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Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Covid Hits Close to Home - Again

This time it's my cousin, who takes care of my aunt who has dementia.  Last Monday we got the confirmation that my cousin was positive and it was too late to move my aunt because she had already likely been exposed, we also didn't have anywhere suitable to move her.  We're on constant standby should someone need to go to the hospital.  The plan is simple, if one of us (myself or husband) steps in to help and gets potentially infected, we will live out of our camper until we are covid-free.  

My cousin has a really bad case and so far hasn't needed medical intervention, but she's also extremely sick and isn't turning a corner.  We don't know when my aunt will get this, or if she already has, and if or when we might need to take one or more to an appointment.  I'm hoping my cousin can get approval for the antibody treatment but we'd need to do it in the next 2-3 days.

If my husband is exposed, he'd need to stay home from school where he's substituting for my cousin.  Our lives are so intertwined.  If I get exposed, then our kids who are currently doing school from home would need to go back to school with their dad, and that's if I don't manage to get them exposed in the process.  

This is a terrible illness for those with weakened immune systems.  

Usually this time of year I'd be dropping off consignments, prepping plants for our garden, and preparing for Easter.  My BFF wants to go on vacation but I can't commit to anything right now.  I'm numb to everything, just solely focused on my cousin, running errands for her and standing by.  

Saturday, March 06, 2021

Farmers to Families Food Box

I call it the church box because we pick it up at a local church but it's part of the Farmers to Family Food Box Program.  We've been getting this throughout February and it looks like they have funding to continue through March and April!  It's always exciting to see what will be inside.  The first few weeks were bags of chicken, followed by three weeks of ham and hotdogs, now we're back to chicken (rotisserie). 

The veggies are fun, one week we got four crowns of broccoli, the next a huge head of cauliflower, a bag of onions, kale, potatoes, and tomatoes!  Considering it's winter, I think some of the items are coming up from Florida, like the Roma tomatoes from last week's box.  It's been fun to find recipes to keep up with all the food, I'm not a big veggie person but I don't want waste anything.  The only items that have gone to waste are the foods that came in looking bad like the kale and a few onions. 

One week, I got so much cream cheese and sour cream I made a cheese cake!  The sell by date was about 3 weeks past by the time I realized I needed to use it up.  Another week I made an apple pie!  I feel like we're eating so well from these boxes.  It's foods I don't normally buy for the family but we do our best to incorporate them into our meal plan.  

Currently I have a huge surplus of apples (our neighbor gave a 10lb bag of apples to add to the 5lbs from the church box), two boxes of strawberries (making smoothies tonight), 10lbs of potatoes - and just got another 10lbs of potatoes from a school donation!  Liquid eggs two weeks in a row, we've had so many egg dishes!  I guess the only thing I'm really stuck on is what to use up the 20lbs of potatoes on!  I think next week I'll put stew and Shepard's pie on the menu.  

Friday, March 05, 2021

My Violette is Changing

In this past year she's shot up in height, I always said she's be the tall one, but when she started wearing her big sisters shoes, the ones her four years older sister wore LAST YEAR - even I was astonished.  She's turning 9 in a month and wearing 10/12's that her 12 year old sister (soon to be 13) just recently stopped wearing!  Sorry to say, big sister is going to be the shorty of the family, although hoping she gets a little taller then me.  At 5' 4", I will probably be the small Moma of the family, lol.

In addition to her sudden height, she's started talking like an older kid.  Today she announced that we really should have a bag ready for emergencies with flashlights, food, money, etc.  I lost count of what she was saying should be in the bag while I marveled at her train of thought.  

Just a year ago she despaired reading, now she's super anxious when she finishes a book and doesn't have another lined up.  I have two more in the mail that are taking FOREVER to get here.

She enjoys taking long walks!  Just a year ago she would get stressed out over a mile, now it's two miles and she's like can we keep going?  We get home and she's hardly phased.  I'm really happy to see this, there was a time when I thought she'd never get on board with walking - which is truly needed for big parks and stuff.

She takes showers and doesn't need help with anything!  I'm loving the independence.

She can unload the dishwasher and put almost everything away.  

I'm just overwhelmed by the sudden and continuous signs of her turning into a TWEEN!  I'm also so glad she's still doing some little girl things with Evie, they love to watch PBS all morning and play with toys together.  They both get their school work done in an hour and then the morning is theirs.  The older kids have more school work, so it's still the littles together.  I wonder what this means for Evie's growth?



Thursday, March 04, 2021

My Struggles with Spring

Cold, warm, cold, warm, repeat.  This is March.  Not quite cold enough for a winter coat.  One day so hot we are all in panic over wearing too much clothing, the next piling on hat's and gloves because it's in the 40's and windy.  

On the warm days I want to dive into the garden and get things growing, knowing I can't because it's still in the 30's at night.

Parks are open, but bathrooms are not. 

Oh the agony of early spring!