Covid Sucks....Just Sayin'

 It's not just Covid that sucks. It's this whole year. There, I said it. 

Last month I was all excited to go visit one of my closest friends, a friend whom I met in college 20+ years ago. (Wow! That makes me sound old.) We don't see each other as often as I'd like, but when we do we pick up right where we left off. The night before my flight I started to get anxious. I never get anxious over flying. Never. But I continued to pack my bags, putting aside my worry. Friday I left school right when the bell rang so I could race to the airport. But the closer I got to the airport, the more nervous I got. I wasn't nervous about the flight itself. I was nervous about wearing a mask for hours, being in a confined plane with people breathing the same air. Something I've never worried about before. The closer I got to the airport the more I prayed, "Lord, if this isn't Your will then close the doors." Well, guess what? He did. Technically He broke the door but it's all the same. After 3 delays, 2 announcements that I'd miss connecting flights and a call that my BIL had been taken to the hospital for liver failure I knew I wasn't supposed to go visit my friend. When I went to the podium to cancel my flight, I asked the ticket counter guy (Is that their official title??) why there were so many delays. He said, "The door of the plane is broken and we can't figure out what's going on with it." See? God literally broke the door instead of just closing it.

Another reason Covid sucks? The holidays! I'm huge into tradition and family and memories and all things Christmas, starting with Thanksgiving. To be honest, Thanksgiving is my least favorite holiday but it kicks off the Christmas season so I like it for that reason. This year I didn't get to see my parents. (In fact, I haven't seen them since January and the boys haven't seen them since last Summer.) Then Thanksgiving was just odd. I am not naturally a hugger but Rob's family is. There weren't hugs exchanged and we kind of kept our distance from each other. As soon as the meal was over and we cleaned up, Rob, the boys and I got back in the car and headed home. I thought about early Black Friday shopping but none of the stores were open. (I'm good with that because those poor retail people need a day off!) Overall, it was just an odd day filled with good food.

The closer we get to Christmas, the more things get cancelled and the more paranoid I get about quarantining. Don't get me wrong. I am not concerned in the least about getting Covid. I'm worried about missing out because I have to quarantine. I am so thankful that the students were able to come back to school after the Thanksgiving week because this is my favorite time of the year to teach. That being said, I don't want to do anything to jeopardize missing out on what's left of the Christmas festivities because of Covid. Already, all work Christmas parties were cancelled. The boys don't want to do Santa pictures because they will be separated from him by plexiglass. Our church is doing a drive-thru Christmasville this year when in years past the kids have been able to sit on Santa's lap after riding a little train, enjoying the petting zoo and watching the Christmas Story come alive. This year we won't get to see my parents once again and I'm sure it'll just be the 4 of us on Christmas day. We've only done that once before and I wasn't a huge fan. Like I said, I like family and memories at Christmas, which includes Christmas day itself.

But it is what it is. Someday we'll look back on this year as a year of historical events....Covid, an unprecedented hurricane season, Kamala Harris becoming the first female Vice President. But right now I see 2020 as the year nothing went as planned. It is what it is. Bah Humbug!

Bothersome

 I debated about whether to blog my thoughts and in the end I felt compelled to. Some of you may not like what I have to say but so be it. Yesterday Biden/Harris were announced as our next political leaders of the USA. And since they have been announced many of my friends have taken to FB to belittle them or point out their "sins". I get that people aren't happy about the outcome. I'm not happy about it either (although, like I stated in my last blog, I wasn't a huge fan of Trump's either). But pointing out mistakes people made years ago isn't right. I would hope people would use their anger to fight for what they believe in. I would also hope (and pray) that God doesn't judge me as harshly as some people on FB are doing to Kamala Harris. I have no doubt that, like me, sometimes people wish they could hit a "rewind" button to go back and right a wrong they had done. Whether she has that wish or not is none of our business. How she leads the nation as second in command is our business. Do I agree with her political agenda? Not at all. But do I feel the need to belittle her on social media because of her choices in life? Not at all. I am a firm believer that children learn by example and what I'm seeing on FB helps me understand why some children act the way they do. It frustrates me and puts a knot in my stomach. Why be ugly? Some of the people who are making these comments and posting memes are the ones who cried the loudest when others bashed Trump. As the old saying goes, "If you don't have anything nice to say about someone don't say anything at all." 

In closing I'll leave you with one of my favorite sayings... "In a world where you can be anything, be kind."

Take the high road and be kind..... mic drop

Sleepless Nights

 I feel like I've titled a previous blog with this same title. Maybe it's just become a theme in my life over the years. I don't know. I used to lie awake for hours, worrying about finances, our marriage, P's health. Now I'm awake because I feel like I've aged10 years in the past year. I take a very high dose of medicine for a medical condition (to no avail) that causes night sweats and hot flashes. (Doesn't that sound like an old lady issue? But wait! It gets better.) I have plantar fasciitis that makes walking pretty uncomfortable if I choose to wear cute shoes instead of sensible shoes. I have eczema that will cause my hands to feel like they are on fire some days. I have gained weight faster than I can think about losing it. (Although the pint of Blue Bell that I ate for lunch today probably didn't help.) I have arthritis in my hips, making exercise uncomfortable. By the time I fall into bed (at an old lady time of 8:30) I am uncomfortable and exhausted. I try to read to relax but my eyesight has gone downhill pretty fast in recent months. I wear my glasses a lot these days just to see the book I'm reading to my students or the computer screen that sits on my desk. By the time I go to bed, I don't want to wear my glasses and it's difficult to see the words if I'm reading a "small print" book. Oh the joys of aging! I can only imagine how I'll be in 20-30 years. 😞

Maybe I am dealing with insomnia because of the political junk going on. News media has declared Joe Biden as the new President elect as of today. I'm not a fan of his. But, in all honesty, I haven't been a fan of any of our presidents in recent years. I guess this election just made me mad because of all the fraud. The American people deserve better than that! When it's all said and done, whoever is inaugurated in January will be our President and, even if I don't respect the person, I respect his position. But I really just wish the USA could go back to the good ole' days of Ronald Reagan. 😃

No matter what causes my insomnia, I am thankful for nights like last night where I slept 7 consecutive hours. I rarely sleep more than 4 hours at a time and then it takes me an hour or two to get comfortable enough to fall back to sleep. I usually get one good night of sleep a week and I'll take it. I'm thankful when I wake up rested and do not take it for granted. So here's to more nights of good sleep, waking up rested and ready to take on a new day.....

Fun and Busy Month

 October has always been a busy month for our family. I feared, with COVID this year, that it wouldn't be. Boy, was I wrong! Between P's cross country season, birthdays, hunting, Rob's storm work, Halloween and our every day commitments, we had something filling up our calendar several times a week. 

At the first of the month, I felt like our lives went from 0-60 in no time flat. Rob was working long hours. I was a "mom taxi". P was involved with cross country, youth group, hanging out at friends' houses and wanting to go to his school's football games. E started piano lessons and spends every waking moment with his best friend.

On the weekends that we didn't have any big plans we went to camp to celebrate family birthdays. It was nice to be able to spend time with family, celebrating in the most normal way possible this year. 

Last weekend ended P's cross country season. We were so impressed with what he accomplished in only a few months. He practiced diligently and was able to shave 2 minutes (!!!) off his time by the end. It was fun to watch him blossom and find his athletic niche. 

Last night we rounded out the month with neighborhood trick or treating. I thought it would be cancelled since so many other things have been this year. But, much to my joy, it went on as scheduled. For the first time since moving to this neighborhood, most of the people handed out candy. After the boys and their friends were done stashing their bags with every form of candy, we went to our neighbor's house for dinner. Afterwards we sat around the fire pit, talking and enjoying the beautiful Fall weather. When we got home, both boys said it was the best Halloween they'd ever had. I guess when so much has been taken away from us this year, it makes you appreciate the things you are able to do. 

Here are a few pictures to highlight our month....

A Change of Plans

There is nothing I love more than a good surprise. Why? Because I love trying to figure out what the surprise is. Last week I was able to piece things together and figured out that Rob graciously used his "storm money" to buy me a side by side for my birthday. What I didn't figure out is that he had planned a huge surprise party for me tomorrow. So many friends were going to show up tomorrow afternoon to celebrate my birthday with me. But, alas, hurricane #268 of the year is about to hit Louisiana. Rob didn't want to chance him having to work or us losing power so he played it safe and cancelled the party. As much as I would've loved to have been surprised with my friends coming over, I am glad he changed the plans. Today I was going to take the boys to the gulf for the day. We were going to go to an aquarium and to a new restaurant. But, this morning we decided to stay home instead. I am glad we changed the plans.

Why am I glad the plans have changed? One of the reasons is that the weeks have gotten so busy that it's nice to have a day to relax once in awhile. As I said in a previous blog, we've gone from zero to sixty in a short time. While I'm glad some things are getting back to normal, I'm still not ready for all the busy schedules. For the first time in my life, I'm okay with the fact that I'm still kind of a home body. As much as I love doing new things with the boys and having friends over, I am thankful that we have a relaxing weekend ahead of us. Time to recharge after a busy week!

Grass is Greener

 I know the old saying “The grass is always greener on the other side.” But, this year I have really been feeling that. In March, when the world literally shut down, I would’ve given anything to have social interaction outside of our 4 walls. I felt claustrophobic and at times, lonely. I don’t do well being cooped up so I made the best of it by doing endless house projects that I never have time for. By July, things were slowly getting back to normal. We were busy to some extent but a lot of things were still closed due to Covid. In August school started, but we started on a hybrid model. Some students came Monday and Wednesday while others came Tuesday and Thursday. I had a lot of “prep” time due to our schedule so life wasn’t crazy busy. Then we had hurricane after hurricane after hurricane hit the gulf. The thing with hurricanes is that you don’t know exactly where they’ll hit until about 24 hours prior to making landfall. So we had a lot of days off of school in August due to “storm days”. Then all of a sudden...BOOM...life went completely back to normal. Talk about a shock! For 5 months, life was pretty much slow and easy and then within two weeks, life gets crazy busy. Between the boys’ activities, hair cut appts, car issues and errands, this week has been insane. Not to mention, I no longer have a lot of prep time at school so I bring work home in the evenings and weekends. This week it was overwhelming. I was so thankful that yesterday was the first day where we didn’t have any after school commitments. Usually on the weekends I run around, trying to get everything done for the new week. But today I had to decompress. I worked all morning and then I sat on the couch around 2pm and haven’t done much since then. I need this time to rest- physically and mentally. I do NOT want to go back to life being shut down but I am ready for a slower pace again. I’m not quite ready for life to completely go back to normal yet. That’s one thing I learned during the pandemic. That being said... how’s  the grass looking on your side of the fence??

Well Rounded Boys

Today is rainy, gloomy and shall I say chilly?? I don't think I ever remember wearing a jacket in mid September since moving to the South. But today I did and it was glorious. It's the perfect weather to cuddle up in a blanket, with a book and cup of coffee.....or blog. Usually I start my Days of Thankfulness in November but this year I decided to start early. Due to all the chaos, destruction and heartbreak this year I thought I'd start listing the things I'm thankful for now to remind me that we are so blessed. I am not going to go back to Day 1 on this blog but I will say that, by writing about our blessings on social media, it has made me realize just how blessed we are.

My biggest blessing is my family. This week I was thanking the Lord for everyone in our family. It got me to thinking about our boys and how well rounded they are. I am thankful that they have so many interests. Our oldest is thriving this year, which is so nice, since last school year was rough. This year he's got his confidence back. He is rocking all of his classes! He is on the cross country team and is trying out for the football team. He also enjoys playing his guitar and riding dirtbikes. He wants to get into trapping this year and has his first real job, mowing our neighbor's lawn every week. At night, he'll fall asleep reading and likes to use the money he earns to buy books.

Our youngest loves football and is obsessed with dirtbikes. He also loves hunting and fishing with his daddy. When it's raining or his best friend isn't home, he'll spend time drawing and painting. I love that he likes to help me in the kitchen, learning how to bake. He wants to start learning how to play the piano as well. 

Both boys love to help others and both do well in school. They are outgoing and have a great group of friends. Just like other kids their age, they play video games. But they would rather be outside than in front of a TV. I love that they challenge themselves to be better. 

Yes, they argue. Yes, sometimes they can work my nerves. But, I never take for granted that we have been blessed with such awesome boys. I love how well rounded they are and that they are so thoughtful. I can't wait to see how the Lord uses them in life!