Sunday, October 31, 2021

Sunday: Halloween

After I woke up this morning I found this meeting of stuffed animals.  They're meeting to figure out what to do about the bad boss.  They're sorted by families...Bears have 7 members, Plutos 4, and Dragons 3.  (I'm not sure sure they ever figured out what to do.)
 

For Halloween I made mummy dogs, per Joshua's request.  (He remembered them from last year.)  However, I only had giant eyes, so I said they were Minion Mummy Dogs.



Friday, October 29, 2021

Friday: a vacation

A few weeks ago Isaac told me he needed a vacation from Joshua.  (They were still playing well together, but they are together a lot.)  Anyway, so this evening he's with Cheryl.

Joshua was so excited to sleep in our room.  I'm not really sure why, since we put him to bed several hours before we actually go to bed.

We also took a little walk after dropping off Isaac so that he could show me the scary tree.

Horizon also curled up with Joshua while he was watching TV, so that was fun.


Wednesday: a lovely day

Today was a rather nice day.

I gave an exam on zoom.  These are pretty easy to give and I do my work while they're taking it.  However, the students finished significantly earlier than the allotted time, which gave me time to get groceries without rushing.

While getting groceries I saw someone wearing the same shirt as me and so said hi.  A few minutes later we commiserated about the lack of blueberry bagels.

I had a delicious lunch and walk with Cheryl and Allison.

We did a trunk-or-treat at the church.  This might have been my first trunk-or-treat ever and Ben and I were both so impressed with the decorations!  It was also busier and bigger than I was expecting, but that made it more fun too.  The boys came home with a lot of candy!


Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Tuesday: long day

Our schedule has changed a bit and now we have very busy Tuesdays.  School/work, right to piano lessons.  (We do have about 30 minutes between school and piano lessons, so "we" get homework done during that time.)  We get home and Joshua has (zoom) karate before too long...which I also participate in.  There's an hour to finish making dinner and eat.  Then Isaac and I have (zoom) karate.

Phew.  There's a lot of things that make this still quite doable.  I've decreased the number of chores.  While zoom karate is a bit annoying, it also gives the boys some extra time at home and we don't need to spend time going back and forth.

Monday, October 25, 2021

Weekend: Joshua

 Joshua got all the pictures this weekend.

He started with a note about his blockade.  "Cats only.  Super Secret Passage.  Super secret hideout <--.  Cats only!  No humans allowed.  Only kids and cats allowed.  No parents allowed."  I asked if kids were humans and he didn't really answer.

Shortly after that he said it had been a long time since we've had donuts and we should get some.  He's right; Meijer hasn't had the kind that I like the most, so it's been easy to skip.  We quickly went to DeBoers, hoping they weren't sold out by 9:30.  They weren't.  Of course, we didn't end up with any donuts either.  Isaac got a black and white cookie, I got an almond thing, and Joshua had a chocolate croissant.



On Sunday he made a new Halloween costume for Grey Bear.

Friday, October 22, 2021

Friday: slippers

 It's getting cold out.  I wore my slippers all day today and made the kids wear more clothing for outside too.

This evening Joshua made a blockade that he was really proud of.



Thursday, October 21, 2021

Thursday: ruckus

 Ben and Isaac have been working on a tower.  This past week the boys were given some additional direction: to make bad guys climbing up the tower to the good guy castle (which is still under construction).  They went at it with gusto and all sorts of things are storming the castle.


Joshua added this guy.  He's "in a safe spot watching the ruckus" while eating and drinking.  Just chillin' amid the fray.

Wednesday: Kids' food basket

 Aunt C and I went to pack lunches for Kids' Food Basket today.  They were in a new building since I did it over a year ago and it was a lovely set up!  The packing tables were so much nicer.


Tuesday, October 19, 2021

Tuesday: fall break

Today was fall break, so I didn't have to go in to work.  I started the day by getting groceries.  I proceeded to nap a fair chunk of the morning away.  The couch was just so soft and it was a vacation day and I didn't want to do my other work.

Eventually I got up.  I did have some school work that needed to be done, so I did that.  I had some other computer work to do too, but I did not really enjoy it and putzed around probably a little bit too much.

We also got the boys' school pictures back.  I do not love them this year.  They're ok, but I wish Joshua smiled with his teeth.  Isaac's smile is fake.




Monday, October 18, 2021

Monday: O:CtH - filing cabinet

Today I finished the filing cabinet!

I know, it really isn't that big of a deal.  But I bet I got rid of at least two feet worth of paperwork.  I sorted paperwork.  Everything is now in its correct place.

The top drawer now* looks like this.  It was so stuffed that you could barely get anything in it.

I recycled a lot of statements, bills, and other non-important items from years 1998-2012.  It was actually a little sad.  We've gone through several credit cards and banks that I had completely forgotten about.  I had forgotten that we got postcard bills from Hanbury Sanitation in NY.  

I did figure out where I got my filing system from though, as the file folders Mom made for me looked quite similar to my current ones.  She even stapled like-documents together for easy recycling.


Next I think I'll clean under my desk because there's a bit more sorting of stuff that needs to be done.  Then maybe start at the top and slowly work downwards?  Stay tuned...it won't be that exciting.

*I did add some folders to it that really belong in the top drawer but had been moved down to drawer two for space reasons.  So it doesn't look quite that empty any more.

Sunday, October 17, 2021

Saturday and Sunday: normal

It was a pretty normal weekend for us.  We did a bunch of Legos.  We played a few games.  Tornado won the Olympics.  Same ol' same ol'.


Friday, October 15, 2021

Friday: no school

The boys had the day off of school today.

We started the day by watching the Wizard of Oz (while taking apart Lego sets).  We recently read the book, so I thought it would be a fun activity to see how the movie is different.  They mentioned several things during the movie, but then they mentioned things throughout the day too.  So it was interesting to see how they were thinking about it.  Isaac said he liked the book better.  Joshua wasn't really sure; I think we wanted to like the movie better, but the book had some things he liked too.

Then Joshua had made a festival out of Lego.  It's the same fishing over the banister and ring toss that we did not that long ago, although the drinks and fishing poles were made out of Lego.  I thought I was going to have to be the fish, but instead I got to fish and do the ring toss!  He even used candy from his treat box so I didn't need to supply that either.  It was pretty fun, and he seemed quite proud of himself to help me have fun instead of work.



After rest time we quickly went to the library and then to a playground.  Isaac tried to climb on top of everything!  We left just before it started raining...about two hours earlier than expected.

Lastly, Joshua finally lost his other front tooth!  He's at the extra cute tooth spot right now.



Thursday, October 14, 2021

Thursday: flower

One flower was still blooming.  Aunt C trimmed down the rest of the flowers for us, but kindly left that one.


Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Wednesday: chores

Today a lot of things were finished.  Someone came to fix the toilet.  We finished changing over our insurance.  I did several small chores.

It meant I had a bit of time to work on O:CtH.  Unfortunately, I just continued to work on the top drawer of the filing cabinet.  I sorted a lot of old insurance paperwork.  I also found a savings bond that had matured, so I cashed that today.


We got Joshua a TV tray so that he can eat on a couch instead of on the floor.  He's old enough and was having a hard time eating over his old tray.  I think it'll mean we need to change the furniture around, but I'm not sure what the best way is yet.  For dinner I made the annual fall meal of ham and squash.  However, I decided to air fry squash cubes instead of cook and mash it.  It was an excellent choice!  They almost tasted like sweet potato fries.  (Joshua, of course, barely ate them.  Everyone else enjoyed them though.)

Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Tuesday: Joshua

 This morning Joshua had a minor meltdown because his legs weren't working.  It was a bit surprising...in the past this has only happened at night and it hasn't happened for a while due to changes with how we run stuff at night.  Anyway, I  told him to make sure his Mickey Mouse mask was all the way in his pocket and he scowled at me.  Thirty minutes later I got a message from his teacher wondering if it had fallen out in the car because Joshua didn't have it and was worried about it.  (It was in the car.)  Silly boy, he should have listened to me.

He also wrote this for writing: "That is a weird pumpkin totally weird so so so weird."  At least he didn't lack for words.


I also got the picture from a few weeks ago when Isaac and Joshua found each other on the playground.



Monday, October 11, 2021

Monday: O:CtH

I put the boats in the garage today.  I had been planning on cleaning the garage at the same time, but let's be honest...cleaning the garage just doesn't sound like fun.

I worked on the office instead.  At one point it almost looked like it was starting to get clean.  I had cleaned a few things off the floor and filed ...er, stuffed...things in the filing cabinet that needed to be filed.  Then I decided it was time to deal with the filing cabinet.  I used to do it on a yearly basis, but it's been about four since I've cleaned it out.  I know that a lot of it is just moving paper from one place to another to store for seven years until I officially don't need (most) of it any more, but it still makes everything more organized.  Anyway, I'm still mostly at the beginning of that process and so there are a ton of papers back on the floor.

Sunday, October 10, 2021

Sunday: negative

Joshua's COVID test came back negative!  It wasn't quite back in time to go to Bible study, but at least it is back in time to go to school.

Joshua made spaceships disguised as a volcano today.  It was pretty cool.

Instead of Bible study we went for a hike.  The boys wanted to run up and down a specific hill, so that's where we went.  Afterwards they started playing with pine needles and unexpectedly continued to do so for about a half hour.


I took a picture of some nice trees...


Saturday, October 9, 2021

Saturday: anti-illness?

Three of us got our flu shots today.  It's a nice, drive-up shot and we don't have to get out of the car.

Joshua went to get a COVID test.  He's had a cough.  No other symptoms, and we didn't really want to do it, but we did.  The website says results in 1-2 days, so hopefully that's still true.  The place wasn't busy, but there were several other people.

He also snuggled with me tonight to fall asleep.  He fell asleep pretty deeply and barely woke up when I carried him to bed.  He's pretty cute, although he also left enough sweat on my shirt that I needed to change it.


Friday, October 8, 2021

Friday: the day

It rained quite a bit this morning, but cleared up just in time for Cheryl and I to go on a walk after brunch.

I didn't get much done on cleaning of the office, as normal, but still made some progress.  There was a small desk that we had that I donated today along with some clothes for recycling.  So I didn't get much cleaned, but I did get quite a bit out of the house.

Joshua heard some scary (pretend) things at school today but couldn't fall asleep.  So I got some nice cuddles as he calmed down and fell asleep.


Wednesday, October 6, 2021

Wednesday: cleaning

Now that the kids are in school I feel like the blog posts have become a bit boring.  Well, too bad for you.  It's what I am doing right now.

Today's "interesting" cleaning was of the couch.  I thought that the couch was wearing in one place, but Ben mentioned it was actually hairspray.  Ah, well that can be cleaned.  It was a bit weird to clean it, but it looks a ton better now.  I'll admit, I had my doubts.

Horizon greeted me from on top of the fridge this morning; we think he was chasing bugs.  I finally figured out they're pantry moths.  While it sounds like they can become a pain to get rid off, these bugs are not my fault (for once).  They come in on some food packaging and then populate.  I'm also optimistic that they're not out of control yet.  I'm finding, and vacuuming, about 10/day, but the numbers have stayed pretty steady.  I also found a trap for them that will come next week.


 I told Joshua to start pulling some of the flowers out of the pots on the deck.  In response, he first took a picture of all the potted flowers.  I need to bring some of the flowers inside soon; we'll see if they survive the winter in the basement or not.



I have been working on cleaning the office too, but the progress has been rather slow.  Slow is better than nothing though, and I'll keep chugging along.

Tuesday, October 5, 2021

Tuesday: boring day

Today was a boring day.  I've known it was coming for a while and was rather dreading it.  It did have some interesting moments though...

*Boring: I gave a test in class.  It only took about half the class period, but I was on top of all the other work that I normally do while students take a test.

*Weird: both my officemate and I managed to do some class prep and then forget to post it to moodle.  His was a big deal but he had enough time to run home and get it.  Mine wasn't a big deal so I just posted it for next semester

*Cool: the professor after me was talking to me about excel and assorted issues with different versions and one of my old students came into his class.  I don't remember her name, but I recognized her.  Anyway, she said that she was using excel all the time...for her internship, for her classes, and helping her friend out.  "You told us we'd use this information in our internship and sure enough, you were right!"  It was a great compliment.

*Boring: Isaac has piano lessons.  It's about 20 minutes between school pick-up and the lesson, so we do homework in the car.  Then Joshua and I wait for Isaac.  I usually fall asleep.

*Boring: we needed to bring Isaac to another appointment.  Luckily, Ben was able to pick Isaac up so Joshua and I didn't have to stay the whole time.

*Normal: I also went to karate.  Since Ben picked up Isaac I was able to eat dinner ahead of time at home, which I wasn't sure was going to happen.  I was almost out of the house for 11 hours today, which hasn't happened (on a non-vacation day) in forever.

Monday, October 4, 2021

Monday: Quickly! Do the chores!

I didn't get much done this morning.  Er, I guess I should say I didn't get much done that was on my to-do list.  I helped Ben a bit and got groceries.  I sent several emails that I hadn't been planning on sending.  Emails take more time than I expect sometimes.


But there were many things on my "I should do this today" list.  (That list is a subsection of the overall to-do list.  I do like my lists.)  After my nap (not on my list but an important part of the day) I looked at the clock.  I had 60 minutes until I had to pick up the kids. The list still had about seven items still on it.  Surprisingly, I knocked out those items rapidly!  To be fair, they weren't really long things.  They just needed to be done.  

Sunday, October 3, 2021

Sunday: surprise party

Ben and I woke up to a surprise party this morning.

I was rather impressed by the word streamer.


Joshua made some decorations.

Isaac's been asking us our favorite foods for a week or so.  We ended up with pizza, steak, corn, raspberries, grapes, pineapple, and cider for breakfast.


Saturday, October 2, 2021

Saturday: outside

 It's supposed to rain tomorrow, so we needed to get outside today.  We ended up going to Hemlock Crossings with the scooters.  Everything was still surprisingly green, which made the walk wonderful.  It was a nice temperature and not too sunny.



Grey Bear got to come too!  He loved being in the forest.

Isaac has been asking for a while to show me the tricks he's learned on the playground.  I told him we could do it Tuesday, but there was time so we went today.  Basically, he can climb on top of everything.  He's also rather good at the monkey bars...I think his upper body strength is better than I realized.  The nice thing about this is that I know he's been doing it with at least one friend.

Friday, October 1, 2021

Friday: playground

When I picked up the boys from school today they were excited to tell me something.  (It's always a bit hard because it's really loud in the parking lot.)  Anyway, the fourth graders had several extra minutes of recess and so Isaac and Joshua had recess at the same time.  Of course, they found each other and started playing together and it was exciting.  I just loved that they were excited to play with each other at school.

I gave blood today.  They had a hard time finding my veins, but gave it a try and it worked.  Phew.  "Recovery" has been a bit harder today than it normally is.  Normally I can't tell, but today there were a few times that I needed to sit down for a few minutes.