now, the sad thing is....

 I won't be around much for the next few days because....my charger is toast!  I think it the cord got bent, and it started getting finicky, then I saw a spark, and yeah, it needs to be replaced before it fries my whole MacBook.  So, when we run out of charge, we won't be blogging anymore until Amazon comes through!

Can I ask a really snarky question?  Since when did this rule change or disappear:

If you can't say something nice to someone, don't say it at all.

No reason, just wondering.

I guess I'm just shocked...

As Linda so wisely pointed out, we aren't perfect.  I say a lot of stupid things, and am a very silly girl indeed, life is one amazing ride.   It's actually beyond me why anyone reads what I write, in the first place, as I have no structure to speak of, and I jump from thing to thing in randomness.   

But, the vehemence, the absolute meanness, wow.  My girls aren't surprised, they say that's how social media is, full of hate comments.  No wonder the young people are having mental health issues!  I can say I don't care what people think of me, and that is a somewhat true statement, in that I find that I DO care, but work with it, and let it go, does that make sense?  It affects me, yet I don't want to be effected by it.  

I know better than to let it into my heart, to be depressed by it, but these young people, it breaks my heart to think this is the world they are growing up in, where this is considered normal behavior.  To disagree is fine, it's part of life, it's natural, because we AREN'T cut from the same cookie cutter, it's what makes life so fun and interesting!  But the finger-pointing and name calling and blaming, wow.  I guess I've lived a sheltered existence.

Anyway, this is a really good day.  The sun is still shining here, while north of is is getting hammered with Lake Effect snow!  It's coming here later, I think, along with really cold temperatures.  It's cozy in here, Paul has been making fires in the wood-burner stove, makes it toasty.  

Last evening, I made bacon for dinner...it was beautiful  bacon. It was low-sodium, and very little fat, it fried up like fake bacon, in a commercial.  I couldn't smell a thing.  I sprinkled it with coarse ground pepper, which I also couldn't smell.  I put some on my tongue, nothing.  I made some eggs, and some toast from Ezekial bread, put a tiny bit of raspberry jam on a slice, and ate it with my eggs, my ghost-y eggs.  It is so weird, to have the texture of the food but not the taste!  The bacon was still good though, maybe I just have a good imagination and a good memory ha.  

In the big scheme of things, this is nothing, to lose taste and smell.  At least we have good nutritious food to eat!  And I've been trying to make myself drink coffee without cream for a while now, finally maybe I'll lose a bit of weight again...I've gotten stuck, one meal a day most days, low carb, very little to no sugar, I should be thin as a rail, but no, not me.  It's the cream in the coffee, I think.  But stuck I was, because I've given up everything else, stay away from my cream!  Now, though, why even bother?

I have always known that I value and appreciate food, as I do most things in life, treasure every delicious bite...so it's a very real thing to be saddened by the loss of that experience.   "Eat to live, don't live to eat" is a popular saying among enlightened dieters, with more self control than me.  I can't say I actually "live to eat", but...well, I LOVE my meals!  I'm a piggy-pie, I am.  

I'm going to sign off now, and stay off the laptop for a few days, unless Amazon comes through and delivers the cord earlier....have a really good day, and stay warm....

well, the good thing is:

I might be able to lose a few pounds!  Weight loss, the underlying battle I've waged for years now, might just have gotten easier, as I can't taste anything, so black coffee, yeah!  

Is it apparent that I'm desperately trying to look on the bright side of this?  I absolutely hate not being able to taste and smell.  There is just such a vacancy!  The pleasure in that first sip of hot creamy coffee, I hope that comes back...

Dinner last night:  sizzling skirt steak tortillas, with all the yummies for toppings.  Margaret and Sonja made dinner, I could hear the steak sizzling, but I couldn't smell it!  I ate a few bites, but it almost feels wasteful to eat it when I can't enjoy it!  So I had leftover chicken soup.  I had some popcorn, which is still fun to crunch, if you like chomping on styrofoam.  

In the big Covid scheme of things though, these complaints are teeny tiny annoyances.  I'm thankful we're doing all right, of course, and that my lungs are still clear.  It's the old how can I complain about THIS when THIS is happening...we can always minimalize our own sufferings because they are nothing compared to what someone else is going through...but at the end of the day, they are still our sufferings.  

I had a tired mom say to me once, "I can't believe I'm complaining about lack of sleep to you, when I have only one child."  What?!  Tired is tired!  You are entitled to your fatigue!  It's not nothing, just because you're comparing it!  

Anyway.  You'd think I'd drunk an entire bottle of Off On A Tangent.  

I read my daughters a few of the comments from readers, and the said they agreed that they don't like when I'm political, they can see where the commenters are coming from.  Fair enough.  I don't always like me, either.  But, I told them, when I sit down and write, the only way I can really do it is to imagine NO ONE reading it.  I just write what I think, and that's it.  I can't sit here and try to decide what would please whom, or I would freeze up.     

The funny thing is that I actually hate politics.  I do.  I mostly care that we're allowed to live in freedom, go where we want to go, do what we want to do....say what we want to say...and I realize that when you put yourself out there, there will always be push-back.   The pulling my mask down while I sipped my coffee in the airport being equated with a levity toward Covid, killing all the grandmas.  If there was a grandma within twenty feet of me, I'd do anything to protect that grandma.  I remember after my mother died, I was in K-Mart, and the old lady in front of me had hands like my mother's...old, wrinkled hands, and I just stood there crying, I wanted to reach out and hold one of those hands, it was weird and freaky.  Old people break my heart, and of course I don't want them to get sick and die.  Sick babies seem to be all my fault too, and Lord knows I couldn't love babies more.  

It's rainy and icy here in central NY state.  The orange kitty wanted to go out, I opened the door and he ran out onto the deck, sliding sideways, it was SO funny.  We're getting more snow later in the day, it's not like we're going anywhere ha.  

I do feel better than yesterday, stuffy, but not too shabby.  I hope to heal up quickly, as there is a teeny tiny Florida trip coming up at the end of the month with some daughters of mine, who are kind enough to include their old mama in their vacation plans!  Remember we had tickets to Hawaii, which were cancelled back when all the airlines first cancelled so many flights?  The girls have time off, so we're just going to Florida....:)

the cold hard truth....

 It's cold here in the north, really cold.  Not Winnipeg cold, but brrr.

Snow is beautiful.  When it's so cold it crackles, and when it muffles sound, it's magical.  

So here is my random list of things that are true:

1.  I cannot taste my coffee.  I brushed my teeth this morning, and could sense the minty coolness of the toothpaste, but could not taste it at all.  I sprayed perfume on my wrist, took a big sniff, nothing.  This is not fun.

2.  I am the one who bought Paul's Let's Go Brandon sweatshirt for him.  For the record, to me it isn't so much that it means ___Joe Biden, it means, more like, we're not gonna take it...we're not gonna take it.  We're not gonna take it, anymore!  (Twisted Sister).  When the Southwest Airlines pilot gave his weather update when they landed, then said, Let's Go Brandon, I loved it.  There is a movement now, a censorship, a taking-of-freedoms that is unbelievable, and so many people just don't care.  It's like:  tell me what to do, and I'll do it, because the gov't knows what's best.  Why on earth do so many people believe this?  (or this:  "Moderna says another booster is needed."  of course they say that!  Ca-CHING!!!!  If you don't think this is about the money, I rather envy your naivety!)

3.  Love covers a multitude of sins.  Even when my feelings get hurt about something, I can make a choice whether to give in and feel sorry for myself.  I can't help that it happens, I mean, I have eleven daughters, and I have a husband, of course my feelings are going to get hurt!  I am misunderstood!  Whatever it is, I can roll it over in my mind and get bitter, or I can let it go, and move on.  Even on the good old blog, I can feel so hurt, I mean:  accused of not being a good mom, causing harm to the grandchildren because of vaccine status...ouch, no Christian values...wow.   But I can't WALLOW in those things, because THAT would be lack of Christian values.  I need to let it go, and be good.

4.  When you're thankful, even sufferings are worthwhile.  There is so much to learn in all that we go through in life, we mustn't lose heart.  The most important thing is to not lose that hope, as a joyful heart is like good medicine, but a broken spirit, who can bear?  (proverbs17)

5.  Being with someone who cannot bear their own burdens in life is heavy.  Complaining and being dissatisfied by everything is just looking at life the wrong way, and has no life giving spirit in it.   We can be such a light where ever we are planted if we take this seriously.  I feel a huge responsibility, with the kids, to make sure I take my trials in a good way, because walking the walk is where it's at, not just talking the talk ha.  

6.  As dark as the world seems at times, God is still bigger than the boogie man, as the Veggie Tales say, and He has allowed things to be how they are.  We might be tempted to fear, but need to say NO.  He has this!  

7.   Grandchildren are the biggest gift.  Wulf and Tennyson are coming over today!  It's amazing to share Covid with some of the family, at least we can be together while we are sick, although they are actually better now.   (Yes, I know this is a terrible and serious disease, and Pat mentioned a 13 year old passed away.  This is extremely awful.  But, we mean no disrespect to anyone if we are able to eke out what comfort we can, in simply being together!)

8.  Dogs are absolute gifts from God.  Our two bad girls have been so sensitive, I swear they know I've been sick.  They are such buffoons, make me laugh, and are so cuddly.  

9.  The ones here in the house who have been sick are the exact ones who didn't get sick last March.  It'll be interesting to see if they do get this, and how sick they will be.   

10.  One thing we hear about at church is cold hands.   We're encouraged not to handle kids with those, to make sure we're warm and good.  Buckets of grace, and drops of truth, and so much goodness!  We should never handle each other with those cold hands, either.  

Anyway...I started meandering there at the end, Evelyn is here and we are chatting....bye for now!  

the covid saga: the plot thickens!

 Paul now has a scratchy throat and isn't feeling well.  I was hoping he would sail through this Round Two, but apparently not.  It's running rampant in our county.  Here are the latest local numbers:

Less are hospitalized than yesterday, so that's a good sign, 12 vaccinated and 9 unvaccinated.  

So our new little vortex of sickness came from a few directions at the same time, we don't know who to blame for it (although according to my kind reader Pat, it is all my fault)(sorry, can't NOT be snarky!).  Imagine if everyone who got sick tried to figure out who they got it from, and blamed them...here in our little county in rural New York State, the vaccinated are getting new cases WAY more, and are hospitalized more too, but you won't see me finger pointing, no, we are all God's people.  :)  

Margaret and Adrian, Evelyn, and the little boys came over yesterday and we made chicken soup, with the bread Margaret made.  They have been afflicted by the same sickness, a few days ahead of us, the boys a much milder version that only lasted a few days each.  

We surprised Margaret with an absolutely beautiful new violin, ( which Emily and Mariel pitched in for too), because she had an old student violin, and is very gifted in playing.  She was stunned, she took it out of the case, and it would make you cry, how beautifully she can play it.  The tone is so rich, just wonderful.  Camille got her violin out, and they played for a few hours!  

So I had a low grade fever again in the night, and am stuffy, ears very full, making me dizzy.  I have a bit of a cough, but not really deep in the chest, more in the throat, like cough a few times, clear things up, and it's better.  Overall, I think I'm getting better.  I managed to do this yesterday:

Covid cookies, anyone?

The thing is, I know this is a serious illness, that the original version was quite harsh, and I know that some of my dear readers have suffered tremendous losses from Covid, and I don't want to be lighthearted and undermine that.  But it seems this newer Omnicron is much milder, and some see it almost as a gift:  providing antibodies without attacking the lungs.  

Anyway.  The lazy dogs are snoring away, the little fake heater is humming away, comforting me with it's little fake flames, and the snow is falling like a snow globe outside.  The house is bright with the snow, and it's nice in here.  I know there are cookies out there, but I have not eaten any, not even a taste of the batter when I made them.  I made them for the kids, and they loved them.  They liked the ones with no chocolate chips, just sprinkles, best.  

I'm still on my first cup of coffee, as I got a late start today, don't hate me, I totally went back to bed this morning.  I got up at six, got dressed, brought my pillow out here to the living room, put a sheet and comforter on the couch, and bam, fell back to sleep.  I had to get up and do some coughing, and then was tired again, I guess.  It felt fantastic to just be lazy though.  

It's not a good blogging day for me.  I keep getting distracted...maybe I'll try again later...

...sick sick sick....

 ...Silly Sammy Slick, sipped six sodas and got sick sick sick...

Dr. Seus...

First of all, I do want to apologize for the snarky tone of yesterday's post.  There was something in it that just didn't sit well with me.  I have such nice blog readers, and from now on, that's who I address.  So what if one or two or three people had comments I didn't appreciate way last year, who cares, let it go, and be nice.  That's one of my new New Year's resolutions, as of right this minute.  

I honestly don't mind when people chime in and beg to differ, because that's what makes the world go around, when we listen to each other and respect each other and learn new things.  

Anyway, having the dreaded virus in the house is not fun, nor is it actually unfun.   I mean, picture this:  Sonja, Jon, Charlotte Claire, Camille (in her big fluffy Christmas robe and new slippers, it's as if we KNEW she was going to get sick, and prepared with the perfect apparel!  Jonathan also got a new robe, he looks spiffy, right with the fever!)...anyway, all of us, eating our dinner in the living room of piping hot homemade Mac and cheese (oh, my cauliflower and cheese was Devine!  I also had a few spoons of the Mac and cheese, and yup, nailed it!), and our popcorn chicken from the air fryer, watching a few episodes of Psyche!, under our blankies...not too shabby.  

Sonja has downloaded SIMS! onto her laptop, the girls take turns building their little houses and families...I was feverish last night, dozing on the couch, and they were talking about a baby that wouldn't eat and might die, and I thought it was something real....thankfully not.

I will mention that my throat hurt like the devil, it hurt to cough, but I couldn't NOT cough, I spiked another fever in the night, and felt the absolute worst yet, this morning.  I almost fainted when I got to head to the bathroom.  I didn't even get coffee, just got back on the couch under the covers for a few hours...if you know me at all, you'll know that this is not normal.  I usually have coffee-on-the-brain as soon as I open my eyes...

I do have my coffee now, and feel a bit better, but shh, I got up and vacuumed, because I feel like I need to intermittently move around...I feel like I ran a marathon, not that I know what that feels like.  It's back and forth, like the bunny hop, two steps forward, one step back.  

So we will make the best of things, and I am thankful we are doing as well as we are.  I'm holding on to the hope that this new variant is milder, and that I'll be fine.  I know that the very hairs of my head are numbered, and that not a sparrow falls from the sky without our heavenly Father's knowledge.  I know that He sends all things for the very best for those who love Him, and that there is so much to learn in it all.  "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall attain mercy...".  

So I am extremely thankful for so many things.

...and, here's the daily press release from our county, which has 76,576 people...looks like officially, one in six have had positives....

...so from this update, which I didn't make up, I simply took a screen shot from the county's official webpage report...14 of the 24 hospitalizations are vaccinated, more than double of the new cases are vaccinated...it's baffling.   All vaccine talk aside, it's almost criminal how early treatments have been discouraged and criminalized.  I'm not going to get in to all of that today, because I don't feel so great, would I feel better right now if I had been vaccinated?  We simply don't know.    

But, thankfully, here in the U.S.A, we still have freedom to decide for ourselves, to think for ourselves, and to speak out for what we believe in....thank you all for your kind comments and prayers...

covid, again?

Once upon a time, last March, some people in our house tested positive, and Paul got very sick with Covid-19.  It's like a bad dream to have it descend into your home, with all the doom and gloom surrounding it.   There was still such a stigma then, that if you got Covid, you were guilty of living life like a normal person, which is selfish.  One of my readers pointed out, "you deserve it."  ouch.  That hurt, because it hurt my heart already to see my dear husband so sick....(but I DID go to Florida FOUR times last year...and California, and Oregon...:))

I never got Covid in March, but I was pretty certain I had had a mild case the year before, when everything was just starting up, when I arrived back from a trip to California.  

And now, a few of us are sick.  There is some coughing, and there are some fevers, and it isn't fun.  Do we deserve it?   Probably, as we were living our lives. 

We don't know if it's Covid, but we are staying home and hopefully we'll recover and not get worse and find ourselves unable to breathe, it's a bit scary.   

Our day has been a cozy one.  Paul installed a new door in the girls' bedroom, because Sunny chewed through the bottom of theirs like last year.  We shivered and hunkered under blankets, and Paul built a roaring fire in the wood burning stove, mmm.  We felt better and took down the rest of the Christmas stuff, except for a few little pine trees, and the cozy white lights.  I heated up some ham and mashed potatoes from yesterday, and made stuffing, for a warm and yummy dinner. (yesterday)

We're kind of thinking we have the dreaded C in the house, the ones who are sick now were not sick last March.  It's been a back and forth kind of thing, I felt pretty good yesterday, then was feverish again last night, freezing cold with the chills.  My lungs are mostly clear, just a mild cough.  I've been taking zinc with quercetin, vitamins c and d (with K2), (along with my usual Omega 3 fish oil, magnesium glycinate, potassium), and I did take two doses of ivermectin.  

So this could be just a flu, or it could be THE flu, in any case we seem to be doing all right.  None have lost taste or smell, but haven't had big appetites either.  My coffee still tastes good...so I'm a happy camper.

So yes, one person is positive, so onto the rocky road we traverse....Charlotte will have some days off from school, Paul already works from home, Sonja is on break from college and will not be going to work, ect ect.  We're hunkered here, sniffling.  

I'm having hot tea with ginger and local honey, after some sugar free chocolate pudding with some sugar free whipped cream, after a dinner homemade mac and cheese (I had fresh cauliflower, with some of the cheese sauce, in the air fryer (line a Corelle bowl with foil, spray with cooking spray, minimal cleanup!)...we also had popcorn chicken in the air fryer.  Simple comfort foods.  It's a good thing we have a supply, we have rice and pasta and meat in the freezer.

Now, we just have to buckle up and hold on tight....it's been up and down already, I felt fine this morning after having a feverish night, now I feel awful again.  I'm not achy or anything, just my throat hurts and my ears feel plugged, and when I cough, it kills my throat.  The tea is helping though.    

Wah wah wah, right?  

Sam and Grace went home after two days here, I think they might have already been exposed because they arrived late Wednesday, Sam was  sick by Thursday, and I started having a sore throat on Thursday...well, a little Wednesday, but thought it was just allergies, or general stuffiness.  Sam had fevers here in the night Thursday and Friday, then drove back to Virginia on Saturday, thankfully missing all the horrible snowbound highway mess.  They're sick, now little Ruth is sick too.  It's hard for my soul, my heart, hate to see the little ones sick.

Oh, this is what Jonathan did on New Years Eve, climbed New York's tallest mountain....in the snow...they camped out, too.

All right....off I go, keep safe and healthy, and happy new year!!!!

40 years ago today....

....I met the cutest guy, the absolute cutest.  How can we possibly be so old!?

Baby Ruth Eleanor, with cousin Wulf...

Camille, Sonja, Wulf, Evelyn...

We totally hit the jackpot, as we found all of these trains on marketplace.  The girls played for hours yesterday....

Ruth, Wulf, and her big brother Grant...

Ruth...the time flew by, and they are back home in Virginia now.  I got to cuddle her and rock her.

We've had a few people sick, so our New Year's plans changed up a bit.  Sam and Grace weren't feeling well, but made it home safe and sound.  

It's chilly today, snowy, and we have a good dinner in the oven, almost ready to serve...a nice spiral sliced brown sugar baked ham, homemade applesauce, Brussel sprouts with roasted pecans, and mashed potatoes.  

There are trains everywhere, and still Christmas decorations, but the tree is down and in the woods for the animals.  It's cozy in here, and I am not quite ready to take down the lights....the white lights are so cozy and warm.  I think I'll just remove the really Christmas-y stuff, and leave some greenery and lights....

Ah well, dinner is ready...and SOMEBODY has to get out of her comfy chair and get it on the table!