The Corona Diaries Week 37 - Thankful

I'm pretty sure Harper was thankful for Thanksgiving week being a week off from school. And that she got to watch a LOT of TV.

Thanksgiving week for me was busy with creative projects, cleaning out nooks and crannies, pulling out Christmas lights and going through Harper's clothes. I have put off buying new clothes for her as long as possible. It's not like she is going out with hole-y, extra worn out and ill-fitting clothes, so I left it as long as possible. She'll put something on and I have to keep from laughing as the shirt or leggings will be so snug. Same goes for shoes. And with birthday/christmas coming, we can kill two birds with one stone on the new clothes front.

I'm thankful for many things and to celebrate all that we are grateful for, we had a tiny little dinner on Thanksgiving. None of us care what we eat and Turkey is never high on the list so we had steak, mashed potatoes, homemade gravy, broccoli and brussels sprouts. I also made cranberry sauce/relish, but mostly to show Harper what cranberries actually look and taste like.

Harper decorated the table.

I got the berries going, simmering them down with water and sugar....

....and not paying enough attention! Sticky mess. Oy.

Harper peeled potatoes.

I have become quite adept at making excellent steak in the cast iron pan! Then I made gravy in the same pan. Yum.

Harper continued decorating.

And we sat down and had a feast!

Dessert was a three way compromise for Strawberry Shortcake. It was yummy!

Then we watched a bunch of Wallace and Gromit.

Friday morning I went for a mammogram. Good times! The technicians were very nice, and quick which is the best compliment to pay when having one's bosom squashed.

On Friday, we also put up lights in the tree and on the house. We don't always do it so early but this year I needed it.We went out in the chilly evening air to admire our handiwork.

We won't get a tree for another few weeks - that will always be after Harper's Birthday! Plus we get a real tree and like to keep it somewhat fresh.

Harper asked me to watch a show about Christmas decoration make-overs. She seemed obsessed. So I asked her to draw a picture of how she'd like to decorate our living room. She obliged! And it's really cool regarding perspective. The key things are to create the Merry Christmas banner and to have garland over the mantle. There will also be a tray with faux candles and other decorations on the coffee table.

Harper also like to send us messages and Post-Its are her main medium.

She also loves to decorate envelopes when sending letters to Gammo. This one was extra funny as Mr. Biscuit had chewed a corner of the card off so Harper had to explain it.

Trader Joe's has my favorite seasonal tea back in stock. Yay! (It's the little things.)

Trader Joe's also had this "decorate the cookies" kit. So Harper and I had at it. But um. Can not recommend. It all tasted kinda yucky. Oh well! Live and learn...

This was the pile of clothes that we sorted through in Harper's room. So nice to have younger twin girls who live a block away to hand-me-down to!

And ever the cats. Mr. Biscuit will not be kept from his wooden bowl, no matter where it ends up.

Still enjoying the laps.

Caught them just hanging out, no yelling, no swatting. Just chillin.

And that was the week. I kept working on my Seven Weeks projects and made some positive headway on about 60% of it. Five more weeks to go...

 

 

 

The Corona Diaries Week 36 - A Quiet Week of Mr. Biscuit

The week went by quietly. Not a lot of fanfare. A true respite from all the previous week of election results and mini breaks and haircuts. When scrolling through my pics for images from the week, it was mostly Mr. Biscuit. Makes sense. He's large. We like to call him "Big Galoot".

I've been getting up in the dark to work on a creative project and Biscuit likes to help.

But then he decided my open laptop was an ideal spot to sit. NO, BISCUIT!

He's learning to be a lap cat.

And is often just cute.

He explored Kurt's office.

Did a very cat thing with a towel on the floor.

and worshiped at the altar of Willoughby.

Mr. Biscuit has learned to climb the fences, using objects on our side to get up, but once he's in the neighbor's yard, he has a hard time climbing back over. I had to retrieve him the other day and Willoughby was sitting on the fence looking down at Biscuit. I swear she was laughing at him.

Aside from cats, Kurt was busy attending teleconferences for the theme park world, meeting new people, learning new stuff. I was busy working my new seven week goal plan. Harper had school. I also started on a little tiny VFX bidding job. I found myself stressed out about it, my body saying, ugh, it's been a while, we are out of practice. PANIC! So I asked Harper to draw me a picture of a sunflower so I could look at it and relax. She very kindly obliged:

Harper had time to do more art as she got in trouble on Monday, playing computer games when she knew she wasn't supposed to. So she had to get off the computer (except for school) for a week. Luckily the timing worked out that Gammo sent fun crafts to do before Christmas, so Harper spent some time making ornaments.

She also added to her clay food collection with this charming cheeseburger.

I worked on eating better/more interesting lunches. I call this my "leftover bowl". It was yummy.

That was the week. Nice to have it be uninteresting for a little bit!

 

 

The Corona Diaries Week 35 - 7 Weeks Until 2021

Way back in early October I booked a 2 night get-away at a house with a pool in Desert Hot Springs. It was a splurge, no doubt, but back then I said f*ck it! We will either be celebrating the election outcome or not. At the very least we could celebrate our 19th anniversary which was on November 3. Luckily we had multiple things to celebrate.

We were gone from Tuesday noon to Thursday mid-afternoon. The Wednesday in between was Veterans Day (a school holiday). Harper packed her R2-D2 suitcase on Monday.

Tuesday she had school until 12, then we hit the road (after much car packing). First stop: In-N-Out of course. PICKLES still the winning topping.

Then we drove due east to where it is dry and grey and tan and dry. The desert has its charms for some, but not for me. Not at all.

Sure, the eagle murals are astonishing.

But, this just doesn't do it for me. I am not a desert person. Too much of the tropics in my blood.

But that's not to say a lovely pool and a comfortable house away from regular life isn't nice from time to time.

We got there at 3 and Harper had to jump into an afternoon minecraft class (her favorite) while Kurt and I unloaded and figured out the pool settings and got some snacks out. The pool was not warm and the sun was already getting low so it was all about the hot tub.

The house was very well equipped and Harper found this fantastic drinking vessel.

Next morning we fired up the pool heater early and with a little help from the sun it warmed up a bit. Harper had a great time no matter the chilly temps. (I had hoped the weather would be in the upper 80s but alas, we got a cold spell so the air temp barely made it into the 70s.)

Breakfast in bathing suit - perfect holiday attire.

We were in and out of the pool all day and in the early evening, nice to be in the hot tub and see the stars come out.

Harper was at it again early Thursday morning for a pre- school swim.

We had a nice time just chillin' out for those few days. Though I will say, not a lot of hot anniversary romance when the 8 year old would prefer to share my bed. #eyeroll.

But she's pretty cute and snugly, so I wasn't too mad.

We drove home after her school day ended on Thursday and came back to a very clean house. We had our housekeeper come and clean while we were gone. First time she's been here since July. We were very grateful.

Harper also has her clay class on Fridays and it was sea themed this week. I just love it all!

I also asked her to draw a picture for a baby shower card. And this was her offering. Cracks me up!

Saturday was HAIRCUT DAY! Our stylist kindly gave us a house call and our friend Betty joined as she also sees our stylist.

Waiting area.

Harper was done, then Betty had her turn.

Betty also brought CAKES. A classic cheesecake and also a recipe from the 70s - Picnic Cake!

I cut up the cakes to give a bunch to our stylist and also put a big hunk in the freezer. YUM!

Kurt went last in the salon.

Here's my Before and After. I had had just about enough of the damn long hair.

And just for fun/historical record, some memes that others put on their social media sites over the week. Oh there are millions more, but I liked this sampling.

Things are still kind of cuckoo in the land of Trump. But he'll be out in January and we'll have the giant mess to clean up. There will be more work in text land to do with the Georgia run-offs on January 5th. We need those two senate seats!

And while that will keep me somewhat engaged, along with holidays to plan for, I woke up today thinking Now What? And after much coffee and thinking, and scribbling, I have a seven week plan. Resolutions for the end of year, if you will. I'm not going to go into much detail, but I will let you know if I'm on track. Then at the end will make clear what I have achieved. The main thing I want to achieve is to stop being so hard on myself. If you know how to do, that please let me know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Corona Diaries Week 34 - OMFG Joe Biden Won The Election!

Wow. WOW WOW WOW!!!

I had not let myself even begin to hope until Thursday night when the numbers started to go his way. But even still, I didn't let myself really celebrate until it was finally called on Saturday morning. I cried as I went to tell Kurt who was in the other room. Astonishing.

But it was a busy stressful week before that good news. I spent the weekend before the election at my computer just about the whole time. Kurt made breakfast on Sunday and I ate it at my desk while texting.

Mr. Biscuit had kept me company since the dark early morning.

Monday we got a visit from Grace! She camped in our backyard and we ate sushi dinner outside. It was nice to have a good time for a little while in between texting!

One of those mornings (omg my whole week is a blur) I went to for a walk and saw this lovely succulent garden. I stopped and admired it while breathing deeply.

On election day I was still busy with the text group, getting out the final texts to help anyone in states where you could register and vote on the same day. I was weepy. That was it, that was the day. There was much camaraderie and love and support in our group which helped so much.

Tuesday night was feeling not good. It didn't look over for Joe Biden, but it wasn't clear at all. Wednesday I got back in bed later in the morning. It was nice to just let myself do nothing while waiting. Waiting waiting waiting.

But Harper's school week went on. She has three afternoon zoom classes and she makes this piece of art to cover her computer camera for some reason.

Every week she has vocab with a spelling quiz on Fridays.

We help Harper study them at dinner, quizzing her while we eat. She likes to quiz us back so I told her to grab the antique book "25,000 words" that mom sent to us. It's literally a list of words and pronunciation markers. It's a fun dinner activity!

I did make lunch for Harper on some days. I love these cafeteria trays!

Harper's clay class made fun clay foods! I love that carrot.

Mr. Biscuit worked my already frayed nerves by exploring the mantel. Luckily he came down without breaking anything!

Lastly, Kurt would not like you to know that he won an award for one of the projects he worked on in the Theme Park world. The Themed Entertainment Association has yearly awards and Kurt was on a team that one last year. YAY!!!

He's going to be mad I'm posting this. But I'm really proud of him! He worked hard on it and might even get to work on the sequel! 

I never won a damn thing in my whole stupid career. (sour grapes much?) So why not celebrate this?!?!

SO MUCH TO CELEBRATE!

Oh and it was our 19th wedding anniversary on election day. We both sort of went "oh yeah..." and moved on. Ha! But this coming week we have a 2 night get away for the three of us to relax and have some fun. I had booked it weeks ago, hoping we would be only celebrating and I'm glad I did.

NOW ON TO THE RUN-OFF RACES IN GEORGIA !!

 

The Corona Diaries Week 33 - The Texting Intensifies

(I'm writing this on November 8. It is a recap of the week of October 26 - November 1.)

I texted A LOT. Thank the stars I had that to do otherwise I would have been going insane. The cats helped keep me grounded. Mr. Biscuit helped and hindered around my desk.

He also entertained from afar as he is learning how to navigate the fence.

Willoughby is a bit more civilized in her desires.

So handsome.

Well maybe not so civilized.

More Halloween Fun - we had our usual weekly park play time on the Sunday before Halloween. There were costumes and masks and a pinata and cookies.

Harper had originally said she would be Hermione again, but then made this Cat Costume from found items in her room just for the park party. Cute!

Tom very kindly sent Harper a Halloween gift:

But for the Friday before Halloween, Harper did revert to the Hermione Costume.

Cute turkey puzzle thing!

The last three Halloween things we did were on actual Halloween. First we went to the mini Halloween drive through (mentioned at the end of this blog post) then we made Spooky Hot Dogs! They are supposed to look like mummies...but uh, oh well.

Lastly, we told Harper she could trick or treat in the house (between Kurt's office and my office) if she changed into various costumes. She kind of did!

First up: Hermione:

Then Hedwig the Owl:

Then she came as Mr. Biscuit!

And then as a flowery ghost....!

Then she and we were DONE with Halloween. I think we had more Halloween this year than any year previously!

There had been a bit more art from Harper this week. Starting with a thank to Tom for the above Halloween Lego gift.

Masks on!

I love getting these notes when I'm busy or on the phone. I love that she draws her own life (zoom class).

A thank you note to Grace for a little Halloween fun.

And then a zombie! Just for fun.

She also started a new art class after school on Fridays. Clay modeling. Super cute!

Crazy busy as I was with texting toward the end of the week, I did enjoy making breakfast for Harper one morning.

One night I was too busy texting to sit down to diner so Kurt and Harper made a plate for me to have later. It was very sweet.

This is how I was feeling over the weekend whilst texting and leading/moderating in the group. It was very stressful and exhausting. I estimated I worked 6-8 hour days then it ramped up to 12 hour days over the last weekend. At this point I was still very very very nervous and filled with dread.

Thankfully, we know the outcome...!!!

 

 

 

Halloween Catch Up x2

The week before Halloween we went to a drive through Halloween experience. It was genius on the part of someone, making use of empty shopping mall parking lots and hiring all kinds of out of work people. And it was a bit cheezy. But you know who loved it?

Harper.

She LOVED it.

She got all dressed up, even though we were never getting out of the car. And she talked about it non-stop. That made me happy.

On Halloween itself the after school program had a mini drive through at their main headquarters. It was much smaller but free and super sweet. I'm doing pictures of both here. Then back to the weekly catch ups.

It was sponsored by a coupe of tv shows...

Much candy was thrown in the car along the way.

After the adventure (and a stop at In-N-Out) it was time for the great sorting!

The much smaller but way sweeter/more charming drive through adventure started with a T-Rex. And MORE candy.

 

 

 

This. THIS RIGHT HERE!

Yesterday was a day filled with hope and tears of joy.

There is much work to be done, but for today I'm still celebrating. Tomorrow we get to work to elect two Democratic Senators from Georgia in January!

 

Watch This Space

I will have to catch up on last week AFTER the election. I'm working my fingers to the bone doing the group captaining and moderating. I'm a bit tired, but tired is nothing.

Thanks to Kurt for sending me this.