Our Side of the Tracks: January 2021 second half

After the thrift store shopping tour and Sunday in Elko, it was time for the four of us to head back home:

This is a fun photo op stop when you drive Elko to Nampa via Twin:

Had to get our "Kenobi 2020: Our Only Hope" sticker in the picture too ;).

I hope this tree is never cut down because it's the main way I find my grandparents' graves:

The original Carma and Clyde. Gosh I miss my grandma. Wish I had known my grandpa.

Sweet to spend a few minutes there with these three, especially with the tender afternoon we had spent saying good bye to Great Grandma Thomas.

Funny that my enneagram is 2 which eschews conflict, because I sure found myself in a bit of it over the weekend. There's a (private) Facebook group of 'parents for the re-opening of Nampa schools' with the expressed goal of a short and smooth transition from online/hybrid school back to completely in person learning - which I'm also on board with. There were just some sketchy tactics and weird maneuvering and some stuff with the current board members and aspiring board members and... yeah. I applied to join the fb group (they had a questionnaire you had to pass, crying laughing emoji) and as a VERY HELPFUL person, I shared that a big thing about reopening schools full time was re-staffing the kitchens and building up funding to be prepared to serve enough breakfasts and lunches again. If people go to the schools during online and hybrid to pick up lunches, that leads to more funding and the kitchens can get back up and running sooner, eliminating that barrier to re-opening schools:

Pretty chill, right? Clear instructions about how this will HELP RE-OPEN SCHOOLS.

Instead, the comments exploded into "school lunches suck", "Michelle Obama is the worst", "preservatives", "no home cooking", "I would never allow my precious babies to eat that stuff, it's fine for YOUR kids I guess", and my personal favorite: "my kid leaves his packed lunch in his backpack and eats school lunch instead, someone should be policing that and not letting my kid get in line and force him to eat the lunch I packed instead".

IT WAS INSANE. Insane, I tell you. I re-read my original post like thirteen times, wondering if it had auto-corrected to "Hey, let's all share our personal opinions of the quality of school lunch these days!" It hadn't. Again, this group is allegedly full of people who want schools to re-open. One barrier to that is the kitchens not being ready, understaffed and underfunded. More school lunches picked up during online/hybrid, more money to re-staff and buy food.

I added this comment to try to re-direct everyone. It went great:

SHOCKINGLY, that comment did not seem to help. There was now talk of some sort of investigative committee - "what ARE the exact federal requirements for school lunches? Why can't they share food? Why can't they gather the food that's been abandoned and sitting out for three hours in an effort to reduce waste?" and I realized that my personal mental health and well-being required me to not engage any further with this madness. I debated a quiet exit, but ultimately decided to loudly proclaim my desertion:

And I split. Clicking the "leave group" button on Facebook has never felt so satisfying.

And then a bit later I got this fb private message from another member of the group who I do not know at all and.... I died. Did we just become best friends??

But yeah, very good reminder of why I avoid keyboard warriors at all costs. By their fruits ye shall know them - total difference between people willing to put actual work or effort in and people who like to stir up contention and drama and whine about everything. Not my crew.

Back to Nampa safely and time for some family coloring and scripture study listening to a Come Follow Me podcast. I'd love to say we did this regularly. Alas, we did not. But seeing it again makes me want to re-start!

Oh yes it was also my birthday! Obviously had to hang out with my plasma besties:

Grandpa Braden stopped by with some birthday goodies for me while I was gone, but Carma and Jack were happy to rope him into playing catch in the front yard for a bit!

Sure love my dad. And love being his best birthday present ever since I was born the day before he turned 30!

Post plasma lunch with my actual besties, just missing Nic/Nyc.

Here's what 36 looks like!

As school resumed at the elementary level, some groups organized treats and support for the staff. I made this ADORABLE and CLEVER sign for the Park Ridge crew:

All set up in their staff break room!

Ha, on occasion I change my email signature to hilarious things and at one point it was "Jana Izatt, Safety Aide Extraordinaire"... leading to email lead ins like this:

Let's be honest, Ryker's a better safety aide than me anyways but still!

Jack is a beast:

And a DARLING one at that!!

Okay the inauguration was great but the memes were the best part:

Snuggling with my sweetheart. Reminding myself that someday she won't want Chuck or me at bedtime so enjoy it while it lasts right?

Instagram caption: New vaccine, who dis? 💁🏻‍♀️ Super thrilled to be part of the solution . Chuck allegedly got his first dose the other day but he did NOT post on social media about it so I guess we’ll never know for sure?! 🤷🏻‍♀️💉🩹🙌🏼

Birthday gift from a sweet student once we were back at school:

Love when I'm driving home right as the kids are biking down our street, little cuties! And don't even get me started on Jack wearing his mask as he rides hahahaha:

Well, this is me. Ohhh the shame. I really am sorry.

Yepppp:

Okay, I'm not a super competitive person but being on a team is a huge matter of respect, and this list is good.

Sharon McMahon is the best. Please follow her on instagram and subscribe to her newsletter (paid if you can!). So much good information, I learn new stuff on the daily.

Quick dumpster dive BUT WE FOUND THE PHONE!

Chilly out there:

But I actually love bananas AND fake banana flavor, so it's all good.

Just thought this was cute. Think it's Jack's:

Little curious Mando!!

Literally no idea why I was in a class with Will? And needed to take a picture? But so glad I did?

Dentist appts.

Abbey Road? Or King's, one of the two:

Chuck's great-grandma - freaking legend?!:

Couldn't love Ona or Ms. Gorman more:

Student brought me cookies!!

Jack being his own best hype man hahahaha.

So Carma definitely caught the "dress up" bug in Elko and Kaysville, but alas we don't have a ton of dress-up clothes... but she does have a ton of actual clothes haha. Cue this fashion show of outfits created from her own closet for various themes/potential events. Between hand-me-downs and my thrift store addiction, Carma's wardrobe is legit.