Making some things new

We are just about finished with the kitchen make-over.  I am now working on decor.  We've changed all of it.  I have one more practical piece to pick up and need to affix some sawtooth hangers to the tiles Julia and Savannah had made for me for Mother's Day so that I can hang them above the stove.  I will continue to add shelves to the cabinets to create more space and organization over the next few months, but mostly everything is back to normal.

I hung this wall decor on Monday and fell off the counter while doing so.  I am okay but really sore.  I returned to Jazzercise today and really struggled through the workout, and that was after taking some pre-workout Ibuprofen.  Hoping things go better on Saturday.

I haven't mentioned this item on the blog in a while, but here's another kitchen update.  I can't say how many times this simple box has encouraged me.  My original post about the history is here:
The Fingerprints of God

During the kitchen makeover, I replaced our original shadow box.  There were two reasons for this.  1. Our dog chewed up one of the corners on the original box the last time we painted the kitchen, and I never got around to replacing it.
2. The original box was crowded and things were just sitting in the bottom.  It was a mess.

Since my original post, here's some of the stuff added:

• a copy of Savannah's sixth grade schedule because it matched a friend for every class which was a specific prayer request (not specific that it be Savannah but that a friend would be in every class) of said friend's mom
• a notice that the surgical center had written off the balance of Wyatt's surgery when he was six years old - This surgery was a repeat of a surgery that didn't go well.  In the six months between the surgeries, our insurance changed.  We made sure that the doctor was still in network but never thought to make sure that the surgical center was also in-network, so that bill came has a surprise with 7X the out-of-pocket cost of the original surgery.
• an approved appeal to the insurance company for a child who needed medication that was not covered and too expensive for our budget.  That appeal was a hard-fought battle necessitated by the dangerous symptoms we were seeing after the insurance company denied the original request.
• the notice that Savannah was granted a full-tuition scholarship to the university from which she just graduated
• two starfish - I am sure you know the starfish story, but you may or may not know how that story played out in Julia's adoption.  It was one of the things that inspired our adoption, and since we ended up adopting twice, well you get the idea.

I tried to think of something to adorn the box related to the contents.  I was going to pick up wall decor at Hobby Lobby that simply said "Faith" or "Thankful" to hang above the box.  Instead, I opted to have Julia pen the "...but God" that is the centerpiece of the box.  The space above the box would not really work for more wall decor, and I am really pleased with the result. 

A Different World

As everyone knows life looks very different right now, and I am hoping for a new, better normal.

Here's the latest news for our family.  I am now compiling new happenings in my Forever account and working on backing up the blog there, so my blogging will likely continue to be sparse.

We have two, new college grads.  I have some really fun pictures of Savannah.  Zach is still awaiting his cap and gown, and his college is in a volatile area, so we may have to wait for some of the national and local tension to ease before I can get pictures of him anyway.  We had a small, family celebration which is likely how we would have normally celebrated, but now things will look different.  We have a date on the calendar in late July to celebrate our grads when our state will allow us to gather in groups of 50.  

Julia passed her learner's permit and has secured a job.  She starts work tomorrow. She's only three weeks away from a dramatic change in availability due to soccer season starting, so I hope she can be helpful enough that they are willing to keep her when her soccer and school limits her to weekends only. Normally, we would have had a party for Julia's friends in some form.  She really wanted something small, so I was thinking a restaurant option or sweets bar at home - although she really doesn't have a sweet tooth. Normally, the family would have gathered for her birthday.  Her friends very sweetly and creatively celebrated her.  It was absolutely perfect.  We are still limited to gatherings of ten or less in our state, so that late July date will also be a celebration of this milestone birthday for Julia.

We are hoping and praying that Wyatt finds a job.  His friends' parents are more uncomfortable with the kids gathering than Julia's, so he's really been housebound.  A job would get him out more and would be a healthy thing for him.  Our local news announced that a restaurant in our city has three employees with confirmed cases of COVID.  I want my kids to have all the experiences that working gives them -

• managing their own money
•  seeing the value of money reflected in the time spent earning it
• coming under authority
• learning about paying their dues as the newbie
•  time management
• asking off, trading shifts, being a part of a team, etc.  
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• However, I do realize that the more "essential" workers we have going into various places, the more we put our family at risk.  Andy has said that we've asked too much of our youth in this pandemic, and it is time to let them live.  I will impress upon them the need to remain cautious as we can't yet let down our guard, and we will step into this new normal.

Phasing a return to normal

So as governors around the country are phasing us gradually back to normal (hopefully).  We have some phasing of our own going on here.  I realized after I started this whole project that the paint color would not work with the unpainted inside of the glass front cabinets.  That meant more painting.  I am glad to have done this because I love the contrast of the light gray against the dark gray.  That light gray will eventually be the color of the walls, but I think I need to finish the school year first.  This project has taken a full month. I am a stickler for letting paint cure, and I have noted on my calendar that I can return items to my open shelves and to the area under the sink on May 30th - 30 days after they were painted. The glass front cabinets can have items returned to the shelves around the 23rd of June though I admit that yesterday I did line that top shelf that was painted almost three weeks ago with paper plates and returned light-weight glasses to it.

We had all the glass replaced with seeded glass. I had a hard time visualizing it,but I really like it.  Now I spend every day looking for spots that need touch ups and touching them up and battling everyone on closing the cabinet doors - again phasing in when those doors can be closed without causing more touch ups to be needed. 

In addition to phasing the kitchen gradually back to normal for us.  I have also been phasing my workouts back in. I have now completed four Jazzercise classes via Facebook Live since my injury that sidelined me at the beginning of February.  Today Savannah came home, and five of us (minus Julia) enjoyed a 5.5 mile hike.  Working from home on a screen all day has added a new challenge of carpel tunnel syndrome, but my doctor thinks we can easily knock that out.

Even so, I am very aware that this pause was the only way this kitchen project could have realistically happened.  What I thought would take a week took a full month, and I don't have a big kitchen.We do still have to paint the walls.  I am not sure I want to return to what our normal was.  I want to phase in more time to complete the projects that end up on the back burner around here. I do realize that life in the next few months will be busy. I have kids in very busy stages of life and am preparing to move one of them eight hours away at the end of summer.

I am concerned about what school will look like in the fall, but I am regaining hope that I will be cheering on a soccer player from the stands and that I will maybe cheer on a runner too as my youngest two wrap up their high school years.

While I wanted to honor our fallen military members today, it seemed odd putting up my wreath that quotes "land of the free because of the brave" especially when I don't feel so free right now. Anybody else? I am well aware though that those who died in battle did grant us freedom. May we never take it for granted.  Yes, I did hang the wreath.

Pause

When the world pressed pause...

I have been limiting my time on social media lately.  It's for my own mental health. In those first few weeks of staying at home, social media was a mental health outlet as we collectively sought laughter to cope.  There were the toilet paper memes, the homeschool memes, and musical parodies to take us away from this startling reality.  Now, however, the world is restless and even angry.  Some are arguing that our rights are being infringed upon.  I don't disagree.  Some are arguing that the economic fallout is too big a price to pay, and I don't  disagree.  I spoke the other day with my college friends, and none of them know anyone who has gotten the virus.  I, however, do know a couple of people who have had it.  I know two who recovered at home, but the recovery was long - 3 or 4 weeks.  I know of two young people who ended up fighting for their lives on ventilators - one is still fighting.  I get the need to weigh all costs.  As Andy pointed out, those who can work from home are primarily white collar workers which is another issue altogether as the economy teeters on the brink of collapse while the most vulnerable get shoved under water.  It's just really tough.

I am very thankful that I have been able to continue to work.  My role has looked very different, and my hope is that I can still access the building before we close the books on this year as I have much work do do there that can't be done at home.  I am thankful that Andy continues to work.  I am thankful that Zach and Savannah continue to work even though both of them do so outside  of our home.

For my own health, I had to figure out how to handle this pause, how to find the gift in it.  Instead of sitting in the stands at a rainy track meet, I have been painting my kitchen cabinets.  This has been a someday project for quite some time.  I have held onto a paint chip for months, maybe even a year or more weighing whether my choice would work with light brown countertops and black appliances.  The kitchen really needs a full renovation including new flooring and a new ceiling.  We had hoped for flooring this spring, but now with everything so uncertain, that is pushed back again.  We also realize that our HVAC is not long for this world, and our deck needs to be replaced, so we have quite a list of expensive projects.  I wrestled for weeks over whether to spend a couple hundred bucks on a kitchen makeover during a time of such uncertainty before realizing that I might lose my mind without a project with visible results while stuck at home.

So here I am, tired and six working days into this project- and this is just the cabinets. I plan to do the walls and trim too.  I work on it mostly on rainy days. On pretty days I work on pulling English Ivy out of my yard - it has taken over almost half the back yard.  I also walk on pretty days.  I have to be outside.  The reality is that these projects are taking longer than my long projections on the time needed.  I can't figure out how I could have done this around being tired from work, or around the drives back and forth to school for track practices - not to mention the meets. Today I am taking the day off from painting, maybe from English Ivy pulling too.  Today would have been a holiday in my hometown, a much celebrated tradition. On a normal year it would have been rainy or cold for this outdoor fun.  Today is sunny and beautiful - of course.

So I am choosing to find the good in this time of quarantine and trying not to be anxious (a real battle) about what is to come in our uncertain future.

So the good for us is this:

I have a plan to finally get that broken cabinet door fixed.

One side of the kitchen is complete, so I have this motivation.  I like the color. It has a hint of blue and works well with the kitchen.  Julia and Andy love it.  Because nobody else cares, their opinions  don't count - ha!  It looks so much better than I could have imagined after the tired, worn white we had before. Even Zach has complemented it.  I think Wyatt is just enduring it as he likes to eat, and that is a bit hindered in this.

These shelves were so beat up that I didn't even think paint could fix them, but they look so amazing now.  I am a perfectionist and am honestly disappointed in the job I did on the cabinets under the kitchen sink. I should have sanded some places more.  Those cabinets need new hinges, but I can't find matching hinges, so we are stuck with what we have. I am also a stickler for letting paint cure.  I painted under the sink and then read that it will be a month before I can use that space (same with the shelves), so now we have stuff stashed in corners in boxes, but oh well, it's not like we can have anyone over. 

We did just buy a waterproof pad for under our sink. The faucet isn't sealed properly, so we get occasional drips. Along with that I picked up shelves and bins to better organize that area.  Organizing and purging the kitchen cabinets has been so, so good.  I should mention that Andy has helped with the purging, and Julia has helped with the painting.  

Michael's is still open, so when I decided that the shelves might look better with a crate or two to organize the contents, I was able to secure one and paint it to match while still working on this paint job.  I bought crates for places in the kitchen where things tend to accumulate and make it look cluttered. Bonus - they were on sale.  So pleased. 

Sawhorses - the hardest part of this job is painting the doors - not because they are hard to paint, but because it is hard to do the edges on a solid surface.  Andy picked up collapsable sawhorses to give me a work space, and they also serve as a drying space for the smaller doors. The doors are what make this project take so long because I am painting the inside, so both sides have to dry before I can move on.  The primer is the other issue.  It is so hard to get off of the brushes that I try to get as much use as possible out of it, but given the limited space to dry the doors, I have to take the kitchen in small doses. So far I have painted the cabinets above and below the stove and below the sink.  I hope to paint the cabinets above the sink tomorrow.  After that the sections left should not force us to eat out because the kitchen is out of commission :)

So if we are counting, I am thankful for:

1. time to complete this project
2. fresh paint
3. a color more family friendly than white
4. crates
5. purging
6. organizational tools
7. sawhorses

Other things I am thankful for this week:

8. Zach completed his classes.

9. Savannah is almost finished. She had a successful final review and will wrap up her classes on Tuesday.

10.  Etsy - yard flags for the grads

11.  Savannah - summa cum laude grad

12.  local radio station announcing the graduating class by name throughout the next week in Savannah's college town

13. two book awards from professors for Savannah

14. a beautiful evening walk at one of my favorite places

15.  Julia's friends have gotten creative - one dropped off a Blizzard yesterday and another dropped off cookies today.

16.  I was able to make an appointment to get our dog groomed - long, long overdue and not just cosmetic as this is causing discomfort for her.

17.  Andy has participated in a virtual choir for our online church services for two weekends and has played cajon for an online service

18. hanging out with my college friends on Zoom

19. Andy's family is actually meeting almost weekly on Zoom - including relatives we haven't seen in years

20. virtual book clubs

21.  Some Good News with John Krasinski - Did you ever think a taxi driver could make you cry good tears? Maybe when he's been driving patients to the hospital free of charge and then the hospital calls for another "routine" run where he arrives to a standing ovation from the staff.  How about a pillow? Maybe when an elderly man sleeps with a picture of his wife, and the nursing home staff cares enough to have that picture put on a pillow for him.  He's a jolly man moved to tears.  How could even a stoic person not have a little eye-watering over that?

I am well aware that the whole world is suffering right now. We've had hits too.  Savannah applied for a summer internship that has to be cancelled because of COVID.  That's disappointing.  I have really grieved for the Class of 2020 and their parents.  Those years of dragging kids out of bed at the butt crack of dawn (an expression my mom used) to get them to school.  Those years of lunch accounts and packing lunches. Those years of struggling with a teacher with whom a student  could not get along.  Those years of loving a class or a teacher.  Those years of breezing through a class while persevering through another.  All those years came to an abrupt halt. No prom pictures in the park for one of the last gatherings of a class.  No parents staying up late to hear the stories and see the pictures of all the fun and breathing a sigh of relief that the kids made it home safe.  That final piece of closure - the graduation ceremony altered or cancelled.  

Savannah likely can't make it to the alternate date for graduation, and she's really disappointed that she won't likely be able to make it to the delayed ceremony for the book award presentations.  Zach is finding himself restless and disappointed that the end of college is so anticlimactic.  

It's hard, but I want to make sure I remember the good that came in spite of the hard.

Unprecedented - Something to Do

While many ideas circulate with great things your family can do during this COVID-19 crisis, my favorite is the time capsule.  This is a huge worldwide historical event, and most of us have some time on our hands.  There are some PDFs floating around with options to complete some prompts regarding how your family handled this event.  The only one I have seen is a PDF that really is geared toward elementary students.

I just started a shared Google Doc with my family.  I started the document with categories such as business, church, schools, medical, society, etc. and gave just an overview of how those various entities responded to the virus.  I then got personal with how our family spent our days and how we were impacted. My hope is that Andy and the kids will each add their own experiences to the document. I plan to convert this to a PDF and then add it to our Forever storage for future generations of this family - or for us to consider down the road.

Just an idea.  Don't forget to add things like your current age, occupation etc.

A Tool

Back in January while looking for something else, I came upon this prayer journal on Amazon.  My prayers tend to be all over the place and popping up like popcorn throughout the day.  Intentional, focused prayer for me generally happens best when I am journaling as I tend to lose focus otherwise.  Even journaling does not always hold my focus, so I was intrigued by this journal that maps out daily prayer. It is small, inexpensive and holds 86 days (if I counted right) of prayer maps. To give it a little more fun, I pair it with Micron pens using different colors for each section. The pages are identical except for the scripture at the bottom of the two page spread.


What I love - very concise and focused.  It does not leave out thanksgiving.  I bullet that section and strive to have three things listed daily.  Even though it is concise, there is plenty of room to fit lots on the daily pages. During this anxious time, it helps that there are sections for my worries and needs.

When Savannah was last home, I shared this with her, and she loves it and wants one.  Since Amazon is rightfully prioritizing essential shipping, it will be weeks before she can get one.  I'm sorry if you love this and now feel teased by it.  Maybe go ahead and get in line for a copy?

As we all seek to encourage each other, I want to encourage you to lean on the One who brings our help, the only One who can stop this pandemic with a simple glance.  Our church is encouraging us to read Psalm 121 daily this week.  I encourage you to do the same.  Our minister is doing devotionals on Instagram using Psalm 55 this week - also a good place for encouragement.  While I was there this morning, I also jumped into Psalm 56 - also good.

Tearing Down the Idols?

Many years ago Savannah and I embarked on a mission trip to the Northeast region of our country.  We loved on people in Maine and Vermont and had a day trip of fun to Boston.  We learned lots about that area of the country, but one thing that struck me was something one of the ministers mentioned.  He talked of how a conversation with a non-believer brought out that the god of the Northeast is sports. 

What if COVID-19 is a wake-up call to America regarding our idols?  What came down first? -sports followed by money.  Greed became apparent right out of the gate as panicked shoppers stocked up to hoard for themselves rather than to help their neighbors.  People who fill their time with busyness have been forced to slow down.

It's no secret that we are a divided nation.  We are divided by political affiliations, race, income, etc.  What if this is the very thing that God will use to heal our land, to turn us from our wicked ways? 

I am guilty.  I have my own idols.  I have been confronted in this past week with my own selfishness, and my priorities have been shaken.  I am guilty of trying to find the balance here.  I have been fighting a cold/allergies - no fever and identical to previous colds and allergies, but I have cancelled my PT appointments where I would be in close proximity to others. I have washed my hands thoroughly before doing any necessary shopping, kept them off my face, and kept my distance from other people.  I have no reason to believe I have been exposed, yet I hesitate to do things like drop off goodies for patients in facilities where they can't have visitors or gather the things that people need because I don't want to freak anyone out and certainly don't want to spread this if I actually do have it, or I am just making excuses?

What I know is that God will tear down the idols.  He will not be mocked, and He will go to great lengths to draw us to Him.  

What I have loved seeing this week is the outpouring of support.  Ministries are getting creative with online resources and prayer support.  My home church is shopping local and taking carryout from restaurants hard it by this and then giving the meals to medical personnel on the frontlines.  My daughter works in a pharmacy, and she has been thanked again and again for being there.  Suddenly people see what is important.  We will hopefully come away from this without taking community for granted. My fear is that we are in a for a long haul because just like those Israelites, we are hard-headed and not so quick to learn our lesson. 

This quote from Martin Luther shared by my favorite radio station is how I want to live in light of this trying time.  I admit I have a long way to go.

In the 1500s, when the “Black Plague” was ravaging the land, Martin Luther wrote the following as to how to live and act:

"I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance inflict and pollute others and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me, and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me however I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely as stated above. See this is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God."

Praying daily

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

Update 2

On Sunday I did make it to the zoo to meet the baby elephant.  Because it was a beautiful day the zoo was packed.  Andy dropped me off at the entrance.  I walked all the way to the elephants with no problems.  After watching him play for a bit, we decided that it was hardly worth the fight through traffic to return home after 15 minutes at the zoo, so we walked the main path around the zoo.  It was challenging.  I took many recovery breaks and noted that the zoo is equipped with plenty of benches, so I should be able to handle the light festival just fine.  On Monday, I felt as close to normal as I have since this started and was really pleased that I had pushed through the zoo.  However, by Monday night a short trip to pick up a couple of items at Walmart after Wyatt's band concert had me anxious to return to the car.  Today I am struggling again.  Unfortunately, recovery is not linear.  It seems to move forwards and backwards.

Update on my recovery

My goal for this weekend was to be able to stand/walk for fifteen minutes straight today.

I am happy to report that I went grocery shopping with Andy last night and was able to walk for 15 minutes.  While I would like that to happen without discomfort, that's just not so.  My PT has recommended that I keep pushing until the pain reaches a 4 out of 10, but having been through such debilitating pain and given that I probably underestimate pain on that pain scale, I am struggling to pursue that goal.  While I pushed further than I have been, I wouldn't say my pain reached a 4 before I sought out a seat for some time of recovery.

Standing is harder than walking. I drew the line at trying to push through pain to stand in the checkout lane with Andy.  Standing takes me back to where this all started which brings too much anxiety, and honestly too much pain for now.

In keeping with the goals, Julia would like to visit the mall today.  While I have housework to catch up on and a shift looming in the church nursery tonight, I might try taking her to push through again.  My nursery shift will be another opportunity to monitor progress as it requires me to stand for 35 minutes or more at a time.  No worries there as Andy and I are two serving as one, so he will have my back if I can't make it through the amount of standing required.


Future goals - I really, really want to visit our local zoo.  They have a festival happening now that I am really excited to see, and a new baby elephant - cutest thing (I've been watching videos).  Of course I want to return to my workouts.  I am paying for a gym membership that I haven't been able to use in six weeks now, and my yearly class goal is probably shot already, but my immediate goal is to be able to do something fun.  We plan to visit at least one college for Wyatt on spring break, so that will require much walking, and I really hope to get some painting done that week too.  Those things are all within the next four weeks, so I am doing my exercises and trying to follow all advice to get me back to normal.

I live among rock stars!

A look back at the last 15 days...

On Thursday, February 13th, I awoke and started preparing for my work day in unbelievable pain. I winced with every step.  My boys followed me around the house asking what I was doing.  I told them I was getting ready for work, and they were shaking their heads..."um, no, Mom, this is why you have sick days.  There is no way you can go to work like this."  Of course they were right.  I secured a sub and returned to bed.

I couldn't get in to see my doctor until the following Tuesday -six days later.  I was immobile, and nothing touched the pain, so even a trip to an Immediate Care Facility was out of the question.  Finally on Sunday I saw a doctor online and got some medication for what we determined was sciatic pain.  I also reached out to my neighbors for prayer.  One of my neighbors, whom I just met, called me and offered to come walk me through some stretches - she's a physical therapist.  If not for her, I would likely still be bedridden. She insisted I see a PT, and I did.  I am now four appointments in with three more scheduled.  I returned to work one week after the pain started.  My gains are very slow.  I still have a long way to go.  I still cannot shop, do laundry, or do basic household tasks, and getting ready for work in the morning is still very slow and challenging, but this post is about my people who...

• delivered every meal to my bed for the first week  - Wyatt is still bringing me breakfast and coffee in bed because the mornings are so difficult
• packed my lunches for work and helped me lay out every single item I would need to make the mornings easier
• drove me to PT (Zach) and missed class to do so because I could not get myself there and could barely walk in the door
• managed the laundry - not to my standards, but I had to give up my standards for the moment, and the clothes got clean
• came home from school to keep me company (Savannah)

That was the family.

Outside of the family, my friends

• sent a care package (thanks Sue)
• made sure Julia got home from school (thanks Nicki)
• prayed (thanks LWYA family, Moms in Prayer, and Bible study friends)
• checked in daily via texts
• offered to bring meals (we declined because Andy loves cooking, and we are a household of adults and almost adults so...)
• insisted I see a PT and even took care of the leg work to find a place, made sure I wouldn't need a referral (so grateful for this persistence) (thanks Linda)

I am doing everything my PT says to do.  I am determined and anxious to return to normal with normal including my Jazzercise routine.  It's been a really discouraging time for me, and I can't say I've been patient but finally seeing improvement helps.

That which was lost has been found!

I work almost daily on my project of archiving files to my Forever account.  You may remember that I mentioned a few posts back that I was afraid we may have lost all original and back up files from Wyatt's adoption journey.  I had to empty and clean out a drawer, and buried in the bottom of it was a flash drive containing those files.  Yay!

I have, however, realized that we have lost some things that I really wish we hadn't. I have not ruled out getting pros to try and retrieve our files, but that is down the road.  In the meantime I have retrieved lots of pictures, and they are so much easier to organize and retrieve using the Forever account.  

Yes, these photos and the other hundreds from this trip are backed up in the Forever account and on an external disc drive.  

Forbidden City

Rickshaw ride in Beijing

Olympic Countdown

Mapping his heritage

Victory sign

This picture is legendary.  I stayed in the room to gather our laundry for the laundry service.  We were overdue.  Wyatt fell into a waist deep pond and didn't realize he could stand resulting in a panic that left Andy no choice but to go in after him.  Andy had no spare shoes, and yes they returned to the room after the laundry was picked up.

first plane ride

last look at China

a new American citizen

One of the first things we learned about Wyatt is that he loved "Cola"

Ultraman moves - He was all about them.

When we journeyed to Julia, the adoption websites were not so polished.  I built a journal using a web account through our Internet provider.  Along with the pictures from our journey to Wyatt, I found that I had backed up that site for Julia on the same flash drive.  I had it printed out, but it is much nicer to have an electronic version, and yes, I can convert it to a PDF for the Forever account too.  So many memories and so much heritage to be stored in one place, accessible from anywhere.  It offers fire and water insurance for peace of mind.  My brother asked how they can guarantee that these memories will be stored with them 100 years beyond my death.  My response: they do, but even if they go belly up, backing up on hard drive is easy to do from that account, so with some warning I can still save the files.  

I only wish I could figure out how to back the blog up to an external disc drive and/or the Forever account.

Just an example of how it looks to organize everything in albums

Winter Dance 2020- The Reveal

If you've read my last two posts, then you know the backstory for the dress.  If not, go ahead and take a peek, I'll wait right here.

Julia's much anticipated dance took place last night.  It was a balmy 35 degrees when the group met for outdoor pictures.  Julia was not a bit phased by that, but some of the girls didn't get in all the pictures as they warmed up in cars. One of the girls had been diagnosed with strep that morning, so a mom ended up waiting in the car after giving up her boots to keep her sick girl warm :) I too would have allowed my child to attend the dance with strep if she felt up to it especially given that the second dose of the antibiotic was taken at dinner before the dance.  I just would have warned her to be cautious not to let anyone drink after her.  After all, I graduated from high school with strep.

One of the moms hired a photographer. I will note which of the pictures were hers. Emma Lanter Photography

She handled that boutonniere like a champ!

Friends since preschool - in fact, L's mom was Zach's 2nd grade teacher, and L was born the year Zach was in her class. Her mom, J's (Julia's date) mom, and I caught up over dinner while the kids ate.

Emma Lanter Photography

best buds

Apparently, they have the moves...lots of fun dancing together.  When I inquired as to why Julia did not get pictures with some of her friends that attended with different groups the response was, "we don't have time for pictures...too busy dancing."  Sometimes you think this social media generation will be just fine :)

From Cheer friends to Soccer friends.  Love, love, love L and her family!!

These three became friends as cheerleading teammates.  All have moved on to other sports.  

Zach showed up to see Julia off to the dance.  

Dance Theme: A Night in Hollywood

Side note: I was home editing the pictures while Julia attended the dance.  By the time she got to the after-party, I had them uploaded in Forever (see my previous post), and because she has the app on her phone, she could easily see them.  Zach and Julia are my two kids who love pictures as much as I do and are anxious to see them, so that worked out great.  I was also able to share the album link with my sister who did Julia's hair so that she could see them all too.

2nd side note: Julia is very pleased with the pictures I got.  However, we turned down the option to have a picture of her with the family taken from the pro, and neither of us is happy with the one we got with my camera.  I switched lenses to be able to get the group shots, and that second lens is definitely not acting right.  It's past time for me to get a lens that combines the range of my two go-to lenses.  If only they weren't so pricey. Sigh.

Forever Photos

Maybe it was the perfect storm:

I spent weeks upon weeks sorting and organizing and mailing family photos.

Then the family computer crashed, and the only thing we could not save were the photos.

Finally, Google hounded me about my diminishing storage space alerting me to the fact that I may soon be unable to send or receive email. After deleting and deleting and deleting and still getting nowhere to empty out my bulging storage shed on Google, I realized that my phone photos are automatically backing up to Google - grr.  I am now faced with purchasing more storage or deleting and deleting and deleting some more.

So we celebrated our local Jazzercise anniversary and along with the fun classes, we met local business owners. I was intrigued by the ambassador from Forever, a photo storage business.

At the time I had just purchased another TB hard drive and was finding pictures saved in multiple places and still missing pictures.  I had memory cards stored in several places, some corrupted and unreadable, and my flash drives were in the same condition.

Forever is hosting a sale through January 31st offering 20% off of everything. It is a cloud based storage site, but unlike Google, if I purchase space on the cloud, I don't have to keep paying for it. Also, unlike Google I still own my photos, and they are stored at the resolution for which I uploaded them.  What did I have to lose? It's on sale.  I have options, so I gave it a try.  I was hooked immediately.  It checks all these boxes:

• Easy upload
• Easy organization (using tags I can identify people) - This would have been priceless for so many school projects, and though I hate to say it -for funeral planning as well.  Tagging photos is as easy as checking the box for all the photos you want to tag and typing in the tag once.  You can easily see what you are tagging because the "thumbnails" are not tiny little images.  I am tagging photos with the names of people, the year, locations and even the ages of the kids. I can see all my tags in a grid, choose one and see all the photos with that tag at once.
• easy options for adding descriptions/thoughts/memories for photos - often lost in the digital world

An example of adding a descriptor - Julia and I are singing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" in this photo.  I remembered that when I pulled up the photo but realized that I am probably the only one who would know this, so I added it to the description on the photo.

• no rental, and I can continue to add storage
• full resolution
• on photo matches you can see both photos to see if it is an exact duplicate so you don't tie up space by saving a photo twice
• a membership option where I can basically put future purchases on layaway, get 5% off, and get bonus storage every three months
• the option to purchase prints right from the site
• the option to send in photos, videos or even audio to be digitized in a format that allows them to be stored
• promises to update to the next form of technology
• easy option to share photos with family that also gives them easy download options
• Friends and family can join for free, and you can share your albums with them.  One thing I love is that if you have friends and family on the site and are connected with them, you can share photos.  For example if we vacationed with extended family, and we all uploaded our vacation photos, I could then pull photos I like from other accounts, and family members could pull photos they like from my account. Obviously, I would love for my family to join, but I can't force that.  For now it is still easy enough for me to share what I have.

Cons: The only con I see right now is that while it is easy to download the images in my Forever account to my computer or phone, I would love to have the additional option to send them directly to an SD card, flash drive, or external hard drive without the additional step of moving them out of the download option.  Certainly not a deal breaker, and it's possible that there is an easier way that I am missing at this novice stage.

Intrigued?  Check it out: https://www.forever.com/ambassador/dianeogle

My plan of attack:

Start right where I am.  I plan to start uploading my camera photos for this year only - being very discerning about what I truly want to keep and don't want my kids to have to cull through some day.  

For the archival piece of it, I bought the back up files for my family from the photographer who photographed the kids for years when he went out of business.  I plan to work on digitizing the negatives this year along with loading the digital images.

Each year I plan to buy additional storage and work through a specific archival plan for the year.

Future possibilities

This is my jam.  I may consider becoming an ambassador for this company when I retire.  That is absolutely not an option for now.

I think this would also make for a good wedding gift someday for my kids or even a new parent gift.

Ultimately, this will likely replace the blog as the blog has mostly been the family scrapbook, and I have long considered making it private but typically get pushback when I try that.  

Update: I would say that finding this was quite timely for me, but I am kicking myself for trying to be so discerning with my photos on the old computer.  As I work through backing things up in Forever, I am realizing the breadth of the loss.  I can't find the clean scans of photos of my parents over the years.  I appear to have lost the pics of Zach playing high school football that I purchased from the photographer.  I am holding out hope that the football photos will surface - possibly backed up on a flash drive in my safe deposit box - really hoping our pictures from our 2008 China trip are there too.  The SD card from the China trip is corrupted, and those photos were mysteriously and suddenly corrupted in my Snapfish account. In hindsight with a TB of storage on an external hard drive, I wish I had just created a folder and backed up my entire iPhoto album even though it contained so much that needed to be deleted.  That was exactly my plan the day the computer crashed.  We may still take it somewhere to see if those files can be restored, but I hate to imagine what that would cost.

I would add that one thing I really love is the organization and descriptors.  I worked on a senior year album for Savannah this week, and as I remembered things I added them to the descriptions which allows her children to someday understand the significance of the photo.  Even she didn't remember that we stopped by the hospital to visit my dad so that he could see her all dressed up for a Derby party.  Sharing that for posterity helps future generations to see the key role my parents had in the lives of their grandkids that a senior in high school would make the effort to dress up early and see her grandpa, not to mention that I get to include their nicknames in the descriptions too.

Lastly, one other thing I am doing this year is just making note of the sales on my calendar.  Who doesn't want a good deal?  I noted that at the end of January, you could stack coupons and get 20% off then an additional 20% off of that on storage.  Thus far in February, sales have been announced for 50% off the bigger storage packages as well as 50% off all payment plan storage packages.  Noting these helps me plan for the best sales going forward because I know that I will be adding additional storage down the road. Since many companies tend to repeat their sales, this helps me plan for getting the best bang for my buck going forward.

A Dress Story - She said yes to 3 Dresses!

A Tale of Five Dresses
The Challenge: Find a dress for the formal winter dance that will meet Mom's standards, school's standards and a teenager's fashion standards.  Oh yeah, and while it's a whole other story - do this in two weeks.  While you are at it, secure all accessories, make up, nail appointments, and get the proper alterations in said two weeks too.

Not hard at all.

To be fair Julia started shopping earlier this year.  She went with friends but didn't really like anything.  Of course she didn't follow my rule of trying on even the dresses you don't like because you never know.  We did find a dress that many people agreed was the dress - except Julia.  I get it.  She later pointed out that four people wore that very dress last year, and she wanted something different.

One of our biggest challenges is the plunging neckline.  Halter styles are popular right now, and many of them have plunging necklines.  Julia cannot visualize having fabric sewn in to fix that, so that eliminates many of them.

After hours at the malls, we resorted to online searching.  Julia found a dress she loves (we will call this dress 1), but we could not get it on time.  We finally agreed that we would find something else, and that to avoid this situation next year, I would order dress 1 after I have recovered financially from this dance :) Julia found a navy dress (dress 2) that I thought was really plain, even for her, and wanted to order it.  Because we wouldn't have the dress in our hands until a week before the dance, I convinced her to order a second dress (dress 3) in case that one was an epic fail.  Andy, Savannah, and I had all liked another navy dress better, so we ordered that one (dress 3) too.  Dress 3 arrived first, and we knew immediately that it was a no-go.  The neckline would need an alteration. Julia was so uncomfortable with the neckline that she never even let Andy see her in the dress. Savannah's roommates nailed the best description of the dress - pretty but matronly and even has a Morticia Adams vibe- OUCH!  Dress 3 could only be returned for store credit or exchanged, so we revisited the site looking at new arrivals and found not one, not two, but three contenders.  After much, much wrestling and sending pictures to friends and family members for a vote, Julia chose two (dress 4 and dress 5) of the three dresses.  We placed the order and returned the Adams family dress. 

The two replacement dresses arrived before the original navy one did.  Julia really liked them both.  In fact, she then wrestled with which one to wear to the dance.  We weighed the fact that dress 5 would need the neckline sewn up because it was too low and would need a slit sewn together.  It had two slits, and she found that to be "slutty" looking.  I just found it odd.  The slit that would remain would need to be lowered, and the tulle skirt and liner would need to be hemmed. Dress 4  only needed a hem and possibly a little bit of work on the neckline.  However, the breadth of the needed alterations did not make the decision.  Even though the theme is not really of concern for Julia,  dress 5  fit the dance theme, A Night in Hollywood, better, so Andy cast the deciding vote on that.

I spent almost the rest of the entire day working on that dress. I sewed up a slit, didn't like the heavy thread with the fabric, ripped it out, resewed, was unhappy with it and ripped it out again.  I then sewed up the wrong slit and was happy with the result until I realized my mistake and had to rip it out and start again on the correct one.  GRR!  I sewed up the neckline, found a spot that looked off after that alteration and corrected it and then we took it the seamstress for the hem.  Julia is slightly disappointed that it has to be hemmed.  It falls several inches onto the floor, so it has to be done, but the dress will lose a pretty scalloped design as a result of the new hem.  Julia pointed out that she realizes they have to make the dresses for the tall girls, but she just wished that design had been higher.  I pointed out that no, they don't have to make the dresses for the taller girls.  They can make dresses for girls of average height and girls who are taller and expand the sizing options to average and tall options.  

I will state again how frustrating it is that a dress needs so much work to make everyone happy.  There's really no reason for it in 2020, but I digress.

So what of the other dresses?  We kept them both.  She's a sophomore, and there will be two formal dances each of the next two years.  She likes all of them, and not one of them cost as much as my senior prom dress did some ahem decades ago.  All combined, they cost only about $25-$30 more than it cost to rent a tux for Zach for his senior prom.  Yes, there are other expenses -namely nails and accessories.  She already has shoes she can wear with all three options, and yes, we will still order the dress she loved once I recover from this dance.

Just a side note, dress 2 is prettier than I expected.  She's not a fan of navy because the guys typically wear black suits, so she thinks that's a tacky color combination.  That dress can only be returned for store credit, and we are not likely to shop with that company again, so we will keep it, and she may very well wear it. A bonus is that it needs little alteration and could probably work as a back up in the event of a last minute fail on another dress. If she doesn't wear it, she may have a friend who does.  I like that next year the girls may have enough dresses between them to shop in each others' closets, and they may have jobs to pay for their own dresses :)

So to recap:
dress 1 - a possible (likely) purchase once everything settles down

dress 2  -a keeper, back up, may or may not be worn, but the return isn't worth it

dress 3-the matronly/Adams family dress - returned in exchange for dresses 4 and/or 5

dress 4- hard one about which to make a decision, will likely be worn for another event, so a keeper (side note - this one sold out the day after we bought it)

dress 5 -the dress for this dance

You might have guessed that the highlight colors are small clues to the dress colors, but definitely not exact.


Stay tuned for "The Reveal"