Monday, October 26, 2020

Weekly Mileage #187 and Last RV Trip of the Year


I started the week with a trail run with Max. She really enjoys these runs. She knows when I come downstairs dressed to run and she gets super excited.



The boys got their flu shots at River's annual checkup. He looks good other than the hives that started Sunday morning. They've spread, so the pediatrician gave us some liquid zyrtec to see if it would be more effective than the benadryl we'd given him. It helped with the itching, but not the hives. 

After I did the grocery shopping, I drove to the county seat and voted. Some large cities have had long waiting lines, but that was not the case in our mostly rural county. No lines, no waiting, and only one other person was voting when I was there.

Tuesday I rode my bike, then we did music lessons and speech therapy and school work. Then I worked on the project prototypes for my course.

Wednesday I went for a trail run with Max, but it was a slow start to the day. I woke up with my eye a bit swollen. I'm fairly sure that it's poison ivy, and thankfully the swelling decreased as the morning went on.


After  my weekly accountability call I worked on the prototypes some more. I've made good progress on drawing the patterns and deciding what I want them to look like, but I've run into problems with not having quite the right weight leathers and not quite the right hardware. So I've ordered more leather and more hardware and it should be here next week.

Max curled up on one of the dining chairs while we were doing schoolwork at the kitchen table


I checked in with River's pediatrician about his hives that have continued to spread. The zyrtec only helps a little with the itching. She said it could take 6 weeks or more to go away and cause usually isn't found. Fun for him.

Thursday my eye was a lot more swollen and it's definitely poison ivy. The swelling decreased, but it took longer than it did Wednesday morning. I also have patches around my mouth and on my cheek. It must have gotten transferred from Max when she jumped up and licked me. Sunshine also has poison ivy on her face.

Ocean has been doing some more coloring on the walls, so he's also been doing some cleaning with the magic eraser. I really think impulse control is the issue here, so we're working on teaching him to think about the consequences of his actions, but it's not an easy task.

I spent some time getting stuff for our YW activity. For our Unbirthday party, I put cupcakes in little boxes and we had individual ice cream cups. Easy and less sharing of germs.

Friday my eye was a lot more swollen. I had wanted to go running, but my eye wouldn't open enough early enough. I don't need to trip and break my ankle because I have no depth perception. It eventually opened, but it took quite awhile.

I delivered treat bags to some of the girls that weren't able to attend the Unbirthday party the night before.

I felt crummy overall that day. I've had too many carbs lately and the poison ivy is proving exhausting. Or maybe it's struggling to see out of a slit of an eye that's exhausting?

We had wanted to go to Shenandoah for a final campout, but the only spots left were first come, first serve and the online scheduling tool wasn't showing any openings left. We ran into this problem last year, too, so you'd think I'd have planned better, but really the issue was that to get a first come, first serve spot we needed to go up Wednesday or Thursday, but we couldn't because Jeremy had to work. 

some outtakes from me taking photos of River with a canvas bucket

So we decided to camp in our driveway and then drive up Saturday to Shenandoah to clean the tanks so we could winterize the RV. This would still give us a chance to see how Max would do in the RV.

Friday evening Max managed to unclip the leash she was on while we were building the fire and took off to explore the neighborhood. We need to get a locking carabiner or something for that leash if she's going to become an escape artist. On the way back, we found this cool tree:


From this angle, it almost looks like the profile of a person with a large nose, folding their arms. Can you see it?

I did not sleep well on the RV mattress. I woke up Saturday morning with a headache that didn't go away till about 3 pm. I'm already looking forward to the 5th wheel we're eyeing, which will have room for our regular mattress- no more crappy folding mattresses.

Max slept in her crate in the RV without problems. On the drive up, we'd originally planned on letting her sit on the sofa next to Sunshine, but it was too distracting and she kept hopping from spot to spot, checking everything out. So she got to ride in her crate, which was sitting behind my seat in the dinette area.

I'll spare you the photo of me with a fully swollen closed eye, but this is what it looked like Saturday after lunch. The swelling had decreased, but I was definitely looking scaley and rashy.

We had to wait 45-60 minutes to actually get into Shenandoah. The line was backed up halfway down the mountain and moving very slowly. Max was complaining, so at one point I hopped out with her on the leash so she could pee, but there were too many distractions and she wouldn't pee. We walked alongside the RV for a few feet before hopping back in. 

At the gate I finally got my Access pass. It was rather anticlimactic. I just showed them my id and my doctor's note and they gave me my pass. Maybe it was perfunctory because of how crowded things were and they were trying to keep things moving? I didn't have to leave them the photocopy of my id and doctors note, which I'm glad about. I wasn't super thrilled with the idea of that info being on file somewhere. 

I'm still a little conflicted over it, but they do say that acceptance is part of the grief cycle. Accepting that my life has changed and never will be the same is a bit discouraging, frustrating, and leaves me with a small sense of defeat. Mind over matter (which I'm really good at) only goes so far when you're up against very real physical limitations.

We emptied the tanks, then headed back home. After the crowds last year and this year, we decided we'll do this at the beginning of October next year, and I'll make our reservations as soon as they become available. I think they open them up 6 months out?

the boys "helped" daddy

When we got home, we cleaned the RV, set out mouse traps (we saw some evidence of a small mouse, boo!), and started winterizing the pipes. There's still a little more water to be blown out, and I want to buy a few more mouse traps, but we're almost set for the winter.


Sunday it was nearly 30 degrees colder (and raining) than on Saturday! Much more like late October....

~~~~~

After talking with a friend who's a fellow homeschooling mom (the one who triggered the whole idea for my leatherworking class for teens, actually), I've decided to push back my course launch. I really wanted to launch before the end of the year to try to have a profit this year (pretty sure it won't happen otherwise, given all the expenses I've incurred as I've ramped up production for my shop and my course), but she made some good points and I'm holding off until the middle or end of January. 

Realistically, this is a great decision as it takes a lot of stress off me. I was supposed to be opening my course to early-bird registration this week! I'm still nailing down the prototypes, I didn't get the draft of my liability waiver till Friday, and I'm still making the arrangements for a larger order of tool kits to be shipped. Once they arrive, I'll need to find shipping cartons that each kit will fit in, I need to finish outlining the course, and I need to start videotaping the course lessons.

Pushing things back will allow me to get all those things done with less stress, and I'll have some time for some outdoor projects that need to be started before the ground freezes. I'll also have time for some teens to run through the course for trouble shooting and quality control purposes

~~~~~

As I've been working on being more intentional with my Instagram posting for my shop and looking for hashtags to attract my ideal audience, I came across a group called 1000hoursoutside. Basically, the idea is to spend 1000 hours outside in a year, which is about 3 hours a day. The boys are pretty good about this when averaged out over a week, but Sunshine and I aren't as good about it. I've decided that this coming year, instead of doing the 365 mile challenge and the 52 hike challenge, we're going to start working towards 1000 hours outside. I don't know that we'll hit that the first year, but I feel like we can do it by the second year. It'll help us be more intentional with how we spend our days.

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 2.08 miles run and hiked
Tuesday- 5.00 miles biked
Wednesday- 2.30 miles run and hiked
Thursday- 5.00 miles biked
total- 14.38 miles

2020 totals
37 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
0 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge
185.58 outdoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
22.50 indoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
295.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
503.08 miles total

Sunday, October 25, 2020

Sunday Funny


Ocean, all dressed up for church at home: "Hey, do I look really handsome?"

Me: "Yes, you do."

Ocean: "And really cute?"

Me: "And really cute :)"

A few minutes later, he saw his sister and asked her if he looked really handsome and cute :)

Monday, October 19, 2020

Weekly Mileage #186 and a New Water Heater

I got a full size relay baton as a medal for the relay I did a couple weeks ago 😂

Monday I finished Friday's course call and put my sewing machine back together. It arrived last week, which turned out to be quicker than if I'd taken it somewhere locally. So far, it's working a lot better.

We had Scouts that evening and Sunshine worked on her physical fitness merit badge (it's not Sunshine's favorite, but it's Eagle required, so we told her she had to do it) and then they did some geocaching for the geocaching merit badge.

Sunshine's doing the sit and reach in the middle

Tuesday I rode my bike, then Sunshine and I got our flu shots. Jeremy got his a few weeks ago and the boys will get theirs next Monday.

I spent some time working on my course outline. We were instructed to use post-its so we can move things around easily as we wrk on the structure. So I put mine on this wall, where it wouldn't be in the way. The boys saw what I was doing and decided to get in on the action. In case you were wondering, my post-its are neatly lined up, the boys' aren't 😉




Wednesday I got a filling replaced (lots of fun) and then jumped on my accountability call while my mouth was still numb.

I worked on more totes and notebooks to list in my shop. I had cut them out awhile ago, but never glued or riveted them. So now I glued everything, pressed my makers' mark first, then sewed the pockets since my machine is working again. I also cut some straps and oiled the veg tan ones in preparation for being riveted to the tote sides. 


Thursday the trails finally dried out enough to go on a trail run with Max. She loved it.



We also had to get our hot water heater replaced. Last week it was running super hot, so when it fritzed out Wednesday, it wasn't unexpected. This happened a year or so ago and they were able to fix it by replacing one of the internal thermostat thingies. The other one they couldn't loosen to replace, and that was the problem this time. The plumber couldn't loosen it this time, either. Considering that it's original to the house (pretty sure), it's 23ish years old, so it had a really good run. Not an expense we wanted, but that's home ownership.

I did some more work on my totes. I riveted ten straps to five totes, four rivets per strap plus mess-ups: about 56-60 rivets all together, all hammered by me, which left me with a sore arm and shoulder. I can see why people opt to sew straps to the body rather than rivet them. I need to experiment with that, but don't have time right now.

Friday was park day and I brought along some notebooks and worked on hand sewing them. I could sew them on the machine, but it's nice to have a project to bring with me sometimes.


We had Ocean's IEP update. It was actually a service plan update, since he's not enrolled at the school. He'll lose eligibility next year when we don't enroll him in public school. In the meantime, we'll keep working on his speech errors.

I had a course feedback call with a friend. Out of the calls I've done so far, she's the closest to my ideal customer, and she had some good insights.

Max has claimed this as her chair. Since it's also the chair she chewed on, I'm not fighting her on it.

We got another large deposit in our account with an odd origination name. I looked it up and apparently it's a refund on our closing costs from when we refinanced our VA loan earlier this year. Apparently that's a benefit of the whole disability thing? We had no idea. We're not complaining, but it was definitely unexpected.


she likes to curl up in this chair in the evenings before going in her crate for the night

I finally got my tool set from China. It hadn't actually shipped before their 8 day national holiday at the beginning of October, so it took a lot longer than I expected. Overall, it looked better than I was afraid it would. There's definitely some changes to be made, which is why I ordered the sample, then I'll place my first big order.

I went through my planned course projects to make sure everything would be used and that I didn't forget anything. I don't want to have extra tools that won't be used. Every set I've seen on Amazon is like that, which is why I've gone through the effort of sourcing my own tool sets for the course. I also tried everything out to make sure they work properly.

Saturday I drove Sunshine to a church stake youth service project at a camp for special needs kids. She got to decorate a barn for Christmas parties for kids with special needs, which she really liked doing (she's at that age where so much isn't to her liking, so I was happy that she actually enjoyed herself). Others were painting and doing other cleanup type stuff. It was socially distant, with small groups, masks, etc. and what I saw looked like it was going well.

Jeremy had drill, so I brought the boys with me and we tried to do some geocaching while we waited for Sunshine to finish. We weren't super successful as there were only urban geocaches to find, and I've realized I don't like searching around, looking for a cache when there's lots of people around. It didn't help that we couldn't find the ones we were looking for...

Sunday was our first week doing larger group sacrament meeting, and we ended up sharing with one of the other wards, due to a miscommunication. oops. Our ward is now meeting in two groups, one one week, the other the next week, and you can view the talks via zoom on the week you stay home.


I found this wreath at Target and I love the colors!

About that Pinterest VA I interviewed last week: I decided to hold off on hiring her until January. I really want to hire her, but she costs 3x what my last one did and I just can't swing the added expense on top of my course materials and tools. I've decided to go off word of mouth for my first launch and keep things a little smaller (still debating capping at 50 or 100) and work the bugs out before re-launching in the spring for a larger group.

I was listening to a podcast and had an idea for another course idea. I now have two more to do after this one: a more advanced leatherwork class with techniques and projects not covered in the first class, and a class for teenagers on how to turn your leatherwork hobby into a profitable business. I'm not sure on the timeline on either of them. It'll really depend on the interest level of those who sign up for my original course. I also still want to do my project of the month club, but that will also depend on the interest level, and can only come after I've launched my course the first time. 

Weekly Mileage
Tuesday- 5.00 miles biked
Thursday- 2.40 miles run and hiked
total- 7.40 miles

2020 totals
35 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
0 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge
181.2 outdoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
22.50 indoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
285.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
488.70 miles total

Sunday, October 18, 2020

Sunday Funny


Our second Sunday back at in-person church it was my turn to go with the older two kiddos. There was a new family there and after sacrament meeting we had the chance to talk for a few minutes outside. The adults were having a nice chat, but the kids got bored. River and the 10 year old daughter ended up sitting on the curb by the cars in the shade, talking.

As we buckled into our seats to drive home, River said, "I'm going to marry (her name) when I get older."

Me: "Oh? Why do you want to marry her?"

River: "Because she's pretty."

Me: "Ok, but you've got awhile before you'll be old enough to get married."

pause

River: "I should get her number so I can contact her when I get older."

(Sunshine and I were dying at this point, trying not to laugh. So funny, but also sweet.)

This was followed by a discussion of whether she has a phone number (probably not) and whether it would be the same 15 years from now. Though Jeremy has had the same number for 19 years or so, so it's not completely unheard of.

Monday, October 12, 2020

Weekly Mileage #185 and Our First Scout Campout in Months

sad, lonely, fallen marshmallow

Over the weekend I ate way too many carbs. This happened last General Conference weekend too. Clearly I need to plan better so I don't give in and eat things that make me feel crummy. And I do feel crummy. Not the worst ever, but I'm tired and my anxiety levels are higher than I'd like. Between that and my period I'm not coping with stress as well as I'd like- I've got a lot of moving parts to juggle with business stuff, homeschool stuff, YW stuff, Jeremy tweaked his back again (just looking at the water heater) and has been flat in bed since Saturday evening, and River's birthday.

After grocery shopping I signed my contract with the lawyer to get my liability waiver written. It won't be cheap, but the alternative would be a lot more expensive.

I also sent out requests to friends to talk to me about the course and get feedback, which will make sure I'm on track.

I made River's birthday dinner while Jeremy and the two older kids took Max to the vet. She'd pulled a cast iron frying pan off the stove onto her foot last week and while at first it seemed to heal ok, over  the weekend she stopped putting pressure on her foot. X-rays showed nothing was broken, but the toenail area that the pan had landed on got infected and started de-sheathing. They cleaned it up, gave her some antibiotics and a cone of shame and sent her home. Jeremy was shell-shocked by the bill. I reminded him that this is why I'd resisted getting a dog for so long. It may have been 20 years ago, but I did work in a vet clinic. I know how fast things can add up.


still coming out of the anesthesia and not yet resenting the cone of shame

Ocean tried hard not to help open River's presents, but he was super excited about them too.

Sunshine made River's cake, which ended up being a Halloweenish-birthday cake. :)


the bandaid is covering his scar to keep the salve on it and the scar moisturized

Tuesday after music lessons I was supposed to take Jeremy to the VA hospital for a shot in his back, but because he tweaked it over the weekend and had to take meds for it, we had to reschedule. We'd planned on stopping by an RV dealership for a bit on our way there, and decided to go ahead and do that anyway. We're thinking of upgrading to a toy hauler before we travel full time, but we've never really been in one and we wanted to get a feel for them. We didn't love any of the models they had on the lot, but they definitely gave us a better baseline to work from. 

We're balancing as short as possible while still having enough space for our family, and there's not a ton of options. If we didn't mind going big, we could easily find a 44 foot fifth wheel monster that would fit everything we need. But those are a lot harder to get into small national park campground sites, parking lots, and just about anywhere. 

I did a little more research when we got home and we now have a couple floorplans that should work well. The front runners right now are just under 37 feet long, which is a lot more manageable than 44+ feet long. Our current Class C is 27' long, plus the tow dolly and Camry. The fifth wheel setup knocks about 3' off the length, since it's over the truck bed, but we'll also have the length of the truck added in. It shouldn't be too much longer overall, but it will be taller.

looking at the trash bins from the kitchen door

The bear came back again, but was frustrated in his efforts to get into our trash cans. He still managed to pull the trash bin over, though. However, there's no trash scattered all over the woods and driveway, so mission accomplished.

and the view from the driveway

Max hates the cone of shame and keeps knocking into everything. She has definitely done some sulking since coming home from the vet.



Wednesday Sunshine had an orthodontist visit. Max's toenail was looking a lot better and she was back to her usual energy level and inquisitiveness.

After my weekly accountability call I had my first course feedback call with my friend K. 

I moved the presses off my worktable and into this space at the foot of the stairs. I still need to finish reorganizing the fabric and school books that were in that space, but it's much better having them out of the way, yet still close at hand.

I bought a sheet of fake brick from Lowes to use as a photography background. The red is too dark, so I dry brushed white paint on it, but forgot to take a picture before I started painting.

I haven't felt great all week (that time of the month + too many carbs = worse cramps than usual), but I did finally manage to go for a short trail run Thursday morning. Max didn't get to come since her toe is still healing, and she was not super happy about that. 

She's grown since we brought her home and I can't help but wonder if she's part greyhound instead of part whippet. I always understood whippets to be the smaller cousins of greyhounds, and I'm pretty sure she's now taller than a whippet. German shorthairs are taller, so that could be giving her her height, but her neck is thickening, which is much more indicative of a blue heeler/Australian cattle dog. If she really is part blue heeler, then I'd bet the other part is greyhound.

Thursday evening I was supposed to do s'mores with my YW class, but only my advisor showed up. My one usual attendee was out of town, and the rest: who knows? It's so frustrating. Even visiting the girls in person and inviting them to attend isn't working. 

I had to run out and find a tent for the campout this weekend. Sunshine needed our small tent and I realized I needed one as well. Walmart only had an 8 person and a 10 person tent, but I found a 4 person tent at Target. It's not great quality, and it's bigger than I'd really like, but it wasn't super expensive and I didn't have to drive anywhere else to find one. Can't ask for much more on such short notice.


We hosted park day at our house Friday morning and let the kiddos eat the s'mores from Thursday night.





During that time I interviewed a Pinterest VA, which is why we had park day at our house. It was the only time that worked for both of us. I want to hire her, but she charges a bit more than I'd really planned on. On the other hand, she'll bring in more customers to my shop and my course, so I'll be able to afford her fees. It's just the initial month or two of fees while we build that customer base. Since I also have the costs of materials and tool kits for my course, we're looking at significant chunks of money, which stresses me out. I hate spending large chunks of money. But you have to spend money to make money.



That afternoon I had a course feedback call with a local homeschool friend, but we had to cut it short because Max got out. We'll finish the call on Monday. I also had a course call with my sister in law. While not something I would do normally, the calls have been helpful and I'm glad I stepped out of my comfort zone to do them.

the paw! so funny :)

In between all the calls I finished packing and prepping for our first Scout campout in months. We camped at our council scout camp in the site adopted by our troops. It's a large site and had room for the adults in one area, the boys in another area, the girls in another area, and some visiting Webelos in a fourth spot. Everyone wore masks the whole weekend and slept in their own tents- no sharing (which is why Sunshine and I each needed a tent). Masks with glasses and damp cold weather meant my glasses were constantly fogging up, which was a pain.

It rained Friday night and most of Saturday, but I was dressed in layers and stayed warm and relatively dry. Sunshine didn't fare so well. She said she was cold the whole day. I slept ok- I'd layered up and didn't get cold, but I did wake up multiple times: rain on the tent, acorns and sticks falling, other people unzipping tents and tromping to the bathroom... Nighttime noise is always an issue for me. I might need to start wearing earplugs to bed, to see if that helps. Poor sleep quality and sleeping on the ground meant I had a headache in the morning and I felt fuzzy and tired. I spent the morning basically counting down till I could drink an energy drink, which did make a huge difference. I felt a lot better in the afternoon.

There were lots of fun activities that kept everyone pretty busy. I got a one mile hike in doing a scavenger hunt around camp, Sunshine did some more hiking while hiding some geocaches, then finding some hidden by the other group. There was also Nerf archery, wood chopping, knots, first aid skills, knife sharpening, fire starting, and so on. 

One of the scouts was cooking for the Fossil patrol instead of us just eating what looked good like usual. It was an experience. The initial bar was set pretty low: bacon, fried potatoes and cereal for breakfast. Apples and grilled cheese sandwiches and chips for lunch. Then came dinner. Two whole dutch-oven roasted chickens, baked potatoes, brussels sprouts cooked in bacon, and cookies. Very ambitious. The chicken did eventually cook through and was quite good, but required several adults to monitor the briquettes, get more started, and add more- she was off keeping her eye on her baked potatoes (which still burned and were inedible) and doing the brussels sprouts and bacon, which also burned. I felt bad, because she put in a lot of effort, and it didn't turn out like she wanted. We were worried about the chicken cooking properly, but she'd brought a digital thermometer to check that it was cooked through. That went a long way to alleviating our concerns. Definitely more effort than I'd put into a campout meal- I'm all for doing as much meal prep beforehand as possible and just reheating at the campout.

We drove home Saturday night with R, who frequently rides with us to or from campouts and her sister A, who is now old enough to join the troop. It was a pain to wear masks in the car while driving, but at least we can do things like go camping again. 

Sunday was the last of the small group sacrament meetings. We have the ok to start meeting in larger groups for sacrament meeting, but second hour classes will be virtual. Priesthood and Relief Society have been having virtual lessons once or twice a month, but Sunday School and the youth haven't been meeting. Primary won't be meeting virtually.

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 5.00 miles biked
Thursday- 1.35 miles run and hiked
Saturday- 1.00 miles hiked
total- 7.35 miles

2020 totals
34 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
0 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge
178.80 outdoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
22.50 indoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
280.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
481.30 miles total