Thursday Tacklers, What’s on your list?

[ScoutTN]

I have a medical appt. early. Will regroup after that.

Coffee now! 

[mom31257]

Good morning, @ScoutTN!

I'm carrying over the list from yesterday. 

I've taken my medicine and met with one student online who had to meet early. I'm going to go get some coffee before I tackle anything else. 

I'm adding to my list some errands out:

• pick up a card
• bank
• chamber of commerce (have ornaments for a gift?)
• post office
• pay water bill
• clean out fridge/freezer
• clean laundry room
• wash all sheets and towels
• make beds Friday
• dust everywhere Friday
• do all floors Friday
• laundry
• start packing ds' stuff to go back to school
• deep clean kitchen 
• deep clean bathrooms
• gift for gf's parents (looking for a local ornament)
• make lesson plans for first week of classes
• plan fun activity for first day of classes
• tutor 4 students 
• pay bills/update checking
• look for some gluten free recipes (ds' gf eats gluten free)
• look for something we could do with the kids next week 

Edited August 5, 2022 by mom31257

[TheReader]

good morning!

I'm feeling much more motivated today, so hopefully get a lot of things done. 

On the list:

...coffee
...prep for tutoring 2 kids this morning
...look into options for Middle DS getting to/from school in the fall*
...go tutor said kids  bumped till next week
...come home, eat lunch  since I won't leave, I won't come home (eating a snack now)
...really truly finalize my Orientation hand-outs/information
...make sure the syllabuses are revised and ready to print
...make sure the contact list by class is ready to print (first draft, for parents to look over and correct)
...work on organizing my stuff into "will go live in the cabinet at school", "will go to school if there's still room", and "will stay at home" 
...make sure 1st 6-9 weeks of each grade's teacher sheet/homework sheet is ready to print for my folder/binder
...message friend, see if she is/isn't coming tomorrow to do all the things
...figure out dinner, cook early
....go to fencing - my wrist is good, so I can fence w/the brace (and depending how that goes, sign up for the tournament on the 13th)
...come home, go to bed

 

*So, the school thing - he's going to university, locally; not living on campus. We thought he could ride the (provided by Univ) bus to/from the local campus to the main campus, so built his schedule around that; the school added a blurb to the info page saying "this is not intended for commuters from your county, but for students with classes on both of these campuses" so now we're not sure he'll be allowed on or not...driving him to/from is going to be ridiculous if we have to do that (it's an hour each way, more or less). 

Edited August 4, 2022 by TheReader

[TravelingChris]

5 minutes ago, TheReader said:

 

 

*So, the school thing - he's going to university, locally; not living on campus. We thought he could ride the (provided by Univ) bus to/from the local campus to the main campus, so built his schedule around that; the school added a blurb to the info page saying "this is not intended for commuters from your county, but for students with classes on both of these campuses" so now we're not sure he'll be allowed on or not...driving him to/from is going to be ridiculous if we have to do that (it's an hour each way, more or less). 

Can he drive?  Can you get a beater or lower cost car for him?  The funny thing about when my kids got cars and learned to drive.  DS couldn't get a license until he was 18 because first we were living in Belgium and then he was in college and not at home w us so couldn't do the whole learner's permit deal.  He didn't get a car from us until he was 22 and we were all moving from the DC suburbs to here.  He wanted to try to make it in Indianapolis but returned here within a few months.  DD1 got her driver's license at 16 but the car plan was we were going to give her my older Hyundai Sonata for college- she was going to Univ of AL, and I would buy a newer car for me.  But during the move from DC suburb, ds had a wreck with it and so instead of that plan, I drove a rented KIA Soul (lots of jokes about that by dh) to AL, and then we had to quickly buy both dd1 and me a car within a few weeks.  

Now by the time dd2 was learning to drive, I was really doing much poorly in my health.  She got her license at 16.5 years which was in June of some year and by Aug, we had bought her a used car.  It was such a blessing for me not to have to drive her everywhere,  She was able to drive to all classes, Venture activities, competition group activities, etc, etc, etc/ She ended up having that car through college, and only replaced it when she was 24 and the repairs were getting too much.  Oh and this one was my very reluctant driver-- which is part of the reason we had to wait until she was 16.5 years-  another part is that she got a leg injury that didn't let her drive for a few months.  But we pushed her into it and she has been my safest driver- no at fault accidents.  Probably because the other two are ADHD combined and she is simply ADHD inattentive.

[TravelingChris]

Good morning!  Tired and a lot of pain too-- all this rain stuff around isn't helping my joints.  Had breakfast and meds,  hope meds kick in soon.

Done

• breakfast
• meds
• put out composting

To Do

• shower
• figure transportation for tomorrow's book club and also Movie class
• prep for  telehealth appt
• call people back from messages
• manage stomach issues
• have to bring over items from yesterday\s list that wasn't done yesterday

[TheReader]

21 minutes ago, TravelingChris said:

Can he drive?  Can you get a beater or lower cost car for him?  T.....

We need to push him to finish his driving hours so he can get his license; that would help. I don't know that he'd be confident making the drive to University or not, it's a lot of highway driving, and then some would be at night on the way home. But would help for future semesters - I think the goal will be that this semester he finishes getting his license, and begins doing a lot of driving around here, so that by next semester he could take over driving himself to school. 

I did look up all the info - he can, if he has to, sit out a semester w/o penalty or needing to reapply (that's last resort). He can contact the school about joining a vanpool through Metro, for a fee.  We *might* be able to contact the school to find a carpool (they may/may not be able to help match him with one).  DH can drive him, stay on campus and work from there, bring him home.  I can drive him to/from (coming home in between). We have choices....and it's only one semester. We can suck it up and make it work; the vanpool would be good if we can get matched with one. If not, we can wrangle the driving. 

[TheReader]

So, I figured out/researched the school stuff for Middle; see above reply to Chris. There are options (just not the one we thought). We'll work it out. 

Got stuff prepped for tutoring, then thought to check my phone and she had texted to reschedule till next week. So, now I have today to do all my things, and am (mostly) prepped for next week's tutoring. Yay! 

Messaged my friend, she can't come tomorrow but will come Saturday morning. That will be good. 

Sorting dinner ideas, then figure out the next thing...

[HomeAgain]

Good morning!

Today's schedule looks like

• possible round 3 of negotiations over ds's classes in public school.  Right now it would make my child very unhappy and not what we agreed on in round 1.
• laundry.  Always laundry.
• Date time with dh.  We're going to do go-karts and mini-golf, followed by dinner. 🙂

[SKL]

Howdie, happy Thursday!  It must be a sign that this post popped up first in the feed when I logged in.  😛

Getting a little break from the heat thanks to some rain.  But it's still warm and humid.

Today's house project:  day 4 of the basement ceiling guys.  Today they will mostly finish the basement ceiling as well as patching a hole that the plumber made in our common area.  Pup is being relatively quiet about it today.

I have a pile of client reports due / past due, but I also hope to spend some time with the girls doing things they need to do.  Yesterday the August heat was just too oppressive for ambition.  Too oppressive to add "fight with the kids to force them to xyz & pdq."  Plus they weren't both home together until 10pm.  [They did each do about 8 hours of work/band + driving lessons yesterday.]

So today, let's have some focus and motivation, rah rah rah!  Haha....

Done:

• Slept all night!!
• Woke the kids.
• Took the pup out.
• Made breakfast.
• Drove the kids to band camp.
• Dealt with the basement ceiling guys.
• Ate an apple.
• Washed some dishes.
• A little reading.
• Wordle (5), nerdle (2), quordle (6 - makes up for yesterday's fail).
• Caught up on emails, news, calendar, social media, and electronic school stuff.

To do:

• Lots of client work.
• Yoga etc.
• Take vitamins, eat veggies, drink water.
• Add Kid2 to my car insurance.
• Walk the pup at some point.
• Pick up the kids from band camp.
• Clear some clutter out of the basement, clean house, do laundry, etc.
• Kid1 driving lesson (night / freeway after rush hour).
• Kid2 driving lesson (short, just trying not to murder mailboxes at this point).
• Make the kids:
  • Clean their rooms & pick up their stuff around the house.
  • Start summer math.
  • Go over & seriously work on summer English assignment.
  • Do pup duty.
  • Get ready for tomorrow.
  • Maybe more, but we'll see what gets done.

[ScoutTN]

8 minutes ago, HomeAgain said:

• Date time with dh.  We're going to do go-karts and mini-golf, followed by dinner. 🙂

This is a great idea! Stealing it, for sure. Can’t do the next couple weeks bc school/homeschool start up is insane, but when we have a modicum of routine and it is a tad cooler in the evenings, definitely doing this.

[SKL]

As for school class schedules ... we don't have ours yet, but I'm anxious about it.  Someone accidentally temporarily posted schedules a couple weeks ago, and my kids found them.  Kid1's schedule was showing no lunch, but study halls the first & last periods.  The heavy college prep classes were taking up all 3 "lunch" period options.  If that's anything close to reality, we need to talk.  How is the kid supposed to eat lunch?  Will she be able to go to the bathroom without missing important class time?  (She has gastro issues, so this isn't a hypothetical.)

I've been trying to convince my kids that they need to seriously try for straight As this year.  Last year, they chronically postponed their homework, resulting in being less prepared for class, and at least one of them didn't listen well in class, thinking she could figure it out later, maybe ask a classmate etc.  They got away with this because the teachers were lenient.  But they could be much better students if they had the attitude to stay on top of things.  I can't control this, so I am hoping they will figure this out.

[HomeAgain]

1 minute ago, ScoutTN said:

This is a great idea! Stealing it, for sure. Can’t do the next couple weeks bc school/homeschool start up is insane, but when we have a modicum of routine and it is a tad cooler in the evenings, definitely doing this.

We are enjoying having ds at camp this week and doing things we rarely get to do. 😄 If it works out, we'll take ds for his birthday this winter, but we want to have a day where dh and I can just be the super competitive adults we each fell in love with.  And I'm going to enjoy winning. 🤣

 

[ScoutTN]

Doc changed my medication, as expected, bc my A1c is creeping up. Also switching to the other doc in the practice bc mine is launching a concierge format practice that we cannot afford. Sad to lose a doc I love, but glad to have an excellent plan b. We will add my kids to the practice too - they have been totally done with the pediatrician for over a year. 
 

Today:
Walk!
Amazon return. 
Church work
AHG things
Farmers’ market 
Ds to eye exam

Dinner is fish, sautéed veggies, and roasted potatoes.
 

[ScoutTN]

1 minute ago, HomeAgain said:

We are enjoying having ds at camp this week and doing things we rarely get to do. 😄 If it works out, we'll take ds for his birthday this winter, but we want to have a day where dh and I can just be the super competitive adults we each fell in love with.  And I'm going to enjoy winning. 🤣

 

I might win at go carts, because it seems to depend in the car more than the driver. Dh is a golfer and I always lose badly in putt-putt. 

[HomeAgain]

1 minute ago, SKL said:

As for school class schedules ... we don't have ours yet, but I'm anxious about it.  Someone accidentally temporarily posted schedules a couple weeks ago, and my kids found them.  Kid1's schedule was showing no lunch, but study halls the first & last periods.  The heavy college prep classes were taking up all 3 "lunch" period options.  If that's anything close to reality, we need to talk.  How is the kid supposed to eat lunch?  Will she be able to go to the bathroom without missing important class time?  (She has gastro issues, so this isn't a hypothetical.)

I've been trying to convince my kids that they need to seriously try for straight As this year.  Last year, they chronically postponed their homework, resulting in being less prepared for class, and at least one of them didn't listen well in class, thinking she could figure it out later, maybe ask a classmate etc.  They got away with this because the teachers were lenient.  But they could be much better students if they had the attitude to stay on top of things.  I can't control this, so I am hoping they will figure this out.

That's messed up!  I hope they see the issues and get it resolved.

I'm trying to be patient with the school because I know they have a lot of incoming students, but ds's schedule is a hot mess.  His math is 3 levels different than it should be, and his language is the only one the school teaches that he hasn't studied extensively.  They made notes on his intake forms.  They have his work samples and progress report.  We discussed all of this in person and were assured it would be tailored to his needs.

I feel like Beverly Goldberg when I have to send an email detailing my concerns with his classes, reminding them of everything and getting it taken care of.  He was supposed to start his summer work 4 days ago and won't be doing any of it until he is where he needs to be.

[SKL]

1 hour ago, TheReader said:

*So, the school thing - he's going to university, locally; not living on campus. We thought he could ride the (provided by Univ) bus to/from the local campus to the main campus, so built his schedule around that; the school added a blurb to the info page saying "this is not intended for commuters from your county, but for students with classes on both of these campuses" so now we're not sure he'll be allowed on or not...driving him to/from is going to be ridiculous if we have to do that (it's an hour each way, more or less). 

Could he sign up for 1 class at the regional campus?  Maybe orientation, PE, or something that would be a low time investment for him?

[TheReader]

2 minutes ago, SKL said:

Could he sign up for 1 class at the regional campus?  Maybe orientation, PE, or something that would be a low time investment for him?

That is one of the things we're investigating, yes. It would save a lot of hassle; it's whether or not they offer something at that campus that he can take. We shall see....

[TheReader]

Got the Orientation hand-out finished -- streamlined it, got more info on in a less jumbled/wordy format

[ScoutTN]

There is a skink loose in our house! Ds is in charge.. He’s the designated reptiles and amphibians person!

[SKL]

Finished Yoga Etc. and vitamins.  Took the pup out and did a little training.

Took a fresh look at the kids' English assignment.  Realized kids' books have to be at least 250 pages long.  Kid1's book that she thought she was gonna read is less than 250 pages, so I ordered the longer version + audiobook.  I guess I'm glad she hasn't really started reading the book!

[mom31257]

15 minutes ago, ScoutTN said:

There is a skink loose in our house! Ds is in charge.. He’s the designated reptiles and amphibians person!

We need a WOW choice in the responses! 

[mom31257]

I have a load of laundry in the dryer and a second one in the washer. 

I did all the errands out except I couldn't find a graduation card at the place I stopped. Not even a congratulations card. 

My full time student's dad called me asking for a transcript, so I had to get that together really quickly. Thankfully, I keep all his grades in a spreadsheet. I just copied my son's transcript and filled in his information in place of it. 

Dh did errands, too, and is getting lunch out. 

[mom31257]

@TheReader, praying you can get the best possible thing worked out on the school and driving situation!

@TravelingChris, praying your meds help soon!

@SKL and @HomeAgain, praying all the school schedules get resolved to the best situations for your kids! 

[history-fan]

@TheReader How would the bus driver know which students are attending classes and where?

if the school doesn’t offer a class that works maybe they have independent study classes for 1 credit and you can make your own. Most of the colleges around here are open to independent classes.

[SKL]

Added kid2 to my car insurance.  Currently it says my premium won't increase for her, yay.

Brought in 8 boxes (furniture stuff) that a delivery guy left on the wet driveway.

The basement ceiling guys are gone ... I think they are done for today.  Our pup is happy.

I did a tiny bit of client work.  Still trying to work up some serious motivation for that.

[history-fan]

Woke up to an alert that the power went out at 3:30 this am. Didn’t come back on till 10.  Good reason to clean fridge out

laundry catch up day

clean floors in kitchen, lr, dr

work on writing article

Ds found another cell plan option to look at

clean bathrooms

 

 

[TheReader]

Orientation handout is done

Syllabuses are all updated and ready to print

Show & Tell Schedule (with school holidays on it) is ready to print 

All of the timeline stuff is ready to print & assemble

Contact lists are ready to print (waiting to print K)

1st six weeks, will go up to 9 weeks, of binder pages for me are ready to print

Going to grab lunch, then sneak a nap, then tackle the shelf sorting stuff

[TheReader]

7 minutes ago, history-fan said:

@TheReader How would the bus driver know which students are attending classes and where?

if the school doesn’t offer a class that works maybe they have independent study classes for 1 credit and you can make your own. Most of the colleges around here are open to independent classes.

We're suspecting that they may not actually ask, but that the school lists this statement to try and discourage commuters from taking all the space on the bus intended for students actually traveling between classes on the 2 campuses. One of the plans is for DH to drive him to the regional campus, wait for the bus to come and DS try to get on, and then if rejected, drive him to the main campus. if it works, yay!  

We'll figure it out. 

[73349]

Okay. Deep breath and second coffee.

laundry: completed ✔️

dishes: done (until dinner) ✔️

school: done for today ✔️

food: done ✔️

other: yard work ✔️ , challenge ✔️

Edited March 15 by 73349

[SKL]

Kid2 wants to apply for a job tonight via email ... needs to prepare a resume.  I guess that's a new "to-do" for tonight.

[TheReader]

had a message from my fencing coach, reminding me to do my safe sport training for volunteering with them, so starting that - will likely come back to it later though

[ScoutTN]

2 hours ago, SKL said:

Added kid2 to my car insurance.  Currently it says my premium won't increase for her, yay.

That is amazing! Ours almost doubled!

[TheReader]

Up from my nap, have dinner figured out (-ish) 

Realized *most* of the "will live at school" stuff is already in specific bins, so not as much to do in there as I thought 

Thought I'd work on the seating chart for school.....why on earth is that always the  hardest part?????  Will get that sorted, and then head back to the bedroom to sort the other school stuff that needs it (school supplies, extra blocks, etc.)

 

[TheReader]

Okay, got a preliminary seating chart figured for each class. Whew. 

[ScoutTN]

Hooray, Ds does not need glasses or contacts! He is a bit nearsighted, but not enough to bother about at this point. 
Heaps of admin tasks done. Always more to do though!
Making quite a long list for tomorrow...
I put the fish in cold water to accelerate thawing. 
 

Small things to knock off today/tonight:
Amazon return
Change Brita filter ✔️ 
Make taco seasoning
Walk! 
Revise grocery list

Headed to the neighborhood farmers market, then I'll tackle that list. 
 

Edited August 5, 2022 by ScoutTN

[TheReader]

school/home/school folders (using fancy zipper pouch things this year, that I will hopefully be able to reuse) labeled for each kid

 

[TheReader]

Okay, feeling like I might actually be ready when school starts! 

-went through the markers, tossed the used up ones, reassembled my "marker bags" to pass out to kids when we (rarely) use markers
-went through the crayons and tossed the broken, worn down, etc.
-restocked the "you forgot your school supplies" pouches (3 sets)
-went through the glue sticks and tossed the used up ones (I have 6 or 8, so probably should get more)
-went through the pencils and did the same, restocked that container
-added the new scissors to the pouch to replace the ones that disappeared
-emptied the (hand held) pencil sharpeners
-organized all of that into the "goes to school" roller bag for taking up there on our workday in a week
-found the "play blocks" bags and will add the new tubes to those, but now it's time to cook dinner; I *think* I finally have enough of these that I can quit buying them every time Target has them (probably)
 

Still stuff to do, but this was one of the big time-consuming bits.

[mom31257]

4 hours ago, ScoutTN said:

That is amazing! Ours almost doubled!

Dd will probably pass her car (given to her by my dad) to ds when she gets a new one. We went ahead and priced our insurance (Country Financial)  adding the car to have an idea, and it was going to go up about $800 every 6 months. That caused us to start shopping around for other insurance rates, and we found that Allstate  saved us a lot right now and will only increase about $100 when we add the third car. I hadn't shopped for insurance for years, and I'm kicking myself for being loyal to the previous agent. I could have saved us money through the years. 

[ScoutTN]

Got tomatoes, cuke, peaches, jam, and eggs at the farmers market.
 

Ds reminded me that I promised to take him to a friend’s fb game this evening. Did that and came home ready to pull the dinner together quickly - only to find Dd refroze the fish I carefully thawed today. So….dinner is whatever random things we have.

May still try to get in a walk before it gets dark. 

I could make a grocery run, but would rather not. Leaves lots still on tomorrow’s list.

@mom31257 We need to shop our insurance, but need a little time to breathe to do it. State Farm did a roof and the floors in our house, so they’re upside down on our homeowners. Cars not so much. 

[Brittany1116]

Will go back to read. So busy I didn't have time to post. School, work, 100 errands, PT and more. Ready for bed soon. 😴

[Brittany1116]

@TheReader hope you get a quick resolution.  That kind of thing would get me worked up for days.

9 hours ago, ScoutTN said:

There is a skink loose in our house! Ds is in charge.. He’s the designated reptiles and amphibians person!

Is this a reoccurring thing if there is a designated... capturer? LoL

[ScoutTN]

8 minutes ago, Brittany1116 said:

Is this a reoccurring thing if there is a designated... capturer? LoL

🤣🤣🦎🦎🦎

Never had one in the house before, but not uncommon to see them in our yard. A huge one is often in a downspout and I see smaller ones in and around my compost bin, eating bugs!

A huge city park here, (over 3000 acres) has a great nature center. They had fabulous homeschool programs when my kids were little and Ds loved, loved the ones on reptiles and amphibians. His age group had a wonderful teacher who encouraged him - gave him a poster of all the frogs and toads native to TN, had him draw the life cycle of a particular salamander etc. At the park, over a few years, Ds caught all 5 salamanders native to TN! And zillions of frogs, toads, and a few snakes! 

Ds is not a schooly kid, but he has always loved science of all kinds. Uncounted days and hours at the nature center in our early homeschool years were absolutely a foundational part of that love for science. 

[TravelingChris]

1 hour ago, mom31257 said:

Dd will probably pass her car (given to her by my dad) to ds when she gets a new one. We went ahead and priced our insurance (Country Financial)  adding the car to have an idea, and it was going to go up about $800 every 6 months. That caused us to start shopping around for other insurance rates, and we found that Allstate  saved us a lot right now and will only increase about $100 when we add the third car. I hadn't shopped for insurance for years, and I'm kicking myself for being loyal to the previous agent. I could have saved us money through the years. 

We never shop for insurance- everyone has USAA for auto, house or rental and some of us have universal too

 

[Brittany1116]

21 minutes ago, ScoutTN said:

 

A huge city park here, (over 3000 acres) has a great nature center. They had fabulous homeschool programs when my kids were little and Ds loved, loved the ones on reptiles and amphibians. His age group had a wonderful teacher who encouraged him - gave him a poster of all the frogs and toads native to TN, had him draw the life cycle of a particular salamander etc. At the park, over a few years, Ds caught all 5 salamanders native to TN! And zillions of frogs, toads, and a few snakes! 

Ds is not a schooly kid, but he has always loved science of all kinds. Uncounted days and hours at the nature center in our early homeschool years were absolutely a foundational part of that love for science. 

That's so cool. My little one would love something like that.

[ScoutTN]

Made a plan for grocery shopping tomorrow morning: Walmart early(small one that’s only a grocery), then home to unload (it’s only 1.5 miles away), then Aldi at 9, followed by Costco.

Edited August 5, 2022 by ScoutTN

[mom31257]

1 hour ago, TravelingChris said:

We never shop for insurance- everyone has USAA for auto, house or rental and some of us have universal too

 

My best friend has USAA because her husband's dad was a member. I called, and my dad would have to create an account and then include us. I didn't want to bother him with that if he doesn't have all the information they would need about his military service. 

We are pleased because we're saving about $1200 a year between the house and cars.