of our annual traditions. We drove around our city looking at Christmas lights. (I know there are drive through places about an hour from here, but they are so popular that you sit in traffic for 1+ hours just to enter the drive through lights and they run upwards of $30 a car. Driving around our neighborhoods is free except for a little gas in the car.) We saw some pretty displays. 

Today, I am planning on making the sugar cookies with the kids. I also need to wrap the last few Christmas presents. I put a roast in the crockpot for Mississippi Pot Roast. I have been wanting mashed potatoes so that sounded good. 

I will leave you with another favorite Christmas song getting us some energy to finish those last minute Christmas tasks...

What are you guys up to today?   

Weekend happenings and food pickup

Happy Monday everyone! Is everyone ready for Christmas? I can't believe it is Christmas week! Today is the winter solstice, otherwise the day with the shortest amount of sunlight of the year. Well that is probably true because it is only 3:19 here and it is already darker than normal outside. Weird. It is very cloudy and drizzly out as well.

This weekend we had similar weather. Cloudy and drizzly. Yesterday I got up early and went to the grocery store to get a few things that we needed. One nice thing about trying to have a full pantry/freezer is that even after being in quarantine for 2 weeks I still have a lot of food in the house. 

Yesterday the boys were thrilled to be able to attend their last basketball clinic. They thoroughly enjoyed the clinic put on by the high school coaches and players. 

While the boys were at basketball, Bill, Rebecca and I took the opportunity to take a walk on the bike path. It was nice to get out of the house and in nature for a while. 

Last night for dinner I made a baked pasta dish. Basically it is cooked penne pasta, a jar of marinara, a jar of alfredo sauce, and cheese mixed together and baked off. I also added Italian sausage. It was super yummy and my kids and Bill asked me to make it like that again. (Usually I just use 2 jars of regular pasta sauce and hamburger.) 

After dinner, the kids were able to color in some cookies that my mom had dropped off earlier in the week. They were prebaked and came with markers to color in the Santa picture with. The kids said the cookies were very sugary. They enjoyed the activity though. 

Today Bill is back to work after our COVID quarantine. The kids and I went over the high school to pick up breakfast and lunch meals. The school district is providing meals for all the kids over break. They have never done this before, but I think due to the pandemic they are doing it this year. My mom works for the food service program and she said they had 3500 kids who had been signed up. The kids got 5 breakfasts and 5 lunches and a gallon of milk each for the week.

Since we got back home, I have been busy trying to get some things done in the house.  I have done a couple of loads of laundry. I have cleaned both bathrooms which were in desperate need and both litter boxes for the kitties. I have been trying not to overdue it. I would clean something, then sit and take a rest. 

Right now the boys are watching TV and Rebecca is up in her room making music. I have laundry to fold so I should probably hop to it.  

What are you guys up to today? I hope you enjoy this Monday! 

Quarantine is over, Hamilton Lights, and Christmas Saves the Year

Happy Saturday everyone! I hope everyone is healthy and well. Today our COVID quarantine is officially over. I don't really have any plans on going anywhere though as I still do not feel 100%. Bill did go out a little earlier to Walmart to pick up stocking stuffers he said. 

We are doing okay. The kids are back to feeling 100% well. Bill is mostly feeling better. He still has a slight cough and only about 60-70% of his taste and smell back but we have been told that that could last a long time. I have a cough, am still a little fatigued and only have about 20% of my taste/smell back. The loss of taste and smell is so weird. This morning as I was showering, I could very faintly smell my body wash but could not smell my shampoo at all. I can taste vanilla, cherry, chocolate, and cinnamon very lightly but cannot taste orange juice or sausage as an example. It is just weird. 

We have been blessed many times over this 2 weeks of quarantine. We had a very unexpected blessing from a friend in a different state. Then, a mom whose child I teach in our PSR class and whose daughter is friends with Rebecca dropped off frozen pizza, Oreos and pretzels one day on the porch. 

This past week my mom and dad sent over Dominos pizza for dinner and my mom made a porch drop off of cookies for the kids and Salted Caramel Baileys for me. Then yesterday she texted me wanting to know if I needed anything from the grocery store. I asked her to drop off 2 gallons of milk. She did that AND she dropped off fireball whiskey and chocolate for me. She must think I really need it! LOL

 

We also had a friend drop off KFC for us one night. 

We have been blessed with prayers and good wishes. I am thankful that we seem to be on the mend and that my kids are feeling much better. We will probably continue to lay low for this coming week and just recuperate. We might get out to take a nature walk or two but other than that we have no plans.   

The kids have been doing virtual school at home. The last few days Jacob hasn't had very much work and his teacher emailed me yesterday to say that she was giving him a free day as she had been out of the building all week because she had contracted COVID. :( 

This past week brought some snow to our area. The kids went out to play in it and made a snowman that they named Popeye. I was watching "It's A Wonderful Life" while they did, and then I went out to take a few photos and get about 10 minutes of fresh air. They also went out to play yesterday for a bit.

Since we have been in quarantine, I have been spending a lot of time resting. Some of that time has been spent laying on the couch scrolling through social media and looking up topics online to read about. I wanted to share something that I found that made me smile. If you are a fan of the musical "Hamilton" you will enjoy this light display that is set to the music. 

Speaking of sharing things, Rebecca asked me to share this music video with you. She told me when I started posting Christmas music videos again to please share this one. It really is a poignant song. So here is "Christmas Saves the Year" by Twenty-One Pilots. 

Hope everyone is having a good weekend and staying well!  

 

Update on our COVID house

Happy Tuesday everyone! Thank you for your prayers and good thoughts this past week as everyone in my house has had COVID. We have all been hit. 

Bill and I have been hit the hardest. Bill started with symptoms on Sunday of a fever and fatigue. We originally thought he picked up a virus at work as one of his coworkers was out Friday and Saturday with a fever. Sunday night he was feeling a little better but still had a fever. We found out Monday that 2 of his coworkers tested positive for COVID. Monday morning he had a slight fever which went away Monday afternoon. Tuesday morning he woke up fever free but his boss wanted him to be fever free for 24 hours for him to come back. Tuesday night, I made tikka masala for dinner and if you know anything about Indian food then you know that it can be spicy and fragrant. Well, Bill couldn't taste or smell any of it! So he headed off to Urgent Care to get tested. While at Urgent Care he was given a clinical diagnosis of COVID as the doctor said his symptoms have been matching up with what we are seeing our community. We were all placed under quarantine until Saturday Dec. 19. He has been fighting lack of energy but has been feeling better the last couple of days. His biggest complaints now are that he only has about 70% of his taste buds back, he gets tired easily, and he has an occasional cough. 

Benjamin came home on Tuesday with a fever and just felt like crud. Jacob developed a fever on Tuesday night after Bill got back from Urgent Care. The boys had fevers for about 24 hours and body aches but are now back to almost 100% (although Ben does have an occasional cough). They are doing school work each day here at home. Jacob's teacher dropped his Chromebook and some paper work off to him (on our porch) and has been posting his assignments on Google Classroom. Ben's teacher made me upset as he made me run to the school on Wednesday morning so that he could put Ben's Chromebook in the back of my van as Ben HAD to take his MAP achievement test online that morning; According to the teacher the state said it HAD to be done, no excuses. Really rubs me the wrong way. I got it though and Ben took it and improved almost 20 points from last time! His teacher has been emailing me some assignments but acts like it is so much work for him to do that (this same teacher hates using electronic means and won't upload work to Google Classroom). Ben's reading specialist though dropped off work for him at our mailbox and has been checking in to make sure Ben is doing okay. Now we are just trying to keep the boys busy while we wait out quarantine. 

Rebecca had a fever and cough and achiness from Tuesday night through Thursday. She says she feels a little better but still kind of blah. She was been trying to keep up with her schoolwork which is all on Google Classroom (as that is the policy for the Middle School teachers to have all their work posted daily). She was very responsible and emailed all of her teachers Tuesday night after her dad's diagnosis to let her teachers know. 

As for me, I have been hanging in there. While I have never knowingly had a fever I have had the body aches, extreme headache for about 24 hours, extreme fatigue, coughing AND I lost all sense of smell and taste on Thursday of last week. Today I feel a little better... I feel like I am not as achy today and am not as tired. My biggest issue is the tiredness, coughing fits and not having any taste or smell is really bothering me. It is making me not want to eat. 

We thought we were doing everything right. Washing hands, wearing masks, not going out very often, etc. Unfortunately, we are pretty convinced that it was spread to our family from Bill's work. When he tested on Tuesday there were at least 3 others who had tested positive that weekend before. His place of employment completely closed their processing center and their retail store on Monday and are closed at least through Thursday for cleaning and because of lack of employees available (so I assume many more are out sick). This is not good for a meat processor during deer season! 

There are plenty of negatives through this. Bill does not get paid at all during this time. I am losing out on my tutoring and babysitting income. It is a pain to be sick and to have everyone be sick at the same time is not something that I would recommend. Kids are missing out on activities that they were looking forward to (Rebecca was looking forward to watching "Hamilton" with her Social Studies class. The boys were looking forward to their classes' Christmas parties.)

It hasn't all been bad though. I have been able to rest when I needed to. We have enjoyed less rush in the evenings. The kids are more understanding that I can't do some things because I don't feel good. The kids have been great with going with the flow this past week and they have not fought us to get their school work done. We have been mostly blessed by the support of the kids' schools to make sure they don't fall behind. 

My dad dropped off some essentials to us on Sunday after he went to mass. He was able to pick up Jacob's ADHD medication for us and drop it off, along with milk, bread, bananas and apples. You don't realize how much of these essentials that your kids eat until they are home 24/7.

So, in a nutshell, we are doing okay. I so wish people would take this virus seriously. For now, I am going to go lay back down as I am suddenly tired again. Just wanted to say thank you for your prayers and thoughts and to give a quick update.  

Blogmas 2020: Days 9-10: COVID Quarantine

Hi everyone! Just a quick note to say that Blogmas 2020 music videos will be put on hold for a while. COVID has hit our house and we are under quarantine until at least next Friday. Bill was exposed at work and after losing his sense of smell and taste got tested on Tuesday. Doc is 99% sure Bill has it. Tuesday night everyone else here in our house started showing symptoms...fevers, coughs, etc. We are dealing. Just wanted to give a quick update. 

Blogmas 2020 Day 8: Short Post and "Thank You"

Happy Tuesday everyone! Hope all is well where you are. Today is going to be a very short and sweet post as I am not feeling all that great today.😞 I think I have caught Bill's cold. I just feel run-down. 

Today's song is new this year and is one that I have been playing over and over again. I hope that you enjoy. 

Have a good rest of your day! 

Blogmas 2020 Day 7: St. Nicholas came to visit and "Santa Claus is Comin' To Town"

Happy Monday everyone! How are you all today? I hope that you had a great weekend. 

Saturday we spent the day puttering around the house and just being at home. I did some baking making the first "Christmas-y" cookies of the year... peanut butter cup cookies! 

Yesterday we had a good day celebrating the Feast Day of Saint Nicholas. Per our family tradition, shoes were left out by the front door Saturday night. Overnight, "St. Nicholas" came and brought each of us an ornament to represent our year and some chocolate goodies. 

This year, Rebecca received a ukulele ornament to represent her passion for music and her love of her ukulele.

 

Jacob received a Harry Potter themed ornament to show his new love for the book series that he is reading along with his dad and brother. 

Ben also received a Harry Potter ornament as well. 

I received a sloth ornament, to represent my love for sloths.

 

Bill received a masked Santa ornament, to represent 2020.

 

The kids loved their ornaments and they are all now proudly displayed on our tree. 

We have talked to the kids and have tried to teach them that St. Nicholas was a real Bishop who helped those in need and that some traditions that we follow are based on things that he did. We have also tried to teach them that Santa Claus is based on St. Nicholas. With that being said they are looking forward to Santa Claus visiting in a few weeks. 

That sentiment is inspiration for my Christmas song for today. The kids know that "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town." 

Today has been another busy day. I tutored this morning, helping a child do most of a project that she has had ALL of last week to do and only did 2 out of the 10 google slides needed. URGHH. It is frustrating to me but I do help with what I can. After she left, I had lunch and put together a pan of chicken enchiladas so I could pop them in the oven to bake while I was tutoring this evening. Now, I am taking a moment to type this up, while the boys are watching the Steelers/ Washington Football Team NFL game. I think after I finish this up, I will go change into my pajamas and maybe relax for the rest of the night. 

What have you guys been up to today? Hope everyone has had a good Monday! 

Blogmas 2020 Day 6: Away in a Manger

Happy Sunday everyone! Just a short and sweet post today as I am in between taking and picking the boys up from basketball. I wanted to share another Pentatonix favorite of mine. Enjoy and have a Happy Sunday! 

Blogmas 2020 Days 4 and 5: Busy and 2 Songs Today

Happy Saturday! I didn't get a chance to blog yesterday as I was busy doing some things on a massive to do list. One of the things that I accomplished yesterday was finishing up my Christmas shopping. I ended up finishing up shopping online. Today I need to finish up that to do list. So what is on that list to do this weekend? 

• Laundry (always more and more laundry....)
• PSR lesson and email out to parents for virtual learning
• Tutoring lessons for next week
• Gift inventory
• Watch the last episode of Season 4 of "The Crown" 
• Pay bills
• Menu plan for next week
• Start beef in crockpot
• Text N her total due for babysitting this week
• Text Mom Christmas list
• Make cookies with kids
• Blog
• Write out Christmas card
• Cut the boys' hair

Honestly, I am really tired this morning. The boys were up before the sun was up this morning. They are typical kids--- during the week I have to drag them out of bed on a school day and then they are up super early on the weekend. And can I mention that they are LOUD! LOL Well I need to get started on my list--- probably to get the beef in the crockpot for dinner. 

Before I go though here is a double dose of Christmas music for today! 

            Do you have any fun plans for today? 

Blogmas 2020 Day 3: Afternoon Fun and Have a Holly Jolly Christmas

Happy Thursday everyone! I hope everyone is having a good day. The sun was out for a while today and it was so nice. I took this picture as we were sitting in the school drop off line this morning. Blue sky, the moon was still really visible and it was just a pretty way to start the busy day.

I am finally getting a chance to sit down for a moment while dinner is cooking in the oven. It has been one of those days. Woke up with a stress rash on my neck that hurt. Took the kids to school. Went to the grocery store to get a couple things needed and was dismayed by the people there not distancing and just being grumpy. Got home and did some laundry. Babysat "A." Picked kids up from school and did homework with Ben and got dinner put in the oven (fish and baked potatoes). Now I am typing this up while the potatoes bake. 

A highlight of my day today was the joy of being a kid again while I played with "A." We played several games of "Pop the Pig" and colored a few pictures out of a Christmas Disney coloring book. We read a couple of Christmas stories as well. It was just a fun afternoon. She also played with a stuffed Christmas toy that I have that is the Abominable Snow Monster from "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" cartoon. We had fun dancing to the song that it plays...so I thought I would share that song with you today. 

I present Burl Ives and "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas"...

Tonight I think we are going to watch the Disney Holiday Sing-Along that we recorded earlier in the week. My kids love to sing and dance along to these so it should be fun. Are you doing anything fun tonight? 

Hope everyone has a nice evening! 

 

Blogmas 2020 Day 2: Our 24 Hour Delay Day Fun and Winter Wonderland

 Happy Wednesday everyone! We made it to the middle of the week. Now it is just downhill from here, or something like that. 😀

Today the kids are back to school after their "24 hour delay" day that they had yesterday. I thought I would hop on here real quick before my tutoring kiddos arrive. (Truth be told, I hopped on here, wrote some and then one of my tutoring kiddos showed up. I worked with him and then went to Walmart and came back home and ate while watching an episode of The Crown on Netflix. Now I am back to finish up this post! Just keeping it real!) 

Yesterday we had a good day, for the most part. I made chicken and noodles in the crockpot for dinner. A dish that I hadn't made since last winter and the boys each got 2 bowls full. Last year they wouldn't eat it at all. They both said it was super yummy. I also made 2 loaves of pumpkin bread.

I also went into the closet of doom yesterday to see if I could find Rebecca's snow boots from last year (I had gotten her a size bigger last year as that was all they had! I don't mind if their boots are big). That was where the mouse had ran after we trapped it in the bathroom. So I was jiggling the door handle and making a lot of noise so it would hide. Well, when I opened the door, it was under the door dead. I think it was the poison trap that Bill had put in the room as part of it was eaten. So I had to scoop it up to dispose of it. Well, an empty Temptations cat treat box did the trick. Gives a whole new meaning to cat treats! 😂 I am thankful it is dead and am hoping it was a freak occurrence as we have not heard any mice or seen any mouse droppings anywhere.  

After lunch, the kids and I went out to play in the snow. It was pretty cold but being the first snow the kids loved it. Thankfully I had gotten the boys boots and snow pants a few weeks ago at the thrift store so we were all set. The kids had a blast!

Just as we were coming inside, my babysitting kiddo "A" came. I only have her 2 days a week now as she is in preschool. I made hot chocolate for everyone topped with marshmallows of course! 

After "A" left, I worked on some things around the house. Starting laundry and putting plastic up on some of the windows. I ran out so had to pick more up at Walmart. (I think we did pretty good though considering I didn't have to buy any last year as we were using up what we had).

Yesterday wasn't all fun and games though as Bill and I had another stressful day over his job and his anger and other issues. Not sure what the resolution to that is. 

Well, I have to go pick the kids up from school soon and then tutor later this afternoon, so I will wrap this up with another favorite Christmas song of mine... "Winter Wonderland." Enjoy.  

Hope everyone has a great Wednesday! 

Blogmas 2020 Day 1: 1st Snow Day of the year and Frosty the Snowman

 Happy 1st day of December everyone! 

I have been going back and forth with whether to try to do a "Blogmas" posting of sort for December or to just keep it to where I write when I get a chance. As I was thinking about it the other day, I was seriously on the fence. Then I saw SAM's post about prepping for Blogmas and it was like a sign that yes I need to do this. She wants people to follow along so I will. It was the nudge that I needed. 

Then my next question was what would I blog about? Well, I decided to keep it real and still post like I do (updates on our life, the kids' shenanigans, our Christmas plans, etc.), but also add on a music video (hopefully) of some of my favorite Christmas songs! I hope you all enjoy. 

So today's selection is featured because today is the kids' 1st snow day of the year! That's right. We woke up to the white stuff. It snowed lightly off and on yesterday. 

We even watched our first classic Christmas cartoon last night to celebrate the first snow of the year, but watching "Frosty the Snowman."  (This was actually our second cartoon of the year, as we watched "The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special" on Friday. 

Then today we woke up to more snow and cold temperatures (our real feel temperature right now is 12 degrees!).

When the boys woke up this morning they asked me if there was a 2 hour delay, I told them nope there was no school. Ben blurted out there must be a 24 hour delay then! LOL The boys wanted to go outside to play first thing but I told them it needed to warm up a little bit first. I feel the need to bake today as well. I have been craving pumpkin bread so that may be on my to do list, along with laundry, trying to catch that elusive mouse, and enjoying the snow day with the kids. 

Before I do any of that though, and in honor of the kids' 1st snow day, here is a favorite classic song of ours... I present to you Jimmy Durante singing "Frosty the Snowman"...

What's the weather like where you are? What is your favorite snow themed song? 

Hope everyone has a wonderful 1st day of December!