I should do wordle in the evening - I got sidetracked this morning, so I just did it now. So much easier. Wordle 263 3/6 ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

My youngest was like that. Middle DD ended up with 2 rounds of braces because she knocked a baby tooth out, and it kicked the adult tooth out of alignment. So, 4 sets of braces for 3 kids. I could've bought a new car with what I paid/pay for braces.

Our mandate ended the last day of Feb, and it was almost instantaneous in my area with the masks coming off. All of us in my household are continuing masking. The two kids who still live with me are going through some medical issues, and neither have been cleared to get the booster (they've had 2 shots). College kid has a surgery coming up after the end of the school year - don't need covid slowing that down. So we will continue to mask. DH's work is mandating masks (they make pharmaceuticals, so line workers already had clean suits including masks, but now everyone must), but I work for 2 libraries, and they are both mask optional (which means nobody at this moment masks). Youngest masks outdoors since her friends aren't great at social distancing (so many group selfies lol!), so she just masks whenever/wherever they hang out. None of the rest of us mask outdoors but we social distance better. My county is still well above 10/100K for cases (on the 4th, it was 16/100K); county next to us where most shopping, etc. is just fell to 9/100K. Positivity is still above 4% for both. So, covid is still out there, and I just don't need that in my life at the moment. Summer: I may relax masking a little if we drop to about 5/100K, 1% positivity. I've been contemplating what my line is - a lot depends on what's going on with the kids' health. Youngest wants to do some sport this spring/summer. If we can swing it, I'm thinking tennis may be a better option than an indoors one.

It's been a rough week already...

Here was how I taught my kids - extremely low cost, but slow. Each phase took a while - we did this over the entire 3rd-ish through 4th-ish grade. It cost me 99 cents. I bought a wipe off placemat from Walmart ($.99). 1) Kid traced the letters with a dry erase marker. 1.5) Forgot about this one: Child would find and trace a "G" when I asked. 2) I would say "B" and child would write a cursive B (upper & lower case). First with the placemat as a guide, then from memory. 2.5) Forgot another one: Child learned to sign name. All handwriting practice required writing their signature 3x until this was mastered (about steps 4-6 depending on child). 3) Child copied pangrams written in cursive. I used a free list of pangrams online that I handwrote out. 4) Child "translated" typed pangrams to cursive. 5) Child wrote pangrams from dictation. 6) Child did copywork (I used an old copy of WWE for passages, but you can use any book you have laying around) - translating typed letters to cursive. 7) Child did dictation in cursive. Two of my three children have dysgraphia, and this method was s-l-o-w but relatively painless. They all learned enough cursive to get by. They all read it very well, with varying success at writing.

At this point, I'm sticking my fingers in my ears and screaming "Lalalalalala, I can't hear you!" We basically go to work and doctor's appointments. We will have to pick up Oldest from college this week (and return her next weekend). Youngest was looking to do some sort of sports this spring - I'm not sure we can handle that and the increased cost of gas & groceries. No extra trips to stores - Saturday has become errand day - nothing beyond this. I have no idea - we would literally not be able to afford it if gas prices double. Probably go in debt to go to work/doctor.

lowest $4.19, highest $4.49 in my town. Large town close to us: $4.03-$4.37 DH filled both cars on Sunday for $4.09 (every other place was $4.19+ at that time). DH can work from home 1 day a week (35 miles roundtrip daily to work). I cannot work from home, but my work is only 12 miles roundtrip and 6 miles roundtrip to my second job (2x a week). So absolute minimum 212 miles weekly - ugh. Today DH is going 2 hours one way to a doctor's appointment, and this weekend I'm driving 12 hours one way to pick up DD from school. Costs according to gas buddy this morning.

Rhyming loop! Wordle 262 4/6 🟩🟨⬜⬜🟨 🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩 🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

This is what I am seeing. Just no comment at all.

So many options! Wordle 261 5/6 ⬜⬜🟩🟩⬜ ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟨🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

I did a whole year of co-op using the book Exploratopia and quick read aloud science books (ie: Magic School Bus, etc). https://www.amazon.com/Exploratopia-kid-friendly-experiments-explorations-curious/dp/0316612812/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1OYRJMVCLWX9X&keywords=exploratopia&qid=1646658423&sprefix=exploratopia%2Caps%2C206&sr=8-1

And we started Chair Force today. Have done all assigned, which is the 3 workouts a week - DD has averaged about 2. So, we're making progress.

Wordle 260 4/6 ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Played Octordle today. Octordle 🔟7️⃣ 🕚6️⃣ 4️⃣5️⃣ 9️⃣3️⃣ octordle.com

Today is Youngest's birthday. We had Panda Express Thursday night in preparation; she made cupcakes this morning, and we'll open gifts later today. She wants to go to the trampoline/ninja gym later this month, but she hasn't been feeling great, so we'll probably push that off for a while. It's part of her gift though. Still waiting on some test results and she has further testing next week; she's getting close to max out of pocket for the year already though - will probably hit in April. Did some research on Oldest's meal plan. No way to add "All you can eat" meal swipes at this point. Super expensive to do so at the beginning of the semester as well. So, next year, I am thinking of doing the same meal plan she is on now, but setting aside $$ for mid-semester add - don't know where that money is going to come from yet, but it seems to be the best option.

Oh, that would make me sad.

Those one letter differences get me every time. Wordle 259 4/6 ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟩 🟩🟩⬜⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle 258 3/6 ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨 ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Scared of falling into a rhyming loop having gotten the last 3, but next word wins. Wordle 257 3/6 ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜ ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

It's not so much they charge more now, it's that we could've paid for 10, or 15, or 21 meals a week vs. a $ amount. We ended up with a $ amount rather than the "All you can eat" package. And the cafeteria is expensive - it costs approximately as much to feed her via "dining dollars" as I spend on groceries for all of us here at home. While it's probably a better option for her to have the straight $, we didn't plan on paying anymore for her meal plan. It's not enough for a whole semester - she wasn't eating last semester very much (so she didn't run out), and her therapist/we wanted her to at least try to go 3x per day even if she doesn't eat much because she was starting to fall way below optimal weight. It seems to have worked in that she's eating well again, but now we're going to struggle to pay for her food there. It's always something. We'll just have to make sure we have $$ set aside for the next semester if we go with this same meal plan.

DH purchased an oil pan drainage thing to recapture the water from the shower. Master bath is all the way on the other side of the house from the water heater, so it takes a good long while for the hot water to get there. So we've gotten used to letting it run for a while before getting in. In preparation for us paying for our water, we'll sit this on the shower floor and we can use it. We're not planning on drinking it - just watering the garden (hopefully, it'll get nice enough soon for a garden), cleaning, etc. I hate college expenses. DD's meal plan defaulted to "upperclassman" plan this year and I didn't catch it. They apparently expect upperclassmen to not use the cafeteria much, but my girl uses it 3x per day. Long story short, she's out of $ at the cafeteria - it'll probably cost as much to pay it now as we're paying for the four of us at home. Ugh. She's out the end of April, so only 2 months of out of pocket though. So, instead of the covid $ she just got going to tuition, it'll pay to feed her for the next 2 months.