Chickens and Unschooling

Yeah, I obviously stopped caring about posting every day. Maybe I can round out 2020 by posting every day in December.

Or not.

We'll see when we get there.*

The boys are growing and gorgeous. They've gotten extra cuddly with the cooler weather, especially Shaddow. Newkie is doing fine. She is trying to convince me to let her outside again. So far I have stayed strong, but she is wearing me down.

We managed Thanksgiving. Just the five of us this year, as Opa was still recovering from his latest cancer treatment. S and I each made one pie. S a pumpkin, me an apple. I think it was my prettiest attempt yet.



We've decided to make Oma a photo book for Christmas, so after dinner I took awkward pictures of the kids after shoving animals into their arms. I got a couple usable ones out of the mess.

S and I took advantage of the black Friday sale at drabbits.com to get dragon puppets. S had been saving up to get one at next year's Ren Faire, but given the current political climate we agreed that it's a good bet Ren Faire won't be happening next year. So instead I checked out their website. They were having a buy 2 get 1 free sale, so Immeth, Uphiat, and Bisios will be arriving any day now.

On a sad note, I noticed the other day our local karate studio was gutted. They'd been there probably 20 years. It was a gut punch to see them gone. I hope the owners are okay. It was a family owned business, husband, wife, and 1 or 2 of their kids working there. It was where S got her black belt.




*I am aware that is tomorrow.

Boy and I practiced karate forms and took the dog for a walk. We're trying to make a daily habit of both. At least as long as the lockdown lasts.

Normalish Tuesday today.

S and H had ASL. I resisted texting H this morning to make sure she got up*.

C and I met up with the girls at Gaming day. I was informed that S lost her gas cap after Red yelled at her on the way to school about needing gas. I had her go back and check at the gas station, but no luck.

After Gaming, H met us at home. She practiced ASL with S, watched an episode of Hot in Cleveland with S and me, and gathered up a load of stuff to take back to her apartment.

C and I had karate.

S had a violin lesson.

H took her roommate shopping for entertainment centers at Goodwill.

I realized I had a logistics problem with M's upcoming B-Day, so we decided to celebrate it tomorrow.



*Of course she did.

Feeling better enough today to make it to Gaming Day and karate.

Unfortunately, karate conflicted with the latest Democratic debate. This was disappointing because S and I like to watch them together.

So, after a two year break, I'm back in karate. C is old enough for the teen/adult class now, and I promised him at least a month of participation on my part.

We'll see how my body holds up. When I stopped last time I had a sore shoulder and something wrong internally with my foot. Time and rest took care of both those things, but last year I hurt my hip/back overdoing it in completely non karate related activities. Six months ago I wouldn't have been going back. It's a good thing I didn't notice they dropped the top age of the kids class to 12. C accidentally ended up with a 5 month grace period.

Now he will try volunteering one day each week in the kids class and we'll both attend the adult class twice a week.

I'll reevaluate my physical limitations at the end of the month.

C is participating in the tride and true tradition of playing with random kids at a playground. The weather after his evening karate class is almost nice enough to pull this off.

My two regrets:

I didn't bring my sweater and it is a touch too chilly for me to be comfortable in short sleeves.

I didn't remember promising C could do this while there was still enough time to grab some chocolate to bring with me.

Boy is sick. He missed gaming day, nerf, and two karates this week. Hopefully this clears out soon, so he can manage piano tomorrow and shooting sports on Sunday. Missing stuff is annoying.

It's almost the time of year when I'll be able to take some gorgeous sunset pictures right after dropping C off at karate.

Good thing, too; I need some new material for Instagram.

Last day of the month at karate equals foot races and tails.

I think things are a little out of balance when I have to sort past 4 recycling containers before I can find one lousy trash receptacle.

Kavanaugh getting angry in defense of his wife, daughters, and his forever lost opportunities, made me respect him more, not question his ability to serve as a supreme court judge.

My dog having mild, but so far unsuccessfully treated, health issues is reminding me how much simpler things will be if I don't get another dog. Last weekend when he had a mild seizure, he reminded me how much we'd miss having a human focused dog like him, especially if he dies prematurely.

The cat can be a real bitch, especially when she decides to puke on my blanket and sheet, just because I ignored her when she bugged me before my alarm went off this morning.

It's nice that my son really likes my spaghetti sauce.

I'm impressed by my elder daughter's work ethic.

My younger daughter enjoyed having an hour long violin lesson this week.

H has art class this afternoon and work tonight.

S has a free day.

C has karate this evening.

I made spaghetti for dinner.