Quarantine Day 1

March 17, 2020

Note: I will not tell the times to all of these activities.

5:00 - I'm outside taking my personal stuff and groceries from Hubby's car. The Air Force Base is doing their 5 o'clock bugle music. Then they played the National Anthem.

The rest is just observations for the remainder of the day.

Texted back and forth with my aunt. - Started to get sleepy. My blood sugar was getting ready to tank. All of the stress from the last 4 days finally caught up with me.

Tried to nap. Didn't work but I couldn't get out of bed. Finally crashed for an hour. Blood sugar was still not good.

Warmed up my dinner which was one of the easy rices and left overs from the day before and some hot chocolate.  Felt better after dinner.

Boys had been hiding in their room, so I just messed around my phone. Then they came into the living room to tell me that they wanted to get a plague mask.

Cleaned up in the kitchen. My hands hurt so much from washing my hands, so I had to ask the Oldest help me with washing the few dishes that needed hand washed.

I had to teach the Youngest what it meant to pick up all of the floor.

Bedtime.

4:15 to 4:35 - At least think it was that time. I woke up with thoughts going through my brain. Finally I went back to bed.

Join me next time for day 2 of quarantine. AKA The one where I can't figure out technology.

God Bless,
Traci

Road to self-imposed quarantine

As of 5 pm on St. Patrick's Day, I am on a self-imposed quarantine. 

I work at a school that has been shut down. I'm working remotely.

Thursday afternoon - Governor DeWine announced that all schools were closed for 3 weeks. Meeting with the principal about what it was going to look like.

Go to the grocery store - What a mess! A lot of food items were gone, and it was busy. There were very few carts available to people.

I let someone know that my cart was available. Her dad thanked me for my kindness. Just because life is uncertain now doesn't mean that simple good deeds should go away.

Friday - Go to work to set up my Google Classroom. I mandatory meeting with my team to see how I would provide service to my students. 
More things were shut down. Life was changing minute by minute.

Saturday - Went to a conference and then home for the rest of the day.

Sunday - Didn't go anywhere. Watched 3 different church services while getting my Google classroom set up. 

Then I burned my hand pouring water for hot tea. Ouch, I couldn't sleep until midnight because my hand hurt like the dickens.

Monday - Cried before work because life right now is uncertain. I don't know if I will see my students again or when I'll see them. 

It was like Doomsday when the day began for the students because we only had about 40% of the students we typically have. The morning duty was quiet when it was usually bustling.

A few students came to my room to spend time with me. (AKA Let's leave Mrs. G. with a headache because I want to beg for stuff.)

Tuesday - Clean up/ out my room, set up Google Classroom, and social distancing at work. I threw away so many papers because I had nowhere to put them, which was frustrating. I had planned to recycle them but couldn't because of the suddenness of this whole Coronavirus pandemic.

Hubby drove me to and from work in case I had a lot of personal stuff to bring home.

We decided to go to the store and get some last-minute items. We found milk, butter, and bread. Got the allowed amount because, well, we use all 3 items.

Then I went to the rice area and found the easy rice aisle. Confused because it said to limit 2 items on sanitary and health items. Rice is neither of those 2 categories. Grabbed 4 just in case, but I might need to put 2 back if necessary. (I didn't have to put any away.)

Got some salad kits so I can have some veggies. I love veggies, so this was important.

Got home at about 5 till 5, and I was in quarantine!

The Penny

Perhaps you have heard about pennies being sent from Heaven.

I have heard about this phenomenon but never knew it truly happened or not.

That's when it happened to me when I cleaned my house. Pennies would suddenly be in my dirt pile when I swept the hall or the kitchen.

When I told Hubby, he told me it was because of the hole in the pocket of his jeans.

I knew it was more than a hole in his jeans when the pennies would appear on the driver's seat of my car or when I found the penny by the kitchen sink after I had cleaned it up and there was no penny beforehand.

Another day I found a penny in the hallway at work.

Then I found one at Hot Head Burritos.

So what is the significance of the penny?

I believe it's a sign from my mom. She used to buy me lunches when we were out and about. Her love language was buying me things when she had little to give.

Have you heard of the parable of the widow's offering?

In Luke 21:1-4, Luke talks about people giving their offering. Jesus says" . . . but she . . . has given everything she has." (NLT)

Mom is giving me a sign that I'm still here and giving you all I can.

Even though I'm missing her, I know she and God will take care of me.

Thank you, God.

Will's 14-Year-Old Trip - Day 2 - Springbank Park

The next morning, we headed out and went to Springbank Park. My reasoning for that park was because they actually have a Thames River flowing through the park. I wanted to say I've been to the Thames River. Okay, it's not the same as the one in London, United Kingdom but it'll do for now.

While we there, we explored only a small portion of this huge park. There were plenty of Canadian geese around the park. You have to be careful because they can be possessive.

There was also this couple who were feeding chipmunks. Will was all about being able to feed those chipmunks.

We also had fun with the black squirrels around the park.

Instead of me telling you about our time in the park, the photos will give you a visual about how gorgeous this park was to the eyes.

Walking down to the Thames River

Beautiful Sights 

All the Geese - The babies were so cute.

Feeding the chipmunks

I'll be brave and walk through the geese.

Join me next time, I share more of our trip. We'll visit Storybook Gardens which is located within Springbank Park. 

Have a magical day,

Traci

You are awesome

It's a snow day. I could be doing school work, but that can be done later this weekend. LOL! So I decided to take advantage of the time by doing some writing.

When I looked at Mama Kat's writing prompts, I could have chosen several to write about this week. However, I chose to write about a time my heart melted.

After my bereavement leave from work, one of my co-workers asked me if I had a church. My family and I have been attending our church for almost 10 years, so I told her yes. She told me about her church. I put its name in the back of my mind. God was speaking to me through her, but I didn't know why.

During the Christmas season, I started to become depressed because of my mom's death and the anniversaries of various family member's death. Four family members died in December. It's a difficult month for me.

I looked up the church my co-worker told me about because there was something God wanted to find there. It was then I found Celebrate Recovery. I've been trying to figure out how to describe it until someone finally put the words into my mouth. It's a Christian-based support group. I'm finding Godly people who may not have gone through what I have gone through but are willing to support me as I maneuver myself through this season of life that I wasn't expecting to go through right now.

I've started helping in the kitchen now. Mom would have been proud of me because she loved helping people. She made hats for my students and knitted knockers for women who had breast cancer and had to have mastectomies. 

I'm giving back in a way that I enjoy. It's a blessing to me.

Wednesday was their one-year anniversary, so there were a lot of people expected to be there. I helped make a salad and then served food. One of the regulars came through,,, looked at me,,, and said, "You are awesome! I'm thankful you are here." 

I have a feeling that it was God speaking through him. You see, I had an overwhelming day on Wednesday. There was a constant stream of students in and out of my room. I had to ask someone to take over my room so I could go to the bathroom, which only happens sometimes.

It was not until the next morning that those words really sunk in. I cried joyful tears because even though I'm going through this season of life, I know God has not forsaken me. He faithfully walks along with me as I maneuver through this season of life. 

This was the most recent time that my heart melted. I'm thankful for those words, and I'm thankful God used this young man to say them to me.

Have a magical day,
Traci

Learn to pronounce

Vegan Chili in the Slowcooker

First of all, I wish I had a photo of the chili but I don't. Sorry!😔

I took the inspiration from Cookie and Kate's vegetarian chili but changed it a bit. Her recipe is for it to be cooked on the stovetop but I made mine in the slow cooker.

One of my favorite places to get canned pinto beans and black beans is from Aldi. They have a brand called Simply Nature which is organic. For some reason, a lot of brands have some weird ingredients along with the pinto beans when buying canned pinto beans. I think one of the ingredients is corn syrup. What? Why?

Anyway, I've found the Aldi brand and Trader Joe's brand just have the simplest of ingredients with the pinto beans. 

Enough about my discussion of canned pinto beans.

Recipe:

Vegan Chili in the Slowcooker

Stars of the Recipe:

• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 2 celery ribs, peeled and diced
• 1 small onion or 1/2 large onion, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 (15 oz) can of pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15 oz) can of black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15 oz) can of diced tomatoes
• 2 c. vegetable broth
• 1.5 tsp. cumin
• 1.5 tsp. chili powder
• 1.5 tsp. oregano
• 1.5 tsp. paprika
• 1 Tbsp. cilantro, chopped (add at the end)

Steps:

1. Place the vegetables in the bottom of the slow cooker. Then place the beans and tomatoes. Pour the broth over the ingredients in the slow cooker. Sprinkle the spices over the ingredients. Stir.
2. Cook on low for 6 hours.
3. Use an immersion blender to blend up some of the chili to make it thicker.
4. Top with cilantro.

Ways to eat the chili: 

1. In a bowl with your favorite toppings.

2. Over a baked potato

3. Over spaghetti to make it sort of like a Cincinnati chili

4. As nachos

Happy eating, 

Traci

Will's 14 year old trip - Our visit to Sarnia

After Our visit to Port Huron, we crossed the bridge to Ontario, Canada.

Border patrol was easy. The only thing they asked Will was "Does your dad know you are going across international borders?"

His answer was "Of course!"

Across the bridge from Port Huron was a town called Sarnia. Yes, it rhymed with Narnia.

I had found out there was a children's petting zoo there. So, we immediately went to the park where it was located. However, once we got there we discovered the zoo was not open which was a disappointment. Will would have loved petting the animals.

Instead, we played at the playground/ park. Will, in his usual manner, found a frog to play with for a while.

Before we left Sarnia, I stopped and saw Lake Huron on the Canadian side. Will didn't want to get out of the car. He was reaching his breaking point of traveling. He wanted to get to London, so he could go swimming in the hotel swimming pool.

Enjoy the photos from the park at Sarnia.

Here are the photos from Lake Huron in Sarnia.

Driving to Londo - Yes, I was traveling 100 km per hour. Okay, that is about 62 miles per hour. I just had Will take a photo of my speedometer.

At the hotel

Join me next time for our visit to Springback Park and Storybook Gardens.

Have a magical day,
Traci