Weekly Mileage #161 and the Staycation Virtual 5k

Monday we started making masks for Sunshine's service project. I unsuccessfully looked online (and Jeremy looked in person) for a bias tape maker for ties. Though the fabric we used was meltable, so the bias tape maker wouldn't have worked anyway, since you need an iron. So while it was an extra pain, I made 96 yards of bias tape by hand, without an iron.

Sunshine didn't do any merit badge classes this week since she's still working on finishing the ones she's started. She had a troop meeting online in the evening.

On Tuesday after our music lessons, Sunshine and I laid out and cut most of the pieces for the nesting box. It took a while to lay everything out to the best use of the wood, but we won't have to buy any materials, so it's worth the bit of extra time spent on it.

Wednesday River and I ran a virtual 5k race. I ended up with a migraine afterwards, which was probably allergy related, but I'm not certain. It's frustrating, since it was still hanging around on Thursday.

The trails were still muddy from all the rain we've gotten lately, so we stopped and took pictures of us jumping across the streams. 'Cause why not?

Thursday we had the compressor on our heating/ac unit drained and the filter replaced. Thankfully it was covered by our warranty, so no money out of pocket. When the outdoor unit would kick on it would make an awful racket, like something was caught in the fan blades. We'd mentioned it during the winter maintenance visit, but the tech couldn't figure it out. A different tech came on Wednesday for the spring maintenance check, and after multiple phone calls was able to figure out what was going on.

Thursday evening my leather sewing machine arrived! I know the new sewing machine I bought to sew masks won't be able to handle leather: my old, much more robust machine barely could. If I want to speed up production to increase my items for sale, sewing by hand is not an option; I need a leather sewing machine. it's not a top of the line machine, and it won't do everything that one of the more expensive machines would, but it'll be a good starter machine and it was within my budget. It also has the benefit of not weighing a ton or taking up a lot of space, like the more expensive ones reportedly do. Hopefully it does what I need it to.

Friday we worked on masks some more, then attended a virtual campout held by our local ScoutsBSA council. Sunshine did her cooking requirements for her first class rank and set up a tent in the basement.

Sausages, smoked mac & cheese, and s'mores.

We thought it might rain overnight, but it didn't, though it did rain a bit Friday afternoon. Thankfully, I remembered to cover the fire pit and put firewood in the shed so we had dry wood and a dry fire pit for cooking. During the campfire program I put together my leather sewing machine. I may or may not have put the table on backwards and had to take it back off to put on properly. I still need to finish tightening a few screws and bolts and do some fine tuning.

Oatmeal, sausages, and eggs.

Sandwiches, chips, carrots & hummus, dutch oven pineapple upside down cake.

Saturday morning Sunshine finished her cooking requirements and after the virtual campout ended we worked some more on masks (the never ending project).

Sunday Sunshine and I participated in a drive by birthday parade for a girl in her YW class, then we worked some more on the masks.

Weekly Mileage
Wednesday- 3.10 miles run
Wednesday- 0.25 mile cool down
Friday- 10.00 miles biked
total- 13.35 miles

2020 totals

15 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
0 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

73.02 outdoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
8.00 indoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
110.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
191.02 miles total

Sunday Funny

A muddy handprint, courtesy of Ocean. 

A sticky marshmallow handprint, courtesy of Ocean.

Two muddy, sticky marshmallowy handprints, courtesy of Ocean.

A muddy handprint, courtesy of Ocean.

Two muddy messes, courtesy of which boy?

Courtesy of Ocean, of course :)

Weekly Mileage #160 and Chicken Coop Work

Monday Sunshine started two online merit badge classes. We also deemed this the week of merit badges- she has 5 or 6 unfinished ones that she just needs to buckle down and finish.

I drew out a roll-away nesting box for the coop (eggs roll out of the way so chickens don't eat them). We haven't had a good nesting box in the coop since we got the laying hens and I'm tired of them laying them wherever and eating them. Sunshine is going to build the box for the last requirement of her woodworking merit badge.

I also started one last round of masks. Jeremy had found some super hero fabric at Walmart, so I'm making one for everyone in the fam + a couple more for people at work. I got them cut out, but need to do the sewing still.

This was going to be the last of the sewing for awhile, but then I realized that sewing masks for a local hospital might fill the service hours Sunshine needs for her Citizenship in the Community merit badge (she was holding out for volunteering at the SPCA once she turns 14, but shelter at home orders are in place for a month past her birthday). She needs 8 hours, so we'll see how many we can get done in that time frame. We got some blue wrap from the hospital to use, so we won't have to purchase any materials. I'm also going to cut some earsavers from acrylic with the glow forge to donate.

Monday was a swirly day I had a touch of vertigo that wasn't bad enough to keep me flat in bed, so I kept doing things and was feeling pretty nauseous by the end of the day. Should have stopped and rested a lot earlier. My ears are bugging me, despite using my neti pot and Flonase every day. But it's only been a week, so hopefully they'll clear up soon. I really don't want to spend more time than necessary in a hospital or doctor's office right now.

Tuesday we had music lessons followed by merit badge classes, and I went on a trail run and hike. During the last couple runs I've been scoping out the flattest 5k route I can find. I've got two virtual races coming up, one with River, and based on my current physical state, the course needs to not be super strenuous. The course I've found is actually reasonably flat. I ran 1.5 miles without stopping, and could actually have run a bit more. Despite still feeling a bit off from Monday, my run went really well. My hike was on the muddy side though- the trails were a lot wetter than I thought they would be. It rained some at our house on Monday, but based on the evidence in the park, there was torrential rain in the park, just a couple miles down the road.

Thursday I spent some time with the GlowForge, cutting acrylic ear savers while finishing the last of the face masks for us and Jeremy's coworkers.

Friday I dismantled the brooder in the chicken coop. We don't need the brooder and we'll be reusing the wood for the nesting box. All the dust is not good for me, though- I ended up with a headache.

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I also organized my workspace and materials so I can get back to working on leather projects. I really want to make use of this time to try new things and improve my skills and the quality of my products.

Ocean had a cold the first couple weeks of March, but it cleared up shortly after we started staying home. That was more than 5 weeks ago now, and he hasn't been sick since. Our little germ magnet is finally not bringing home germs! Since this kiddo seemed to always have a runny nose or a cough, or both, it's a really nice, and welcome, change of pace.

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 10.00 miles biked
Tuesday- 1.50 mile trail run
Tuesday- 2.40 miles hiked
total- 13.90 miles

2020 totals

15 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
0 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

69.67 outdoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
8.00 indoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
100.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
163.77 miles total

Sunday Funny

he worked really hard to get the toilet paper package on like a onesie :)

Me: Did you just toot?

Ocean: No, it was a bottom burp.

Me: That's called a toot.

Ocean: We'll call it a bottom burp toot.

Weekly Mileage #159 and the Return of the Vertigo

When I was getting ready to go to bed late Sunday night, I started feeling another round of vertigo come on, and unfortunately it was still around in the morning. I called for an appointment and got a telehealth appointment for Tuesday morning. I was curious to see how much she could do without looking in my ears, which are hurting off and on, and I'm quite certain are part of the problem.

I laid around most of the day, waiting for the vertigo to go away so I could work on my stack of masks. I managed about ten minutes, but it wiped me out so bad. I was tired and shaky and had to go lay down again.

I had my telehealth appointment Tuesday morning, but she wanted to look at my ears before prescribing anything. So I went in to the doctor office after lunch so she could take a look at my ears and do a neuro something test.

I fully expected that I'd have at least one ear infection, if not two, but they look fine. My throat also looked fine. (As a teenager I once went to the doctor because my ears were killing me. They were fine, but I had a really bad case of strep throat, even though my throat didn't hurt at all. Or maybe it was the other way around? Regardless, one of them hurt really bad, but was fine, and the other had a nasty infection.) There's possibly some pressure build-up that's causing the vertigo or it could be a positional thing. She gave me some exercises to do to try to stave off another attack. And I need to use my neti pot and Flonase every day to try to clean up my sinuses and ears and hopefully relieve the pressure.

My neuro test was normal as well, so I didn't have a stroke somewhere along the way. She didn't rule it out without checking, since my mom had a stroke a few years ago.

I'm now thinking that possibly this is a result of whatever I did to my ears while doing that scuba diving experience with Sunshine in January. I had some issues regulating my ear pressure while we were in the water and they hurt afterwards. So maybe they never healed properly? It's frustrating that we don't have an exact answer, but at least I don't have to take a round of antibiotics, which always do a number on me.

So weird to go to an empty doctor's office in the middle of the day.

I was still feeling a bit shaky and off a good portion of the day, but in the afternoon I finally felt well enough to go work on my stack of masks. I've gone through most of the bias tape I inherited from my brother in law after his mom died (along with some thread and other random sewing supplies), which is good since bias tape is sold out in a lot of places.

Wednesday I finally finished all the masks. I think I made between 45 and 50, but lost track since some of them have already scattered to the four corners of the house and been used.

Thursday I bagged up the masks we're giving away or selling. Giving to someone in our ward and delivery drivers, selling to people Jeremy works with as they're now supposed to wear masks at work.

I also felt well enough to go on a trail run in the afternoon and Sunshine attended a class activity online that evening.

everything's greening up!

Friday the temps dropped overnight. When I woke up and realized it was colder than usual, I was about to yell at Sunshine (she's been known to mess with the thermostat in the past), then thought to check the temperature outside, and it was 45*. And windy (it was really windy the last several days), which is why the house was cold. Thursday the air conditioner was running, Friday we're back to heat. Gotta love spring. We lost power in the afternoon for about an hour and a half after a tree obliterated a power pole out on the main road.

the dogwoods are blooming

We fasted on Good Friday. Fasting always gives me a headache, and I noticed I was having a hard time staying focused and I was not super productive.

Easter bunny house the boys and Sunshine built

Saturday we did our Easter egg hunt. First the boys, then Sunshine, then Jeremy, then me. We took turns hiding eggs (whoever wasn't looking that time) and finding eggs. The boys loved helping hide eggs and were overly helpful in finding the harder-to-find eggs.

We're working on getting Ocean nighttime potty trained. River basically potty trained himself at night the same week he potty trained during the day. So nice! Ocean took a lot longer to potty train during the day but he's still been wearing pull-ups at night. With pull-ups being harder to find in the stores, we told Ocean it was time to potty train at night as well.

But we realized that this is actually going to be mostly on us. Like Sunshine, he just doesn't wake up to pee. We spent years waking Sunshine up to pee before we went to bed. We're starting a lot earlier with Ocean, so hopefully it won't take so long to get that trigger ingrained in him. It finally worked with Sunshine, but it took awhile. I think the fact that River was such a light sleeper made it easier for him to potty train at night, while Sunshine and Ocean are heavier sleepers and just sleep through everything.

Weekly Mileage
Thursday- 1.01 trail run
Thursday-2.43 miles hiked
total- 3.44 miles

2020 totals

14 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
0 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

65.77 outdoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
8.00 indoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
90.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
163.77 miles total

Sunday Funny

The boys made masks one day....

Weekly Mileage #158 and General Conference

Monday I went for a trail run and a hike. The weather was in the low 70s and everything is just starting to green up- a beautiful day! I decided to let the chicken coop dry out another day before working on the floor- that and working in warmer weather drains me a lot faster than when the weather is cooler. The forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday was in the 50s, which is much more conducive to me being able to work outside for longer.

So we cleaned the house instead. It's not our favorite activity, and it really is an exercise in futility, but it was desperately needed. The boys are always tracking dirt into the house (hazards of having no pavement around our house) and they're good at making messes with anything they touch. I can ignore it for a while, but then it reaches a tipping point.

The governor issued a statewide stay at home order that's in place until June 10. We can still leave for work, groceries, doctor appointments, and exercise. I'm so glad exercise is included, but I think it's going to make the parks even more crowded. I am thankful our trails park doesn't have a playground that I have to keep the boys off of.

Tuesday we did music lessons online again. While it's not the same as meeting in person, it is easier to keep the kiddos from disrupting the lessons since I can send them downstairs or outside.

Wednesday I worked on the chicken coop floor, though I'm still not done yet- this is just 1/3 of the floor. I also made a face mask and still didn't get to sleep at a decent time.

Thursday I had to get up early for a chiropractor appointment, which left me dragging all day from too little sleep. Not a productive day for me.

Friday I started making a bunch of face masks for us and a friend from our ward who doesn't sew. My efforts got derailed when my 60+ year old workhorse sewing machine pooped out on me. I'll take it to a sewing machine repair place when everything opens up again, but I don't know if they'll be able to fix it. It's been having more and more problems over the last couple years, so it may be time to retire her finally :(

Saturday Jeremy got me a new sewing machine since I couldn't make masks without one. The one he bought isn't one I would have picked because it's got a lot of bells and whistles: it's got like 50-60 stitches, and I've only used two so far. But when Jeremy went to the store, it was this one or a $400 one, so he went with the cheaper one. Honestly, it's really nice to sew without problems or constantly twiddling with the machine.

Saturday and Sunday was General Conference. I can't sit and listen to something without falling asleep, so I have to keep my hands busy. Note taking doesn't work for me since the writing portion isn't constant. This year I decided to use the time to fold and mark my papers, and it worked really well. I folded a lot of papers for use in notebooks (counted out in 5 page sections first), then marked the stitch holes. Both tasks are tedious, but perfect for doing while listening to conference.

template I use for marking holes on different sizes of paper

after I mark the right spots, I push the awl through, making the holes bigger

stack of pages ready to be sewn together

I liked the selection of songs they used- picking across various performances from the last 10-15 years yielded some really good hymns. It's also super cool about the temples in Shanghai and Dubai. Very reminiscent of when missionaries were first allowed into India and Russia when I was a teenager. Those were locations that seemed so out of reach until that time, just as these temples seemed out of reach until now.

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One good thing about having all our activities canceled- I'm getting a good nights sleep (for me) even with stress-induced insomnia because I can sleep in. Combined with the fact that I've finally stopped waking up when the boys wake up and start making noise, and I'm getting my 7 hours of sleep (more is ok, but I've discovered that 7 hours is the minimum I need to be functional) despite insomnia keeping me up. And my insomnia game has never been stronger. Sooo frustrating.

The sameness of our schedule is also helping me pinpoint some of the variables that throw me off as I try to figure out triggers and reactions and how long reactions affect me. I thought sugar alcohols in sugar free treats were contributing to my insomnia, but I may be wrong on that one. Stress for sure is an issue. Trying to shut off my brain so I can go to sleep has been a challenge the last couple weeks.

Though the insomnia has proven helpful in one respect: I've finally moved forward with character details and plot points on the novel I've been working on for the last 12 years. I was stuck not knowing enough of the plot to move forward with actual writing, and some of what I had was a bit too melodramatic for what I had in mind. I've now been able to hammer out a lot of the plot and characterization issues, though I do have a bit more to figure out before I actually start writing. Not that I have time to write a novel right now.... But at least when I do, I'll have all the background info ready to go.

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 1.65 trail run
Monday-2.46 miles hiked
Wednesday- 3.75 miles walked while working outside
total- 7.86 miles

2020 totals

13 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
0 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

62.33 outdoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
8.00 indoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
90.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
160.33 miles total