Merry but mellow

We were home for the holidays this year. That's nothing new for Thanksgiving, but it was the first time we didn't have anyone over. And we've never been home for Christmas. This year, we were supposed to go to Colorado with Jason's family, but there were too many people and it was going to be too complicated to figure out how to quarantine / get tested. So we Zoomed! 'Tis the season of Zoom (or Google Meet or FaceTime - pick your platform).

We ended up having good family time anyway. Cousin Will and Uncle Joe created a family quiz for Christmas Eve that was really funny and we all made brunch together on Christmas. The kids ate too much sugar and started a dance off. It felt like a typical O'Grady family gathering.

And since we were essentially quarantining at home, we decided it was safe enough to get together with Betsy and Susie and families for a little gift opening session (and our parents on video). Baby John is crawling now, so it was so much fun to see him on the move and trying to get inside every box on the floor. 

Molly made shopping easy for me this year. She assembled a bunch of Google docs with links and I just went through and ordered everything on Black Friday. Shipping has been a nightmare this year (we still don't have the Christmas cards that I ordered on Nov 30 and one of Molly's gifts was outright cancelled), but everything else arrived on time and she was SO happy with her loot (LED lights for her room, curlers, slippers, a stylus for her iPad, new robe, makeup - you know, tween stuff).

I gave Jason a set of bourbon glasses to support his new hobby. (Yes, bourbon hunting is a whole thing ... quantities are limited of the good stuff and there's all kinds of strategy involved with finding the rare bottles.) And he supported MY favorite hobby with a new knitting bag that has tons of compartments and a zipper on the top. A big improvement on the overstuffed tote I had been using. 

Here are a few pics from our happy holidays:

Molly with her homemade pumpkin pie

Thanksgiving selfie ... just the three of us

Staring at the baby

Molly showing off her new makeup set

Molly with her new curlers and a hand-drawn antler on her face

Jason and I feeling festive with our littlest nephew 

Riley guarding her new Santa shark toy

Molly posing (the pensive look) in her new hat - hand knit by yours truly

Same as it ever was

Am I the only one that feels that way? COVID numbers are surging, especially in Illinois. Stay at home advisories are back on. Thanksgiving plans are off.  I'm working from home full time again, which kind of feels like a step back. A necessary step back, but I really miss having a place to go, even if only for a couple of days a week. 

We were trapped in Illinois due to swim team - any travel out of the state would require a 2-week quarantine and missed practice. But as soon as we found out they were putting a pause on swimming, we raced up to Wisconsin for a change of scene.

It has been SO nice to be up here. It's pretty deserted, which is exactly what you want during a pandemic. For some reason, Molly is more willing to hang out with us up here. She demolished us both in a game of Risk yesterday and has been joining us on walks with Riley. We have grand plans to watch Dumb and Dumber tonight ... I hope she finds it as funny as we did. You just never know what movies are going to hold up over time.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Two vaccines are looking to be both effective and safe. It just might be a few more months before we have access to them! So until then, it's looking like we'll be continuing with this slower, lonelier version of life. Lots of knitting (see below), reading (current books: Dune and The Elephant Whisperer), TV (Deadwood), and cycling (thank goodness for the Peloton!!). 

Here's me in my new cardigan (don't I look pleased with myself?). I'm about halfway through another sweater and then will switch gears to hats and blankets.

Finished knits

One of the downsides of working from home is that it has been rough on me physically. At the beginning of the shut down, I thought it was only going to last a few weeks, so I spent part of every day working on the couch and using the track pad on my laptop like a fool. Eventually I got an internet booster for my sewing room upstairs and started working at a desk, but my set-up still wasn't exactly ergonomic. The pain in my wrist, arm, and shoulder got so bad I couldn't even pull off a downward dog or sleep on my right side (my favorite side!). 

I was pretty sure I needed to see my doctor or go to an orthopedic walk-in clinic (yes, they have those). But as a first step, and on the advice of my sister and other coworkers with carpal tunnel, I decided to try wearing a wrist brace while working and sleeping. I also ordered an ergonomic mouse pad and raised the height of my computer screen. Life got busy and I put off the appointment, but lo and behold, my DIY solutions started to work! 

I'm now at the point where I can get through a work day without too much pain and am working my way up to sleeping on my right side again. Baby steps. I can also knit again! My favorite activity to pass the time while watching football and TV shows with Jason. Here are a few of my completed projects:

Throw blanket knit with yarn from a failed sweater. Actually, I think it was a sweater and then a poncho before I ripped it up and made the blanket. I finished this on our PNW trip over the summer. 

  

This kind of looks like a sweater, right?

Surprise! It's a dickie! I love this thing. I sometimes get too hot in thick wool sweaters, but this is the perfect layer to throw on when my office gets cold. It was so much fun to knit and was my first box from Knit Crate (subscription gifted by my siblings-in-law for my 40th - thanks guys!)

Here's Riley getting all up in my current project - The Bombshell Bomber cardigan. It may take a little while to finish, but I'll try to remember to post pics!

O'Grady update

So, what's new in O'Gradyland?

Well, after 6 months working from home full time, I'm back in the office 2 days a week. It's totally optional to go in, but honestly, I kind of like it. Hardly anyone is there, so I feel like the risk is low. And I'm so much more productive at my real desk with the big monitors and super fast server connection. Plus, now that I work 5 days a week again like a normal person, it helps break things up a bit. If I had to commute by train downtown, I might not be so enthused, but a 30-min drive to an almost empty building in the suburbs is not exactly a hardship. 

Right around the time I started going back to the office, we found out that Molly's school will be completely remote until November 16th. After that, they're starting with just 10-12 kids per grade in person. Molly isn't even on the list for the first wave, so it's looking like she'll be learning from home until some time in 2021. Crazy!

But Molly IS back in the pool, swimming 3 times a week with a small group of kids for Team Blue Fish with the YWCA. After a 6-month slow-down, I think she needs this. She's also started meeting up with a couple of friends and a tutor on Mondays (outside) to work on grammar, reading comprehension, writing, and some other stuff that seems to be playing more of a role now that she's a big 5th grader. Who knows, maybe she'll end up exactly where she should be after all is said and done.

Molly is also slowly but surely working her way through OIT. She's up to the equivalent of 2 hazelnuts and 1 walnut every morning. Kind of hard to believe, given that just a small taste sent her to the emergency room just a couple of years ago! Right around Thanksgiving, she should officially be in the maintenance phase and able to eat whatever she wants without checking labels. Nutella, here we come!

As for Jason, he's got a few prints up for sale at our favorite coffee shop (Coffee Lab) and people are buying! It was the boost of energy he needed to start printing again. That, and the new washout sink he has set up in our laundry room that allows him to clean screens through the winter.

Speaking of our laundry room, and basement, we're in the middle of a little re-do. We had some flooding back in May, so ended up ripping up the carpet and switching to an epoxy floor. We cleared out some of the bulky furniture and are making room for a Peloton bike! (I know, I know, the commercial.) But if we're going to be home all winter, I need something more than a yoga mat and hand weights! 

Last, but not least, we were able to get up to Wisconsin for a nice little getaway before the numbers spiked and the state was added back to the quarantine list. It was a lovely and relaxing weekend, made even better because Joe was in town for work and able to join us!

It's looking like things are pretty good from this post. On one hand, they are. We're healthy and doing what we can to stay happy. On the other hand, there's still A LOT happening in the world. Fires are burning through the West coast. The election is looking like its going to be dramatic. Tensions are way up. There's so much plastic that can't be recycled ... It's hard to know what to focus on, but I'm thinking maybe I'll focus on using less plastic for a start. Look at that picture up there, with 3 single-use plastic bottles on the table! We can do better!  

I found a coworker who crochets mats for disaster relief in Haiti out of plastic grocery bags, so I'm trying to gather those up for her. I'd rather they get stitched up into something useful than left to be buried in a landfill. Once I work my way through the half-filled bottles of shampoo in my bathroom, I'm going to try making the switch to bar shampoo (I hear good things ...). And I've found a company called Dropps that ships their laundry and dishwasher pods in cardboard to reduce waste. Might as well give it a try! If you have any other zero-waste ideas, let me know. 

Baby love

I can't imagine what it has been like for Susie and Sean, to have their first baby the same week that the world decided to shut down for COVID-19. They haven't been able to just have everyone over, to hang out or to help out. It's been ... a little different for them, to say the least. But we decided there was a nice window at the end of summer, post travel and pre fall activities to do a 2-week quarantine and hang out in person and mask-free for a bit. After 5 months of staring at photos, I can't tell you how good it felt to hold this cute new nephew! As you can see, baby John charmed us all ... 

Traveling in the time of COVID-19

We braved our first flight since the start of the pandemic for an end of summer trip to the Pacific Northwest (Portland --> Olympic National Park --> San Juan Island, Washington --> Seattle). It was something we had planned before the shutdown and we went back and forth many times about whether to go or cancel. But in the end, we decided to go for it and I'm SO happy that we did. 

We basically spent the entire week outside. Hiking, canoeing, whale watching, beer tasting, outdoor dining ... it was one of the best trips I've ever taken. As you can see from the photos, summer weather in the PNW can go from 90 degrees and tank tops to 50s/60s and sweatshirts, so I'm very happy we packed our layers. Here are a few of the highlights:

Portland Japanese Garden:

Outdoor dining at The Red Hills Market in Oregon wine country:

Molly taking in the view:

Family selfie at Lake Quinault Lodge:

Hiking the temperate rain forest in Olympic National Park:

Ruby Beach:

Whale watching from Lime Kiln Point State Park:

Orca whales! We were lucky enough to see a few on our whale watching tour:

Double rainbow in Friday Harbor, the cutest little island town ever:

Smelling the good smells at the Pelindaba Lavender Farm: 

Mother and daughter - outdoor dinner (and beer tasting for the adults) at the San Juan Island Brewery:

We're now dreaming big dreams of retiring in Washington State. Ha! Who knows if that will happen, but I do know we will definitely go back! 

Where are we now?

We're still at home(ish). Evanston is in "Phase 4: Revitalization" which means we can do a few more things, but still need to mask up in stores, etc. I'm still working from home, although a few people have started going into the office 2 days a week. They've moved the desks and reconfigured the conference rooms. Everyone has to be screened before going into the building and wear a little device that beeps if you get within 6 feet of another coworker. I've heard it's like working on a Saturday, which doesn't sound tooooo bad. I certainly miss my extra monitors!

But then again, people are still getting COVID. Cases are up, especially among younger people. One of my coworkers just recently recovered from it and said it was pretty awful. Her husband picked it up at his office (they don't have a mask requirement) and had a mild case. She ended up with it 5 days later and said she was so sick she could hardly walk up the stairs. And that is still a "good" outcome, all things considered.

So that's about where we are, one foot still in quarantine and one foot inching out. We've been mingling freely with the family (B's family, my parents, Jason's parents), but still not with Susie, Sean, and new baby John (though we get to hang out with the little cutie on the porch every now and again). We've seen friends at the beach and for outdoor parties. Molly starts a week of sports camp next week, though they will be keeping the groups small, wearing masks, and sanitizing frequently. I'm happy she'll have something to do. An hour swim lesson here or a bike ride with a friend there does not fill the day. The iPad certainly does though! I am starting to worry a little bit about the hold it has on her, but I hate to cut off the only lifeline she has to her friends.

Speaking of which, we found out today that Molly will still be remote learning until Sept 29th. It's a bit of a blow - we were hoping for at least a day or two in person. But I do understand. This virus is still out there. People are worried. Teachers are worried. It is what it is.

Either way, remote learning or in-person, I've decided go back to a 5-day work schedule. It's nice to have an extra day off, but with all this time at home, I'm not exactly suffering from a work-life imbalance. Things are pretty good from that perspective, and I find myself doing at least a little bit of work most Fridays, so I might as well get paid for it!

That's probably enough COVID talk for now. I'll leave things on a happier note with a batch of photos from the lake house. We've gone up every weekend since we bought the place, but are going to take a few weeks off to enjoy summer in Evanston. I'll miss it!

Jason and his Dad working on planters and outdoor lighting for the patio 

Our place at night

Captain Maggie

The happy family

Double digits

I have a 10-year-old. A tween. I know I'm biased, but I think she's about the sweetest 10-year-old out there. Right now, she's in the front yard dancing to the Hamilton soundtrack with 6 of her friends (at an appropriate distance of course). Here are a few photos from the last couple of weeks so you can see what 10 looks like:

Molly's tie die birthday party

My little VSCO girl in training ... she's got the oversized shirts and scrunchies. A Hydro Flask and Birkenstocks are all she needs

Baking at the lake house

Always posing

Not so sure about kayaking ... next time we'll do a double. She did not like paddling on her own

Hanging out with her Dad

I'm starting with the (wo)man in the mirror ...

This discussion is really worth watching (a couple of times probably!): Robin DiAngelo: White Fragility. The moderator, Marcus Campbell, is the Assistant Superintendent/Principal of our local high school. It's an hour long, so set the time aside and dig in:

 

Our getaway house in progress

I think Jason and I were feeling pretty stir crazy at the start of the stay at home order, because in the span of just about a month, we ended up searching for and buying a lake house in Wisconsin. It's just under 2 hours away, so pretty easy to get to. We closed on Friday and have already been back and forth 3 times! 

Here are the "Before" pics. Hopefully in a few weeks, we'll have made enough progress that I can post some "After" shots. 

It's not a big place, just about 900 square feet

Molly has bunk beds - the bottom "bunk" is actually a futon that folds up into a couch. We have it set up as a bed for now because we're still waiting on mattresses to arrive for the other bedrooms

Kitchen and dining area

Living room / sun room ... this is the room that sold us on the place!

We have deliveries coming almost every day it seems! I've been putting Molly to work assembling furniture 

And now for the best part - we have a hammock!! I've always wanted a hammock. You have no idea how happy this makes me

Focusing on what matters

We're still working from home, and COVID-19 is still lurking in the background, but social distancing has taken a big backseat in the news to the more recent protests against systemic racism and police violence. It feels like things are starting to change or nudging in the direction of change. Maybe? It feels like people (white people, politicians, people in power) are starting to listen more and not just passively listen and nod in agreement, but actively listen and feel compelled to do more. At least I hope so. I know I am personally feeling compelled to do more.

There is so much work that needs to be done.

I'm trying to take in everything that is happening and to start doing what people are recommending. Jason and I are talking to Molly about everything that is going on and trying to make discussions about race and politics more of a part of our everyday conversation. Not just a "special talk" that happens before bedtime, but part of our family back and forth as we're making breakfast or moving through the day. We're donating to causes that are working to make change and that support the Black Lives Matter movement. I'm reading a novel by a black author (The Fifth Season ... love it so far ... a more educational book will be next up - The Warmth of Other Suns). And I'm trying to see how I can get more involved or more actively support the changes that are going to be happening at school.

Our school district has been working for at least the past year (visibly at least ... probably longer behind the scenes) on implementing anti-racist policies. Last year seemed focused on training and getting people on board, with some changes ... and some grumbling from parents that don't see why things can't just continue on as they always have. I'm not big on social media. I usually just kind of keep tabs on what people are saying, but don't really get involved. I'm pledging now that I'm going to be more vocal. I'll be on board with whatever changes are suggested. And I'll try to get others on board too. But that's just one thing. There's more to be done. There's more I can do.

I know people are hurting and have been for such a long time. I was instant messaging a black coworker the first day back to work after a weekend of protests and just kind of casually asked how she was doing (in between discussing changes to a project) and she replied "Praying for peace and justice." We talked for a little bit more about what was happening, before transitioning back to the "urgent" work task as hand. But what she said really stuck with me. I've floated through life surrounded by peace and justice. It's time to help everyone get the peace and justice they deserve.

A fabulous 40th

Social distancing at home during the middle of a pandemic was not how I was expecting to spend my 40th birthday, but somehow Molly and Jason made it a better day/week than I ever could have imagined.

They planned a week of yummy meals, including the best takeout ever on my actual birthday - paella from Next

Jason made a photo book ... this is the first version with the mistake on the cover (don't worry, a reprint with the correct year arrived just in time!)

I was surprised with a "happy birthday" trumpet serenade from 6+ feet away

After work, it was time to enjoy an aperol spritz, courtesy of supplies delivered from Jon and Adina (and wearing new earrings from my mom)

Closing out the day with my favorite girl, who helped Jason with the planning every step of the  way

The highlight was definitely the birthday video that Jason made. He had friends and family from near and far send in birthday wishes and it absolutely made my day. Thanks to everyone who took the time to send a video in! I watched it twice on my birthday and will continue to watch it anytime I ever need to feel the love: https://share.vidday.com/b-81mm8o

So far, 40 is pretty fabulous!