Picture of the Week - 4/30/2020

Day 49

I really wish I had something fun and exciting to share.  I've got nothing...

We are all still healthy and hanging in there.  Some days (hours) are better than others.  Georgia continues to lead most the rest of the country in opening things back up and trying to get back to normal.  We are all still just waiting a bit to see how it goes. 

I saw a picture/meme on Facebook this morning - and warn you that I will probably share this to my own FB feed in the very near future, so be prepared for the repeat.  It got me thinking, so I thought I'd ask the question to you.

What have you learned during this time that you want your future self to remember?  (NOTE - this is not a rhetorical question, I'd really like to know the answer.)

For me it is the following, in no particular order

1. My boys are all pretty interesting people.  They are also incredibly diverse.  I don't think I'd know their personalities nearly as much without watching them progress through the last 7 weeks.  Their individual approaches have been fascinating to me.

2. Having control is probably over-rated, which is a really big lesson for me that I, honestly, have to re-learn pretty regularly.  Life is mysterious and control is an illusion.  Sometimes the best thing to do is to just let go, go on, and trust.

3. Speaking of trust, I have grown my faith/religion/beliefs 100 fold over the last 6 months.  To be fair, this really starts probably around this time last year, but the job loss and now this Covid situation has accelerated everything.  I feel closer to God than I ever have before and have found incredible peace.

4. Being busy is not the same as being happy.

Your turn - what have you learned during this time that you want your future self to remember?  Just for fun, here's a picture of Brutus that I took while on a walk (during one of the no so good hours if I'm being honest). Brutus is living his best life and if/when we all start to leave the house again that dog may need therapy.

Picture of the Week - 4/23/2020

Day 42 of the Covid-19 fun

It's kind of hard to find something to write about when we are in a never-ending string of same/same/same kinda days.  

This week we packed all the boys up and left the house together for the first time in about 5 weeks.  Weird to even SAY that!  We ran through the Chick-Fil-A drive through and had a picnic in the middle of a field at Fowler Park.  It was lovely.  The only regret I had was that we didn't bring a football for the boys to throw around.  

Other than that...  we've been here...

My yard has never looked better!  I've gotten to know all the mail-order tree/bush places and the local Pike has order online with curbside pick up.  We've refreshed the mulch and pinestraw and planted containers on the porch and flowers out front.  We also finally finished the deck off our bedroom by hanging drapes (it's screened in) and replacing the rug.  I've also gotten very friendly with Wayfair and have ordered a new outdoor ceiling fan for out there.  Next step - furniture.  Zane calls it our sanctuary, which is pretty spot on...

Let's see...  I don't *think* anything else was cancelled this week.  We are holding our breathe about some summer camps and plans we were hoping to do. 

Health wise - everyone is still fine.  Pollen season is finally starting to ease up a bit, so allergies are getting better.  We ate some vegetables this week instead of 24x7 comfort food too.  Win!

I wish there were something more interesting to share, but we are just here doing our thing.  I sincerely hope you are all well!  Here's a picture of our picnic last Saturday.  Maybe we can do a repeat this weekend - this time with a football.

Picture of the Week - 4/16/2020

Day 35 since everything got turned upside down.

We are all doing fine here.  There are up days and down days for all 6 of us.  It's unusual for there to be more than 1 or 2 having a bad day at any time, so it's pretty short lived before we all get back to it.  

Let's see...  this week we found out that the entire wrestling summer season is cancelled.  We had yet another round of SAT testing cancelled.  We found out that both West Point and Naval Academy were cancelling their summer seminars.  They cancelled Quinn's mission trip.  They announced a new grading plan for the rest of the year which removes finals and basically makes almost every assignment optional.  

Grocery stores are slowly returning to normal-ish stock levels.  The pasta aisle is rebounding nicely, but now it's almost impossible to find sugar.  So apparently everyone is baking these days...  still no toilet paper stock although we have gotten lucky a couple of times and bought enough for the next few weeks at least.  Also of note - people generally prefer chicken ramen to beef, because the chicken has been gone for a month, but the beef is always there.  Weird...

We are all coping in our own ways.  Bob is, as always, unflappable and patient about 98% of the time.  He spends his non-ADP time washing a million dishes a day and playing the role of tech support for ZnB. 

I have spent way way way too many hours putting together electronic puzzles on my phone and eating cheezits.  The Covid-19 (lbs) is real, y'all!  I've also started a daily devotional and spend a fair amount of time on zoom calls with my new small group.  I wish I could say I've been productive on my current quilt project, but for some reason I can't motivate myself to pick it up.  I am going to really try to get back into it this weekend because it's supposed to rain.  I have also dubbed myself "in charge of online purchases" and have become a ginormous fan of wayfair.  This morning I decided the wall behind my desk (which you can see on conf calls) was WAY too boring.  Spent an hour trying to figure out what to put back there and looking at many peel and stick wallpaper designs...  before finding and buying a handmade (from a small business) quilt hanger so I can hang up my Bloom quilt.  Pretty exciting.  LOL  (finding joy in the little things here!)

Spencer is quiet and stoic and increasingly anti-government.  He spends his free time researching random topics and watching youtube videos.  He has also spent a TON of time walking Brutus.  He takes Bru out almost every night and they are gone for hours - literally.  One night they were going on 3 hours when I felt the need to text him and remind him that Brutus was thirsty - and it was dark.  They spend most of their time int he fields surrounding our neighborhood.

Quinn spends his free time (which is plentiful) talking to people on Snapchat and playing basketball in the backyard.  (We have no grass left back there, so are now contemplating just paving the whole thing...)  He also spends time with ZnB almost every day too.  He lets them play with him outside or plays video games with them - or just picks fights with them.  

Zane and Beckett are together 90% of every day.  Of that 90% about 90% of it they are best friends.  Then they turn on each other and it gets pretty ugly...  Sometimes we let them go and sometimes we step and and redirect.  I'm forever grateful that they have each other to play with right now, but I also completely understand when enough is enough.  They have both pulled the BB gun back out and spend time messing with it regularly.  Neither of them are getting enough exercise (but neither are Bob and I so it's tough to be too upset).  Pictures are of Zane shooting stuff and Beckett on a conference call with his teacher - and Brutus.  

Brutus is living his best life.  He loves having everyone here and all the attention!  Ozzie is turning great before our eyes and is anxious or asleep.  He just looks at us like "please go back to work" and spends hours every day at my feet in my office hiding from everyone else.  

We are all OK, but looking forward to the day we can get back to some level of normal.  French fries just don't travel well and the melty cheese dip from our favorite Mexican restaurant is cold and lumpy by the time we get it home.  The kids miss their friends.  So do I!

I'm starting to worry (more) about the summer and what things will look like.  Will we be able to find some summer camps for Zane and Beck?  (Nothing cancelled so far...)  Will we be able to keep our beach house in July?  It's an unsettling feeling to not know what even next week, much less next month, will look like.  

OK - enough rambling.  Back to work and reality.  Hope you are all well.  Anyone picked up any new hobbies or done anything fun with the free time?  Take care!  Be safe!!

Picture of the Week - 4/9/2020

I think we are on day 28 of the quarantine/social distancing/wierdness of 2020

That's 4 weeks.  

The governor of Georgia just extended our "shelter in place" until the end of April.  This week was spring break for the boys.  Next week I was supposed to take Spencer to Virginia Military Academy for a wrestling camp and college visit.  I got an email from work yesterday letting us know that they have deactivated all our security badges - meaning we can't go back into the office even if we wanted to.  Weird and disconcerting times for sure.

So before all of this stuff happened Bob and I had recommitted to church.  We actually did that before I got laid off and it was honestly one of the best things for my mental well-being during that situation.  Literally weeks before Covid hit we both signed up to participate in small groups.  I've never done anything like that before.  It was well outside my comfort zone...  

And yet, I felt so compelled to do it.  It felt like something I needed.  

The messages we have heard from our church - and the conversations I've had with a group of women who started as strangers in my small group have lead to some additional things.  I've ordered books based on their recommendations.  I've listened to music and podcasts that wouldn't have caught my attention in the past.  I am more spiritually aware now than I have ever been.  It's strange for me to think of it as an awakening, but it's certainly new information that I have learned and has taught me to look at other things differently.  You can label that whatever you want...

All of these things - along with an overhaul of my social media feeds to get rid of people and places that spewed unhelpful, depressing drivel and replace with uplifting, inspirational, and HAPPY - have lead me to some thoughts and beliefs about what's going on with the Coronavirus - and what I should do about it.  I don't know if my approach is the right one for everyone, but I hope it causes anyone who reads this to at least pause and consider.

Because pausing and contemplating is what God wants us to be doing right now.  We have literally been forced to throw plans out the window.  We are riding out these days with our families.  We have had to really prioritize what is important.  

And that's what I have done - started to focus more on what I believe will bring me growth and comfort and happiness.  I've cherished the 28 straight days of family around the dinner table.  I've recognized - and shared - how blessed I am to get to do life with my best friend.  I've noticed how each of my boys has dealt with this and I understand them better than ever before.  I'm so grateful to watch the relationships between brothers grow and thrive.  (Temporary, often daily, spats aside)

None of the above needed a packed schedule full of activities.  It DID need human interaction and connection.  Mother Teresa has a quote that I've always loved and it couldn't be more relevant than it is today.  She said, "If you want to change the world, go home and love your family."  Maybe, just maybe, humanity needed a reminder to slow down and love.  Maybe, just maybe that reminder came from God and the end-result, despite what the main stream media says and what happens in the stock market, is going to be just what we all needed.

Hope hasn't been cancelled.  

Love hasn't been cancelled.

Gratitude hasn't been cancelled.

Faith is alive.

I am at peace with the Quarantine of 2020.

PS - this doesn't mean I don't have bad days, outbursts of frustration, boredom, etc.  I get mad.  I get sad.  I have eaten too many Cheezits.  I am not all rose-colored glasses and Pollyanna viewpoints.  I regularly need to remind myself how I WANT TO think about this just situation.  I have to be intentional.  It's not an accidental perspective because as human's we are FAR more likely to fall into "gloom and doom" thought than to choose to be positive.  It's innate - it's science.  If you don't believe me, spend a few hours on the internet looking at study after study after study digging into the biology/chemistry/neuropsychology of happiness.  

Here's a picture of Beckett chilling in the living room at some point on some day recently - they really do blur together a bit.  He had his dogs.  He was fed, safe, protected and happy.  We all are.  And that is worth stopping to offer up some praise, don't you think?

Take care as we move through what many people are saying will be the peak of this disease.  Stay safe.  Stay sane.  And my hope for you is that you can choose to be intentional about what you will walk away from Covid-19 having learned/felt/decided.  

Have a very happy Easter everyone!  It's going to be one we will never forget.  Make it a great day!

Picture of the Week - 4/2/2020

Quarantine day 21

Today is the 21st day we've all been home all day long with no activities.  Yesterday the governor announced that the schools will not reopen this school year.  Georgia's official "shelter in place" goes into effect tomorrow.  

If I had envisioned writing those 3 sentences a month ago, I would have assumed I was writing some kind of weird science fiction and definitely not that I was describing real life in America.  Such a weird time!

Health - We are still fine.  Do we have COVID-19?  I have no idea.  If we do, we don't have symptoms.  That's a blessing.

Supplies - We are still fine.  I did a run to BJs to restock the pantry/freezer yesterday.  We have food.  We will not starve.  I still haven't found toilet paper.  We are down to about 2 weeks supply...  and we have to go out about ever 3rd day for milk and fruit.  The boys eat a LOT.  But I think we are still coming out "ahead" financially (I *think*) because between them they spend about 20/day on school lunches.  That's a blessing

Mentally - We are OK.  We are all having ups and downs.  If you haven't ever read about the Flight/Flight/Freeze response in humans, look it up.  We can't really fight and we definitely can't flight, so we freeze.  And mentally that's pretty draining.  I have felt exhausted and listless WAY more than I normally do.  I think it's normal.  I'm not really bothered by it.  When I'm tired, I rest.  I'm still working and we are getting all the boys through online school.  It's a lot.  So if I want to shut down thinking at 7 PM and go to bed at 9, I'm gonna do it without guilt.  

How are you?  Check in!!!  

Next week is spring break here.  We weren't planning any trips/vacations anyway, so at least we aren't mourning the loss of plans.  (Aside - I think it's totally appropriate to be SAD if you had plans that had to be cancelled.  It's OK to be disappointed.)  Zane and Beck were planning on doing a camp at Sawnee Mt Preserve that I've been trying to get them into for years.  They would have been climbing trees and hiking and all kinds of cool stuff next week.  Instead, they will be playing basketball in the backyard and playing minecraft on their iPads.  It'll be interesting to see how they all do with LITERALLY nothing scheduled.  Could be awesome.  Could be a long week...

Spencer has been wanting to shave his head.  I kept telling him he couldn't do it - using Prom as an excuse.  When school was cancelled - and with it Prom - for the rest of the year, my excuse was kinda crushed.  So I compromised with him and gave him a #4 buzz cut.  He looks good with it - although he does look like he's about 40...  (He's stopped shaving and has a full blown beard again - picture included.)  When that happened, Zane and Beck both insisted that they get a buzz too.  Honestly, the fight in me was gone...  I figure it will be 2 months before we see people again and they WILL need haircuts before the barber shop opens back up, so why not.  They both look a little bit like they are in some kind of dystopian work camp...  but they are happy.  SO I'm happy.  Here's a picture of them sitting on the giant mulch pile currently in our driveway.  Weekend goals!  LOL

Stay safe!  Stay healthy!  Stay home!