what's up weekly. (and a sad, sudden goodbye to the Kraken.)

This week's news cycle holds some doozies, so just you keep reading.

Over the weekend, I went junking again, and this time I took two of the girls.  Laurelai and Callista tagged along for their first shopping trip in months.  They were giddy to be out of the house, looking at pretty things, and meeting any and all strangers that crossed their path.  Callista, in particular, was beside herself to just be in public, though she really didn't understand the fact that so many people were wearing masks.  ("Why dey wearin' nat mask, Mama?  Why dey gotta wear dat?")  I found a wooden magazine rack that is just perfect for the kids' library books, and a Blue Willow plate.  It was a 'quality over quantity' kind of day.

Early in the week, Todd and I got a chance to go on a date to a neighboring town where there is no mask mandate in place, and people are just living life like normal.  It was the most disorienting thing to walk into a busy restaurant where not a single person was masked - not the hostess, not the waiters, not the cook staff, not the patrons.  The tables weren't spaced weird.  The waiter stood a normal-person distance away from us when he was talking to us, and joked and laughed AND WE SAW HIS SMILE.  Todd said it felt like going back in time.  

It really did feel like we were in a movie from the 'olden days' (like 2018 or something), back when people were seemingly ignorant of the fact that their fellow humans are nothing more than walking sacks of death germs.  (We watched Ocean's Eleven a few weeks ago, and I could not believe how much the actors touch each other in that movie.  They just must not have known any better back then.)  Anyway, the food was fantastic, the atmosphere was fantastic, and so far we don't seem to have caught Covid and died from it, so that's a huge forehead wipe.

The beginning of the week dawned Still Vortexed.  It was cold, it was snowy.  But it was beautiful.  The sun came out, the temps warmed up, and I finally let the kids pull out all the snow gear (All. The. Snow. Gear.) and sent them outside to play.  They had a blast!

Just a kid on his Snow Bike.

This is how Rocco kept his face warm.

It was good they got some snow time in, because all of a sudden, it warmed up.  Like, really warmed up.  It was almost 70 degrees on Tuesday.  Apparently the Vortex clocked out and it is now spring.

Which brings me to the most eventful event of the week: I wrecked the van.  It was bad.

The kids and I piled into the Kraken on Wednesday morning to head up to the Amish like usual.  On our way up an overpass on a rural paved highway, an oncoming truck started hugging the center line, so I crowded to the right to keep out of his way.  My back tire hit the gravel (Missouri doesn't have paved road shoulders; it is "white line" and then just gravel), and because everything was so soft and slippery from the recent thaw, and because the van is rear wheel drive, I completely lost control of the van.

I shot into the other lane, then veered violently from side to side a few times before hitting the metal guardrail leading up to the bridge.  My brakes weren't doing anything to slow us down, so we continued on up the bridge, dragging the passenger side of the van along the railing the entire time.  The metal rail turned into the concrete rail of the actual overpass, and we dragged along that for a while before finally coming to a stop.  We were right on the edge of the bridge, looking over a 20-foot drop to the railroad tracks below.

The kids were screaming and crying, and all I could hear the entire time was breaking glass.  Luckily, it was just all my empty milk jars breaking in the trunk, but it was so chaotic and confusing.  Finneas' glasses flew off somewhere and we still haven't found them.  Callista's seat came detached and she (still in her seat) was thrown against the van doors, landing upside down.  The front wheel was wrenched off the van.

A kind woman stopped, called 911 and directed traffic, as the bridge ended up being surprisingly busy with semis and construction trucks.  When the State Troopers arrived, it got more chaotic, as they were also trying to direct traffic and get the kids and me off the bridge - but there were only two cars to take us, each of which could only hold 1-2 people, so we had to split up and go in shifts.  I went with Juni in one car, and Callista came by herself in another car, while the other kids stayed in the van on the bridge, watched over by the Troopers who were directing traffic.

After the little girls and I were dropped off at the nearby Dollar General to wait, the Troopers went back to get another round of kids, so Penelope and Laurelai came in one car, and Rocco came in another car.  The tow truck arrived in the meantime, and the big boys had gotten to ride in the van as it was towed from the scene.

Then we had to figure out how to get home, since we clearly couldn't all fit together in a single ride, and we were 35 minutes from home.  Luckily, my friend Rachel was free to come help us, and she took six of the kids home in her Suburban, and Juni and I rode with one of the State Troopers.  

After we got home, we ate lunch and then turned around to drive to Fayette for a chiropractor appointment for me and some of the kids.  Finneas and Penelope had headaches, and I was experiencing a lot of nerve pain in my back and legs.  I am so thankful for Rachel's willingness to chauffeur us around all day.

We found out yesterday that the van is considered a total loss, so we are once again a carless family.  (Though right now we're borrowing a Yukon from a sweet friend.)  Not sure what we're going to do about that - the total value of the van was next to nothing, and we just put thousands of dollars into it a couple months back for some repairs and new tires.  So that really stinks.  But all things considered, if the Kraken was the only one of us that sustained serious injury, I can't really complain.  One of the Troopers at the scene said that he has been impressed by how well Ford Econolines hold up in accidents;  I'm grateful we were all safe, and I'm trusting God to show us what to do about buying a new van.

So.  That was our big news this week.  We're all doing fine.  The kids were shaken but not traumatized or anything.  I think I'm still dealing with a bit of an adrenaline crash, but the pain I was feeling on Wednesday was gone the next day, so no lingering physical problems that I can detect.  I've just been taking it easy, keeping the heat pack on my back and eating basically constantly to keep the nausea at bay. 

Some weeks, I wish I had more to report.  This week, I wish I had less.  I suppose I'm just unpleasable like that.

what's up weekly. (valenine's day edition.)

Our news this week, like last week, and like everyone else's news this week, has been dominated by SNOW! and COLD!.  It was a mistake to take this week off of school, as I learned after I had mentally prepared myself and the kids for a week of relaxation and rest.  By the time I realized this week would be neither relaxing nor restful, due to the intense cabin fever and stir-crazitude the snow caused, it was too late to change course.  We were like the figurative Titanic up against the literal iceberg.

But unlike the Titanic, the ice couldn't sink us.  We are still afloat and on our way to the dawning bright shores of America.  Or whatever.  The metaphor really breaks down at a certain point.  What I mean to say is that no one died, nor wished for death, and sometimes that's as much as you need to count a week as a 'win.'

But let me stop here and reassure you the week really wasn't all that bleak.  It was, in fact, pretty fun.  I just get cynical when it's cold out, though I will say that I actually didn't find it that unbearable out, and even found it lovely out at times, which is living proof of the resurrecting and sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, and the life changing magic of wool socks and insulated boots.

I did get some time in between repeatedly shoveling the driveway and breaking up duels between the kids (stir-crazy kids are short-fused kids), I did find some time to document our days.

For instance, on Saturday afternoon, I ventured out to do a little treasure hunting.  Since our county continues to extend our mask mandate, and we continue to decline masking whenever possible, there really isn't anywhere to go, and I hadn't really been out in a while.  But I discovered a vintage place nearby that isn't playing Mask Nazi with its patrons, so I joyfully spent a few hours digging around in old junk to my heart's (and lungs') content.  I found some ironstone, a big copper whisking bowl, a kerosene lamp that I fully intend to bring to regular functioning order, some Blue Willow plates, and a jar of antique buttons for Penelope's Valentine's Day gift.  It was a good junking day!

I found this little ironstone cream pitcher that is just the perfect size for small hands to use to pour milk on their oatmeal by themselves.

On Sunday, we were snowed in, so yet again, we had church at home.  But it ended up being a blessing, since it was also VALENTINE'S DAY! and I went big this year.  I bought a heart-shaped waffle maker and spent Saturday night cranking tiny waffles out in anticipation of the morning.  I also made about a jillion pancakes on my new electric griddle, and YOU GUYS IF YOU DON'T HAVE AN ELECTRIC GRIDDLE, YOU ARE NOT LIVING.  It is a life-changer.  So we had pancakes and waffles with chocolate syrup, whipped cream, sliced strawberries and sprinkles for breakfast (with some sausage for protein to anchor the ungodly amounts of carbohydrates).  We didn't have to rush to make it to church at a specific time, so we had time to enjoy our breakfast.

The banner I bought this year is missing a T, but I kind of like it this way.  "Valenine's Day" has a nice, slightly inebriated-sounding ring to it, like the party already started a while ago and you're coming in at the best part, where everyone's already laughing and dancing and punching each other on the shoulder.

These little waffles took literally HOURS to make, one at a time.  I think next year, I need to get a normal-sized waffle iron, and make mostly Normal Waffles, with one Token Heart Waffle per person.  I told Todd they should have marketed the heart waffle iron as the Lonely Hearts Club Waffle Iron for One.

Then we opened gifts - Atticus got a book on WWI fighter planes, Penelope got a Green Gables cookbook and a jar of buttons, Finneas got a couple pairs of fingerless gloves (that kid loves fingerless gloves), Lolo got some kitchen knives and a pair of giant fake glasses (she has been yearning for glasses like her siblings, and has bemoaned her 20/20 vision for many a long year), Rocco got a Playmobil police officer, Callista got a set of necklaces, and Juni got a tutu.  Plus, they got a ton of candy.  It was all very too too.

Juni, with her true love: iced coffee.  It's very TDDUP with them.

Todd made me a sweet Johnny Cash print, and signed me up for a one-year Instacart membership (which I have already put to good use), and I got him a weight vest that weighs more than half our children.  (Not combined.)

After lunch, we did our traditional Flower Ceremony, where the gentlemen give the ladies flowers.  Everyone loves this part of the day.

For dinner, we did a cheeseboard, and then we watched Robin Hood and ate popcorn and pink M&M's.  Every year, I love Valentine's Day more and more.  It is such a fun day to celebrate nothing other than how much we really adore having each other to love.

Lissa Lou, 'reading' me the book she 'wrote' me for Valenine's Day.

Monday morning, we hit the ground running with break week.  In addition to the occasional(ish) bickering between the kids, there was a lot of teamwork and fun together time.  I had a lot of help making oatmeal on Monday morning...

...then the kids set up one of their world-famous 'salons' in our living room.  (And in the bathroom, and in Juni's room, and in the girls' room.)  By lunch time each day, the house kind of looked like a bomb went off.  

Oh, no, no, no.  Of course no little people actually want to PLAY with these Little People in the kitchen; they would like to just keep them here for a while in the hopes that I step on one on the tile and have it shoot out from under me and land me on my back like a scene in Home Alone.  Obviously.

Also, let's just put a few of these up here for good measure.  

But that's okay, because the tiny terrorists look like this:

And you just can't stay mad at a terrorist who looks like that.

Much of the rest of the week was dictated by the snow.  I was supposed to have a grocery pickup on Monday, but due to road conditions, I waited until today.  So we ate simple things from the pantry and freezer all week, which means I didn't have to cook all that much.  (Minus the split pea soup I made with breakfast sausage instead of kielbasa, since I did not have kielbasa on hand... it was not good.  So not good, in fact, that instead of eating leftovers last night like we had planned to do, Todd surprised us with Buffalo Wild Wings.  That's an expensive way to avoid bad leftovers, but you won't find me complaining about it.)  It was still snowing and cold on Wednesday, so we didn't go to the Amish.  We're headed there this morning instead.

So it was a pretty restful week of playing and resting indoors.  I did get a bit of light housework done, but my washer pipes froze so I didn't even have laundry to do most of the week!

Now that we're rested up, and the house is as in-order as it ever is or will ever be, we are ready to head back to school next week to finish out our last long stretch before the end of the year.  We can do this!

what's up weekly.

It's Friday again, folks, and here are two items of note that I rarely get to say anymore:

1. We all were healthy ALL WEEK, and

2.  It was cold and snowy ALL WEEK.

First up: we have been well all week, which is a miracle statement after spending nearly four full weeks with the off-and-on flu.

The kids seem to be fully recovered, energy-wise, and have been working hard at school.  We are taking a break next week (we didn't take any of our sick days/weeks off, we just kind of shuffled our work around to accommodate how everyone was feeling each day), so I'm glad they were able to finish strong.  Unfortunately, Todd dealt with bad headaches many days this week - not an uncommon occurrence for him, but always a bummer.

Secondly, in a random turn of events, after elucidating last week that our typical February weather patterns are relatively mild, we were hit by a POLAR VORTEX!!!!! and it has been pretty cold and a little snowy.  (I am never more grateful to be off of Facebook than when the weather does something weird; I am currently blissfully unassaulted by everyone else's forecast screenshots, posted as compelling evidence that each individual has clearly been the Vortexedest of anyone alive.  It is emotionally exhausting empathizing with that many people and sending heartfelt prayers they'll all make it through this okay.)

Anyway, all that to say, it has been in the low teens and even single digits around here, and it even snowed a few days.  We wondered if we'd be able to make it to church on Sunday, as our hill often gets incredibly slippery, but the roads were fine.  Our trip to the Amish was cautious but uneventful.  And Juni has loved looking out at the snow.

One item of note happened this week, which I will probably never, ever stop presenting as airtight evidence that Missourians have no idea what to do with snow: while it was still snowing, and we had a light dusting on the ground, one of our neighbors was outside, presumably attempting to get ahead of things.  He poured IceMelt all over his driveway snow in great cascading quantities... and then proceeded to shovel all the snow and IceMelt away.  And then it kept snowing, so about half an hour later, there was no evidence of scoop nor grain of salt left to show for any of it.  And that is how they deal with snow in Missouri, if they deal with it at all.  Which they typically don't.

While it has been snowy outside, it has been blooming in here.  The lilies opened up this week, and they smell heavenly.  I even put one of the vases by my bedside, so that I can smell them while I sleep.

This watering can was Todd's grandma's.

What else?  I cleaned the bedrooms, I priced new rugs for the living room, I ordered the last remaining items on my list for our Valentine's Day celebration this weekend.  I finished reading The Benedict Option, and The Egg and I, and started my first (but likely not my last) work by Janice Holt Giles.  We finished watching Victorian Farm on Amazon Prime (five out of five, highly recommend) and started Tudor Monastery Farm.  I looked through books on making leather crafts and the history of stained glass, and a book of sea paintings by Turner.  Todd and I watched 10 Things I Hate About You for our weekly movie night.  We had a popcorn party for lunch yesterday, and we had a few playdates, late night chats, and phone calls with friends.  Penelope hosted another women's event, the topic of which was "DIY Beauty."

Juni spent a sad, sleepless night on a regular cotton crib sheet while her regular muslin sheet (which she uses as a blankie, and sucks on in her sleep) was still in the wash at bedtime.  She didn't sleep much, and therefore Todd and I didn't sleep much.  So I ordered a few more sheets so we never find ourselves in this predicament again.  We ORDERED OUR TICKETS FOR THE "FIGHT LAUGH FEAST" RALLY IN APRIL and got most of the logistics/planning done for that!  Todd and I got to go on a drive-through date night, which is the only way we can eat out without masks right now, so we sat in the Hy-Vee parking lot eating wings and fast food, and chatting about the place of Roman mythology in a Christian education.  Finneas spent time being a very-eight-year-old boy, which is one of the best kinds of boys.

And most of all, we spent some mundane days, doing our mundane things and loving our life.

what's up weekly.

Oh, oh, it's Friday you kno-o-ow (never believe it's not so).  

My, what a difference a week makes.  Last week's news consisted of barfs, snow, and social engagements.  This week was filled with flowers, gorgeous warm weather, and social engagements.  (Hey, not everything needed to change.)

We started off the weekend with a bang: both Finneas and Rocco were down for the count through Saturday and Sunday.  So we stayed home from church yet again (that's three weeks in a row, for those of you counting at home).

Finneas, napping.  This is very uncommon around here, unless he is really, really sick.

This sweet brother!  One of the reasons we observe the 24-Hour Rule with fevers and stomach issues is so that we don't spread our germs; another, bigger reason is that sick kids need freedom to rest, sleep, and be cared for.  They shouldn't be required to get dressed, and get jostled around, and ride in the car, and go out into noisy public, and sit up, and act like "normal."  That is not justice.  We owe them more than that.

"Church" at home.  If we have to worship at home, we usually sing a couple hymns, sing the Doxology and the Glory Be, listen to a full sermon, and close with a hymn and maybe a creed.  Someone brought some flowers down from upstairs, and decorated the table with a blanket table cloth, to elevate the vibe a bit.

By Monday it seemed as if we were finally through the bug.  No one has fallen sick this entire week, knock on wood, so I am hopeful we will get to make it to church this week.

Monday was also the first day of February - the beginning of the longest, shortest month of the year.  I have a hate/hate relationship with February, in the sense that I both hate it and I also hate it.  It hasn't been so bad since we've moved farther South - there isn't usually snow on the ground, and there is something so demoralizing about gray, old February snow.  Plus, the temperatures swing wildly here, so cold spells usually only last a few days before it's back up in the 40's or sometimes even the 50's again.  You have no idea how much that small difference has changed my ability to bear up under the weight of February.  But it is still never Not February, even without having to look at snow or deal with the cold, so I get depressed.

Todd knows this about me (we have now known each other for seventeen Februarys, and it's a pretty established pattern by now), so he surprised me by walking to Schnucks on Monday over his lunch break and buying me All the Flowers.

They're so beautiful, I'm considering becoming depressed about March, too, so that I can keep them coming.

Well.  If you know me at all, you will not be surprised to find out that I "Give A Mouse A Cookie"d things once I started putting flowers in vases.  "Well, now that this vase is on the table, I need to move the candlesticks to cover its old spot.  Now that the candlesticks are moved, I should put this plant over here.  Now that the plant is moved, I should really stain and veneer the shelves.  While I'm staining things anyway, I should make another shelf for the basement.  Which reminds me, I should spray paint those brackets."  It's always a whole thing.  Not to mention that this time around, I stained what I thought were the basement shelves, only to figure out that they had been originally purchased and sized for Juni's room, so now that's a project in-process.  So then I stained them, and set them outside to off-gas, but then forgot them out there and they got rained on, and they warped, so now they're sitting under a pile of landscaping bricks to hopefully flatten as they dry...  like I said, it's always a whole thing.  But whatever.

The rest of the week has been very Normal Week.  I went to my friend Megan's house on Tuesday morning to discuss chapters of a book we're reading, and on Wednesday we headed to the Amish.  Thursday we went back to Megan's for dinner with their family.  And through it all, we've been trucking away at school, trying to do a little extra each day so that we can move toward summer break a little more quickly.

A particularly large crowd gathered to listen to Oliver Twist the other day.

I like to call this shot, The HeadBandits.

One more item of note - I will say that I was not as fastidious about my eating goals as I should have been this week, so I'm mustering up resolve to do better today.  BUT, I will say that I have been trying a bunch of new recipes lately - chicken piccata, sausage-stuffed chicken breasts, cumin rubbed chicken breasts.  Yes, it's a lot of chicken, which isn't typically my favorite, but DANG.  Not a stinker recipe in the bunch.  They all came from a Cooking Light compilation I checked out from the library, and I have got to say I'm really impressed with the recipes so far, especially considering that it has all been chicken.  (I am usually not a fan of chicken breasts.) I also made a 'light' Salisbury steak recipe from Skinny Taste, which was pretty bland but Atticus liked it, and a fig and thyme grilled cheese from Gourmet, which was INCREDIBLE but also decidedly not "light".  But if I've said it once, I've said it... probably at least more than once: no nutrition plan is sustainable if it doesn't allow for grilled cheese.  Right?  Right?

So, anyway.  That's where we're at today!