I have a post coming about Hybrid Schooling and how it is the ninth circle of hell so I don’t want to get too far into it here. But that’s literally all I could think about when I titled this post: The horrible introduction into my life in September that was hybrid schooling.
So we’ll start there.
Jack and Lorelai started school in mid-September which is two weeks later than they started in the years prior. I remember starting school in September when I was a kid, so this felt a lot more normal to me in this abnormal time.
I literally cried while I was watching Lorelai meet her teacher for the first time over a Zoom call. Sometimes I can turn off the nagging feeling of the horribleness of this situation, and sometimes I just can’t. This was one of those can’t times.
The Sunday after that we had an official end of summer day where everyone decided what they wanted to do for the day. Jack wanted to go to the book store, I wanted to go cupcake hunting (no surprise there), Eric didn’t have anything particular that he wanted to do, and Lorelai wanted to see a waterfall.
We started at the bookstore. We all got books and then had a little picnic in the back of the car. Jack and Lorelai sat in the back and Eric and I set up our folding chairs in front of them. This type of picnicking, or as I like to think of it as my covert introduction to tailgating, has become a favorite for the kids.
We drove around looking for a waterfall to no avail. I tried to take everyone to Kent Falls but it was closed due to the ‘rona. Ugh stupid COVID. Since I love Kent, and we were ready for lunch, I know that picture up there is breakfast, but somehow enough time had passed for it to be lunch. We had another picnic, this time in a park.
Then Eric kicked dirt in our pizza. Because of course he did.
After Kent, we drove to Warren Woods, where Eric and I got married. We like to visit the park at least once a year, though we never actually make it on our anniversary. This year we were at least a week before it.
Have you heard of Color Street nails? Wait, wait! Before you run away, I’m not selling them! A Gilmore Girls friend that I met through the GGFF started promoting the nails online with a very impactful message that said that if you know someone who owns a small business, you should support them. So I did. I got on the Color Street nail train. And let me tell you, it’s an expensive one.
I have a love hate relationship with it. I love that it’s helping a friend make money, and I love the designs. but I don’t love the stress that it causes me when I try to apply them, and I certainly don’t like the money they’ve been draining out of my bank account. That set up there though, I put it on about twenty minutes before I had company, which is kind of a nice perk.
If you are looking to buy these and don’t have a million people trying to sell them to you already, I would love it if you would visit my friend’s sites: The Nail Father and Oy With The Nails Already.
We had our final outdoor party. I thought the one in August was the last one, but the kids got one more swim day in. We made pizzas on the grill.
We ended the night with an outdoor showing of Brave.
We power washed out deck back in July, but we weren’t able to actually get out and paint it until September. It rains a lot in Connecticut.
We have a lot of deck. I didn’t realize quite how much deck we had until we had to paint the whole thing, including in between each board.
The first coat we put down was too dark, you can see it up there. It looked like chocolate sauce but also looked like poop. Straight up. Since we had to do a second coat either way, I change it up to get closer to the color I wanted.
We didn’t do the railings, that will be next year. I really like the way the color came out, and in the sun it has a nice red hue to it, which is what I wanted the first time around.
The kids went in for their first day of school! Jack started third grade and Lorelai started kindergarten.
We’ve been trying to take milestone pictures with masks on and masks off. I feel like we need to have these masks recorded. We need to look back and see that this was the way of life. Not that we’ll ever forget, but I want to make sure we have pictures of it. Do you do that same thing?
We took them out for ice cream afterwards, because ice cream for dinner is the best.
Eric and I celebrated our six year anniversary. Every year we take a picture that mimics one of the iconic pics from our wedding. It rained all day on my wedding. Cold, hard, rain.
Each year we hold something that represents what we were doing that day. This year we held a cupcake.
Over the years Eric started doing this crazy smile. I’m not sure why but I’m not going point it out, because I think it’s hillarious.
For our anniversary, we had another tailgating picnic, this time outside of the senior center by our house. Not sure why we chose that spot, but it was a nice one.
Also Mallomars came out that day. You can read my tribute to Mallomars here: It’s Mallomars Season – Send Help!
I played a lot of music in September, including a gig with a friend of mine, in our band Walking Fish. This was the first gig I’ve done since the pandemic started.
I also recorded a bunch of songs on my YouTube channel. I was going to try to do a 30 day challenge, but recording songs is hard, especially when you’re navigating mental illness during a pandemic. Here are some of the new ones that I posted in September:
Lorelai finally got to see her waterfall. I happened to pick the coldest day of the season and my children have zero body fat. Needless to say they were miserably cold. They smiled for me for pictures though, so we can pretend they were happy.
Lorelai started ballet again, which I am super excited about. I’m not sure how long the class will go on since it’s outside, but we’ll take what we can get.
Jack took his first second level black belt pre-test. This is the first test in the five years that he’s been studying Taekwondo that he hadn’t passed. And honestly I think the master knew that he wasn’t going to pass it. It may sound shitty, but I’m glad he had the experience. It pushed him to want to be better and to try harder for the next one.
After he passes his second pre-test he’ll have a third and then the final test.
Whew, I never realize how much we get done in a month until I write it all up in one of these monthly posts! I’m going to end with a food tip. If you are a popcorn fan you must try making it in a pot with peanut oil.
It’s simple, you just add some oil to the pot, a little more than coating the bottom, sprinkle some salt, pour in your kernels (one layer), cover and heat. Take it off the heat as soon as the pops slow down.
How was your September? I know I know we are already half way through October. This post took me over a week to write!
Today in 2017: The Weekly Skinny Episode 2
The post September Musings – Freakin’ Hybrid Schooling appeared first on All That Life Stuff.
