Quarantine Days 1-41

I've been meaning to blog about quarantine so that I wouldn't forget all of these days, but I'm just now getting around to it. So here we go.... Days 1-41!

As most of you know, I am in nursing school. I am currently in my second semester and this has definitely been the most challenging semester thus far. Add in this  Corona Madness and it's a wonder I'm still somehow surviving. On March 16, we started the transition to "remote learning." The first few days, everyone was still really unsure of how all of this would play out because nursing is designed to be an in-person program. With all of the virus stuff going on, we weren't allowed to have in-person class, but we also weren't able to complete clinical experiences. This has been difficult for sure, but I officially have less than 2 weeks until this semester wraps up, so I'm praying I survive these final few days!

Day 1 (3/16/20): While everything was on the verge of shutting down, restaurants had not quite made the transition to carry-out or drive thru only, but it was heading in that direction. We had already planned Piper's birthday party to be at the local Mexican restaurant with a small group of family. Because restaurants were starting to close and things were starting to look serious, we decided to order carry-out and have her party at our aunt's house instead. This worked well and we were all able to still be together. I am thankful we got to do this because at this point, none of us imagined that the quarantine would last this long, so this was one last night of "normalcy".

Day 4 (3/19/20): With today being Josie's birthday, Piper & I had already made plans to go pick up some lunch and eat it with Josie on her lunch break. Because of all of the changes, we had to drive thru (Josie picked McDonald's) and eat in our cars, but we still had a lot of fun!

Day 5 (3/20/20): Tonight we celebrated Josie's birthday with our family (don't worry-there was only 8 of us, so we were following the less than 10 people rule). We ordered food from a local hibachi restaurant and it was AMAZING. We timed this perfectly, though, because they ended up closing the very next day.

Day 6 (3/21/20): Tonight we celebrated my Nonny's birthday with our family (again, only 8 of us). We had originally planned to celebrate it on 3/7, her actual birthday, but because of our Lady Eagles going to the REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP, we ate supper out on her actual birthday and supported our Lady Eagles, and postponed the party until later.

The next week was my "Spring Break" from school. I had no assignments, which was nice, but we still, of course, couldn't go anywhere because of the quarantine and shutdowns. This week, Mom, Dad, Piper, & I implemented movie/game nights each week where one of us picks what movie we watch and/or what game we play each night and we take turns choosing.

Day 16 (3/31/20): Today was my birthday! :-) While it was a MUCH different birthday than usual, I still had a wonderful day! I started the morning off with breakfast from Wendy's with Josie. She drove thru and got our food, and then we met in a parking lot and talked through the windows of our cars. We had so much fun and it was so nice to be able to talk and catch up. Also, I LOVE Wendy's breakfast-it's amazing! When I got back home, I opened my gifts from Mom, Dad, & Piper and we watched I Love Lucy while we ate Breakfast Casserole for lunch. We watched more I Love Lucy and then took naps. Then we ordered carry-out Los Pinos for supper and watched ALF. We had Mom's amazing cherry cheesecake for dessert and watched more ALF. Then, Mom made non-alcoholic strawberry daiquiris for us to drink!

Day 25 (4/9/20): Piper made the decision around 1:30 am to be baptized and become a member of the Lord's church! We are so thankful for her decision and very proud of her! (A fellow member of the church and someone I look up to wrote a post explaining what baptism is and why it is essential to salvation. To read Emily's post, click Here.)

The other days have been filled with lots of random memories made at home. We've enjoyed spending time with the horses that live next door to us, we've had more game nights and movie nights, and we've also taken drives just to get out of the house. We've spent a LOT of time with our sweet doggies (and Miss Clara had surgery on her knee). The thing that I have without a doubt missed the most is my church family. Being able to go to church and worship and fellowship is such a blessing and so very important. I miss it and I miss being with my church family so bad. I am very thankful for the opportunity to use technology to have a similar worship service at home, and we have enjoyed "visiting" area congregations and getting to hear other local preachers preach, but I am very very ready to be able to see and be around my church family again.

I've also had some time to try some new recipes and do lots of cooking! I've enjoyed it, and hope to cook even more once school is out for the semester! :-)

Bacon Cheeseburger Sliders

Homemade French Fries

Cheesy Pigs in a Blanket

Hamburger Steaks w/ Mushroom Gravy
w/ mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, and crescent rolls

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza

Breakfast Pizza

Why a Gas Pump in Murray Means So Much to Me

To anyone else, this looks like any old gas pump. To be honest, you're probably reading this and thinking, okay where is she going with this? This gas pump is located in Murray and is the first gas pump you see on the right when pulling into this gas station. This gas pump is used who knows how many times each day and is just any old normal gas pump to most people. To me, this gas pump means so much more. This gas pump brings back so many vivid memories. This gas pump makes my heart hurt. This gas pump involves one of my favorite, funniest, most vivid memories I have with my Granny.

I don't remember what year this happened but I'm guessing probably 2015 or 2016. My great aunt and my grandmother both went on vacation in the fall and every so often, their vacations would overlap by one day. One of them would be traveling home from vacation the same day as the other one would be leaving for vacation. For some reason, this really really irritated my Granny. She got her panties in a wad so bad over this because she always wanted one of them to be home, even though the rest of us would take great care of her even though they were both gone one day. But, to ease her nerves, I would usually go spend the night with her the night they would both be gone, and usually that was enough to suit her.

I remember it was a Sunday; it very well may have been the Sunday that she was 1000% convinced that church started at 8:45 instead of 9:15 and she insisted that I be ready to leave by 8:30. We got to church 30-40 minutes early and she was BAFFLED as to why there was only like two people there already. She finally admitted that maybe, just maybe, I was right, and church did indeed start at 9:15. hahaha! Anyway, we had gone to church and then to Murray to eat lunch. I don't remember where we ate lunch, but if I had to take a gander I would guess we ate at August Moon because Granny LOVED to eat there. Now, we always drove Granny's car. That tan Buick that she kept spic and span. After we got done eating, Granny said "how much gas do we have?" The gas tank was over 3/4 full, and when I told her that she said "oh me, we better get gas, that's getting kinda low...." She would faint and fall over if she knew how low I let the gas in my car get before filling up hahaha, but nevertheless we went and filled up the car with gas. We pulled into this gas station in front of Walmart in Murray and pulled up to this pump. I got out to pump the gas while she wrote the check. It literally took her forever to write the check because she had to dig her purse out of the floorboard, get her checkbook out, put on her glasses, get a pen out of her purse, and she wrote so neatly and so precise you could literally sit for forever waiting for her to write the check. She handed me the check to take inside. I took it inside and the cashier told me that Granny would have to come in with her license because she was the one who wrote the check and they couldn't accept it otherwise. I walk back out to the car to tell her, and y'all, I'd never seen my Granny so aggravated haha. She gives me this look that would've scared even the bravest of people, throws her purse down in the floorboard, flings the car door open, and gets out. She starts marching up to the door, her heels clicking across the pavement the whole way, while she's giving me an earful "Do they not know I'm 88 years old and I don't care anything about getting out of my car to come in and show them my license?" 

Finally after her blood stopped boiling because they had the audacity to ask her to get out of the car (I mean after all that WAS why I was there, right?! Haha) we had a good laugh about how mad she got and how shocked and to be honest, a little afraid, at how mad she'd gotten. We had one of our "giggle fests" as we called them the whole way home.

What a day that was, and I pray I never forget about it.

She was something special. She was a prime example of everything I hope to be one day-a loving wife, mom, grandmother, and great-grandmother, but most importantly, a strong Christian. She is one of my greatest role models and closest friends. Sometimes I can keep the fact that she is gone off of my mind, and then randomly she will come to my mind and it's like a punch to the gut. The fact that she really is gone is so overwhelming, so painful, and so absolutely unbelievable some days. Other days, it's a blessing to know that she is no longer in pain, that she is reunited with my Granddaddy Dig-her husband of over 65 years, and that she has went on to the reward that she worked her whole life for.

I'm so thankful for my Granny and the wonderful example, source of laughter, fountain of love, and dearest friend she was to me. I'm also thankful for Jesus who loved us enough to give us the gift of eternal life with Him, and the gift of being able to be reunited with our loved ones. What a day that will be.

"I thought of you today but that is nothing new. I thought about you yesterday, and the days before that too. I think of you in silence, I often speak your name. All I have are memories and your picture in a frame. Your memory is a keepsake from which I'll never part. God has you in His arms. I have you in my heart."

What Am I Watching?

I've always loved watching TV shows, movies, game shows, stuff like that. I'm the girl who can sit down to just "watch a show while I eat lunch" and still be there at supper time! Ha! So, today I'm sharing what shows I love to watch.

Netflix Shows:

1) Gilmore Girls. I'm not really sure why it took me so long to realize the awesomeness that is this show?? I've just finished season one and I am in love. I love Lorelai's snarky, sarcastic, witty personality. I'm just desperately waiting for Lorelai and Luke to FINALLY get together already! Someone please tell me they eventually end up together?!

2) The Office. This one took me longer to get into but once I did I loved it. It's absolutely hilarious and I just can't get enough of it. My favorite characters are Jim & Pam. I also love Michael, I love Andy, I love Angela, I love Stanley, and I love Dwight. Kelly gets on my nerves, and I can't STAND Phyllis. The rest of them are okay. My favorite episode is probably "The Injury."

3) The Flash and Arrow. I've always loved superhero shows and I've always secretly wished I was an actress and could play Lois Lane or Iris West or Diana Prince/Wonder Woman. I'm a huge scaredy cat, though. Once I see something that creeps me out, it's a loooonngggg time before I can forget it. I BEGGED my Dad to take me to see The Dark Knight when I was in 4th grade and I was terrified for weeks haha. Heath Ledger did a killer job (no pun intended) as the Joker and I was scarred for life (I legit still REFUSE to watch that movie. I hate it. haha. I've seen all the Batman movies except for that one.) So, I tried out Flash and I can handle it. It's not too scary/gory for me and I just absolutely love this show. Dad and I watch this show together every week. I love the characters and the show is just so interesting and exciting for me. I can also handle Arrow and love it as well. It took longer for me to get into Arrow (I was addicted to Flash from episode one and caught up on the first three seasons in literally a month and was ready to watch season four when it came on TV). I'm not caught up on Arrow yet but I'm watching it on Netflix and slowly but surely I'm catching up. I tried out Gotham and could. not. handle it. Haha. It was way too dark for me and I just couldn't handle it. I'm not exactly sure what exactly it is that creeps me out and decides for me what shows I can and cannot handle, but I find out quickly if a show is gonna be something I can handle. Haha.

4) Little House on the Prairie. My mom, my sister, and myself have started watching this show together. We rent them from the library one season at a time and watch them whenever we have time. It's funny and has so much humor in it, and the characters are precious. I love that it is a clean show that our family can all watch together.

5) Hallmark Movies. I'm one of those girls who can watch Hallmark Christmas movies year round. Mom & I watched one the other day that was called Christmas Homecoming. It was about a military widow who has kind lost the "Christmas spirit." She meets another handsome soldier and they fall in love and it's just one of my favorites. I also love the one starring Candace Cameron Bure where she plays a doctor from a big city who doesn't get the fellowship she had her heart set on, so she moves to a super small town in Alaska and falls in love with the town, Christmas, and the handsome town handy-man. My all-time favorite Hallmark Christmas movie though is Christmas in Conway. It's such a precious movie, but def a tear jerker. It's about a woman who has a terminal disease but her husband builds a ferris wheel for her in their backyard just in time for Christmas. It's my absolute favorite!

What are your favorite shows/movies to watch?