No school week 2: Everything's not awesome

This week has been hard for me, but it wasn't until Friday that I figured out the exact reason why. A few weeks ago I took an enneagram test (after listening to Jennifer Fulwiller rave about the test for years.) I scored as a 3 which is the Achiever. (That's what Jennfer Fulwiller is too.) And as an achiever I enjoy getting things done, accomplishing things on my to do list, and being productive in general. 

But Covid-19 is making it really really hard for me to "get things done" in a way that I'm used to. My plans have been upended, my days now revolve around keeping my kids entertained, and it's really hard for me to plan very far in the future. I don't like operating this way.  

I'm coping by finding little projects that I can accomplish, and by celebrating the things I do get done no matter how small. That's probably one reason I like this blog so much. Publishing a post is always something I can achieve. 

So even though much of my life is unpredictable right now I'm still going to do a blog update and you can bet I'm going to talk about the things I accomplished this week. 

Monday March 23

This was the beginning of what would have been our Spring Break so I wasn't super interested in establishing much of a schedule yet. 

I let the kids sleep in, but I got up early and worked on last weeks' Illguthlife update. I was in a really great mood from all of our adventures on Sunday. It had been really easy to forget about the pandemic when we were out hiking in the sunshine the day before. 

The kids woke up and we had breakfast and then walked Marsha. 

I had seen on Facebook that many people were doing something called "Chalk your walk" for the weekend. People were drawing fun sayings and pictures on their sidewalks for people to see as they walked around their neighborhood. I'd looked for chalk at Smiths when I went there real quick on Saturday, but they didn't have sidewalk chalk. They did have window crayons so I bought those.  The kids had fun drawing pictures on the window. 

Derrick had therapy scheduled for the morning. They weren't going out into the community any more, but Miss Emily was prepared for that. She and Derrick were working on a papermache volcano at the agency office. I wanted to run into work while Derrick was at thereapy, and since the office is 2 blocks from our house I just dropped Derrick off there rather than wait for Emily to come pick him up. That worked really well. 

Work was great. I was so happy to have a reason to take a break from my kids and my house. I also liked having a reason to get dressed in my nice clothes and to do my make up. (Though I totally forgot that Monday's are the day my boss spends writing so I didn't see anyone besides him the whole time I was there.)

When I came home the three girls showed me their final window art creations.  This one has Lady and the Tramp and it says, "This is the night to fall in love."

I also liked this one of someone surfing.

And there were a lot of random scribbles from Derrick and Veronica.  (Derrick had written his name and 2+2=4)

Derrick came home and we had lunch.

Everyone had different ideas for what we should do that afternoon. I wrote down all the suggestions and we proritiized them. First up was a walk around the neighborhood.  I wanted to do that first because it was currently partially sunny after a morning of light rain.

I'm glad we did that first. We went on a long walk and as we walked back down our street we heard thunder. It rained the rest of the day.

When we got back we played the card game Green Thumb. It started out okay, but we had to pause the game when two of the four players were in tears. The game usually isn't that emotional, but I think everyone just needed a break. The kids went downstairs and watched Frozen while I took care of some stuff with our bank.

When the movie was over we tried again. It went much better and Veronica ended up winning. I'd been helping her throughout the game, but she'd also made some plays that I didn't tell her to do.

The kids watched James and the Giant Peach (I had no idea that was a Disney movie) while I made dinner. Brandon came home and we ate dinner. Then I headed into the bedroom for some time to myself and a little nap.

At some point I received a notice from the school district that the school would have a soft closure until April 20th.  I'd expected an announcement like this. But it still felt crazy that school would be out for almost a month.  Still, I couldn't complain much, my friends in Utah were posting notices that their schools were out until May 1st.

We put the kids to bed and then I finished writing the blog update. Then Brandon and I watched Jimmy Fallon's tonight show from home. There is something so comforting in watching Jimmy Fallon deal with being quarantined with his two children under the age of 5. 

Tuesday March 24th,

This was a harder day right from the get go. I'd stayed up way too late the night before and so I just felt tired all day. The kids were all just a little on edge.

I did work on getting Derrick's behavioral therapy hours increased. Since school was officially cancelled I wanted to have some extra help keeping him occupied. I asked for 10 additional hours and Miss Dana sent me the paperwork to sign. I sent it back to her and she forward the request onto the Department of Health and Welfare. It felt good to be on top of that.

In the afternoon I knew we needed to get out of the house so I told everyone to get in the car. Some of the kids didn't want to go. I told them, "we are going to walk down the trail for 10 minutes. When the timer goes off we will turn around."

I took them to the Twin Falls Visitor Center and we walked east on the canyon rim trail. I've never walked on this part of the trail.

We got a good view of the bridge.

I was surprised that we could catch a glimpse of Pillar Fall from the trail. (I'd written in my twin falls guide that there was no easy view point from the canyon rim.) One day I want to kayak on the river to this waterfall.

I'm glad we went on that walk because the rest of afternoon was depressing. I got notice that the Tokyo Olympics were getting moved to 2021, that Yellowstone National Park was closing, and that the Art and Soul competition was postponed to June. Of the three only Art and Soul really impacted me. But I was equally depressed about all of them. So many cancelled plans.

The kids ate a ton of toast all day long. We ran out of bread because all they ate was toast. Feeding the kids was a big stress for me.  Not because we didn't have food, but because I'm not in the habit of feeding them lunch. I really don't know how to do it. Last summer we went to lunch in the park almost every week day. The summer before that they were in daycare (and went to lunch in the park). The summer before that was when we lived in Yellowstone and Brandon was in charge of lunch. And the summer before that was when we lived in Alabama and the kids were so young they were content with simple meals. I started looking forward to next week when the school would provide grab and go sack lunches.

To help with my sadness and frustration I texted my neighbors Diantha and Kaymie to see if they'd want to get together to talk in Diantha's dirveway that evening. They said yes, but we ended up deciding to go on a walk. We were pretty good about keeping space between each other. It was so good to talk and walk with these ladies. I felt much better after getting to socialize with some friends.

Wednesday March 25

Right before we went on our morning walk on Wednesday I looked out the window and saw snow flakes falling down. They weren't sticking, and there weren't a lot of them, but it was definitely snow.  Still we headed out on our walk.

Here are some of the snow flakes that landed in Lydia's hood.

Derrick had therapy again so I dropped him off at the office and then headed to work. While I was at work a reporter from the Times-News stopped by to take my picture. He was working on a story about the Autism Support Group. The plan had been to get a picture of the attendees at our March meeting, but that meeting was cancelled along with every other meeting at the library. So we decided to just take my picture and run that with the story. Good thing I'm not camera shy.

After I was done at work I was able to run over to Smiths to pick up milk, bread, and a few other things. I was happy to see that the restrictions on how many gallons of milk we could buy had been lifted.  I was walking by the almost expired food shelf and saw this cake. I decided it would be the perfect treat. Later I joked with Brandon, "I'm eating my feelings and this cake's colors represent how  out of sync I feel."

I picked up Derrick and we went home. Lydia had finished this drawing and was happy to show it to me. I told her, "This is how everyone will look as soon as we can go places again."

It started snowing again. The snow was little balls, but it wasn't quite hail.

The sun came out for a bit. None of the girls wanted to go for a walk, and they were all pretty calm. But Derrick and Marcia needed to get out.  So I took the two of them for a walk around the neighborhood. Derrick was just in short sleeves - which was fine for the first half of the walk. But it started snowing again - while the sun was shinning.  What strange weather.

I took a nap while the kids watched a movie. It was a really good nap. When I woke up I read on Facebook that Governor Little had issued a state wide Stay Home order for Idaho. This closed all non essential businesses and encouraged residents to stay home as much as possible. Recreation was still okay, but should be done near to our homes. This effectively cancelled the tentative plans we'd had to go camping at City of Rocks that weekend. (That was already our Plan B from camping and swimming at Banbury Hot Springs.)

My biggest question was whether or not Brandon's job was considered essential. Infrastructure jobs were considered essential and aviation is part of infrastructure. But Brandon works for a private company so we weren't sure if it was considered essential. Well the company is staying open (probably because they are the main fuel supply at the Jerome Airport) so Brandon still had a job. We were thankful for that we've had enough adventures with unemployment in the last 12 month - we don't need another one.

After dinner I found myself staring out the kitchen window for the second evening in a row.  I could feel the ennui (a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement) settling in and I knew I needed to stop it.  So I decided to get a puzzle out. We'd been given some puzzles last week and I'd been saving them for when I was bored enough. I decided this was it.

So I got out the 1000 piece Disney Themed puzzle and set it up on the kitchen table. Brandon and the kids helped me with it. It had a complicated boarder so that took quite a bit of time. But it was nice to be engaged in something.

At 7:00 I had to take a break from the puzzle to jump on a Google Hangout with my siblings. We have been talking a lot on Marco Polo, but we'd decided we needed to talk in real time. It was really good to talk with everyone. Usually our calls last an hour, but this one went on for nearly 2 hours. Brandon took care of putting the kids to bed so I didn't have to get off the call.

After the call Brandon and I set up a card table in the living room and moved the puzzle over there. We worked on the puzzle for a long time. We've been trying to find a good time to read scriptures together. We figured out that it worked to listen to a chapter of the Book of Mormon while we worked on the puzzle. Then we watched Jimmy Fallon. It was a really good evening together.

Thursday March 26th, 

Right before I fell asleep on Wednesday night I started humming the song Everything's Not Awesome. This is from the Lego Move 2. The kids had watched this movie a lot over the summer and I'd really liked the message of the song. In fact, when Brandon lost his job in the middle of our move to Twin Falls I'd had the song running through my head. I realized that the song was pretty applicable again.


I especially liked this verse:

Everything's not awesome
Things can't be awesome all of the time
It's an unrealistic expectation
But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try
To make everything awesome
In a less idealistic kind of way
We should maybe aim for not bad
'Cause not bad right now would be real great

There are some profound words in that song.

With those words ringing in my head all morning I was committed to aiming for a "not bad day."

It was a cold day, but we still made it out for a walk.

I had the kids sit down and paint some watercolor pictures for three friends who have birthdays in the next few weeks. Derrick kept thinking we were making birthday cards for him. I had to keep telling him, these are for friends. You will get birthday cards when it's closer to your birthday.

Lydia wanted me to take this picture so she could see what the water did to her eyes.

The kids were getting stir crazy so we HAD to go for a walk. I basically forced them all into the car. We drove over to the parking area near the Perrine Coulee waterfall and then followed the trail north. I knew it went to a tunnel under a main road, but I'd never been there in person. No one was really interested in a walk, but they were all curious enough about the tunnel that they were willing to go on the walk. By the time we found the tunnel everyone was in great moods.

We came back home and were surprised to find a small package addressed to Derrick sitting on our porch. It had come in the mail and was from Mrs Fish. I have no idea who Mrs Fish is. But Derrick knew her name. From what I could gather Mrs Fish is a resource teacher at the school and she works with Derrick. She somehow knew Derrick's birthday was coming up (probably because he tells everyone) and had sent him a birthday present.

The present wasn't very big, but it meant EVERYTHING to Derrick and to me.  Mrs Fish and her children had made a volcano themed birthday card and colored some volcano pictures. The put those in a small box with a bouncy ball, a windup chick toy, and some candy. Derrick was so excited about everything in that box. The little chick was especially entertaining for everyone.

Charlotte also got a letter from her teacher. She was thrilled to get it and immediately started writing a reply. 

Lydia spent quite a bit of time constructing a harness for her horse.

She had it all set up to pull her doll around in our little wagon. (By the way you wouldn't believe how many toy purges this wagon has survived. Every time we think the kids won't miss it they ask for it again.)

Here she is working on her project.

Up close.

I spent most of the afternoon working on the puzzle. It was really fun because there were so many characters. The kids would help and then wander off and then come back to help some more. I think Charlotte worked on it the most with me. We got it done around 5:00 pm. That was a little less than 24 hours since I'd got the puzzle out. 

Thursday night I held an online chapter meeting for my Idaho MWEG chapter. I didn't make it very formal. I was just happy that something I'd planned a month ago HADN'T been cancelled. It was fun to talk to the 3 other women who were on the call.

Friday March 27th

Every day had been blending together to I was actually a little surprised that it was finally Friday. I was kind of burned out from the week. The kids ended up watching 4 movies throughout the day. We've been good about having the kids watch only 1 or 2 a day, but I'd given up by this point. (We'll technically they only watched three movies. Charlotte picked Journey to the Center of the Earth for her movie, and later Derrick picked the same movie. When it was Derrick's turn he didn't want to watch all the boring talking at the beginning so we just started the movie when they go down in the earth.  He LOVES that movie because it ends with a volcano erupting. And he liked running around the house saying things like, "The three notches" or "Ayayayaya."

Lydia worked a lot on her harness.

And I worked a lot on another puzzle and finished that.  This is the point when I realized that I need some feeling of accomplishment in order to stay sane.

Brandon came home and was so happy to start the weekend. Everyone was sick of movies so we hung out and played some games.

Veronica cut up a lot of papers and made "soup."

Charlotte played with dominos and made some fun designs.

At some point Derrick saw this How It Should Have Ended clip.  He kept repeating the dialog and asking us to play certain characters. He laughed hysterically every time.

Saturday March 28th

Was the most normal feeling day in the whole week. Brandon went to Winco a little after 7:00 and was able to get a lot of groceries.  Winco is currently limiting customers. They only allow 200 shoppers in the store at once. Brandon said he was shopper number 86. He said everyone in the store gave each other wide berths when they passed in the store. When it was time to check out he wasn't allowed up to the cash register until the person ahead of him had finished their transaction. And there was a large piece of clear plastic between the cashier and Brandon.

When Brandon came home we spent several hours cleaning up the house. The living room had been particularly messy so it was good to get that cleaned up.

We had lunch and then headed outside to spend the rest of the day working out there. I got a few things done in the garden, but the big story was the tree house. 

Brandon put up the support boards.

All the kids were so interested in what he was doing

He had to run to Home Depot once for a few more 2X4s. The kids wanted to go with him, but I told them that the Stay Home order meant that only one person should go to the store at a time.

Around 4:00 I remembered that the hosts of the Radio Ronin show were going to be DJing a live dance party. So I got onto Bash Music on Spreaker. At first I was just listening to the music on my own while I was making dinner. After a while I pulled out my bluetooth speaker and put it up to the window so Brandon and the kids could hear it.

The kids loved listening to the music. They came in for dinner and we kept the music on in the background. Then we turned it up when they went back outside.  We listened to the whole 3 hour show. The music was so fun and upbeat. It definitely helped improve my mood. I loved what Jimmy Chunga said at the end. He said, "50 years from now your kids will say when I was young we had a virus, and to beat this virus we danced."

Brandon and the kids got so much done on the tree house.  They were able to add a floor to part of the platform. (We still need at least one more trip to Home Depot to get more plywood for the rest of the floor.)

Her's what it looks like on the bottom.

From another angle.

Oh and here's the garden. I got the grass clumps out of the other three beds so they'll be ready for planting in April and May. I also added an old T frame clothes line to be a support for green beans. And I dug a huge metal clothesline T frame out of the area where we are going to put the berry patch.

I love this picture of all the kids helping Brandon.

And here's how the tree house looked by the time Brandon was done for the evening. Railings are on 3 of the 4 sides.

We were thinking about watching Star Wars epidsode 2 for movie night, but it was after 8 by the time we were done with baths. So we just put the kids to bed.

Sunday March 29th

Today was a good Sunday. The kids all piled on Brandon and the couch this morning.

Like really piled on him.

Brandon and I both participated in a church wide fast. That led to me having a big realization. I'm hoping to write a deep post about my feelings.  Hopefully I find time to write that tomorrow.

We had sacrament meeting at our next door neighbors' house today. It was good to see Diantha and Jennifer and to meet with them.

In the evening I had my business class. This was the third Sunday that we met over Zoom. I usually lock myself in my room for the class. Veronica was in tears outside my door so I let her in. She laid her head on my knee and paid attention to about 10 minutes of the class before she fell asleep for about an hour. Other people in the class had kids wandering in and out of their screens too. This is the new normal.

Tomorrow we put a little bit of structure back into our lives. The kids start distance learning. Derrick has therapy 10 hours a week. Since we have the stay home order the therapy has to happen at home. So Miss Emily will come to our house. She's going to be very helpful at keeping Derrick on task while I'm working with the other kids. We'll see how this all goes.

Hang in there.