Day #11

We have a very loose covid schedule. I’ve got a list of things I’d love us to do daily that I put in a sheet protector so we can cross it off as we go, but we rarely get to even half, and that’s ok. I decided we don’t need to wake up early early, but also shouldn’t sleep all day. Delaney has had trouble sleeping, and Addie always loves to read late and sleep in, so  I decided (for now because everything could change) to wake them up at 10. Frankie, of course, is always up early. 

I’ve taken to making lunch and dinner, mainly in an attempt to clean out our pantry of weird odds and ends. Last night I made Thai green curry soup and it got thumbs up all around. That was nice, because my bean sprout salad for lunch was notso hotso. 

On my list of very important things each day:

30 minutes of piano

Outside/exercise time

Tutoring with Frankie

Come follow me

Dinner together

That’s pretty much it. 

My semi-important things would include:

Youth goals (this should be very important but I’m struggling with it for some reason?)

Governor Hogan pressers

Reading together (they all read a ton on their own)

Some kind of organized learning

Yoga

Cleaning time (their rooms are almost all the way cleaned out, except for clothes because it’s still vacillating between winter and spring)

Cooking time with girls

Journaling - this one is important to me but we haven’t found our groove yet

Art - though they doodle all day every day, I want to do some fun projects

The girls brainstormed that they want to learn some Italian, learn about stars, and learn to type. All fun and interesting things to learn. Ok, typing isn’t super interesting, but it makes online communicating a lot more fun when you know how. 

Yesterday after breakfast we took the hoverboard to the school and the girls were ace at taking turns riding it while I ran. I’m up to 4 miles again and it feels so good. There was no one there, and it was fun to ride all around with no interference. And then they let the hoverboard die and I got to carry it home, but that’s another story. 

While waiting for the hoverboard they rode their bikes, read, or just sat and waited, ala Delaney. 

Natural home schooling - Addie helped Matt change the water filter in our fridge. She was real, real excited about it. 

We picked up lunch from the school, but the problem is my girls don’t love the main course and I hate wasting food. They pawned 3 of their sandwiches (that they initially thought were burgers) off on papa, and begrudgingly ate the last 2. Chris scored us a 40 lb box of chicken for $50 from crabknocker mike, so we portioned that out and filled our freezer. I’m not worried about grocery stores running out, but it was a great price and we have the room. And it’s good peace of mind. 

Matt is working from home and that’s going well. He’ll work awhile, come spend time with us, and repeat. We’ve all noticed how many families have been outside playing together that  we’ve seen, a huge perk of working from home. Would be nice if this could continue once the world starts turning again. 

I tutor M, W, F at 10. Kind of right in the middle of productive time, but it’s only an hour and it’s going fine. Christian is still working at CK, but they are not very busy, so we’ll see if they stay open every day. They are already closed Tuesday's because it’s not crab season yet, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they close another day. They did a have a big catering job, someone bought lunch for all the police officers in Prince Frederick yesterday. I love reading these stories and seeing the pictures. So much good happening in the world right now. 

And also hard and scary. On Tuesday more than 200 people died from corona, and yesterday the US took the lead in number of cases worldwide. It’s so hard because testing is so limited, and I know each country has its weaknesses here, and that tons of people haven’t been tested, still, not a heartwarming trend here with numbers. NY hospitals are overflowing with patients and there aren’t enough ventilators or gloves, masks, and protective gear. WHY? It’s truly maddening. 

The senate passed a 2 trillion (trillion) dollar relief package. I think it’s the right thing, and also worry how we will ever dig our way out. What will become of us in the next few weeks, months, and years?

They closed all the temples. For the first time since the restoration of the gospel, all of the temples are closed. Again, it’s the right thing, and also sad and hard. A sweet sister from our ward had to cancel plans to fly to Utah to receive her endowment, and I wonder how long she’ll have to wait. I believe in compensatory blessings, I am seeing them all over the place, and these help take the sting from our mortal disappointments. 

I am trying to focus on the good and positive, the here and now. This time is a gift, I fully see and recognize, and am grateful for this slow down. All of my people are healthy and safe. As I pray and read my scriptures, i feel comforted and safe. And yet, our favorite scripture hero’s had to do really hard things. A lot of days I don’t feel up for the challenge, but I’m a firm believer in fake it till you make it, so here we are. It feels like we’re all walking a tightrope, but we’re not giving up. President Nelson asked us to participate in a worldwide fast this weekend. The girls and I had already talked about this, and we are all in. I love knowing that people all over the world are fasting and praying towards the same goal. It’s powerful and I will cheerfully and faithfully do my little part. 

Something exciting! I was telling the girls a story about my Papa Clayton. His father wasn't a kind man, and his mother passed away when he was a small child. After I told them the story I went to family search to see exactly how old he was when she’d passed (7 😔). I started clicking around and, long story short, I just knew something about his mom wasn’t right. Different census records and dates. She was born in Hungary, and because she passed so young, and my grandpa became estranged from his father, we don’t have a lot of good information. I’ve searched around for a week, and even pulled out a box of fh info my mom gave me. So after scriptures last night (thank you, aid to revelation) I looked again and it finally came to me! We thought her name was Annie Mary Zatyko, but there was another woman, Annie Zatyko with very similar info. They are 2 different people! And I don’t have Annie Zatyko on my tree because... I don’t know how it happened, but we didn’t. Now I know when they emigrated (when my g grandma was 1) and where they stopped on their way to Illinois (Scranton, PA!). I can’t wait to sort it all out officially in our records and do her temple work. Compensatory blessings.