New Year, New Project

I'm really good at starting resolutions in January.  Finishing them is another thing.  So, I can not promise to blog every week.  But I will try.

While preparing for food shopping last Saturday, I noticed how large my folder of recipes to try someday had become.  Well, someday has arrived.  

One of my 2021 resolutions is to try one of these recipes that I have collected over the last 13+ years of marriage.  The recipe will be prepared and then analysed on ease of making, taste, and how the adults and kids like it.  (Because we all know kids and grown-ups have different taste buds.)

I'm not looking for new recipes.  Trust me, I have more than enough for this year and more.  If you'd like a copy of a recipe, let me know.

Thank you to my dear friend Lisa for this cute apron for Christmas!

Social Distancing Week 2

Church, this second week at home, was more normal, if that's a thing anymore.  Nate was able to administer the Sacrament to us, and that brought peace to my heart. We also had a little more structure in our meeting and I think the kids responded well to that.  Our Sunday School lesson was on Jacob 5.  After summarizing the Allegory of the Olive Tree, Nate took out family outside to see his two peach trees.  One was ready to burst into blooms, the other had no blossom buds.  We could see how the one tree was not doing well and wouldn't produce any fruit.  Then Nate took us over to his apple trees where he had recently grafted in some different types of apples.  Seeing the process really helped me understand the allegory and all the work that is necessary to bring forth good fruit.  It won't happen by itself.  So, what am I doing to help the work of the Lord?  What more can I do?

Week 2 of teaching online found me at my computer from 6:30 am to 8 or 9 pm.  My students were turning in a ton of work (yay!), but being at the computer all day made me feel like I was being horrible mom.  The kids ran around wild and watched hours of TV.    We had a schedule that I printed off each day, but this was survival mode and so the schedule was mostly ignored.  Hopefully, once the oldest start new content next week, some form of normalcy will appear.

To help engage our students in our daily video chats, our team of teachers hosted our own video Spirit Week.  Each day the teachers of Team Fox, and some of the students, dressed up for a daily Zoom meetings.  This silliness made smiles happen as we connected digitally if we couldn't connect in person.

	Crazy Hat day with my Graduation Cap.  Hard to believe that it was almost a year ago that I defended my paper on the Math of Solar Eclipses.	For Character Day, I was a MathNet detective from the 80s PBS show Square One TV.
Crazy Sock means I wore my Math Socks.  Could have gone crazier with all the Fox socks that I have.	Bring your Pet to School day means that Mittens got to see my students. This was probably my favorite day of the week because I had over 20 students in the online meeting introducing their peers to their pets.	Aloha!  We ended up not hosting a video meeting this day, but sharing pictures of our Hawaiian get-up helped us all get through the dreary isolation.

I had hoped to have many more books read, and the house deep-cleaned, and my quilt finished, and my children perfectly dressed, and the laundry done, and... and... and...  But I feel like the one thing that I have had to accept (again) is that good enough really is good enough.  And what is good enough during social distancing is much less than before.  We might not have a bulk supply of toilet paper, but we have enough for our needs.  We might not be able to pick up more than 2 loaves of bread at the store, but we have a wheat grinder and I have a husband he enjoys experimenting with baking bread.  We might not be engaging in home-schooling, but we are home, and safe, and the kids are learning to cope with this strange situation we find ourselves in.  It's far from perfect, it's far from ideal.  But it's good enough.  And that is good enough.

Social Distancing Week 1

2020 will go down in history as a defining point for this generation.  And not due to some grand event like a putting a man on the moon or a tragic event like 9/11.  Rather this historic event is due to a microscopic pathogen known as the corona virus or Covid-19.  While the virus started off in China in January, it has traveled across the world, affecting millions, and even killing others with previous health complications.

In Utah, we started to see effects of the virus as school events began to be postponed or even canceled.  Dances, science fairs, sports, and other activities moved to online venues, when possible. 
Libraries and other public building closed also due to the virus.  Stores limited their hours of operation, and provided special hours for the elderly.  Toilet paper, cleaning wipes, tissues, hand sanitizer, flour, sugar, canned beans, rice, and other staples vanished from the shelves in a matter of minutes.  A rush at the grocery store meant that I spent a hour in line that wrapped around the inside of the story to get 2 gallons of milk and a pack of diapers.  Thank heavens for food storage! I think that the epidemic finally felt real to me personally when we moved from having Church as a congregation to hosting our own Sacrament Meetings in our home.  While very spiritual (and much shorter) than the 2-hour block, I miss the interaction with my friends and neighbors.

The state of Utah issued a "soft closure" for all school starting on Friday, March 13th due to the corona virus called Covid-19.  (unlucky day?)  This meant that all schools were closed for students, while teachers would work either from home or at a mostly empty building.  Our district decided, since we were so close to the end of the term, to make the 2 weeks review only and allow students the opportunity to fix any/all low scores in their grade.  As teachers, we quickly put together a review packet for those who needed it, and changed all the deadlines for our online assignments.  While this was helpful for students, it caused a lot of extra work for teachers as we now had to accept missing/late work from January.  Yikes!  But we got through it.  Teachers also learned how to host video meetings through Google Meets and Zoom, and all the joys and surprised that come through that.  I am very grateful that I have worked so hard the last 5 years to understand the finer details of Canvas, which is our district's online learning platform.  Because of that understanding, my students have had a much easier time transitioning to completing online reviewing.  In two weeks, we'll see how the online learning of new material goes.

Wednesday, March 18th was supposed to the first day that students got online to start their review material.  And while that happened, at 7:09 am, a 5.7-magnitude earthquake hit the Wasatch Front.  It felt and sounded like a large snow-plow was driving down the street.  But the house continued to shake for over 30 seconds scaring my kids and myself.  Once everyone was calmed down, we checked in with Nate at work, family throughout the state, and neighbors.  Everyone was okay, just shaken up (pun intended.)  There were several aftershocks recorded throughout the day and coming weeks, but we only felt the 4.2-magnitude one around 1 pm--nap time.  Because of this, my two youngest have struggled with nap time and bed time ever since.  But we'll get through it.
 
For online learning for my children, they have also spent time at home with Nana and Mom going over old assignments and exploring their many digital apps (most of which I have ignore to this point in the year...no longer.)  I have also issued my two oldest a daily Lego challenge.  They were excited about it first, but now it seems like just a chore.  I'll have to see what I can with that.

Before we got too serious with our social distancing, we helped my parents with their kitchen remodel.  In these pictures, we are helping to take the old hard-wood floor boards to the dump.  Nate decided to move his truck closer so he could just chuck the boards over the fence into the back of his truck.  After seeing this happen, my mom said, "Be careful!  Don't hit your window!"  And then CRASH!  Right through the back window went the next boards.  Oh well!  

I think one of the things that is so difficult about social distancing is that EVERYTHING is closed.  (As it should be.)  I miss the library.  I miss being able to go food shopping at 9 pm after the kids are in bed.  I miss window shopping at an actual store instead of online shopping for everything.   I'm going to miss getting my hair done in a couple of weeks.  I miss seeing my friends and being able to go out to lunch (inside a restaurant) and getting pedicures.   I miss seeing my extended family in person and giving them hugs.  I miss 2nd Sunday and 3rd Sunday family dinners.

I know that social distancing is necessary to slow the spread of the Covid-19 virus, but it's hard to be home ALL THE TIME.

2 weeks of Spring Break before Spring Break

So today our State governor "soft" cancelled school for the next 2 weeks due to the Covid-19 virus epedmic.  And while I like the time away from disruptive students, I'm concerned about how to help keep my own children occupied.

So what better thing to do than blog.  Here we go.

Next Round Finished...Finally

Thanks to my son for holding so still so I could take the picture.

Who was so crazy as to sign up to complete an entire quilt in 6 weeks?  Oh, that's right--me.  So, that didn't happen.  But I'm not giving up.

Life may have been crazy overly exhausting for the last month, but I've finally completed the "baby section" of my Starstruck Quilt.  My favorite part of this round is the small gray "tulips" as my 4 year old calls them, or "cats" as my 2 year old calls them.

On a silly note, after 10 years, I truly made my craft room into a craft room...by dropping all my pins on the floor!  Thank Heavens, I only have a handful of pins at this time.  Still, I wouldn't go in there barefoot for awhile.

This month has been crazy, and finding moments to work on my quilt has been difficult.  But I'm happy with the progress and look forward to starting the next round of my quilt.  That is right after I'm done baking rolls, making jigglers, and winning our family's "key lime pie" bake off today.  ;)

Being Kind to Myself. It's Harder Than I Think It Should Be

 After the Fall General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I felt like one of the messages for me was to be kinder to myself.  I know that what I think I should do and what I actually can do are not always the same...so why do I make myself feel guilty when the two don't match?

My "craft room" after I cleaned up.  Yikes!

For example, knowing that I was behind on my Quilt Along, I came home ON TIME rather than 2 hours late from school and decided to sit down and work on the wall hanging section of the quilt.  I knew that I should be able to complete the whole thing in 2 hours before I needed to pick up the kiddos from daycare. But then reality hit.  I needed to move the laundry from my craft room (notice I
didn't say fold), find my sewing machine in the storage room, and then locate my scissors, and don't forget to look for the pins that were for some reason up on a book shelf in the living room.  Then I needed to vacuum up that spider, and search for my seam ripper.  And once I got everything together, it was time to pick up the kids.  I just couldn't do what I wanted.  It's wasn't can versus should, it was can't versus should--and it left me feeling awful.

I wish I had a magical story to tell here and how a fairy godmother came and made everything alright and I finished the quilt wall hanging on time, and cooked a gourmet dinner, and had a spotless house, and folded that laundry, and created the perfect lesson plan for the next day.  But that's a lie.

I know that I have a hard time balancing all of the good and better things in my life, and that it's difficult to choose what's best.  Some days I can do it all, some days I feel like I should do it all, and some days I fall apart and cry because none of it happened at all. 

The point of this ramble is that I accomplished something.  And that may not be much to you, but it makes me happy.  It makes me proud.  And I did it just for me.

So, this is me celebrating what I can do.







I can make flying geese using a no waste method.










I can create perfect half-square triangles.










I can learn a new quilt block called the "switch and flip".









I can find time to finish the wall hanging section of my quilt.

I can acknowledge that my family comes first, and my job come shortly after that--but I am important!

I can understand that while I may not be able to grade tests coherently after 10 pm, I apparently have no problem quilting after 10 pm.

I can apologize because I am NOT a social person while quilting.  (Sorry, Nate.)

I can enjoy hot cocoa and quilting at the same time.

I can finish what I started out to do without feeling guilty about the time it took.

I can do hard things.

Cutting Out Fabric or Grading Tests...which is worse?

I am behind on my Quilt Along.  But then again, I am behind on grading the last unit's tests.  So, which one gets accomplished tonight...that's right, the one that's about me.  (See, it can be all about me sometimes.)

After two long nights of parent teacher conferences last week, I thought I'd tackle the dreaded cutting out of the quilt fabric.  Honestly, I'm glad to get it all done in one fell swoop...but I still don't enjoy doing it. 

So, after ironing all 22 fat quarters and 8 1/2 yards of background fabric, the designing began.  The question became where do I place all of the colors.  I want to eventually place this in my room (after we paint, and get new carpet, and remodel a dozen other things first).  That means the gray needs to be more prevalent.  And each of the strawberry fabrics has a LOT of pink--which is not my husband's favorite.  Fortunately,  he gave me the go ahead to make this quilt however I would like.  (I love you, honey!)   Two hours of digital coloring and I ended up with this.

It's not a perfect digital drawing, because I'm pretty sure there is a better software out there than my scrap-booking program.  But the kids were at day care, I had the day off of school, so I'll take what I can get.

Saturday dawned with the need to go food shopping, clean the house, take the kids to practice for their Primary Program, basketball game, family reunions, grade those darn tests.  But, nope.  I did very little of it.  (Primary Program, basketball game, feeding the kids.  You know, the essentials.)  I spent the day cutting out fabric.  And I mean the WHOLE DAY.  Eight hours!  Yikes!  But I felt like I got to know my fabric better (how do you do?) and could figure out how the quilt was going to be assembled.  Plus my mind was reviewing rigid transformations, linear algebra, and other geometric transformations with each cut.  (What?  You don't do higher mathematics in your head while quilting?)





 This is my favorite print!  It will be the center star on my quilt.












Look how cute the dragonflies are on my background fabric!






Saturday evening I got interrupted by having to watch a family night movie with my family and my sister's family (Hurray! Welcome back to Utah!), so it took until tonight to finish cutting up the remaining pieces.  But it's done!  And here's the proof!

It's late.  But the cutting out of fabric is done.  Not a lot of scraps left over, so no mistakes?!?!?  Look for a post again soon about the wall hanging section and baby quilt section.