I’m bound and determined to do something productive today! Like @katliamom , I’ve been a real sloth. I’m going to do some touch up painting in the bathroom I’ve been meaning to do. I hate getting out and cleaning all the stuff.
S is home from college last Thursday, has found out since that IU in-classes are cancelled for remainder of semester. Our gym is now closed, too. I think he’s getting a bit batty. He said his age group is just not taking this seriously.
He has a book for a class he needs to start reading, but I need to come up with things for him to do, as well as myself.
@5050100 , I had a friend on FB who shared something about teaching your kids to do things. I think I might teach my 23 year old son how to sew on a button. He’s been doing his own laundry since age 12, and cooks some…but I never taught him this. It’s the only sewing I know how to do, even after Home Ec, so I should at least impart my vast wisdom.
@conmama - That’s a great idea. In addition to hours of XBOX, he also eats. A lot. Last night he was talking about how much he likes banana bread. Today may be the day he makes his own!
I’ve closed my barn to outsiders (with the exception of today’s huge feed delivery) and the twice daily feeding and care of nine horses and one donkey is giving my day some welcome structure. My 2 sons at home with me are also doing barn chores (unloading the feed!) once a day with me. Otherwise I would be in the sloth crowd on the couch, totally!
I think I’m going to start a thread “ideas for activities for high school and college students during social distancing.” Already some good ones here!
My day yesterday also included Yoga with Adrienne on YouTube. My house is very clean. I made a schedule for my high schooler that he didn’t really stick to (he is the only one whose online learning has started, and it has barely started).
My college student is on a two week extended spring break. His online classes don’t begin until a week from Monday. @5050100 I said the very same thing to my son about Xbox! At least it will keep him somewhat connected to his friends. He did go up to the park, alone, yesterday to use the cement wall on the backside of the tennis court to practice lacrosse and get some fresh air.
He already does his own laundry and some cooking. Great idea to teach them something new - I like the idea of teaching him to sew a button on.
My high schoolers started online learning yesterday. My son had a live class via Zoom (math) - I was happy to hear his math teacher plans to have at least one live session per week. My daughter’s courses are all via podcast, recorded video, reading materials, etc. Fortunately she is self directed but she says she has a ton of work.
My job has been to manage the dogs - they like to bark every time someone walks by, which is now more often than normal with all my neighbors working from home during this period of social distancing. It’s not helpful that we don’t have a home office and Dh has conference calls all day. I plan on lots of dog walking to tire them out so they sleep through all the people/dogs passing by (did I mention we live on a corner and our house has a ton of windows?).
We’ve been letting D21 and S19 see a few friends at a time with no large groups but decided to put a stop to that yesterday. S19 had plans to run with a few high school XC friends today but they even bagged that idea. I think the high school and college crowd around here is finally taking this seriously.
Today starts online high school and D21 is actually excited - something to do! She’s very social and this is going to be hard on her. School is having class “in real time” with some “live” classes and some not. For the majority that are not virtual, the kids still have to be at their computers and check in each time a class starts to find directions on what to do for the next hour that class is in session. So, she’s in class today until 3:00.
S19 still on spring break until next Wed but has a 20 page first draft of an essay due tomorrow - yes, in the middle of break. The prof has rolling deadlines and kids got to choose their own. He chose the first deadline because the prof said that kids who get it in early will likely get more feedback from her on this first draft than kids who turn in first drafts closer to the final deadline. So, he’ll be working today too. My husband always works from home. It’s a packed house!
I don’t think I need to do any shopping today. I’ll go for a run and take the dog for some walks. More laundry of course. Tulane is having a virtual info session from 12-2 so I’m going to watch that and D21 can join between 12-1 since that’s her lunchtime.
So that’s it. Kids are doing school. I’m staying in for the most part and trying to stay out of their way.
@4kids4us , maybe it is a good time to do some dog training on stuff like this. I’ve been working on “settle” to stop my dog barking about neighbors walking down the street (also on corner lots of windows…dog thinks it is her job to keep an eye on our corner, and in some ways, we like it). She has also picked up the bad habit of barking when I am on the phone, which will take some time (I am using “go to your bed”, which she does, and extending the down-stay).
I cancelled my D19’s plans to have a handful of friends over tonight for St. Patrick’s Day.
I have to share with you guys something great that happened yesterday. Two of our high school teachers rode a tandem bike around and dropped off assignments for their students. As word got out, some kids left them messages and treats outside. Yes, I live in Mayberry.
I went to the market today (Albany NY area.) It wasn’t very crowded, but more than a normal Tuesday morning at 8:30. People were definitely keeping their distance and no chatter like usual.
I was in and home in 45 minutes. Then I wiped down the groceries, and the washed my hands and washed my face. Then repeated it.
I heard you are not washing your hands enough if they aren’t getting chaffed. My are definitely in bad shape - even with moisturizing.
They were already out of tp. My cashier said line was out the door this morning for just that. Not getting a shipment tomorrow but on Thursday. I didn’t need any but was just curious. No paper towels either, but plenty of Kleenex, so I picked up two boxes. I’ve already got huge package of paper towels.
I restocked my pantry - which I wasn’t going to do because of reno. When they are ready to get started I might postpone the work until things get back to normal. I’ve put in my deposit so should be fine. They can get to it when it’s a better time.
Dreary day here so I’m now washing blankets the dogs lay on. Then a FaceTime lunch at one with my cousin in CT. Then yoga.
Tomorrow, I’m going to big clean the house and start straightening up the closets.
If your restless younger ones are on instagram, they can check out #30dayartquarantine and get some ideas of what to do.
There’s also Mark Kanemura mkik808, who is hosting dance parties every day. He’s ridiculously upbeat and loves wigs and crazy outfits. You don’t have to watch live, if you scroll through the stories at top you can see/do yesterday’s dance party.
I spent most of Sunday checking life 360 every few minutes making sure S19 was still moving. Not really as much during the day, but that’s what I did laying in bed instead of sleeping. He left his school at 9:00 am and arrived here at would be 5:30 am from where he left. Dumb kid did exactly what his dad would have done at 19, drove straight through and refused to stop and rest.
I wasn’t really excited about him having a car as a college freshman, but for his particular situation it was extremely useful during the school year. But in 90% of circumstances I wouldn’t have agreed to let him take it. REALLY glad he had the car.
I’m having second thoughts about telling D21 she can’t have a car when she goes to school. He needed his during the school year, but now I’m seeing some value in just having it if you need to leave on no notice. Although the thought of a 19 year old boy driving alone through the night is scary enough. Add in the fact that a 19 year old girl is pulling into a gas station at 3:00 am and I’m not feeling any better about the situation.
I used to drive straight thru from Upstate NY to Boulder, Co when I was in college. 24 hours. Sometime there were two of us, but a few times I did it solo.
My kid did it from Maine to Florida one college vacay with a friend. I was a nervous wreck and kept texting every few hours.
Sometimes life was less stressful before cell phones. I don’t think my parents fretted at all when I did the same things. They just told me to call when I got to school.
One high point of Sunday is that I bought toilet paper. Not in a prepper or hoarding kind of way, but in a “we need a normal amount and are getting pretty low” way. The shelves in our town have been bare everywhere for a while, but on a lark when we put in our grocery pickup order in for Walmart we added one package of toilet paper. Low and behold, they gave it to us. I wonder if they have some in the back that they are giving out this way. i.e. if you order one package, fine. But they aren’t putting it on the shelves anymore because when they do the first 5 people fill their cart and then it is gone for the day.
Swung by small local pharmacy for my mother’s prescription this morning. Found everything – Tylenol, a thermometer (last one), cold-eaze, zinc, other OTCs both she and my household needed. Almost empty while I was there, two people in line behind me when I left, everyone keeping distance.
Spoke with our tax accountants an hour ago. Our documents needed some changes. We’re all paper mailing and uploading everything instead of handing anything off in person. They have a lot of elderly clients.
Older kid said Tom Brady’s decision to leave NE Pats bumped COVID for top story this morning – “Never change, Boston.”
Stop and Shop is going to open their doors from 6am-7:30am every day for customers over 60. Those are probably the only people out shopping at that time anyway.
