Positive Thoughts During the Coronavirus and Social Distancing

The Coronavirus, a.k.a. COVID-19, is a virus that is now rampaging through the USA and other parts of the world. This is a virus that spreads mainly from person to person through close contact (CDC says within about 6 feet apart) and through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes. People who are at higher risk to not recover from this are older adults and people who have severe underlying chronic medical conditions, especially those that affect the immune system. As of this post there have been 4,661 and 85 deaths in the USA. Here is a list of some maps to show where it has spread and how many have been infected, died, or recovered.

We have been told to:

1. Wash our hands diligently for at least 20 seconds with soap and water or disinfect them with hand sanitizer or rub with an isopropyl alcohol content of at least 60%
2. Not touch our face
3. Practice social distancing, not go out unless absolutely necessary and stay more than 3 feet apart from others (although CDC says 6 feet)
4. Cough or sneeze into our sleeve/elbow so as to not spread germs in the air
5. Stay home if we feel sick

This might make you anxious, stressed, or worried...or it might not depending upon how you feel about all this. In any case it has closed and shut down schools, workplaces, churches, and other places worldwide. We have seen cancellations of events and social gatherings all across the globe because of the need to contain and stop the spread of this pandemic. We have seen: people panicking, people hoarding items, stores with long lines and empty shelves. One of the best things you can do, instead of panicking, is to educate yourself so you are prepared.

What we also need to do:

1. Take deep breaths when you are feeling negative. 3 of them slowly in and out. Try to focus on the positive.
2. Eat healthy well balanced meals so you get the vitamins and minerals you need throughout the day. Make sure you eat a good breakfast because it is the most important meal to start the day with so you have the energy you need.
3. Keep hydrated especially with water. Make sure you are getting your electrolytes too.
4. Get enough sleep so you can rest your mind and body. Here are guidelines for how much sleep you need and some tips to help you sleep well.
5. Get some exercise and stay active. Being cooped up in the home makes it a little more difficult to do this, but there are YouTube videos online that will help you find your groove.
6. Get some fresh air if you can. If you are able go outside and walk around in nature. Take time to notice the beauty of it. If you have to be inside, open some windows and let the fresh air in.

I feel that if we all calm down and think of this in a more positive light we won't feel hopeless in these times. Worrying about things we cannot control fully just makes things worse. Relax and know that you are not alone in this struggle. We are in this together, even when we have to be apart.

Silver Lining:

• With more people working from home, schools and churches being closed, and events being canceled we have more free time to:
  • strengthen family bonds with one another
  • slow down and practice mindfulness, gratitude, kindness, generosity, and empathy
  • take up a new hobby
  • learn something new
  • spend time outdoors
  • check off to-do-lists
  • think about what we are really thankful for and blessed with and what we've taken for granted
• The environment is now healing. Because of more people staying home there are less: vehicles on the roads, planes in the air, and travel in general. This equates to less air pollution. Just look at China: In direct response to the mandated lockdown in China the air pollution cleared up.
• Possibility of bringing back jobs and places from the past that might have been lost, for example: drive-in movies/theaters, drive-in restaurants, the milkman delivering milk, etc.

Here is a list of things that I am going to be working on:

• homeschooling 🏠🏫
• reading 📚
• making arts and crafts 🎨
• beadwork (we were gifted a huge amount of beading supplies from a friend) 📿
• learning heritage skills and self sufficiency skills 🧵 🧶 🧺 🏹
• doing science projects, STEM 🔬
• catching up on blogging 👩‍💻
• cooking healthy meals 👩🏻‍🍳
• baking (especially bread making) 🍞
• sitting down and eating meals as a family 🍽️
• making herbal remedies ⚗️
• deep spring cleaning and organizing the home and out buildings 🧹
• yard clean up 🍂
• cleaning up the garden beds and around the orchards 🥀
• planting 11 roses, mostly Floribundas 🌹 ✔
• planting seeds for veggies, fruit and herbs 🥬 🍅 🥕 🍆 🥒 🥝 🍉 🍈
• planting bulbs and seeds for flowers 🌷
• Growing microgreens and sprouts indoors 🌱
• permaculture and hugelkultur 🏡
• making a water feature and river rock bed ⛲
• foraging 🌿
• hiking ⛰️
• biking 🚲
• boating 🚣
• swimming 🏊
• dancing 💃
• building forts with the kids ⛺
• working out: aerobics, Yoga, or whatever exercise to get moving 🏋️‍♀️
• meditation 🧘‍♀️
• writing letters...be it snail mail or email (pen pals) 📫
• movie nights 🎥
• playing board games and card games 🎲
• puzzles 🧩
• photography 📷
• farm chores (we have horses, chickens, a goat, llamas, a mini pony, a bunny, and a dog) 👩🏻‍🌾
• listening to music 🎶
• practicing instruments (singing, guitar, violin) 🎻
• journaling 📔
• making a vision board 📋
• reading the scriptures 📖
• Come Follow Me 🙏
• Family Home Evening 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

There are a lot of resources out there that can help you with the transition of being home and having kids home with you if you do not homeschool already and a lot of them are free or good priced as well. This great Facebook list has some other ideas that I do not have on my list that are very good ideas too and you can request the PDF from them with the links. There are also pages and groups online that have lots of ideas. If you are internet savvy there is lots to find, learn about, and experience from home. I will go into this more in a later post so stay tuned.

Friday August 23rd, 2019...Morning Thoughts

Balloons are bad for the environment! BalloonsBlow.org

Things I’m thinking this morning in no special order....

I hate balloons 🎈. I didn't as a child, but now that I know how much they are bad for the environment and that some balloons are even made by children in 3rd world countries, I despise them. They are supposed to be a symbol of happiness, but how can I be happy when they do so much damage. I recently saw a documentary about the children that work in balloon factories. They do not get to know the joy that balloons usually bring. They breathe chemicals all day from the fumes and latex. People are also so careless and let them go into the heavens because they think it is fun to watch, but it is detrimental to animals and pollutes the earth. Wildlife gets entangled in them, chokes on them, and dies from getting strangled by them. Balloons whether made of Mylar or latex are not biodegradable and contribute to our litter problem as well. This is why I do not buy balloons any more for parties. It is all so very sad and certainly nothing to celebrate.

I want to make some things for my garden and orchard. Here is the list:

• Compost tea maker
• Worm Vermiculture Bin
• Rain collection system off the roof 🌧️
• Bat House(s) 🦇
• Better Chicken Coop 🐔
• Aquaponics with home grown Tilapia 🐟

I would also love to get my garden and orchard up to specifications so that I can have certification with:

• Monarch Waystations 🦋
• The National Widlife Foundation "Certified Wildlife Habitat 
• Pollinator Partnership for "Million Pollinator Garden Challenge & S.H.A.R.E." 🐝

Thursday August 22nd, 2019...Morning Thoughts

Our economical Chevrolet Impala with Coastal Playground Whale license plates.

Things I’m thinking this morning in no special order....

We exchanged our 2017 Chrysler Pacifica van in for a 2018 Chevrolet Impala recently. We hated the Pacifica. It had so many issues even though it was brand new when we bought it. It was the single most worst purchase ever. We were glad to get rid of it even though it could hold our whole family. Our Impala drives like a dream. It is a wonderful car 🚗 and it was still under warranty when we traded it in. We got a few minor things fixed on it, like: the temperature gauge wasn't reading right. Now it is perfect. It saves us gas money and is eco-friendly because it uses less gas as well. Besides helping the environment with our purchase of a more economical vehicle we are also helping support Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute with our purchase of our new license plate. The “Coastal Playground” license plate features a mother gray whale 🐋 and its calf swimming somewhere off the Oregon coast. The plate also has a lighthouse and rolling waves in the distance. Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute will receive $35 of the $40 surcharge on each plate, which will help the school fund research and education projects.

My hair is starting to go grey. I knew this would happen eventually. I don't know if I want to just let it go grey naturally or cover it up and be a red head :) I have always wanted to try henna hair color. Is is more natural than the chemical hair dye and better for your hair. Maybe I will take the plunge.

I want to start growing sprouts 🌱 again. I used to grow different kinds, mostly: mung beans, alfalfa, and broccoli, and lentils. We have a Kitchen Crop 4-tray Seed Sprouter. I loved adding nutritious sprouts to soups, salads, sandwiches, stir-fry, bread, omelets, and more.

Wednesday August 21st, 2019...Morning Thoughts

Kyoto Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi.

Things I’m thinking this morning in no special order....

I noticed today that there was water 💦 coming out of a pipe that is in back of out heat exchanger to our heat pump. I let my husband know. He said that it looked like a water main break in the same pipe that feeds water to the sink in our bathroom that has been used constantly since we do not have a sink in our kitchen because of a kitchen remodel. So now we have to get that repaired as well and the new line looks like it is going to go through part of my garden. Those plants will have to be removed to make way for the new plumbing.

We usually go to Sushi 🍣 on Wednesdays at the semi new Kyoto Japanese Steakhouse And Sushi restaurant 🥢 because they have 50% off part of their sushi menu then. I look forward to it every Wednesday. We probably won't be going today though because of everything that is going on.

I need to water my houseplants 🌱. They look thirsty. I have a Crown of Thorns, Pothos, Thanksgiving Cactus, various succulents and hens & chicks, Aloe Vera, Finger Jade, Spider Plant, and an Orchid that has never boomed. I would love to add to my collection.

Tuesday August 20th, 2019...Morning Thoughts

Trash on a beach that could harm wildlife and wash into the ocean.

Things I’m thinking this morning in no special order....

Yesterday when I brought my Klean Kanteen water bottle to Dutch Bros to get a drink refill we exchanged conversation like we do with the staff. This time though the guy working the drive through window told me about his bracelet 📿 he was wearing that he bought on 4Ocean. He told me that every bracelet purchased they remove a pound of trash from the ocean. They also give back to wildlife as well. Each bracelet has a different colored cord made from recycled plastic bottles and beads made from recycled glass bottles ♻️. He had bought one that benefited sharks. I think I might purchase a dolphin one to help 4Ocean fund their cause.

One of my biggest pet peeves are cigarettes 🚬. I do not smoke and have never seen the appeal to it. To me it is a nasty habit that needs snuffing out. I have tried to understand why others around me do, but I guess I will never understand. I am allergic to tobacco smoke. I had asthma as a child and my grandmother smoked inside her home, so when ever we visited I would be bombarded with second hand smoke. She would try to take it outside while we were there, but the smell was in the walls, the furniture, their clothing, etc. I loved visiting her because I loved her, but I remember wishing she would quit smoking 🚭 and that my grandpa would quit chewing tobacco. I wanted them to live longer. My grandma died when I was young. The cigarettes probably didn't help her. I also hate when smokers throw their cigarettes on the ground. Don't they understand that is littering!!?? The cigarette has a filter made of plastic that is not biodegradable. Not only that, but some of the chemicals that make up cigarettes are toxic to wildlife and can contaminate ground water and the environment.

My friend and I were talking about my desire to go plastic free and she said that she is using cloth menstrual products and love them. I had looked into cloth pads when I was doing cloth diapering with my kids, but I never took the plunge for some reason. I did previously try a menstrual cup but I fell out of habit of using it and since I have such heavy flows the menstrual cup was a bit impractical. I would like to once again pursue the cloth pad option instead. Regular mainstream feminine products cause so much waste and the companies that make them do not have to disclose what they actually make them out of. This information is not listed on the packaging and apparently doesn't have to be since they are considered a "medical device". I would feel better about using organic cloth ones that I could wash and reuse. They would be better for the environment and my health.

I hope your Tuesday is wonderful and relaxing.

Monday August 19th, 2019...Morning Thoughts

My Klean Kanteen water bottle. "More Ocean Less Plastic. The 5 Gyres Institute".

Things I’m thinking this morning in no special order....

I purchased this cute little frame 🖼️ in Ohio at Goodwill when I was out there visiting my husband's family. It is gold with small carved flowers. When I got home I realized that one of the pieces of art that I was looking for a frame for fit this perfectly and so I unstapled the back and placed the art in it. Then I used painters masking tape to hold the back to the frame. I did not want to staple the back to the art because that might have ruined it. I hung it up in my bedroom, but it fell apart off the wall yesterday. I am really glad it didn't break because it has a glass front. The back piece unfortunately only has a small sawtooth picture hanger on the back, but it didn't want to hold the weight of the whole frame. I think I need to find something that is more secure and maybe attached to the frame itself instead of the back. What do you use that works well and is secure for hanging your frames?

Yesterday I was very proud of myself. I finally remembered to use my reusable bottle at Dutch Bros for my Iced Apple Juice Chai I usually get. I wasn't sure they would fill it because it isn't one of their cups with a Dutch Bros logo on it, but they did. Unfortunately the drink I get is a 32 ounce usually and my reusable cup is a 27 ounce...so I was missing a little bit, but at least I am helping save the environment...maybe...you see, I watched them mix the drink and they used a plastic cup to do so, ugh! I might have to forgo going to Dutch Bros altogether. I could get the Oregon Chai and Apple juice at the store and mix it at home myself. I would miss the fun people working at Dutch Bros though and my husband loves going there. He probably won't ever stop getting his drink (a peppermint sprinkle freeze with whip) from Dutch Bros in a plastic cup with a plastic straw 🥤...unless Dutch Bros decides to change for the better. I wish corporations would be more environmentally conscience.

I also got some groceries yesterday at Winco and didn't use any bags 🛍️ because I had forgot the reusable ones out of the back of my car again. I was loading my groceries into my cart and the cashier asked me why I wasn't using any bags. I said I wanted to be eco-friendly, but forgot my reusable totes and I was just going to load the groceries into a foldable, collapsible crate I have in the trunk anyway. We, however; forgot a few groceries and so we came back and this time I was prepared. I brought the totes into the store with me. I am becoming more consciously aware of all the plastic and Styrofoam packaging around me. I had to buy toilet tissue 🧻 and the affordable stuff is all wrapped in plastic...wish it wasn't. I really don't know why it has to be.

Happy Monday beautiful people! I hope your Monday is wonderful!

Sunday August 18th, 2019...Morning Thoughts

Zari and her favorite zebra things.

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Things I’m thinking this morning in no special order....

My daughter, Zari, absolutely loves zebras 🦓 and zebra print stuff because Zebra starts with Z just like her name. We currently have a wall going up to her and Teela's room that has a huge zebra art piece. She was looking for zebra things while we were at the Farmers Market yesterday and I found a perfect little art piece that she fell in love with. We have yet to find the perfect wall for it, but I think that I might paint a wall in their room and place it above their rolling clothes rack.

I had a spider 🕷️ come down on its web from the ceiling while I was sitting at my desk and I felt a bit like Miss Muffet while she was eating her curds and whey. I freaked a little. I, however; have this cool little spider/bug catching device that I got a while back from blogging. It has a long handle on one side and a cup with a magnifying glass 🔎 on the other. The handle has a lever that you slide and when you do you slide the cup closed or open depending upon the way you slide it. I have become a lot braver since I got this. I got that out, scooped up the spider, and escorted it outside.

I was going through some of my old photos and wishing that I had long hair again. I used to have hair that went down to my tush, but I cut it 💇 short back in 2014 and it hasn't grown very much since.

I feel like such a hypocrite! I just got a FinalStraw a few days ago in the mail. It is a neat foldable, collapsible, reusable straw complete with drying rack, cleaning squeegee, and case. I used it yesterday for my Dutch Bros drink, but I still felt bad because my cup and lid was plastic 🥤. I keep forgetting to bring my reusable cup. I also have an abundance of reusable grocery bags/totes that I have yet to use. People (and that includes me) these days are just not wired to do this naturally, but I would like it to become habit for me. I really want to change, but change is hard and sometimes I don't know where to start. Then there is the rest of my family that still uses all kinds of plastic stuff...and they say they care, but don't seem to want to change. Baby steps 👣 though and maybe, just maybe, I will inspire them to do the same for themselves.

Saturday August 17th, 2019...Morning Thoughts

My goofy fur baby Prince.

Things I’m thinking this morning in no special order....

I love going to the Farmers Markets. They are so much fun and I love seeing all the local farmers, gardeners, beekeepers, and artists there selling their wonderful plants, art, and homemade items. We have gone to the Clatskanie Farmers Market this year a lot. They have the "Power of Produce" program which provides kids 4-12 free $2 tokens for edible plants or food that has been grown. We bring our daughters, who are 11 and 8, so they can get something while they are there. The one across the river from where I live has their market on Tuesday as well and I need to remember that.

Longview Washington Squirrel Fest is today! I plan on making a point to getting over there to look at the fun vendors. Even though I love the festival, I don't really like the squirrels here...at least the ones we have at the farm. They are ground squirrels and like to dig in my gardens, under my trees, and under my home. They cause all sorts of damage and are very destructive even though they are very cute. We have an over abundance of them as well because we have a lot of old growth walnut trees on our property.

I have a ginger root that has sprouted. I need to break off that part and place it in a pot of dirt. Hopefully it thrives.

I love indoor houseplants and would love more to add to my growing collection. If anyone would like to send me cuttings I would be very appreciative. 🌱

I am glad I took the Master Gardener course a while back. That was sure a wealth of information and I learned a great deal. I am also so glad that my husband was able to take the class with me. He is always so very busy, it is hard to find time to do things together anymore.

I need to start exercising regularly. I have a hard time being motivated enough on my own to do so though. I wish I had a friend that I could start exercising with. 💪

I wonder if it will rain at all this week. The sky looks a little angry over by the bridge, but that might clear up. Hopefully it does before we go to the market.

I love my dog, Prince. He can be a big goof sometimes, but he is the best dog ever and I am glad he is ours. We rescued him from a shelter about 10 years ago. He is a great companion. He is part standard poodle/part coonhound. He has soft floppy ears and a long tail that always is wagging. My kids adore him too. He is laying right next to my chair right now all curled up in a large fuzzy ball. He flipped over this morning so I could rub his belly and when I did it was all wags. 🐾

Happy Saturday beautiful humans. I hope your day is filled with things that bring you joy & a happy heart. 🤗

Friday August 16th, 2019...Morning Thoughts

My photography of one of my zinnias with a lovely moth on it.

Things I’m thinking this morning in no special order....

I should really start doing more art. I used to draw a lot in high school and art was and still is my favorite subject.

I wish I still had a violin to play. Delbin, my son, will rarely let me play on his. I used to play in 6th-12th grades. I miss it so very much. On that note 🎵 I want to someday be able to read music. I have a gift of being able to play by ear.

My garden is looking better and better all the time. Although I would like to plant more flowers and next year I need to start earlier with the veggies. Here is a photo I took of one of my zinnias with a lovely moth on it.

I love the art that my friends have made me. I also love all my artistic friends that I have made recently. I hope to someday fill my home with gorgeous art.

I am craving zucchini 🥒, and since I neglected to plant any this year I hope some of my local friends see this and have some extra for me 😀.

My kitchen still isn't done and I have been without a kitchen sink since April. On the bright side I am supposed to get my new kitchen cabinets in sometime this month...and then hopefully they can be installed.

The Hepa filter I have is always so very loud and it is right next to me when I am sitting at my desk.

Thank you to my friend, Amber Bryce, who inspired me to do this today. I hope I can keep it up.