Corona Chronicles: 01/24/21

Today was another pretty laid back day.

I had one major goal on the agenda, and that was to comb my kids’ hair. I only got one kid’s hair done, and it doesn’t look that great. I had intended to do either twists or cornrows, but she hollered so much while I was shampooing her head, that I barely was able to get two puff balls in. The big kid’s hair is in a giant puff. Maybe I’ll tame it later on in the week. Maybe not.

I made the horrible mistake of going to the Walmart today. It was before the Chief’s game, and everybody was there getting there vittles. The whole place was covered in red and gold, The lines were long and slow. The only joy I got was looking at what was in other people’s carts and judging their choices. The couple behind me had a peanut butter caramel pecan ice cream that I want to try. The lady in front of me obviously was buying food to feed her kids lunch for the week. Her kids really like carbs, and so do I. She had all my favorite convenience foods. I was kind of jealous.

I made one of my go-to recipes for dinner. Okay, that’s not accurate. My husband had to make dinner because my hands were still tied up with the baby’s hair. It was a simple meal of quiche, a dinner roll, and some fruit. It’s a family favorite. Today, the baby decided that she was no longer a quiche fan, and the boy decided he didn’t like rolls. Nobody complained about the apple slices, so I guess that’s a win.

The kids are in here dancing and singing about the fact that they don’t have school tomorrow. Meanwhile, my husband and I are fluffing our pillows. Tomorrow will be quite interesting, for sure.

Good night.

Corona Chronicles: 01/23/21

Yay. It’s the weekend. I purposely made very little plans for the day, which is good, since I got very little done.

This morning, my husband asked me for a hug. So, I tackled him. Our teenager saw this from the other room and shook her head in disgust. She said something like, “Everytime I leave the two of you alone in a room, something like this happens.” It had actually been a while since I actually tackled him. Yesterday, I just tried to jump in his back. Anyway, I got a good chuckle out of her commentary because I’m pretty sure I say that same thing to her siblings.

The one thing I did do was get a massage. My sister-in-law/massage therapist found tension in parts of my body that I didn’t know carried stress. I know now. It’s been almost two years since I have been to the spa. I have got to do better.

I got to hang out with my little brother and his family today. I also got to hang out with my mom. I found out that some of her technical issues were really not her fault. That was a revelation for us all.

The kids got pizza for dinner, because the groceries I ordered can’t be picked up until tomorrow. Our fridge was pretty bare, and I had no desire to do anything in the kitchen, especially after I had just cleaned it.

Three of the five people in my house are playing video games. Each of them is on a different system. The baby is parked in front of the TV. Then there’s me. I’m about to curl up in a ball and throw this cover over my head.

Good night.

Corona Chronicles: 01/22/21

Today was tough. This is not how Fridays are supposed to go!

I was scheduled to teach today, and I felt fairly prepared. In the middle of the day, my internet started glitching, and nobody in the meeting could see my presentation. That was a rough couple of minutes. But other than that things went well. I spent the second half of my day answering non-stop questions. Every single question had multiple follow-ups. I could barely keep up.

Then the kids were fighting about cleaning up. I finally just threw everything in their room in the trash. I was fed up with asking them over and over to pick things up, or to put things away. I’m probably going to do a similar purge in a different room tomorrow. I bought a toy chest that is supposed to be delivered on Sunday. There might not be any toys to fill it with by the time it arrives,

The kiddos are all in different rooms in the house, playing on different versions of technology. My husband asked what time I wanted them to log off, and I gave him the most honest answer.

“I don’t even care.”

I am that tired. I’m going to bed.

Corona Chronicles: 01/22/21

How is it that having children seems to speed up time and slow you down?

I took the youngest kid with me to run an errand today. In the time it took me to get her out of the car, I could have run in and out of the store and been half way home. She is in a stage where she has to carry her baby doll with her, and before I can strap my kid into her seat, she has to strap her doll into the seat next to her. As I pulled her out of the car, I realized she still had on pajama bottoms, and her hair was a disaster. I’m sure I got a side-eye from a clerk or two.

I walked into the teens room today to find her sitting on the floor in the dark eating popcorn. She was confused as to why I was concerned. When I went to check on her a second time, she had turned on the light but was laying down in the bed. This time I was confused. It’s finals week. I knew she had work that was due. When I asked her about it, she said she was procrastinating. I didn’t fuss though, because she got 100% on her math final today. If procrastination is what’s working for her, I’m going to let her keep it up.

Speaking of testing, my son told me that he was nervous about state testing. We talked about it, and I tried my best to reassure him. He was most upset that the test results would follow him forever. Bless his heart. He also paused his video game today, just so he could jump on my back. That’s how he shows affection, not jumping on us, but pausing the game. Currently, he’s humoring his baby sister by playing a game with her. He can be a sweetheart when he wants. I’m grateful he wanted to be a sweetheart today.

Corona Chronicles: 01/20/21

I was in a daze most of the day. Whoever was praying for me must have gotten a breakthrough this afternoon, though, because I was hit with a wave of productivity. I actually completed 75% of my task list.

In the middle of the day, I got a text from the big kid telling me she might be on the news. I try not to jump to conclusions, so I asked if this was a good thing. (I’ve seen family members on the news for not so good things. I wanted to be sure before I celebrated.) Sure enough, I heard her voice on one of the local stations discussing the inauguration.

The two little ones had a short day today. To celebrate, they destroyed several rooms of my house. I found snack cake wrappers and toys all over the place.

I am currently just trying to stay awake long enough to finish this blog, and I am failing. Good night!

Corona Chronicles: 01/19/21

Today, I said that everything I had to do was dumb. Work, dumb. Making food, dumb. Eating food, dumb. Wearing pants, dumb! It’s not that any of those things are actually dumb. It’s that I felt dumb doing them.

For several days, I’ve been avoiding combing my hair. I delayed it for as long as I could, but at 9:00, I gathered up my styling tools and stood in front of my mirror. I got halfway through a center part, before I gave up. I tried to convince myself to go back to it, but after one pass, my detangling brush fell apart in my hands. I took that as a sign.

Enough about me, I know you only read this to hear about my kids. So here’s the deal. They are eating up all the food. I picked up groceries on Sunday afternoon. By lunchtime today, they had eaten three pounds of strawberries and three bags of chips. One of them is asking for toast now.

The big kid realized that the final exam she was worried about wasn’t that big of a deal. The little one and I spent 30 minutes unsuccessfully trying to coach my mother into answering a video call. The boy managed to convince me to buy even more junk food that we did not need.

So basically, school went well, and mom is too tired to fight.

Have a good night.

Corona Chronicles: 01/18/21

On this day, we typically honor the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with a day of service. My local union provides a plethora of service opportunities and calls it “a day on, not a day off.”

I did nothing of the sort. The closest I came to service was fixing my kids plates for dinner. That’s not exactly true. I got a few things done today that I have been putting off all week. I also left a few things undone that have been on my calendar for a few days.

My son got to leave the house over the three-day weekend. Normally, he barely leaves the bedroom. I was glad that he got to see his friends. I was even more glad that he took a break from those video games.

The big kid is stressing over finals. She’s eating up all that snacks and worrying about group projects. God bless her. If given the choice between sudden death and reliving high school, I’d seriously have to think about it. She seems to be handling it better than I did.

The youngest is frustrated with not leaving the house, so she’s been walking around here with a full face of makeup on, and wearing high heels. Now, when it’s time for Zoom calls in the morning, I’m sure she’s just going to just wear her pajamas. sadly, I will probably allow it.

All in all, we enjoyed our three-day weekend. I don’t think any of us are looking forward to going back to school/work tomorrow.

Hope you all have a great week!

Corona Chronicles: 01/15/21

We made it! The much needed three day weekend is here. I have perched myself on the couch, and I don’t have any intentions of moving.

After finishing “All the President’s Men” on HBOMax and “The Politician” on Netflix, I’m looking for my next political drama. But since it’s King Holiday, I’ll probably watch Selma or Boycott at some point in the weekend.

These children of mine want to watch the live action Aladdin. I have to be honest, I’m not looking forward to it. Robin Williams will always be the genie. But I will watch because they asked me. The things we do for our children!

Speaking of the children, they were actually pretty well behaved. The boy isn’t eating. The baby is destroying my house room by room, and the teenager is doing whatever it is that teenagers do.

School starts for my husband on Monday, and that will bring it’s own set of challenges… so for now, I’m curling up on the couch with my blanket and remote.

Have a great night!

Corona Chronicles: 01/14/21

The only thing standing between me and a three day weekend is Friday!

I took the girls for a walk today. My son was too busy on the video games. I would be mad at him, but it was cold. I think I would have preferred to stay home and play video games, too, and I don’t even like video games like that. I like them more than being cold!

When we got to the park, I noticed that there was a tricycle and a tiny scooter. As we rounded the corner, we saw two pretty little girls, with hair like mine, playing on the playground. They wore pajama bottoms and jackets. They were at the park alone. The older girl might have been eight. The younger one was younger than my six year old. I had so many questions when I saw them. I prayed for them while I watched them play. They never said anything to us, but they watched as my baby climbed to the top of the jungle gym and then let go. I caught her just before she fell into the rubber mulch. I hope those girls have someone to catch them.

I realized how privileged we are to have two adults in our home, and that we can split the kids into groups, so that none of them ever has to go anywhere without supervision. I Also realized the tremendous faith that their guardian must have. Whatever person is responsible for those children’s welfare believed in the children, society in general, and I’m assuming a higher power, that the kids would be safe at the park without supervision. I don’t have that kind of faith, not even in my own children, and certainly not in society. I’m still a work in progress.

With that, I’m heading off to bed. Good night, all.

Corona Chronicles: 01/13/20

I chose to be grateful today.

This morning, as I was rousing the children from their sleep, I realized how much I cherished this time. I never got the opportunity to be able to do that when I had to commute to work. In order to be able to pick them up from school, I had to be at work before they woke up. That means I was up at 4:30 and leaving the house before 6:00am. Now I get to see the first flutter of their eyes, and watch as they stretch before getting out of bed. Sure, getting them ready for school is a job, but it is also joy.

Today, my son introduced me to some torturous game show called AWAKE. They keep people awake for 24 hours, then they give them challenges to complete, and eliminate people who do the worst at the challenges. I stayed awake for 24 hours once. It was the worst experience of my life, and I vowed never to do it again. I was a dumb 13-year-old. These people were full grown adults, who were doing this for the chance at a million dollars. People really will do anything for money. He also showed me another show with a scheming foster family targeting an innocent couple and their kids. I think it starred Clarissa, from Clarissa explains at all, and Samwise Gamgee. This pairing was confusing enough. I didn’t need the added drama of a troubled teenager turning to a life of crime.

I played pretend with the littlest Radford today. Apparently, it was her doll’s birthday party, so I helped serve cake and watched the doll open presents. At the end of the party she told all the guests that it was time to go home. I told her that I was moving in. She told me I needed to sign a paper. That kid is going to be some kind of mogul some day. She frightens me.

The big kid wrote an original monologue which was chosen to win an award. I watched her craft this work from just an idea to a completed work. I’m pretty proud of her. I don’t even know if I realized that she was submitting it for anything other than theater class. This kid never ceases to amaze me.

All three of them keep surprising me. (Sometimes it’s even with good things.)

Have a good night.