December Chatbook 2020

I still have some loose ends from December, but I'm not going to let them hold me back. The goal is to move forward and be current. December was an interesting month. It is always busy, but it was also different with Covid and quarantine. Luckily, that was all clumped at the end of the month. 

But let's jump into the hodge podge. It is hard to believe it was less than a month ago. Time sure is a strange mistress.

At work, I often decorate the calendar. I don't think I've ever remembered to take a picture of it. Until now. I really like having Wednesdays off from school. It is nice to have the kids home and it leaves a nice symmetrical spot on the calendar.

Tyler and I celebrated a strange holiday. It was my BEEN-A-CAZIER-LONGER-THAN-A-DARGAN day. I have spent more of my life with Tyler than without now. That is good, because I can't imagine life without him. We went and shared a pizza at Blaze. Yumminess. 

Camo is not just for the army. These girls look so cute. Tyler would walk by and say, "Girls, you have to wear shirts!" (Dad jokes...)

We washed a batch of shoes, but the laces didn't wash very well. So the girls came up with some other options for laces. Ribbon actually works pretty well. And looks pretty festive.

You need to ignore how weird Pearl's neck looks in this picture and instead focus on her swirl of hair at the base of her neck. Why does hair decided to grow in a swirl?

Speaking of Pearl, she is getting really good at all her tumbling skills. I like that she takes videos of herself. Her back walkover is looking sharp.

This picture was when June, Daisy, and I went to see Ivory dance. It was clearly edited by Daisy after the fact. I can understand Daisy seeing herself as an angel and me as the devil, but why is June half and half? She is clearly an angel too. All my kids are. (She says with hardly any sarcasm.)

I got my Duolingo stats for the year. Apparently I spent over 50 hours learning a language. Not bad. Although you would think I would be better than I am at Spanish at this point. But I'm happy with my slow progress. 

A lady in my neighborhood turned 80. They asked me to make signs to put up outside her house. It worked pretty well. People honked at her house all day. 

Robyn asked for me to paint her nails. I did my best at decorating them. It is hard to use toothpicks and nail polish, but I think you can tell what I was going for...hopefully.

The voodoo doll got into the season. I did the outfit and Daisy did the hat and all the cotton. I love how fluffy it looks.

I haven't been the best about neighbor gifts for many years. Mostly we do our newsletter which takes lots of time and a fair bit of money. (I'm not sure people think it is a great 'gift', but you get what you get...) Kandis, however got a really cute gift for our family. She is so awesome. We didn't get to carol this year, and that makes me sad. Maybe we'll do some valentine caroling. That could be a thing.

Eddy was up to all his usual antics. He sometimes forgot to move and younger children helped him find a new spot. He is a patient elf who never makes a mess. I adore him.

Pearl chose the new ornament for this year. She made Dad touch it before he could see it. Not because it was a poison dart frog, but because it was covered in glitter and Dad hates glitter. My children are so nice.

I got this ornament from Tom at work. He and his wife made tiny masks for the tree. What a great ornament for 2020.

My shoe tree is starting to get crowded. I may need to get a bigger tree someday. I bet Tyler is thrilled to hear that.

June broke a dish in half with her bare hands. She told me there was a crack running through it and that she could break it in two. I didn't believe her. Guess she showed me.

June and I gave blood and got really cute shirts from the red cross. Then we had to call back the next day and tell them that our blood was possibly infected. (I've never had to call them before.) We also called back ten days later to tell them that we tested negative. I wonder if they already chucked our blood?

Grandma came after Christmas, but it was a little strange. We were still in quarantine, so she sat outside the window and watched us open gifts. Seriously, this Christmas was one for the books. Ivory was in the basement, so we also brought the computer so Grandma could see Ivory.

Some more fun henna, although we've learned that it shows up better on some people and in some places. For instance, Robyn's upper arms don't hold the color at all. It seems to disappear almost immediately.

I realize this is stupid, but I colored a year's worth of daily Happy Color pictures. Translated that means that I wasted a LOT of time on my phone, but I did get the fancy unicorn award finally. And yes, I'm proud of that.

Nova still find soft things to rest upon. It doesn't seem to matter if she ends up in a weird position. The softness is the key.

Christina called and told us there was a live nativity over in her neighborhood with sheep and camels. But she told us just as they were taking everything down. The kids still went over and saw a few animals before they were gone.

Ivory made bread for a friend who was in quarantine. After mixing, rising, and rolling out the dough, she noticed something weird in the corner. I pulled it out. It was a button that was left in the flour after the button game. How did she not notice it during the process of making bread?? So funny. But we caught it before it was baked, so no one ate a button.

We had a lot of down time in isolation. That led to a lot of this. Which is fine especially when everyone is getting along.

Down in quarantine, Ivory's foxes were multiplying. She made the yellow one first and that seemed normal until she did the orange one. Why is the first one yellow?

Upstairs, we played games and did puzzles. Virginia got us a 2,000 piece puzzle. We are still working on it.

Robyn got to hang out with her percussion peeps earlier in the month. They had a movie night and went out for food on another occasion. Knowing how to play a multitude of instruments makes you part of a unique group.

Cute selfie of Robyn. I love her wavy locks.

Speaking of locks, here's one of Ivory. I think this was the day before she escaped from the basement. That is a fleek bun.

That's all for December folks. And to all a good night.

Sew Much Fun

For Christmas, Daisy got some sewing stuff. I knew that if I didn't plan something, that stuff would just sit there unused. Not because she doesn't want to use it, but because her lazy mother doesn't always want to make a mess and figure things out. 

So I found a neighborhood friend, who is quite an excellent seamstress, and she graciously agreed to host a sewing group. The idea is that she would get her own children involved in sewing and others could come along for the ride. 

She posted it on facebook and got a good group of people interested. She dropped off patterns early and told us to cut out our fabric pieces and then on Saturday, we all arrived, ready to made a project.

We started with a bag. Simple and useful. The great thing about Michelle is that she can read patterns. I feel like I can sew a straight line, or follow instructions given to me, but I am never quite sure what a pattern is saying. It uses funny words and I get lost. Michelle walked us through each step and it was a snap.

Daisy is a pro. We took turns sewing but she knew her stuff. We used fleece lining to make the bags more sturdy. That stuff is great and Michelle stocks the stuff and sold it to us cheap. Excellent.

We only messed up once. We sewed our corners together because we misunderstood some directions, but I am well acquainted with my friend, the seam ripper, and we fixed that in no time. With the corners fixed and sewn properly, it started to take on a bag shape.

Daisy sewed on the handles and gave them extra reinforcing since they will hold the most weight. (The handles came together so well. Michelle had a cool tool to turn them inside out, and the belting [also supplied by Michelle] fit perfectly.)

It is interesting how you put layers together backwards. This is me sewing the lining into the bag. You actually put the whole bag into the lining and sew it on the outside.

Then you find the hole in the lining (which you conveniently left there) and pull the entire bag out through that hole. Seems weird, but it totally works. Voila...it was a bag. Daisy might be confused about what bags are used for.

It turned out so cute. The top stitching gave it a nice professional look and I was so proud of our bag. Well, it is Daisy's bag, but I feel like I helped bring it to life. 

It was a really fun morning, and it took us just over 2 hours to put it all together. Not bad for our first project. The other mommy/daughter groups did a great job as well. All the girls left with a homemade bag. It was fun to see all the different fabrics people chose.

The leopard print is my second favorite, but I would still choose the cherries. Something about them makes my soul happy. Life is like a bag of cherries...

Book Review 2020

You would think that 2020 would have been an excellent year for reading. After all, many of us had more time at home. But I ended up reading about the same amount of books that I normally do. So I now know that a pandemic doesn't encourage me to read more. Good to know.

However, even if I didn't read MORE, I still read many excellent books. It was a great year of reading with many wonderful finds. Once again, if you need something to read this year, these are my recommendations. Let's start with some of my Goodreads stats:

I read 12,877 pages in 37 books

Shortest book: The Quest of Ewilan (68 pages)

Longest book: Arch Enemies (560 pages)

Most popular: The Secret Garden (1,456,247 people also read)

Least popular: Sithrah (250 people also read)

Highest rating on Goodreads: Muse of Nightmares (4.45)

Most read month: February (7 books)

Least read month: October (1 book)

Most of my favorite books came from: My book group! (6 out of 9)

Here are my top 9 favorites of the year (in no particular order) and the review that I wrote for them. Also the key that goes with them (NC=Neighborhood Club, FG=Family Group, MB=My Book Group, Other=not with a group or required reading)

RENEGADES by Marissa Meyer (FG): I heart Marissa Meyer. Her Cinder series was one of my favorites and now there is a whole new group of people to root for. And who wouldn't root for superheroes? What a creative story of bad girl meets good guy, with interesting powers to boot. I like all the different powers that are in play. I liked how Nova is not bad at all. She is searching for the right, just like everyone else. Perhaps the love story is a bit cheesy, but I liked it. And I'm excited to see where the story leads. Clean fun for the whole family. Robyn picked this book for book group and I'm so glad. You know a book is great if I don't fall asleep on a plane while reading it.

There were three books in this series and I ate them up. Excellent read!

THE GIRL WITH SEVEN NAMES by Hyeonseo Lee (MB): This book was fascinating. I am quite naive when it comes to Korean history, so this book was an eye opener for me. It also reminds me that I have little to complain about in my pampered, American lifestyle. It is truly a blessing to live in a free country and more than ever, I'm grateful to those who help keep us free. Hyeonseo Lee's story was inspiring. There were times I couldn't put it down. I feel like there were angels watching over her because she escaped by the skin of her teeth many times. As a whole, my heart aches for those in North Korea. Not so much for those who have figured out the system and are content in their circumstances, but for those with poor songbun, who suffer daily. And most of them probably don't even realize there is a different way.

To an extent we are all indoctrinated as children. All systems of education have some kind of bias. I read part of the book with Robyn and she said she felt we do the same kind of stuff here. I said, "Really? How many songs have you sung about President Trump?" "Good point," she said. It is hard to see how the two Koreas could be united after so much time and so much divergence, but I could see how change could benefit both sides. I think Lee is a pioneer for her people and I'm so glad she shared her story with the world.

HOPE WAS HERE by Joan Bauer (MB):  I loved this book. It was short and so inspiring. There were so many great quotes in it and the "well" poem was one of my favorite things. All the food sounded delicious and I suddenly want to go visit a diner, but I know they won't have Addie's cooking. The book wrapped up so well. Characters grew and it was easy to root for Hope with her undiminished spirit through all her hardships. June said her teacher read this out loud to her class in 5th grade. Good choice.

p.s. It makes me proud that I was a waitress at one point. It really does make you look at people a new way.

THE MARTIAN by Andy Weir (NC): This book was freaking amazing! Despite that there was an over abundance of profanity, I can't find fault. Really, I'm not smart enough to find any flaws in the physics and science involved. My first thought was that I would die right away on Mars, but really, they would never send someone as dumb as me into space. Thank goodness. I loved the humor and I laughed out loud many times. I was one of the billions rooting for Mark Watney. I can't wait to watch the movie.

This will definitely be one of my top ten books for the year!

OUT OF THE EASY by Ruta Sepetys (MB): This book was awesome. I think Ruth Sepetys is a fantastic writer—even if I don't know how to pronounce her last name. I loved the characters in this book. Who knew that you could love a whole whore house? What I pulled most from this book is that everyone has history and you don't know what brought them to their current standing. Less judgment could bring the world inches closer every day. This book didn't lead where I thought it would, but I'm glad it didn't. I needed to take this journey with Josie. I cried at the end. And now I really want to work at a book store. Although, I've kind of always had that dream. I would settle for a library as well. I would highly recommend this book. It was beautiful.

MY LADY JANE by Cynthia Hand (Other): I heard such great things about this book and it didn't disappoint. The writing was funny and I laughed out loud so many times. I decided to listen to this book, even though in general, I don't like audio books. The reader was fantastic, and I loved her voices and accents. I liked how it followed history while really not keeping to the truth at all. I liked the twist of turning the religious fanatics into ethians and verities. (I wonder what animal I would be?) It had a wonderful ending and overall I adored this book, but to tell the truth, when I finished, I was slightly sad. History did not have a happy ending and it made me think of the wasted lives of those characters in the book. I can't go back and change things for them, so I guess it is nicer to think that in someone's mind (or book) they had a happy ending.

STRANGE THE DREAMER by Laini Taylor (MB): Heavens, I can't believe I didn't write a review while this was fresh in my mind. Although in some ways, how can you forget this book? It is so beautifully written and the story pulls you along. I loved the world created with elements of our own, but so much magic and wonder added. Somehow I forgot the epilogue until halfway through and then I had to read at breakneck speed to figure out what happened. Who doesn't love a 2 am read?

The end!! THE END. What? There are few books I have read that demand so greatly that you read the sequel because of the massive cliff you walk off at the end. So naturally, I'm reading the second one. Which is just as good in case you want to know.

I love the characters and the special abilities. I was hooked from the beginning when you figure out what the title means, and who wouldn't love a character like Lazlo Strange? There is a lot of emotion and pull in the book. Even the evil characters have background and method to their madness. I even love the slow evolution of the love story, and although it isn't graphic, it might get a bit steamy for younger readers.

I could go on and on but I'm late for work. Just read this book.

AS BRIGHT AS HEAVEN by Susan Meissner (MB): Wow, how was I not aware of a huge pandemic in 1918? Especially since we are going through one right now? Although we have it easy compared to them, or at least my experience has not been anything like theirs. And I believe that everyone who experienced it would be dead now. What a tragedy. And yes, I've heard of the Spanish Flu, but didn't realize how devastating the effects were. Thank goodness for the internet. What did people do before when they read books and wanted to know about something right away??

As for the story, I thought it was really good. I liked the characters and that not everything was perfect or easy. Pauline's weird relationship with death made me see it in a new light. Also, the backdrop of the family living in a funeral home and the preparation of bodies and embalming gave an interesting perspective to the story as well.

I ended up reading this book very quickly. I wanted to know what happened to this dear family and especially their brother. The ending was not necessarily what I expected, but it tied up enough loose ends for me that I was satisfied.

Side note: I love the name Bright. It would be cute as a first name as well. 

BEFORE WE WERE YOURS by Lisa Wingate (MB): Wow, this book was not what I expected at all. If someone tells you it's about adoption, just understand that is not an accurate description by a long shot. I learned so much about history. I love a story that tells me something about our past that is true while weaving a story with characters you care about and brings the story to life. I was shocked and appalled to learn about what happened during that period and place, but much of history has hidden pockets of sadness and atrocity.

I liked the mystery involved with the story as well. There were secrets on top of secrets and some you never find the answer to. How hard for families to never know what happened to their loved ones.

I thought this was an excellent book, with all the feels. The love story was a little forced for me and predictable, but it didn't take away from the overarching storyline. Three cheers for the human spirit and resilience in this book.

There you go! Lots of good books to read. You probably have your own stack you are working your way through. One of my daughters doesn't like to read and I just can't understand it. I have met so many wonderful people and lived in a variety of places and experienced more than just my life. Who wouldn't want that? Here are the pictures of my favorites. Happy reading everyone.

The Edible Gift Exchange

My mom is super creative. Her brain is a marvel and I personally think there should be a section in a museum dedicated to her poems and creations. Maybe someday.

In the meantime, I will just be the beneficiary of many of her awesome antics. Many years ago she created a fun poem for a gift exchange. All the gifts are wrapped in paper of red, green, or white with bows of those three colors as well. The poem has many stanzas and for each one, a person is instructed to pick up gifts or trade them, or possibly even lose them. It is really fun.

She always does the gift exchange for her family in Washington. I've been there a couple times and had a lot of fun. She even did it for us once here in Utah. They were smaller items since there are so many of us, but it was fun to open the gifts at the end and see what you get. (Oh, it isn't one of those games where you open and then steal others gifts. There is no opening until the very end and then you may exchange with others if you like.)

My mom had been thinking about doing the gift exchange for us, but I told her we didn't need a lot of little items wandering around the house. (I get that the dollar store is great for quantity, but not so much for quality.) She agreed and I didn't think much more about it.

Later, a box arrived with a considerable number of packages inside. My mom explained that I told her once that if she sent something edible, it would get eaten at our house. So she sent the gift exchange with all EDIBLE gifts. What a fun idea.

The tree in Carnegie (which usually has no presents) looked like a bona fide tree this year. I was a little concerned that Nova might investigate the gifts, but she never got into them.

We had to wait a while to do the gift exchange. It is hard to find a night where all the girls are home. We didn't have one until right before Christmas. I should mention that Ivory had Covid during this exchange. No one knew it. We tested her the next morning and she went into quarantine. I think she must have not been very contagious since no one caught it. 

Another thing was that we needed to find a time when Grandma was available. She wanted to watch us do the exchange, but even better, I told her she could read the poem out loud on Zoom. Can you see her over there on the right?

The girls were all very excited. We drew numbers and then the game began. 

This handsome devil was taking pictures for me. Thank you!

Here you can see some gift exchanging going on. We may not know what is inside, but we have guesses and we try to keep our favorites. Also, looks like there are no more gifts under the tree...

The game isn't always even. Sometimes one person has a lot and others have few. In this picture, I have a pile next to me and Pearl only has two.

Ivory got the stanza where you pass a present to the right and each person decides whether to pass it along or send another of theirs. She sent the one with the funny white ribbon. It was weighed and measured, but was found wanting. It came all the way back to her.

In the end, it evens out so everyone has the same amount. Pearl took a couple of mine until we each had four. Then everyone opened their gifts. And of course we exchanged when both parties agreed. Daisy was not going to share her giant kiss!

Robyn couldn't find anyone who wanted her mixed bugs. Surprise. I had smoked herring in a tin that Tyler took off my hands. 

But most of the gifts were delicious. Everyone was very happy with their haul. 

It was such a blast. I'm sure it cost Grandma a pretty penny to get all the edible items and send them, but the memories are sure priceless. We love you Grandma Dargan and thanks for this last fun experience we had as a family before Ivory was banished to the basement!

Happy Covid Free New Year

Hello 2021! This is going to be a great year, I can tell. Truthfully, 2020 wasn't a terrible year for us either. I think each year holds something important and special. The best part is that we are all starting the year NEGATIVE.

Not attitude of course. We are very positive for a great year, but all our results came in negative.

Ivory had the Rona over Christmas and we all stayed in isolation. No one had symptoms, so I was optimistic that our results would be good. 

A few days ago, we loaded up in the car for the first time in forever to go get tested. We were quite the sight. It was an outdoor saliva testing place. We pulled up and said, "Six to be tested please." I'm sure they have large groups come in, but probably not that often.

They had us pull over to the side and they said they would bring the beakers out in a bit.  It really took them quite a bit of time to come over. Tyler and I chatted in the front seat and I was unaware that it had gotten very quiet in the back. The girls had stopped talking and they were saving up their spit. 

When our vials came out, I passed them out to each person. There is a little black line midway on the tube. You need to fill it with saliva up to the line, not counting bubbles. The girls in back emptied out their spit reserves. It worked perfectly for Daisy—right to the line, but I heard June say, "Oh no! Mine is completely full. It says on the instructions not to overfill the tube. And it is underlined!"

Turns out several people went over the line. 

Meanwhile, I'm dutifully trying to fill my tube. It wasn't really hard but I've never been great at expectorating. 

Lucky for the girls, there was an almost empty water bottle in the car. We passed that around and people could level out their vials and get rid of the extra spittle. We all got to the right line, screwed on the blue cap, shook vigorously and turned them in.

Now we had to wait for results. They didn't take long at all. Results were ready the following evening. And we were all NEGATIVE. Yay!

That was New Year's Eve. It was great news. We were finally free from quarantine, although we didn't have anywhere to go. Ivory wasn't done with her time out until New Year's Day. At midnight on New Year's Eve we were all sitting on the couch saying 'Happy New Year' to each other, when Ivory sticks her head out from the basement and says, "Can I come up now?"

Yes! All together again. Ivory had just finished sanitizing her room. She came up with a mask and a wipe in her hand.  It was the best New Year ever. 

I wish all of you a Happy New Year as well. As for me, I'm planning to go somewhere today. Not sure where, but anywhere outside my house!!