Sickness (2/6/24)

Captains Log:

Over the weekend, Papa got a sore throat. He soldiered through 100 guests at our Party Gras, but by Sunday, he was drinking his home remedy: salted citrus and honey mixed with warm water.

On Monday, Mama got up and was a little more tired than usual. She dropped off Jonas and Gill at school and went to work. She'd been sneezing like crazy so she kept her office door closed. By 12:30, she was on the way home. By 4pm, her fever was 101.1. Papa continued to feel poorly.

Later that night, Mama attended chorus practice via Zoom and the boys went to Scouts. Jonas came back from Scouts indicating that he didn't feel well. Gill came back with a bruised heel. 

And Papa, who had diarrhea, got up in the middle of the night to empty his stomach.

Today, Tuesday, February 6th, all four us are home sick. As of 11:32 a.m., Gill is using crutches. Jonas is still abed. Papa is at his shoulder surgeon appt, wearing a mask of course. Mama is in bed working on her lap top, making occasional trips downstairs to fix food.

And the cat just threw up. 

Solidarity. 

Cake Factory

snow days

January 3, 2021

yes that's Emmett in the back

me and Ed

Gill's growth

3.9.22

My baby isn't a baby anymore. 

eggs and beer

4.14.22

Gill, tonight you and I dyed Easter eggs while you talked to your friend Robert on the computer. Jonas was stuck in the bathroom for over 2 hours. So he missed out.

Later, you played Shady Grove for Robert. I love hearing you play the violin

And you took a shower in our bathroom tonight. When you came out of the shower you were singing 99 bottles of beer on the wall and made it all the way down to 1! You were so happy and your voice is nice.  We sang together for 50 beers but I pooped out. You were waltzing around with nothing on and didn't even notice.

You are almost 12 and you are happy. Happier than you've been in quite a while. It makes me very happy too.

My little musicians

Well boys, you blew my socks off this past mother's day, though your father deserves some serious credit as well. You guys plotted and schemed, learning a wonderful duet on the piano and violin. You colluded with Mr. Adam the music teacher (and our neighbor) and though you had only learned the song minutes earlier at your Sunday lesson, you came home and played it beautifully! I was so impressed. Jonas, you kept a steady tempo using your whole body as a metronome, nodding your head in as you counted out the beat. Gill, you improvised a bit with the rhythm but kept up just fine. 

I'm not sure you noticed, but you made me cry tears of joy and pride. 

 

Monday, February 15, 2021

Today is the day between Valentine's Day and Mardi Gras. I'm calling it Valengras which I thought was original and clever until I check hashtags and this is already a thing. Ha!

As I type this, I'm sitting at my desk on the 2nd floor in the sitting area off the master bedroom. I'm facing the street and see a sea of white. It has been so cold for so long and there is no end in sight. It has been snowing off and on for days. It's never a heavy snow, but since there is no melting, it's beginning to accumulate. It's very dry snow (because it's so cold) so we used the leaf blower for a bit. Now we're using the big push broom. 

I find myself dreaming of our upcoming trip. It is 84 degrees in Orlando. We will be there in less than a month.... 29 days to be exact.  I'll confess to anxiety about making the trip during a pandemic, but am relieved to see the positive cases decline significantly in the past two weeks. When the vaccine was announced, we thought we'd be vaccinated by now. It seems that we'll be lucky to receive the vaccine by summer. What strange times. 

Gratitude on MLK Day

Monday, January 18, 2021

This morning, Ed and I took his old oak bookcase over to the Blue Goose for Marli Klumb, Jason's mom. She had tagged me on Facebook Marketplace when I posted it as available. It felt like an informal act of service. She said there are 170 people in her building and they've only had 2 cases of Covid which is amazing. 

Ed worked with Gill on replacing glass in the French door entrance to the side porch + disassembling the front door handle and mortise lock. He and I took a trip to Overland Park to check out options at Lock & Pull. After 15+ years in this old house, we are ready for new locks. The former owners could actually enter this house anytime they wanted to with their old key. It amazes me how much we rely on the good faith of others. (NOTE: I'm struggling to accept that it will take 3-4 weeks for the new handle and lock to come in; in the meantime, we are living with holes in the door and only a deadbolt. I have to stick my finger in the hole where the door knob was to pull the door closed. Does a door knob really make your house safer? Not really. That's what I keep telling myself.)

In Covid news, Kayla and her entire Atlanta household have Covid. Sue is struggling the most which is not surprising given her age. Kayla's husband has had 2 major gastric surgeries in the past 6 months, survived sepsis, and is very thin. I'm relieved to hear he is faring well. 

Sadly, Dionne Scherff's father (who lived in Houston) just died from Covid yesterday. There will be no service to mark his passing. 

The inauguration is Wednesday and we are excited but worried too. After the riot on January 6, it is said that all 50 states will expect protests, riots, insurrections, whatever you want to call it. Nevertheless, I am ready to celebrate: my work calendar is blocked off, I made "patriotic treats" to eat and share, 4th of July gear has been pulled from the attic (stuff from the Armour Hills walking and bicycle parade), and I have a red, white, and blue tiara to wear. I'm either naive or an optimist.

For family dinner, I made salads with lettuce from our hydroponic garden with salmon cooked by Ed. The kids had air-fried toasted ravioli. Dinner started with a great laugh when Ed accidentally popped a plastic toy into Gill's water glass. It was a really nice moment. In honor of MLK day (we didn't do anything today in his honor which made me sad), I pulled out our un-read jar of gratitudes, leftover from October / November. Here they are: 

Gill's gratitudes: boo bags (Halloween), 2nd part of expansion pass released, that Momma planned the Halloween party (I did?), Momma talking to me in the car, video games, for life and the people who make video games, farting bat and owl (dog toys), our two pets. 

Ed's gratitudes: resumed pilates, got some important documents out (work), for the way Mad-Eye follows Mama around.  

Jonas' gratitudes: big speakers, the Brennan, banana pudding, D&D, scones.

My gratitudes: great camping trip, boys that put up tents, boy hugs, a job that I like, healthy pets, loyal dog, playful cat, that Gill had a good week in school, warm house with strong walls, fires in the fireplace with wood that someone else cut and stacked, that the grandfather clock works again, our patio, two smart boys, sons that are generous, so so grateful to watch a movie all together, husband who  understands pipe systems, that Ed likes to cook, beautiful plants, that we don't have Covid. 

An Overdue Covid-19 Update

 January 15, 2021

Here are some words from Heather Cox Richardson:

"The pandemic has reached appalling levels, with well over 3000 deaths and more than 200,000 infections every day. Almost 390,000 of us have died of Covid-19 to date, and a far more contagious version of the disease is spreading."

It's been almost a year. I feel like we're further from the solution than we've ever been. Vaccinations has started but are behind schedules promised. And we've learned that there's been no coordination by the federal government. President Trump and his administration have stopped governing. All he's doing is waging a war against democracy with outrageous lies and disinformation. And people are paying with their lives. 

It's beyond disgusting. 

Endings

Thursday, December 31, 2020

This is how we will end the 2020 year. With haircuts.

At the beginning of the pandemic, no one was getting haircuts. But that got old and we figured out the mask thing. So here we are. 

The conversation in the shop today was about how Josh (who is cutting Jonas' hair) is the one who noticed the recent fire in the Dime Store which is next door. When he was in the basement, he could hear their alarm. Apparently, you could not hear it otherwise. When he checked outside, he could see fire through the front window. Apparently, the fire was started by sunlight through the windows heating something inside. The Dime Store limped through the transition to online sales during Covid. They are closed now but I hope they will reopen.  

Gill & Jonas get a trim @ Brookside Barber

UPDATE: The Dime Store announced that they are closing for good. Yet another local business going under. 

NOTE: The Brookside Barber shop has been open since 1919. Josh has worked there for 18 years. It's a cash or check only business and there are no frills. Just resilience. 

The animals

Katniss - her playful nature is sometimes too much. She has boundless energy and we often see the un-tamed nature of her Bengal breed. Ed is her favorite and we all adore her. Jonas calls her "Chaotic Katniss." She ate a ribbon from a xmas present and cost us about $1800 in vet bills. 

And here's our meek little Mad-Eye who has grown quite a roar of a bark when defending our home and the people in it. He hasn't bitten anyone but boy it seems like he wants to! I still wish we'd called him Dogniss. 

Christmas 2020

December 25, 2020

What a strange and quiet Christmas we celebrated. No family, no big meal. Just the 4 of us, and some pre-ordered BBQ. Last night we got sushi from Friend Sushi in Westport which is Jonas' favorite because they have tempura sushi.

A new playmate (for Magic the Gathering) for Jonas

This boy loves to build; won't be long before there's no "toy-like" gifts for Gill

Covid 19, Day **

May 13, 2020

Our city has told us we can gather in small groups of no more than 10 but must keep 6 ft apart. Some people are doing more; some people are doing less. Most people still think wearing a mask means you're afraid for your own health. We cannot seem to understand that wearing masks is what you do to make ALL of us safe. We do it for others, to prevent the spread. Because we could be the infected ones who have no symptoms. Testing is very hard to get. Test results take a long time, and are spotty and unreliable

And in "Midwest nice" we don't speak out when others violate the rules. When they step too close, hand us their baby to hold, or wear their mask wrong (if they have one at all). We have 40, 50, 60 years of behavioral conditioning that mandates us to "be nice, don't offend." So we say nothing. Do nothing.

Covid-19, Day 40

Sunday, April 19, 2020

It was a lazy Sunday but with some productivity. I did laundry and fixed the washing machine. Ed fiddled with his bees. The boys stayed on screens, though Gill did have a violin lesson and a brief in person visit with Dylan who rode by the house on  his bicycle with his dad. We had a backyard / driveway fire pit evening with the Johnsons, complete with smores.

Ed made bread. We all took a turn at Beat Saber on the VR system. I've been reading Ann Patchet's The Dutch House and am engrossed.

In the news:

• 2,297,712 cases worldwide, 158,202 deaths
• 764,177 cases in the U.S., 40,591 deaths
• 5,667 cases in Missouri, 171 deaths, 55,837 people tested

Covid-19, Day 36: Tax Day (not)

Wednesday, April 15, 2020

We did not file taxes today. There was an extension because of the pandemic. 

Ed's homemade bread with mom's homemade figs. 

Karla's Drunkard's Path quilt with clean to-be-folded clothes

In the news:

• President Trump halted U.S funding for the World Health Organization because he apparently believes that it mis-managed the corona virus. 
• The Florida governor declared professional wrestling as an essential business which allows contact.
• Barack Obama endorsed Joe Biden for president. 
• The University of Missouri System (4 universities, including the one I work for) must cut $180M in the next 60-90 days. Furloughs and layoffs are coming. 

Covid-19, Day 28: 3-hr WebEx Meetings

Tuesday, April 7, 2020

I'm sitting at my desk on a 3-hour interactive presentation (i.e. I have to pay attention) on data analytics. And my view from my desk is the street. And the weather is gorgeous, sunny and 80. And I keep watching people walking their dogs, riding bikes with their kids, and strolling with their spouse. It's miserable. But I did eventually get outside to take a look at these pretty gals.

More photos of my free, surprise tulips

And I had a great lunch break.

Leftover chicken and sausage gumbo with potato salad

When I finally broke free of work for the day, Ed and I went for a walk. As we typically do, we hunted pokemon.

An Apom photobombed my Raquaza

As we walked through the neighborhood, I noticed, with pleasure, the quiet. Few cars, no loud music, no sirens. All of the houses were lit from inside. As we headed back home, we stopped to look at the moon. A couple were outside their home, also looking. They were friendly, and chatted with us. I find that people are more aware of each other these days. 

Full Pink Moon - brightest supermoon of the year

In the news:

• 3,307 cases in Missouri, 53 deaths, 31,654 tested
• 219 in Kansas City, 1,203 in St. Louis
•  900 cases in Kansas, 27 deaths, 223 hospitalized
• 422 in Kansas side of the KC metro
• 16,284 cases in Louisiana, 582 deaths, 1,996 hospitalized

Covid-19, Day 27: Just another manic Monday

Monday, April 6, 2020

Worked until 6:30 (7 for Ed) then pulled the Easter decorations down from the attic. We have a ton of plastic eggs, and I spent about 2 hours placing fine wires through the holes at the top so that we can decorate the trees outside.

Eggs in a basket, ready to be hung in the trees

I also bedazzled our front door with some paper hearts that I cut out from a red folder. The flowers and birds nest are holdovers from last year. We have two real bird nests on the drain pipes on the north and west side of our house. I can see the mother bird sitting in the north-facing nest. Years ago when I was pregnant with Jonas, they nested in the same place. We can see them from our bathroom window. It was affirming to see new life at that personally significant moment. 

Front door is all flowers and hearts - do boys live here?

The boys attended online classes in the morning. They generally stay at their computers when they're done, so all 3 (Ed, Gill, and Jonas) are on the side-porch office for most of the day. It's a bright, cheery room with plenty of desk space to spread out. They each have their own chair and their own mess. As much as I fight against it, they bring food in there. I'm trying to teach them to sit at the table or bar when eating, away from screens. I want them to eat mindfully, and not get in the habit of stuffing food in their mouths, barely noticing what and how much they are eating. Also, we have ants in that room.

Apparently, another problem with bringing food in that room pertains to how loud the food might be. Hence the Dorito problem referenced in Ed's tweet below.

In the news:

• 1,347,892 cases worldwide, 74,808 deaths, 284,802 recovered
• 368,196 in the US, 136,675 in Spain (2nd)
• 16,523 in Italy, 13,341 in Spain (2nd)
• 2,722 cases in Missouri, 39 deaths, 31,654 tested
• 845 cases in Kansas, 25 deaths, 198 hospitalized
• 14,867 cases in Louisiana, 512 deaths, 1809 hospitalized
• 70% of those who died are African American; they make up 32% of the population
• Dow Jones closed at 22,656

Covid-19, Day 25:

Saturday, April 4, 2020

Today was house-cleaning day. Our target...bathrooms. We have four, so Ed + Gill took two and Jonas + me took the other two. Gill said it was much easier than emptying the dish washer, which is shocking. I disagree as I despise cleaning bathrooms.

After cleaning, I made a gumbo, from scratch.

Homemade roux

It was chilly outside, but we sat down on the patio to play Throw Throw Burrito which is a strange combination of card game + hot potato. It was hilarious and fun. Everyone but Ed achieved the Fear Me badge status. And yes, Jonas was wearing his onesie pajamas. He has 4 pair, and rotates one per day. He is not the least bit concerned about being outside in such attire.

Jonas was the 1st to win the Fear Me badge

I was the 2nd to win the Fear Me badge

Gill was the 3rd to win the Fear Me badge

We ate dinner (gumbo) together. Gill likes the rice and gumbo juice, but no meat. Jonas only likes the rice. He sometimes puts cheese on the rice. We had potato salad, which the boys declined to try, and french bread, of which they eat their weight on regular occasions.

Today, I continued to enjoy the flowers in our front yard. This one makes me think of my dad as he loved the color yellow.

Yellow tulip at sunset

In the news:

• 1,203,099 cases worldwide, 64,774 deaths, 246,893 recovered
• In first place: 312,146 cases in the U.S., 15,362 deaths in Italy
• 2,291 cases in Missouri, 24 deaths, 27,193 tested
• 698 cases in Kansas, 21 deaths, 172 hospitalized
• 12,496 cases in Louisiana, 409 deaths, 1726 hospitalized

Covid-19, Day 29: BBQ & Bagpipes

Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Not much happened today. Work for the adults, school and video games for the kids. We did have a break at 5:30 when John Toddle came by to play the bagpipes. We rustled up an audience of about 40 people, and he asked for a whiskey so I obliged. I am my father's daughter after all. (Kids - your grandfather like his whiskey with a little ice, and had his own still). 

I usually put Easter stuff in this basket; instead,
it is full of provisions, right next to the front door.

Desi made Ed a mask with nuts and bolts.

Gill likes his LSU mask from Aunt Desi

It fits me too!