Monday Message

"Cultivate an attitude of happiness. Cultivate a spirit of optimism. Walk with faith, rejoicing in the beauties of nature, in the goodness of those you love, in the testimony which you carry in your heart concerning things divine."
― Gordon B. Hinckley 

Well here we are with hard things going on all around the world.  We all will get through this, we will rise to the occasion. We will roll up our sleeves and do what needs doing.

Reach out to older people especially in your neighborhood. Offer to pick up meds or items from the store. If you have a pair of rubber gloves and an alcoholic wipe, put them in a baggie and send it with what is dropped off so they can wipe things coming in.

As a funny side note, I was thinking who in our neighborhood was elderly, guess what we are? The oldest in the hood. We don't need help but I found it funny to think of us as elderly.

We are staying home except going to get meds which is a drive through but I will still wear a mask and rubber gloves. As of the time I am writing this, which is two weeks from when you are reading this, we have 90 positive cases in our state of Iowa (updated count as of April 6th is 946 cases).

I am making four masks. I have them cut out. My plan is to use these over a mask when we get meds.

https://www.craftpassion.com/face-mask-sewing-pattern/ - this is the pattern I am using. When I come back from a med run I will take off the outer mask I made and will wash it in soapy water outside then hang it to dry, the inner mask I will spray with Lysol.

I will be wearing rubber gloves and will be wearing them while washing the sewn mask so that I can reuse them.

This will be a long lived thing for sure.

I see some podcasters telling people they should be frugal with the food they have on hand. This would be a prudent idea as for sure this will be longer than a few weeks.

So now that you are inside with your family, try to make things to look forward to, like a movie night. I find it really helps me escape from what is going on. Gus says he's ready for a movie night.

How about pick another night for game night with board games? Have an award ceremony for the winners.

A family talent night.

Draw a giant cookie, like six to ten inches wide, and have everyone color on the chocolate chips. When your cookie is done, explain that when they see the cookie around the house it means that someone did them a kindness. For example, let's say brother has the cookie. He looks around and sees sister hasn't made her bed yet, so when no one is looking he runs in there and makes her bed and lays the cookie on top. And when sister sees the cookie on her now made bed it is her turn and on it goes. See how long you can keep it going. It doesn't have to be a cookie it can anything, maybe even a house with a smile on it.

Have a camp in the living room night, sing around a pretend camp fire aka a flash light with all the lights off.

Have a build a fort day.

Get out the Lego tub and have everyone build something. If you have five in your family, divide the legos into five piles. You could have them draw pieces of paper with items they are to build, like a tree or a dog house or a goldfish. On another day, assign them a color like blue, they can only use blue ones. Be creative.

A spaghetti night. Pretend to be eating it in a fancy restaurant complete with name cards and change those cards to have everyone eat in a different spot, then normal, keep those name cards and mix them up often.

Have a yard clean up day with a treat for the one with the most gathered trash. The treat might be brownies and they get theirs first then everyone else.

Let us know how you all are doing and what fun you are coming up with.

Applesauce Salad

This is a great recipe with no exact measurements, it's up to you what you like.

I use a quart of applesauce and jello powder. Stir till it is the color you like, this can be from two tbsps or too taste. Just mix well and serve. By the way, this is also what I use for fruit leather, just spread on the leather sheet and dehydrate.

Here is what I have been doing...

I started a book
Cut out four face masks, they will be done when you read this
Made bread
I have been rearranging things in the kitchen to make it handier to work in
I have been tatting 
I have been spinning 
I have been knitting

What things are you working on?