Well, darn if it isn’t 2020.....

The year that is history in the making, LITERALLY!! Our world is in a state of panic due to a pandemic. I never, ever in my lifetime, thought I’d be a part of history,  but, here I am, rocking this COVID-19 Corona Virus Pandemic! Well, sort of, in my own little half acre of the world anyway.   There is a virus called corona (it’s been around for a while actually), but this particular strain is what has turned life as we know it, UPSIDE DOWN!! Seriously, we are in a STAY-AT-HOME status, by law! We are supposed to stay in our homes unless we are essential workers (medical, emergency, grocery, quality of life, etc...personnel), stay at least 6 feet from people whom do NOT reside in your home and no gatherings of more that 3 people.  The latter may have changed by now! As of this posting, there are 2.04 million cases of this illness, worldwide! Sadly, 131, 341 people have passed away from it.  We are only into the 3rd or 4th month (technically it has supposedly been around 6 months) of it having spread worldwide.  Every time I turn on the news, a new area has a victim or a new case, so it’s very lethal and spreads easily! Scientist are still in the learning stages of how it actually spreads (all kinds of maybes out there, however, close proximity seems to be #1 person to person) and the permanency of damage it causes to those who survive.  Also, it may be a virus where you can recover and turn right back around to be exposed to it again! Scary, scary, scary stuff!

Am I scared? Hmmm, maybe just a wee bit! I’m actually more afraid for my elderly parents. Mom (83, 84 on April 17th) and Don, aka Pop (stepdad) (86) are both diabetic, heart patients and he has limited mobility!  At first the survivors where not the folks in my parents category.  Now, it has taken people from all ages I believe, with the most vulnerable being the elderly, or people with underlying issues or illnesses, but the highest bracket are those 60+ years old with underlying health issues. I have diabetes, however, I feel fairly healthy and that, while it would be a struggle, I think I would survive it should I get it, but I DO NOT WANT IT!  Believe me when I say I take common sense precautions though, because I do NOT want to get this virus.  Just because of my disease, it sounds like it would be a painful virus to try to overcome.  This is a strain of pneumonia, the worst one, so I can only imagine from the descriptions of the symptoms what it would be like! I like air! No, take that back, I LOVE air! I like to breath and the freer and easier it is, the better.  I suffer from allergies too, so I know what it’s like to not breath easily, from time to time. I also hate the feeling of being suffocated, could be why I’m not a fan of tight turtleneck sweaters.  Since this is a pneumonia and from reports of other patients, that’s what it feels like, suffocation.  It literally puts us in a world of not knowing, or being able to prepare for after it’s over.

Hopefully, this will be over soon!  Unfortunately, there are a lot of unknowns.  Everyone has theories of what’s going to happen, but ultimately, no one knows jack crap! Only time is going to tell how, when and if the world will open back up again.  Because of the stay at home order, I can’t go see my parents and not seeing my mom (who’s really been my ONLY parent for 53 years so far) is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. Sure, I talk to her on the phone, but it’s not the same as seeing her. I used to be able to FaceTime her, however, something is up with their cell service and it doesn’t work any longer, or my mom just can’t figure out how to answer it any longer (technology really seems to stress her out these days). I mean, there’s nothing, absolutely nothing better in this world than a huge, tight squeezed hug from your mom or kids, I miss that.  Having boys does not generate a lot of opportunities in their eyes for hugs! I also hear that grandkids give really good hugs, until they become teenagers and then only a select few ever seem to appreciate the love of a grandparent. At the rate things are happening, grandchildren will be a figment of my imagination.

A few results of the Stay-at-Home Order are that a lot of people have lost jobs, restaurants have had to cut back to take-out, curbside or delivery only, movie theaters, bars/night clubs, golf clubs, parks, basically any place that would allow large gatherings of people, have shut down! Large businesses have allowed all that can, to work from home. That was always what I wanted when I was in the corporate world. Now they’ve been forced to prove that they can do and that it works.  All sports teams are in limbo! In the US, where sports is a major part of our society and is a huge wage earner, their seasons have been cancelled thus far.  That’s no soccer, baseball, basketball and if it keeps up, no football come the fall. Everyone wants things to start opening back up, but who’s to say that the order isn’t protecting people? Then again, who’s to say it wouldn’t be as bad if they just opened back up? I don’t know, just not sure I’m willing to take a chance, would you? 

Ideal Summer

What is an ideal summer? This should be an easy question to answer, right? You’d think so, but it’s NOT! I like summer, cicadas sing here in the south, the weather is typically nice although it’s very hot and humid. It’s all in what you get used to.  There is quite a bit to do when you live 2 hours from the mountains to the west and 3 hours from the beach in the east.  Not to mention all the activities around like parks, amusement parks, hiking trails, lakes, rivers, parks, etc..... So, an ideal summer is sort of hard to figure out.  

I’ve had some fairly awesome summer experiences in my lifetime.  Going on 2 week camping trips with my parents to the Northeastern US and another one the Northern-Midwestern states of the US. I got to spend a summer with my dad in California, that was interesting.  So, I’ve had some good times.  

Since I’ve gotten older, it’s been difficult to do the fun stuff.  I mean vacations are great, but when you have 3 kids, a limited income, let’s face it, vacations are far and few in between.  We have always tried to make summers great, since it’s the only extended time we don’t do school.  We do go out on Paw-paw’s boat sometimes,  ride to the mountains or go to visit Nana and Grandaddy from time to time.  Those things may sound really boring to you, however to me, they are awesome. 

My ideal summer for me is to just chill!  Between running our business, homeschooling my kids, cooking, cleaning house and all that goes with it, just doing nothing sounds like bliss.  Making time to spend with my friends and getting some girl time are rare for me, so doing those, WONDERFUL!
By the time we’re done with school for the year, my feet are dragging, so summer is spent recuperating.  That’s my ideal summer, just relaxing and taking my time to do the things I need to do. It’s not exciting by any means, however, it fulfills my needs.  So what is your ideal summer, just chillin’ or cramming and rushing to fit it all in? 

Ice Cream is EVIL........

So, I did my weekly errands yesterday and it didn’t quite go as planned.  I’ve been trying to be diligent about meal planning, and only needed to go to my local membership warehouse and the grocery store, a very odd occurrence for me.  Oh! I forgot to mention the bank too.  Anyway, my DH threw a kink into my plans when he told me he needed something, that typically a well known, cheaper department store carries, so I went there first.  However, because I went there first, it caused me to go to my warehouse next, which is where I usually buy all my cold items, like meats, dairy and frozen items.  So, because I stopped there first and still needed to stop at the local grocery store, I brought my cold things home in-between stores. While I was out, my son proceeds to send me a text message asking for some coffee flavored ice cream.  I respond with “get dressed and come with me then!”  To which he never responds, the turkey.

When I get back to the house, I confirm that nope, he doesn’t want to go with me.  We put all of the cold items away and off I go again to finish my weekly grocery trip. Now, I’m sure you’re wondering why I say ice cream is evil.  It’s actually quite simple, I’m losing my vision, it’s OK for now due to a wonderful clinical trial, however, in the beginning, when it wasn’t so hot my husband bought me a very nice iPad Pro.  It was my lifesaver!! I could read books again, although not the paper kind and whomever invented the Kindle App, bless you. I was able to keep up with the kids school work, sort of important in a homeschooling situation, read labels thanks to a magnifying app, etc.... you get the picture.  Low and behold, my meal planning app is on this iPad, with a the grocery list for this weeks meals, however, I was having difficulty getting it to sync with my iPhone, so I just took it with me for the day.

I ran to the grocery store, bought the last of the items needed with said ice cream for the kid.  This particular grocery store offers to help you out with your groceries, however, it was a very hot day and I just told the girl to stay cool inside.  I put my iPad in the back of the buggy where toddlers usually sit and pushed my cart out to the car. Besides, I was right next to a buggy coral, no problem for me to just do it myself.  I put my bags in the trunk, pushed the buggy to it’s temporary home and drove home.  As we were putting the groceries away and I’m about to start dinner, I go to grab this technological piece of beauty so I can have my recipe in front of me. I really didn’t need it, as it’s a dish I’ve made for almost 30 years and pretty much have it memorized.  Still, I just wanted to make sure I didn’t leave anything out.  The problem was I couldn’t find my tablet, ANYWHERE! Tore up my car looking for it, my she-room (my she shed space), the kitchen, NO WHERE was it to be found. I rushed back up to the store, calling while on my way and asked if anyone had turned one in, but nooooo! I did have a hard time getting Matthew to understand that it wasn’t in the store, it was in the parking lot, in the big buggy (which I hardly ever use in hopes that I don’t overspend, rarely works by the way).  When I finally arrive back at the store, my buggy was there, sadly my iPad was not. Devastation kicked me in the gut.

All I could do was pray about it and that I did.  I know I spend way too much time on this little piece of technical wizardry, but you did get why it’s my lifeline, right? I even run our business off of this thing.  So, for the next 3 hours, we are trying to figure out what to do.  I posted on a couple community apps specific for our area.  My husband is searching on his phone for what to do, or can be done.  I’ve already turned on the locator, however, it’s not of much help as the iPad isn’t connected to WiFi.  I spent 30-45 minutes with Apple to determine that my warranty does not cover losing it, sadly.  So, my last step was to call the police non-emergency number and see if there was anything they could do to help or what my recourses were. Graciously, they sent an officer out and he told me what to do.  As we are talking to the officer, our oldest son calls and advised my husband that one of his wife’s clients (my daughter-in-law is a great dog trainer) had my iPad. The three of us, the officer, my husband and I all just looked at each other in complete disbelief as my husband wrote the person’s number and address down for us.  The policeman offered to take me to get my iPad, verified it was OK and then closed the case. My faith in humanity has been restored a bit and I’m grateful to Patti for being honest and trying to contact me before I had contacted the police, but didn’t get the message until after it was all over.

Now back to the ice cream.  My kids don’t ask for much (aren’t I the lucky one?) so when they do, I typically try to accommodate them, since they do the things I ask without much complaint.  I did get my youngest some java chip ice cream, but, my husband told me when I got back from the second trip to try to locate my iPad, that my son felt guilty about me losing it, since he declined the trip. I love that boy, but he knows ice cream is my downfall, which is not good for a diabetic.  I’m  glad I was able to show him some grace, just like I was shown by getting my iPad back intact.  All is good in the world as far as I’m concerned at the moment, think I’ll take a nap! 

So, I got a new book the other day called 300 More Writing Prompts and of course I could NOT resist it.  I actually love writing and hope to instill the same passion in at least one of  my children.  I may not be very good at writing, but I still love and feel it’s one of the most challenging ways to express yourself.  You can’t show emotion except in words that you hope will convey to the reader your meaning and feelings, which leaves it up to them to decipher.  So, todays prompt is............(I know the anticipation).......................

If you could book a flight tomorrow for anywhere in the world, where would you go and why? 

Hmmmm! This is and always will be a tough one for me personally.  I love to travel! When I was younger, I always wanted to see the world.  I envisioned myself looking up to the top of the Eiffel Tower, visiting Stonehenge, seeing Victoria Falls in person, the Borealis Lights (Northern) while in Alaska, visiting the Amazon’s rainforest (before they are destroyed), The Great Wall of China, etc.....
Alas, those are and have been tourist attractions forever.  I would like to see them, however, I really would like to see things off the beaten path.  Places of long ago, like a path that King Arthur used or a  place where Joan of Arc stood, a road that Jesus traveled or a road that a Roman built and is still there today.  History is so important to our lives, for if those things had not happened, we surely wouldn’t be where we are today.

Although those places are nice, I’d also like to go to a nice, quiet place.  A place of tranquility, at least it would be for me. Fiji would be wonderful.  I can see myself in a hut that is literally in the water of the pacific.  Of course I only know this place exist because of lucky others who have been there and have the photos to prove it.  A hut on the side of a mountain in New Zealand overlooking a loch would be nice too.  I get a lot of ribbing from my friends for wanting to be away from people, but the world is so sad these days that a place like this sounds like heaven on Earth to me.

Unfortunately, I married a man who has absolutely no desire to travel.  Even when we ride our motorcycles, he’s done after about 30 minutes to an hour, whereas I could go all day long. Finances hold me back too, for if I had the green, I’d still go without him.  I would hate to have to experience this world without him though, he can be his own worst enemy sometimes, like we all can be.  Our world is in such a time that I feel it’s dangerous to do and go to the places I’d like to go to, especially by myself.  I would like to experience the world with him, our children, family and friends that can an would want to go, but, the way things are today, I just don’t see it happening.  I know I’m holding myself back, for I’m a true believer in when there is a will, there is a way.   Not really sure why I hold myself back from doing these things, other than finances.  If I really explored it in myself, I think I’d probably just buy a ticket to right where I am at this very moment.  I love my family and all that encompasses.  As much as I hate the work, I love that I have my family to do things for; cooking, doing their laundry, teaching my kids, arguing with my husband over stupid stuff, etc......  Besides, it’s a FREE ticket to my world of wonder.  I can always pick up a book and travel to those places and let my imagination just picture it by the words of the author.  How about you? Where would you go? 

25 Years Ago Today..............

A boy and a girl were friends, as it turned out, and here is the story.

I was on the last day of my job, which I resigned from because I finally convinced someone in the corporate world that I would make a good employee! I had moved back to my hometown after college and made a lot of friends and acquaintances at this job.  There were about 8-10 of us that got together quite a bit out of work, to go out to dinner, celebrate birthdays, have our own birthday parties, etc... Anyway, long story short, I had a crush on one of the boys, (I'll say boy for him because by today's standards, we were such babies then, 21 - boy and 22 - me/girl) and here is how it went.

So, on this last day, about 10 minutes before I was due to clock out, it had started raining. I can still picture this very vividly.  The Boy had just walked up to the front and was staring out the window as if watching the rain and contemplating if he wanted to walk next door to eat or make a mad dash for his car, to eat at home.  I proceeded to ask him what he thought he was going to do? He just shrugged his shoulders and said he wasn't sure.  So, taking my cue, I got brave and said "Want to grab a bite next door, it's my last day you know?"  He grinned and said "Sure!"  I clocked out and we went next door to Showmar's, a fairly decent Greek burger joint in our area.  I don't remember exactly what I got to eat, but 10 to 1, he got a perch plate, it was his favorite.  Anyway, we had never been alone to talk before now, but that was all it took.  We went on our first date that evening to Annebelle's and a movie, some zombie flick that I can never quite get the name right. 

Fast forward to today, February 16, 2016, we made it back to Showmar's for our 25th Anniversary of our first date, but this time as Mr. and Mrs. It's really funny, because we always remember this date, never our wedding anniversary, nor do we really celebrate Valentine's day.  But this day is always so special for us, I guess, because that afternoon, I found the bestest friend I could ever have. (I know, bestest is really not a word, but it fits!)  Going out to eat for lunch today was his idea, not mine, he can be super romantic when he wants.  I was being nostalgic, while I was getting ready today and I told him, while we were waiting on our food, about how I could still see him waiting at the window.  He said he had told me this before, but, that he had intentionally waited to take his lunch at that time, so he could ask me to lunch.  Obviously, my radar was off kilter that day or even before then, because I never picked up on his interest in me.  However, I am so glad I had the courage to ask him and that he responded with a "Sure!".  So, here we are, married for 22 years, 3 boys and 2 houses later and the future together still looks awesome!! I love my Harley Man!! 

PS...By the way, the store we worked at now resides across the street and the store where we met is a hardware store.  And that Showmar's is still in the same shopping center, but it's in a stand alone building instead of next door to the store.

For The Love of Music

OK! I LOVE music! It's gets you grooving and moving, or calms you down after a long day! It just depends on the genre you choose to listen too! In my case it's pretty much everything! I remember when MP3's first came out and my son wanted one, probably because music was one thing he could really relate to.  (His story is for another post to explain that last statement.)  Anyway, I remember getting him an MP3 player and having the worst time trying to get music loaded on it.  I am not a stupid person, but the instructions for that fine piece of technology and some of the later programs or whatever they were called that offered the music, well, they all left me with a lot to desire!!

So, finally, since he was a kid, and irresponsible like most kids, we got him an iPod Shuffle! That year they were really cheap since Apple had come out with the Nano, I think it was called.  Which really dropped the price and size of the Shuffle to something that if my son broke it, it was OK!  (We still have that Shuffle and it has been passed down to his brothers, until they got their own I Pads~ which would be a great topic for another post).  I loved the sound of that little 1"X1" square and it really held a lot of music, so I got myself one too. The sound quality of the Apple ear-buds, in my honest opinion, and their products are a force to be reckoned with for the money!! I loved my Shuffle, especially since my husband gets tired of hearing music, therefore I got to listen to all my favorite types of music, by myself! I love doing this while I clean the house, just makes it easier and time goes faster.  Did I mention how easy I-Tunes is to download, then load their files on to the Shuffle, iPods, iPhone, etc... Much easier than the other 4 programs I tried to use, and that was so long ago that I can't ever remember which ones I tried. The only problem was that, in those days, if you lost your music, ie..PC, where all the music was loaded and just happened to crash, you had to kiss all those downloads bye-bye! Money down the drain! Was not a pleasant experience. Imagine my surprise when my other son got his i-Pad and now I got all that music back, for FREE!! Which convinced my husband when it came time to get new phones, because both of our laptops died and the desktop left a lot to be desired too, and we still had flip-phones! So you guessed it, we got  i-Phones. We still have the 4 and 4s, even though they just came out with the i-Phone 6 recently, which works great for us!!  Portable handheld PC's, phones and i-Pods all in one tiny, compact piece of technology!

So, fast forward to October, 2014! I finally bit the bullet, took everything off my i-phone to make storage space for the latest iOS 8 update!  Of which my biggest file is my music! It was OK though, Apple even made loading all those songs back on so simple.  But, while I was going through my purchased music, I had to endure some of the songs my son downloaded.  Endure is not really a strong enough of a word here!  We used to censor his music in the beginning, because there is a bunch of negative music out there these days, which is really sad! This lead to a conversation with my husband when he asked what I was doing, because although it was easy, it was time consuming.  I let the DH (remember to look at the top for what DH stands for) listen to some of the songs that said son has downloaded.  Some not so bad, but the majority of it was, I'm not even sure what genre it would be called, oh my goodness!! It could possibly be called heavy metal? I know when I listened to 'heavy metal' it had a lot of screaming, usually from the guitars, but this is far worse.  Who could possibly think screaming at the top of their unintelligible lungs with screaming instruments is music? We were lost! It's his generation, WOW!!  I couldn't even dance or groove to that stuff! All we could do was shake our heads!

Thankfully, I've downloaded all the songs I wanted from i-Tunes of my past purchases, and that torture is OVER! Whew! I survived! Now, if I can just get the other 2 boys to not like that stuff! Wish me luck!! 

When Does It Get Too Cold For The Crickets?

Sooooo.............. I woke up at 3 a.m., usual time of night to hit the 'little girls room'.  When I got back in bed, I accidentally missed the coaster that I keep my lidded, large with handle, Tervis tumbler in.  I sat it back up thinking that there wasn't enough water in it to spill, when I heard the trickle of H2O hitting the floor.  CRAP! So, I had to scramble, in the dark, to the bathroom to grab a towel, turn the light on, waking the DH, to wipe up the water! Of course by now, I'm wide awake, sort of!!  I wasn't quite awake, but enough that a funny sound was coming through the open window (yes, we still do that sort of thing this time of year).  Being in this new house, I've seen and heard all kinds of strange things.  Being out in the county, they still use the old siren horns to alert the volunteer fire department, and that was what I evidently heard. I think this, because shortly after it started, I heard the truck sirens going the opposite direction from my house. The volunteer fire house is literally about a 1/4 of a mile around the corner. Anyway, the sound caught my attention and sleep alluded me by then.  So, I got closer to the window to try to figure out the noise, when of course it stopped! ERGG! I sat there for a minute, listening to nothing other than the crickets! CRICKETS? It's in the 40's outside and I hear crickets? OK! I know once the temps start getting into the 60's that a lot of insects can't move, but obviously, crickets are not one of them! I love the sound of crickets, many a summer night they have lulled me to sleep. But when it's that chilly, and after the shock of having to clean up the water, it was not lulling to hear them! Know What I Mean?  So, here I am at 6:30 a.m. writing about the crickets.  I don't know why my brain got caught on the temperature and the noisy crickets, but it did.  It's one of life's mysteries I guess!

I'm off to see if I can slumber some more, before I have to teach the kids! UGH!! It's OK though, it will still be a pleasant day!!  Especially since the day promises to be beautiful, clear skies and in the low 70's! I love this time of year, hence the open windows!