I've been listening to a lot of audiobooks. Some good, some less good. I just finished A Man Named Ove, which I loved. Prior to that I "read" Guns, Germs, and Steel, which had been on my list for a long time. It was not very good, and for a book called Guns, Germs and Steel it talked very little about any of those topics. It also felt very redundant. I guess it wasn't for me, but I finished. I think I've done 46 books this year.
Aside from audiobooks, I've been weeding (Still). It's the thing I really look forward to each day. I love being outside, and digging and accomplishing something. Sometimes the kids join me (not to weed, just to play outside).
Our county is the lone holdout in California for leaving stage 1. Though, stage 2 isn't much different, at least not for us. The numbers are looking pretty good currently (for here, anyway). I think we've done really well (thank you Dr Sara Cody). There are almost 2 million people, we've had 2400 confirmed Covid cases, and 135 deaths. I am going to try to donate blood this week. The banks are in need, though, my stupid A+ blood is not super helpful. It's something I can do. We've also been ordering take away food from local restaurants three (or more) times a week.
The rest of our (Aaron's) family seems to think the stay home order has been lifted, and are gathering again. (Not that that ever stopped his parents anyway). We go and visit his parents by sitting on the lawn while they sit on the porch. My FiL asked how long we were going to keep this up (meaning not coming into the house, assembling etc). I said we're following the guidelines set by the county, which he couldn't argue with. But we're now the stick in the mud, because we won't join the group. I'm sure it's been a topic of conversation. It's annoying. And I would love to assemble, and sent the kids there, but I'm going to follow the rules. I'm immuno-suppressed (And his parents average age is 77).
The rest of our (Aaron's) family seems to think the stay home order has been lifted, and are gathering again. (Not that that ever stopped his parents anyway). We go and visit his parents by sitting on the lawn while they sit on the porch. My FiL asked how long we were going to keep this up (meaning not coming into the house, assembling etc). I said we're following the guidelines set by the county, which he couldn't argue with. But we're now the stick in the mud, because we won't join the group. I'm sure it's been a topic of conversation. It's annoying. And I would love to assemble, and sent the kids there, but I'm going to follow the rules. I'm immuno-suppressed (And his parents average age is 77).
I've been on Remeron for a little over a month now. It works really well, but it makes me hungry a lot, which is one of the side effects, so it may not be a sustainable long term solution. But at this point it's kind of hard to tell if weight gain (up 7ish lbs currently) is from quarantine, or medication.
We bought a new laptop (which I'm currently using) to help with Bertram's school stuff. We were using the desktop, but it was not super conducive to him paying attention. This is working much better, plus we have the space of the whole kitchen table.
Aaron has been looking at plane tickets. We had talked about doing a big trip for either his 40th birthday or our 15th anniversary. Our anniversary is in less than a month, so that's out. But plane tickets to Europe are ridiculously cheap ($300ish for London, Rome and Paris). I would like to make a move on that, but everything is too unsettled. I can't really plan for anything that far out.
Bronwyn likes to recite books. She has an amazing memory. She really likes the Elephant and Piggie books. And the Three Cats books by Viviane Schwarz. She likes puzzles, and her little dinosaurs. She loves to wear necklaces and hats. She doesn't like most food, or sleeping. She likes playing outside. If she has chalk, she wants me to draw a house, a shark, or a snowman. She picks (usually) unripe fruit from the plants and brings it to me. As she hands it over she says "thank you".
Bertram has been reluctantly doing school. I am very glad I don't home school. I couldn't handle it, for sure. And he does better with the structure of the class room. He's having a hard time being home. He doesn't say so, but it's affecting him/his behaviour. He really just wants screen time all the time. And he's getting way more than he usually would. But he's been reading, and drawing. His ABA tech comes during the week, which helps some. Tonight Bertram wanted to try using the waterpik (which I just got this week). It went about as well as you'd guess. He's not ready for it.
Both kids have been playing outside as much as I can make them. I fill the little paddle pool, and they play with that. They make mud in the part of the garden we're not using and play in there a lot. They use the sand box (we need a bigger one though). Stuff like that. Aaron and I have both been baking a lot. He makes bread and has been fiddling with sourdough recipes. I've been doing cookies and cakes.
