Greetings from a Safe Social Distance

It's hard to know what to write about.  

I made a bunch of masks.  Here I am modeling one of them, and of course that's Julia in the back being her camera friendly self.  I sent some masks to family and I'll be bringing the rest to work with me tomorrow.  

I've been home from work for the past two weeks as the store I work in adjusts to the daily changes brought about by Covid 19, and things will be different.  Our department will still be making awesome food but we won't be serving it directly to customers - everything will be packed up and ready to go, thus minimizing contact between people.  So it will be strange, but at least we are still going to be cooking.  

While I've been home, the rest of my family (a teacher and two teens) have been adjusting to going school online. And earlier this week, Julia started Driver's Ed - online.  She's happy about that.  The worst part for her has been no softball.  And with Alex - it's his senior year, so there's a lot he's missing out on - first and foremost, baseball.  And then there are the other senior things - the prom, and graduation.  But.  We are all healthy, knock on wood, so that's the upside.

Also, my son has enlisted in the National Guard.  He was sworn in recently and family was not allowed to go because of the virus - but his recruiter was able to snap some pictures for us.  Here's one:

He always makes me proud. 

So he will, of course, finish high school, and then at some point - it's up in the air BOTV (because of the virus) - begin boot camp and go to college and begin this next phase of his life.  It makes my head spin, how quickly these first 18 years have zipped by.

And then there are these two:

Otis does not respect boundaries.  

There's another cat in our lives, sort of.  Another black cat - outside - that's been showing up on a semi-regular basis.  No collar, so we don't know if he/she has a home nearby.  I think it's a female, so I'm going to refer to the cat as she, just to simplify things.  She seems healthy, and she is pretty friendly.  Julia wants to adopt her despite me pointing out that maybe she has a family already who wouldn't appreciate us just taking their cat from them.  And as I say things like that I hear my mother's voice telling me and my sister the same sort of thing when we would insist that any dog or cat that wandered into our yard had no family and could we keep it???  Pleeeeeease???  So I don't know.  For now, she is a welcome visitor.  And Bill thinks she killed the rat that was in our garage, so she's got his approval.  

Our mail deliverer just went by.  I didn't hear our mail box lid bang shut, so I don't think we got anything today, but hang on while I go check......

Nope.

I've also been doing some crocheting...

It's a blanket I'm working on for Alex.  It's kind of a temperature blanket, but instead of a whole year's worth of temperatures, it's the nine months (or 40 weeks and 3 days) I was pregnant with him.  I'd made him a heavier blanket when I first started crocheting, but it's way too heavy and warm for his bedroom, so I'm making him this one instead.  And now I'm really trying to complete it because he'll be 18 in a couple months, graduating from high school (one way or another) and it just seems like it would be a good idea to get this done.  It's mainly blues, at his request, and I really enjoy working on it.

With that said, I think I'll put down the laptop for now and pick up my crochet hook.

How are you all doing?  Be safe, everyone!

Comments

[Kat]

As soon as I learned I would be working from home for a while, I stopped by the feed store and picked up five chicks. I haven't raised up chicks in a while because working full time hasn't afforded me the ability to properly care for them.
They're getting big enough now, and the weather is warming up enough, that they are taking field trips out to the pasture. The geriatric hens out there have ignored them thus far. I think the chicks will be safe to move fully outside the same time it's safe for me to begin working in the office again.
That's the plan. You know how plans go, though!

[RoseAnn]

My first thought on seeing this post was that I don’t think I’ve ever seen your face...and still haven’t, I suppose. 😂
I think it is hard to quantify who this is hardest on but seniors (high school AND college) are right up there. My niece is class of 2020 and I was hoping for a trip home to celebrate with her in June. Now I’m instead pressing my sister to host a ‘moving into college’ party in the fall.

I have always loved your temperature blankets and I’m sure Alex will enjoy his! I finished up a counted cross-stitch baby sampler (minus personalization; grandson #4 is due in June); now forcing myself to do a page of a project I’ve been slogging through for years. After that I want to work on a new kit I got that depicts Starry Night by Van Gogh. My husband says I should work on the ‘slog’ project until isolation is over.

[Zoe]

Wow, your kids have grown up! I've been reading your blog for years, since they were little kids, and it's crazy to see them as young adults! I guess that's probably weird to hear from a complete stranger.

I've always wanted to do a temperature blanket, such a neat idea.