Monday: MLK day

Today there wasn't any school due to MLK day and we had a rather relaxing day.  (We didn't do any appropriately themed activities, but we did watch Hidden Figures over the weekend.)

Isaac finished his juice recipe.  It doesn't make much, as he noted.

Isaac's been helping me fill a few holes over the weekend. Today we painted one (and we can barely tell it was ever there).  The other two we don't have paint for, so a Lowe's trip is needed first.

Joshua worked hard on one of his Lego sets a significant part of the day, although I don't have any pictures.

We also had some colored cookie dough, so the boys made some cookies.

This was the first batch.  It was actually good to bake a few first, because they flattened more than the boys were expecting.

Friday: Grocery adventures

I find myself talking about mundane things a lot.  Butter gets talked about a lot.  Today it was groceries.  I had lunch with Betsy and she casually asked if I had gotten groceries this week.  I had actually gotten them Wednesday morning, but didn't post about it for once because things were mostly normal.  Crescent rolls were still only half full and there were no frozen potatoes, but otherwise I was pretty happy with the trip.  In fact, it seemed like many things were on sale so I ended up with a bit more than normal.

Today she told me that she was only able to get half her order because Meijer was sold out of so many things.  And it wasn't that she couldn't get the exact thing she wanted but there were substitutes...they were completely out.  We both wondered what changed in two days.  Where in the supply chain did the issue(s) happen?  Are a bunch of stockers out sick?  I'm sure I'll never find out, but it'd still be really interesting to know.

Speaking of things I'd like to know, with the Omicron variant here we're being told that surgical and KN95/N95 masks are better than cloth masks.  I'd like to point out that there seems to be a huge range in cloth masks.  Are they making this comparison with a single layer gater?  A double layer homemade mask?  A three layer mask?  There are significant differences in those three options.  While this doesn't mean that the statement isn't true, a bit more information would be helpful as I try to figure out what to buy (or not buy).

Thursday: Grey Bear

Today I found a picture of the day we brought Grey Bear home.  It said 14 years ago today, but that is obviously wrong.  It was a baby shower for Isaac from Mom's family and I was maybe 6-7 months pregnant.

Anyway, it was exciting to see the day we got him.  Joshua didn't care.

Tuesday: classes start

Classes started today!  Everyone showed up to the 7:30am class, but one person has already dropped.  The first day is always a bit annoying, but overall it went pretty well.

Joshua was finally promoted at karate after a bunch of delays.  He ended up being a yellow stripe instead of a plain yellow belt which was pretty exciting.

Monday: not a snow day

While snow days are fun, I also felt like I wasn't getting much done.  So...I was glad for school today.  I managed to get everything on my "do today" list done along with a few extras!  I did take an extra stop at Eagle Crest because Joshua called saying his tooth hurt.  He didn't sound all that out of it, but I said I'd stop by with some ibuprofen and he could stay in school.  He seemed ok with this plan and I didn't hear anything about a toothache later in the day.

I made a new orange chicken recipe today.  (Everyone loved it except Joshua and he doesn't like anything I make.)  It involved squeezing some oranges, which Isaac was excited to do.  He then proceeded to do more fruit squeezing and juice experimenting.  (I had gotten some oranges at the store and they had way too many seeds in them, so he was free to use those.  We also had a few lemons and some old apples.)  He made several different version of his juice, trying to find the proportions that are just right.

Sunday: cat sill

We've had a bit of a hard time getting the suction cups to stay on the window, but the cats seem to be using the cat sill.  Joshua said he saw both cats on it and after I fixed it today Tornado went right back on it.

Saturday: sledding, house

Today we went to the sledding hill for a bit.  Besides being sunny, it was the perfect day for it!  It wasn't too crowded (as I was afraid of) and the snow was well packed but not too bumpy yet.  Both boys went down many times and both finished around the same time.

O:CtH was supposed to have progressed greatly this week; but was instead mostly put on hold because of all the snow days.  I am slowly continuing to unpack my boxes for the office though; today I got rid of all my old spools.  They were fun toys when the boys were young, but have just sat in a drawer for a long time.

I also got some new scissors and designated one as drawer scissors!  I hate when I go to the drawer and can't find my scissors.  It'd be ok if it was just on the counter, but they always seem to end up far away in the house.  This one is supposed to go immediately back in the drawer...we'll see how it goes.