Goodbye 2020

     What a strange year. Earthquakes, pandemic, Trump..... This has been such an awful year for so many people. Over 350,000 people have died, people have lost their jobs, their homes, their health. We've been so fortunate in that we still have our jobs. It's still all so weird. We can't go to Florida, we don't go anywhere or do anything. We just stay home. 

    The pandemic has been good for CNA business, we can teach online, we've saved money not having to do clinical. My biggest issue with this year has been suffering though another year of an incompetent, narcissistic asshole of a president.  I cannot believe 40% of the population and 70% of Utah thinks he is a good president. It boggles my mind. All these people dying and he is out golfing. The immunizations are developed and being administered but the federal government has done nothing to help the states. It is a 100% cluster. I am waiting for January 20th and Biden becoming president. I know he can't fix the last 4 years but hopefully he will move things in a positive direction. 

Goodbye 2020!!!

Christmas Break

Sean has not been wearing his bands and the orthodontist gave up on hoping he would ever wear his bands. He put an appliance in his mouth that looks like little hydraulic lifts. It looks so uncomfortable. He couldn't talk well or eat for a day but he really didn't complain and now he's fine.

 

Sean out boarding with friends

Sean is rearranging his room on a weekly basis.

Kylie and Brie spent two nights. Jennie and Ryan came over and took them to the skate board park and out to dinner for Christmas.

 

The neighbors were festive

The neighborhood had everyone put four bags with candles on their sidewalks and then people drove around and looked at all the lights. We didn't drive around but we walked across the street to the Earnshaws so Mao Yu could see Santa. (Tay's grandfather)

Sean had Detliff, Andrew and Jacob over for a day of skateboarding. 

Every year I seem to get a little less Christmas spirit We put up the tree but we took it down the day after Christmas. Don wrapped one of Sean's presents but I didn't even wrap anything. I left all Carter's presents in their Kohl's plastic delivery bags. I didn't even buy gift cards I just send money through Venmo or Zelle. I didn't send AJ a gift because I told them I would pay for their mover. There's no way with Steph pregnant and AJ working so much that they could move without help and COVID limits are ability to help.

 

Cleaning

This is the hall storage closet and it was a mess. I cleaned out all my kitchen cabinets and organized everything. It looks great but I found mouse poop! Don said he heard a mouse in the wall and then I heard one. Yuck! Don put mouse poison in the garage and a couple in the house. I haven't seen any signs or heard any mice noises since. 

After I cleaned and got rid of junk.

Sean wanted a skate board. He helped Jacob build a computer and Jacob helped him build a skate board.

We still haven't replaced the fence between our yard and the neighbors that came down in the wind storm. Don and Sean worked on digging up the old post. Someday we will get around to replacing it.

 

Presents for me

I decided to buy a new sewing machine. It is such a nice machine. My mom would have loved it. I feel kind of guilty for having a machine so much nicer than she ever had when she was a great seamstress and I am not. My mom could sew anything. I can sew most things if it involves a straight line and few pieces.

I made a couple blankets and then moved on to pillow cases. these are the cases I made for Wesley for his birthday.

Then I moved on to mask. I didn't know what I was going to do with mask. I asked Mao Yu if she wanted to give her kids mask for Christmas. She said yes wo we made 50 mask.

Mao Yu learned to sew.

I told Don I was thinking about buying a new couch and he said he wanted a new bed. I said I want an electric bed so I can sit up to read. We looked at beds at RC Wiley and then bought one online. It weighed over 400 pounds so I paid for the "White Glove" service so that they would bring it upstairs and set it up.

Don was not looking forward to hauling our old bed out to the dump. It's a pretty nice mattress only about five years old, no stains. I decided to put it on Facebook Marketplace for free. I think used mattresses are gross but I sleep on used mattresses in hotels. I had 10 people who wanted it. I gave it to the first person that showed up. It was kind of heartbreaking. They said their mattress had such a big hole in it that they couldn't sleep on it. 

Here they are hauling off the mattress so Don didn't have to. Carter got a new mattress from his dad for Christmas so we still have to haul his old mattress off. His mattress is not worth giving away.

Sitting up watching TV in our split king automatic bed. I got a soft mattress, Don got a firm one and we can each put our side in whatever position we want. I really like it. I may have to get one for the beach.

 

Online school

 

Sean made honor roll last semester. He worked kind of hard. It's pretty amazing that he can get all his school work done in usually 2 to 3 hours a day. What the heck are they doing at school all day.

This term has had it's challenges. The district had him in 3 different Utah Studies classes. I told the teacher he had last term and she said just have him pick one and don't worry about the others. She emailed me that she was frustrated with the way they were adding and taking kids out of classes. Out of the blue they took Sean out of the class he was doing and kept him in the class he had never logged in. This seems easy enough to solve but his Utah Studies didn't have the power to add him to her class but said she was happy to have him back. His counselor couldn't add him because Mrs. Lott's class was full. I had to call the principal and I'm not going to lie, she was not very friendly. She told me we had put Sean in two different types of classes that made it difficult. I told her the district had screwed it up from the beginning and she basically said tough he has to stay in the class he is in and I said no he doesn't. I told her to call Mrs. Lott. A couple hours later the principal sent me a non apology letter saying she didn't know why Sean's schedule had gotten messed up but he was back in Mrs. Lott's class.  I can't even imagine how screwed the kids are who's parents aren't checking their work everyday. I know Sean would have never even noticed that his Utah Studies class disappeared he just would have quit doing it.

Another one of Sean's assignments that made me smile.

Is it ok to lie?

In the article Is It Ever Okay to Tell a Lie? Here's a formula for calculating the risk involved in telling a lie by Suzanne Degges-White Ph.D it says that you can lie as long as it’s to protect someone's feelings.

 I don’t agree with this because you want to tell the honest truth. If you tell a little lie you might have to keep on lying from then on. The article says  “Plus, once you tell a lie (say, claiming LeBron James is your cousin), you might have to tell more lies to keep up the charade” Sometimes one lie can lead to the next and then you will have to keep lying about something and once you get caught it’s not going to be fun.

Lying to help your friend out maybe ok but just flat lying for no reason or to keep yourself from trouble is not OK.. When I was little I would ask my mom where I came from. Since I was adopted my told me that I came from my biological mom’s tummy and then I would get mad. Eventually my mom said “you came from my tummy” so that I would quit being mad.

But even when my mom lied it still wouldn’t change anything cause I already knew I was adopted and somehow I knew I didn’t grow in her tummy. About a year later when I was five  I asked my mom if she would tell me the truth no matter what. She said yes. I asked her whose tummy I came from and she said Jennie’s.  Then I asked my mom again if she would always tell me the truth. She said yes. I then asked her if  Santa was real and she said no.

 After that I went around and told everyone that Santa wasn’t real. I I told people in my kindergarten class, I told people in the line waiting to see Santa. When that happened my mom told me that I can’t say that so I was confused because it was the truth. And I think white lies are dumb because the truth will set you free :D.

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas tree

A mask on the tree is about a festive as Sean will get. We decided to put the tree up early. It's easy now that we have the small tree. One mask was as much as Sean put into it.

 Mao Yu helped me decorate. One of her students tested positive this week so she is staying downstairs. She will get tested next week or if she is symptomatic.

Same old virus but Carter has a new car

Finally, Linda is wearing a mask. The state made a mask mandate last week and businesses will be fined $10,000 if their employees are not wearing mask. This country is a hot mess. Trump still won't accept the election results and is trying to start a civil war and COVID is out of control in all but two states. The two states aren't even under control just not spreading as rapidly as everyone else. We cancelled our trip to Fla on Tuesday. The odds of someone on the plane having COVID are probably around 100%. I'm bummed but we wouldn't be there long enough to see the girls and it's just not worth the risk of getting sick in another state.

Cars have always been one of the joys in Carter's life. Every couple of years he gets a new one. He always buys them from a used car dealer named Dave because that's where he bought his first car. He has been hell bent on buying a new car. I thought since he had to use the majority of his savings to pay off all the money he donated to politicians that he might wait but no he wants a new car now. I asked him why he needed a new car and he said because sometimes his radio skips. Um ok. He said Dave could get him a new car for $360 a month. I told him it was a bad idea and to talk to his dad first. Then I wondered why I said that. His dad makes terrible car decisions. Don looked online and found new cars that he could afford for less than $300 a month. Yesterday he took Carter out and they found a new Kia for $285 a month. Carter is pretty happy.

 

13 on Friday the 13th

 

How did this little boy turn 13? My mind is blown, where does time go. Sean turned 13 on an uneventful Friday the 13th. He couldn't decide on chocolate cake vs white cake and chocolate frosting. He ended up with two cakes with two types of frosting. 

Kylie and Brie came over for an hour and brought a present. The COVID cases were up over 4000 a day and the Governor has asked people to stay away from people they don't live with so no sleep over. Just this week the Governor declared a state mask mandate. Might have been helpful if he had done that 6 months ago.

Sean wanted to go to Big Fish for sushi. We went for lunch so it would be less crowded.

Election drama

This election year has been incredibly stressful. The country is in the middle of a pandemic, the world is a mess and the president is an insane narcissistic asshole who belongs in prison. I was pretty stoked with Biden won the election. I'll be even more stoked if the narcissistic asshole doesn't destroy democracy, the country or the world before he leaves the White House. Oh how I would love to see him, his family and a lot of his associates in hand cuffs standing in a court room.

Carter was pretty stoked about Biden winning. As he should be when he donated over $7000 to the democratic party this election season. The only positive side of him giving away 25% of his yearly income to politicians is that he didn't give it to the Republicans. Carter said he was having some financial problems which was pretty weird. He asked me to help him make a budget. Ultimately the budget was pretty easy. Carter don't give your money away and you will have enough! He really didn't understand how much money he had donated on his credit card. He didn't get worried until he couldn't pay off his credit card and was burning through his savings account. I cancelled his credit card, changed his email and got him a new phone number so hopefully the phone calls asking for money will stop. He believed them when they said they needed "him" to win the election. I'm still not totally sure Carter understands that he was taken advantage of. I forget how disabled he is until I get smacked in the face with how disabled he is.

There's been snow:)

 

Getting back in the Utah groove

We got back to Utah 3 weeks ago but I haven't posted any pictures. Sean was ready to get home because his birthday was coming. No party but he wanted to build a new computer because he built his last computer six weeks ago. He got some new computer parts for his birthday.

Now he has an even faster gaming computer.

 

Sean did really great with his online classes first term. He got straight A's. He really has improved his writing skills.

Fast weekend

I've seen this poem or story posted a couple times on Facebook and it is so true. The weekend starts and in what seems like 12 hours later it is over.

Barely the day started and... it's already six in the evening.

Barely arrived on Monday and it's already Friday.

... and the month is already over.

... and the year is almost over.

... and already 40, 50 or 60 years of our lives have passed.

... and we realize that we lost our parents, friends.

and we realize it's too late to go back...

So... Let's try, despite everything, to enjoy the remaining time...

Let's keep looking for activities that we like...

Let's put some color in our grey...

Let's smile at the little things in life that put balm in our hearts.

And despite everything, we must continue to enjoy with serenity this time we have left. Let's try to eliminate the afters...

I'm doing it after...

I'll say after...

I'll think about it after...

We leave everything for later like ′′ after ′′ is ours.

Because what we don't understand is that:

Afterwards, the coffee gets cold...

afterwards, priorities change...

Afterwards, the charm is broken...

afterwards, health passes...

Afterwards, the kids grow up...

Afterwards parents get old...

Afterwards, promises are forgotten...

afterwards, the day becomes the night...

afterwards life ends...

And then it's often too late....

So... Let's leave nothing for later...

Because still waiting see you later, we can lose the best moments,

the best experiences,

best friends,

the best family...

The day is today... The moment is now...

We are no longer at the age where we can afford to postpone what needs to be done right away

Khloe got brave last night and started holding sand crabs. It was an active crab night after the rain. We had some big ones run right next to us.

Khloe read me a library book about a rooster, an iguana, a pig and a turtle make a strawberry shortcake. It was called Cock a doodle doo. It was cute and Khloe loved reading it. At the end it had a recipe
for strawberry shortcake. I took a picture of the recipe so we could make it. Khloe made me laugh when she made me pinkie promise that we would carve pumpkins. Seriously, when do I not do what I tell her I'm going to do. She can be a very serious 7 year old.

They had a good time making it and eating it.

Trying to make sure the girls have adequate sunscreen so they don't go home with any red spots. I swear if I could dip them in a vat of it I would.

On to pumpkin carving. The pumpkins were really awful. The "Big Pig" only had huge ones which in retrospect I should have bought. The first Walmart I went to in Tallahassee didn't have any pumpkins. I asked the girl "where are your pumpkins?" She pointed at a big box and said "there." I said "no those are watermelons." She laughed and said "they used to be pumpkins." I don't think pumpkins grow in Florida so they aren't everywhere like they are in Utah. We found pie pumpkins at the Crawfordville Walmart. Most of them in the box were rotten. The ones we got were hard as rocks so the girls ended up painting them as they were impossible to carve.

 

The View

 I've seen on Facebook and online weather that the temperature is 15 degree's in Centerville tonight, the wind is 50 mph and it's snowing. We go home on Tuesday so I need to emotionally prepare for that. The weather here is....perfect. It rained hard for about two hours last night. There was a beautiful double rainbow over the ocean. I think we are the only ones in the complex who missed it. We did enjoy watching the rain.

I missed the rainbow but almost stepped on a snake on the boardwalk. It was as long as the cross side of the boardwalk and I almost stepped on it. I didn't see it until it started to move and I was almost on it. I got a picture of it's tail. The last time we were here there was a baby whipsnake on our deck. 

The storm coming in.

Vally checking out the view from our hammock.

Gorgeous sunsets.

I will fully admit I don't miss home when I'm here. We've got things to do next week, the most important of which is vote. We need to go home and cast our ballots. If it was any other election I might be willing to skip but not this year. Utah's COVID cases are record high this week and the positivity rate today was over 20%. That is crazy. I really don't even want to be there. I feel safer on our little island where we don't go anywhere. The ICU's are getting full and the staff is overwhelmed. People don't seem to understand that the number of ICU beds does not equal the number of staff. All this depressing ranting after this beautiful picture.