Motivation

Since we returned from our Utah trip I have had a renewed motivation that I didn't really have before we left. The change of scenery, inside and outside, helped us all to be a little more excited for the summer at home. This is a very good thing since we have learned that people in Michigan, and the running of the state itself, are still pretty careful. There are a few friends who my kids have been able to hang out with. Erik's friends' parents are more careful, maybe because they're younger? They only hang out outside in the yard. We have a mandate now where we will be fined $200 for not wearing a mask inside any public place or outside in a more crowded place.

So, I have been motivated to use this time to go through all my CDs (finally) and rip them to my computer so I can get rid of them, since I no longer have a working CD player. I finished organizing my photo albums that I was kind of working on during the quarantine, we're painting the hallway and Karissa's desk this week, and I have baked a lot of sourdough goods.

The night before we left Utah, my brother gave me a start from his sourdough starter. I was so excited to have one so I change up some of the things I bake and have some good supplies for baking if we are stuck at home for months again. Well, it slipped down from my pile of food in the refrigerator that night, so when we left the next morning, it wasn't there and I forgot all about it. I realized it was missing a few hours into our drive. When we returned, I decided to make my own starter, but it meant a lot of discarding. The option for not actually throwing the discard away is to bake with it. So I've made English muffins, pretzels (twice), cinnamon cake, pumpkin bread, cinnamon bread, and waffles. Finally, after about two weeks, my sourdough starter is ready to be put in a more permanent container and kept in the fridge where I can keep it and only have to feed and use every week or two. I have to say, though, that it was fun trying all those recipes. I know which ones I'll keep using and which I will not.

My workouts have been longer too because the kids are sleeping in more and I have no need to get back home in the morning. So I just keep running or biking. I go to a High Fit class on Saturdays in a parking lot and a bunch of us chat after the class for a while. We crave more socialization and I enjoy my Saturday mornings working out and then chatting with friends while my kids sleep and Jason does his run.

Some fun activities the kids and I have done together have been going to the lake, going on bike rides, playing tennis/pickleball, and playing games. Jason joined us for one of the bike rides, but most of these activities have been on weekdays when he's working.

These creepy birds kept coming up to us while we were eating our lunch.

They were too close for comfort!

The lake was perfect, but of course, a thunderstorm came through and we had to leave.

Rayven and Victoria before we ran back to the car to get out of the rain!

We learned that we need Jason with us next time because he knows what he's doing!

Victoria on a longboard.

Karissa, Austin, and Erik racing.

Austin is pretty fast on his rollerblades!

Olivia and Karissa (Karissa went with her family for a long weekend of camping- lucky!)

While Karissa was gone, we squeezed in another bike ride.

I'm horrible about before and after pictures, but you can see the yucky olive color of the baseboard before I painted it white. 

The hallways are grey and the doors and frames are white. Luke really wanted to go into Karissa's room, but she was painting her door on the inside!

The only downfall about all the motivation I had before, is that now I'm losing some of it! The "fire" is dying and I need something to light it again!