Sour Milk and Sunflowers

    As time without my daughter at home continues to march on, I continue to be reminded of how indispensable she's been to me. 

• We can't drink the milk fast enough before it goes bad. I've already switched to half gallons and this continues to be a struggle. Wayne doesn't drink milk (except for his Sunday morning cereal) but I use it in my teas, lattes, cooking, etc so I need it available and definitely without clumps and a sour, nasty taste. This has proven challenging without our big milk drinker at home. The upside is that there's no longer a big gallon jug taking up precious space in my fridge. 
• I can't get those darn grocery store plastic bags used for meat open. Before Zanna came along I would lick a finger to get them open. Yuck. No way am I doing that again - with or without Covid, thank you very much. She seems to have the touch without having to lick. I stood next to the hamburger in Costco last week and felt like an idiot trying to open one of those bags up. I simply can't do it. She made it look so easy! I tried again with my roast chicken. Again, no luck. It's ridiculous! I'm tempted to pull her out of school just so she can come with me and open up my plastic bags. What do other people do without a Zanna to open their bags? Is there a trick I'm missing? 
• She's the only one who knows the gate code for the neighborhood pool and for our garage doors. It's pretty bad when you have to text your daughter 900 miles away in order to get into your house through the garage.
• There's no one to hang out with and watch Hallmark movies and episodes of "When Calls the Heart" when Wayne is out of town.  Instead I ended up going through her bathroom and purging/cleaning it. Granted, it was very satisfying. I did end up watching "Crazy, Rich Asians" which I actually found kind of amusing and also reminded me of her (you know, with all the Asians - not the crazy or rich part). 

Speaking of Zanna, she's doing great! She's made some sweet friends, is doing very well in her studies, and has joined some activities to broaden her horizons. Speaking to Zanna, she's getting by. The cafeteria only serves gross versions of chicken all the time,  the dryer doesn't get her clothes completely dry, she bruised her foot doing something, and she's out of cash. Oh - and it's cold and they haven't turned the heat on in the dorms yet so she has to use every blanket she owns to sleep at night. And as of last Friday she and the rest of her side of the second floor hallway residents are quarantined for 2 weeks. So now she starts online learning, has gross and now cold cafeteria food delivered to her room well after everyone else has already eaten, and can't go hang out with her friends at the SU in the evenings. She can however, sit in the leper colony part of the bleachers to watch the football game, peer at her friends through the window of the SU, and take socially distanced walks outside. 

Of course, you'll know all of this already if she has your phone number because she's been calling everyone she knows to share this information with them. Either that or you've read her blog. (I don't know where she gets it!) Extra points if you feel sorry enough for her to send a care package;) 

Not much to report concerning Will other than he's doing just fine! He's your typical laid back Halldorson and it's a joy to chat with him when he calls and fills us in on what's going on in Minnesota. He's single again but we're so encouraged to witness his maturity and growth from life's challenges and his willingness to seek advice and wisdom from mentors and even his parents;) 

Meanwhile on the home front, I have been tackling projects I've been putting off for 20 years. The list is long, my friends. I knew this day would eventually come and I've been patiently waiting to finally organize closets, cupboards, and drawers. Seven years of Christmas scrapbooking need to be dealt with. Homeschool miscellaneous can finally be purged. Without a basement to throw things into I have this renewed sense of only making room for what we like/need. Fueled in part by my Pandemic Pantry of March, I am motivated and inspired. I actually wish I had more pantries to organize because it was so much fun!! 

At the same time I'm doing something similar with myself - purging what doesn't work, and learning to unclutter my life and mind. Maybe it sounds hokey but in my new season I'm tackling it like everything else I do - researching, learning, and reimagining how I can best use the gifts I've been given to love my neighbor (whoever that might be). It's kind of exciting. 

Meanwhile, Wayne and I find ourselves back to where we started 20 years ago - just us but with a friendship and intimacy made stronger by sharing over half our lives together that includes some of our greatest joys and some of our lowest lows. I'm so grateful we made the effort through all the years of parenting littles to maintain a closeness and "dating" mentality that serves us well in this time of life. I'll drink to that!

And of course, now that we have a dog I should share some photos of him.

I've been threatening to buy the three of us matching Christmas sweaters for this year's Christmas cards (never mind our children). I think that would be hilarious!! 

Meanwhile, if anyone has useful tips on how to open up those produce/meat bags I'm all ears ...