COVID 19 - The Coronavirus: Mother's Day Gardening

Shane and I wanted to surprise Carrie for Mother's Day, but it's hard to pull off when no one leaves the house.

We started making cards when she went out to check on the horses. I didn't say anything beforehand, because I was still hoping for a surprise.

We got beat. Carrie hadn't forgotten it was Mother's Day. She had been wondering if we'd say something and went to the barn disappointed. While she was there, Jason, the contractor, a Happy Mother's Day text! 

In retrospect, the surprise would've been better if we started the night before...

I had Shane work on another card we could text to Nana.

He made a card for Grandma afterward, but we didn't need to text. Grandpa and Grandma hung around for the weekend to work on the yard!

Here, Carrie is modeling different shades for a potential deck awning.

Saturday was spent on preparation work.

We weeded, raked, moved dirt, and jumped whenever Grandma said, "Jump!"

The walkway guys never came back. The last I saw them they had tried to stain the walkway and were using a giant heater to try and dry it in the winter. The weather never seemed to cooperate and the sun never shone enough. I guess they cut their losses and walked away.

I think we paid at least half. I'm okay with what we paid for the quality we got (I would have been okay without a walkway, so maybe I'm not the best person to ask about it!).

It looks better with the landscaping rising up to meet it.

We continued on Mother's Day. Grandma was in full 'work mode' when Shane rand up and handed her a Mother's Day letter. She kept giving out instructions while the adults started to signal, "Look at the letter!"

She did and Shane got a big hug.

But then it was back to organizing the troops. Grandma has a passion for planting.

Unfortunately, we had a spring freeze hit several nights over the week. The crops we planted last week didn't make it.

I worked with Grandma and Grandpa putting plants in the ground.

Carrie mowed.

Shane 'helped' Patrick. Patrick's been a hard worker and nice to Shane, so I'd recommend him to anyone else looking for a landscaper.

Shane wore out before Patrick did!

One day, when we're 'done' (if we ever are), I'll post pictures of the yard. For now, know that I put lots of sweat into Mother's Day this year.

Shane may have sweat some, but he was more wet from playing with the hose!

Robbed!

It started off simple: There was a great sale on a mattress at Costco. Carrie wanted it for the new house and it came in an easy to move box.

So I decided to take it by the storage unit on the way home. Why unload it twice?

Only when we opened the lock to our unit, it looked like this.

For that first moment, neither of us really knew what had happened. Was their a storm? Could something have fallen? But if so, why were boxes open? Hadn't we taped them shut.

We'd been robbed. It's not an accident to cut open taped boxes, remove lids, and pour contents out.

Whoever it was did a thorough look around. Everything was opened.

The good news: Most of our stuff in the unit was crap. We've lived without everything in the unit for months, so there's no real change to our status. 

The bad news: There were some things that Carrie will need to buy again and a couple she was more attached to.

At first glance, the thieves took a saddle, Carrie's dress boots, and my entire Lord of the Rings LCG collection. As Carrie processed and (eventually) we talked to a police officer, Carrie realized that a work of art from a childhood trip to the Bahamas she valued was among the missing.

The odds are we'll never see any of it again. We need to go back and catalog more of what's missing. Carrie woke up one night and said, "My Portal gun! That's missing."

The storage unit was covered under our home insurance, but there's a $1000 deductible. If Insurance believes we lost over $3000 in stuff and they give us $2000, will they just raise our rates by $20/mo to slowly recap it and beyond? I don't know.

Carrie took it harder than me. I was surprised, annoyed, and curious. Now, I want to have time to go back, clean up, and be done with it. The stuff missing doesn't bother me as much as the having to clean up the mess.

The Bible says: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)

None of us were hurt. We'll have less stuff to unpack when we get to our new house. I hope the police catch whoever did it, so that they won't raid anyone else's stuff but I don't plan on replacing my LOTR cards any time soon. It's been over a month since we'd been to the unit, so there's no telling when this all happened.

The owner of the storage modules was helpful. He gave us a new lock for free! Carrie will never go cheap on a lock ever again. 

Meanwhile, Shane was utterly oblivious. He was calling over to Carrie and singing as she was getting upset. He didn't get subtle cues either, so I had to say, "Cut it out. We were robbed."

If only Detective Pikachu was around to help!

It's a moving story.....and a Mother's Day one! Happy Mother's Day, Love. Sorry we got robbed!

Mother's Day 2018

Mother's Day involved picking up thai food and Carrie taking a three hour nap. Shane watched a lot of TV during that time period to keep him quiet. 

I snuck him out of the house at one point for an errand.

Carrie didn't even realize we were gone or climbing all over downtown.

Carrie was still asleep when we got back.

A quiet Mother's Day.

Mother's Day Interview

Mother's Day Weekend!

Some things never change...

My first act of love for Mother's Day weekend was to keep Shane busy while Carrie napped. We tried "quiet" play time, but the kid followed me wherever I went.

So, we went to the library! We stumbled across a cultural festival on the way there.

Shane went from table to table to get his passport stamped and talk to people from different countries. We made a Moroccan spice blend, had Shane's name written in Greek and Arabic, talked to a police officer, a Buffalo Soldier motorcycle rider, a couple from Chile, etc, etc (At least, I tried to talk, but Shane always started to wander once he got a stamp and whatever the free goody was).

Shane was as friendly as ever.

It turned out he actually knew this kid, Levi, from school. Shane shouted "Hi!" and waved at random people on the street as we walked, so it's not like that was a requirement.

We hung out with Levi and his family for a little bit.

Then we lost them shortly after Shane showed them the Moroccan spice blend.

Shane's not hard to entertain, though. As long as noise levels aren't a problem and there isn't anything valuable or breakable it's a breeze. Oh, look! A tree!

Lumpia for a snack! (Filipino egg rolls)

I recognized this guy, Sam, from picking Shane up after school. We've bumped into him before.

He and Shane were library buddies for a little bit.

Mom was awake when we got home. Then we got to go on some errands!

Some things never change...

After a hardware run at Lowe's, we went to Costco. Carrie needed her new phone replaced. Shane and I wandered and were on sample detail for a couple of hours.

Carrie rejoined us at the end.

We watched The Incredibles to finish the night.

Sunday, Dylan and Eli joined us at church. Unfortunately, there was no Sunday school and the kids were amped! We stayed outside in the atrium and played basketball and watched some of the service on TV.

Sunday school will be back next week. It was a fluke (or by design) the one week friends showed up the kids had nowhere to go together.

They were happy 95% of the time until a dime presented a dilemma. 

Shane and I played outside for a while after church to give Carrie some recovery time.

She came out for a little to check on her chickens.

The rest of the time, the boys ran rampant. Raheem always wants me to play, too, but I try to sit back and let the kids interact. Part of it is fatigue; Part of it is kids need time without an adult directing everything to grow.

I can't go shirtless without burning or blinding anyone, too.

Tae Tae came down the hill from her house and played along. She wanted to help Shane learn how to ride his bike.

I told her, "You're good with kids. You must have younger ones about!"

Henry started to call out from his window not long after.

I was ready to go in numerous times, but it felt like a new kid popped up every time I was about to make Shane go inside. Then, I didn't want him to snub anyone so we stayed out....until the next kid entered the fray!

We went out for a Mother's Day dinner at Wegmans when I finally got Shane inside. Netflix finished off the night.

I wish I could say we did more activities strictly for Mother's Day, but we didn't. Carrie needed/wanted to rest from the week. She's still processing and dealing with the horse situation.