No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on June 24, 2020

Day 29 of the Reopening Epic aka Wednesday June 24, 2020

Today we begin phase three of the Reopening Epic here on Long Island which includes indoor dining and other closes up businesses. If we can stay low for another two weeks, I get my gym back.

Yesterday Caroline finished her course of Invisalign mouthpieces and had graduated to a retainer at night. For the past two years she followed the instructions to the letter. She stoically turned the screw in the medieval torture device they inserted to expand her jaw to fit her teeth. She went from snaggle tooth to straight and is now chewing properly on all her teeth rather than on one side of her mouth. I am very proud of her and all her hard work.

We did get a number of smaller projects off our plate. I need to finish laundry and sort through some things we put to the side to sort from yesterday.

It gives us a good starting point for today.

We did take a walk yesterday while it was cloudy, so it was not that bad. Once it became sunny, you could feel the humidity. Today we are figuring out a good time to get out and walk.

I am grateful for more places to go at a safe distance.

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Posted By Kathleen David on June 23, 2020

I have been thinking about Art a lot this week.

Part of it has to do with my parents downsizing to a new place and figuring out which pieces of their art collection was going with them. While doing that, they decided to have us sort out what pieces we wanted eventually. It is an interesting way to make sure that there will be no fights later.

Caroline and I have been sorting out our next cleaning project. There is an art in cleaning. An art form in being able to get things to fit. Getting a shine to the floor or to clean a rug. I have been reading a lot about different ways to clean things especially with no or minimal chemicals because of the cats and the humans in the house. Getting a room back in order feels amazing and the room feels better.

Cooking is an art form that I have been learning a lot more about. I have been looking at it slightly differently since I started Caroline on a concentrated cooking course. There are methods that I use in cooking that I hadn’t really broken down into the components until I had to tell another person how to do it. I think over time we just do because we have done it that way but having to explain it makes one think of why one does it that way.

Sewing is one of my main go to activity to be creative with. This week Caroline and I constructed a vest type thing for a cosplay she wanted to do. It was complicated and also had to take a pattern and make it into the shape needed. I think we are both going to work on learning about pattern making for adult sized people. 

I love doll making and I don’t do it as much as I should. I have the tools but the clay I have is pretty much shot because it has been so long. I want to get back to that and am trying to find a way to do so. I think I am worried that I have forgotten how but I do have Wendy Froud’s DVD about doll making so I can review what I have forgotten.

But today I am going for the Art of Cleaning as Caroline and I work our way through the project. 

I am grateful for all the ways that creativity shows up in my life.

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Posted By Kathleen David on June 22, 2020

June 22, 2020 

Friday was the funeral for my Uncle John who did not have COVID-19 but did have a rapid decline in health. He was husband to my Aunt Donna. He was a coin collector and loved Georgia Tech football. He always was kind to me and interested in what I was doing at the time. He thought Caroline was very cute as a baby. Please think good thoughts for my Aunt Donna in this time. This one was rather sudden.

This Wednesday is the planned date for Phase Three of Reopening and all that entails.

I am getting blood drawn this morning so no eating until afterwards.

My mental health is OK at this point. There are stressors but I can deal with most of them. 

I have had good days and bad days along the way. Almost feels normal.

A note to the caregivers in the room, take the time to take care of yourself. I found myself ignoring me and it was doing damage to me. If I am not at the top of my game, I find myself falling behind. But I need to take care of me to be at the top of my game. I think we forget that.

Caroline is doing OK. Plans that she had fell through due to COVID-19 and the spread of the virus elsewhere. So we are regrouping on what she is going to do since she is officially a Senior in High School. She is seeing more friends at a safe distance so that is helping her.

Slowly moving towards the new normal feels pretty good.

I am grateful for my Uncle John.

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Posted By Kathleen David on June 21, 2020

June 21, 2020 aka Day 26 of the Reopening Epic

To all the Dads, Fathers, Grandfathers, Stepdads, and Father Figures, hope you have a lovely day.

Father’s Day has been celebrated in the United States on the third Sunday of June for a hundred and ten years.

My husband loves his children very much and they know it. He is willing to help them if they want help. He loves them even when there are occasional strains on his relationship with them. He worries about them. He is so proud of all that they have achieved. 

I can substitute the word father for husband in the above paragraph and it would be true about my father.

They say that women look for men like their fathers for husbands. I wasn’t looking but here we are. 

Fatherhood is the hardest job one will ever love.

Children do not come with instruction books, so you make it up as you go along.

My parents made the conscious decision that what worked for one kid might not work for another. Their reward system was fitted to their children. Peter and I do the same.

My father loved sharing things he found interesting with us and we would share what we found interesting with him. He would give it a go but not everything we liked, he liked and vice versa. But we all gave it a try.

Peter is very honest with his daughters about their creative work. If asked his opinion, he gives it honestly. Caroline knows if she shows him a drawing and he says that it is very good, it is not just lip service. This goes for her writing as well. She values his opinion because she knows it is how he really thinks about her work.

Being a father is a learning process. No one is born knowing how to be a parent. How one rises to the challenge says what sort of father one will be. I have watched people I know meet that challenge and be amazing dads.

I am grateful for the fathers in my life.

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Posted By Kathleen David on June 20, 2020

June 20, 2020 aka Saturday

Day 24 of the Reopening Saga

Today is the longest day of the year for the Northern Hemisphere and shortest day of the year for the Southern Hemisphere.

For those who celebrate this day, I hope you have an amazing day.

Caroline is now official a Senior in High School. Yesterday was the last day of classes and she now has her summer in front of her.

Yesterday was run around and get errands done. We succeeded in most of it. There is one more place I need to go. Caroline and I are going to walk there today for our daily walk. 

I have a million things running through my brain. I need to slow it down a bit and figure out what the rest of the day is going to be.

The cats are sorting out the pecking order again. Current Alpha cat Figaro still holds the title. Now it is down to the lower rankings. Inky is indifferent if they leave her alone. Mewlan and Phoebe are trading their slots. There has been a lot of running around and pouncing.

(For the VI: This is a drawing by Sandra Boyton. In the middle is a globe. Standing on top of the globe is a grey cat. On the bottom is a grey cat wearing a red coat. The text on the top half says “Happy Summer Solstice” and on the bottom half it says “Happy Winter Solstice”. The top half behind the globe is yellow and the bottom half is blue).

I am grateful for cats that amuse me.

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