Summer Chitter-Chatter (2020)

Ryrin · July 17, 2020

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Arie · July 17, 2020

4.

I feel so tired and drained these days it is a challenge to find motivation and energy to even do weekly tasks knowing its the same thing every week. dishes, laundry, cook. Life has become so monotonous that my physical response is to just sleep until its over. like i do when i'm in pain.

being a sahm has its ups and downs, but its pretty limiting with small children that fight wearing masks and want to 'go do something' that often includes public areas.

? bleh.

Ryrin · July 18, 2020

I can’t even imagine being a SAHM during this time. I was home for a few years. M was hyperactive and we were always at the park, hockey rink or swimming pool. Plus, the daily tasks can get monotonous. Even when he was little he spent time at pre-school each week.

Arie · July 18, 2020

We just got our district 'plan' for the k-12 kids. Mine are going into 2 & 3 respectively, and though I knew it was coming i'm not sure I am prepared with enough information not make decisions. Especially since we have to decide by Aug 10 if we are going fully online or not. ?

fubared.

LadyWordsmith · July 18, 2020

Okay I admit I have trouble reading some of the baby Yoda expressions. None of them seem as busy and frantic as I have been the past couple of days. ? Maybe Baby Yoda 6? The world makes me want to sigh a lot lately.

Realtor is coming next week so we can finally get the paperwork done and get the house up on the market, so I've been scrambling to get it ready. Stuffing as much stuff as I can into boxes to make the house less cluttered (and putting it in storage so moving is less chaotic when we have to get out of here. But we are running out of space in storage pretty fast right now). We have also completely replaced a staircase, and painted a lot of walls to nice warm neutral cream for 'sell it fast' purposes.

The kittens have a mild case of ringworm, so we are on round two (week 3 of six in the rotation) of kitten medication and being required to stay in their room (which is my bedroom....so we have been decontaminating it every night with Clorox wipes and a black-light flashlight to look for fungal spores). So far none of my adult cats (or the dogs) seem to have picked it up. They aren't allowed to mingle with the babies right now, which sucks because our youngest adult cat is willing to let them play with him, so they think he is the best thing ever, and I can't let them touch right now. The dogs also think the kittens are the most adorable things ever. The kittens have gotten over the shock of the existence of dogs.

I'm doing research on virtual field trips and what places in the state might be semi-safe to try social distant outdoor field trips with our students (at any point between now and next May), because I am supposed to train all of our teachers on the new field trip coordinating plan on the 28th when we go back (meetings will be virtual of course), and that means I need to offer them ideas and options that are feasible. ? Our students deserve a good year even if they don't get to physically 'go' a lot of places.

My son the introvert is still pretty okay with us almost never going anywhere as long as he gets to chat with his best friend sometimes. Right now said friend is allowed to come over once a week because he lives out in the middle of nowhere, doesn't interact with many people, and is willing to wear a mask the entire time he is over and they social distance well. Unfortunately, if he has to go back into the actual high school building this fall to do lessons, he will probably not be allowed over for a while.

LadyWordsmith · July 18, 2020

2 minutes ago, Arie said:

We just got our district 'plan' for the k-12 kids. Mine are going into 2 & 3 respectively, and though I knew it was coming i'm not sure I am prepared with enough information not make decisions. Especially since we have to decide by Aug 10 if we are going fully online or not. ?

fubared.

What is the plan they're offering Arie?

LilyElizabeth · July 18, 2020

I can't read the Baby Yoda expressions either. I'm feeling a little wistful. My oldest has a birthday today. He's 35. Where did my little boy go? He was such a joy when he was young! Not that he isn't now, but you moms know what I mean.

Cross · July 18, 2020

tell me about it, my sister just turned 40. we're both in shock

Ryrin · July 18, 2020

My oldest son is 30. ?

Arie · July 18, 2020

40 isn't too far off, but i have another *things* 3 years.... lol.

They are offering parents a choice of 100% online, or a one week home one week at the school with super limited access outside the classroom, including no outside play in large groups. Among other things.

It's not terrible, but we're likely opting for the 100% online for the first semester. How it will affect the one with ADHD that has an IEP who NEEDS the social learning more than the book learning... thats the major concern.

I may offer to play 'art teacher' to the kids on the street when i have the energy to.

Empathic-ness is a draining b!!ch.

Ryrin · July 19, 2020

That’s what I would do. My youngest son has ADHD. I’d have the kids do something physical before sit down work and also try to build learning within activities, plus breaks.

LadyWordsmith · July 19, 2020

Online would certainly be my first choice (I am biased though, since we've been online for 5 years, going into number 6), though which program they are using definitely effects the experience. I hope whatever you have works out well with your kids. ? Being art teacher sounds like a great idea! I bet the kids on the street would enjoy it.

Ryrin · August 13, 2020

My sister and brother in law came to visit! We went to Bass Lake on Sunday and Sequoia National Park on Monday. Today we were at the ocean in Cayucos!

LadyWordsmith · August 14, 2020

That sounds great, Ryrin!

My students start back on Monday (as does my son) so I've been devoured by back-to-school teacher prep, as well as getting the house moving stuff going. I had forgotten how complicated filling out loan approval paperwork was (the last time we bought a house, we were basically broke and just out of college so most of this form would have been blank!).

Our kittens, finally ringworm free, are having a great time terrorizing the rest of the house. ?

Ryrin · August 17, 2020

We went up to Morro Rock in Sequoia National Park. We took lunch and had a blast!

Ryrin · August 20, 2020

How is everybody doing? We are having fires in California and there is smoke in the air.

Cross · August 21, 2020

just wrapped up editing, formatting and designing the cover for my third book. so feeling good about that. been having a rough time with mom. she'd been essentially bed ridden for a while and we've been trying to rehab her strength, but her mind is the bigger enemy.

LadyWordsmith · August 21, 2020

Today is the last day of the first week of school with the students back. Our enrollment has been going up insanely fast compared to previous years (since we are a full time online school, this is to be expected), but we aren't hiring more teachers unless we absolutely need them because we also don't know how many of those families will decide to stay with us in 1-2 years. We are of course trying to make sure we give them the best experience possible, but wow we have a lot of new students!

Yesterday was my 40th birthday. ? So that was fun. We picked up take-out from Red Lobster and went to the local Cupcakery.

We are moving forward with listing the house. Hoping to have it on the market this coming week!

Ryrin · August 22, 2020

Happy Birthday!!! Good thoughts your way about selling the house.

Cross, what are your mother’s health problems?

Edited August 22, 2020 by Ryrin

Cross · August 22, 2020

she’s been battling breast cancer for more than ten years, her current medication has worked wonders, thank God. but side effects. apart from that since the beginning of the year she’s had bursitis, a pinched nerve in the shoulder, muscle strain, and severe back spasms. it’s been one thing after another that’s either kept her awake at all hours or with the spasm’s, unable to get up much. that one’s weakened her legs and she needs help getting around. we’re working on strengthening them, it’s just...taking a toll on everyone.

LilyElizabeth · August 22, 2020

I'm sorry to hear about your mother, Cross. I hope things get better quickly.

Happy Birthday, Lady!

I have also started a new semester. So far, so good. I really have to be organized now, because I have all the grocery shopping falling on my shoulders now, plus a little of the cooking. We aren't really telling anybody until she gets to the 2nd trimester, but my daughter is expecting again and she feels terrible most of the time. So, I'm picking up some of the slack. It's a wild ride!

Ryrin · September 6, 2020

Cross, your mother sounds like a very strong woman. I'm very sorry she has had to go through all of that.

Ok, the last two weeks have been pretty difficult for me. Prior to that, I had my sister and brother in law visit. We went to the lake twice, up into Sequoia National Park once, and to the coast once. So much fun. We had dinners at my house too. My sister has always had a fear of the water and never learned how to swim. I put her in a kayak life vest and dragged her all the way to the swim buoy. It's my immediate family tradition to swim out to the buoy as soon as we get to the lake. My sister loved being so far out in the water.

Then I hurt my back. I don't know how. It was incredibly painful, almost like both before and after surgery. I took it very easy and ate muscle relaxants for the spasms. It has mostly resolved.

Today was fun too. my husband went cycling and I swam laps at the pool. We drove up into the mountains and had a late lunch. I just finished a study with my Rabbi on Zoom. I'm going to share some recent photos in a few.