pandemic diaries: week 18

The return to #momcamp last week was interesting. On the one hand, I didn't miss driving the kids to and from Fairyland twice each day (I hate driving). It was nice to return to having nothing really time-specific any given day, other than our various work meetings. But even then, if I have a meeting at 8 or 8:30 I only need to get myself ready, not myself plus two kids in order to leave the house and make it to point B by a specific time. I didn't miss making lunches, although obviously they needed lunch made at some point and it only took three weeks for me to forget how often they seem to need a snack of some sort. I enjoyed getting out with them each day for some sort of walk or hike, not something I'm as likely to do when I have an uninterrupted work block. My daughter's teacher had offered to continue to meet with her one-on-one through the summer to help with her reading progress (because teachers are awesome) so she was able to resume that this past week. And my son was able to join the online classes for the STEM projects he's been doing this summer.

But I was SO tired. I forgot how physically exhausting it is to manage even just 5-6 hours of work each day with the needs of two children. With three more weeks of summer break and who knows how many weeks of distance learning beyond that, I'm hoping I'll get used to that daily pace again, too. In the meantime, here's what we did last week.

I shared in my last update a link to the zine I made for what I had planned each day, inspired by National Days. It went pretty well. I like having an idea or two to fall back on and especially liked having a couple of dinner ideas inspired by the random food "holidays," such as National Mac 'n' Cheese Day (yes, it's vegan, recipe from this cookbook). 

And Thursday was National Personal Chef Day so I challenged each kid to imagine what their signature dishes might be if they were chefs and create a menu accordingly. I like that my son thought of the adults for that afternoon snack/happy hour.

I've become slightly obsessed with the hummingbirds that frequent our back yard lately. They come for the feeder next door; I like to think they stay for the kangaroo paws in our yard. After watching this video of a hummingbird making her nest, I wonder why humans bother at all to create "art."

We found a roll of undeveloped film in our old school camera recently, finished it off, and sent it away to be developed. When it came back we discovered pictures of the now 12 year old as a baby alongside much more recent pictures of his little sister. This parenting gig really does fly by.

I didn't get around to reading/watching until this weekend but for National Lottery Day on Friday I came across Shirley Jackson's famous short story, 'The Lottery', and the 1969 short film version and finally read/watched both yesterday. Fun weekend afternoon activity, indeed.

I sent this recipe to Neal and he took the hint and made it for me Friday evening. Because rosé is one of those beverages I feel like I should like and occasionally buy, but at the end of the day is much better with some brandy added to it.

Finally, if you want a preview of week 19, I made another zine for this week's #momcamp, this time featuring felt creations originally made for this crafty side project. Download and print a copy of the zine here!