Keeping Busy

I made a dishcloth and a hat

I gave the hat to Jenna for her birthday

We started a puzzle last week

shadows indicate our 

social distancing

should be finished today

Memorable Sweet Sixteen

                                                                                                                                                            Today is Jenna’s birthday.  I heard her in the kitchen just after 4:00 a.m.  I happened to get up because of a leg cramp.  I grabbed her gift and went into the front room and talked to her for a bit before I asked to turn on the TV.  I figured Psych would be on and she loves Psych.

I went into the kitchen to fix her most favorite breakfast in the world.  I gave her three French toast and I had two and gave the remaining one to Roland along with a scrambled egg.  She went online for her virtual seminary class and they played a game of “knowing Jenna” in addition to her seminary class.  Jenna also learned that her seminary teacher left a goody outside the door for her.

At 10:30 we left the house to go to the park.  We saw two school buses with at least one passenger each.  

Were the bus drivers not told there would be no school?  And why that time of day?  What gives? I vaguely remember the announcement about bus delivering lunches.  Still 10:30 seems like an odd time.

I took my walking stick to hold up to safely distance ourselves from others.  Jenna thought it would be funny if each one of us were to hold an end and walk around the park with the stick between us. 

That is how we celebrated her birthday thus far. 

I think the pizza we cooked is now done. 

Definitely not even close to what she had planned.

If You Are in the Service of Your Fellow Beings . . .

          As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, Jenna received an envelope with some activities.  One of the suggestions was to make energy bites – which really didn’t turn out to be as wonderful as had hoped.  But I wasn’t watching to see Jenna measure all things.  I don’t think there was as much peanut butter and honey as the recipe called for as it was really too dry to mold.  We spooned into our mouths like a cereal.  It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either.  It seemed sweet enough.  We both got the impression that I enjoyed the taste more than she.

          Last night I suggested that we add flour to the mixture.  I added flour and eggs and should have added some sugar or more honey as well, but did not.  The mix came out more like drop biscuits or definite unsweetened cookies.  Roland and I did not care for them, but I noticed that Jenna had been munching on them all day.  She somehow liked it better than the previous day.  Okay.  That’s fine, I guess.

          Jenna had suggested I print coloring pages and we could color together.  I said we could do so after my meeting, but seemed to forget about the coloring pages and so did not follow through.  In our meeting we had discussed ways to serve the sisters and feeling helpless with the “no showing-up-at-doors” rule that seems to be in place.  It had been suggested to leave cards or games or something – especially to those that live alone.  But then how would they respond to touching something that has previously been touched?

 The YW counselor who’d sent Jenna (and others) her activities continued and hand delivered larger envelopes and activities for Conference. Jenna was so excited to discover a brand new set of twistable crayons and more coloring pages.  Wow.  How awesome was that.

Currently she is at her first virtual seminary class.  The instructor has sent a schedule of what is expected each day and will do two virtual classes a week.  The next one will be on Friday - which just so happens to be Jenna's birthday.

Thank you to those who go the extra mile and still take precautions.  It is such a weird time on our planet right now.  Overwhelming statistics.  I am floored.  Still grateful for many things that we do have to get us through these bizarre times.

Virtual Correspondence and Mail

            Jenna took the college placement test – more for practice than for placement.  But ever since she has been receiving brochures from different colleges and is a bit fed up with the amount of mail she’s been getting.  Yesterday she received a piece of mail that wasn’t college related and thus felt very excited about it.

            One of the YW leaders had contacted us by phone, and another had sent the mail which contained a brief note, a word search puzzle, a recipe for something called tail mix bites and a coloring page.

            Jenna handed me the word search while she worked on the coloring page.  It was quite a challenging puzzle with 900 letters.  Who does that?

            Most puzzles are less than 250 letters.  I never did find the word TRUTH even though it appears I had crossed it out.

            Jenna made the mix using measurements – though I don’t hink precise.  The misture was supposed to stick together but is definitely too dry for that.  Jenna and I had some by the spoonful.  However we plan to add an egg and some flour to it tomorrow and make cookies with what’s left.  That will be interesting.

            Today I have a virtual meeting with the RS presidency.  We have had one before.  Two of us were able to sign on, the other two had problems.  I think it will be the same today.

            Jenna has listened to a couple of AP lectures and will have her first virtual seminary class tomorrow.

Great Great Great Grandpa's Journal

          Yesterday morning I took a shower and then got dressed for church – although I knew I wouldn’t be leaving the house. I wanted our Sunday to be a lot more spiritual than it was.  Both Jenna and I had listened to different “Come Follow Me” programs – but from different rooms.  Roland was watching cowboys or some movie or something not spiritually themed.

          Roland got on Jenna’s case about something which triggered thoughts of my youth and how my mom had always been getting on Corey’s case about something – every Sunday.  I would stay in my room until if was time to go.  I hated Sundays.

          I attempted a “testimony-online” and though I had received some likes (which is truly not what I was after) only one other sister had joined me for written testimony.  Later, in the afternoon, when I had signed back into facebook, I found a post from my cousin who shared with us a journal he had found. 

          I could not read it myself.  Nevermind that my left eye had been bothering me all day (allergies) but the blurred scan was hard to read.  On top of that were a bunch of names that Jenna was not familiar with, and she is the one I gave the laptop to so that she could read as Roland and I were working on a puzzle.  She read 10 of 57 pages although struggled through and butchered most of what she read.  Roland continued with reading two more pages.

          I felt the Spirit – not so much in his words but with the fact that I knew that both of my brothers were reading the same journal at the same time that I was.  I thought that was cool and really enjoyed reading Corey’s comments because of the excitement he felt at this new discovery.

Traveling Through Time

20 years ago I was still living with my mom in Midvale.  I was serving as the young women’s secretary in my ward.  The following year I had signed a contract to purchase a house.  We moved Roland and the boys in on March 17 – which happens to be my brother’s birthday.  Patrick had helped us to move in.  I remember painting rocks and Patrick’s youngest daughter thinking Roland was a funny man.

Three years later I was pregnant with Jenna.  The ward had thrown a baby shower on March 27 – my other brother’s birthday.  Jenna was born the following week. 

5 years ago I had started packing to take a trip to Oregon during spring break.  We started looking at houses (see here).  We moved into a rental.  Less than a year later we closed on a house in Tri City.  Three years ago today, Jenna and I took pictures as we visited downtown Myrtle Creek in this post.

Last year I was still in school.  I had just started a communications class.  I was also subbing for an instructional aide at the elementary school.  I had used my experiences at the elementary school to assist with the subjects of my assignments (here).

Last month I dropped Jenna off at the bake sale on our way home from church.  She was helping the choir to raise money for a trip they would like to make to San Francisco (here). 

And then there’s this month – which seemed to start out normal enough.  And then everything changed.

Last week I sent a facebook message to my cousin wishing her a happy birthday – one of many that will be celebrated in a far different way than imagined (if at all)

Several birthdays spent in solitaire.  Today I have joined my prayers with so many others in a worldwide fast.  Last week felt like the longest spring break that I can ever remember.

Nature Around the House

Today I took a walk - not to Millsite.  Not up the street.  The only place I walked was around the house.  My walk in nature (LOL) .  It's a pretty pathetic post folks.  But then so is our yard.

backyard near the shed

the back side of our house

the hill (not much of a yard)

this snowball bush has definitely seen better days

looks like the remains of a campground firepit

where we had our greenhouse before the
snow storm ruined it last year

taken May 2017

I don't know why these remainders haven't made
it to the garbage can.  I'm certain it's rotted now

shelves could still be useful

grass has gotten high and needs to be mowed

trench - or part of it
https://beneaththewraps.blogspot.com/2019/08/changing-yard.html

reminder of the pepper plants?  

find it interesting what fall lies beneath; for
the most part it does feel like autumn

decayed trees lying on the ground

it does get green this time of year

vines that gave us pumpkins; their very existence
was quite by accident - at least on our part

other side of shed (as opposed to top picture)

view from driveway

another fall/autumn leaf beneath the spring clover

I usually remove the dead flowers in November.
I missed doing that in 2019

This is what it normally looks like  in spring

and then we get blossoms

This is how our rosebush looks currently

this is how it looks during the summer

with two shades of yellow

This is the neighborhood cat.  We call him/her Salem

symbolic of hibernating due to Covid-19

Purpose in our Being

For my post today I would like to share this special message presented by David Butler and Emily Freeman.  I think it applies to more than just full time but all of us as well.  I hope they don't mind my sharing on my blog

video:

handout:

Enjoy

Gratitude

I remember last general conference when it was announced that our upcoming conference would be like no other.  Many had speculated change in doctrine.  I don’t know of anyone who would have guessed that most of us would be in quarantine due to a pandemic. 

My brother, Corey, is an introvert and has been enjoying his time at home – possibly too much if there is such thing.  I think our parents must have taught us to always make the best of a situation and to look for gratitude.  Because we have.

Recently Corey shared what I consider an epistle.  This he shared on facebook, and I am sharing many of his thoughts on this blog post as it mirrors a lot of my own gratitude as we experience this weirdness.

Although we know that not everybody has these things, we are both grateful for electricity, running water, for the ability to communicate electronically and by phone.  We are grateful for the time that we have to focus on unfinished projects, meditation, and the opportunity to feast upon the words of Christ.

We are grateful for concern that others have exhibited toward one another during these difficult time.  And though there are some who may find social media jokes and poking fun at something so serious, we are grateful having the ability to laugh and use this as a defense mechanism.

We are both grateful for the opportunity this has given humanity to recognize that we are all in this together.  I am grateful that as Roland has always worked from home (at least since we’ve been in Oregon) that he is still employed.

Corey also mentioned how grateful he is to be in quarantine with Joh and how blessed they are to have quality time between them as their lives often seem to become complicated and will sometimes pull them in different directions.

I also enjoy being in quarantine with optimistic people.  I know not everybody has someone or else they might have more than they feel they can handle for months at a time.  For example, I know the families next door and across the street already had more people than what their houses were designed to accommodate. That many people in that small of a space can get overwhelming quickly.

There is so much to be grateful for.  Corey used this quote from Maya Angelou:  “Every Storm runs out of rain.” 

May we all endure this in a positive way and remember we haven’t been forgotten; we are all in this together.   

How Much Salt?

          I remember my dad always salting his food when I was younger.  At times it seemed he was over-salting. 

          I remember one time he had asked for some popcorn.  Patrick and I put some in a bowl and added what we believed to be a generous amount of salt.  When we went into his room to see how he liked the popcorn, he said it could use more salt.  Patrick and I both dropped our mouths in disbelief.  So his next batch got an almost equal salt/popcorn ratio.  He said it was perfect.  Are you kidding me?  If I ever used salt on anything, it definitely NEEDED it.  I hate the taste of salt.

          Now that I am older – even older than my dad – I find myself using salt more and more as I believe all my food is bland – and maybe it is.  Or maybe my lack of smell is finally catching up with my taste buds and I salt in order to taste.  How wicked!

Appropriate for the Way I Feel

Can't you feel this going on in your own life right now?

One Last Hoorah – at least until the Curse lifts

        I believe it was February 10 I had taken a personal day to be with my group of friends that I’ve been hanging out with for the last two or three years after the pool and once a month when the pool is closed.  We enjoy going to Soco and visiting outdoors but when it has gotten colder, we have gone to Good Dogs.  Our meetings have usually gone for less than two hours, but on the 10^th we were there for over three.

        Sue got in trouble – first with the owner as she had parked her car in front and it should be reserved for other customers.  Apparently her husband was not all that thrilled she had been gone so long.  They put me in charge of this month.  We were supposed to meet at lunch at a nearby place which offers Mexican food.  I thought this week would be good as I would be off during spring break.  We had no clue than that spring break would turn out not to be much of a break afterall (or perhaps too much of a break - depending on how it is viewed).

        Caroline really wished for the four of us to get together this month and had suggested a picnic at Millsite.  I was the only one willing and able as the other two are now housebound – and I think after today, we are too – which has been really hard for Jenna.  Facing the reality that her “sweet sixteen” will not be even close to what she had planned.  I know of at least one person who didn’t feel his plans were disrupted and is enjoying the opportunity of solitude – something that Jenna just doesn’t relate to.

        So Jenna and I met Caroline at an order-to-go where Caroline purchased a fish sandwich.  Jenna saw a friend in line and gave her a hug.  I joked that that was not socially acceptable and they resorted to elbow bumps.  Caroline was freaked at the amount of people and how closely they were standing to one another.  Jaime and I were scolded and kept our distance as Caroline waited for her sandwich. She had already made it clear that we would not be going in the same car and asked me to follow her. 

        There was tranquility to a degree as we sat at a table and ate our sandwiches and then Caroline showed us around and took us to the river – which by the way was gorgeous.  Except for the sounds of the occasional cars driving by, I felt secluded from the rest of the world.  It was an awesome place to be. 

Jenna took all of the photos; this one is of
a labyrinth.  Unfortunately could not capture all

We did not play checkers or even had any games.  It
may not have gone over well for Caroline to touch
game pieces that had not been sanitized each round

        After returning home, I have decided that perhaps we should not venture out of the house anymore until things return to normal - will there be a normal?  We have enough food and water supply to last several months should it come to that.  Right now our governor seems optimistic that schools will be opening April 28^th.  Meanwhile California and Washington have reported no more school for this school year.  I can’t imagine that things will be brighter for us in 5 weeks and not the rest of the west coast – or country – or world.

        I think this year is the most I have ever looked forward to general conference. April 4th and 5th.  Tune in.  Even if you are not of the LDS faith but are having issues with the pandemic - the broadcast will help calm you.  You'll see.