Monday, Monday...

[twinmomma]

How are we all feeling today? 

[twinmomma]

I have a big win for the week already - I found an OT for DD2 that specializes in ADHD and we have an evaluation this afternoon! I called a bunch of OT places late last week and they all had waiting lists that went until late fall/early winter. But this place said that due to summer vacations, a lot of their clients have dropped off and they have openings! I cannot wait to get her started. I'm really hoping it's a good fit. (And small related win - ExH "can't make it" to the appointment, so I don't have to listen to his BS answers during the evaluation)

My weekend was exactly what I needed. I got caught up on laundry, cleaned up clutter around the house, finished a book, and started the next one in the series. Beau was at work for most of the weekend so I had the house to myself. He and I lounged in bed until noon on Sunday, which felt very luxurious given how busy we've been.

I even did some light meal prepping with lots of fruits and veggies. I need to get back to healthier eating habits to curb my weight gain. If I didn't carry it all in my stomach and look pregnant, I wouldn't be nearly as self conscious about it.

Today I'm working with my therapist on a script to ask for more custody from ExH. We haven't really revisited the topic all summer (mainly because I'm a wimp with confronting him). But yesterday he made a comment about "If we stick with our current plan for the school year..." which made it sound like he was open to changes. Fingers crossed.

[xctsclrx]

DH and I got into a fight yesterday. He decided he wanted to go play cards at 1030 in the morning and he would be home NLT 5 and he told me he wanted to do this every Sunday.

He was home at 9 last night and I was pissed. I didn't even bother him until 530 when he still wasn't home and I then I was irritated and let him know each time the kids asked for him, wanted him to tuck them in and I told him I didn't know what his thought process was that would have let him think I would have ever been okay with this arrangement.

He came home pissed off at me because I am always complaining about this, and we had talked about it and I said it was okay and blah blah blah.
When he originally talked to me about this I thought the game started at 5. That I was okay with. I didn’t know until the day of that it was all day.

I think he came home defensive and attacking me, because he can’t admit he is being a shitty husband and father lately.
Anyway we still aren’t talking. I have a migraine and I just want to curl up in bed and cry.

[mae0111]

xctsclrx, I'm sorry. It just never feels good when this happens. I hope your DH can see your side of things.

twinmomma, that's great news! I hope you find some success!

I had a quiet weekend. DH and the kids have been gone since Friday. I gave away a ton of old toys, packed up a bunch more - those that were never opened will be donated at Christmas, others put away for when my niece visits. I'm in the process of purging the kids rooms - 7 bags of trash and 2 bags of clothes so far. I also pulled out all of the extra markers, pens, pencils, etc and left each kid with one set of each thing in their rooms. I'm still not done - hope to finish today. I'm amazed at their ability to accumulate crap. Truly. Between spending their allowance/gift cards, my parents, birthday party goody bags... there's just stuff everywhere.

I'm heading to my first therapy appointment in over a year. I'm having trouble processing a lot of family stuff that's been happening over the past 6 months and I need to talk through it with someone other than DH.

[rere]

Good weekend. I ended up a little more active Saturday. I had a baroque to go to for family, but Dh was bored and sad because her plans fell through, so I ended up at another barbecue at the lake later with more friends for her.

Sunday was chill. Canning tomatoes, piddling in the yard and cooking a nice dinner.

Today, back in COVID hell.

[k3am]

I am feeling very much like our schools will get shut down again. While the rest of the country continues sending their children to in person education. FML.

I really wish I could have gotten DH on board to ditch our district and go to private.

[supertrooper1]

It was a good weekend. Saturday morning, Beau and I drove over the mountains to Eastern Washington for dirt bike riding. He had ridden years ago at an ORV park, but we got almost there and the road was blocked by the forest service due to a wild fire. Another group of riders was turning around and we asked if they knew of another place. They suggested another mountain about 30 minutes away so we stopped for lunch and Googled our next riding location. We ended up almost 10 miles in a dirt road without cell service, so we had no idea where exactly the trails began. We randomly found a Jeep and bike trail that took us to some beautiful views 6200 feet up. The trail was rocky in spots but wasn't hard. We'll definitely be back to this area to ride.

Sunday we lounged around until 1, went to Costco and had plans to go to the gym. But we ended up being lazy all day. We hadn't had a lazy day like that all summer and it felt good to recharge.

[186momx]

k3am, I agree

I picked enough tomatoes yesterday to can but don't have any lids. I ordered 3 weeks ago and they still haven't arrived. So I peeled enough to make DD a huge pot of goulash to eat this week to use some of them up.

DD is at farm camp this week and I'm relying 100% on my village to get her to and from camp.

I got summoned for jury duty and am going to try and get excused due to work hardship.

[mae0111]

I'm also feeling like things will shut down again. I think the kids' school will stay open, but competition for private school will remain really tough. I also wonder about activities and sports. Like everyone else, I was so hopeful in the spring... and I was on Cape Cod when the Provincetown cluster ramped up, but I still remained optimistic... I'm a lot less optimistic now...

[twinmomma]

In regards to things shutting down... I was talking with my coworker the other day about how we feel like we missed our chance to be back in the office and see people. We're supposed to re-open in mid-September and I just don't think that's realistic now. It's feeling like I'll just never leave my house again at this rate. The restaurant is finally ramped up and they have private events booked almost every weekend through the fall. If those get cancelled/postponed again, it'll probably do them in.

[twinmomma]

xctsclrx, I'm sorry you are having a tough time. I agree with you and I'd be equally mad about the lack of communication, being gone all day and night, and then acting like it's your problem that you're upset instead of taking ownership over his role in it. That's such a sucky feeling.

[waverly]

We can't shut down, I won't allow it. Also, I no longer have my nanny, so how are they going to do e-learning?

If they shut down maybe my kids can do e-learning on their front lawn, FFS.

[mae0111]

Aug 9, 2021 15:15:05 GMT -5 waverly said:

We can't shut down, I won't allow it. Also, I no longer have my nanny, so how are they going to do e-learning?

If they shut down maybe my kids can do e-learning on their front lawn, FFS.

My sister mentioned getting a used pop-up camper to park in her driveway and make the kids go out there.

She was only sort of kidding.

It’s actually a great idea if you’re in a quiet neighborhood. DH paid $2500 for our used pop-up. Has heat and everything. Stock the fridge with snacks and there you go!!

[waverly]

mae0111, there you go. I will rent a tent for the school and they can do class outside under the tent. It's not winter, so it should be fine.

They did mask breaks under tents last year.

[polecat8]

We are back from vacation. I'm so glad we came home on Saturday because I was exhausted yesterday! We did so much - hiking, Dollywood, mini golf, mountain coasters. It was so nice to not have any real plans.
Now back to reality...
Work is super busy. I have to start prepping for my class. And my kids start school in 2 weeks.
School board meeting is on Thursday. As of now, they are not requiring masks in school, but kids do have to wear them on the bus. This could all change though. DH and I decided to have our kids wear masks in school and we will all be wearing masks in public again.
Which reminds me - does anyone have any good recommendations on masks for kids? Their masks are starting to look a little sad - ear loops are stretched out so they are drooping on their faces and barely covering noses. Ideally, I think they need masks with an adjustable nose piece and ear loops.

[mae0111]

polecat8 - adjustable nose piece and ears - target masks

DD1 likes the masks from Lands End, but not adjustable.

DD2 likes Old Navy masks - no nose piece but now have adjustable ears.

Both love the Athleta masks.

[k3am]

Yall.. my sisters are now contending that my mom has "probably" been taking her medicine as prescribed, just maybe not at precise times of day. And that she "could have had a bunch of extra on hand."

Let's do the math here.. She has a prescription that she is supposed to take 8 pills a day of. It was last filled in November. She still has 8-12 bottles (my memory isn't perfect here), which works out to be ~ a 90 day supply. So in order for to have that much left over AND be taking it as prescribed, when she last filled the prescription, she had... over 2,000 pills on hand. Somewhere in the neigbhorhood of SIXTEEN bottles on hand. Seems reasonable to order more at that point, right?

I'm going to go bang my head against the wall now, folks.

[mommyatty]

We won’t shut down. We are just going to let people die. Our private school came out today reiterating that masks are optional.

[waverly]

Aug 9, 2021 18:03:23 GMT -5 mommyatty said:

We won’t shut down. We are just going to let people die. Our private school came out today reiterating that masks are optional.

Oh Texas.

I will say the pandemic has solidified why I will never move to the South. Remind me if this in February every year.

We have a mask mandate for k-12 in our state. It just came out last week- thank God!

[k3am]

We have a mask mandate in our state for everyone, but also for schools. And our district also decided that what CDC and public health says isn't enough, because they've apparently got some super secret science that allows them to know better than everyone els, and everyone must also mask outdoors. The only times masks can be removed at our school is when eating.

[traveltheworld]

DS had a cough on an off all weekend. We got him tested for COVID on Saturday and it came back negative, so I'm hoping it's just a cold? It's been so long since any of us have been sick that I've legitimately forgotten - e.g. is it a cold if you only have a cough?!?!

Otherwise, it was a good weekend. Because DS was coughing, we didn't see anyone and we cancelled all his sports activities. We went golfing as a family, roller-bladed, and just hung out. It was actually nice. And DS was sooooooooooo pleasant. It makes me a little wistful that our family dynamic is so affected by his mood on a daily basis. He's an awesome kid, but he is definitely not an easy kid.

Unfortunately today he's back to his normal difficult self.

[vasc]

Aug 9, 2021 18:03:23 GMT -5 mommyatty said:

We won’t shut down. We are just going to let people die. Our private school came out today reiterating that masks are optional.

Same in SC.

[mustardseed2007]

Aug 9, 2021 23:43:07 GMT -5 vasc said:

Aug 9, 2021 18:03:23 GMT -5 mommyatty said:

We won’t shut down. We are just going to let people die. Our private school came out today reiterating that masks are optional.

Same in SC.

Yee haw Texas. The hospitals are full and parents say masks don’t work, children’s hospitals being full is BC of RSV, and adult hospitals are full BC of the border. And the priority is that the teachers and principals everyone loved in 2019 (at their majority white schools) must be prevented from teaching CRT which is a woke commie plot no one understands because no one has ever been taught about it in school.

I love our private school by the way. Masks indoors, not outside and no racists allowed.

[mommyatty]

I have gotten to the point where I’m being an out and out bitch to our head of school. I told him I don’t care how he accomplishes it, but my kids better be in classes with only other kids who are wearing masks. He said no other school is doing separate classes for students who are and aren’t wearing masks and I responded with “If those other heads of schools threw their students off a proverbial cliff, would you?”

[waverly]

Aug 10, 2021 11:37:06 GMT -5 mommyatty said:

I have gotten to the point where I’m being an out and out bitch to our head of school. I told him I don’t care how he accomplishes it, but my kids better be in classes with only other kids who are wearing masks. He said no other school is doing separate classes for students who are and aren’t wearing masks and I responded with “If those other heads of schools threw their students off a proverbial cliff, would you?”

Good job! I can’t believe the number of schools that don’t care about their students’ health.

There is no vaccine for this age group so let’s just give up and pretend everything is normal in the middle of a pandemic when all the hospitals are full, wut?

[sdlaura]

I’m on ‘vacation’ this week with the in laws on the east coast - it’s good to see everyone after almost two years, but the weather is miserably hot and humid. I’m on a 3-hour zoom client meeting right now and have another tomorrow. I’m already dreading the long flight back with the 14-month-old boy. SIL and her husband and kids are awesome and I wish they lived closer. MIL and FIL are nice people but I’m not super sad we live far away.

Re: schools, I’m feeling ok about ours. We seem to be in a nice happy medium where masks are required/mitigation measures are taken very seriously, and area is highly vaxxed, and there also seems to be a lot of political will to keep schools open. At least at the elementary level, and our district is elementary only.

As long as masks are worn inside and kids are distanced 6 feet while eating (which happens outside), we are not shutting down classes for two weeks for a positive case. The kids in the class will be tested twice a week by the school and can keep coming to school as long as they don’t have symptoms. I’m excited that it should provide more continuity. Our cases are rising like everywhere, but an official at our children’s hospital that serves the whole county just said they haven’t had any young kids stay for more than a night for monitoring for covid recently. We start a week from today, so fingers crossed!

[erbear]

Aug 9, 2021 20:49:59 GMT -5 k3am said:

We have a mask mandate in our state for everyone, but also for schools. And our district also decided that what CDC and public health says isn't enough, because they've apparently got some super secret science that allows them to know better than everyone els, and everyone must also mask outdoors. The only times masks can be removed at our school is when eating.

I find this crazy. I’m all for masking but if you’re following the public health guidelines, follow them. You don’t know more than they do. Even my school, which has been on the very conservative end of Covid, isn’t requiring masking outside.

[k3am]

erbear, I live in a county that has always gone above and beyond what CDC and state public health recommend. Our state even made it's own color coded tiers that were more restrictive than what the rest of the country worked off. And when the state said "at this metric, XYZ can be open" our county still said.. NOOOOOOOOOPE, we have our own metrics. So I have zero surprise that our district is doing this.

I think it does public health in general a disservice. The less consistent rules are, the less likely it is people will follow them.

But I guess this one is easy, since they've basically said any kid who doesn't follow the mask mandate at all times will be kicked out of in person instruction, so there's no room for interpretation.

I do get a chuckle out of every email our principal sends when he says we'll be "continuing to practice good hand hygeine" and I want to ask if they've actually got the capacity for kids to wash hands, or if they'll be relying on bug buckets again.

[librarychica]

First day of school today for my girls and it went really well. I am so relieved. After a hellacious few weeks at work I was in the mindset that everything would be awful and it was not. It was fine, kids are happy,teachers are nice with none of the warning signs of the disaster of a couple of years ago for DD1, after weeks of complaining in the lead up DD1 enjoyed martial arts aftercare after all.

Everyone looked masked and honestly at this point I’m just out of worry. My kids are masked but Florida wouldn’t close if they opened an ICU at Epcot. Mask required, masks encouraged, masks required but you can be excepted with a handwritten note from the family dog, hell if you’re “harassed” over your totally not really required not-mask you can get state money to go to private school. I wonder if these private schools want these rabble-rouser anti-mask people? Idk. whatever. I make the decisions I can within the system I have.

[waverly]

librarychica, oh for sure. My kids need to go to school more than anything. I was planning to send them if there weren't masked. I'm glad to hear that several school districts in FL (I have another friend there) are mostly masked even when it is voluntary.