Already June

[CoachTsWife]

I don't know about you guys, but May flew by for me.

[CoachTsWife]

Our new routine is changing abruptly starting today. Weightlifting for sports can start today, but must be outside in groups of less than 10. So they have set up circuits all over the football field, track, bleachers, and parking lot. DH was up and out of the house before 6 today, but will be back by lunch. I've mostly been able to escape downstairs to work but I'm going to have to do a bit of juggling going forward. MIL was able to help out today, at least.

We are in the midst of replacing the windows in our house. The original ones were basic builder grade and not great windows. There is a pond behind our house and the afternoon sun beats down and bounces off the pond and heats our house up so bad in the summer. There are days it is 85* in my kitchen. Our new windows are double-hung, and are coated with a high grade of "Low-E" which is what filters the sun/heat out. We are really hoping this helps - every company we got a quote from agreed that we'd be able to tell a difference immediately. It's going to get hot this week so we will soon know! I'm also getting a new sliding door in my kitchen that goes onto the deck and I'm super excited about that.

They'd taken the shutters off the front of the house and they were in our garage all weekend because they are finishing up today. Last night after supper we went outside to play t-ball and I noticed how dirty the shutters were. So I got the hose out, cleaned them off, only to see how faded they are and the previous paint color was starting to show. Since the previous owners of the house left all the exterior paint, at 8pm last night I started painting all of our shutters. 🤦‍♀️ It sure would've been nice if I had noticed how dirty/faded they were on Saturday morning, but of course I did not. Oh well. I think they look good now and am excited to see them back up on the house.

Our front door matches the shutters. TBD if I now need to give the front door a fresh coat of paint to match the freshly painted shutters. 🙈

[Taitai]

@coacbtswife Yay for new windows and a new coat of paint on the shutters! That was nice of your neighbors to leave the paint behind. Hope you notice an improvement with the upgraded windows!

Just another start to the week over here - online school again this week...the kids were so disappointed they couldn’t go back this week. I still am irritated that they pulled the plug on school restarting at 5pm on Friday - after we had already told the kids that they would be going back!

At least DS1 and DS2 got outside to play with their friends and had an otherwise nice day.

[CoachTsWife]

Such a bummer Taitai. How much longer is your school year there? Are they going to reevaluate later or is the rest of this school year online?

[CoachTsWife]

How is everyone doing?

[Taitai]

Hey CoachTsWife - thanks for the sympathies about school. In light of all the tragedy and pain happening in the USA right now, it doesn’t really seem important to complain about anymore.

We’re fine over here - another week of online school, and then we’re going to do some driving-distance traveling. I’m reading a really good book that was recommended on the reading thread called, “White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism” by Robin DiAngelo. I’ve learned a lot while reading it - highly recommend to anyone looking for some self reflection and learning on the topic of racism/white privilege. Talking To Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell is another great book that addresses the subject of over policing and systemic racism - recommend that one too. DH and I read it together and still discuss things from it 6 months later.

How is everyone else doing?

[danvers]

👋 here - reading, listening, and learning this past week. Schools can and do have a lot of bias and racist systems and practices in place so I’m trying to learn how we can do better when students return in the fall.

Offline - We found a great deal on a playset on FB Matketplace yesterday. It became a crazy afternoon of dropping the girls off with MIL while H, FIL, and myself got it with the truck and trailer. It was a lot of driving around since we live 1+ hr from the playset and in-laws but it was a great deal. We had a small wooden playset donated when we first had DD1 so we’re going to combine the two into a big one. H is getting some wood today to replace a few boards but those are cheap compared to what we save the slides and accessories.

[duskymonkey]

Guise!!! I am still here. Just been busy since Memorial weekend and school is over so we've been getting into a new routine after we got accustomed to the our home schooling routine. The weather has warmed up quite a bit like its been in the 90s last week ugh! I washed the patio and furniture and we finally got our patio door glass replaced last week too. CoachTsWife, what patio door did you get? We want to replace ours and looking for lift and slide doors and how to get it ordered. Everything we have is builder grade and it SUX! OMG your peonies! I die! Peonies around here just bloomed and I have a bunch of flowers started opening up here too. I'll post some pics. cythe, you just moved so if you just put in perennials last year, it will take 3 yrs before it really grows out - as they say with perennials, YR1 they sleep, Y2 they creep Y3 they leap. Also I feel that my plants have been late to come up this year. Taitai, thank you for the Frangipani pics! I remember and can truly smell their scent looking at the pics and the Swiss cheese plant I believe is a type of philodendron - don't know the cultivar name. They are great to use as an art stamp for the kids! I loved using them when I was a kid.
doodlemommy my heart is breaking for you. There are no words. We are here for you. Keep us posted. Thinking of you and your family. Big hugs

[duskymonkey]

I feel like we're in the Twilight zone the past couple of weeks. Just surreal with everything and reminded me that my boys are biracial - I forget and just doesn't register to me. My BFF and I were talking about how fearful of his life he's gotten the last couple of weeks - he's black and I don't know how to help him. Just sad with the way things have gotten. Racism is still so rampant in so many parts of the world too, not just here and takes on so many different forms. I don't know what is the right way or what to do. I myself have faced discrimination and a great deal of it being an outcast growing up. I've been jeered at, spat at, verbally humiliated, screamed at just for the way I look and it's terrible and I don't want that for my boys. I guess it's hard for me to comprehend racial discrimination because I really don't see a race or religious differences in people.

[Taitai]

duskymonkey Glad to hear you are doing well and got the patio door fixed. I am sure all of your gardening will look wonderful this summer. Yes - the frangipani scent is so nice. We have a lot of them on our property, and I know that whenever we move away from Southeast Asia, we’re really going to miss those flowers.

And on your other post, I’m so sorry to hear about the racism and discrimination you’ve experienced. My friends of Chinese/Peranakan heritage from Malaysia have shared their experiences with me, and it is true - racism is very prevalent throughout the world. Discrimination based on ethic status, religion, sexual orientation, and race is formally institutionalized in many countries.

Racism is sadly not a problem unique to America, and it kind of pisses me off when I hear my European friends say that racism doesn’t exist in Europe. Like, WTF. There is a whole global system in place that benefit whites - I acutely feel the privilege that being white affords me and my family in Southeast Asia every single day. It’s not right, but our privilege is a reality that many white people — everywhere — need to realize and accept before we all can make headway on the issue of systemic racism in America (and throughout the world).

[bootsorhearts1]

Hey guys we’re all good here! I scanned all the posts I missed to make sure everyone was ok. SSM is good too, got some pics of her boys last week. Haven seen her much since we moved.

We are just trucking along here in quarantine. Thank god we have childcare thanks to hubs’ cousins wife who picks them up and drops them off every day. Our nanny quit after DS’s school went virtual because she had been using DDs nap time to study for her online classes. 🤦‍♀️ At least she gave us two weeks to make other plans.

Things are opening up here which is cray-cray to me because cases and hospitalizations are steadily going up. 🤔

I’m not planning to go back into the office or anywhere I don’t need to. DH lost his job a few weeks ago but I’m sure he will find something soon and he did get a good severance so we’re doing ok.

This just sucks and I’m tired of this virus, I miss vacations and the gym. We’ve had protests here too but not too much violence so that’s good. We took the camper out of storage and parked it in the driveway (sorry neighbors) since we can’t really have any other kind of vacation.

[bootsorhearts1]

doodlemommy sorry to hear about your MIL. I can’t even imagine. I hope she can be made comfortable to enjoy the time she has left. How old is she?

[danvers]

Got a text today from a teacher friend asking if I wanted to meet a friend of hers and get some free books for my classroom library. I was talking to H about dinner plans, stopped everything, and just left him to watch the girls and build the sandbox portion of the new playset.

I probably got over 100 free books for my students! I already had a little over 1,100 in my room so 😬😂

I just love having books around my kids (students and my girls) 🤷‍♀️ I’m hoping if they don’t let students go to the library this year because of Covid-19 they will let them use my room library still because it will be easier for me to monitor and sanitize.

[cythe]

Hey guys

Not much new and exciting going on over here. The weather is amazing which makes it easier to spend our days.

TW for pet death (not mine)
Our neighbors beloved black lab (the one E loves so much) was put down in the middle of May. We saw her shortly before, she had hot spots that turned out to be advanced cancer. She did not look well, and in hindsight I am so glad we were able to see her. They didn't tell us that she was gone until a few days ago, but we knew. She went downhill so very fast. Thankfully E doesnt really get death yet, so we didn't even need to talk about it, she hardly notices she's gone.

On a positive side, our neighbors have decided to get another dog to help fill the void at home. Their second child recently left for boot camp, so I think its pretty quiet around there these days. Anyway, I'm excited for Ev to get to see a puppy and they can grow up together. Its kind of sweet, considering its not even my dog The puppy is 3 months old already, and was training to be a service dog. Goose was a therapy dog, and the new puppy will enter a therapy dog program too so that she can go to schools just like Goose did. I can't wait to meet her!

[August Blooms]

Hi everyone, I caught up last week and then these kids of mine interrupted my posting. They basically interrupt anything I’m doing since I’m solo M to F. Things are the same here.

Daycares open next week, I’m hesitant to send the girls back but we really have no other option. My mom offered to watch them but they are a lot to handle for 10 hours. I’m going to use her for a day here and there until we send the girls back to daycare in July. We don’t have a ton of cases in my area but it still stresses me out. It will be nice for my mental health to have the break so I’m trying not to feel too guilty.

[August Blooms]

doodlemommy Sorry about your MIL.

[duskymonkey]

bootsorhearts1 Glad to hear from you and didn't know you are friends with ssm IRL. August Blooms , dealing with the kids all day long is really really hard I think especially with the age ours are at and I myself could use a mental break from them. Speaking of that and the gym...I started working out almost 3 weeks now and it has done wonders with my mood and sleep. You should check out Katie Sackhoff's workout on YT link If you're a Sci-Fi nerd you'll recognize her as Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica anddd if you need something to binge watch I highly recommend it. Really great show. Her workouts are plyo based and need little to no equipment unless you want to ramp it up and add weights. They're 20-30 mins but intense and they cover all parts of the body. I wanted to give up the first few days but worked through the pain and now I crave it lol! Since school was done, we've been biking every morning and I've been pulling lil fella in the chariot so that's a decent workout in the mornings too. 
With all the doom and gloom the past couple of weeks, I was so unmotivated to make DS' birthday cake. His birthday was last Tuesday but I finally made myself get on it and we celebrated it this past weekend. He wanted a Golden frog cake so I decided to make a Black Forest roulade since he loves cherries with marzipan frogs and stuff. Who said Bûche is only for the holidays! Stayed up so late all week last week but I found it relaxing and gratifying modeling the marzipan pieces.

[Taitai]

duskymonkey As usual - WOW with your cake/roulade making! You are creating such special memories for your DS - he is so lucky to have such a talented mom. I can tell you put a lot of work into it - turned out amazing!

danvers Yay for all those books! My H has some teachers in the family, and they also had big classroom libraries. We’ve benefited by getting a bunch of books passed down to or kids. I love reading them with our kids - makes us feel connected to family back in the states.

cythe So sorry that your neighbors had to put down their pet dog, but excited for the new puppy. I bet E will love playing with the new pup - dogs are the best.

August Blooms That’s really nice of your mom to help watch the kids. The pandemic has caused a LOT of time at home, and I know that I need to get a break and be out of the house every now and then. I hope the cases stay low in your area.

bootsorhearts1 I’m sorry that your H lost his job, and I hope he finds a new one soon. Nice to hear that he received severance - I wish him luck with the job hunting. Getting out the camper sounds like a good idea for vacations during these times! Better to drive than fly.

[Taitai]

We’re leaving for a 4 day beach vaycay in the morning!! So excited - we’ve been stuck in this hot city for 6.5 months, and we are long overdue for some time away from it all. The kids are super excited, and we’re bringing along our nanny and her daughter. They deserve some down time too!

We’re just driving to one of our favorite resort areas - fingers crossed the traffic won’t be too bad! 🤞🤞

[August Blooms]

duskymonkey That is amazing. The details on the frogs are fantastic!

Taitai I’m jealous of you beach trip! Enjoy! I wish we had booked a cottage this summer, but the IL’s were supposed to visit. Stupid Covid wrecking everything.

[danvers]

duskymonkey that cake looks awesome and I love his very specific “Golden Frog” request 😂 You are very talented.

Taitai Have a great vacation!

August Blooms our daycare is open but they are still getting State grants for kids who aren’t attending so since we don’t have to send or pay - the girls are home with us. We will have to start paying for DD2 sometime in July I’m sure to hold her spot for Fall. We’ve saved so much $$$ with the girls staying home though!

cythe we saw the fluffiest ball of fluff the other day and DD2 was in love. I have no idea what kind of puppy it was but we were both smitten. Hopefully E gets lot of playtime with your neighbors pup!

[danvers]

We met my mom and grandma at a state park with a beach yesterday. The girls swam and played for 7 hours! I did really good with putting sunscreen on the girls. I did not do so well with me and am hurting today.

I am usually so, so good about sunscreen (because I am oh-so-pale) and I don’t think I’ve been this burnt since I was a kid. I am trying all the internet advice today and letting H do 100% of the parenting because ouch! 🥵🥵🥵

[cythe]

Update everyone: The new puppy has arrived and I'm not sure E knew how to contain her excitement. She spotted her (the dog) from her high chair and it was over from there. All done signs were flying, yelling at the door. Blololololol (word for dog) constantly and when she finally got to meet the dog, she just squealed and made happy feet tippy tappys. I don't know guys, it was chaos.

[August Blooms]

danvers We have saved a ton of money due to Covid. Daycare and gas/toll highway account for a large portion of our budget. It was nice while it lasted.

[Taitai]

cythe Awwwww!!! Your description of E’s reaction to the puppy made me wish I was there to see it! Hope she is getting lots and lots of puppy love right now.

danvers Wohoo for a fun day at the state park/beach, but sorry about your sunburn. I have only been badly burned one time in my life, and it was soooooo awful. I had blisters....ugh - I don’t even want to think about it. Slather on that aloe!

[Taitai]

Beach trip is going really well! Today has been overcast, which is AWESOME, because otherwise it gets super hot. Like, today was only 85 degrees instead of yesterday (very sunny), when it was about 104-105 all day.

We all got some color the first two days, so it was also nice to have a break from the sun - I successfully sun screened myself and my family for the first two days, but I was worried I’d not keep up with it and someone would burn today!

We leave tomorrow afternoon, which will be just the right amount of time. Next week, we’re heading to the mountains for another 4 days. I am trying to get all of our summer vaycay stuff done (at places within 2-3 hours driving distance) before July, which is when international tourism will open back up (and COVID will likely make a resurgence in this country).

[danvers]

Taitai yay for a great beach trip! Nicely done on the sunscreen for everyone too - day 4 post-burn and I’m able to move my shoulders without grimacing finally! Enjoy every minute of the trip!

[danvers]

I decided to try and take the girls to the playground today. The state reopened them Friday and I wasn’t sure how crowded they’d be since were still limiting the girls exposure to public places.

The playground was empt! I actually doubled checked online before letting the girls out to play because I couldn’t believe the biggest playground in the city would be empty on a beautiful, cool summer day. We stayed for 3 hours and saw maybe two other families so it was a win!

[doodlemommy]

Hi everyone! 2 more weeks of school for us here and then we are heading to the mountains to my parents condo (with them) for a week. I found out I do have a job to go back to at the same fte so we’ve spent the last couple weeks reorganizing life back to our original plans. DH goes on 3 weeks of vacation starting the last week of June which will roll into 38 weeks of parental leave. So we will have the whole summer together and then I will go back to work part time in September and he will be the stay at home parent until mid April. We are really looking forward to it!

[doodlemommy]

Oh, we also found out my mil for sure has stage 4/inoperable gallbladder cancer but the drs are hopeful that because she is healthy she might have 1-2 years. She starts chemo on Wednesday so hoping and praying that it will work and we can have as long as possible with her!