On a totally unrelated note

Today is the first day since the week of Thanksgiving that I am the only one home for a full day!!!  Oh my.  I celebrated by getting a hair cut.  On the way home I heard something that made me quite proud of Iowa:

CLARK V. BOARD OF SCHOOL DIRECTORS: 

 On April 14, 1868, the Iowa Supreme Court issued its opinion in Clark v. Board of School Directors, establishing racial integration in public schools and declaring “all the youths are equal before the law.” The court instructed the Muscatine School Board to allow Susan Clark to attend a previously allwhite grammar school, stating “the board cannot, in their discretion, or otherwise, deny a youth admission to any particular.

WHY IN THE WORLD DID IT TAKE Louisiana until November 1960?

Brave Ruby Bridges...did you know that her first year, she was in a class size of 1?  Her father lost his job and grocery stores refused to sell food to her mother because of their brave actions.

Here is Ruby, many years later with Barbara Henry, the only teacher willing to teach Ruby that year.

1/26/21

Yesterday I came home from work early during the start of the blizzard.  (Road conditions were fine, but the snow was coming down, so you knew it would be bad by normal rush hour (which normally isn't much of a thing in Des Moines ).)  The schools left out 2 hours early.  I was glad to get home before the roads were poor!  A guy I work with complained that we closed the clinic because we fall  under the umbrella of pediatric clinics, but we see adults too.  He indicated that if staff were willing to work and patients wanted to come, we should stay open.  UGH....almost everyone cancelled!  We can't stay open and not see patients for hours so that the one guy who isn't bothered by poor road conditions can come in at the end of the day.  To be honest, this colleague just likes to complain.  I am ALWAYS happy to get home before the very bad weather hits.

Other news from yesterday:  My Dad's county started sign-ups for vaccine distribution and he is on the list!!!  YEAH!!!

 My clinic is closed today .....because almost everyone cancelled!  I am sure this morning was terrible on the side streets, but it stopped snowing by 10:30.  Snow day for the Ankeny schools (really most of central Iowa if I had to guess).

I think the bushes by the front of the house demonstrate the snow the best.  10-12 inches, but with much more than that in our driveway because of the way the wind blows.  (but now look how nice the driveway looks.....gotta love a good snow blower followed by a little scraping and a sunny day!!)

Here is our neighbor's house.  We are taking care of their snow too.  Honestly, the plow drivers love to pile the snow in front of their driveway and mailbox!  (It was up to my thigh...not kidding)

Anyway the roads are all clear now....well maybe not our cul-de-sac, but the main roads.  This is a very good thing, because Matthew and Ken took Carolyn back to school on Sunday and on the way back to Ankeny Matthew found out that he was added into a class that meets in person each Thursday.  He is heading back to Iowa City today.  He plans to come back here on Friday as he will be working some on weekends and is lonely in Iowa City with (now almost) all online classes, living in an apartment.  (He takes the pandemic seriously, which I appreciate, and we are happy to have him home.)  He is very excited by this new in-person class specifically.  I can't wait until the fall with all classes in person for both my college kids. 

Look again at the snow in our cul-de-sac.  Normally by now they would have come again.  (They came in the night or at least before 6 am, but haven't come today!!)  Only once have I ever gotten stuck in the cul-de-sac.  About a half-hour ago, I just happened to look outside and a grey minivan came into the cul-de-sac unaware of the terrible drifting there.  He became stuck.  Joel, the man and I had to dig for 5-10 minutes to unstick him!!!  It is like he was high centered on the snow under his van.  We dug, then pushed with no luck, dug some more and out he went.  He got a little ways away and stopped to thank us....I thought "oh no don't stop the momentum!" but he was at a better place and was able to keep going.  I said to Joel, it is true what they say, if you want to feel good, do good!  I felt on cloud nine after helping him, which was good, since I was sad to have both of my college kids gone again.

UPDATE:  just dug out a 2nd car (this time a neighbor and another came to help)!

We made a big path in the cul-de-sac for backing up tomorrow and getting out!!

   

1/21/2021

On 9:21 PM on Jan 21 2021, it was the 21st minute of the 21st hour of the 21st day of the 21st year of the 21st century

AMAZING

Unrelated photo from the fall....here is Anna showing off her flute mask!!!

1/23/2021

I have raised this little plant from a dixie cup sized off-shoot that I received at a Girl Scout event last year.  Truthfully I want it to stay this size...it is just perfect.  Anna created the butterfly in 2nd grade and the bowl in 4th grade.  I just makes me smile while I sit at my desk doing my taxes.  I LOVE doing our taxes (usually....except when something doesn't work out as I would like...this year all is well!!)  My Dad was an accountant, so we can argue if my love is nature or nurture!!!

I am a little sad today as Carolyn is going back to school tomorrow.  Matthew will be staying here some and will be in Iowa City some.  He can make some money working here and with the pandemic, ALL his classes are online AGAIN...yuck!  (Carolyn has some things in person, although still a pretty isolating experience.)  It is lonely to be in an apartment or dorm when everyone is staying "stay away from people".  (Carolyn has to even eat in her dorm room!)  We like having Matthew here, so he can divide his time.  Had we had a crystal ball, I think Carolyn would have stayed home too and just arranged her classes to have online classes....alas  no crystal ball.  Just hopes for a better college experience next year.

 

1/17/20

 I clearly have fallen off my blogging!  The craziness of the "storming of the Capital" really has me worried for more extremism and I just don't even want to talk about that stuff, but ignoring it seems strange too.....so I posted nothing.

Anyway, my little world has gotten cleaner, starting with the carpets!!!

Followed by many kitchen drawers and cupboards.

The kids have continued making very yummy dinners including these barillas created by Carolyn.  I am not joking when I say that she had the roast slow cooking on the stove for HOURS.....but it was the best roast meat "taco" I have ever had.  (but obviously this was a barilla, not a taco)

Carolyn and Matthew especially like making things that are challenging.  I, on the other hand, like to make easy things!

1/6/20 ---- I have been jabbed (or that is what I would say if I was British)

I received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination today and I felt like Peter Parker in Spiderman....super power to help change my world in a small way!

I am so happy that this vaccine is available and that we are starting to work our way out of the Covid mess we are in!!!

I have been more nervous about Covid than my immediate, extended and work family.  I think this relates to how many people in my world I could badly harm if I gave them the virus.  I feel like I can relax a little now, without really changing my behavior.....it isn't time for that.

I copied this picture from The Nutrition Action Health letter I receive.  

Three weeks from today I will get my 2nd vaccine.  They say that there is more effect from the 2nd one because your body recognizes the vaccine and doesn't like it!  (just like babies with their 2nd set of vaccinations)  I can take it!

1/3/2021

 Today is the last day of my winter holiday.  I had 10 days off (including weekends) in 2 weeks.  Sweet.  Almost every minute was at our house or on a walk outside.  (There were a few hours of church and today I went to the library.) There was very little shopping by me!  Matthew is working at Hy-vee over the break and so he has picked things up as have other members of the house when they are out for some other reason.  (Hy-vee Starbucks hasn't needed Carolyn since Thanksgiving vacation, so she hasn't made much money during this break.) 

The good news is that I really like spending time at home and it has afforded me a lot of time to get things in order!!   I hate shopping in December and I am trying to have a "low spend" January to balance out our December, especially the treadmill that did not arrive on Wednesday due to the bad weather.  Luckily the weather was only bad during the Tuesday blizzard and I could walk every other day outside.  (I guess they couldn't deliver on Tuesday and so they did those deliveries on Wednesday and then we were at New Years Eve.  I am sure we are not a super important delivery to them.  They are a freight company (not UPS or FedEx.) and so I am sure they do many commercial deliveries that rank above our "one and done" delivery.  I think the treadmill has been in Ankeny for 12 days, but I decided against going to the freight company to get it because it could hurt someone's back!  (295 lbs)  The treadmill company recommends unpacking the box in your driveway and carrying individual pieces into the house.

Today Anna and I joined my sister and my niece Leslie in a 21 day toning challenge!  The instructor is Cassey Ho and she is very positive and encouraging.

It was quite a workout.   My exercise has been almost exclusively walking since mid-March when my gym closed.  I did not rejoin when it opened back up.  My strength has taken a hit, so this is a great idea.

There was a lot of chess played today and oddly Poker.  I did not play poker, but there was much laughing  that made me very happy.  (We are playing chess after watching "Queen's Gambit", which was a series about a fictional champion chess player.  There is something appealing about watching someone do something at the highest levels.)

28 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

 28 years ago it was official!  (Although Ken and I have been together now over 30 years!!)

Such a nice guy....who I actually met in 1988, but didn't start dating until late October 1990.  So easy going, except he isn't hip on me cutting his hair (although he let me give it a go during the pandemic shut-down)....so handsome!

Almost every picture I have of Ken on my phone is of him playing a game with the kids!

Here we were at Thanksgiving.....he also is a great cook!

Tonight we are celebrating with takeout from Outback.  Next year we will be back to eating in.  Last year we went out to lunch at Outback while the kids were at school (except Matthew....his spring semester hadn't started yet so he joined us)  Wow that seems like a long time ago!  Two years ago, Matthew went to the Outback Bowl with the marching band.  

Happy New Year

 2021 has begun!  I am happy for the new beginning.  People are starting to get vaccinated, Joel and Anna are going to start going back to school every day (at the end of the first semester in a couple of weeks) if Covid doesn't get worse.  Hybrid learning really hasn't been bad for them.  They are very self motivated but I am sure it has been awful for younger kids and kids with different personalities.  So for the most part, it probably will be a good thing.  Time will tell.  I worry most about crowded lunch rooms.....but back to happy!!!!

Our New Years Eve was fun:

We played Blackjack!  I am not sure that I have played this game more than once or twice.  I knew the gist of it, but not the details.  Ken was an excellent dealer and our poker-chips were made of candy!

Anna had an excellent strategy and quickly gathered up the most candy.

At the very end I was ready to quit so I bet everything that I had then won a couple of times.....so I looked like I was rocking it, but really I was just trying to wrap it up!  You only have to keep betting it all for a short while to get to go read on the couch :0)  Yes I am in my PJs.  We went to church and then I came home and got comfy!  Living a fancy life to be sure!!

Update on my 2021 goal of getting 2021 things out of my house.....40 more items are lined up for disposal (mostly to the Salvation Army or the Goodwill...our church has stopped collecting for St. Vincent de Paul's thrift shop a few months ago because of the pandemic, which is unfortunate).  

I have decided if I am getting rid of a bunch of one thing...example: pencils....I won't count each pencil as a thing.  I still don't think this will be too hard...which is a little sad!