What in the actual heck happened, is happening, will happen?

I mean c’mon, right? I think we all need to just come out and talk about this pandemic elephant in the room, let’s stop pretending it doesn’t exist and live in reality. Ha! Just kidding. I mean – I think all we are ever talking, reading, hearing about these days is COVID-19.

This time 6 weeks ago I couldn’t have told you what an N95 mask was, what “PPE” stood for, that the term “shelter at home” was something you could do without a tornado warning, and which of my kids does really well with online learning (hint: ZERO).

I also now know that Lexapro is a faithful friend. I’ve discovered that (at least) one of my kids, when bored, keeps cutting (and/or coloring) their hair and piercing more holes in their ears (and maybe other places. Wait. what?!).

I call this one:
Fun with filters and Alli’s right arm

Social distancing is an actual phrase now – although one of my word nerd friends reminded me that technically it’s physical distancing and should be referred to as such. I agree with her.

I also started, thanks to Alli (who now has bangs), an online baking class which is FUN (when the internet works and I don’t spend the entire class time switching out my internet and asking everyone to hold up their thumbs if they can hear and see me moving). So far we’ve baked together: Chocolate Chip Cookies, Cinnamon Rolls and Lemon Bars.

I’ve coped by online shopping. Specifically: New running shoes, glasses, books, organic hand sanitizer, new bedding for our bed, paint and canvases for art therapy.

Let me be honest here: this has been HARD. I know I’m not the only one and I hesitated to write about this subject in this space because seriously, who needs one.more.person. writing about their coping during this bizarre time in our world’s history? But I missed you guys in this space and I felt I couldn’t just all of a sudden start writing about random things that pop into my head when all of this is going on.

Anyways (and always), thanks for reading. I promise to talk about something else, anything else! next time I pop-in.

Onward and upward,

Lori

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Weights, Toilets and my Mom

I just ordered hand weights. I scrubbed my own toilet. I wash my hands like my kindergarten teacher taught me to do it 38 years ago. I haven’t hugged anyone outside of my immediate family since Sunday (I know, it’s only Tuesday, but still – I’m an extrovert you know). I did get my nails done a week and a half ago and they’re still going strong so that’s exciting.

Let’s pull back the layers and re-visit item two from the paragraph above, shall we? Look. It’s not that I hate cleaning (I actually enjoy looking back and thinking to myself, “Wow, you did that. You made that clean!”) but to really get things clean you have to have a high attention to detail and a hefty serving of perseverance. These are two character qualities that skipped a generation. Seriously. Have any of you seen my mom clean? She is a machine. Absolutely amazing. I mean, she has a tool (brush, rag, what else do you use to clean things?, and a liquid (secret potions for sure) to get anything clean.

See? I told you she’s magical.

This is proof that most things skip a generation. I really don’t like to clean. And by “don’t like” I mean I basically make sure I make at least $130/month so I can pay a house cleaner to come over and do it for me. “Don’t like” as in Corinda was sick this past week and we had to clean the house all. by. ourselves. and I barely had enough cleaner to get the job done. Only a max of two people at any given time could be cleaning – and really only one toilet at a time because we only have one bottle of Pursue Disinfectant (I grew up on Amway products and still source it from my mom sometimes. Sometimes she gives me gifts like cleaning products because that’s how great she is).

So anyways, we all pitched in and cleaned the house yesterday (and the crowd goes wild). SOMEONE, who shall remain nameless, mentioned that maybe we don’t need to pay a house cleaner to do it because “look at what a great job we all did”. Look. This is a temporary set-up where we’re all home and motivated. Also, I like my job a lot and what will I do with that $130 if we don’t have a house cleaner?!

I armed everyone with a typed-up checklist of their area to clean. We did it. And we’ll probably have to do it again sometime soon with all that’s going on, so I better make sure we have enough cleaning stuff. I have a Norwex window cloth thingy that’s amazing (just one though) and that is the best thing ever.

How do you clean your house? Do you do it all in one day or one room at a time? Do you have any tricks or favorite products? Or do you just pay your own Corinda to do it for you so it’s clean, all in one day, for about 2 hours, until we start living in it again? (best two hours of the month).

‘merica, we got this.

Lori

“Everybody chill!” and Other Things I Say to the Voices Inside my Head

Lest I spin you down the anxiety spiral along with me, I shall not list all of the things going on in the news/world/EVERYWHERE! that are cause for alarm. Suffice it to say, we’ve got some choices on how we’re dealing with the information that’s coming at us everyday, right? I love me some podcasts (have you ever listened to Pantsuit Politics? It’s good. I linked to their “about” page because it goes straight to who they are and what they’re doing) and I also enjoy the news. But not right now. I mean, I enjoy the sound of someone talking to me about what’s up outside of my own community, but what is happening right now?! I can’t get the pictures of anxious Costco shoppers buying up all the toilet paper and hand sanitizer out of my mind. Everybody chill. All y’all dancing around in my brain trying to get me to purchase large amounts of food lest we be quarantined for days on end and ***** is/will/become president and, oops, sorry. I said I wouldn’t go into details.

So how do you handle stress and anxiety? I tried Zoloft for a couple of months and really appreciated it, although I felt a little flat – like no emotion at all, which isn’t me and my people were side-eyeing me constantly. “Who is she and why is just sitting there?!” But it was really helpful to get me through some hard times. I might try it again.

Meditate? Pray? Exercise? Hold up. Can we just talk about the spelling of exercise? I’m a naturally good speller, but dang that one gets me. Every time.

Where were we? Oh yes, listing off de-stressors. GETTING OUTSIDE. That’s a big one for me, which is why February makes me want to crawl into a hole and never come out. Figures all of this crazy news was happening in February. When I home schooled I had an annual reminder on my calendar that said, “Don’t give up home schooling, you always feel like this in February!” I even had two kids in February – I now believe this to be a subconscious way to improve February in some way. I mean it helps, don’t get me wrong, but I am so glad it’s March now. Light the spring-scented candles! Take the dog for walks without getting all the gloves, hats and ear cover thingys on! Wear Birkenstocks without socks! Look for daffodils trying to come up way too early, just to be killed off by the impending frost. And hail. Whoops. Okay fine, so March in Colorado is barely spring, (it’s actually our snowiest season and hail is really a thing) but there’s hope of warmer weather, bluer skies and wildflowers.

This was an actual alert – like it came into my phone like one of those Amber Alerts, but instead of an actual human being that was missing, this was telling us about a SNOW SQUALL. This happened TWICE IN ONE WEEK. In February. And yes, I’m shouting this with ALL CAPS because WTF?
p.s. That stands for “what the fork?!”. Because The Good Place, and Kristen Bell, obvi.

In the meantime, everybody chill, and we’ll all get through this. Together.

Onward and upward,

Lori (and her mind-friends)

Two things I want you to know (via video :)

Update: to “Follow” the blog click on the three lines on the top left menu thingy.

the flu.

You guys. Our family got hit, smack dab in the face, with the flu. We’ve quarantined as best as we can. One of us didn’t get the flu shot (hint: not one of the women in our house). Even though the rest of us did get the flu shot, we still got a mild version of it. It is kicking our butts.

In other VERY IMPORTANT NEWS, Sarah is now 19. WHOA!

Also, the Coronavirus is terrifying and who the heck is going to be our next President? So many things to ruminate on.

For now, just know that I’ll be back when my fever breaks and I get my energy back.

Onward and upwards,

Lori

Under Construction

(insert clip art of a hammer)

(insert random photo of me in a hard hat – this doesn’t exist)

What I’m trying to say is, I’m rolling up my sleeves to update things around here. (Notice already: no more ads! AND I have my very own domain now. I know, I know, I’m growing up. Bites fist. sniff, sniff.)

My “about me” page is fairly accurate, but “home educator” needs to be changed to “mom-splainer” which (I literally just found out by looking for a picture to go along with “mom-splainer” (which I thought was an original word I just made up but IS ANYTHING A NEW IDEA now that there’s the internet?!) is an actual name of a show that Kristen Bell does. On The YouTube.

I found this one on teenagers and now I’m giving up this blog and only watching these for my writing mornings. Okay, just kidding, but while I’m working on cleaning up things around here, please enjoy this video which pretty much sums up my entire life right now. #weresosimilar

brb,

Lori

So this is awkward.

How do we just start this back up again without talking about what happened? Without referencing the complete silence in this space since April 2016? I mean, I could just erase everything and pretend like this is my first post and I haven’t been blogging since, um, I don’t know, say, 2007? But that’s not really how I roll.

*SO MUCH HAS CHANGED since I last talked to you. I want to burst into tears when I start looking back at it…partly because I just went off Zoloft and am starting to feel things again and can’t seem to stop crying and being super angry at people and also happy and silly again, too. And partly because holy dumpster fire Batman! 2016 through 2019 saw a lot of things and well, you know me, I’m not one to beat around the bush. Unless of course I’m looking for a good spot to tinkle on a backpacking trip, but I digress (and also provide you with this illustration I found of beating around the bush.)

Copyright Géraldine Adams 2013.
All rights reserved

I’ll be back soon (I’ve set aside two whole mornings each week to write!). Can’t wait to start sharing again with you!

Ex’s and oh’s, Onward and upward,

Lori

• 

• 

*2016 & 2020*

#LightItUpBlue for Sarah and Autism!

Hi friends,

Dropping in to ask you to wear blue tomorrow to show your support of our sweet Sarah (and others on the Autism Spectrum). Autism Speaks is a great organization that does wonderful work for kids “On the Spectrum”. Sarah has decided that she wants everyone she knows to wear blue tomorrow, April 2nd, to show their support. This is a huge leap in progress for her. When she was first diagnosed she wanted nothing to do with the words Autism and Asperger’s…now she is proud to be recognized as a member of the Autism community!

Here’s more info: https://www.autismspeaks.org/liub

I thought it would be fun to surprise her with photos of her friends and family wearing blue…would you consider snapping a selfie or two of you and/or your kiddos wearing blue on April 2 and send her the photo to either her email: CurlsForJesus@gmail.com or her phone: 719-212-8515

Thanks!

Happy week-ending!

Lori

Spinning class & where my DNA went

Hi. I’m back. and I’m mean it this time. None of this, “Oops!” “Sorry, that wasn’t for you!” posts. This is the Real Deal. Just for YOU!

(prepare yourself-I’m on a “meme-roll” today)

We joined the YMCA here in Monument. We came from a dreamland of Rec centers (and non-competitive (read: cheap and not as many crazed “sports parents” on the sidelines) CARA teams). They don’t have that here. Here it’s either public schools for sports or private organizations. And for an indoor gym/workout option you must pay membership fees at a YMCA or country club. I held out for three years-thinking that I could just run with a headlamp (and a construction vest with reflective tape) and a friend at 5am but when the snow (and ice!!) and complete darkness and urban legends of people sleeping overnight along the trail we were running (pun!) through my head I decided “enough is enough!”, re-worked the budget (thanks to the Alpaca boarding) and signed up for a membership at the Y. (Yes, I realize I could’ve said all of that in like two sentences-but where’s the fun in that?!).

I started going at my usual time (5-6am) and then discovered over Christmas break that there are classes-with other people!-pushing me to work really hard-harder than I was pushing myself on the treadmill at 5.5mph-and now I’m hooked (at least until the snow melts, the sun comes up and I don’t have to wear 14 layers of clothing just to run for 30min. outside).

I started with the standard “boot camp” and “interval training” classes. Which I still do once/week. BUT THEN! Someone I knew suggested I try out a spinning class. As in a bike. That moves back and forth (but not forward and backward : ). I’d heard legends about these classes. When they first came out years ago they were said to be filled with die-hard roadies (as in bicyclists riding on roads). If you weren’t used to it there was ZERO chance of survival if you tried one of these classes. But this friend that suggested it to me was so “normal”. How could I not try it?

Holy schnikies batman! I’ve been going for a little over two weeks now and geez louise! My thighs are on FIYAH! And the amount of sweat dripping from my face is just really gross when you think about how many other people have been on that bike and done the exact same thing and then halfheartedly wiped it down with a paper-towel and some spray we’re all really hoping stops the transmittal of whatever can be transmitted in sweat…I’m pretty sure a lot of really terrible diseases-but I’m not going to google it.

 

To quote Tony Horton (that’s the p90x guy and no, he has nothing to do with the YMCA or my spinning class), “that’s some serious DNA removal”.

I could only find this super cheesy meme to go with this one:

There’s also the added “that’s her/his bike” dynamic that brings you back to middle school when you sit in a seat and unbeknownst to you that’s where the most popular person sits-and everyone knew that but you…yeah. Spinning class is kinda like that….

 

So, for some (more!) comedic relief (and at the risk of sounding like a spinning geek after just only 2 weeks of doing this) I leave you with some funny memes on spinning. I needed to laugh today-why not share the laughter?!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have a great day, today!!

La Gringa

Technical difficulties….

That last post was intended for the Classical Conversations community I direct. Sorry for any confusion : )

I deleted it-so if you see this on the site and look at the last post-that one IS for us here at LaStradaTostada. Just not the one I erased, that you can no longer see, which means you may have never seen it in the first place…um. you get the idea.

 

Have a fantastic week!

Lori