Thursday, September 24, 2020

AFTERMATH of FOREST FIRES

We've had rain, not drizzle, twice in the past 4 days and predictions are for three days in a row starting today.  The air smells fresh ... like Autumn is in the air.

It's been a blessing for two boys with lots of energy.  Now they start their day with a walk with the parents.  Usually a shorter walk after dinner.  We are all coping very well.  But the fires blaze on just southeast of us.  So many displaced families.  

Today will be mainly good news!

Both boys are enjoying Acellus Academy online learning.  Yesterday, after only a few weeks of learning, they each bumped UP a grade in math!  I figure math and reading are most important so I am very happy with these results.  They both went all through the house saying "I GRADUATED".

I'm so blessed to be living with them all.  Mr. Almost 10 comes in every morning and we solve most of the world problems and research a topic of the day.  I pick one day and he does the next.  Today we peeked into the perks of working for Google.  AMAZING.  Mr. B wants to design video games (what little boy doesn't?).  (After he serves as a US Marine and gets college paid for) He and his little social group play Roblox together ... they even got Dad to join in.  It's good to have an idea of what they are into.  He and little Mr. D play together every time they get screen time.  They also play with their two cousins but maybe just once a week.  So far, no strangers.


It's a creative game where you create your own characters and your own "games" within the platform.  So far VERY safe although they both get absorbed ... it's hard to find a place to quit for the day.  (read this if you want to know more ... https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/23/parenting/roblox-screentime.html)

Although, they do a lot of creative play with things we already have.  They love building dioramas, a scene on cardboard that involved hot glue, paint, twigs, pieces of my plastic plants, etc.  Usually a famous battle scene.   Legos and GI Joes are very popular.  They now have two GI Janes (Barbie dolls).  Stuffed animals at least once a week!

Notice GI Jane is included this day.  May have been combat training.

Jesse is going to broaden his handyman area outside the condo complex.  Kate is helping design some business cards and flyers as well as post on NextDoor, Facebook and local community groups within Facebook.  Now with all these electronic ways to receive money, he won't have to worry about billing and collecting.  It's $60 for a business license ... still looking into liability insurance.  But mostly word of mouth will keep him busy enough.

The cooking around here is amazing! Kate tries a new dinner recipe at least once a week.  She makes baked oatmeal frequently and breakfast muffins this week.  Our neighbors gave us some Asian pears and Jesse made a crumble for dessert.  The whole family is back to a more socially acceptable routine ... up at 9am, being productive by 10am.  Boys are now getting lunch at 1pm, snack at 4pm and dinner around 7pm.  I do still remind the Chef of the Day (they take turns) at 5 pm to start dinner.  Kate usually has to run to the grocery to get an ingredient.  

WLLO is having another patio get together on Monday (sunny cool day) and it might just be the last one of the year.  Unless we want to bundle up just to be outside for a bit.  Some of our members are needing more hands on assistance so the Office Team is now a Concierge service.  The two members with the most transportation requests do not write things down on their calendar.  The driver calls the member the day before the ride to reconfirm.  But now they are forgetting to call in to arrange a ride!  Although they insist they did talk to someone.  And after a year of having a virtual office, they still think we are at an office somewhere answering calls!  It's a phone number that sends us an email of their voice message.  Yesterday she asked "I never seem to get anyone to answer".  What hours is the office open?  Now, our Friday volunteer will call both of them and review/compare calendars.

Can you believe we actually signed up a new member?  And EVERYONE has renewed their membership (so far).  We must be doing something right. We do have assigned members to call 3-4 other members every week or so to combat loneliness.  We have one member who wants a phone call every day at 8:00 am and if she doesn't answer or call back in 15 minutes, we alert her sister in another state.  Her mother died at home and wasn't discovered for a week.  Thinking ahead!

While our HOA doesn't like our landscaping, Kate has attracted two very uncommon birds visiting our feeders and and yard. 

Black Headed Grosbeak (Uncommon) 


Yellow Warbler (Rare)

WOW!  Who knew I had so much happiness in my very own lap!

3 comments:

  1. A ten year old with his whole life planned out...I'll bet he carries through with it all.

    Your family is keeping you young. The young adults are doing so much things right, aren't they.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Such a fun post to read! Your grands are doing so well with their learning and the routine they have is a great one!! A balance of this and that and a lot of good activities to help them learn and to keep busy and interactive with others! Glad your daughter and son in law are "doing their thing" and being creative in their own ways. Lots of happiness for you and that is a great thing!

    betty

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a great post. It's nice to hear how well you are all doing, especially the boys. They will keep you going.

    ReplyDelete

CAUTION - READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

This will be my last blog. My heart is not in it, I struggle to find topics and readership is half of what it used to be.  If I have a negat...