Star Wars Day

For the next approximately seven weeks, Nadia and her cousin, Rachel, will both be eleven years old as today is Rachel's birthday. She, like me, is not a fan of Star Wars, but May 4th has been dubbed Star Wars day. Paul and our three kids all enjoy Star Wars. Last year I saw A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood in the theater while my kids watched Rise of Skywalker.  A DVD of A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is coming to our home via Netflix this week. Paul and the boys are planning to see Rise of Skywalker on Disney+ this evening. Although Nadia enjoyed watching the movie, she said she'd rather watch some episodes on CBS while we have the free trial than watch the movie a second time. The kids have been careful not to talk about it around Paul the last few months as he hasn't seen it yet. On Saturday we all watched National Treasure 2 on Disney+, and even Nadia said she really enjoyed it. I like it when we all watch something together. I am looking forward to seeing three movies on DVD sometime in the next month or so -  Emma, I Still Believe, and Ride like a Girl. I thought the library would be reopening in the very near future since we're entering the yellow phase in four days because at one of the governor's briefings they said that the libraries would be reopening when that happened, but they aren't. The Office of Commonwealth of Libraries hasn't given any libraries in our state permission to reopen. They are still closed "indefinitely." I should have figured it out earlier because when they mentioned libraries they also had said pet groomers, hair salons, and nail parlors could reopen, but on May 1 they changed that plan and said that hair salons and nail parlors couldn't reopen. Well I have confidence they will reopen the libraries in the elusive green phase. At least we can access digital resources through the Free Library in Philadelphia no matter what "phase" we are in .

Paul picked up our online grocery order at Walmart on Sunday afternoon and also got a few things at CVS. I never, ever dreamt I would blog about grocery shopping as much as I have over the past seven weeks. I feel like I should have readjusted my expectations by now, but I still just find myself in somewhat of a state of shock over the difficulties in obtaining food and paper products. The good news about this most recent shopping trip was that we got 10 pounds of flour and 12 rolls of toilet paper. It was the first time we had been able to purchase either of those items since the middle of March, and Walmart was able to fulfill MOST of what we ordered. They had ZERO hotdog or hamburger buns in stock, and I had tried to buy 16 hot dog buns. They also were completely out of margarine. They gave us a lactaid version of cottage cheese. Hopefully that won't alter the taste of the casserole I'm planning to use it in. They also gave me a more expensive kind of ground beef. Usually they don't charge you more for a substitution, but they did in that instance. I had ordered a box of 15 ham and cheese hot pockets for Nadia and Oliver. Instead they gave us a box of 12 pizza hot pockets that included 4 kinds of meat. Paul immediately walked into the store to return them. They said they are not currently taking returns on food, but he explained that he just received these and his wife is allergic to sausage. So they gave him a refund. He then went back to the freezer section and bought a box of 12 ham and cheese hot pockets. Why didn't they give him that in the first place?!? Walmart's prices on most things are better than the other grocery stores near us. I'd shop at ALDI if we had one closer to our house. I've started another grocery order with Walmart for this Saturday afternoon . Hopefully it will go more smoothly; I am not going to attempt to get any Hot Pockets. I was happy to find out that Goodwill has been accepting donations since April 22. I had assumed that wasn't possible right now. The trunk of the van has been filled with donations for many weeks. The plan on Saturday is to drop things off at Goodwill, pick up the grocery order at Walmart, and pick up pizza for dinner at Venarri's (my favorite pizza place) since Mother's Day is this coming weekend. 

We've received three of the four masks I ordered on eBay so far. I'm hoping that the Star Wars one I ordered for Ian fits Nadia because the dog one was too small for her. If it doesn't fit her, I'll need to order another adult sized one. NONE of us like wearing them. My glasses fog up for one thing. Well at some point they will reopen museums, historical sites, zoos, churches, etc., and I'm assuming we'll be required to wear face masks when they do. So we are prepared for that whenever it happens. Maybe sometime in July? Time will tell. Every week Knoebels pushes back the earliest they could reopen. Today they shifted that date to June 7, but I would be shocked if we are moved to the green phase that quickly, and amusement parks can't reopen until we're in the green phase. The Governor's Office said they will make a decision about whether summer camps can operate in the yellow phase by May 8. We are still hoping against hope that Nadia can go to Camp Susque at the end of July. Sight and Sound today extended their closure for another month (through at least June 15), but I think they are in the same boat as Knoebels in that they won't actually be allowed to put on a production until their county is in the green phase, and they will still be in the red phase on Friday. I think once their county is in the yellow phase then they can at least begin to process refunds or rescheduling requests. What a project that will be as their performances are typically sold out, and their theater seats more than 2,000 people. 

 

Nadia and I tackled her bedroom this weekend. In hindsight we should have chosen a rainy day for that project rather than a gorgeous one, but I usually vacuum on Saturdays, and this Saturday that task lead me to start working on her room. She finished it this morning. Two girls in our neighborhood claimed some of the wooden magnetic dolls that she decided she had outgrown. She still has her American girl doll, paper dolls, and Barbie dolls. I'm glad she still enjoys them. Childhood should be treasured and not rushed in my opinion. The auto body shop returned my call today. He felt very badly about the lock falling out of my driver's door. They will take care of it. I said there wasn't a rush because I haven't been using the vehicle due to the virus. I'm grateful it won't cost us anything to get that fixed and that the repair shop is right in our town. Even though I miss taking my kids on field trips, I haven't missed all the driving that entailed.

Today was the fourth day in a row that I went for a walk. Nadia and I went for our walk (rollerblading in her case) in our dresses on Sunday. I sprayed Oliver with the garden hose, at his request, on Sunday when I was watering the areas where I recently spread grass seed. It got up almost to 80 degrees on Sunday! It was about 20 degrees cooler today. We have played about two thirds of the 75 games we own thus far. The last few we played included Clue, Uno, and Rummikub. We forgot to play a game today, unless you count the Wii. I don't usually play video games, but Oliver has been begging me to play with him. I played bowling and tennis on the Wii today. I bowl better on the Wii than I do in real life, but I play tennis better in real life than I do on the Wii. Oliver read to me for 40 minutes to earn the privilege of watching the Star Wars movie with Paul plus playing the Wii with me for 20 minutes.

Yellow Phase

It's amazing how words we very rarely or never used just a few months ago have been used so much lately that probably most of us are downright weary of them - COVID-19, coronavirus, pandemic, non-essential business, social distancing, Zoom, yellow phase, green phase, red phase, flattening the curve, masks, etc. I'm not sure if any other states are using the red, yellow, green descriptions for lifting the restrictions, but that's what our Governor has done here in Pennsylvania. Yesterday he said that 24 out of 67 counties will be moving from red to yellow on May 8. Many thought the number would be higher because more than 24 counties met the requirements. The requirement they talked about the most was that your county had to have an average of less than 50 new cases per 100,000 people for the previous 14 days. The counties in the southwestern portion of our state (Pittsburgh and surrounding counties) did meet those requirements, but they were told them had to stay in red just because too many people live in those areas. Moving to yellow means that more businesses can reopen and provided we keep 6 feet apart and wear masks, we can be in groups of up to 25 people. The county in which Bloomsburg is located and where Paul's family live are still in red because they were way off the mark of less than 50 new cases per 100,000. The library we usually go to is in a different county than where we live, but they also went to yellow. Businesses which are still NOT allowed to open in yellow include hair salons, gyms, and just about everything related to "entertainment" aside from the fact adults can now go golfing. SPORTS of any kind are banned. They specifically mentioned kids are NOT allowed to play baseball even if fewer than 25 people are there. Life is definitely NOT anywhere close to back to normal in yellow. The upsides are #1 I believe the libraries will be reopening at some point during yellow. I'm imagining they might just be offering a sort of curbside service, but that is all we really need. #2 We can get together with friends.

The first five or six weeks of the lockdown, the neighbors were all really strict about not letting kids get within 6 feet or another child from a different family. Lately the kids are playing together more and more albeit always outside (whereas before they frequently would go into each other's houses) and secondly making sure not to touch each other. Since everyone has been very isolated for more than a month, it's been nice to see the kids rollerblading, riding bikes, climbing trees, etc. with other kids in our little development. I called one mom yesterday and suggested a play date or sleepover or something with her two sons and my kids sometime after May 8. I told Nadia that she could plan a couple of sleepovers. I think she's thinking of inviting 3 seventh grade girls over one night and 2-3 sixth grade girls another night. We shall see if their parents are okay with having their girls come to our house or not. Nadia learned yesterday that she won't be traveling to Oklahoma in July for the Bible quizzing nationals. She had memorized all of 1 and 2 Peter and the first 8 chapters of Hebrews. She had been working on chapter 9 this week, but she's taken a couple of days off. Next week she's planning to switch gears to studying and memorizing Matthew as then she'll have 14 months to prepare. There are more verses in Matthew than the other three books put together that she was memorizing the past few months. We had assumed that April and May would be stay-at-home months and most likely June, but I have to admit it's been a bit overwhelming emotionally as things in July have begun to be cancelled as well.

If I was allowed to ask the Governor three questions, here is what I would ask:

1. Will summer camps be allowed to operate this summer? He has allowed child care to reopen so I think it will depend on whether he sees camp as child care or entertainment. Also the 25 person capacity might be problematic for most camps.... I expect in the next week or two that we'll hear from the camps whether they will be open this summer or not.

2. What is necessary for a county to move from yellow to green? He has given ZERO details as to what those requirements will be thus far. Green is when zoos, museums, hair salons, gyms, theaters, amusement parks, etc. can reopen, and at least smaller churches (or maybe all churches?) will be allowed to resume having in-person services. There are NINE counties in our state that have each had between 1-7 positives altogether. I honestly have no idea why those nine counties are under ANY restrictions whatsoever. Three of those counties have only had ONE person test positive. One person in a county having a virus means schools, churches, and businesses need to shut down in that county? It doesn't make sense to me, but I don't live in any of those counties.

3. What is the numerical definition of a mass gathering? He has said that mass gatherings won't be allowed even in the green phase and typically the examples given have been concerts and festivals. My reason for asking is because I am not sure if our church services on Sunday mornings qualify as a mass gathering or not? I hope not. If so, we will probably switch to a smaller church during the green phase if ours is still limited to online services only.

2020 is not a year any of us are going to forget any time soon. Nadia's cousin, Rachel, will be turning 11 on Monday. Last night the girls had a "virtual" sleepover over Zoom that included playing Boggle together, doing a craft, and watching a movie. I thought it was very creative of them! Nadia was happy that I let her stay up until midnight. I'm already accustomed to homeschooling my kids, cutting my own bangs, and giving Paul, Oliver, and Ian haircuts. Thankfully we don't live in New Hampshire. "IF YOU’VE cut your or a family member’s hair because barber shops and salons are closed, congratulations, you’ve committed a criminal offense punishable by up to a year in prison.

In New Hampshire, cutting hair without a state license is a Class A misdemeanor." In 2020 many states are letting inmates out of prisons out of fear that they might come down with the coronavirus, while others are being arrested for things like playing softball with his daughter . Some employees don't want to go back to work because they are paid more on unemployment (with the $600 bonus) than they would get if they went back to work. Paul was supposed to get his teeth cleaned next week, but because his appointment is scheduled two days before we move from red to yellow, he has to wait five more months to get his teeth cleaned. It's a very mixed up world we live in right now! Here's to hoping and praying that we reach the green phase ASAP! I've been working on a grocery order at Walmart since Monday, and today was the first time ever since the middle of March that I was able to add flour or toilet paper to my shopping cart. We shall see if Paul actually comes home with those items tomorrow!

Thankful Thursday

I haven't been in the habit of writing gratitude posts recently. It's been raining ALL day. I know "April showers bring May flowers," but still I can't say I'm a huge fan of rainy days, especially during our seventh week of being in quarantine. So here are some things I'm thankful for right now...

1. Although Paul wasn't able to screw the lock back into the driver's door of the van last night, I was able to drive today. It was the second time I drove this month. I haven't forgotten how to drive! Actually, driving hither and yon is NOT something I miss. Plus we're spending less money on gas. Still I was thankful I was able to buy two more pairs of rollerblades today - a brand new pair for $20 for Ian and a used pair for $10 for Nadia. This means the next day it's not raining all three kids can go rollerblading at the same time. They couldn't wait to try them out so they have done some rollerblading in the basement and garage today.

2. It had been a few weeks since we got anything from a restaurant, but I decided we'd pick up some pizza at Papa John's while we were out buying rollerblades. Paul felt like he was in pizza withdrawal.

3. Paul picked up 160 pounds of chicken this morning before heading to work. Eighty pounds is for our family and is being stored in a freezer in Millie's bakery in Pottsville (90 minutes from our house). We gave forty pounds to Al as a belated birthday present, and the office manager/salesman at Paul's company ordered forty pounds. The market made one error and gave us one case of boneless thighs instead of a third case of boneless breasts, but the bottom line is that we have enough chicken to last us several months. I bought a lot of toilet paper last September and wondered how long it will last us. We haven't run out yet. We shall see how long this chicken will last us.

4. Nadia has been able to keep in touch with her friends through Zoom, Messenger Kids, etc.

5. My dad and Margie bought me a foam roller on Amazon to see if it would help with my back pain. I am not 100% back to normal yet, but I have to say that last night I was NOT in pain while in bed, which was the first time I could say that in three solid months. YAHOO! I will keep using it and hopefully the pain will completely go away. That would be incredible!

6. Paul was finally able to get more stone shortly before they ran out. That was an answer to prayer as some of the quarries had shut down due to the current economic situation. None of his employees have gotten the coronavirus. The forgivable loan from the federal government means he has put his employees back to working 6 days a week instead of only 4 days a week.

7. I'm not a seamstress. I sew on missing buttons and do some minor repairs, and that's it. I ordered four face masks on eBay last night. They were very reasonably priced. I got a Paw Patrol one for Oliver, Star Wars for Ian, and a reversible one for Nadia that is blue on the one side and has dogs on the other. I have a feeling we might be asked to wear masks for a very long time. Maybe the next year? Hopefully these are comfortable. Paul had brought one home for Nadia two weeks ago that was adult size so it covered her whole face - even her eyes. I used it today when I got the pizza and yikes it was so hot! I hope the four we ordered are comfortable. I bought handmade ones. I'm happy to support family businesses during this difficult time. Now here's to hoping some things OPEN in the next couple of months so we actually have a need to wear them. I did see that amusement parks can't open in the yellow phase. I hope and pray we reach the "green" phase before the end of the summer and that summer camps are permissible in the yellow phase.

8. Ian had fun building a new Lego set today. He received $5 from my Dad and Margie for Easter, and he had been working since then to earn the rest of the money needed to purchase a $20 Lego set. It was perfect timing that it arrived on a rainy day.

9. I'm very thankful for Kindle Unlimited, Hoopla, and Overdrive which all enable us to get books for free. Our Kindle Unlimited 2 month free trial will be ending soon, but we'll keep having access to the others through the library. I can't believe how many times Amazon lets you have a free trial of Kindle Unlimited. We're also enjoying our free trial of CBS all access and the DVD service of Netflix. I've also been enjoying listening to KLOVE's classics station. They play many of the songs I listened to when I was in middle school, college, etc.

10. Last week my dad had another heart catheterization. It involved the placing of three stents to open a blockage that had been created through scar tissue forming where they had stitched a graft. He spent one night in the hospital and had to stay on bed rest for one week at home. We are thankful they were quickly able to correct the problem before he had a heart attack.

11. It's supposed to rain again tomorrow, but then it's supposed to be gorgeous on Saturday and Sunday with highs in the SEVENTIES.

12. The kids LOVED it when I made S'mores Dessert Pizza for the first time last weekend. I'm quite certain I'll be making that again!

Oliver and Nadia thought a rainy day was a good day for hot chocolate. :)

Puzzlemania

My kids periodically get on a puzzle kick. The last couple of weeks I'm certain we've set a new record as to the number of jigsaw they've completed in a short time span. Ian has done as many as four puzzles in one day. Typically the kids do puzzles that range from 100-300 pieces each. We have some that have 500 pieces, but they haven't attempted any of those recently. When all three kids are each doing a jigsaw puzzle at the same time, we listen to an audiobook together. We listen to audiobooks year round typically three times a day, but the number of hours we listen per day as increased the past couple of weeks. This week we're listening to a biography about Eric Liddell and a novel about a middle schooler. We've also been playing at least one game each day. Some recent choices included: Senet, memory, pick up sticks, Ancient History Go Fish, and Compatibility. Ian has been practicing the piano more than usual. He's working on Level 5 of Alfred plus enjoying a Star Wars solo book Amazon delivered this week. The solo book is challenging enough that I can't even sight read the music very well!

Being under a stay-at-home order is easier to handle emotionally when the weather is nice. On Sunday it rained ALL day, and it was only in the 40's. In contrast the past two days it has been in the 60's. Our three guinea pigs also love it when the weather is nicer because the kids take them outside, and they love being able to eat grass! Thankfully it's supposed to stay in the 60's for the next several days. The kids and I go for a walk whenever the weather permits. I'm actually the only one who walks. Yesterday and today one child was riding a bicycle, one was on a scooter, and one was on roller blades. Oliver has spent many hours rollerblading the last two days. I bought those at a yard sale last September for Nadia. I thought that for one thing it would save us money at the monthly skate night at the roller skating rink, but she thought they were a little tight. I had thought of buying two more pairs of rollerblades for the kids last Christmas, but I didn't. All three of them have been wanting to rollerblade this week. Considering we'll probably be spending more time at home this spring and summer than usual, I decided to buy two more pairs. I was a bit overwhelmed by the prices on eBay and Amazon, but I found two pairs through Facebook. One is adjustable for sizes 5-8 (for Nadia), and the other is adjustable for sizes 3-6 (for one of the boys). I had made arrangements to meet the people today to purchase the rollerblades, but then when Paul got home around 8pm last night from work he told me that the lock had fallen out of the driver's door of my van. He never drives my van to work, but he did so yesterday because he thought he would be using it to transport a chest freezer from a store back to our house. We learned that it's impossible to buy a freezer anywhere right now. We will have to wait until July or August to attempt to buy one from Sears, Lowes, Home Depot, or Best Buy. We don't know why the lock fell out. Neither of us have ever had that happen with any of our vehicles before, but thankfully he noticed it while getting in to come home from work otherwise it would have been lost on the road somewhere. All this meant I couldn't drive today. It was rather ironic as I've only driven one time this month, and the rare time I made plans to drive I couldn't. He's hoping to put the lock back in this evening, in which case hopefully I can do the rollerblade meet-ups tomorrow. Then all three kids will be able to rollerblade at the same time instead of needing to take turns since they're currently all sharing the same pair. Oliver had never had success with roller skating in the past, but what he learned in ice skating this year translated to him being able to rollerblade.

Ian has also been working on geography. Over the last week he has learned the name and location of all of the countries of North America, South America, and Europe. He also learned the names of the capitals of the countries in South America and can identify all of the provinces of Canada on a blank map. The AWANA commander said if anyone was wanting to say their verses by Facetime or Skype they could do that. Ian and Nadia had already finished their books, but Oliver had two sections left. We've been working on relearning them the last few days. He knew them well about 6 weeks ago. I sent this video to the AWANA commander. We shall see if he passed or if we need to keep working on them. Memorizing does NOT come easily for Oliver. I've been spending more time helping Nadia on the piano, doing lesson planning for our next school year, and doing projects around the house. Today's was to clean the front porch, which included scrubbing off bird droppings and such. The past two weeks Paul went grocery shopping once a week - at Aldi 11 days ago and at our local grocery store 3 days ago. This week I've been working on an order that Walmart will deposit in  his trunk this coming Sunday afternoon. In two days our Governor is going to announce which counties are going into the "yellow" phase on May 8 (2nd of three phases). I believe our county WILL meet the criteria to move to yellow. We have had zero deaths and less than 100 positives. The criteria is to have an average of fewer than 50 cases per 100,000 over the past 14 days, and we've had an average of 30 something new cases per 100,000 over the past 14 days. Several of our neighboring counties also should be moving to yellow next week. I do know for sure this means that the libraries will be reopening. YAHOO! Beyond that I'm not really certain. We still will be limited to gatherings under 25 people, which definitely excludes church. Movie theatres, gyms, eating inside a restaurant are some things he has explicitly said will not be permitted in the yellow phase. I'm wondering about things like amusement parks, museums, Reptiland (a small zoo near our house), and summer camps. I figure it will likely be awhile before he moves any county to "green," so I am hoping there is a way to do social distancing in such a way that at least some of those places can open in the yellow phase. I'm hoping we receive more details on Friday about what will/won't be allowed to reopen during our time in the yellow phase. I think we'll mostly still be at home, but hopefully some types of outings will be permitted aside from picking up books/DVDs at the library once a week. The concert we planned to attend in late March that was moved to late June has now been moved to "Fall 2020" without a specific date. Since the concert is to be held at a very large venue, my guess is that it won't actually happen in 2020. So far we haven't shed any tears in our house over COVID-19 or the government's restrictions, but I'm pretty sure tears will be shed if camps and some other things planned in July and August are cancelled. I'm waiting a few weeks to decide if I should pause our membership with Six Flags. They are offering incentives to those who don't put their membership on pause, but those will be meaningless if the parks don't really open this summer. So I'm waiting a bit longer before I ask for a pause just in case the parks can open in June or July. 2020 is such a strange year!! 

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.