Corona Chronicles: June Recap

So officially the pandemic is over, but we had several family members who had Covid in May and June. So the Corona Chronicles series continues.

Usually, I tell stories about how crazy these kids are, or how crazy they are driving me…and that is still very much the truth. But I am so incredibly proud of them this month that I am going to focus on that.

The big kid competed in her third national competition for speech and debate. While she didn’t come home with any trophies, she is already a state champion. She spent a little over a week in Phoenix with her team and chaperones, and she had a great time. I, personally, have never been west of Denver. I know she will go much farther than I ever did. There are several schools attempting to recruit her. Yale is among them. How cool is that.

I sent both the boy and the baby to summer school. They both did well, and even enjoyed it. For the last two weeks, I sent my son to Coterie camp with his big sister. At the end of the two weeks, they performed a devised theatre production. It was amazing to see my son on stage, delivering his lines loudly and clearly. He is usually a quiet kid, except when yelling at his video games. My mama heart skipped a beat as I watched him coming out of his shell.

Besides the baby completing summer school, she also completed a week of acting camp. The play she and her classmates created was very cute. She also had her first few practices with the competitive gymnastics team. She wanted to quit after the first practice, but she persevered and is doing much better now. But the thing I’m proudest of is that she went to Vacation Bible School with her best friend, and she memorized her bible verse. Every day she could recap her lesson for me. Last year, she attended the same VBS and couldn’t tell me anything except the games and the songs. I am grateful for improvement.

We ordered a few HelloFresh meals this month, and everybody in the house helped cook. It was a fun way to get everybody involved. The meals were healthy and balanced…and it felt good not to have to make a grocery list for once.

I am hoping that July will be restful for them. It won’t be for me, but that’s another story.

Praying for a safe and happy summer for us all!

Corona Chronicles: 10/19/2022

It has been another crazy week at the Radford house.

First, I would like to congratulate my oldest daughter and her cast mates for a successful run of Akeelah and the Bee at the Coterie Theater. These kids were amazing, and for at least a couple of them, it was their first production. They did a total of 37 shows in a months time, sometimes, even 3 shows in one day. The kids did that while also trying to maintain their grades and their teenage lives. It was no small feat.

That was the good thing. The bad thing was that I managed to wreck my car on the last few days of the show. We are now down to one car as a family. It was already stressful trying to get everyone to where they need to be. Being down a vehicle has added an extra level of stress to all that.

Since my last update, the boy had a high and a low. He went to a VR birthday party. HE had such a good time. He was not allowed to stay the night like the rest of the children. First of all, I generally don’t allow my kids to stay overnight with other people. Secondly, he was on punishment for not doing his school assignments. As a result, he lost access to all of his electronics. He only got to go to the party because I had already RSVP’d.

The baby is back in gymnastics and she is thrilled, especially now that a friend from school joined her class. She’s also back to experimenting in the kitchen. Last week, after I refused take her to an expensive seafood restaurant, she made her own shrimp boil using some things we already had at home. I’ll be glad when she can take over all of the cooking duties.

We tried a new crockpot jambalaya recipe last week. IT was not a successful effort. The flavor of the meal was perfect. However, the texture was a disaster. Apparently, my crockpot has hot spots, so the rice cooked unevenly. Some of it was mushy. Some of it was crunchy, and some of it was cooked perfectly. I won’t be doing that again. I’d rather make it on the stove.

Anyway, now that the play is over and I can’t actually get anywhere, I’m going to focus on putting my house and my life back together. A lot of things got pushed to the back burner as we put a lot of energy into making sure my big kid had a successful debut. Laundry hasn’t been put away for weeks. I haven’t written anything of substance probably since before the show started, and my diet has been trash. I joined a biggest loser challenge. I might as well have just donated that $20 dollars because I have barely lost a pound.

I didn’t win the Powerball. No wealthy benefactor has stepped up to sponsor us yet, and no unexpected checks have arrived in the mail. Somehow we are all still surviving, and since you had the time to read this, so are you. For that, I am grateful.

Have a good week!

Corona Chronicles: 10/08/2022

October is generally my favorite month of the year.

I usually try to make a big deal about my birthday. I intend to use all of the free birthday coupons I get in my e-mail. But they are coming in a little slow, so I haven’t had any free meals yet. I’m having a hard time deciding where I want to go for my birthday dinner with my family. I spend a good amount of time looking at menus online to see if I can find a place that will fit all of our tastes. I haven’t found anything yet.

Anyway, we are down to our last week of shows at the Coterie and I could not be more excited. This back and forth to the Crossroads district is killing my gas budget and wearing me out. After today’s show, we had to run home and get ready for the homecoming dance. (My kid looks amazing by the way.) She seems to be taking all this in stride. I, however, am on the verge of a breakdown. I have no idea how she is managing so well.

I dropped the ball and didn’t study with the baby for her last spelling test, and the result was an average grade. She was disappointed. I felt like I failed in my parenting duties. However, her reading has improved quite a bit since the beginning of the school year, so I’m not failing at everything. She also got moved from the wait list in her gymnastics class. When we arrived on her first day, her new friend from school was also in the class. They were so happy to see each other. It was the cutest thing. It almost made up for some of the less than ideal things that happened this week.

My son is the one who is going to give me a heart attack. His book bag is completely unorganized. He answers all of my questions with one or two words. His math grade is probably going to cost him is X-box for a few weeks, and he always waits until the last minute to tell me anything. He has decided to get involved with debate and drama club, which I’m happy about. I’m not happy when he tells me about meetings that same day.

As for new things this week, we tried a croquette recipe from his anime cookbook. I have had both salmon and tuna croquettes before. This was a steak and mashed potato croquette, and it was actually quite tasty. I considered going back to HelloFresh for new ideas, but it really is a little pricey for my family of five.

Quote of the week goes to the oldest, who following her debut vocal music performance said aloud “Match my energy or get off the stage.” She lives her life like that. We all should.

Love and light to all of us,

Mama Radford

Corona Chronicles: 06/21/2022

I need to catch my breath. It’s been a crazy day in the Radford household.

I’m going to start with my own story today. I got to work on time, for once. I could barely celebrate that fact because as I was walking in the fire alarm was going off. It would ring for a minute and then stop. A few minutes later it would start again. The security guards didn’t seem alarmed. Apparently, last night’s storms had knocked out some power downtown and they were trying to get everything up and running again. I didn’t realize the severity of the issue until about 20 minutes later, when I realized I hadn’t cooled off, yet. The air conditioning was not running. We are required to wear masks in the building. After three hours of that, I started checking around with my co-workers to see if I was the only one. After 5 hours, I mentioned to management that it was a health hazard. In response, they brought me a fan. Finally, after 6.5 hours, they asked me if I wanted to go home. She barely had the words out of her mouth before I started packing my things.

I got home just in time to save the day for one of the kids. Camp went well for them, from what I can tell. I didn’t know that they were taking head shots today. Had I known, I would have combed the big kid’s hair, and made them both put on decent clothes. Because I didn’t know, they both took head shots looking crazy. Her hair was half-straight, half-afro. The boy gave us a smirk instead of a smile.

Finally, I took the baby to her gymnastic class. She had a great time. She was very proud of herself for jumping from the platform to practice the high bar. I’m not going to lie. It was actually pretty impressive.

I made cabbage and sausage for dinner with a side of cornbread. Nobody was pleased except for me. They ate it, though, because there were no other options.

Today, I got some news that I had been waiting to hear. I’m hoping to get more good news over the next couple of days, and then, just maybe I can breathe a little bit. I’m getting tired of holding my breath.

Corona Chronicles: 05/09/2022

After a few weeks of running lines, constant rehearsals, and shopping for costumes, we finally got to see the big kid perform.

My whole day and probably the last month, has centered around getting my girl ready for this performance. So I was nervous, and excited, while she was just excited. She killed it on stage. And of course, she had a cheering section!

So instead of grouchy, grumpy tired mom, tonight, you get proud mom. it’s not easy raising superstars, but I’m doing the best I can!

Shout out to the aunties, who showed up and sat in the front row. They are always there when I need them, and they always support my babies. I love them all so much.

So tonight, I’m celebrating: a successful show, the best team on the planet, amd the fact that my air conditioner works. It’s hot in KC.

Y’all have a good night and stay cool!

One auntie wasn’t in the picture, but she has never once missed a performance! She doesn’t care if these babies are on program at church or at Churchill Downs. She’s coming, and I love her for it!

Corona Chronicles:02/27/2022

Wow! This weekend flew by. This whole month flew by! March begins in less than 36 hours. I need to get myself in gear.

Today, I’m celebrating the fact that I have delivered all but 6 boxes of my initial Girl Scout cookie order, which means I can now begin eating my own supply. Did I order $200 worth of cookies? Yes, I did. But in my defense, I am the parent of two scouts.

My youngest child got up this morning to make herself brunch. She made French toast, a fruit salad and a fried egg. Her plate looked amazing. Chef Boy-ar-Baby knows her way around her mama’s kitchen. Unfortunately, I had just cleaned it, when she started cooking.

The big one isn’t much of a breakfast person, but she has a weakness for cinnamon rolls. I try to keep a tube of them on hand, just in case. I let the big kid drag me to an event today, and it was kind of amazing. The Coterie theater at Crown Center is doing some amazing things! I was so proud of those kids, and I didn’t even know any of them.

The boy’s diet consists mainly of pizza and chicken nuggets. I also keep those on hand, too. Though he seemed happy with tonight’s dinner of salmon, mashed potatoes, and asparagus.

Anyway, The night ended with hubby and I trying to hook up our new Google Fiber devices. That experience had me longing for the day when you had to wait all day for the cable guy to come hook up our stuff. Things are working now, but the real test will come tomorrow, when we both try to work from home.

Wish us luck. Good night.