International Recipes

Lesson planning for social studies always takes me far longer than any other subject, in part because I intertwine other subjects with social studies - art, reading, writing, etc. I utilize library books in social studies far more than in any other subject each year. I am *almost* done with planning social studies for next year. Our focus is economics, geography, and studying various cultures around the globe. I have picked out a variety of holidays that we will learn about and celebrate in some fashion (Holi, Passover, Sabbath, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Diwali, Three King's Day, St. Lucia Day, St. Nicholas Day, Australia Day, Chinese New Year, Purim, etc.), but I haven't yet figured out exactly what we will do to celebrate or learn more about those holidays yet. When we studied countries and cultures in 2015-16, we also tried various recipes from around the world. This was definitely NOT Nadia's favorite aspect of school that year. She *loved* eating brigaderio (Brazilian recipe), but in general she couldn't stand trying new foods. I'm trying to locate some new international recipes that hopefully at least most members of the family will enjoy. We shall see how that goes!

We already eat pierogies (Polish), chicken cordon bleu, German apple cake, shepherd's pie, beef stroganoff, and quite a few Mexican and Italian dishes such as quesadillas, taquitos, burritos, enchiladas, nachos, taco salad, tacos, spaghetti, chicken parmigiana, pizza, lasagna, stuffed shells, manicotti, rigatoni and meatballs, baked ziti, chili con carne, Stromboli, calzone, meatball sandwich, ravioli, pasta e fagioli, omelets, baked spaghetti, and garlic bread.

Some of the recipes I've chosen thus far include: tourtiere, chomeur's pudding, quiche Lorraine, croque monsieur, challah, crispy potato kugel, chimichangas, fajitas, chicken gyros, chocolate mousse, pommes aligot, French onion soup, tiramisu, crepes, Swedish meatballs, Swedish apple pie, hasselback potatoes, brigaderio (haven't made it in 5 years), flourless chocolate cake, pannenkoeken, fruit kuchen, jerk chicken, tortilla Española, beef empanadas, bacon and egg pie, scones, bunuelitos de jamon, Anzac biscuits, Sopa Paraguaya, and focaccia bread. I'm hoping some of the new recipes will end up being added to my recipe rotation. I need to add quite a few more to this list over the next few months because for one thing at the moment I don't have any recipes from Asia or Africa. 

A local farm market is having a great sale on chicken this week. I've been reading that they are expecting we'll have a meat shortage here in the US. So I ordered 80 pounds of chicken today because I can get it for $1.25 (or less) per pound. I've never even bought 20 pounds of chicken breast at one time before much less 80 pounds! That will last us for several months (maybe 6?). We were hoping to buy a chest freezer, but they are even harder to find than toilet paper. Thankfully Paul's family will help store the chicken for us. It might be 60-90 minutes away from our house, but it will be frozen, and Paul can bring a little bit home when needed over the coming months. 

P.S. We saw the movie "Harriet" yesterday, and I give it two thumbs up!

Isolation

Many people have been showing photos from 1919 of Americans wearing face masks and also a newspaper clipping that shows that in some places the churches, movie theatres, schools, etc. were closed due to the Spanish influenza. Being isolated in 2020 is definitely different from being isolated 101 years ago. Telephones did exist at that point, but nowadays it seems many people are more inclined to use Zoom, Skype, FaceTime, etc. to communicate with others. During this quarantine Nadia has been using Skype once a week, YouTube live twice a week, and Zoom three times each week to interact with youth groups at two different churches. She also frequently uses Zoom or FaceTime to talk with her cousin Rachel as well as four girls in 6th and 7th grade at our church. When we can't go to church, we can choose between a myriad of preachers from around the world. Many musicians have been airing performances from their homes at no charge. We can order things from the comfort of our home and have it shipped straight to our house or in the case of groceries make arrangements so an employee will place our bags in the trunk of our vehicle. I know they had rationing during WW1, but I don't know if they had shortages of toilet paper and such. Although the libraries have been closed for more than a month, we are still able to access many eBooks and audiobooks for free through Kindle Unlimited, Hoopla, and Overdrive. Speaking of which, if you use Hoopla, they have placed some of their books, movies, and audiobooks into a bonus collection which enables you to go past your typical limit of 4 per month. I love that there isn't a monthly limit with Overdrive, but the advantage of Hoopla is that you never have to wait in line for anything. I've been using Hoopla and Kindle Unlimited for picture books far more than I have ever done in the past. They also didn't have any televisions 100 years ago. Even though my kids typically only watch 40-60 minutes a day via the tv or an iPad, it's definitely a highlight of their day. Oliver doesn't always earn electronic turns (iPad, Wii, or Switch), but Nadia usually earns 1-2 twenty minute turns a day, and Ian usually earns 3 turns. We have had a free 30 day trial of streaming with Netflix that will be ending in a few days. Yesterday I started a free 30 day trial for CBS all access as well as DVDs from Netflix. Today the kids picked shows from the CBS app, and I'm looking forward to seeing Harriet (about Harriet Tubman), which is one of the two DVDs we're supposed to receive in the mail tomorrow. Usually we get DVDs from the library, and we'll go back to that whenever the library reopens. I think the earliest the library might reopen is May 9, but I'm definitely not holding my breath

Best laid plans

Before having children, Paul and I used to go out on a date to celebrate our birthdays, and I used to have a few birthday lunches with friends (colleague from work, friend from Bible study, etc.). I haven't really made plans to celebrate my birthday for the past 12 years, but last summer I made plans for my 48th birthday. I purchased tickets to see Esther on April 21, and we were also planning on touring Wheatland (home of the Buchanan - the only President from our state) and having lunch at Shady Maple Smorgasbord. Paul and the kids have never eaten there, and it's been a few decades since I've eaten there (not counting a funeral meal Paul and I ate in a private room at that establishment). We didn't spend my birthday in Lancaster. Paul spent it at work. He didn't get home until 9:20pm. The kids and I spent it at home. I had enjoyed taking a walk on Sunday and Monday, and I had hoped to do the same on my birthday. It was raining in the morning, but the skies looked clear in the afternoon so I decided to get some fresh air. The kids rode their bikes which enabled them to arrive back at home before I did, which was fortuitous for them. The last about 1/2 mile of the way home was downright miserable for me. The wind was gusting, the temperature dropped even more, and it was sleeting. It might have been hail. All I know was the parts of me that were exposed (face and hands) were being pelted, and it HURT. I was a dripping mess by the time I got home. My hair, pants, coat, shoes, and pants were drenched. My coat has a hood, but the wind kept blowing it off my head. I'm planning on waiting a few days before attempting another walk. I received five birthday phone calls yesterday - my sisters, a woman from church who calls people on their birthday and gives them a birthday verse, Paul's mom, and my Dad/Margie. I also received birthday texts from two aunts and three friends. I wanted to make chicken enchiladas for my birthday dinner, but we had too many leftovers in the frig. I'm making it tonight instead.




I've planned many vacations and weekend getaways over the years. There have been two times when we didn't go on a vacation even though we had already paid for our lodging through Interval (timeshare). Once we had a trip planned to Mexico that we ended up cancelling because I decided to teach additional classes at BU that particular summer to earn money towards our adoption expenses. Then in the fall of 2018 we had a trip to Williamsburg cancelled due to a hurricane. We ended up seeing those sites in May 2019 instead. Two getaways that were cancelled after making Airbnb reservations included a trip to Niagara Falls in the fall of 2017 (because I went back to work at BU), and a trip to Pittsburgh in August 2018 that was cancelled because our basement flooded. We didn't receive refunds from Interval either time, but we did receive full refunds from Airbnb both times. We ended up going to Niagara Falls in 2018. The trip to Pittsburgh wasn't rescheduled. This year I thought the kids and I would be going on five trips. The first was scheduled for earlier this month in Chicago, and the second was to MD/DC in May. Those have been cancelled. I'm assuming the trip to Chicago will not take place until the end of March 2021. I'm still hoping we will go to MD/DC at some point this summer, but some of the things that were planned for our trip next month won't likely happen until 2021 such as seeing the Blue Angels perform. The other three trips are scheduled for August (Long Island in the beginning of the month and Canada etc. the end of the month) and the first week of October (OH, KY, WV, PA). It's too soon to know if we'll be able to go on any of those three trips at this point. I hope so, but I also realize here's no guarantee due to the coronavirus.




The stay-at-home order has been extended in our state through May 8, and then at that point it will be lifted in some counties. We don't know yet if our county will be one of them. Obviously the counties that currently have less than 5 cases of COVID-19 will be included, but I have no idea what the cut-off will be. To be honest, the stay-at-home order is not what keeps us at home. If that order is lifted but the places we'd like to go are still closed, then we'll still be at home all of the time. Usually I make a bucket list for the summer, but I haven't made one for this summer in light of not knowing if we'll be able to go places and do things outside of our home.

1. Although we typically use the public library in the summer, I'm just hoping it will reopen by September. If the virus has a second wave and it seems there might be another lock down coming, I will go to the library and check out LOTS of books before that happens. I *almost* did that on March 13, but I remember thinking "surely the libraries won't be closed." WRONG! They have been closed since March 13 and are currently closed "indefinitely." I hope to learn from my mistake and stock up on library books if I think they might close again in the future due to a second wave of this virus or another virus.

2. I am thinking it might be a long time until churches are reopened. We have to get to phase 2 to be allowed to be in groups between 10-49 people. We don't even know when we'll enter phase 1 much less phase 2. They have said mass gatherings (ex. concerts) still won't be allowed even in phase 3, so what does that mean for a church which has an average weekly attendance of 1,500? Does that mean we can't return to church until 2021? If so, we might start going to a smaller church once the smaller churches are allowed to reopen.




3. Nadia is most concerned about being able to go to Camp Susque. The kids are signed up for camps in July. Will any of these actually take place? Nadia also is hoping to go to the nationals for Bible quizzing in Oklahoma in July.

4. We've never had a membership or season pass for an amusement park before. I started paying a monthly fee for a membership with Six Flags earlier this year. We had planned to visit five different Six Flags parks (NY, Quebec, MA, NJ, and MD) this summer. Will we actually be able to go to any amusement parks in 2020? I saw that Disney probably won't reopen until 2021. I hope that Six Flags will give us a full refund if they don't actually open their parks this year.

5. There are a variety of other field trips on our calendar in the coming months. Time will tell how many of those will actually be possible. I'm hoping that by sometime in June or July we can at least start doing SOME things outside our house. If we can't go on the two vacations (August/October) that involve hotel stays, hopefully we will receive full refunds. We need the US/Canada border to open within the next four months for one thing.




Ian has been working toward purchasing a Lego set. We don't give the kids an allowance. We give them money on their birthdays, $1 for losing a tooth, $5 for finishing their AWANA book for the year (Nadia earns $1 for memorizing 10 verses), $5 for finishing a level in piano, $1 for reading 1,000 pages, and money for doing extra chores. Yesterday Ian said he wanted to earn $2 so he helped me do extra chores for an hour. I was struggling to come up with enough chores to enable him to earn the amount of money he wanted. I had said earlier this year that I'd give the kids $2 if they memorized the Presidents. I knew that this coming school year I was going to have them learn all the countries of the world, many of the capitals, and the provinces of Canada. So I told Ian that if he learned the countries of North and South America I'd give him $2. On Monday I recorded a few videos of him playing his favorite songs from Level 4. He's now begun working on Level 5. I recently ordered him a book of piano solos that feature Star Wars music. I'd also like to get a book for piano duets (four hands on one piano). Today I recorded videos of him reciting the Presidents, countries of North America/ Central America, Caribbean, and South America. I stuck with countries. If an island is owned by another country (ex. Puerto Rico, Anguilla, Virgin Islands, Aruba, etc.) I didn't have him learn those. I'm planning on having him review them over the course of the year. He still needs to earn $3, but I went ahead and purchased the set on Amazon. I'm sure he'll earn the money before it arrives. Nadia has recently used her money to buy a Harry Potter light switch cover and clothes hamper as she wants to change her bedroom decor from butterflies to Harry Potter.

PB and J

Paul took Nadia to the pet store on Saturday in conjunction with doing the grocery shopping for the week. They came home with a guinea pig whom Nadia named Peppa. Paul commented that our three guinea pigs first initials spell out PB and J. Buttercup purrs the most, but Peppa also purrs far more than Jenna. Peppa is the most adventurous of any of the four guinea pigs we've owned. Ian took Buttercup outside for the first time today. Jenna loves to eat grass when she's outside, but Buttercup didn't try eating any grass.

I pulled Oliver's loose tooth yesterday. It was the sixth tooth that he's lost. The dentist has pulled four, and I have pulled two. No copay or Novocain is needed when I pull teeth. Nadia enjoyed being the "tooth fairy" last night.

We listened to two sermons today - one by Tony Evans that was recorded in March and one livestream by Andy Stanley. Last night we listened to a livestream by Michael W Smith and others (including one song by Amy Grant).

The weather was nicer today. PTL! I walked with Oliver for the first time in over a week. Unfortunately he fell off his scooter once and scraped his knee and chin. He was wearing a helmet, but maybe this child needs bubble wrap? I had suggested he use his bike instead of the scooter. I think he'll take my advice next time. I also mowed the lawn. It felt heavenly to be outside. Hopefully I can take several walks this week.

I've been working on planning social studies for next year. We won't be doing much history at all. Our focus will be geography, culture, and economics. One chapter book we will be reading together is Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? We will be trying new recipes from around the world, enjoying chapter books that take place all around the world, reading a wide variety of folktales and fairy tales, doing multicultural art projects, learning the location of most countries of the world (as well as the provinces of Canada), and celebrating holidays from around the world.

I have included some library books in my plans. I assume the library has to reopen at some point during the year even if things might be done differently and we might need to wear masks to pick up our books and DVDs. Most of the writing assignments for the year will relate to social studies such as rewriting some fairy tales to change the setting to a different continent, writing poems about each continent, and writing five country reports over the course of the year. Nadia and Ian will each choose one country from North America, South America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. I'm also going to have them give weekly oral current event reports as if they were a reporter on TV about what is happening around the world. I think I'll have to add one stipulation that it has to be something unrelated to the coronavirus. I do enjoy lesson planning even though there are many unknowns at this point due to COVID-19. I have a lengthy list of audiobooks for us to enjoy together, and I'm working on lists of chapter books for Nadia and Ian to choose from for some of their independent reading.

Which season is it?

It has officially been spring for almost one full month. I know it's not officially summer until June 2020, but we tend to think that "summer" begins once the school year is over. When I was a child our school year ended right around Memorial Day. Summer break for my kids usually begins in early May, but this year because so many field trips were cancelled and because we've been home almost 24/7 for a month, we finished earlier than planned. Our last day was April 15. The kids opted to do extra work in some subjects to make that possible. For example, Nadia and Ian did four lessons in Liver (Life of Fred math textbook) on Wednesday. It feels strange in April to say we've started our summer break, but it's true. What makes it feel even stranger is it snowed yesterday and today. Yesterday it didn't stick to the ground, but it did today. Snow might be pretty to look at in January, but I don't have that opinion of snow in April. I mowed the lawn and power washed one side of the house last Saturday. I haven't really been outside since then. I'm longing for warmer weather so I can get back in the habit of walking. I ordered some new sneakers online because I was bleeding through the sock and soaking the inside of my right sneaker in blood. The sight of my sneaker grossed my kids out, ha ha! I made sure to put on band-aids every time I went for a walk after that happened. I have never bought sneakers online before. I always felt the need to try shoes on because I don't always buy the same size. Hopefully these new sneakers will fit.

The kids have a list of activities they can pick between to earn screen time, and there are limits on how much screen time they can earn. Nadia really wanted to take pre-algebra next year, but when I gave her the placement test, the recommendation was that she take Math 7. So she decided she wanted to do both during the next school year. She started Math 7 yesterday, and she's already completed five lessons. It's completely her choice. She's chosen to do math, practice the piano (with a guinea pig on her lap), and read the last two days. She's been reading on the Kindle recently. She really, really prefers to read an actual book, but when the library is closed for an indefinite length of time, she is willing to read library books on the Kindle. Ian has practiced the piano for at least an hour a day the past two days. He also has done one puzzle each day and read a library book on the Kindle. Yesterday Oliver did a typing lesson, read a book about snakes to me, and did a puzzle. Today, he didn't want as much screen time so he only did two puzzles. Ian built a new Lego set that came in the mail today. Nadia still memorizes 3 Bible verses a day. It doesn't earn her turns, but I do give her $1 for every 10 verses she memorizes. I also give Nadia and Ian $1 for every 1,000 pages they read. Oliver is expecting to get $1 in the near future as he has a loose tooth.

Summer break means I spend more time planning for the next school year and doing projects around the house. I'm not putting any dates on the lesson plans for the upcoming year. I usually plan for 150 days and the other 30+ are usually field trip days. Hopefully we WILL be able to go on some field trips during the 2020-21 school year. It takes me many, many hours to plan out all the subjects for three kids. Today I worked on Bible. We read through the whole Old Testament together four years ago and the New Testament three years ago. I've decided this second time around to take two years to read through the OT. The plan I devised today for the 2020-21 school year is to read Genesis through 2 Samuel plus Psalms. We will also use a global prayer guide from Voice of the Martyrs and a book called Window on the World, which I intended to use 5 years ago but didn't actually use. We'll also be learning about various religions (Mormonism, Judiasm, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Jehovah's Witness, etc. ) as well as praying for a specific country or people group most days. I have plenty of time to invest in lesson planning since we're home all the time! I'm not sure whether I should include resources from the library that I can only obtain if they reopen. In the past that never crossed my mind, but considering the libraries have been closed for a month and haven't yet determined a date when they will reopen, it's a valid concern. I did decide this week to scrap our plans to go to MD/DC next month after I saw the Blue Angels show was cancelled and Ford's Theatre extended their closure. Hopefully we'll make it down there in June or July, but I will probably reschedule many of the places we planned to visit for 2021.

Buttercup

For the first 15.5 years of our marriage we didn't have any pets. I am a cat person, and Paul is a dog person. Paul is allergic to cats, and we usually travel too much to have a dog. From the end of December 2016 through the beginning of February 2020, we had two guinea pigs. Sadly, Ian's much loved guinea pig, Patches, had to be put to sleep unexpectedly in early February. We adopted two male rabbits two days later. After they were in our home for almost 10 weeks, we surrendered them back to the SPCA and purchased a new guinea pig. We've had a total of five different pets in our home thus far in 2020, and we're planning on purchasing another guinea pig on Saturday. Instead of placing a grocery order online with Weis or Walmart this week, Paul is planning to go to the Aldi in Williamsport this coming weekend. Nadia will go with him so she can hopefully pick a guinea pig at the pet store. When I came down this morning I felt a little sad because I always eat a banana first thing in the morning, and for weeks I had been sharing my banana with Cocoa and Coal. It felt strange to eat the whole banana myself. Similarly, when I removed an empty roll of toilet paper, I thought of the bunnies as for the last 2 months we hadn't put any of those in the garbage because the bunnies liked to eat the little cardboard tubes. When Ian came down this morning, the first thing he said was that he was relieved he didn't have poop duty this morning. Nadia and Ian took turns cleaning out the bunny cage. So far Buttercup seems like an excellent addition to our family. I've definitely been holding her more than I held Patches or Jenna in one day. After all the stress of the bunnies, it's very soothing to have a little furry body purring away under my chin. Ian interacted far more with Buttercup today than he ever did in one day with Coal. I personally never aspired to own a guinea pig (or a rabbit), but I really think guinea pigs are just the right pet for our family. They don't bite (the bunnies bit the kids a few times). The only way the rabbits could communicate was by thumping, and I didn't appreciate being awakened in the night by their loud thumping. Guinea pigs use a variety of sounds to communicate including squeaking and purring. Guinea pigs definitely are more prone to snuggling than our bunnies were. Nadia and Ian love to practice the piano with a guinea pig on their lap or sitting next to them, and Ian loves to read with his guinea pig on or beside him. If Oliver continues to want a fish tank and fish for his birthday in August, then 2020 will definitely be the year we had the greatest number of pets spend some time in our house! Hopefully all three guinea pigs will get along nicely, but if not we can separate them as we do have two cages now. This morning we moved Jenna to the larger cage with Buttercup. We're hoping maybe she'll have a sort of motherly instinct toward our new little arrival.

The kids have been very motivated to finish their subjects earlier than planned. Oliver did three math lessons yesterday! Ian and Nadia did 2.5 history lessons today. We have only two days left of school, but they will be shorter days. Oliver and Nadia are done with spelling. Nadia passed her final word today, "camouflageable." All of them have finished math, science, handwriting, grammar, and writing. Today I posted the list of activities that they can each pick between to earn the privilege of watching tv, playing the Wii (or Switch), or using an iPad during the next four months. We'll finish history tomorrow and Spanish plus Life of Fred on Thursday. They are all still reading every day, and Nadia and Ian are still practicing the piano. Nadia is still memorizing 3 verses a day Monday through Saturday. On Sundays she reviews and recites a chapter previously memorized plus learns one new verse. She finished memorizing 2 Peter today! Prior to this year she had never memorized an entire book of the Bible before, but in 2020 she has already memorized 1 Peter and 2 Peter. Tomorrow she will start memorizing Hebrews chapter 7. She has already memorized the first 6 chapters. She's really hoping that COVID-19 won't cause the nationals to be cancelled in Oklahoma in July. Although life has definitely been abnormal over the past month, I keep reminding myself it's far better than what I experienced in 2012 while on bedrest in the hospital. Although we're pretty much confined to our home (aside from walks in the neighborhood when the weather is nice), I am NOT confined to a bed like I was for 10 weeks in 2012. Also, I spent the vast majority of that time in a hospital around 90 minutes away from my husband, toddler, and preschooler. Aside from visits from medical professionals, I was alone almost all the time. I don't know how many weeks this lockdown will end up lasting, but I am not spending it alone. We see Paul a little bit six days a week (and all day on Sunday), and I'm with my three kids for about 14 hours a day seven days a week, which is so much better than spending it all alone.

Tough Decisions

The last few weeks I've had two decisions on my mind. The first has related to our time share. I bought a twenty-year, biennial time share at the end of 1999. We have absolutely, positively gotten a lot of good use out of it, and we've been able to obtain weeks for some family and friends as well over the years. Recently I received a renewal notice. If I pay a one time fee of $370, my ownership will be extended through 2045. Back in 1999, I was planning on renewing when the twenty years had passed. Now I'm not sure what to do. First of all, most of the upcoming vacations we're hoping to take (presuming this quarantine does end) are not the kind where you just stay put at one place for seven days. Secondly, Interval changed their policy a couple of years ago. Most of the time I owned my time share we didn't pay any extra fee to exchange our efficiency for a two, three, or four bedroom unit elsewhere. It's hard to turn the offer down knowing how much we've benefitted from our time share the past 20 years, but I'm not sure it's right thing to do at this point. We have a little more time

before we have to decide one way or the other. Hopefully we'll make the right choice.

The second decision has related to our rabbits. When we went to the SPCA on February 5, we were planning to adopt two female rabbits. We looked in the cages and picked two females. Then the people at the SPCA convinced us to adopt two almost 3 month old twin male rabbits instead. We had some problems from the get go such as biting windowsills, but we hoped in time they would learn not to do that. Then about a week ago or so things started really going downhill. The bunnies male hormones were out of control. The frequent humping had been annoying, but when they started spraying urine on each other and marking their territory incessantly, it was just plain disgusting. I have been wiping urine off the walls, floors, windows, all over their cage, etc. in the dining room and living room. We hoped things would improve after they were neutered, but that surgery was probably going to be postponed because at the moment vets aren't allowed to spay or neuter animals because of COVID-19, and it takes 6-8 weeks after the surgery for the hormones to fully leave. Paul and I separately spent hours trying to pick an outdoor hutch. We were rather overwhelmed at the cost of paying for their neutering surgeries PLUS an outdoor hutch. The bunnies also had not gotten to the point where they enjoyed being held. They would lick us; Cocoa in particular gave Nadia many "kisses." I had floated the idea of returning the bunnies to the SPCA, but Paul wasn't in agreement. I figured part of our "stimulus check" that everyone will be receiving at some point would be going toward the rabbits. 

Paul called me from work this morning and surprised me by saying his opinion had changed. After lunch I talked with the kids about returning the bunnies and getting 1-2 more guinea pigs. Nadia seemed fine. Ian cried some. I made the dreaded call to the SPCA, and they gave me an appointment at 2:30. This happened one time to us decades ago when we had two male cats. I remember when we had to give my sister's cat, Domino, away because the two male cats kept marking their territory. It seems it's always best to have either only females or at most ONE male whether we're talking about cats, dogs, or rabbits. This afternoon we surrendered the bunnies back to the SPCA. Tomorrow I need to call the vet and let them know we aren't having any rabbits neutered after all. In December 2016 we got two guinea pigs at Petco. I called Petco today, and at first they said they had one female guinea pig, but when they checked they said they had sold her today. I called PetSmart, and they said they did have female guinea pigs available. We went there right after we left the SPCA. Unfortunately they only had ONE guinea pig left, and we had planned to buy two. Ian had wanted another Abyssinian guinea pig, and that was what kind they had available. 

Abyssinians come in all different colors, but the guinea pig they had was another white Abyssinian, but this one has bigger patches of black on it than Patches did. I think if I were choosing a name I'd probably have picked Oreo or Domino, but Ian picked Buttercup. He asked me to tell Aunt Yvonne that because he knows that Princess Bride was one of her favorite movies decades ago. This guinea pig is TINY. The picture makes her seem bigger than she is. Jenna looks gigantic in comparison to Buttercup, but I imagine in time they'll be the same size. Now to begin litter training Buttercup. This is not my favorite aspect of pet ownership! Hopefully Buttercup will live for many happy years in our house. She is a PURRING machine. I couldn't believe how long she purred when I held her. Honestly she already seems more affectionate with us in a few hours than the bunnies did after 2+ months. We have already begun praying that Cocoa and Coal (whom the SPCA have renamed Cole and Jaxx) will be adopted into loving homes in the near future. When we adopted them in early February, there were MANY rabbits up for adoption. They only had one available before we surrendered ours. 


Today was a rollercoaster day emotionally. It was hard to return the rabbits, but I also feel a sense of relief as they were definitely stressing me out. Ian is very, very happy that Buttercup has been added to our family. I used to think that our first two guinea pigs were our "starter" pets and then we'd next have either rabbits or a dog. At this point I think we are declaring that guinea pigs are our pets for the foreseeable future. If the kids want to have a cat, rabbit, snake, or dog, I think they'll have to wait until they are adults and living somewhere else. Oliver did ask me if he could have a goldfish. Sure. I am quite certain a goldfish isn't going to chew my windowsill or spray urine all over the place. I'm thinking we might get him a goldfish in August for his birthday. For now Buttercup is in what had been the rabbits cage, and Jenna is in the same cage she's been in for 3+ years. If we find that they get along well, we are planning to move them both into the newer cage. Nadia still wants to get a second guinea pig. Once one of the pet stores have some available, we'll be heading back up there. It was the first time in a few weeks that the kids and I had gone anywhere in the van. The kids didn't go in the SPCA. They went with me into the pet store. We didn't have masks on because we didn't expect to leave the house and don't have any at home. The way they have things set up to follow social distancing was rather surreal. 

Although Easter was certainly very different this year, I think it was still special. We watched two services online on Sunday morning. I asked everyone to get somewhat dressed up. Usually the boys wear a shirt and tie on Easter Sunday, but I said a polo shirt would be fine given we weren't leaving the house. I had planned to take a picture of the kids, but Nadia changed out of her dress before I got a picture. Because they always came home with many hardboiled eggs from the egg hunts, we hadn't colored any eggs in quite awhile. I decided we'd dye eggs this year and hide them in the yard and inside the house. Plastic eggs work much better for that activity, but we didn't have any around, and this way the kids got to color some eggs. I'm planning on making egg salad and also creamed egg on toast with the 18 eggs we hard boiled. Creamed egg on toast reminds me of my mom, as that was something she made periodically. The rest of my family aren't really crazy about it so I only make it once a year. I got the kids each a bag of jellybeans, and today Paul stopped at CVS and got them each a chocolate bunny now that they are marked down 50%. Grandpa and Gubba had mailed them some candy as well. They got FAR less candy this year than they usually do because of all the egg hunts being cancelled, but they still got some sweets. The pit game that I gave Oliver has been a hit. The kids love it and have asked to play it multiple times already. Grandma and Pop Pop gave them each a gift card on Amazon, and Nadia and Oliver each already received one of the two things they ordered today! Oliver was thrilled that we had sweet potatoes on Sunday. Nadia was very thankful for the cranberry sauce. I forgot to get rolls, and realized it too late in terms of making some from scratch. Ian was disappointed about that as his idea of a good holiday meal (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter) is to just eat turkey (or ham) plus rolls, but otherwise I think we had a special meal together. The two decisions we've been wrestling with are so miniscule compared to the ones the President and Governors are wrestling with right now regarding when to start reopening businesses and easing the stay-at-home orders. Praying that they make wise decisions!

Good Friday

The date when we celebrate Easter moves around more than most holidays. We had planned to be in Chicago with my sister and her family this week. This week Facebook has been reminding me of this by showing me pictures from when we were in Ohio and Chicago on these same dates in April 2017. Usually we celebrate Easter with Paul's family. I believe this is this first year that we won't be celebrating Easter with any extended family. The kids and I haven't seen Paul's family since December 25, and at this point we don't know when we will be able to see them again even though they only live an hour away from us. It's also going to be very, very, very strange not to go to church on Easter Sunday. Last night we viewed FBC's Maundy Thursday service online. We turned off all the lights (as the pastor suggested). We didn't have any crackers on hand so we each ate a little pretzel during the communion portion of the service. Today we are planning on watching the service on GoodFriday.com at 5pm as well as another Good Friday service on TBN at 8pm. We haven't decided which service we'll watch on Sunday morning. I'm planning to cook sweet potatoes, ham, and such for our Easter dinner on Sunday. Usually we do NOT do any shopping on Easter, but that happened to be the only time I could get a slot for an online grocery order pick-up from Walmart or Weis. I'm hoping that will be Paul's only trip to a grocery store next week. We haven't attempted to buy toilet paper yet, but at some point we will need to get some.

Thankfully the projected number of deaths in the US has fallen to 60,000, which is higher than a typical seasonal flu but not as bad as the 2017-18 flu which claimed more than 80,000 lives in the US. At the same time we heard that good news, our Governor declared that the public schools are closed for the rest of this academic year. I figure that means the public libraries will also be closed until at least some time in June. We will be thrilled if things begin to reopen in the middle of May, but I'm praying that at least by July the kids will be allowed to attend camps, amusement parks, etc. I'm imagining that the restrictions will probably be gradually removed, and I think it will be a longer time until larger crowds are allowed to assemble which might mean no concerts this summer. I also wonder what that will mean for our church, which has an average attendance around 1,500 people on Sunday mornings? Politically I strongly lean towards the Libertarian position when it comes to many issues (on other issues such as abortion, I lean toward the Republican position). I hope that the government being this intrusive into our daily lives and into the economy doesn't become the norm! As a person who longs to see the government operate within a balanced budget and decrease the national debt, the financial decisions of our government recently have been very distressing to me. The government created the surge in the unemployment rate by requiring many "non-essential" businesses to shut down, and then they are now paying many of those people more than they made when they were working. If you made $400 a week before, you will be receiving $950 a week through unemployment due to the $600 bonus they are giving everyone. Why pay people more than double to stay home than they were paid to do their job?!?! Where is all this money going to come from?!? And then some epidemiologists don't even think that these measures are helpful in terms of ending the virus. If you are interested, look up Dr. Knut Wittkowski, and see what he has to say. He agrees that those with a higher risk (ex. those in nursing homes) should be quarantined right now, but not all school children and other healthy adults who don't have any risk factors. He says that not allowing herd immunity to develop is going to lead to a second wave of COVID-19 in the fall. My personal opinion is that decisions should be made for much smaller areas. ALL of the states don't need to be on "lockdown." Certain states (like NY and NJ) are definitely in a different position than say North Dakota or Wyoming. Similarly, certain counties are in a VERY different position within a state. There are counties in our state that still have as few as ONE case of coronavirus. Why should the "non-essential" businesses, churches, and schools in those counties be closed?!? Even in our county (population of about 91,000) we have fewer than 30 cases and zero deaths. It's a completely different story in Philadelphia, Allentown, and Luzerne County. Well I am definitely not a politician or an epidemiologist. I certainly hope that all of this social distancing and stay-at-home orders are doing more good than harm. 

Many, many resources are being made available online these days. An art studio in our area (Independently Made) has been offering free online video tutorials for paintings twice a week. If I were choosing, I would have chosen her lilac painting. I let Nadia pick one, and she did that painting yesterday. It's already hanging on a wall in her bedroom. Today Nadia watched a photography lesson for teens put on for free by Kyle Shutlz. One tv news station had their weather team put three weather lessons online. I don't want the kids to be staring at a screen for too many hours a day so I've been very selective in picking what we will use of the myriad of wonderful options out there. Everything we've been accessing has been free, but yesterday I did buy a personal finance class for middle schoolers for Nadia from Dave Ramsey's site as the price was REALLY marked down. She has one year to finish the 22 lessons, so there's no rush in starting it. Last week I walked over 18 miles, which was a huge improvement for me. The weather was beautiful Sunday through Wednesday. I didn't take a walk on Sunday but spent the time outside cleaning our fence. Monday through Wednesday I walked over 12 miles, but the weather turned cold again yesterday (we even had snow flurries this morning!) so I don't think I'll be logging any more miles this week. I'm hoping to go for a walk on Sunday afternoon. Well the true meaning of Easter is that Jesus died for all of our sins and then ROSE from the grave. We don't need to be in a church building, participate in egg hunts, or gather with extended family to celebrate His death and resurrection.

Spy School 101

Our first field trip that was cancelled due to COVID-19 was a maple sugaring program that we planned to attend on March 14. I have been assuming that under the best case scenario our next field trip will be in the middle of May, but I also won't be surprised if we have to wait until June or possibly even July to go on another field trip. As I was checking various websites of places we had planned to attend in May and June, I found out that the International Spy Museum (in DC) was having a virtual field trip on April 3 for grades 4+. I signed up to participate, and on Friday we received our Zoom invitation for a one hour program. It was very well done, and the museum sent us a variety of links to other resources after the program was over. Speaking of Zoom, Nadia is using it right now with the FBC youth group. She uses Zoom on Wednesdays at 4:00 with the Bible quizzing team and at 6:15 on Friday nights and Sunday nights with the FBC youth. Our church offers something on YouTube live or Instagram live on Wednesdays and Sundays at 6:05, but she only participates on Wednesdays

because she prefers to join the FBC group at 6:15 on Sunday nights. Oliver, Ian, and I could very easily get all the days mixed up because we don't have certain days when we are scheduled to do something in particular. We've still been doing schoolwork M-F, chores on Saturday, and online church on Sundays, but once we finish our schoolwork it's really going to be hard to remember what day of the week it is. Usually we wear different clothes on Sundays. Ian has worn a polo shirt every Sunday of our confinement thus far. This morning Nadia and I wore dresses for the first time since March 8. We didn't discuss it, but rather just both independently made the same choice.

The new normal at this point means:

1. The kids and I are never in an automobile. Thankfully as the weather has been getting nicer recently, we have been taking some walks or riding bikes without wearing masks. If we encounter anyone else outside, we make sure to practice social

distancing. The upside is that I'm getting more exercise! I went on four walks last week, and two of those were about 5.5 miles each. Yesterday I mowed the lawn in addition to the 5.5 mile walk. Today I cleaned our fence. The kids have been spending more time than usual on the swing set and trampoline in our backyard. Our lawn mower will be going through more gasoline than our van over the next two months. Who would have ever thought that was possible?!?

2. Paul has taken over the grocery shopping, and he now wears a mask if he needs to go in a store. I am trying to order the vast majority of the groceries online, which means someone from Weis or Walmart brings the groceries out to his vehicle. Grocery shopping is definitely more challenging these days because of shortages. Thankfully, Paul was able to get some meat today. Walmart's online ordering process is much better than Weis's, but there is a Weis on the way home from work, whereas he has to make a special trip to go to Walmart. Plus some things are cheaper at Walmart. I am going to try to do most of the orders from Weis if possible to make it more convenient for him. We haven't tried to buy any toilet paper over

the past few weeks. Hopefully by the time we need some it won't be such a challenge to purchase it. There have been times in my life when I recall for a very brief time the shelves were empty at the grocery store (ex. bread and milk when a snowstorm has been predicted), but I've never experienced anything like this in my life where the shortage for a wide variety of items lasted for weeks.

3. Our calendar used to contain a variety of activities outside our house each week. March 15 was the last day the kids or I had something on the schedule that took place outside our home. We shall see when our first outing "post quarantine" will take place.

4. We've been playing more games together as a family. Typically the boys watch something different than Nadia (she uses the iPad while the boys use the TV). That still happens some of the time, but all five of us have watched a few movies together such as Onward (Disney+), National Treasure, and The Race to Witch Mountain. I don't often watch TV, but I've seen three episodes of Little Women on Amazon Prime and plan to watch Anne with an E on Netflix starting this week. I wanted to rent Jeremy Camp's movie "I Still Believe" until I found out it would cost $20 to just rent it. Yikes! I'll wait until it comes out on DVD and get it from Redbox or the library if the libraries are open at that point.

What our calendar used to look like

5. We wash our hands ALL. THE. TIME. If we get the mail or a box from UPS, we wash our hands after touching such objects as they might have the coronavirus on them. I also find myself checking our state's page for coronavirus statistics a few times a day.

6. We enjoy watching parodies online. People are really being creative in writing new lyrics that have to do with COVID-19 to a variety of songs. Some of my favorites have included a Christian school principal that did one using Frozen songs, a family who did one to the VeggieTales song "We are the pirates who don't do anything," a song that was using Maria from the Sound of Music, one man that included a wide variety of Disney songs/characters, and a reworking of a song from Les Misérables. This situation can very easily lead to stress and anxiety. We are trying to continue to laugh and find joy through this abnormal time. You know how sometimes we as parents accidentally call a child by their sibling's name? Well, today was the first time one of my children accidentally said to me, "Alexa" and then "oops I

mean Mommy." It was bound to happen given how many times a day we say "Alexa" in this house, LOL! Ian put a smile on my face last night as he was gathering his myriad of stuffed animals to take back up to his bed, and he said, "I need to get a drink first because those two actions aren't commutative." Since I'm his math teacher, I was pleased to hear evidence he definitely has grasped that concept. Similarly, on one of our walks a few days ago Oliver asked me, "Mom, what do you think the founding fathers would think of how the government ...." I have been far more laid back with Oliver when it comes to science and social studies instruction, but my seven year old initiated a conversation about the founding fathers and current events that we carried on for awhile as we walked.

7. Church takes place in our living room with our television. The first Sunday we did watch our church's online service, but since then we've been "church hopping." Today we watched a Palm Sunday service aired by a church in California. Jenna, our guinea pig, usually attends church with us, which of course never happens when we attend church in person! The bunnies

What our calendar looks like now!

are not well behaved enough to even join us for online church. They NEED to be neutered, but sadly that isn't allowed to take place until businesses are allowed to completely reopen. Let's just say I'm not too thrilled we have two male rabbits. We had planned to get two females, and I wish we had stuck to that plan!

8. I've been doing spring cleaning, and the kids have been earning junior ranger badges at a faster pace than usual. So far we are not bored. March 12 was the last "normal" day for us. March 13 was the beginning of cancellations and postponements. Nadia had planned to attend the Creation music festival the end of June, but that has already been cancelled, and I saw on the Camp Good News website that they are waiting to see if the camps will really run in July. I really, really hope that life can return to normal in July (if not sooner), but all we can do right now is take it one day at a time and continue to pray!

9. I've been taking far fewer pictures than normal, but I did better today! I'm planning on spending more time giving Nadia photography lessons over the next couple of months.

10. My back has still been giving me a LOT of grief. This has been the case for 2 months now. Lying down in bed and sitting on the couch are by far the two worst activities for my back. Hoping and praying that my back improves in the near future!

Grocery Shopping

Ian carries these stuffed animals around the house every day. This photo (taken today) was not staged in any way.

Paul has taken over the grocery shopping for our family because he's the one who is still interacting with people outside our house since his business is allowed to continue operating. The man who works in the office is working from home. Paul's dad is taking a hiatus from working. Paul has most of the crew only working four 10 hour shifts (Tues-Friday). There are only three people (including Paul) working there on Mondays and Saturdays. Shopping for groceries is not an easy task at the moment as the prices have gone up dramatically for some items at some grocery stores, and all of the stores are struggling to maintain an inventory that matches the demand. I've seen so many memes about the lack of toilet paper, but that's certainly not been the only item that is hard to get these days. A few days ago I thought I'd place an order online through Walmart, but I didn't do so at first because so many of the items I wanted to get were out of stock. Also, I found it was very difficult to reserve a time slot because they are only booking one day in advance. Yesterday I went online in the morning and was able to get a slot for this evening, and more of the items we wanted were available. I planned out our meals for three weeks to determine what we needed to buy. Then I emailed Paul a list of what items we needed that we couldn't get at Walmart (margarine, hot dogs, bologna, ground beef, chicken breast, etc.). Paul got some of the things on my list at the Weis in Danville on his way home from work last night.

This morning I went on Weis's website and placed an order with the Weis in Lewisburg. The earliest available slot was Sunday afternoon. I knew when placing both orders that there was no guarantee we would get everything that I requested. Never in my life do I recall praying about the inventory of Walmart or a grocery store, but I found myself praying about it today. I was relieved when I saw that they filled about 90% of my order at Walmart. They were out of sausage, one of the cheeses I tried to buy, one of the kinds of yogurt, and only gave me one dozen eggs although I had tried to buy two dozen. I will say that I didn't notice any price increases at Walmart. Hopefully Weis will be able to fulfill our entire order on Sunday. Walmart lets you modify your online order, but Weis doesn't so I couldn't add the items that Walmart was unable to fulfill. The plan is that when Paul picks up the online order on Sunday that he'll also go into the store and pick up a few things. If Weis fulfills all of our order and Paul can pick up the other few items, then I think the only shopping he will need to do in the next three weeks will be to pick up things like milk and produce that can't be bought three weeks in advance. The governor has said we are only to go grocery shopping once a week, but Paul will have gone three times in five days by Sunday, but that's only because it's been hard to find things. I had to pay more for ground beef than I think I've ever paid before, but I did find a price that wasn't utterly ridiculous. I'm thinking at some point we should invest in a chest freezer. My normal grocery shopping routine is that I stock up on items when they are on sale in the hopes that I buy enough that it will carry us through until the next time that particular item is on sale at a great price. It's easy to store extra boxes of pasta, canned goods, and cereal, but I'm very limited in what I can store that needs to be frozen. If we get a chest freezer, then I think in the future (once life returns to normal) I could stock up more.

Since the kids and I are not going anywhere by vehicle these days, we have more time for being outside. Nadia and Ian went a short distance today on their scooters and then played in our yard until Oliver and I got home. Oliver rode his bike for almost 5.5 miles, and I walked most of that and jogged part of the time. That's the most exercise I've gotten in awhile! I used to go that route (or other longer routes) 3-4 times a week when Paul was a professor. When he went back to the family business in May 2016, that was one of the sacrifices I had to make - no more running. I'm not in good enough shape to run that many miles yet, but I'm so happy that Ian and Nadia are now old enough that they can be unsupervised for a short amount of time and Oliver is able to ride his bike for 5+ miles with me. I believe I'll be exercising outside on a far more regular basis over the coming months! I vastly prefer exercising outside to exercising in the basement. Oliver and I were enjoying seeing different animals, and I was thrilled when he noticed things that we've studied recently in science such as moss.

Oliver brings different stuffed animals down each day. He brought these down yesterday and asked me to take a picture.