Tag: COVID

Bucket Lists

~ Sahara ~ Leave a comment

I was looking back in my post archives, and came across this list, this travel bucket list. My ultimate places to go. I probably wrote this pre-2008 because, as you can see, I have done a few things. The italics are the old list.

The equator. Stand on both sides of it. See if water swirls in the opposite direction in the Southern Hemisphere.

What does it smell like in the Sistine Chapel? (TM Goodwill Hunting)

Ferry from Spain to Morocco.

Visit the Kilns and see where C.S. Lewis is buried.

Auschwitz

Northern Lights

Montana

Maine. Maybe go to Northeastern most post.

UP (Michigan)

Scotland

Italy

Boston

Things changed once I had Wee One (WO), and then again after COVID. Pre-COVID, Cohiba had to travel, often every week or every other week. I hated it. And pre-COVID, if we didn’t have WO, we wanted to go to places the farther out, the better. Hopefully some place I’ve never been.

I was in Missouri in May for the Central Missouri Renaissance Fair, (I got my COVID vaccines and feel comfortable having WO outside with people), and it felt so exotic. I haven’t traveled in so long. We got an air BnB in St. Louis for a few days, saw some friends, my folks, and some sights, then the fair. As my friends, Denise, Amy, and I were meeting with our kids (we are all couch surfers from way back and are new mothers now), we talked about traveling and where we might want to go, now that we’re vaccinated.

Our lists seemed so little. Like I’ll go back to St. Louis this year. Or they could come around me now in Ohio. Or like, go to Iowa City, where Denise and I had surfed before. It was so different from how it had been, and not just because of the kids. COVID has changed so much, and we have changed as we’ve responded to it.

How about you? Are you looking at things differently?

Growth Mindset

~ Sahara ~ Leave a comment

Wee One’s teacher talks to the class a lot about having a “Growth Mindset.” She sent the parents a visual about it.

parents-guide-to-a-growth-mindset-1Download

If you don’t click on the link, I’ll summarize the gist of the list: Brains can grow, no matter what. Praise effort, hard work, remind yourself and your kid that mistakes are how we grow and and change is possible. To be positive.

Continue reading “Growth Mindset” →

A Nation of Battered Women

~ Sahara ~ 2 Comments

It’s kind of fun to have a whole bunch of draft posts that I haven’t gotten to and revisit. I stumbled on this one from November 2019, four sleeps before Election Day. Looking back, these were the halcyon days.

The impeachment hearings began last week, and if the next few weeks of testimony are like the first, it’ll be pretty damning. (Not that is fucking mattered.)

Continue reading “A Nation of Battered Women” →

Starting Kindergarten During A Pandemic

~ Sahara ~ Leave a comment

You guys, I am having such a hard time with the start of school this year. Probably because it’s kindergarten, and that’s an emotional pain anyway, I think? But also because of COVID, she’s doing online lessons through the school district and it is clear they don’t know what they’re going to do. Not that I blame them, because they threw this together in just a few months, but it is unnerving.

I was talking to my neighbor today who has three kids, the eldest of whom is in fourth grade. I was talking to her about part of my confusion being I don’t have any other kids in school, and I don’t know the district at all so I don’t know how I haven’t been near an elementary school in 30 years.

She said that at this elementary school, they had parent and student days, not just the cheesy concerts, but like lunches that parents could come in and eat kids. I want that!

I think I’m in settled because things are changing but I don’t know how they’re changing yet. Or how they’re going to change we won’t be able to spend all day at the beach like we are now. Or will we? She’s learning at home; I can do lessons where and when I want, right? She’s in kindergarten, but is she separate I don’t know how I would feel about this in normal times, and I don’t know how to feel about it now.

I wrote that on the 22nd, and we’ve had almost two weeks of kindergarten now. I can tell the teacher is trying, and so am I, but it’s really hard. Kindergarten is supposed to be the time that you learn that learning is fun, or at least your tricked into believing it. I don’t wanna force her into doing things right now, and she’s got all these videos and pictures to do and upload. If she was older, fine, but she’s five. This computer stuff means nothing to her.

I know the teachers force things, but there is fun and friends, too. I can’t offer her what teachers in the classroom offer. I can offer for other things, so maybe I should focus on that. I am thinking about pulling her out and just homeschooling her for year. I don’t think I will, but it is really stressful and it sucks.

What Do You Do When It All Sucks?

~ Sahara ~ Leave a comment

Last week, as I was driving with Wee One, she heard me smack at a small bug that had flown into the car. She asked why, and I told her I was trying to kill an insect. She suggested that I shouldn’t because bats eat insects. I said it was a great idea and we should get a bat in the car to get the bug. She said, “Mom. Bats are nocturnal.”

Because duh.

Pages: 1 2