So, it's September already

Virtual school still sucks for an 8 year old.  I don't expect to be back at school even in hybrid mode until 2021.

The west coast is burning.

I miss my friends.  I haven't gotten together with anyone outside my household, really, since June?  A backyard birthday 'do in August, but only lasted about 10 minutes because: too many people, not enough masks.

I miss silence.  4 people in a 3 room house, and I get overwhelmed.

I love hugs.  I get them from my family.

I need to simplify.  I have too many things on my plate, with virtual school, work, and chores.  I have spent hours the last few weeks tracing down missing items and missing refunds for one of my produce boxes.  Today?  No box at all.  

Saturday?  We got a random box that didn't belong to us, with $40 cash in it.  So I spent hours trying to figure how who it belonged to.  Never did figure it out.  Gave the box to the neighbor (he was out of veggies anyway) and donated the $ to the food bank.

People are mean.  Why are people so mean?  Especially on the internet, so many attacks without giving people the benefit of the doubt.  And not only mean one time, but then doubling down and posting ELSEWHERE - go over and check this out!  Ugh.  

I am so fucking tired of Trump.  He's a sexist, racist, misogynist.  A liar, a narcissist, and people still want to vote for him.  See above: people are mean.  And racist.  Why are people so racist??  But hey I got a tax cut.

I'm tired.  

I'm reading a lot.

I've been using Paprika to store recipes and do meal plans. I discovered this recipe for crock pot Indian butter chicken.  It's not authentic, but it is delicious.  I've made it twice now.

https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/easy-healthier-crockpot-butter-chicken/

Here are some pictures.

Conf calls in the car

Curry lentils with cauliflower

Bougainvillea on a walk

A mailbox

She loved this bone

Gluten free chocolate chip cookies

Virtual learning is awesome

That's a house with an infinity pool

Chard, chickpea, sweet potato curry

Pretty flowers in the middle of a dirt patch

Cliffs

Birthday bunny cake

Ocean views

Pico de gallo

Beach time

Ahhh

We paint and hide rocks

This is how I lift

Pink!

Creekside on a family hike

Virtual learning is really shitty, thanks for asking

 Notes, in no particular order, on virtual learning:

1.  My 8 yo WILL NOT pay attention to the teacher.

2.  If he doesn't want to do it, he ignores her and reads his book.

3.  He will literally read his book and then come ask me "what did she say?"

4.  He spends most of the time fiddling with crap on his desk, that I constantly have to take away.

5.  Yes, we share an "office" (their bedroom).

6.  I get approximately 15 minutes of work done every hour, from 8:30 until 12:00.  So, maybe an hour, tops.

7.  I have to sit next to him, and force him to pay attention, every. single. minute.

8.  Right now he's working on reading.  He was reading his book, and preparing to talk about it.  I left to move over to my desk.  I hadn't even completed logging in when he came over to bug me.

9.  No, I cannot leave the room, because he will literally do nothing.

10.  Yesterday, 45 minutes of writing (specifically with no parent allowed, to get a feel for their current writing ability) - I left the room.  When I came back later, it was to a FUCKING BLANK PAGE.

11.   I might as well just work through lunch so that I can get work done.

12.  I have friends with kindergartners and first graders who are more miserable than me, if you can imagine.

13.  I LOVE his teacher.  She's awesome.  But virtual learning is NOT working for him.  

14.  If we were teaching him, we could be done in 2 hours instead of 4.  The school does not offer this option though the district says it exists.  It's too much work for teachers to do both.  (Totally understandable.)

15.  I'm so fucking tired.  I haven't had a vacation since November. I'm 50 years old for crying out loud.  Nobody in my house really cares that I haven't had a vacation.  "I hate vacation", "I'm too busy".  

16.  He'll be fine.  He's 8.  He knows multiplication and is currently reading Harry Potter book five, which is an AR level of 7.2 (7th grade).

17.  I don't know if I'll be fine.  I at least get 2 to 6 pm solid work every day, but by 5 pm I'm beat...last night I was working after dinner, but then I can't sleep worth crap.