Tuesday – started out nice, windy and then we got down to the rain!  Hahahah

Work in the morning for everyone.  Today was a pretty slow day – after a 2pm Zoom meeting for me, we had to return the large coolers that all our meat came in, so Kelly and I ventured out to Wolfeboro to do that.  It was a nice ride and Cooper came with us.

Since things have been slow, I think I will post our before and after painting pics.  I love how the hall and large room look with the new paint and my favorite part are the doors!  They were still the original primed doors we had installed when we built the house almost 9 years ago and I have just been putting off doing it.

Before….the coloring looks similar due to lighting, but at the end of the hall you can see yellow color that it was.

Pictures and colors redone.

Before….

After…still just as messy! hahaha

As an aside – I have been keeping up with laundry this week and I am rocking the side bun…my left arm frozen shoulder is making it so I can’t get my arm high enough to do a pony or regular bun – so I’m setting a new quarantine fashion statement.

Day 37 and counting….

Monday – a beautiful day.

Cooper has made friends with the neighborhood kids and they come over almost daily to walk him or play with him.  Yesterday, he was the President and had a detail of 3 kids protecting him while one kid was the “assassin”.  Cooper loved all the attention!

Kelly and Kelton got the final touches for the She Shed although there is still a lot of work to be done.  We’ll get there!!!!

And we learned that school will officially close on May 29^th.  These are crazy times!!!!

Day 36 and counting….

Friday, Saturday and Sunday….windy, spring weather – Friday and Saturday we had a bit of snow!!!  UGH!  The spring snow is pretty with its big flakes but a little depressing at the same time.  Sunday – what a gem of a day!  Warm in the sun and we worked a bit outside in the afternoon!

Saturday morning craziness!!!!

Snuggles with Cooper!

Friday was Char’s riding lesson and she is doing great – she has struggled in the transition from a passenger to an in charge rider.  This is a maturation process – beginning to know what the horse needs to complete the course with consistency without being told….more leg; less leg; half halt; lead changes; stride count…these are all concepts that someone who is moving from and intermediate rider to an advanced rider must execute without being told.  She is making progress and I am really happy about that.  I think she is, too!

Friday we also got Italian food from our favorite restaurant near us – Patty B’s!  It was incredible, as always and we are happy they opened back up (they had closed about a month ago and just re-opened this week).

Saturday we did stalls – they were easily done in two hours and Kelton and I worked hard with those – Char helped moving horses around and exercised Syllabus as well.  She also got some kitten time!

SO adorable!!!!!

Char’s individual picture for one of her friends.

In the beginning of February, we ordered a quarter cow and half a pig and it arrived Saturday in three large chest coolers.  That was fun to put away but I don’t think we will need beef or pork for the next 18 months!  hahahaha

Saturday night Char made her Destination Dining meal and it was WONDERFUL!  She made a Namibian dish called Potjiekos.  It is supposed to be made with lamb, but Char didn’t want anything to do with that, so she made it out of beef.  It is like a stew with carrots, potatoes and curry spices and it was super good!  The Destination Dining was a really fun experience!  The kids did great with it and I definitely enjoyed not cooking most of the week!!!  WIN!!!

Days 33-35 and counting….

Thursday – another really pretty day – and I got some painting on the She Shed done…but need a big ladder for the tops!  The weather was mostly sunny but we got a few squalls – so painting in the snow was weird – but it’s a she shed so I think it will be fine!!!

Can you see the snowflakes on the roller?

The trusses were built by the guys….they took a while.

The first truss is up!

Char and I ran around a bit and delivered some special pictures Char has been drawing for her friends and some candy- we dropped them on the porch and the girls chatted spaced a part.  There were lots of air hugs, air high fives and smiles.  It was good!

Char “with” one of her BFFs!

This is a drawing Char made of her watching over all her BFFs. I think this picture speaks volumes!

Kelly made dinner tonight – Saltenas – Bolivian empanadas with a salad.  They were super good and there are still 12 left….YUM!  A great snack, too!

Bolivian Saltenas!!!!

Lots of dishes!!!! HAHAHAHA

Char’s night is Saturday night – hers is a crock pot recipe that will be great after a few hours at the barn doing stalls.

Day 32 and counting….

Wednesday – another gorgeous day but we were still really busy!

Seriously, not much to report, except Kelton made a most amazing dinner!

His Tikka Masala was out of this world and he spent a good 2 hours in prep and cooking and boy, did it pay off!!!!  I am loving this Destination Dining!!!!

Kelton and his creation!!!!

Up close with his cilantro.

MY tikka masala without cilantro, thank you very much!!!

I am still struggling to fold my laundry in a timely manner!  UGH!

Day 31 and counting….

Monday and Tuesday….Monday it rained a lot!!!

Tuesday was a much nicer day AND we were busy!

Cooper had a playdate with one of the little girls in our neighborhood.  She loves Coop and wanted to take him for a walk and play ball with him!  He had a great time and I think she did, too!

The She Shed got some work done on it…the front wall is up and Kelly worked on making the trusses.  It is coming along.

Kelton has been firing up his 3D printer lately and decided to make a vase for me.  It took over 24 hours to print and it looks really cool, but it doesn’t hold water!  Hahahahah

Finally, we had our first night of Destination Dining Tuesday night.  This was to be our school’s April break, and while we didn’t have plans to go anywhere, we decided to each take a night and pick a place to make a meal from.  I started with France (surprise).  We had a fabulous dinner of French Onion Soup, Ratatouille and Filet Mignon with Bearnaise Sauce.  UM….it was fabulous with the evening’s entertainment of 30 Interesting French Facts.

Ratatouille before.

…and after!!!

Filet

Mignon

French Onion Soup

Bearnaise Sauce

Dinner is served!

Tomorrow night Kelton is on deck for Tikka Masala.  I can’t wait!

Days 29 and 30 and counting….

Saturday and Easter Sunday…..both nice weather days.

Saturday Kelly joined his church skeleton crew for recording the Easter Sunday service for our church.  All week, the faithful folks of Grace Community Church have been providing a virtual link to our church family and Sunday was the culmination of that week – Kelly and Pastor Glen – our two church pastors, have been switching off preaching as this physical distancing has been going on and Glen was the lucky one to get Easter – and it was a great service.

We went to the barn and did stalls while Char had her lesson.  We got them done in just over 2 hours – a new record for us – and had a great time with the horses and kittens!  Char rode Valkyrie – a 13 year old draft cross mare who is still considered “green” – she had been a field horse for the first 11+ years of her life and has found a home at the barn being a lesson horse.  She is sweet and kind spirited and while she doesn’t know the finer parts of showing in horse jumping (things like flying lead changes and such), she is a willing participant and rarely has a bad day.  I like Val a lot.

Over the weekend we “talked” a lot on Zoom and Facebook video chats.  It is fun – and a neat way to stay connected during this crazy time!

My mom and step dad in New Hampshire and my step sister and neices and nephew in South Carolina.

My dad and step mom and my sister and family in New Hampshire and my sister and neices in Hawaii.

Sunday – Easter – we watched church on line, checked in with family and ate a fabulous meal prepared by a local caterer (Mezzanine Catering out of Dover, NH) – we are trying to support local business and since we usually have a huge Easter dinner, it felt nice to set the table up fancy and just reheat a wonderful meal prepared and delivered on Saturday!  We sat outside a lot, chatted with 3 sets of neighbors in our own yards while the dogs played (this situation is really making for a great dog’s life) and Cooper, Char and I took a long walk out back in the woods.

It was the most relaxing Easter Day I have ever had as an adult.

Days 27 and 28 and counting….

Friday – cold, rainy (even bits of snow) and windy!  No work outside but great work inside – tying up some loose ends from painting and Kelly did lots of work in continuing to prep for Easter.  I had some conference calls for clients and networking and we all kinda got through the day with projects, flowers and fun!

We finished painting last week but have been too busy to hang up our pictures and we wanted to make some changes to the décor anyway.  Over the past few months, I have had printed 11×16 canvases of a family photo from our family photo shoots we do each year.  These photo shoots are such a wonderful memory and a precious treasure, and I wanted a way to showcase for our family how we have all grown and changed through the years!  The canvases are not the best quality (unlike the amazing photos by Jenna Doughtry Photography) but they add a lot to my “new hallway”!  I love how it turned out!

Family photos beginning in 2010 when Char had just turned 4 up through 2019.

All are taken at places we appreciate and some that have memories of their own – Perkins Cove, Drake’s Island, Kennebunkport, Wells Harbor, Mt. Aggie, Hamilton House, Strawbery Banke and our oun home town.

At the beiginning, I have the most recent photo and the first.

I painted some rocks (another Pinterest project I have been wanting to do) and even had a very cute little helper and the other day I used water color paints to paint on one of our breezeway windows.

Not bad for my first try.

Zuzu wants to be involved…I’m surprised she didn’t get paint on her self!

I should pay closer attention!

Kelton has been using his 3D printer to make mask extenders for folks that need them – he sent a bunch to his Grammy for Exeter Hospital – if anyone needs/wants some, we will happily ship them to you!

I think I mentioned it before, but we usually host Easter at our house….6+ families, umpteen kids, lots of food, laughs and the joyous celebration of the Resurrection with family.  This year, Easter looks different, but the sentiment will be the same.  Many of us are “sharing” the same meal and will be Zoom-dining together, including my sister in Hawaii.  And my sister and step mom sent us these beautiful flowers – I put them in a new vase I got from my step mom and dad from Florida – it is flat until you fill it with water – beautiful and a space saver.  There are two Easter lilies in the bunch and they make the house smell so wonderful!

We have to keep finding the good.  As my favorite band, Switchfoot says, “The shadow proves the sunshine”.

Day 26 and counting….

Thursday….Lots of work today and lots of rain!  Like, the cats and dogs kind!

No work on the She Shed…but in the afternoon Kelton and I went out to take down the tent and cover the materials with an extra big tarp because we are supposed to have gusts up to 40 MPH Friday.  Not sure the tent would have survived – but the 3 walled She Shed is holding strong!

We have been doing group Facebook video chats with Kelly’s family….we get to see family from Washington State, California and our family in Poland.  Most of the time we have at least 7 kids under the age of 7 on in some way, shape, or form, and the chaos is fabulous!  Well, it might be fabulous for those of us who aren’t in the house with all the kids😊

Anyway – the “Coronavirus Apocalypse Support Group” as it is known, is a weekly call on Thursdays, unless Kelly’s mom calls on Wednesday and THINKS it’s Thursday!  LOL  We all jump on when we can any day of the week!

We got word yesterday that our kids will continue to be remotely learning for the rest of this school year.  We had been prepping our kids for this event – we have seen it coming…but know how these things work – you just can’t tell people in March that the school year is over – you have to break it down into much more digestible segments.  I know lots of people that aren’t handling this well.  I feel for them for sure!!!  This is hard!  For some, it is a lot harder!!

Yesterday was my dad’s 73^rd birthday.  We haven’t seen my dad since before Christmas (they were snowbirding in Florida until early March) and decided to have dinner with my dad for his birthday….COVID-19 style.  We ordered take out from my dad’s favorite restaurant then all parked along side the road and talked through the slightly lowered car windows – rain and coronavirus keeping us apart!  We made some signs and hung some flags from the car and my dad was just happy to see us and we were happy to see him!  My sister and her family were in their car, too.  Cousins waving through rainy windows and everyone having their own cupcakes they made at home and singing “Happy Birthday” while my sister, Becky, is on Facetime from Hawaii.  It will be a memorable experience for sure!

And on the way home last night, the rain turned to snow.

Day 25 and counting….

Wednesday….Work this morning and building in the afternoon.

Three walls are up…and we are hunkered down for the rain and wind for the next few days.

I did a Pinterest project – I have about 400 pins and have only done maybe 4 of them – so this is an accomplishment!

This situation has its challenges – the social aspect of the isolation is hard…the kids struggle with this daily.  But they are finding ways to keep in touch and spend their time when they aren’t doing schoolwork.  Kelton has taken an interest in all things for his truck (rewiring speakers, getting a sub and light bar) and Char is doing a ton of music, playing Minecraft with her friends on-line and she started making Legos again.  We are all growing in different ways.

Day 24 and counting….