2/14/2021

 We had a nice Valentine's Day.  Great to have 💗 day on a Sunday.  All of the kids were home, which is always great.  We ate a late lunch so the kids could head back to Iowa City.  (So nice that Matthew has a car!)  He has been spending some time home each week, given the lack of in person classes (1 1/2 hours per week this semester 0 last semester) and the isolation of a pandemic and now a polar vortex.  Plus he is working Saturday mornings, which  Today it is probably nice to have online classes with the wind chill in the negative double digits.

Carolyn gave me this cute heart with sweet songs.  Below is a link to the first one...click the blue words to play the video.

sweet song for a mother: Everything Changes  

(Carolyn and I both love Sara Bareilles)

 some favorite lines: 

"What did I do to deserve you?"

"I thank God for You."

2/10/2021

A week ago I got Ken's parents and aunt all scheduled for their vaccination through CVS.  (Ken's parents received theirs the following Sunday.)  BUT it was in Linn county, so I didn't think I could schedule my Dad their because he is from Des Moines county.  Fast forward to last weekend and I THOUGHT I got my Dad scheduled through Walgreens, but then he never got the confirmation and I realized that they cancelled his appointment because they couldn't schedule the second appointment due to lack of supply.  (Which makes one ask....why did they offer to schedule the 1st one, when they knew that no one could get the 2nd one??  Theoretically Walgreens only just opened up for this tier, and no one in this tier could have received dose one....but whatever!!!)  None the less, it was all on me.  The computer said "reschedule dose 1 and 2" lower on the page, but I missed that critical detail, thinking my Dad would be getting the confirmation to his email for the first dose and we would just have to keep working to get the 2nd one scheduled later.  When he didn't get the confirmation I realized I had made a mistake, I drove to Walgreens and was told I was the 6th person to ask about this issue THAT day, something was strange in the system.....I had planned to go to Burlington on Tues and drive him to Iowa City on Wednesday (because by this time I realized that you were not required to stay in your county and that Des Moines county was doing a slow roll-out). I think in part the larger counties get more vaccine and Des Moines county is small. 

Anyway, fast  forward to my disappointment on Tuesday and Wednesday when I wasn't taking my Dad to get his vaccine.  THEN  TAH DAH!!!! my niece Julie arranged for my Dad to get a vaccine at the HyVee in Cedar Rapids on Wednesday.  (Which ironically is the same Linn county where Ken's parents live and I could have scheduled him LONG ago had I known!!)  My brother happened to be going to see my Dad (he was IN the driveway....he ran into the house and they darted to Cedar Rapids, two hours away!!)  He received the Pfizer vaccine and we are so happy.  We were all worried that he would be delayed and then have to accept the Johnson and Johnson. (Which I am sure would be fine, but I want the older people to get the most efficacious vaccine.)

Let us all just shake our heads a little that old people need to use the internet and use it FAST to score a vaccine.  (Ken's parents don't even have internet or a computer!!)

We all are just feeling better now.....imagine how we will feel in 5 weeks!!!
 

2/7/21

 

Matthew and I needed a little wake-me-up today, so we went for a walk around the block.  We look sad without smiles in the picture (but we weren't)....which is why I hate when I wear a mask in public.   People don't know  you are offering a friendly smile!

Anna wanted to get in on the picture, but not the walk....because brrr -1degrees!

Really I wasn't cold, because there was almost no exposed skin and I was wearing the biggest snowpants that I ever bought for my kids....the only ones what remain!

We walked by this cave that I saw when I was driving yesterday.  The picture does not do it justice....it was HUGE.  You could climb into it!  It was made from all the gathered snow in the middle of a culdesac.  I worry a bit for the tree!!!

I am not kidding when I say that we have a mound of snow on the side of  our cul de sac that is over 10 feet tall. We are setting records and not in the way we would like!  Craving spring!!!

2/6/21

I was just listening to a song by 10,000 Maniacs, which they sung on Saturday Night Live the year I graduated high school (1987)  It is named "Like the Weather"

"With a shiver in my bones just thinking about the weather.
A quiver in my voice as I cry,
"What a cold and rainy day. Where on earth is the sun hid away?""

Seriously, remove "rain" and insert "snow" and the song nailed it.

We are having another blizzard.  I didn't even know we were going to have snow this weekend.

Definitely the worst winter since we moved to Iowa in December 2008 (and December of 2009 set some sort of record!)  I am going to say that it is almost the worst weather I have experienced ever.  (Can't forget grad school in Minneapolis...that was bad too.....but it was MN!!)

And it is hard to get an electrician in the metro I guess.  We are having someone come on Friday so that our treadmill won't kill our circuit breakers.  (we haven't tried it, but the manual was pretty clear)  So still no treadmill!  ugh.  I wish that the manufacturer would state, "Get an electrician to prep for this treadmill while you wait a month and 1/2 for it to arrive." but no, it wasn't until the treadmill was being installed (by Ken) that we realized our lack of amps or something electrical.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOEL

 

This guy is 17!!  (yesterday was his birthday 2/5/4)

He chose Chinese take-out and tres leche cake, so we had a very international dinner.  (There is cinnamon on top.  It took a ton of work (happy to do it) and luckily (for me) it isn't my favorite.) 

I hope he liked it, but of course he wouldn't have said anything if he didn't :0)

Finally....ice skating!!

Action shot, I said, "act like you are speed skating"

posed photo to give you an idea of how small our little town rink is!  But it does the trick and Covid free fun (since she was the only one there).

 

Go Anna

 

In pandemic times, small things like this bring me great joy.  Anna practiced a ton for this tryout, despite knowing that they weren't even going to be able to have the event this year.  Then, when she was selected, she was so humble, saying, "well other people didn't try out, and they probably selected everyone who did, since there isn't really a concert".  To which I answered, "it was an invited try out".  (I learned that each school could invite 10 kids to try out.)  So they may have invited another flutist to try out, but maybe not.

She took this picture herself (they asked for one with your instrument if possible).  She had straightened hair in this picture, so she looks very different to me.  (Carolyn gave her a straightener that her room-mate gave to her because she had 2.)

The other Ankeny middle school had no flutists be selected, so Anna was the only 8th grader in Ankeny to be chosen.  So happy for her.