Thursday, April 16, 2020

Really Random Thursday, 4/16/20

Here we are, Week ? of sheltering in place. I've lost track of the days, so I've most certainly lost track of the weeks.  One of my favorite online friends posted this. My goal when all of this is over is to actually meet @fiberchef in person. That would make me extraordinarily happy.

Yes...

I spent most of last week sewing more masks. Since then, although I was definitely ready to sew nearly anything else, I'm very happy to have made some for family and friends.
As a bonus, I even received a nice bottle of wine.
Sewists have really jumped in and helped to keep people safer by making masks for family, friends, and people they will never meet. I think we sometimes feel that people view sewing, or handwork in general, as nonessential, or even a waste of time. I hope that viewpoint will begin to change now.
While I feel like there is a lot of misinformation out there, making it hard to know who and what to believe, this has a ring of truth to it.
Mark and I stay home pretty much all the time, with the exception of rare grocery shopping, and our daily walks. We have been compliant, and so far there has been no cause for our kids to yell at us.
We have a white board in our laundry room, which is in the center of the house so we see it all the time. It started being kind of depressing after we erased every single thing that was on the schedule and were looking at nothing but a blank calendar. We have been giving ourselves permission to get carryout about three times a week, a breakfast, a lunch, and a dinner. We started writing them on the calendar so (a) there was actually something on the calendar, and (b) we had something to look forward to. We probably need to branch out a little bit instead of getting carryout from the same three places. Now that would be exciting!

Speaking of getting out mostly to just stock up on essentials, does anyone else feel this way?

Other than that, our daily journal seems much like this one, minus this much drinking. :)

I'm sure a lot of parents agree with this.
Easter was so very different this year. The extended family comes to our house after church, where Mark makes crepes for anywhere from 21 to nearly 30 people. It's usually nice outside, so this is our usual setup.
This year, of course, was radically different. Just the two of us. Rather than the five to six batches of batter than he usually cooks, we made only 1/2 batch. It didn't take him any time at all.

 He had offered to make a stack to take to Aaron, Christa and the kids, but Aaron decided he would like to try his hand at making crepes, carrying on the tradition. So I sent over a picture of the recipe and then filmed Mark making a crepe.



Pictures by Christa Wiens

The Easter tradition of crepe making is in good hands.

We did sneak over late Saturday night to leave this message on their sidewalk.

Our roses are starting to bloom and they are beautiful!
I adore our purple irises.

Charlotte sent this to me.

The kids have been riding their bikes a lot, as the weather has been so nice. Gabe keeps growing, and his bike no longer fit his long legs, although it is perfect for Ella. We were able to locate a bike at a reasonable price from Dick's Sporting Goods. They had curbside pickup and it came preassembled. They had been calling their little band of bikers the "Wait for Gabe Bike Gang," because he was having a hard time peddling fast enough on the smaller bike. They are going to have to come up with another name now.
This came in the mail from someone at church who was going through her pictures. She found this one of Aaron from March 1985 when she and her husband worked with the kids at church. I'm so glad she thought to send it to us--it's a special look back in time. It seems appropriate that they were wrapping themselves up in toilet paper, right??
Out of the blue, I received a text last night from one of Aaron and Christa's good friends, Derek, who actually lived with us for a semester while he was in college. During that time, I had gifted him this quilt, and he sent me this picture, saying they are still using it. Thanks for that, Derek!
They are also using these coasters made by Mark.
Haha.

I'm still having a hard time with any sustained concentration and have a complete lack of motivation most of the time. I seem to start a project and then long before it's finished, I just run out of steam and move on to something else. Or nothing else. That seems to be a common theme, from what I hear. Yesterday I began trimming a quilt for binding, got about 1/3 of the way on one side, set down my rotary cutter and walked away.

There is a puzzle set up on the dining room table and we do a few pieces each day.
And we have watched one episode of Tiger King, as that seems to be something that will be associated with this sheltering in place.

So...get some fresh air, wear your mask when you are around people and...

10 comments:

05 08
Cathy O said... #

Always truthful and witty. Enjoy my weekly chuckle reading Really Random Thursday.
Thanks, Cindy for bringing some joy into our Shelter in Place experience!

Robby said... #

Well, you've certainly remembered how to bring the humor to us. Many thanks for that! Good to know that there is an emergency backup Easter crepe plan. I'm hoping you don't need to break the glass on that one again for a long time. Meanwhile, I'm going to just admire that puzzle for a while, because that looks slightly crazy making. Be well!

pcquilter said... #

Cindy, you aren’t alone in the motivation department. I have all this wonderful time to work on projects and just move from one thing to another, not accomplishing much of anything! It’s finished day 37 of stay at home....and am guessing at least that many more! Stay home, stay safe!

Cindy said... #

I always enjoy your sense of humor! Thanks for lightening my day! And like you my sew-jo is on and off like a light bulb. Weird times,

Kathy S. said... #

LOVED everything about this post. You're hilarious! Yes, our grocery bill is about that high but we are saving on food and gas. LOVE the legos with the hands in the washer. What a hoot!

Charlotte M. said... #

Thanks for all the funnies. I always get a smile and a laugh from your posts. We have finally had a couple of sunny days here this week and It's lovely. I also have a hard time staying on task with sewing projects. I wonder why that is the case for so many of us who before would happily sew the entire day away? We need a therapist to help us figure this out. The crepes look amazing. Aaron did a great job. Love Gabe's new bike. LOVE the Lego hand wash meme.

Sandra Lanter said... #

I really enjoyed your blog today, funny and fun. I think I did just fine the first couple weeks. I had a plan and things were getting done. Exercise, cleaning out drawers and organizing the sewing room. Now you can't tell I did very much organizing in the sewing room, but I have started another new project! Like I don't have several going now...I did make masks and may make more. We slipped off to Lowe's yesterday and only about half of the few people in there had masks on. I say slipped off because my daughter is watching our comings and goings. :) This was the first time in 30 years that we didn't host an ever growing Easter dinner and egg hunt. We have grown from about ten to twenty five with more on the way, kind of in that space when grandchildren are too old and great grand children are toddlers/babies. Take care, be safe and thanks for the blog.

Rochelle aka Bella Quilts said... #

Thank you for the words of wisdom and the laughs. I know I should make more masks but somehow can't motivate myself. I keep thinking I'll get my order of elastic any day! Ha ha.. When I talked to my 12 year old grandson about virtual school he said it was worse than having to get up and go to school. Love the photo of Aaron as a youngster...with toilet paper! Stay safe.

Anne / Springleaf Studios said... #

I'm so glad you share the humor of the current situation with us. Thank you.It's certainly needed right now. I've had an off couple of weeks and think it was all tied to making masks. I've left that behind now and finally the last couple of days have found more motivation again. I'm allowing myself to simply do what I feel like whenever with no pressure of 'shoulds'. Daily walks are the only way we get out and with two 12" snows this past week that became harder. Yesterdays walk was very waterlogged and muddy as the snow is melting fast. Thankfully warmer days are ahead.

artsycraftsyivy said... #

So many great jokes--thanks for the laughs! Especially the Liz Climo joke (as a walker who used to log 10,000+ steps a day, I can totally relate), the self-isolation quarantine diary, and the Kevin Bacon joke. Your masks are so cute! What pattern did you use?