Quarantine

Today was sunny and warm, finally a break from the winter temperatures. Everyone is tucked away in bed but me; I haven’t slept well since everything with Coronavirus started a few weeks ago. My doggie Zoey is laying beside me, keeping me company but sometimes drifting into deep dreams that cause her to wimper and wiggle her legs. Makes me wonder what she is seeing in her sleep; she’s such a good girl, I love when she snuggles up on the couch.

We recently had spring break, and now school is canceled for April due to the virus, although we have been doing e-learning at home. The kids are doing well, Zaidey has her first loose teeth, the two middle ones on the bottom.  Lincoln did great with wrestling this year, but sadly we missed the state finals due to the virus. Trinity has been missing her dance classes and school, but seems to enjoy the e-learning her teacher has organized.

Everyone is currently under quarantine due to COVID - 19, and my family has been doing our part by staying at home. We haven’t gone anywhere in two weeks except for a couple of drive up grocery orders. We’re all getting pretty stir crazy. However, we’ve gotten lots done and made some amazing memories.

Here in rural Indiana, things haven’t been too abnormal, but I hate to see so many people across the world struggling. I’ve been praying for our country to be strengthened and to have faith that we will get through this. Thankfully, Spring is here and if nothing else it lifts my spirits to see everything come back to life after a dreary winter.

4H Fair Time

  

Some of my new favorite accessories

My birthday

                                   

Happy birthday to me : ) I am now 32! I am so thankful to have my quiver full with three sweet children and a man beside me who is the love of my life. It's been a crazy few days but that seems to be how it goes around here. Zaidey is starting to crawl (4 months and two weeks we noticed the start of it, and now at five months she is all out crawling-pulling herself on her belly with one arm and pushing with her feet).  Trinity started having "accidents" in bed, so she is back to wearing a diaper at night-hopefully this only lasts a week or so! She had an accident on the top step upstairs by her room a couple nights ago because she couldn't make it to the bathroom in time and then went back to bed. That was not a pleasant surprise to step into the next morning! But I know she can't help it. And then my oldest, Lincoln, broke a HUGE ceramic crock that I absolutely loved. I used it in the living room to hold blankets, which is how he knocked it over. He tried to pull a blanket out and ended up pulling the crock over. Momma was not too happy. I really want to cherish these years with the kids, but it seems like such a roller coaster ride at times. 

Prayer of thanks via Facebook

Two arms to hold me

Heaven to ground me

And a family that always calls me home

Four wheels to get there

Enough love to share

And a sweet sweet sweet song

At the end of the day

O Lord I pray

I have a life that is good 

An oldie but a goodie

The summer after I graduated from college, I took a two week trip to study abroad in Italy. Such a beautiful and amazing experience! We stayed in a convent where we were spoiled with the best food and a gorgeous view of Rome. The teachers that went said it was the best weather they’d ever experienced. I think my favorite part was Venice, and it would be a dream come true to visit again.

When I graduated from Purdue, I completed a major in fine art painting, but I had enough credits to have a double major in ceramics as well. I ended up winning a scholarship to attend this trip, and was very grateful for the opportunity. These three friends were from my ceramics class, and I miss seeing them like I used to.

Pictured: Erick, Me, Melissa, Erin.

Tick tock

Something I have missed hearing in my house is the sound of a ticking clock. You can hardly buy one anymore that makes the wonderfully peaceful click every gentle second. I think of it as a reminder of life's everlasting heartbeat. There are old stories of people placing a clock close to a baby or a young animal to help them not feel alone, and this evening I was surprised at how it warmed my own heart to hear the familiar sound coming from one of my shelves.

This all came about as I went through some things I was trying to clean up so I could place them for sale on eBay or Etsy. The clock was one of several items I had collected from the garage and barns out of our storage. I believe it was from my grandpa who is a pack rat like me. It is one of those old bedside wide ups with an alarm and a beautiful large face. I had thought about selling it with the other items, but I changed my mind and will hold onto it a little longer.

Something else I am up to lately: seed catalogue season is here, and I can't wait to place my order. Gurney's, a company from Indiana, is my current favorite after looking through several others I had sent off to for information. They have an amazing deal right now, half off up to $200, which still beats the competition even with the sales tax, and their shipping is fairly reasonable. Not to mention they guarantee all their plants, and will send you new replacements no questions asked if the original product fails.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

{Happy Halloween from the bride of Frankenstein}

Reds Game

{Cincinnati Reds game. I love my husband!}

Mother's Day

I hope all you mommas out there are having an awesome day today.

Last night I attended a Mother's Day banquet with my mom-in-law and two of my sis-in-laws. I then came home to a clean house, the dishes washed, the kids fed and bathed, and an overall PEACEFUL evening. It was the best gift my husband could have given me!

We also visited my own momma today and exchanged gifts with her. I love these purple tulips she gave me! I cannot wait to get them in the ground.

Mushroom hunting

We finally made it out into the woods and hunted up some morels! My husband and I found about fifteen. It's a bit less than what we normally find, but this season seems a little sparse in our normal go-to spots. And the season as a whole has started much earlier than normal since our winter has been so mild this year.

A little bit of faith

The past couple weeks have been hard. The past couple of months have been hard!

For a while my husband has had a cough. It started out small, something you would not think twice about. Recently, though, the cough has increased, and he began to feel pressure in his chest and extreme fatigue. So of course we made an appointment to see the doctor.

First, they said it was sinus, then said allergies. We convinced them to reluctantly send us to a specialist ear, nose, throat doctor after a couple weeks on sinus and allergy medicine had no effect on Adam's health. We called to make the appointment only to find they were scheduling a month out which was disappointing.

This past weekend, Adam really started to feel bad. So bad that we felt we needed to go to the emergency room (which had been a suggestion of our doctor's office). We arrived, got checked in, only to be repeatedly asked by every nurse who saw us, "Why exactly did you decide to visit the ER today?" An unsympathetic reaction to say the least.

We got back to the exam room after having Adam's vitals checked. By this time, we pretty much knew our trip was quickly spiraling into wasted money and effort. Our final nurse came in, asked again for his symptoms, and then started to prepare us for the fact that nothing could be done for my husband. She wrote him a couple prescriptions to get us through the next several days and sent us on our way.

We somehow made it through the weekend and now have one more weekend to go to his ENT appointment, but it seems like an eternity away. I sat down at my weekly mom's group meeting when right beside me sat the last nurse from the ER. No joke. It's a pretty large group, and I obviously do not know every lady there. Seeing her made me still feel angry about the situation.

I respect healthcare professionals, but nothing makes me angrier than when they say there’s nothing wrong with you {even though you don’t feel good}. It just seems like the human body is so complex there’s no way for a doctor or nurse to say with certainty that there’s nothing wrong with you. If you don’t know, then just say “I don’t know,” but we’ve had so many people try to simply say there’s nothing wrong, and I’m not sure how they feel so confident in themselves to say that.

If you could keep Adam in your prayers, it would mean a lot to us. We have been praying for him as a family every night and are hoping he starts to feel better soon.

The Luxury of a Hot Shower

About a year ago we mysteriously lost most of the hot water to our shower. It would stay piping hot the first five minutes, and the rest of the time you were left with unsatisfying lukewarm water.

I could not stand the cooler temperature for long and would rush to get done before the hot water ran out.  But then I was miserable because I love hot showers and was missing them!

One day, though, I discovered that if I ran the washing machine while the shower ran somehow the shower miraculously stayed hot. Over the next several months I coordinated when I would wash clothes with when I wanted a shower {there may have been a few times I ran an empty washer just for the hot water}.

Finally, we found the problem. Adam's dad had come by to help him figure out some details with our remodeling, when Adam just happened to grab the water lines in our gutted master suite. He was very surprised to find them almost hot to the touch, especially considering they are never used. I don't know the particulars, but something about the water cycling through the unused water lines continuously, had caused us for the whole past year to lose our hot water to the rest of the house.

Adam installed a couple of valves that turned off the water where it is not yet needed, and we once again have hot water in our shower - for like an hour if we want it! Just another perk of remodeling an old farmhouse.

The case of the missing kitty cat

Today I absolutely could not find one of our kittens, Ree Ree. She and her sister, Trill, are outside kitties that stay in our attached garage, but we often let them in for visits so they can warm up a bit. They had been in for a couple of hours this morning when I had decided it was time to put them back out. Easily, I located Trill, a beautiful black calico with a cute dab of tan on the tip of her tail and deposited her in the garage but Ree was nowhere to be found. I started calling for her, but was not too worried, figuring she would show up sooner or later.

I got lost in other activities when I was suddenly on a mission to find a DVD we had been missing for a few days. It was Lincoln's favorite TMNT movie, and he had been asking to watch it several times including this morning. With a heavy-duty flashlight, I combed over every hiding place I could think of to search, when suddenly I came to a realization. I had looked through almost the entire house for the DVD and I still had not seen Ree Ree.

It was very unlike her to not come trotting out when you approached. Panic immediately set in. Something was wrong, Ree never disappeared for long periods of time. It had been at least an hour, maybe two, since I had seen her last. The adrenaline kicked in and immediately I began calling to her like a crazy woman. Of course, the kids picked up on this in an instant, and sensing new drama in the air they became my sidekicks. There I was, an unkempt mad woman frantically lifting up bed skirts and looking down floor vents followed by two toddlers who peered into any nooks and crannies I may have missed.

I began to double check all the holes plugged up during our remodeling, which unfortunately included peeping into an unused room I had been using to store Christmas gifts. Lincoln was right behind me and exclaimed, "Mommy, presents!" I immediately replied, "Those are for Nini and Papa." Thankfully he did not understand what was going on, and I was able to herd the kids on to other things.

All my construction holes looked intact, so I tried thinking of other possibilities. I had run the dryer that morning, and sometimes Ree liked to climb on the door while I was loading clothes, but surely, I would have noticed if she had tried to climb in. Surely. I ran to the dryer, thinking 'Pleases, God, no!' I knew it had just run a full cycle, and in a frenzy, I unloaded all the clothes dreading what I would find. I grabbed handfuls of shirts and socks, pants and boxers (yes, I throw EVERYTHING into one load) but found nothing. I put them back in, and thought, 'Maybe I should look again.' I pulled the clothes out a second time, quickly going through each piece, a little relieved I had not found anything, but even then, not a hundred percent convinced she was not in there somewhere. Putting them back, I searched a third time, and still saw no signs of Ree.

Fairly certain at this point she was definitely not in the dryer, I sat there on my knees about to lose it. Where could the dang cat be? That is when my son said, "Don't cry mommy. We'll find her.”  I love my sweet boy, and even though he’s only three he was worried about me. I hugged him and Trinity, sucked up my tears, and said I was sure she’d show up eventually.

We walked into the living room, defeated, when all of the sudden out of the corner of my eye I spied a grey and white furry foot peeking out from under my hope chest. That little stinker had been under there the whole time, snoozing the day away pretty as you please. Relief washed over me.  I scooped her up, gave her a squeeze, and then put the furry bugger inside the garage with her sister. I leaned on the door after it was closed wondering how I was ever going to get anything accomplished today.

Thank you

I would like to thank all of you who have started to follow my blog. I am so appreciative of your support!

Today the kids and I enjoyed our last day of MOPs for the semester. In our program, every other week the moms meet and have brunch with a speaker, and then a time for small group discussion while the kids are in classes. On the off weeks moms are able to drop the kids off and then leave to have a " morning out" for themselves which is wonderful! Today was a morning out, so I left my kiddos and then headed to Starbucks where I wrote on my book for a couple of hours.

After that the kids and I had lunch from Taco Bell's drive thru, and then headed to the FFY for open gym. Later, we came home and I finally had some time to clean for the first time in a week. I can already tell this place is going to be a crazy house once all the Christmas festivities get underway, but we are definitely looking forward to it..

Christmas trees, snow, and celebrating the birth of Christ

I cannot believe it is that wonderful time of year again. Christmas is less than two weeks away! The cold weather has finally settled in for its long visit to Indiana, and we have already seen the snow fly on a couple of occasions as early as late November, which has local "weather forecasters" predicting a long winter. I have learned to embrace the cold weather because it arrives every year right on time whether I like it or not.

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and remember to be thankful for the most precious gift of all - Jesus!

Raising Kids and Persimmons

Two years ago, my husband Adam, our son Lincoln, and myself moved from a small house in town to a large farmhouse in the country closer to where we grew up and to our parents who both still lived in the area.  It had a beautiful old persimmon tree in the front yard, just like the one I used to climb growing up.  The house needed a lot of work being not quite a hundred years old, but we knew we were just the people to do it.  I had visions of jumping right into the renovations, of converting the outbuildings into amazing workshops, of starting a greenhouse and raising small farm animals - but then life happened.  I got pregnant with baby two, the mortgage bill started showing up right on time the middle of every month, and Adam's business picked up keeping him away from home six days a week, twelve hours a day.  Needless to say, we do not have very much done at this point.  And unfortunately, we do not even have the persimmon tree anymore.  It blew over in a storm six months after we moved.

Sometimes, all of this craziness is overwhelming.  Two rooms, complete with bathrooms, are completely gutted and unusable.  My husband's business is a source of constant clutter sneakily creeping into our garage and house.  And the kids who are almost three and one are by nature human tornadoes.  Now throw all of that at an organized, obsessive control freak {me} and you could have an immediate cardiac arrest on your hands without the power of prayer being used on a daily basis.  

I have had to adjust, and when I get frustrated at living in home that is always "Construction in Progress" I have to remind myself this is the life we wanted!  The most important aspect of our lives is that we have a beautiful budding family which is such a blessing and is definitely more than just "enough" - it is everything. 

Anyways, I decided to start this blog to share with you our stories of living in constant state of disarray.  I hope you enjoy it, and I so appreciate you taking some of your precious time to spend it with me.