The Corona Diaries Week 42 - Feels Like 2020

The turning of a new year is symbolic, I know that. But maybe 2021 doesn't really get started until after January 20th. 

Last week was BONKERS. Attack on the US Capital by a huge trump crowd, five people died. That was crazy weird and surreal and added even more of an unbalanced feeling to the world as we know it. I think I haven't really processed all that happened because it was so unexpected and cuckoo. Like how 9/11 was mind-boggling. You couldn't wrap your head around the things you saw. Well, I couldn't quite do it last week. Idiots just streaming into the capital building? Still can't. So many failures all over the place. I hope there are some kind of consequences for the "president" and the other trumpsters in congress for inciting and encouraging what happened. 

The good news before the madness was that both senate seats in Georgia went to the democrats. The senate is now split, tie goes to VP Kamala Harris. That person, Mitch, is no longer Senate majority leader. YAY. But it will still be a challenge, but a much better challenge. So there is that to look forward to. But we have ten more days until things can really change for the better. 

Last week here in Freyland, we had a pretty chill week. I though I would be back to work, but it turned out, no. So this coming week will be busy. Last week was instead was a nice week of getting some stuff done, cleaning up/cleaning out more and then having afternoons of watching Marvel movies. Harper is now working her way through Marvel Cinematic Universe. We would close the curtains and make popcorn and watch movies. It was so lovely and relaxing. I'm going to miss it. Her school starts again on Tuesday. 

We have continued the geocaching fun, riding bikes around and searching. We found one near Harper's elementary school. Not sure why Kurt is throwing gang signs. 

Kurt and Harper also had a bike ride and found a nice tree to climb.

I worked on expanding my cooking this week. Chose things out of cookbooks instead of just online sites or food newsletters. Browsing through my cookbooks was very relaxing and inspiring. I started with the new cookbook I got as a gift from a local Maui friend. Makes my mouth drool just reading through it!

I started with pickled onions. OMG they are soooo tasty.

Then I started making local style Mac Salad and had a minor disaster. Mayo all over. Good times!

But it worked out very well in the end with shoyu chicken, mac salad and rice. Basically Plate Lunch for Dinner! Yum! (There were actual vegetables on the side.)

I made a big pot of minestrone using up lots of veggies that seem to pile up on their own in the veggie drawers.

Still loving the cafeteria trays for Harper's lunches. 

Made a chicken pot pie. Tasty, but not thick enough gravy.

Popcorn in the making - tin foil with steam vents so the popcorn doesn't get "damp". Kurt likes it classic: melted butter and salt. I like how I learned from Grace: Olive oil, nutritional yeast, and a variety of flavors in the spice rack. I like salt, onion salt and something from TJs. SO good. 

Willoughby has been coming up on my desk lately. 

And Mr. Biscuit helped count votes in Georgia.

I stood by with my new Ted Lasso themed sweatshirt. It seemed to work, but we weren't sure until the next morning. 

Mr. Biscuit also had a delayed one year doctor's visit. He did very well with all his shots and is in good health. Good Boy Biscuit!

I have a new challenge in my exercise routines. It's super challenging now to even walk up without losing my breath, but I'm inspired by RCL who tells me he runs to a set of steps and does the steps then runs home. So my goal is to do similar. So far, so good in that I am working my way up to both the running and the stair climbing. Currently they are separate work outs, but I plan on combing it next month.

Kurt used his power tools to break up the Christmas tree. 

Harper got one last gift from Christmas, a box of CANDY! Jesus. She's going to have some serious withdrawals when it's empty. 

She drew this fab picture of a cat in our window. (Tornadoes were a separate exercise.)

On Saturday Harper and drove to Ojai to visit a friend. We hung out and chatted and played Harper's favorite: Mad Libs. There was a story about "interviewing" pizza that turned out to be "suspicious." It was a jolly time.

I asked Harper to take pictures of Orange things. Here is a sample:

Then we ate pizza for lunch! (with lots of leftovers)

Of course we went geocaching to walk off lunch and also have an adventure around Ojai. We walked through a cool garden near our friend's house to find our first cache.

Harper and I found one more near the old Ojai Jail as we drove out of town. 

But the most exciting thing we found this week is that Harper is such a big girl she no longer needs her booster chair in the car! FINALLY! HOORAY! 

Her booster seats (one in each car) were from child seats that then turned into boosters. So now we can take the other booster out of our stored car as well as the rest of the chairs taking up space in our garage! Always nice to pass them along and make more space.  Another family milestone! 

Now holding my breath to see what this coming week brings...

 

TECHNICAL NOTE: Typepad has been having issues with images not loading so if you see gaps, that's not my fault...it's been frustrating.