ND/SD Trip

“Camping”

 We camped, kinda. More like ‘glamping’ 😆
I did a LOT of camping as a child, with my family and the girl scouts. My family asked what I used to do, like I’m some kind of expert. 😄
One family tradition was to use burnt wood and leave your mark on your campsite. 💖

Beach Time With Friends

 Beach time with the Hodapp kids today.

Sewing Again

Felicity also wanted to try her hand at sewing. Here’s her new teddy bear, Cuddles. 

F’s Gymnasics

This little firecracker made it!  I worried that she wouldn’t be able to do it, because she’s never tried it before, and she kept getting stuck on the top. After about 10 times, she made it the VERY last time. 

ALWAYS watch your kids at practice because you’re the 1st person they look for when they succeed!

E’s First Quilt

Elizabeth wanted to try her hand at sewing a quilt. I tried to get her to do something simple to see if she liked it. Of course she wanted squares which was not in my game plan, but it all came back to me after 20 years. She was very patient and did very well. She still won’t press the pedal on the sewing machine, but did everything else.  😆

Pics From Ely Trip

99° in the sun leaving the Ely beach

If I can keep the bunnies out I’ll have a good garden this year. Lots of heat & waterig.

Oh! Our Susie💖

BBQ!!!

Happy 4th of July. 

Mom, Earl, & us girls

I’m an Introverted HSP...May Have to Add This:

Ear Piercing! 🥰

“That wasn’t so bad!” No tears from these tough girlies❣️

Pre-piercing: a little nervous, so they’re holding hands. 💖

Kitchen Cabinets

I’m SLOWLY working my way through my house projects. Having the kids home for distance learning kinda slowed my progress 😆, but I’m plugging along.

Sand, sand, sand. LOTS of hand sanding what the sander can’t reach. 

Power tools-grunt grunt. 😆

Close up of the water damage to kitchen cabinets (under sink).

Drawers

So pretty!

“Before” and “After”. A little darker, but like it

My Little Ladies- I’m so Happy These Two Have Each Other

 Elizabeth 9 1/2, Felicity 6 3/4. ☺️

Kitchen Projects

Our kitchen cupboards are losing their luster. The ones under the sink had a LOT of water damage.  While I did touch them up some years ago, it had to be completely stripped, sanded, restrained, and poly-ed.  I’ve finished two cupboard doors and two drawer faces so far. Putzy, but satisfying.

Right: untouched, initial pic. Left: sanded down. 

Sanded, stained, last coat of poly put on. Good as new!

Crushed Concrete

Last year David removed the asphalt last spring. It was badly broken up and too thin in places. We added a few loads of class five to raise it up and level it. However it was still pretty sandy and it made a mess in the garage and house. We had 2 loads of crushed concrete brought in this wk. David spread it and level it and I threw the kids in the van and drove back & forth (and back & forth) to flatten. After the first rain and driving on it a bit more I’m hoping it’ll make for less sand in the house, good for bike riding, as well as dribbling a basketball on it!

God Comes to Women

Have you ever noticed how in the scriptures men are always going up into the mountains to commune with the Lord?

Yet in the scriptures we hardly ever
hear of women going to the mountains,
and we know why — right?

Because the women were too busy
keeping life going;
they couldn’t abandon babies,
meals,
homes,
fires,
gardens,
and a thousand responsibilities to make the climb into the mountains!

I was talking to a friend the other day,
saying that as modern woman
I feel like I’m never “free” enough
from my responsibilities,
never in a quiet enough,
or holy enough spot
to have the type of communion
I want with God.

Her response floored me,
“That is why God comes to women.
Men have to climb the mountain to meet God, but God comes to women where ever they are.”

I have been pondering on her words for weeks and have searched my scriptures
to see that what she said is true.
God does in deed come to women
where they are,
when they are doing their ordinary,
everyday work.

He meets them at the wells
where they draw water for their families,
in their homes,
in their kitchens,
in their gardens.

He comes to them
as they sit beside sickbeds,
as they give birth,
care for the elderly,
and perform necessary mourning and burial rites.

Even at the empty tomb,
Mary was the first to witness Christ’s resurrection,
She was there because she was doing the womanly chore of properly preparing Christ’s body for burial.

In these seemingly mundane
and ordinary tasks,
these women of the scriptures found themselves face to face with divinity.

So if — like me — you ever start to bemoan the fact that you don’t have as much time to spend in the mountains with God as you would like. Remember, God comes to women. He knows where we are and the burdens we carry. He sees us, and if we open our eyes and our hearts we will see Him, even in the most ordinary places and in the most ordinary things.

He lives.

Original 🖌: Heather Farrell

Holy Thursday

 In celebration of the last supper on Holy Thursday, we read the readings of the first Passover, last supper, and the washing of the feet. Then we broke bread and washed one another’s feet. I think David thinks I’m nuts, but he’s a good sport and the girls look forward to it. Since the Coronavirus keeps us at home, we then participated with Fr Ryan in mass via livestream. He does SO well with his homilies.  Happy triduum.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

I forgot to post a pic of April 1st, but here we are at April 7th. It’s been a more mild winter and a nice, slow spring.  It’s SO nice to see more green than white out there in the yard and to see the garden again. 💚

Spring Baking-Clean Out the Freezer

Zucchini mini muffins, apple crisp, and sourdough bread. A little baking to warm up a chilly house this morning!  I’m in love with sourdough bread.  I thank Brittany for introducing me❣️

"Pandemic" of COVID-19

A quick overview: 

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The disease was first identified in 2019 in Wuhan, China, and has since spread globally, resulting in the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic. Common symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath. Muscle pain, sputum production and sore throat are less common.^[ While the majority of cases result in mild symptoms, some progress to severe pneumonia and multi-organ failure. The rate of deaths per number of diagnosed cases is on average 3.4%, ranging from 0.2% in those less than 20 to approximately 15% in those over 80 years old. 

The infection is typically spread from one person to another via respiratory droplets produced during coughing and sneezing. Time from exposure to onset of symptoms is generally between two and 14 days, with an average of five days.  

Recommended measures to prevent infection include frequent hand washing, maintaining distance from others, and not touching one's face. The use of masks is recommended for those who suspect they have the virus and their caregivers but not the general public. There is no vaccine or specific antiviral treatment for COVID-19. Management involves treatment of symptoms, supportive care, isolation, and experimental measures.^[26]

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak a pandemic and a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). Evidence of local transmission of the disease has been found in many countries across all six WHO regions.

Thankfully Sara Lassila (Mickelson) - graduate from Cherry HS - working with a team @ the Mayo has developed a test that can detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus in clinical samples. The SARS-CoV-2 virus causes COVID-19.

^{So THAT being said - people all over the US are FREAKING out.  There is a shortage of toilet paper - NONE of the grocery stores in Bemidji have a square to spare.  If you look on Amazon.com for TP - it'll bring you to paper towels.  They are out.  I am the type of person who has a few extra of everything anyway - just because I hate to run out; extra shampoo, bars of soap, ibuprofen, etc.  We'll be fine.  However the hoarders are being selfish and taking everything off the shelf, sadly including medications, which prevents others from having some and it will likely expire before they can use it all.  The food shelves are hurting.    My elderly neighbor called US to see if we were ok, bless her heart.}  

Schools all over MN are closed staring today until at least the end of March.  My heart goes out to those kids.  Mostly you'll have two different type of environments.  One environment will be like what my teacher friends have to deal with on the reservation - the child will be at home, have about 10 hrs of screen time a day, fill themselves with junk food (or have no food at all), not complete their assigned homework because they don't have anyone who care for them besides their teacher, and witness drug abuse and domestic violence.  The second environment is two working parents or divorced parents.  The kids are either unsupervised and at home alone with the garbage that is on TV or they're in daycare for 9 hrs a day - and probably too old for it.  Who will be their teacher?  I have to work Thursday, so David is staying home, but after that I cancelled all my shifts.

All the Bemidji restaurants have gone to take-out or delivery only.  Gov. Walz has closed all MN movie theaters, fitness clubs, gyms, cafes, bowling alleys, bingo halls, hookah bars, arcades, and country clubs. FL beaches are staying open and all these spring-breakers are on the beach, spreading this junk then flying it back to their home states, while the rest of us are staying home and slathering ourselves in hand sanitizer and rationing our children to 3 squares of Charmin.  

God bless America.  

It’s OK to be Content

“Why are you crabby?” I’m not crabby. “You’re not happy.” Yes I am.  I’m content. 

This is what my family says to me...that I don’t LOOK happy. Yes, I suppose I should smile more. I do have a resting crabby face. But overall I’m content.  Maybe I’d be considered something negative, but truly I AM CONTENT.  Isn’t that a good place to be?  My family is healthy & happy.  My marriage is good.  My home is good. God is good.  I don’t need to be over the moon.  I am content. 

F and Jellyfish

💖

Felicity chose to make a jellyfish for her 1st grade under-the-sea project. 

She LOVES animals of any kind...anything she can get her hands on.