Clear "Smile" Masks

One of my biggest worries right now is Harper having to navigate school or church or just life in general with everyone in masks. Having severe hearing loss or deafness is extremely difficult when you rely on reading lips or facial expressions and now it’s covered. 

I found a local person making these masks!!!! I’m stocking up over the summer so that we can share with teachers or friends in the fall (if we need to). It will help Harper understand better. And now we can smile behind our masks! 

And note - these are often referred to as "smile masks".  :-) 

You can rub a little dawn dish soap on the clear part to keep it from fogging.  All masks are hard for me to breathe in and make me hot and these do too but at least people can see my face in these so it's okay.

They also typically come with a piece of wire that goes above the nose that keeps the mask a little further away from your face to help with breathing.  

The person who made mine is not wanting to mass produce so I thought I would try to find sources if you are looking for one.  

This links to a pattern for the masks.  I wish I knew how to sew.  I may have to take it up this summer.  If you would like to start sewing these and ship - let me know - I would love to send people your way.  I have a ton of people trying to find these including myself.  (email me at kellyskornerblog@gmail.com) 

This is another link to a pattern.  

Here are a few I found:

Amazon has an option with several patterns! 

Creations by Que is on facebook and a great source for these masks! 

I have a few of these from Rafi Nova. 

This one is on etsy and is $10 and they have a lot of fabrics to choose from 

This one comes in both adult and kid sizes and is $15 and they have a lot of fabric choices! 

Another option that is $10 and has many fabrics to choose from! 

Lots of fabrics to choose from for $10 

These are $19 but they have interesting ties on them.  And lots of fabric choices.  

These are $20

Here is another option for $14

One more for $12

I also found this clear mask for sale but it's the opposite of showing our smiles and more of horror film grade.  ha ! 

There is a company selling clear masks.  They are currently only selling bulk 10,000 count orders but you can pre order for boxes of 24 which costs $60 ($2.50 per mask) if you are buying for groups.  I know teachers really are going to need these.  And speech therapists.  And doctors and nurses honestly - especially if they have hard of hearing patients.  Kids need to see the smiles on their teacher's faces and see their mouths to know how to do phonics.  So you might look into this if that applies to you! 

These are made by another company and are single use masks for medical professions.  You can get 40 for $60 and they have bigger amounts available but they are on back order so it could be a month before they come in.  

I'm also talking to a local place about making these and if they can and ship - I will get that info to you as well.  

If I get info from individuals who will make and sell and ship  - I will keep a list and pass that on as well.  I hope this is helpful! 

Last Days

I know December is such a busy month but I would dare say May is always busier.  It's always so full of things - school endings, graduations, weddings, etc.  This year has been different and not as busy for sure but we still have had a few things going on.  We had a week of lasts last week. 

We went to the middle school and picked up anything we had left at school.  Since the kids left and never went back - the teachers sacked up all their stuff and scheduled times for us to pick it up.  I don't know why but I started crying when we saw Harper's teacher.  The year just went so strangely and it made my emotions about that come out.  

Harper had a great group of teachers this year.  This is her homeroom teacher and we both loved her.  The last day looks a little different than the first day.  We will never forget this year that is for sure.  

We went another day to the elementary to pick up Hollis' stuff.  We got to see our favorite librarian.  She is one of our favorite people in general so it just made us all smile to see her! 

A sweet friend dropped off cookies for us one day.  That was so thoughtful and I need to do more things like that! 

I don't know about y'all - but cooking 3 meals a day for my family - I feel like I'm having burn out trying to come up with stuff to eat.  Especially lunch.  We have been having a lot of "snack plates" as I call them.  Last week I made an Italian salad out of stuff I had on hand and it was so good.  

A friend called and brought me a loaf of hot out of the oven homemade sourdough bread.  It was SO DELICIOUS!!! Homemade bread is pretty much my love language (unfortunately).  

Today is technically the last day of school but it's mostly taking attendance so we counted Friday as our last day.  I always take first and last day pictures and I couldn't let this slide by.  The kids were not thrilled but I made them put back on their first day outfits (which means they had to get out of their constant athleisure outfit) and take pictures.  We didn't do it until night instead of first thing in the morning.  But I got a picture!  I can tell how much WH has grown looking at his head and the door handle.  

Honestly - Middle school was so good for Harper.  She had such a great year.  Even though the last 9 weeks were strange she handled it well and she made great friends and I loved that she could face time and text even while we have been at home.  

And next year will be Hollis' last year of elementary school which is crazy.  She was clinging to my legs as a new kindergarten kid and crying and now she is confident and loves school.  

Saturday morning we drove over to Flippin to see my parents for a few hours.  We haven't seen them since early March before my dad went to Africa.  My dad has had Corona (and recovered so well several weeks ago) and my mom was exposed and never got it so we figured it was okay to see them finally.  

My Aunt Linda came to see us too.  The kids love spending time with her.  

It was supposed to rain but it ended up being a really nice (and HOT) day.  We spent most of our time sitting on their porch.  We took Milli and she had never experienced the country or really other dogs so she had the time of her life.  And she also brought home a  few souvenir ticks.  ha! 

The kids were so happy to see their grandparents.  I think it was so good for all of us.  I felt so normal and happy that night when I went to bed.  It's such a weird feeling to just experience things we have taken for granted.  

We came home that night and picked up Local Lime for dinner and stayed up late.  It was a good day! 

My mom made my mamma's chocolate pie for us.  It was my very favorite dessert growing up.  My sweet mam-ma made it for every holiday and when I would go to visit her during college she always had one made for me.  I haven't had one in years and I only tried to make one once.  But I think I may have to try to master it because it's SO good.  Here is the recipe if you want to make it! 

Friday Favorites

It's FRIDAY! (what does that even mean anymore? ha!) But it's a long weekend.  Which again - seems like we have been on one long weekend for 10 weeks.  And it's also our last day of school - Hallelujah! Technically the last day is Tuesday but it's a virtual field day and I love our school and I love my children - but I'm probably not going to set up relay races for them.  We will just go for a bike ride instead.  I'm so grateful for all the work our precious teachers have put into virtual school.  They made the very best of a bad situation.  But this has not been the best of semesters.  My girls do okay but they just need more structure.  It's so hard not knowing what next year will look like.  Our schools have a task force working on it and have said in July we would have the decision of virtual school or going to school.  I'm hoping my kids can go depending on how that looks.  They would just do better being in person.  And they have told me they would much rather do that.  But we will just see.

I talked about some of my favorite things lately in my instagram story but I thought since it was Friday - I would talk about them here.

I'm so into candles right now because we are home all the time and it comforts me to have a candle burning and our house smelling good.  Laurie has this candle and I've had it before and it smells SOOO good.  It's just a clean/beachy smell.  I just ordered one and I can't wait.  

Dawn is a friend of a friend and she has been through a lot of hard things but has found joy.  If you are struggling right now or have someone in your life who is - this would be a great book to read! 

I started this series on Netflix and it's just what I have needed.  A sweet series about lifelong friends set in the south.  Maybe a little Hallmark-ish but it's the light chick flick series I have been wanting.  I will so sad when I finish it.  Have you watched Virgin River? I loved it too.  I just need them to get the second season up soon! 

Just ordered this top from Target.  It also comes in white.  It's so cute and I love the sleeves and it's only $20! I hope I love it as much as I think I will.  Stay tuned! 

Have a  good weekend! Remember those who lost their lives for our freedom.  Even if it doesn't feel very free right now.  

Better Speech and Hearing

This month is Better speech and hearing month.  Harper got featured on Arkansas Children's Hospital social media.  She was so excited to share! 

I get so many emails and messages from moms who have newly diagnosed kids with hearing loss and someone has told them about me and Harper.  I love being able to encourage them and share our story and give any help I can.  I thought it would be helpful to make a video with Harper so we can share it when we hear from people.  If you know anyone that might need to be encouraged on this journey - please share with them! I love getting to hear what is in Harper's heart too. 

Sharing life in a pandemic

I have been blogging weekly for 15 years.  I love just writing about the mundane every day stuff.  I love having a way to look back and have all my memories documented and I've been a pretty open book all of these years.  The last month or two - I have found it difficult to blog.  I want to have memories of what this time was like but 1.  there is really not all that much to talk about.  We don't do much and every day is sort of the same.  I don't take a lot of pictures and so I feel like I have less to blog about.  

But also 2.  I feel like we are all too quick to scrutinize each other right now.  We have been staying home and haven't been going out much even though our state is opened up.  We have followed all of our state guidelines with a super err on the cautious side.  But since every state and area is different - what I may do that is totally okay here is going to look different than what you might think is okay.  I've had people get mad because we went to trails and walked when that was not only okay here but encouraged.  And then some people question why we don't get out and go to restaurants since we can.   So it all makes me not want to share.  

I guess what I would say is give everyone a little grace.  Let's all try to do our parts but we if we don't have to stay locked up and can carefully get out - just use good sense! This is clearly a marathon and not a race and it's not going away any time soon.  It's hard enough without being tough on each other.  

Last week Will Holden had his preschool graduation.  It was one thing I was so sad we were going to miss.  It was always such a special day for my girls.  I came to terms with it and was really okay that it wouldn't happen.  

But his preschool is such a special place.  They went above and beyond.  They set up appointments for every kid.  They would come to your house or you could go there and they set up a special area and played pomp and circumstances and just made it so sweet for the kids.  

We will not forget how special that was or how special the preschool was.  My kids have been there for 11 years and it's going to be so strange to not pull up there a few times a week any more.  What a blessing it was to our family.  

In the middle of the pandemic, Scott started a new job.  He has been working at home since March 13.  He took off two weeks between jobs and had a little break.  If things were different - we would have gone on a trip or do something fun while he had time off but instead it was just a lot of family time and projects and he went to his deer camp for a few days - his favorite way to socially distance.  Starting a new job when you can't go to an office is been very different but hopefully this is going to be a great change for him.  

It was our best friend Steve's birthday last week so we did a drive by and dropped off his favorite donuts and said hi.  

Saturday we went on a long walk and the kids rode their bikes.  We had a lot of rain last week and it was also super cold a few days but the weather is finally getting warm and sunny and it really feels like summer is starting! 

Will Holden spends a lot of time outside playing.  He is always hoping someone will come by.  He just misses people.  

This is our last week of school.  Online school has been fine and the teachers have gone WAY BEYOND but it's not the best for probably any kid.  But we are doing what we can.  I'm trying not to think about what next year will look like or I get super depressed and overwhelmed.  I have heard so many things and I hate them all.  Especially with Will Holden starting kindergarten.  I don't know what it's going to look like but I'm not going to spend all summer worrying.  I'm just going to pray and let God be in control and we will face it the best we can! 

I hope you are having a great week! 

Day in the Life

I thought I would document a typical day in the life right now while we are at home during Covid on instagram stories but then I decided I would just make a video for You Tube instead.  If you are bored - you can watch and see what our days look like.  They are a little different from day to day but for the most part it's ground hog day around here.  :- )

I also thought this would be fun to look back on in a few years.

Mother's Day

I hope y'all had a happy Mother's day.  

I know it's a hard day for many of you and I want to acknowledge that first.  If you are still single and wanting to be married and a mom.  If you are going through infertility and the waiting is wearing you out.  If you have experienced loss.  If you have lost a child or your own mom.  If you had a mother that was less than ideal.  I'm sorry if the day is painful for you.  I know how it feels and I haven't forgotten.  

And for all of those who love being a mother but know it's a hard job.  A rewarding and wonderful but hard job - solidarity! Especially right now in the quarantine.  It's a whole new level of parenting! 

I am so grateful for these three.  I love them so much I can hardly breathe.  Sometimes I can't believe they are mine.  I had a really good Mother's day.  

We watched church in the morning and they gave me a sweet card.  

Our church gave out plants so we picked up one and two for a couple of widows in our church and delivered them.  

We face timed both of our grandmothers to wish them a happy day! 

It was a beautiful day and what I really wanted was to go on a long walk.  I got in 6 miles and listened to podcasts and it was glorious.  

Walks look different these days.  

I picked up my favorite take out from Local Lime for us to have for dinner.  

My MIL sent me perfume and Hollis made me the sweetest coupon book.  It's full of tons of coupons.  It might be my sweetest gift ever.  Hollis always does the most thoughtful things for me.  

I got myself a few plants for our porch.  

And I just spent a lot of time with my people.  We have been spending a lot of time together in general lately.  Which mostly has been a gift.