March 2020

In like a lion and out like a (You fill in the blank). The jury is still out on this one, but let's just say it has not been a typical March by any stretch of the imagination.   This spring is going to be one for the history books, that is for sure.

Everything started off innocently and normally enough.

March 2nd I took Naomi to the eye doctor to get fitted for contacts.  We finished up and got to the school just as the bell for second period was ringing.  This was perfect in that I was subbing for Mrs. Tedder (it was supposed to be a half day, but she asked for a full day at the last minute - we got it covered).  I spent the day with the 7th graders talking about the Sneetches and how that relates to stereotypes and how we see others and when/if it is okay to think you are better than someone else.  It was a really interesting conversation.  These kids are deep thinkers.  I am serious when I say that subbing never gets boring.    That afternoon was the first away game for the girls soccer . We played Charlotte Christian and beat them 2-0.  Our team is looking really good.

March 3rd I actually had a day to get a bunch of stuff done.  It started with taking Nick's car to the shop to get an oil/lube/filter done as well as have the lock on his door fixed.  I was also able to run a bunch of errands and get so many things done.

Mrs. Rogowski asked Naomi to do more of the enlarged book covers for the Media Center.
This is one of her favorite books.  She is so good at art sometimes it scares me.  

March 5th I got to work in the media center redoing the Bibliography section.  After school Naomi and I went to another away soccer game against Covenant Day.  We won that game 4-1 in the pouring rain.  The girls were freezing but they still played well.  After the game, Naomi changed into some dry clothes and we got her warm and fed before heading to the church for youth night.  Nick came dancing down the hall on his way out to his car.  He pulled me aside and told me he had asked Ravyn to prom and she said YES!  He was so excited.  About 5 minutes later Ravyn came down the hall and told me how excited she was to get to go to prom with Nick.

March 7th the Young Women met at my house and we went door to door asking people if they wanted their garbage cans cleaned to help the girls earn money for girls' camp.  My neighborhood is so supportive and they love having their garbage cans cleaned.  We haven't done it since Jeremy's Eagle project and they neighbors were all excited we were finally doing it again.  The girls actually liked going door to door as well.  Once all the girls were gone I got in the shower and started getting ready for a night out with Steve.  We had tickets to the Marc Broussard concert and were going to Mr. Tokyo's for dinner beforehand.  We parked the car at the Traxx station and took the train into uptown.  The walk from the train to the theater was really nice.  The concert was fabulous! The opening act was the Jaimie McLean Band.  Their music was infectious and fun and really got the crowd ready for the main event.  When Marc Broussard took the stage everyone was on their feet and dancing.   I forget just how good he is and then we get to see him live and I remember how much I like his music.  It was a fun date night.

March 10th the girls soccer suffered their first loss of the season.  We fell to Providence Day 0-4.  It was hard, but these girls are resilient.  They will bounce back stronger the next game.

March 11th Nick ran in his first meet of the season at Bandy's.  Steve was able to go and see Nick run while I took Naomi to her soccer practice.  Nick ran really well in his two events.  The season is off to a good start.

Check out those guns!

March 12th we played Holy Trinity and won 3-2!  They were the toughest team we have played and we really held it together.  The girls were so happy only to be disappointed to find that their season was most likely at an end due to a little thing called Corona Virus or Covid-19.  This contagious disease that originated in Wuhan, China, had found its way to the United States in late January and was spreading faster than anyone could imagine.  Because of the contagious nature of this new threat all school sports were cancelled until after Spring Break.  In fact, all field trips through the end of the year were cancelled.   No Busch Gardens with the band.  No Carowinds with the choir.  No Blue Ridge with the 8th grade.   I looked at my phone and found a message from the church youth leaders.  All church activities were cancelled until further notice.  I hadn't thought much of it when earlier in the day I had been called to the office to help contact all the parents of the new students who were coming to new student registration that night to let them know that the event was being postponed due to "an abundance of caution".  Little did we all know at that time just how much Covid-19 was about to completely disrupt our lives.  The nice thing was the team was able to have their picture taken for the year book before the game so they have a nice memory of their short season.

Nick and I dropped Naomi and Bella off at home after the game and went to the grocery store to pick up a few last items we might need.  We had been hearing about people going crazy and buying up all the toilet paper and cleaning supplies and that the shelves were being emptied of food faster than the workers could restock.  It was our day for the normal grocery trip anyway and I must say I was surprised at how bare everything was.  That made this whole situation a lot more real to me.  Seeing empty shelves was frightening. I did have to chuckle at the Raman noodle isle.  It was completely bare.  At that moment, I was so glad that my parents had taught me how to build and maintain a food storage.  I didn't have to panic buy.  We got our fresh fruits and veggies and came home.  

Friday, March 13th, I got to spend the entire day in the gymnasium watching dodgeball tournaments.  The winners of each grade would get to play each other at the big pep rally in a couple of weeks.  The energy was really high and it was a fun day, but by the end I was happy to be put on bathroom duty so my ears could get a rest from all the screaming and yelling and... All in all, it was a great day.  

March 14th, Even though all church activities were cancelled, we were allowed to go through with the garbage cleaning activity in that it was outside and we could keep our distance from each other. I am so glad the girls got this one, last activity together.  They were all surprised by how much fun they had collecting, cleaning and returning the cans.  We had 10 girls working for 3 hours and they got 30 cans nice and clean.  It was an excellent way to spend the day.  

Later that day we got word that all public schools in North Carolina were going to be closed until March 27th.  Two weeks!  For LNC that is not such a big deal because we are already set up to do online learning AND we just ended our 3rd quarter on Friday.  The CDC was hoping that closing the schools and limiting where people were allowed to go would help to flatten the curve of new cases, which in Italy had been doubling daily.  In the US we are only a few weeks behind what is going on in Europe and it isn't a comforting thing.  Since it is a respiratory virus and we have no immunity to it because it is so new, it is especially dangerous.

Later that day we also received word from the Church that all meetings were cancelled until further notice.  We would be conducting church at home.  Once again, we have been doing the Come Follow Me program (a home-based gospel learning program) for 18 months now and so the switch to learning at home was not all that drastic.  I missed seeing all my friends, but we had a great little meeting and talked about the gospel.  Once again, I am so grateful to belong to a church that has prepared us for a time like this.  March 15th was our first day of in-home church.  I had to take a walk after church to clear my head.  I found some gems in my own neighborhood that I hadn't noticed before.  It helped that all the red bud trees are in bloom and I love them!

March 18th I got a text from my sister on the family group text asking if everyone was okay.  I thought she was referring to the Covid-19 situation but it turns out there was a large earthquake (5.7) in Utah out in Tooele which is only 20 miles from Salt Lake.  They kept having aftershocks all day long!  It was really scary.  Nick also had a tough day struggling with fears surrounding his graduation and that this delay in schooling might delay his graduation.  The poor kid has been counting the days until he is out of high school (for 4 years he has been counting, I kid you not!).  We had to reassure him and send an email to his counselor to make sure everything was still going as planned towards graduation.  Thank goodness Ms. Riggans responded quickly.  That really  helped settle Nick down.

Seminary was changed to online as well. Thankfully all the students in our stake were set up to be online students this year.  It was something our stake presidency felt strongly about.  I am grateful for inspired men who followed a prompting they had.  Our kids were up and running with online seminary within days of having to switch gears.    We had our first Zoom meeting to discuss how the week went and what they want to see moving forward.  I didn't think I would miss them as much as I did.  Thank goodness for technology that allows us to meet "face to face" even when we are far apart.  We WILL get through this.

March 20th I finally had some time to clean out the truck.  I have been promising myself that I would give the truck a good cleaning the first available day.  Just as I finished cleaning Devon and her sister, Cara, came walking up.  We kept our social distance (6 feet apart) and spent the next two hours talking.  They were stressed about not having school for two weeks and what that would mean for next year.  By the time they left they were feeling better.

Social distancing socializing.  

Sunday, March 21st, Steve and Nick were authorized by our bishop to administer and pass the sacrament at home.  That is a first in my life time.  It was incredibly spiritual and made me grateful to have worthy priesthood members in my home.

I spent the rest of the day hanging pictures in the bathroom and getting the decorations put in place.  After three years of planning the beach bathroom is finally complete.  It is gorgeous and I just might move in permanently.  The saddest thing about the whole situation is that it took a worldwide pandemic to get me (and Steve)  to slow down long enough to finish a project.

The new window opens the whole bathroom up and lets in so much more light than before.  

My mom cross stitched the fish picture on the right.  It fits perfectly in with the decor of the bathroom.
She is such a talented lady.  Love you, Mom!

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My gorgeous map pictures in floating frames Steve finally had time to build for me.  

The view from the door. 

March 22nd we got news from Governor Cooper that schools will now be closed until May 15th.  That leaves only two weeks of school before summer vacation for my kiddos. We are not happy about that.  Trying to keep morale up in the Cannon house is getting increasingly difficult.  The kids have realized just how much they miss school.  Also, Nick was holding out that school would be back up and running in time for prom on April 24th .  Yup!  Prom has been officially cancelled this year.  He and Ravyn are still planning on getting dressed up and doing a photo shoot when all this is over though.  She wants to come here and fix dinner together and then get all fixed up for a proper photo shoot.  I think it is a wonderful idea.  Something to look forward to.  At this point graduation is still on.  Cross your fingers.

To work out my frustrations I learned how to take in some shorts I bought online that were much larger than the measurements said they would be.  They fit great now and I have a new skill.

March 23rd I contacted a friend of mine who is a nurse.  Her husband is a doctor in the emergency room as well.  I asked her if there was anything she needed.  She told me there was a shortage of face masks and asked if I could make her some.  I had found a pattern with instructions online and made her a couple of different styles.  When I dropped them off (keeping the 6 ft. social distance, don't worry) she was so excited she asked if I could make more for the nurses on her floor.  OF COURSE!  She needed to check with her nurse supervisor, but she would let me know.  That night she texted me that they would LOVE masks and there were 66 nurses on her floor.  WHOA!  I made as many as I could with all the supplies I had on hand (thanks, Mom, for teaching me to save fabric and thread and elastic and bias tape).  I had enough elastic on hand to make 36 masks. which is a blessing because there was no elastic to be found at Walmart or Hobby Lobby.  Hopefully that means that other people are making masks for the hospitals as well.  One good thing did come of our frantic search for elastic - we found me a new sewing machine (on a killer sale) to replace the one Steve bought me the year after we got married.  The last time I took it in for service the repairman told me he couldn't fix it again.  The parts were getting too worn out and he couldn't find replacement parts anymore.  I have a new sewing machine to replace the old one when it finally dies (which could be any day now).

First batch done

March 25th I got the 36 masks all sewn.  Jeremy walked with me to Julie's house to drop them off.  Why did you walk, you ask?  Well...we are now under a stay-at-home ordinance and driving anywhere but to the store or an essential job is now illegal.  Julie doesn't live that far away and it was a beautiful walk.

Later that day we got an email from the Church letting us know that all the temples will be closed until further notice.  Another historic thing.  To close the temples is a serious thing.  Missionaries are also being sent home early from foreign countries.  They will be reassigned when Covid-19 passes.

That night we had a Zoom conference call with the whole Cannon family.  It was fun to check in with everyone and make sure they were all okay.

March 26th I was searching for more fabric with which to make masks and came across an old fitted sheet.  The material was perfect, but I needed it to be flat so I started cutting off the edge and realized...THERE WAS ELASTIC ALL AROUND THE EDGE!!!  You know things are dire when you get that excited and giddy about finding more elastic.  There was enough elastic in that sheet to get 10 more masks.

March 28th Steve and I took advantage of the time at home to power wash the mold off the side of the house before we got a letter from the home owners telling us to clean it.  I also got the front of the house weeded.  It looks really nice.  Ready for company when we can have it again (positive thinking).   I sewed 22 more masks and delivered them to Julie that night.  The last batch are going to have to be a different style because I ran out of elastic.  I found a pattern that uses hair ties and will do the rest of the masks in that style.  I am just trying to stay sane in all this crazy.

March 29th we got to do a Zoom call with Dad Cannon.  It was nice to see him and EllaRene and know that they were okay.  This was also a day of world-wide, church-wide fasting for relief from the Covid-19 virus and all the ramifications (economic, psychologic, academic, etc.).

March 30th I continued on my sewing binge by making a bag for Nick's bike.  This is another project I have been trying to get to for almost a year.  It turned out really well and Nick was so excite to finally have a bag for all his bike stuff so he doesn't have to carry a back pack every time he rides his bike.

It is extra big so he can fit his bike pump in the long side.  

Not bad for not having a pattern.  

Jeremy and I went for another walk to get out of the house and enjoy the outside.  We like to have time to talk books with each other.  The best way to get him talking is to go on a walk.  This is a win-win situation.  We were both in a better mood when we got back.

Standing under a red bud tree and looking up.  I love how the blossoms are on every part of the tree.  

March 31st Governor Cooper announced that the school board met to discuss how to handle high school seniors and their graduation.  It was decided that high school seniors would receive either a PASS or FAIL for the last part of the third quarter and their year GPA would be calculated based on their grades from the first half of the year.  If the senior was passing all their classes with a 60% or better they were basically done for the year unless they had AP classes or college courses for high school credit.  Nick was so excited about being done with school that he and his siblings went on a really long walk just to celebrate.  Hey, anything that gets them out of the house together is wonderful in my book.  This kind of takes the sting and worry out of the rest of the year for him.

There was another earthquake out west.  This time it was in rural Idaho and was a 6.5.  Things are getting scary and real people.  What is next?  I don't really want to know.

That night several of us met at a church parking lot across the street from the Cuillard's neighborhood to do a drive-by welcome home for Elder Matthew Headrick who had just recently returned from his mission in Venezuela.  It was so good to see him again.    Covid-19 is making us all get creative in how we celebrate with each other.

The last thing we did that night before getting ready for bed was to register Naomi for her freshman year in high school.  She is taking all honors core classes, health/PE (required), band and art.  I would have been really wierded out about this a couple of weeks ago, but with all that has been going on in the last little while I took it in stride as another fact of the new normal of our lives.

Here's to hoping that things improve in April!!

February 2020

February was a fun month.  It is always rather busy because both boys have birthdays.  February started off with a little pre-Super Bowl shopping to get some ingredients for football food.  As always, Nick wanted to come to the store with me.  He loves to help me shop because I always let him put something extra in the basket just for him.  On this particular shopping trip he was feeling extra silly and wanted to sit in the basket while we shopped.  He is getting so big that it is increasingly hilarious to me when he folds himself up to get into the basket.  He was acting like a 3-year-old and kept throwing the stuff out of the basket whenever I put something in.  At one point I stopped and said, "Nicholas.  Look at Mommy!  If you keep throwing stuff out of the basket you will not get a treat.  Do you understand?"  He nodded and did the sad lip thing.  It wasn't until I heard a laugh behind me that I realized we had an audience.  

Big on the outside, but little on the inside.  

Sunday, February 2 (02/02/2020 a palindrome day!) was the Super Bowl.  Kansas City won!!  They beat the San Francisco 49ers 31-20.  I was kind of sad because the 49ers were always one of my favorite teams, especially when Steve Young was the quaterback.  We had a good time watching and the half-time show was really cool.  Jennifer Lopez and Shakira really brought everything they had and left it all on the stage.  

February 5 was an exciting day for Naomi.  Her phone was dying and it was time to get her a new one.  She has been using Steve's old phone that was Jeremy's before he left on his mission.  It was time.  I was excited because we also upgraded to unlimited minutes and got Disney Plus in the deal for only $3 more per month.  

The flu season is hitting LNC pretty hard this year.  Quite a few students and several teachers went down hard  I washed my hands A LOT and made sure I didn't give hi-fives.  

Steve has been bitten by the blacksmithing bug pretty hard.  He is in the process of collecting all the needed items to build his own forge and get himself up and running.  He needed a new hobby now that scouts is over.  

Naomi's latest art project from school.  It is on display in the library.  

February 6th I was subbing at LNC when the tornado drill alarm went off.  I thought it might be just a regular drill, but it was the real thing.  A tornado had been spotted about 3 miles southwest of the school and was heading in our direction.  Some of the kids were pretty freaked out when they found out it was for real.   The teachers had to walk the halls making sure everyone was okay and that they stayed calm.  One little girl was in hysteric because she was worried about her mom.  Luckily one of the counselors walked by and took the student to her office so she could call her mom.  It was a scary 45 minutes.  The rain was pounding and the wind was whipping.  Naomi's class had to go into the bathrooms in order to be safe because their classroom was too close to one of the outside doors.  I was so proud of all the kids for keeping as cool as they did under that stressful situation.  They were real troopers.  At one point water was coming in through Mrs. Queen's closet and we had to get a janitor with a mop and bucket to help clean up the water.  It was intense!!!

There was so much flooding and trees were down all over the area that the major school districts cancelled school for the following day.  That meant no seminary.   I shouldn't be that excited about a day to sleep in an extra hour, but...

A friend of ours found Naomi's art on display Uptown. 

So official!  I wish we could have gone, but we never got the information as to when and where it would be on display.  

Naomi made it into the LNC Facebook Hall of Fame.

February 7th was a great night for some church basketball.  We played the Spanish ward and things got to intense that they had to call the game early because of how physical it was getting. I was afraid that someone was going to get really hurt.  

February 8th was the final game of the season for the boys.  They did not win, but played really well as a team.  Notice the looks on their faces in the picture below.  Some are upset about the loss and others are just happy the season is over and no one got seriously injured.  

 That night Naomi had a party and Jeremy had to work so Steve, Nick and I went out to dinner and just relaxed for the night.  Nick is really fun to talk to when he is not having to compete with his siblings for talk time.  Being the middle kid is tough, but it has its perks.

Holy Cow!  Nick is 18.  That happened way too fast!  We showered him with gifts and went to Lonestar Steakhouse for dinner.  He got to try fillet mignon for the first time ever and he is a HUGE fan now. 

Now he has a place to hang all his bling!!

February 12th was the first day of track tryouts.  Nick wants this season to be the one where he breaks the 5:30 mile.  He has been working so hard. 

February 13th the last Daddy Daughter Dance for Steve and Naomi.  Next year she will be at the high school.  They got all dressed up and went to Mr. Tokyo's for dinner.  At the dance, Naomi hooked up with all her friends and they had a blast. 

Leaving for the dance.  

Naomi and her friends had a great time taking some really cool pictures.  This one is 100% real and not embellished or touched up at all.  They found the yellow flowers outside and played with the shadows the bush created.  Cool pic!

Another one of Naomi's favorites from the night.  

February 14th was an e-learning day for LNC.  The kids love to stay at home in their pajamas and learn.  Steve and I went to Coretek to look for an extra monitor for Jeremy for his birthday.  It is all he really wanted.  

That night we all went to see the new Sonic movie.  The boys have always been enormous Sonic fans and for the movie to come out right in between their birthdays was a sign that we MUST go see it on opening day.    It was astonishingly good.  We went home and had breakfast for dinner to finish off the perfect day.  

February 15th I got to spend a little time with David and Serena Jacobs to go over some ideas that David missed in seminary and wanted to talk about.  This is the fun part of my calling where I get to work one-on-one with the students to help them understand the scriptures and how they can be personally applied.  After they left, I quickly ran to the store to pick up a few items before heading home and straight to bed.  I was trying to catch the flu that was going around LNC.  Not today, flu!

I stayed home from church the next day since I was still feeling crummy and had a low-grade fever.  

February 17th, President's Day, I was still feeling yucky, but got to stay home and further recuperate.  Nick wanted to make his favorite chicken meal so I helped out with that and Naomi spent the day at her friend's house.  It was a good day.  

February 18th was the first day of soccer tryouts and day 2 of track tryouts.  Such an exciting time for Naomi and Nick.  

February 19th Jeremy is 21!!!  Whoa time!  We celebrated with cheesecake! 

Nick got the 3rd highest points of the whole team for track tryouts.  Obviously he made the team.  He was super excited.  

February 20th it decided to snow.  Since they were expecting a huge accumulation of snow by the afternoon, school was dismissed 2 hours early.  Before heading to the school to pick up Naomi, I went to a meeting to learn how to be in charge of the Band Scholarship process for the next three years since Naomi is going to be in band.  It was fun to learn the process.  

February 21st started off with a 2-hour delay at LNC which also meant no seminary.  That night we finally had a chance to go out to dinner for Jeremy's birthday.  He and his friends had discovered a great Korean barbeque place uptown called Let's Meat and that is where Jeremy wanted to go for his 21st birthday dinner.  It was really fun.  You cooked your own meat in the center of the table and could order as much as you wanted.  We ate all sorts of yummy stuff and even tried squid.  I probably would have liked it a lot better if it have been cooked properly.  I think we over cooked it.  The night was really fun and I loved being with the family.  

Jeremy was in charge of cooking the meat.  YUM!

February 22nd Jeremy went to work and Naomi was at the mall with her friends while Steve and I attended a baby shower for two of the teachers at school.  It is going to be fun to see the Willets as parents.  They have waited a long time for this to happen.   Nick stayed at home and organized his room.  After we were done with the baby shower, Steve and Nick went to the mall to find Nick's tux for prom.  Let's just say that he is going to look amazing.  I will wait to post a picture.  It will be worth the wait!  That night, Steve went to the Tincher's  house to watch the big fight (????? don't ask me who ????).  When he got home he said a guy's night out was just what he needed. I am glad he has buddies to watch the fights with because I just can't. 

February 24th we found out that Naomi made the soccer team.  We also found out that Jeremy had a poem accepted for publication!  It was a great day.  I will post more info about the poem when it is published. 

Naomi's latest creation.  This is how she relaxes at the end of the day.  

February 25th I had to take quite a few medications to make sure I could breath and not cough which really played havoc with my equalibrium.  As I was walking into the school, my heel caught on a crack and I would have completely face planted into the brick wall if Naomi hadn't grabbed by backpack and held me back.  In the process, everything came flying out of my bag.  My water bottle hit the ground with such force that the lid completely broke.  I had a good laugh over it once I got something in my stomach so I wasn't so light-headed.  I did learn that taking cough medicine, allergy medicine and ibuprofen on an empty stomach is NOT a good idea.  

That night Steve and I got our taxes done.  It is always good to see Donna.  We love her.  

February 27th was the first soccer game of the season.  We played Charlotte Latin at home and won 3-0.  The girls looked really good.  I got to work the scoreboard and so I had a great seat up in the press box for the whole thing.  

February 28th I got to spend the day with the 5th graders while their teachers were in planning sessions.  They are the cutest kids and always want to please you so it was a fun day made even better by getting to see Alyssa Geary.  She was one of the other substitutes for the 5th grade and was a friend of Jeremy's.  They graduated the same year from LNC.  She is just finishing up her teaching classes and is subbing on the side.  Jeremy didn't believe me when I texted him a hello from Alyssa so we took a picture as proof.  

Oh My Goodness!  It is Alyssa Geary!   It was so good to see her.  

Saturday, February 29th Steve and I decided we NEEDED to get to the temple.  Life had been getting a little too hectic and a little too crowded and we really felt the need to get to the temple and reconnect with God and our spiritual sides and forget the cares of the world for a couple of hours. We really needed to find center again.  It was the perfect reboot.  Just what we needed.  While we were down in Columbia we stopped in at the bookstore and got two new pictures for our house.

Just what the house needed.  I love the representation of even when you feel like you are drowning,
He is there to lift you up again.   

This one is just so peaceful.  

SPOILER ALERT:  Knowing what happened just two weeks after this wonderful temple day occurred makes it even more amazing to me.  I am so glad we followed the prompting to go to the temple on that healing and fortifying Saturday.  We will need all the strength we can get to make it through an incredibly rough patch.