So the first full week of our social distancing and digital learning went off without a hitch!! I've been so impressed with how well the kids are following the schedules they were given and how well the teachers have organized the lessons!

On Thursday, I took a little vacation from the "homestead" and journeyed to Gibbs Gardens, about 30 min north of us.  I've passed the signs for this for years, but never visited.  Oh my goodness, what an incredibly dreamy place!! Here's the link to read the history of the property:

Gibbs Gardens

And some pictures of the beautiful grounds.  It was the first sunny and warm day that we'd had in days...weeks...months(?!?).

Friday was another beautiful day, but we just stayed around the house.  I opened a puzzle that we had gotten for Christmas and Sam and Lily couldn't wait (I might have forced) to help put it together.  It was an "Atlanta" themed puzzle and very fun to put together! Actually, after a while, they did choose to help finish it.  We did it in the backyard to soak up some sun and fresh air.

In keeping with the challenge of "how much can we eat".... my two new recipes that were winners were:

This basic cheese dip recipe that I paired with pretzel rolls that I bought from Aldi. Yum!!!

and

This yummy appetizer that disappeared real quick!

I am trying to keep up with my workouts, so those will hopefully counteract these additions to our diet.  I guess we'll see in a few weeks!

Meanwhile, the latest Georgia numbers on the virus are: 800 cases and 24 deaths.  Such a scary thing going on. We continue to pray for the healthcare workers and everyone directly affected by the virus.

We're just trying to stay in and stay healthy~
Laurie

P.S.
And stay sane...

 

Four days in and we're still here!

Part of me rekindling my blog is that I realize how I like to treat it like a scrapbook and go back and remember the times in old posts.  In my previous post I didn't really give much detail in to what is happening in our communities. So to set the scene:  Our reality right now is that schools, churches and many businesses are totally closed.  Most restaurants are only offering to go orders and grocery stores are running on empty!  There has been a run on toilet paper, paper towels, meat and produce. An odd scene in Kroger on Wed was watching a group of about 15 people follow a person pulling a pallet of eggs out of the back cooler. An image you think you would only see in a socialist country.

To see the hardships on hourly workers and small business owners is heartbreaking.  But a glimmer of hope in this uncertainty is watching how the community is coming together to give these small businesses help...ordering to-go dinners and buying gift cards for future purchases, landlords telling business owners to pay employees instead of rent, celebrities are donating large sums of money to pay employees of arenas and theaters that are closed and the examples go on.  It's definitely an odd time, with no previous experience to help us navigate what lies ahead, but seeing people pulling together is huge beacon for this journey.

On the topic of coronavirus... on Wed, the state of Georgia had 146 cases with 33 in Fulton. On Thursday it was at 197 in the state and 49 in Fulton.  It seems that we're doing a good job in keeping the spread slow, but I'm sure there is a lot ahead of us. Sadly, we are at 3 deaths in the state. To compare with the nation, today it was reported that there were 7,038 cases in the US and 97 deaths.

I posted this on my Facebook page a few days ago. Some great words that can help us through this time....

Today's school subjects for the kids were electives.  For Sam that meant Internship, which unfortunately he's not able to attend.  (He's interning with the Smyrna Police Dept., of which I'll go into detail in a future blog about this great program.) He loves this part of his curriculum and I know it pains him to miss out on his involvement.  Lily's electives are Spanish and Music.  Neither took a huge amount of time.  I loved hearing about her assignment for Music.  She had to pick six important life events and put them with a certain song.  I think it was a creative change for the online boredom.

Switching to the news from the pasture...the new goats are doing well. Pippi is still being kind of a bully, but we did catch the three of them sunning themselves together. I'll take that as a win!

For St. Patrick's Day, Lily made shamrock sugar cookies.  They were yummy and added some fun to the day.  It seems that this confinement has brought out the "inner chef" in all of us.  Sam was inspired to make a chocolate soufflé!  It was perfect! And I tried a new Tamale Pie recipe out of my Southern Living magazine.  Here are some of the images from our busy kitchen:

And here's a glimpse into the future, if this keeps up!

As you can see, we're settling in to our new normal.  We're getting along with each other and dare I say enjoying our time together?!?  Meanwhile, we're praying for this crazy virus to stop spreading and for everyone affected to recover!

Thankful for power, love and a sound mind~

Laurie  

P.S. Yesterday's "game du jour" was Clue!

Coronavirus got me blowing the dust off my blog...

Hello? Hello? Anyone there?!?!

Well, with the new normal, with the uncertainty, with the thousands of new thoughts running through our heads, I decided now would be a good time to get back on my blog (what...it's only been 5 years!) and document our thoughts, our activities and how we as a world, nation, community and family are dealing with this crazy Coronavirus pandemic.  It is surely a scary time, but for our sanity, we need to realize that there are still some good things happening around us. So, here goes.....

                                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, yesterday started our "social distancing", digital learning days at the Moore home.  So far, the largest challenge has been the kids wanting to treat it like a vacation day...stay up late, sleep til noon, etc.  I have a feeling it's going to take a few days and lots of work to get into our new schedule. At the end of the day, they both did their work and were able to connect with their teachers via email for clarification on some questions.  It was a Language Arts day and I was so impressed with the organization and availability of the teachers!  Kudos to them for stepping up to this challenge!

A couple of bonuses of the day were:

1)  We became proud owners of two new goats!  Meet Kenny and Dolly...

Kenny and Dolly came from a local farm...actually from a farmer who is a local legend, Farmer Billy.  Here are a couple of links to find out more about his history in Roswell:

https://www.familylifepublications.com/titles-and-blurbs/620-farm-raised

Please watch this sweet video of Billy and a friend...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXnGQ-u1gok

but what's so neat is that my "human kids" and I use to visit his vegetable stand and we'd spend time talking with him and touring his garden.  He even invited us into his home one afternoon to sit on his couch and just talk.  What a wonderful history lesson we would get! (And yes, I bought one of his books and he kindly offered to sign it!) So, when I answer the ad to help with "re-homing" some goats, I was super excited to know where they were coming from!

2) My second bonus was found after I had been in the barn a couple of hours getting the new goats acclimated.  I walked into the great room and found Sam and Lily playing a good old fashioned game of Life!  Without being asked or forced!  I know it's a small thing, but it warmed my heart. (Unfortunately, I didn't get an action shot. but here's proof they played. Still waiting to be put away.)

Yes, we have some uncertainty ahead of us, but each day, if we focus on some of the positives, it's going to help us all get through this!  

We've got this~

Laurie