DIY all the things!!

Well Coronavirus and shelter-in-place continue but my stress levels have definitely gone down as our family has settled into our new normal. The kids are doing well going to Dawnelle's house Tues, Wed, and Thur, my telehealth PT sessions are going ok and the kids on my caseload are making progress. I still miss some things (especially family dinners and visits from my family) but I'm not feeling that anxious any more thank goodness. Grocery shopping is a huge pain because of all the precautions I take but even that has started to feel a little more routine now that I've done it that way several times. And I am starting to appreciate the good things that are coming of this, namely more family time in the evenings (thanks to no commute time for Eric or I and no other activities outside the home) and also the financial benefits (cheaper childcare, almost no money for gas, less eating out, the stimulus check- which has yet to arrive but I think it will eventually). 

Being around the house more has also motivated me to tackle more and more DIY projects! I finished the coffee table and the piano and I love how both turned out! 

So, so, so much better than the original! 

I also made some hymn art for above the piano that was super quick and easy and I love how that turned out too. I still have to reupholster the bench but the fabric and the foam finally came so I will probably do that in the next couple of days. The biggest home remodel project that we did recently was that Eric and I (mostly Eric) installed the new faucets for our bathroom! Oh man, they look sooooo much better than before but that project was a time-consuming mess! I appreciate learning new things but this made me realize that of all the diy stuff I have tried, plumbing is definitely NOT my favorite. We ran into several problems and after HOURS of work and more than one trip to Home Depot (no small feat what with all the social distancing, masking, gloving, standing in line outside to wait to get in stuff!), Eric's sink still leaks. Hopefully with just a little more tinkering and maybe some plumber's putty we will get it fixed sooner rather than later! I am glad for all I learned though! Now I know how to change a faucet even if it is a huge pain to actually have to do it. Haha. Oh another DIY thing I took on yesterday was pruning our front yard. It was funny, I feel like my experience with my aerogarden was like a prep course for this day. I took those pruning shears and just went to work! It was actually surprisingly easy and satisfying and now everything looks much neater and the thorny ivy has (hopefully) been eradicated. 

So yeah, all my house projects and work are managing to keep me busy and bring some normalcy back to our life. I even had a pretty good birthday the other day in spite of everything. We got Cheesecake Factory to go, my sweet family sent me pictures of birthday signs they had made for me and Katie and Kendall spelled out Happy Birthday for me with their bodies haha. Also Eric made me an AMAZING cake. It was seriously soooo good and probably a big contributor to my growing girth. 

Anyway but yeah, that's about all that's going on here. We're just going to keep plugging along like this until the powers that be decide that it's ok for us to leave our homes again. I honestly have no idea how this is going to go down in TX and actually I have conflicting personal feelings about what is the right path forward. But thankfully it's not up to me and I can't control the actions of others and so we just wait and keep praying for all the healthcare workers, patients and families who are struggling right now. The only decision Eric and I have made so far is to keep doing what we're doing and keep the kids home from school until at least the end of May and then we will reassess. So we will see. But I am grateful for the good times we've had as we wait this out. I mean check out all this cuteness!: 

The bishop's wife (Misty) gave me a big bag of hand-me-downs for Levi and he and Emery both had so much fun trying them all on! Levi turned my closet into a dressing room and he would run back and forth between there and the living room modeling each new outfit for me! And Emery worked very hard to put the new clothes on herself! Haha it was so fun! 

She was very proud of herself for managing to get this shirt on by herself. 

Family walks on Sundays :)

Levi originally wanted to take this flower home but after I wouldn't carry it for him and he got tired of carrying it he told me to just take a picture of it instead. Haha smart boy! 

I can't hardly think of anything that makes my heart happier than scenes like this one :)

Miss Emmie Mae brings so much personality and sunshine to our home. Love that girl!!

Easter 2020

Well we are another week into shelter-in-place. This week was a little less stressful. With the kids now going to the Hodges house for daycare on Tues, Wed and Thurs, Eric and I can actually focus and work at the same time which is so much nicer. And I've gotten my whole caseload effectively transitioned over to telehealth now so that's a load off my shoulders as well. It is still hard not being able to socialize with anyone in person but we are adjusting. I am throwing myself into various projects at night and on the weekends. The piano is still coming along slowly. I've been struggling with getting the top coat to not bubble as I apply it. I've had to sand a few areas, repaint and reseal which is a pain. But I really don't want to do a wax that I am just going to have to reapply in a year and I also don't want to do poly which will change the color and make it shiny. Sooo I'm making do with what I still feel is the best option even if it is hard to work with.

The partially painted piano

I also got fed up with our coffee table this week so I took the top off it, sanded the whole thing down and ordered some new metal hair pin legs for it. Also, I took the top to Papi yesterday and he helped me cut off the rounded edges and reband all four edges with red oak. It looks AWESOME. I decided to use tung oil instead of stain and sealant which I think I will really like. I love working with Papi on projects like this, only I wish I didn't have to wear a mask and that I could get close to and hug him and Nona. It was sad to be there but try to stay 6 feet away and not go in the house and wear a mask the whole time.

Coffee table half sanded. I can't believe how hideously orange it was before! 

I know that not all of this will last forever but I have been wondering lately how much of what we have been doing will be the new normal for a long time and possibly forever. I mean, I think I could do with keeping some of the new habits that I have picked up, mostly in regards to cleaning, handwashing extra, disinfecting groceries, etc. But the lack of play dates and hugs and dinners together I am ready to be done with! Eric and I participated in the worldwide interfaith fast this past Friday. That was a neat experience to know that I was raising my voice in fasting and prayer with thousands of people from around the world and many different faiths. I fasted, but I am sorry to say that I didn't do it with much hope that this would all miraculously go away soon. I prayed that healthcare workers would be strengthened physically and emotionally, that patients and families would be comforted and that those facing economic hardship would have increased insight into how to help themselves and their families. But I couldn't pray that it would end or go away because I just don't think it will. Is that lack of faith? Perhaps. Faith has never been my strong point. At least, not for the last several years. I know that people can find comfort and strength in God and I believe in personal revelation and so that's what I pray for. I just don't know that God would intervene on such a global scale to stop a virus that I believe has happened just as part of our mortal experience and is a challenge God wants the world to face to force us to problem solve and work together.

Anyway, understandably this Easter has been rather subdued. But we did do an indoor Easter egg hunt yesterday (it was pouring rain). And Levi's primary teachers and Auntie Shannon dropped off treats for us. And we took some family Easter pictures on our front porch. It was ridiculously difficult to get either of the kids to look at the camera on the tripod but I still love how they turned out:

You can either have Emery looking...

...Or Levi looking, but you can't have both! Haha

Not sure why, but I kind of love this picture

 

#selfposed

He wanted me to take pictures of him dancing. He would dance and then freeze and this is the result. I love his smirk! 

Also, the kids and I got to explore some new trails last week thanks to the suggestion of a friend of ours in the ward. It was so beautiful and a nice escape from being cooped up inside. The park was technically closed though so it makes me nervous to go back too often.

Big Texas Sky!

Little forest almost made me feel like I was back in OR again. I miss the green so much this felt like it was manna to my soul. 

And finally, I just had to close with this one last sassy picture of my Miss Emmie Mae:

Just rockin' brother's shades and looking SO grown up! 

Life in the time of Corona

Written 04/05/20

The last couple of weeks have been emotional and challenging. The COVID 19 crisis has changed the world. Our community has been under shelter in place orders for almost 2 weeks now which means that no one in our family has left the house except to go for walks outside, a once-a-week grocery shop for me and a couple of times to pick up take-out. The kids' daycare closed two weeks ago but Eric and I have still had to work which means we have been juggling our schedules, trading off watching the kids and doing a lot of working at night and on the weekend. Thankfully starting this week, Levi and Emery can go to the Hodges' house for care (now that their son, who had to return early from his mission in Cambodia, is done with his self-quarantine) while I am working which should help make things a lot easier.

When I go to grocery shop after the kids are in bed, I find myself crying in the car in the dark parking lot. Our grocery store is across the street from one of our community's biggest hospitals and being there just reminds me again of the battle so many are fighting right now. Fighting for their lives, fighting for others' lives, fighting to keep their families afloat with lost income and uncertainty ahead. It's been overwhelming trying to figure out how to transition all my patients to telehealth, learn how to do telehealth, and all the paperwork associated with that on top of taking care of my very bored children. Levi asks me constantly all day "What should we do now? What should I do right now?" He isn't used to staying home and having his routine disrupted and having me and Eric constantly playing switcheroo with working and watching him and Emery. He and I made him a play choices board and a work choices board which helped a little bit but he usually just wants to play with me or Eric.

All in all though, the kids have done surprisingly well with the shelter-in-place. Levi told me last night that he likes staying home. It probably helps that while he made a few friends at school, he hadn't been going there long enough to have any super close friends to miss. And Emery, of course, is fine, though she asks to go for walks pretty regularly and will sometimes run to the minivan and tap on the door as if asking, "Can we go somewhere please?!" And every time we see other people while we are out on a walk, Emery always stops and waves and turns to watch them. I pretty much have to drag her away. She misses people but she is also pretty content and happy most of the day. In fact, she learned how to say "happy" this week and she walks around saying it to herself: "Abby! Abby! Abby." Her new favorite song is "If you're happy and you know it" And she enthusiastically does all of the hand motions with it whenever I put it on or sing it for her.

In spite of all the stress and uncertainty going on right now, I have a lot to be grateful for and we've had some good moments. My favorite thing has been family dance parties and games of tag in the kitchen after dinner. It's nice to put down my phone and the constant barrage of coronavirus updates on the news and social media and just listen to music and dance with my sweet husband and kids. It's so great to see how much joy and happiness my children can find in simple, everyday activities like pretending to take a bath in something yucky or playing in the mud outside. We are very lucky as a family that Eric and I both have jobs that we can do from home and that we don't have to worry financially. We are also very lucky in that so far no one in our immediate or extended family has gotten sick. I have gotten extra cautious this last week as the death toll from the virus keeps rising. When I go grocery shopping I wear gloves and use my own bags. I use a paper list which I throw away when I'm done so I don't take my phone out of my pocket at all while I'm in the store. I use self-check out even when I have a lot of groceries to avoid close contact with others. And when I get home I put on a fresh pair of gloves and wipe down every grocery item with disinfecting wipes before handing it to Eric to take inside. I leave the grocery bags in the car and my shoes in the garage. Then I take off my clothes and put them in the wash. It may be unnecessarily cautious but I think it helps me feel like I have a little bit of control in a situation where I really don't have much control at all.

It's hard for me to look down the barrel of the next couple of months and see nothing but working from home and staying home. I'm trying not to think about how un-celebratory my birthday is going to be this year. To distract myself, I keep thinking of more and more projects to work on around the house. I've got the piano bench painted and partially sealed, the top sanded, stained, sealed and then painted because the stain turned out too dark for my liking, the music stand painted and the fabric for the bench ordered. And I've got dreams in my head of re-epoxying our bathroom counters to make them white, switching out light fixtures and the faucets, re-doing our coffee table to match our kitchen one, planting a tree in the backyard, building a roofed pergola out back, painting the guest bedroom ceiling and so many other things! Of course, now that we live here and Eric and I are both working, my time available to actually do any of these projects consists of just a stolen hour or two in the evening (which I have to choose between that and working out) or a couple of hours on a Saturday. This weekend that was made even more challenging because of general conference. Eric and I traded off watching the kids and watching conference this time which was nice because it means that I got to attend fully for half of it which I think is better than slightly attending to the whole thing. It definitely has been an unforgettable conference, as President Nelson had promised in October that it would be, although not for any reasons he could have imagined!

Anyway, I've been trying to sort out my feelings about all of this while I've had some quiet time to myself watching conference. I think there's definitely some grief. Grief for the world and for myself- most especially for lost opportunities to build friendships when I feel like I still don't have any friends in our ward. The loneliness of having to confront that no one is checking in on us outside our families. It puts in sharp relief the isolation that was already present in my life but that I hid with constant busy-ness and activities. I didn't realize how many barriers would exist to making new friends when we left Oregon behind and replanted ourselves in a brand new place. For some reason, I thought it would be relatively easy considering that we were moving to a place with a lot more people our age and Eric and I are both pretty friendly people. But it definitely hasn't been. I hear about good, positive, uplifting things people are doing in our community for each other but it's like something I am observing from the outside not something we are included in. My feeble efforts before Coronavirus took over were insufficient and now I don't feel like there's hardly anything I can do now. So I think that's honestly one of the hardest things about this. Just feeling like if something bad were to happen to my family, no one in our ward would even notice. But I know that this period of social distancing won't last forever. The world is constantly changing and people are constantly coming into and out of our lives. I know that we have years here to put down our roots and build relationships with those around us. It's kind of like watching my wax myrtles. I know that they will eventually grow to give us the privacy that I want and that I planted them for but for now they are small, still struggling to get established, and with all the leaves they lost this winter battling whatever fungus was afflicting them they are definitely wispy and not privacy giving! I can't watch them grow in the moment, but I can see signs of their growth in the new green leaves that have appeared this spring and I have hope that one day they will be full and busy.

Anyway, here's a glimpse into our new Corona-stricken world from the Martino household perspective:

In case work wasn't stressful enough, on Wednesday I apparently put in the wrong password one too many times trying to open my web browser for a GoToMeeting and my phone totally locked me out! It took multiple lengthy calls to IT and 2 full days before it worked again! 

Emery has lately been into offering food or drinks to her baby or her stuffed animals. It is seriously the cutest thing! 

Emery LOVES shoes! Here she's trying on mine haha

Trey did the sweetest, most thoughtful thing ever and made everyone in the family Sacrament trays and gave them to us along with little cups for the water. We've been using them and it really makes our home Sacrament meeting a little more special and holy feeling. 

In another effort to try to make our Sacrament meetings a little more reverent, we all dress up, even the kids. Emery likes wearing her pretty dresses anyway so no complaints from her! 

This girl LOVES mud! She is not squeamish at all about touching and gooing and getting just generally filthy.

Work on the piano continues! After wrestling with stubborn staples mostly in vain for quite a while to get the old upholstery off of the piano bench seat, I finally gave up and got a whole new board from Papi to use. Also I sanded down the lid of the piano and managed not to sand through the veneer! The wood is so pretty under that crazy stain/sealant that was on there! Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to stain light because there's too much pigment in the wood itself so I just stained and sealed the inside and ended up painting the outside.

This poor boy has been feeling stressed with everything going on too and lately if I drive him anywhere in the afternoon or evening (like to pick up take-out or go for a little hike) he always falls asleep in the car. 

The kids and I took some chalk and wrote some inspirational messages for Ms Faye and the teachers at their school. 

This picture cracks me up! Oooh Levi. Haha.