Tuesday: accomplished

 Today was rather productive.  I made cranberry sauce.  (Partially because I had gotten the cranberries before we ordered dinner from a restaurant and partially because Cheryl said it's really easy.)  I also made some Chex Mix.  It's always a problem because it is half gone and it's only been a day.

Joshua is thankful for food, house, brother, and sets [Lego].  His spelling is so fun lately.  He writes me notes for the smallest things.  The problem is that he can't spell well, has no spaces, and does crazy mountains for M/W.

Ben ended up winning two opened sets of one of the Lego sets Joshua really wants for Christmas.  He wasn't really planning on two, but that's how auctions work.  It actually worked perfectly!  Between the two boxes we have one full set that is in the unopened bags.  I think we have most of the second set, although there seemed to be a few things that might be missing.  The extra pieces will be put to good use though!

Isaac and I also tested for our next rank of belt.  I feel like we barely learned everything in time, but we did.  

Monday: the day

 It was a day during which I didn't feel like I got a lot done but what I did get done was important.

I proctored an exam.  While periodically helping the children with school.  Isaac laughed at one point when he came over to ask me a question...

One computer is Isaac's, one with exam instructions (that didn't have much use besides being the default screen for when students stopped their screen share), one to watch exams, and one that I actually did stuff on.

I also watched my aunt's funeral.  There have been a few deaths of people around me lately.  I was trying to find something profound to say about this, but they all felt flat.  

Sunday: furniture

 The boys moved the furniture.  This is not my favorite activity of theirs, but I suppose it really isn't a big deal.

Saturday: kids

 Well, I was rather fed up with the kids today.  I'll be honest, I'm not really sure what set me off.  My to-do list is larger than it's been since the beginning of the year.  It isn't all super important, but it does include things that I'd like to get done.  And the kids are just so messy.  I have enough to do without reminding them over and over to clean up.  Or, let's be honest, cleaning up for them because it's easier.

I called them upstairs a few minutes before dinner time to do a few minutes of extra cleaning.  They weren't happy about it, but they didn't really complain either.  Which was lucky for them, because my mood had gone down surprisingly fast and they weren't going to get any dinner.  At least, not dinner prepared by me.

In better news, Joshua ended up making his own lunch today.  I think I was taking too long.  Surprisingly, he cleaned up after himself!  (I understand that I just complained about them not cleaning up.  I still think my point above is a bit valid.)  He put the crunchy beans back in the chip area with the clip on...but neglected to realize that it works best when the top is folded. :D

Wednesday: we're all at home

 Hmm.  I don't have much to say.  I almost made both boys cry today, but they held it together even though they did want to do whatever it was I asked of them.  

It was Ben's first day of working back at home for a while again.  Sort of.  I mean, he was on medical leave and then back in the office for not very long (three days?  week and three days?) and then working at home for his cold and then back in the office for two days and now working back at home due to whatever catch-phrase we have now.  The boys can't keep straight whether Ben is downstairs working or at work working.

Tuesday: spice rack

 I got a new spice rack today.  I realized that the old one wasn't doing it for me.  It was a little bit too high and so I didn't put the spices away well.

I opened up the shipping box today and noticed that the spice rack box had been opened and was lumpy.  Oh, I must have gotten a return.  I hoped it was ok.

After I opened it, I found an extra spice rack inside!  It still must have been a return, but they returned an extra one in the box for some reason.

I don't have a before picture, but the before picture didn't look all that bad.  There's plenty of space in this cupboard because I try not to put too much in the deep corners.  The second shelf got moved up and now isn't super useful, but we're going to give this a try.

In other news, while I was making dinner Joshua decided he wanted to put holes in a box with a chop stick.  He was having so much fun that Isaac immediately joined him.  I'm not sure why Joshua wanted to do such a thing, but it brought them both joy.

Monday: remote learning

Yesterday the governor announced that all high schools and colleges would transition to remote learning as of this coming Wednesday.

Bother.  We were so close.  We got through everything except final exams.

Now, if this were just an excel class I wouldn't mind.  I've been giving remote exams all semester; I've got it down pat.  The problem is that we also spend a few weeks at the end using Microsoft Access.  1) Access doesn't work on Macs.  2) The remote desktops aren't working from off-campus for Macs.  (Why?  They used to work. I gave up for the semester.)  3) Most students have Macs.

If we could have transitioned oh, two weeks earlier that would have been great and I would have just pivoted the learning plan.  So now the students are getting fill-in-the-blank/short answer/multiple choice questions for the Access part.  It seems a bit dumb, because I feel as though even if they've never seen Access before they'd still be able to pull at least 90% on this part.  I suppose we'll find out; maybe I'm overestimating.  

A few things that I need to keep in mind...the final exam affects their grade but not by a ton and it will be significantly easier to grade.  And sometimes it's nice to give the students something easy.  It's been a hard semester.

Ah, the adventures of living through a pandemic.

(In other news, the boys' school is all going to be learning virtually for the week after Thanksgiving, which I think is a great idea.  However, for any students that are transitioning back to in-person school, they'll be at school for all of 2.5 days and then have Thanksgiving and then have a week back in virtual.  It seems awkward.)