Head Visit, Katie's 7th Birthday, Projects, Outbreak

Last Thursday evening, James's parents, Anna, and Joseph arrived. They brought Papa Murphy's, which we enjoyed. I attended parent/teacher conferences in person since I suspect school will shut down by Thanksgiving. More on that later. It was really great to talk to the kids' teachers. They are all doing really well, except for Katie's Friday computer stuff. I already knew that, though, and we're going to keep working on getting her to do a good job instead of complaining and thrashing around the whole time. She is progressing in her reading, and sometimes we even get it done before school!

We celebrated Katie's birthday on Friday night with Swedish pancakes (made by Grandpa) and ice cream roll cake. I also checked our covid numbers earlier, saw how much they jumped, and made fudge. Needless to say, we had tons of sugar that day. We played Betrayal at House on the Hill. Our scenario was all about an alien virus - no fair! We lost horribly, too. It was a little bit close to home.

I turned a large cabinet into a coat closet by installing hooks, cleaned out all the winter stuff, built a shelf for James's wire trees, and made Katie some leggings from some of my old ones that don't fit me anymore. Yes, I sized up again. It turns out that once I quit dieting, which was around the start of the pandemic, I didn't stay the size I was in high school. Oh well. I mostly quit caring or stepping on the scale at all. Though it's freeing to eat whenever I'm hungry, I don't always like how I look. That was true before, though. My mother-in-law says that if you don't like how you look, just wait 20 years. ;)

My county is not doing well with the coronavirus. Since the beginning of October, we've been heading toward an outbreak, and the rising numbers suggest we've reached it. It stresses me out A LOT. I had reached a point where I mostly felt "okay", but that has changed yet again. There haven't been a lot of cases in the schools, not enough to close them down, but I see that happening within the next few weeks if the trend continues. I just really hope the district makes the right decision on when to shut things down. I feel like they've done a good job so far, but I'm getting a little nervous.

Fall Break, Dentist, Darkness, God's Plan

James went hunting all day Saturday, so I got a little bored and decided to experiment with making candy. I perfected my pralines recipe and tried out some old-fashioned fudge. Despite what everyone says about it being so hard (and costing like $15 a pound), it really wasn't. I just followed the instructions and made sure to adjust for altitude. Next time, I will make a few tiny tweaks like using a smaller pot so not as much gets wasted on the bottom/sides, stop stirring it a few seconds sooner, and try adding peanut butter. (I made peanut butter fudge yesterday with chocolate on top, but I think I'll like chocolate fudge with peanut butter better.) One thing about buying candy is that I don't see how bad it is for me. A pan of candy takes a TON of sugar, more than an equivalent amount of cookies or cake.

I had the kids stay home on Monday since they all had dental appointments. Everything went really smoothly! I got a babysitter for the younger 2 so I didn't have to wrestle them in the waiting room. Miraculously, no one had any cavities either! I told them they could choose $5 of candy each if none of them had any. (I know, I know.) We will not be trick-or-treating since Covid cases have now surpassed their first peak back in early August. Our county is still doing relatively well, but I could also see school getting shut down in the next few weeks. There are still no official outbreaks, but I worry. I've had 10 headaches this month so far. :(

Getting up in the dark is terrible. The boys don't seem to mind much, but it has affected all of the girls. We all wake up kind of grouchy and just don't want to start the day. I wish there existed a place with sunrise at 6 and sunset at 9, but I'll just have to keep on dreaming. At least the winter makes me appreciate the summer.

Overall, I still feel somewhat happy. I was inspired to write down how James and I met. The story took quite a while since I covered from when we first met (September 2006) to when we actually got married. It's a complicated and sometimes painful story. For many years, I felt terrible about some of my dating history, but I realized through writing the whole story that God's hand has been in my life the entire time. I didn't mess it all up by making some poor decisions. He already knew what mistakes I'd make and provided for me through all of it. He also never abandoned me, even through the darkest of times. That gives me so much hope for the future. James's health problems are so unusual that we don't have any idea how long he'll live. I don't need to worry about any of it because God will provide for me, no matter what happens. I'm trying to do what's right, but even if I do mess up, things are going to work out. Knowing this gives me more peace than anything right now.

Projects, Play, Fall Break

I got a few really big projects done this past week, which made me feel great. I built the shelf for the boys' Legos, and most of their creations fit! We then took apart the entire room: closet, under the bed, the Lego table, and cleaned everything thoroughly. I did the same kind of thing for the girls' room a day or two before. Needless to say, I love the results and wish they'd last.

Saturday, James put in our new (to us) dishwasher. I'd gone to Lowe's last week, but I felt that I should wait on a dishwasher. James saw on FB yard sale that our neighbors were getting rid of theirs since they didn't need it, so we paid them only $50. We ended up having to fix a few small parts in it (like the spray arm), but it's the same model as the old one, so it worked out. While James was installing that, I went under the house to put insulation where it had fallen down. Those 2 jobs are the worst part of owning a house. Both are smelly and really gross. I wore my mask under the house because I couldn't breathe well without it. Insulation is icky to work with, and it was muddy and yucky down there, too. I'm glad we had some extra insulation from our cabin. I used all of it! Hopefully, none of our pipes will freeze this winter. I also made a real cover for the crawl space out of some scrap plywood and random brackets we had sitting around. It took under an hour and was really simple. I love projects like that. I also love using the jigsaw. It's just my size and doesn't scare me like a circular saw.

We got a new (to us) dresser for the boys' room. I had just been thinking about getting one and upgrading Lewis, and then our neighbors who just moved posted about it on Facebook. After an hour of cleaning it, fixing the tracks, and adding some new knobs, it looks better than any dresser in our house except for mine (which was new). I'm really pleased with the result. While I was getting the dresser, my friend Claire invited me to come to her play. I wasn't sure about the social distancing thing, but James and I went Monday night. Most people weren't wearing masks, but we tried to keep our distance (sitting in the back away from others) and wore ours. I still feel kind of paranoid since then, even though we weren't around any sick people. I thought people were going to be more careful, but I was wrong. It's the riskiest thing I've done during the pandemic, and things are starting to get worse again in my county, even though they're still not terrible (no school outbreaks so far). We did really enjoy the play, The Dastardly Doctor Devereaux, and Claire was amazing.

We've had a good fall break so far. The kids decorated and carved pumpkins yesterday. I ran some errands and did a lunch date with James. Today, he is shooting with Devin while I do my normal stuff around the house.

This week really has been full of tender mercies, namely the cheap dishwasher, the free dresser, and finding a Harry Potter shirt at D.I. I had been thinking about all of these things beforehand and was able to find them easily and cheaply. I'm really grateful when those little things happen. They show that God is really looking out for me.

Conference, Broken, Happy, Fall Break Plans

We really enjoyed watching General Conference as a family. I especially enjoyed the women's session. It gave me a lot of peace and clarity that I'd been looking for. I made the first set of curtains for the cabin, but they'll be temporary since they're made from an old sheet and don't look super great. They do keep the glare off the TV, though.

I kept Kenny home this week since he's been coughing. He got what Joseph had, so it's not anything serious, but we're trying to be extra careful not to spread anything at school. So far, there have been no cases at the kids' elementary school but 1 at the high school, not in James's class that we know of. Cases are starting to go up overall, though. I'm getting a little nervous, even though there's nothing resembling an outbreak in the schools (15 in a school or 3 in one class).

Our dishwasher is broken. The motor burned out. That's our 3rd one in 7 years. Each one seems to last half as long as the previous, with this one only making it 14 months. Ugh. I'm going to go look at new ones today, and hopefully we can install a new one this weekend. I'm so sick of replacing them. I suppose they aren't cut out for being run twice a day anymore. You'd think I'd been washing glass shards, but the only glass things I really own are Mason jars, and those things are super sturdy.

Despite having to wash dishes by hand, I feel happy this week. I finished all my sewing projects, deep cleaned the girls' room, and did some baking, even delivering some goodies to new neighbors and ones who are moving away. I even started exercising most days. I can't usually make it past 30 minutes, but I can tell it's making a difference with my mood. Surgery really threw off my groove, but I'm slowly getting it back.

I don't completely know what we'll do for fall break since we won't be traveling, but I do know that I'm going to build a long shelf in the boys' room for their Lego creations. We'll also deep clean their room. I'm getting some pumpkins today, so we should be able to carve those next week too.

It's funny, but I know I'm feeling semi-normal because of what I've been able to do. Getting out of bed and cooking breakfast doesn't guarantee that I'm feeling happy, but a big organizing project or baking multiple items probably does. I hope it lasts. It's been a tough year.

Finished, Projects

We finished the cabin! We've been starting to decorate it, but that will likely take more time. We're trying to do that cheaply and with a fantasy theme, it's pretty easy to make or track things down if you're patient. I'm thinking we'll have elements from Lord of the Rings (of course), Harry Potter, and comic book superheroes.

We hosted our first game night with a few friends on Friday, and it was really fun. Saturday, I mowed the lawn; disconnected all the hoses; and spray painted the chairs, the stools, and the bottom of the bench black. I also helped James install a giant TV he found at a yard sale. Both projects took longer than expected, and I'd been hoping for a lazy Saturday. I wasn't too happy that I didn't get a break until 2 P.M.

This week was a lot less busy. I did a few errands yesterday to escape, so that was really nice. I also worked on a few sewing projects and fixed a few things that needed it inside the house. I really don't like fixing things most of the time, but I like the final result. The toddlers are still driving me crazy and make me wish I had a job outside the home.

I have a few small sewing projects left, but I'm not sure what I'll do next. It's nice not to have a huge, time-consuming project looming over my head, but I miss it at the same time. I know that's totally crazy, but it gave me purpose.