Wednesday Words

 

Happy New Year!

 Happy 2022!  The holiday season went by so quickly.  Today is the first day back to school for the Little and the Middle.  The Oldest is still home from college for a few weeks.  

They have all recovered from Covid.  But I got struck down New Year's Eve, so we still have the hazmat tent and caution tape surrounding the house.  They are required to wear masks to school, and since they have been symptom free for several days, they can return.  I, on the other hand, am quarantined at home and have extra free time to plan my New Year goals.

I have several goals for this year:

1.  Reading goal:  I set my Goodreads reading goal for 45 books this year.  Last year I completed 33 books, and I know I can do better.

2.  Organize and Declutter the house:  I got a good start on this last year, but there's more room for improvement with this one.  

3.  Continue to work on my exercise:  This has been a goal of mine the last few years and I've really made some good improvements.  This year I'm going to add in more days of weight training (as soon as I'm over Covid. Right now, I'm in bed).

4.  Eat better and try new recipes:  This is another goal that I've been working on the last few years.  Again, I'm going to try to tweak things to make them even healthier.  I really like cooking, so I'm going to try to come up with some new family favorite recipes.

5.  Grow my spiritual life:  Another goal that is ongoing.  Last year I completed The Bible in a Year podcast and I enjoyed it so much and the graces I received from hearing God's work every day were innumerable.  I've already started over and plan on going again this year.  And my bigger goal this year is to worry less and pray more.  

6.  Do more of what I love.  This one needs no explanation.  Life is too short not to do the things we want to do.  And we all have things we HAVE to do but don't necessarily want to. I'm going to try to find the joy in those and not complain about it.  So maybe this New Year goal should be called " FIND THE JOY IN EVERYTHING".

So Happy New Year, Internets!  I hope 2022 is a healthy, happy, blessed year for all of us.

Things I'm Thankful For (Covid Addition)

 Instacart

I panicked when the positive test came back.  I immediately went to Instacart and had essentials delivered.  I keep a pretty stocked pantry, but we are not pop drinkers (soda for those of you outside of Ohio) and I was worried about the sickies having food and medicine.  So gingerale, chicken soup, extra bread for toast, and acetaminophen were ordered via Instacart and delivered within 2 hours.

Giant Eagle Curbside

I had a lot of what I needed for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinners, but there were some things that I wanted to buy the week of Christmas.  And then there's the extra toothbrushes (because they will need to change those out) and baking items that I forgot I needed.  I use Giant Eagle pick up during non-covid diagnosis, but it's really come in handy now.  And Dear Giant Eagle, I have added to this pick up eleventy thousand times this week, so you are welcome for the 5 million dollars I'm spending.

Peloton App

I found the Peloton app during the quarantine of 2020, but I didn't want to pay to exercise (I do not have a Peloton tread or bike...  but I'd love one).  But a month after the new year, I realized I missed this app so much that I subscribed and have no regrets. After the Covid diagnosis, I don't want to leave the house to go to the gym, so I've been using my app even more to get the exercise I need.  

Online Church

Yes, we are now back to not going to church (at least for the next couple of weeks).  I am so glad for our local churches that post their masses on YouTube.  If I can't be there, I'm blessed to at least be able to receive a spiritual communion and watch mass on TV.

Bible In A Year Podcast With Father Mike

I'm on day 355.  This is not new.  This podcast has been a blessing to me all year.  But right now, I need it a bit more than ever.  God's word soothes the soul.  

Photos of Christmas 2021 (so far)

 

We did make it to see Santa (Middle was at wrestling)

The Covid sign.  We are not coming to the door.

Covid and Christmas

 No one wants to spend Christmas quarantined due to Covid, but this is where we find ourselves.  Last Thursday the Middle wasn't feeling well.  He's the one with uncontrolled asthma.  It was past the office hours of the pediatrician, so I took him to Urgent Care to get tested.  Tests used to be quick but due to the surge, we would need to wait.  We quarantined him right away and tried to keep it away from everyone else.  His test was going to take 48 hours to come back so on Friday I took him into the pediatrician to get seen and test again (they used to have test results that came back within a few minutes but again, due to the surge, they don't have those right now).  The doctor was almost positive that it was Covid, so she called his pulmonary doc to let her know just in case things went really bad for him.  Saturday morning both Urgent Care and the Ped called to say the tests were positive.  And that morning the 9-year-old woke up sick.  This is what we were trying to avoid for the past year and half.  But here it is.

So, the boys have been quarantined in their rooms since then and they have been troopers, but they are starting to lose their good humor.  My husband and I have also quarantined ourselves to the house even though we currently have no symptoms.  The oldest also doesn't have symptoms and the ped said he is ok to go about his life as long as he wears a mask.  He's not been happy about the masks, but he's glad to wear one at work at this point.  No one wants to spread this to anyone else.  

Luckily (and prayers have gone up), both boys are doing well.  Middle had NO issues with is asthma which is such a blessing.  He's ended up in the PICU due to the common cold and we really feared what Covid would do to him.  Angels have been watching over him.  The Little has done well too.

I don't want to get into who is vaxed, who is not vaxed, etc.  We have been following what the Middle's doctors have advised.  And with a close family member having cancer, we have been trying to be extra careful.  But Covid doesn't discriminate.  And our time was bound to run out.  

Here we are.  A very Covid Christmas.  There has been so much going on health wise with the family member with cancer, that I have tried to be as organized as I can be (organization is not my strong suit).  All gifts were bought and wrapped minus my nieces and nephews who we won't be seeing now anyway.  I have time to fix that.  I had a lot of food purchased and ready to go.  Cards were mailed.  At this point, the secular part of Christmas was covered.  The religious part doesn't need covered.  The real meaning of Christmas takes care of itself (or Himself).  God doesn't require the gifts, food, and decorations.  He is coming and nothing Covid related will stop that.  That's the real beauty of Christmas.  

We are together.  We have a warm house.  We have food (probably too much food).  No one has been hospitalized.  We have Jesus.  While Covid quarantine is not how anyone WANTS to celebrate Christmas, Christmas is here, and Christmas is good.  

Merry Christmas, friends.  I wish you God's love and good health.  

I Know It's Been A While

 Oh my poor neglected blog.  Things have been a little more than just busy around here.  A few family members have some health issues, and my time for extra things has been cut.  I am not complaining.  I'm very grateful that I can spend my time with my family.  Please pray for complete healing for all.  

I was online making our family Christmas card and I thought I would pop on this blog to give an update.

Oldest is back in college.  Well, he was home last weekend and this weekend for Thanksgiving, but he's been back in college for the most part.

Middle son is plodding along with senior year.  All colleges of his choice have been applied to.  Now we just wait to see where he's accepted and which one he chooses.  All are good choices so he can't go wrong.

The little is moving through 3rd grade.  He finished up flag football and now has moved on to wrestling.

Halloween was fun.  We did the fire pit at the bottom of the driveway again.  And thanks to having several houses of new neighbors, we got more Trick or Treaters this year.  I'm glad we have so many young families in the neighborhood.

Thanksgiving was a blessing.  Our family along with Grandma and Papa had a nice Thanksgiving dinner with all the usual fare.  This year we did two turkeys again.  One my husband fried one, and I baked the other one inside.  Both were good, but the fried turkey was the bigger hit.  

All the indoor Christmas decorations are up.  I worked so hard on Friday, that I thought I might just pass out Friday night.  I finished the inside on Saturday, and did a few things outdoors.  I need to finish the outside, but I will work on that this week.  

Most of my shopping is done, but I still have a couple of things to buy for our family.  And then there's the nieces and nephews.  I will get that all done within the next 2 weeks.

I'm trying to get as much done as possible before the week of December 13.  A family member may be having surgery that week and that is where all of my energy will go after that.  Being organized and time efficient is taking on a whole new meaning this year.  

I'm not stressing about the holidays.  Everything will work out.  

Since I use this blog as my online diary, I do hope to come back on here more on a more consistent basis.  Plus it satisfies some of my need for a creative outlet.

The roasted turkey

A Whirlwind of a Summer

 Summer is not over!  But as of today, the high schooler returned for his senior year.  The 3rd grader goes back Wednesday.  And we return the college sophomore to his university on Saturday.  Even though summer is still with us, it seems to be behind us.  

It was a really good summer.  Baseball dominated the first part of summer.  From May (actually April) until early July, our days were full of baseball.  The season went ok.  The team he was on was full of really great kids.  But they all go to another school, and some of his school friends play on another team and he really wanted to play with them.  He tried out for the new team and made it.  So next year he'll be on a totally new team and he'll miss his teammates from his old team, but he's really happy to be with his school friends.

The older boys both worked at a grocery store this summer.  At first it was really busy and they worked a lot of hours, but as summer went on, customers weren't coming in as much and the available stock became less due to supply chain issues, so things became slow and hours were cut.  They weren't happy about losing money, but it did give them more free time.

We went on vacation.  To our usual South Carolina spot.  It was a really great week.  We all love it there so much.  We fished, swam, sunned, and just spent quality time together.  I wish we could do that more than just once a year.

It's been a rainy summer here in Ohio.  My flowers and garden are water logged.  My lettuce did well, as did the hot peppers, jalapenos, and green beans.  I got NO garlic (I don't know what I did wrong), and my peas, carrots, radish, green peppers, and cabbage did "meh".  Tomatoes and zucchini are coming in now so we'll see how those go.

We spent some time at the swim club this summer (I call it the lake).  It's really nice there and I'm glad we joined.  I'd like to keep going on the weekends until they close, but weekends are filling up fast.  

I went on a few college tours with the senior.  He's narrowing things down and we'll see how things go.  He seems a little disengaged in the whole process, but we'll see.  Maybe that's just how he's appearing on the outside.  I know he'll end up in the correct place for him.  God always put us where we should be.

So that's my update.  I'm sure I forgot some things.  But these are the big ones.