Thriving

I love school in COVID-19 atmosphere. Let me explain. Pre-corona, we went to school for 8 agonizing hours in the same classroom and I learned maybe two things and had very little motivation to study outside of that wasted time. Now, my profs are realizing they can deliver 2h of material in an 8min video and I am living for it.

I got fired from my job - but I'm still getting paid. I am helping out a few kids still on occasion - but not nearly what I was doing before. And I have infrequent zoom meetings with the big cheese.

Nature. 

The Physioshop had regular PT last week, but initiated Telehealth this week (thanks to that executive order allowing it). Which is a real bummer since I don't have a treadmill or BOSU ball I can access. Those are my main complaints.

BUT Nike Training Club is doing free premium indefinitely, so I've been adding those to my P90X, and Country Zumba (which has my downstairs neighbors T-I-T tight). And as a PT, I really support their programs.

The gallery. 

With all my excess free time, I've been studying for my comprehensive exam and doing art. I feel like Moriah. I do pastels, water colors, acrylics. I'm hand-sewing a dress for MGH which may or may not turn out good. And since my basil plants died over spring break, I've planted an assortment of fragrant wildflowers which have already sprouted (5 days in). I read. I have movies on in the background. I go for walks in the nature. And the other day, Roger cooked some organic steaks for breakfast.

In other words, I am living my best life.

Quarantined

Here are some important things to note from this adventure:

   1. Roger has been telling me he hates cider until he tasted the New England Version and then we crushed 2+ gallons PER DAY.

   2. Mom, MGH, and I worked out on the daily. Moriah can do 120+ SL STS and loves superman/bananas. She also one day told me she didn't want to work out bc her leg bruise hurt. I told her that's ok bc it was arm day.
 
   3. All of our fun plans were cancelled - Celtics, Boston, deep sea fishing... So all we had to do was eat, hike, and play games. All of Roger's favorite things. I'm game for 1/3.

Look closely...

Monday we tried to see where Roger's dad lived as a missionary and apparently went to the wrong place. We tried to go to Green Falls, but it was closed for tree felling. And we tried to go up Lantern Hill, but then thought we were on the wrong path and tried to take a shortcut and went up the wrong hill. But we DID see a snake.

Be ONE with the ducks. 

Tuesday we hit up Mystic Village (and the honey shop) with Kelly and Zubby. Lavinia drove with us to all of our adventures, and then stayed in the car. Like a lump. We sampled honey and mustard and walked around in the cold and MGH got a new finger puppet named Peacock.

Traditions. 

Fiend.

We tricked Moriah into going on a hike to Glacier Park and she actually did ok. But as soon as she found out we were almost done, she started BOOKING. I think she yelled over her shoulder "Guacamole". Because that's what she had to look forward to at the homestead. We played Ticket To Ride and Roger loved it.

Moriah just likes to sit and look at the water. 

Wednesday we got Ming Moon for lunch bc Roger's never had good Chinese food. And then we took a trip to see the temple, Gilette's Castle, and Devil's Hopyard. By the end, Isabelle stayed in the car too. We set up HeroScape and auctioned the guys off.

In her spot. We found out later she was only hanging
out with us bc her drawing stuff was confiscated. 

Thursday it was raining so we PLAYED HeroScape. And Roger won and loved it. And we made spaghetti with deer meat, which was delicious. We probably played another game afterwards.

Lighthouse. 

Friday we went to Avery Point and saw the ocean and a lighthouse and it was too cold. So we restocked the cider and went home. And probably played so many games.

Saturday we went on a family adventure to canoe and fish in a local lake. Moriah hated it and everytime we took a break, she would yell "PADDLE!" to try to get us to go back to shore. And when we made it there, she said, "Hey, didja miss me?" As if she hadn't been a stressball the whole trip.

Her favorite part was looking back at these pics later. 

After a short break, we took a stroll to Avalonia, our backyard pond and trail. Roger wrote in his notebook for school and I waited in the sunlight. Then He experienced Risk while MGH and I had a dance party. We learned a new game like ghosts in the graveyard and dinosaur hugged it out pre-flight at 6am out of Boston.

COVID-19 (to the tune of Come On, Eileen)

I don't actually remembered much that happened, since this was two weeks ago. I went to school as usual and slowly witnessed the cancellations of all my fun plans and the rest of my semester. One good thing from all this is that my teachers have cut down in-class time to approximately 1/16th. 

The other cool things that happened were that I got housing for my first internship and that I had a fun battle with my higher-ups to try to get some equal care for our athletes. I'm realizing that - if nothing else - school has filled me with so much rage to fight for what I believe in. And I appreciate that. 

The clean crew

Roger and I flew out of PHX on a pretty full airplane at midnight Friday and were picked up by the G-man, arriving to freshly baked blueberry muffins and a nap. We walked the dog and fixed a door and enjoyed authentic Irish food. 

We took a trip down to Jenny's, where we went yaking on beaver pond and the Rog's had a chat about canyons and lakes and such. We did forget to ask about his blacksmithing experience - which we're trying to get a leg up on for our upcoming (whenever I decide we're ready) Forged in Fire competition. 

We hung out with Funcle Aaron and the crew for a game of Five Crowns and forced-feeding of chips & salsa. And learned some things about Rachel that we probably didn't need to know. We knew our time was limited in MA when the Governor shut everything down and Mimi said, "If you leave this house, you aren't coming back. (Not bc we don't love you. We'll just die.)"

MGH was so excited to show us where she and dad walk. 

Xandy picked us up and had to wait in the car so the sickness in CT didn't travel with him. Grampy immediately hugged him despite his protests. Classic. Then when Mimi asked if they hugged, Grampy said "He told me I wasn't allowed". And THAT'S where I get my deceit from.

Let's Just Go Shoot Stuff

School. I had an exam and prepped for three more. I need to leave. Highlight of the week was that instead of doing a balance screen for our community outreach project, we took a guy shooting.

This is my dude. He is delightful. 

Patients. We got our first shipment of GoBIG stuff in and I spent half an hour putting together a plyo box - and didn't even get blisters. Brandi, Ciera, and I are working together in a 4-treatment wellness session with a woman with MS who, unbeknownst to us, fell and broke her hip one week ago. I helped with treadmill training for a man with a spinal cord injury and now Roger has been contracted to build us a foot plate.

Health. I got my blood test results - and everything is normal. Which is good, but leaves a few things unexplained. The good news is that I felt significantly better this week, so I'm waiting it out to see if it stays. I started running this week - and by that I mean jogging slower than my normal walking pace. And I "played" volleyball with Val by standing at the net and never moving. We won.

His wife & son came with us as well. They're pretty cool people. 

Work. I had a lot more patients, which keeps me busy, but it also means more people are injured. I spent the week advocating angrily for the infrequent use of modalities and equal treatment of athletes.

Fun. Roger took me spotlighting and we saw hundreds of elk - more than he's ever seen. I keep telling him that it's because I'm lucky when I'm not trying (and I remind him that I won two pairs of airPods on accident in the last month). We also went on a SIX MILE hike on Saturday, shot stuff, and grabbed food and a new basil plant at Carol's house.

His favorite PTs. 

Eulogy for a Fool(ogy)

This week was more doctor's appointments than anything else. I had PT per usual, and a follow-up with the PA, and a new visit to the Naturopath (and a subsequent visit back to the PA), and then to Sedona for some blood testing - because that's the nearest place my insurance contracts with. And I felt generally terrible during all of it.

Treated myself to some BOMB Mexican post bloodwork. 

So, some better highlights were the monthly AT/PT journal club (where Brandi and I argue with our professors and everyone else watches); my neuro patient (who is the cutest) and our SLPs (who I will be rioting against); and the free shirt I got while working because I dropped into the basketball game real quick. Our clubhouse provided free pizza one night, which Roger enjoyed. I ordered items from our GoBIG funds for the clinic that I am STOKED about. And I worked another LAX game to help pay for my doctors.

The highlight of the week was a funeral. (Does that tell you anything about what kind of week it was??) More specifically, a funeral for John Robert's youth, since he's turning 25 tomorrow. We dressed in all black and handed out printed programs and carnations for the friends and family to drop at his feet after they had said their remarks. Abbie put together a slideshow, looped to sad music. And then we had food, including funeral potatoes. John Robert hated it, which was arguably the best part.

#friends

Sunday was also fun. During which I felt worse than usual, but still managed to be Facetiming the Chin at the exact moment Xander realized our house was on fire. Again. We kept chatting for a few minutes before he went to check on it and MGH snatched his phone right up so we could plan every single meal for the upcoming week and her shopping list.

Roger was helping Brandt and Becky move some heavy stuff out of the house they just sold, so I snuggled with Paislee and watched Forged in Fire. During which we decided that in the future, we will be holding our own competition. And since I'm involved, you know it'll actually happen.

Bc I have to mention seeing my BFF this week.
And I need a reminder to save her GC tix.