Monday, Day 108 of Quarantine

Ruby woke up a few times in the night. I went in the first time but not after that. Oh, well.

I realized I had a big ass paper due TODAY. So, that was fun. The professor didn't have the full syllabus done at the beginning of class (it was a syllabus from his spring class) so I had put down only a partial list of assignments. I didn't realize it until I just happened to see the assignment on my calendar. Now I know. I'll still probably put off everything until the last minute because that's just how I roll.

We swam at Laurie and Jeff's. I've decided to try to keep Ruby out later. Last week, I heard her in her room playing for a while after I'd put her to bed. We stayed until about 7 pm and she was in bed by 7:30 pm.

Luna Lovegood, foster kitten, is doing well. She's so cute. Well, maybe not cute currently. Currently, she looks kinda like a rat. But someday she'll be quite beautiful, I think.

Sunday, Day 107 of Quarantine

Late Fathers' Day celebration at Laurie and Jeff's. They had gotten BBQ from a local place and it was amazing!!! So freaking good. The girls and Grandpa and Joanne swam.

Ruby cut a bit of her hair at her Dad's house and got nail polish and painted her fingers and toes. Maggie said it was all over her hands and feet but they cleaned it off her skin. Ruby!

Saturday, Day 106 of Quarantine

We played with Luna a lot today. She's very sweet. We swam at Laurie and Jeff's until the girls' Dad came and got them.

Friday, Day 105 of Quarantine

We got a kitten. After all that drama, we said we would help out. I told Maggie this would be her responsibility because I CANNOT take anything else on. I'm truly at capacity. After we agreed to take several groups that fell through, we finally got just one kitten. We went and picked her up from Arlington Animal Shelter, then got supplies from another volunteer. She's very teeny tiny. Her eyes are sick. We got all the stuff to take care of her. Kittens are so cute! She's very playful. She has to be isolated for 10 days and then we'll get another volunteers kittens who are big enough to eat on their own so she can get more bottle-fed babies. I think this kitten will like having playmates.

Her name was Sylvia but we renamed her Luna Lovegood (from Harry Potter).

Thursday, Day 104 of Quarantine

Shockingly, we've had days and days of record cases and the major hospitals in Houston are at capacity. What a waste. We could have shut this down, like Europe appears to have done and instead we're at a plateau. It makes me sick. We got a worse economic hit than Europe AND we have a worse outbreak.

Ruby figured out a new way to torture people on FB messenger. If she sends people stickers, it dings their phone like a text message. Uncle Jeff got 52 in a couple of minutes before he texted me and asked me to stop her. What a pain. I told her she couldn't do that and she said, I sent Uncle Jeff all those messages because I want to make him happy. She's so sweet and yet, a terrorist.

Savannah is ridiculous. I took her on a walk and she was doing her usual ridiculousness. A lady and a young boy were walking their little Chihuahua and Sav started freaking out. But this time she broke her leash. Not a thing I thought was possible. I mean, she actually broke her leash in two pieces. For a split second, we looked at each other and realized she was free and then she took off after them. I don't think she was trying to hurt the dog, just sniff. But everyone freaked out. The lady and kid were screaming and I finally got her and the poor little dog ran off. Eventually, the lady said her dog wasn't hurt, just scared. I felt awful. I can't imagine how scary that was for that poor kid. I came home and bought her a new heavy duty gentle lead. I put her heavy duty harness back on her. Once I get the lead, I'll have her wear that and put a heavy duty leash, wrapped around my waist, attached to her harness. That way, even if she breaks another lead, she can't get loose. What a pain this dog is.

Wednesday, Day 103 of Quarantine

Ruby has been very sad that her door is locked again. When she first noticed it and I told her she had to go back to having locked because she made such a big mess, she told me, I didn't, it was the dog.

The next day Maggie insisted she'd seen a ghost while falling asleep. She told Ruby about it the next day. That night when I told her she had to have her door locked again, she told she didn't make the mess, the ghost did.

We were at Laurie and Jeff's house swimming, when Laurie asked me to take some kittens from her kitten foster group. I definitely didn't want to but I agreed. I told the girls and we had to leave to go get them. We got about 15 minutes away and Laurie called and said it was too late. The girls were so upset (we told them someone else got them first). Maggie is now begging for foster kittens. I told her fostering kittens is not something I can take on. But! If she will do the majority of their care, we can have them. This might be a good project for her. And I'd love to see her step up so. . . we'll see.

Ruby's been doing reading lessons. This was actually Maggie's idea. She asked if I still had the stuff I used to teach her to read (and all the kids I nannied and did coops with) and I said yes. She said, let's teach Ruby. And hey why not?

Tuesday, Day 102 of Quarantine

Cleaning lady came. Thank GOD!

Schools are supposed to open in two months and we just had the highest number of positive cases and hospitalizations so. . .

We went to Laurie and Jeff's even though it was rainy. We let the girls play outside but not get in the pool. It was so nice. Cool with a breeze.

Maggie and Ella made bracelets. Ruby and Jill ran and biked and "drove" the little car and Jill played in the mud and Ruby WIPED OUT. Poor little bunny.

 This is not from the fall at Laurie and Jeff's. She was spinning her mermaid toy and fell. I think she hit the corner of my workout step thing. It's huge and dark and awful. Poor little bunny.

 On Monday, because of the storms, all the bathing suits and towels had gotten thrown all over the place. Ruby was going to swim like that but then decided to borrow an extra bottom of Jill's. Oh, Jill was a mess. She cried a million times for a million different reasons. It was crazy. The adults were trying to laugh without enraging her (no one likes to be laughed at when they're upset).

Ruby in her Dad's hat. She was doing a cute little pose but I didn't get it.

Monday, Day 101 of Quarantine

I was loving on Buddy last night and looked closely at his little face and guess what? Someone cut off half his whiskers. Maggie did the same thing at about the same age but jeez. Ruby is a terrorist. 

We went swimming. Maggie went with her Dad for a little while. 

Sunday, Day 100 of Quarantine

100 days! And cases are going up! Exciting stuff. Or, you know, terrifying.

I had been having fairly extreme lightheadedness and dizzy spells that would occasionally bring me to my knees. Thankfully, I mentioned it to Laurie, and she reminded me about my iron levels. I never had any issue with iron before I was pregnant with Ruby. I gave blood regularly my whole adult life and never once failed the iron test. When I was pregnant with Ruby, I showed up for an appointment and my midwife immediately said, you are green, we need to test your iron. I didn't think I looked green but she was adamant. I failed the iron test spectacularly. She told me to go immediately and buy an iron supplement. The next week, I felt so much better, but still failed the iron test. She said to keep trying to eat iron-rich foods so I ate a bowl of Raisin Bran every day for the rest of my pregnancy, in addition to the supplement, and still could not pass an iron test. So, I had Ruby and it seemed better. Last year I went a few times to try to donate blood and every time I failed the iron test. And yet, somehow, I still didn't connect my symptoms with low iron. Annoying! I took an iron supplement yesterday in the morning and I definitely feel better.

Maggie couldn't sleep last night. She was scared. She admitted this morning she had watched somewhat scary videos on youtube. I about killed her. She kept asking me to read to her and talk to her and NO! Ruby already doesn't sleep, she's not allowed to wake me up.

Saturday, Day 99 of Quarantine

Guess who got up around 4 or 5 am and hurricaned the house???

 She pulled almost every game out of the game cabinet (she can open the child-proof locks now) and just dumped everything out.

 See all those piles??? That's cocoa powder. I don't even know where it came from. No! Mom and Mark gave us some. She tried to dump it in her cups there so it's everywhere. See Battleship with no little pegs? Just wait.

 Oh there they are, under the table. That's the money and houses box for Monopoly. EMPTY!!! My steam mop. She used scissors to open that bag of cereal.

Oh and look more piles of cocoa.

Ruby is a natural disaster. Have you ever seen a kid like this???

Friday, Day 98 of Quarantine

Schools are opening next year. I'm not sure what I think of that. On the one hand, I want things to go back to normal but I'm not sure they are and I don't want to see things get worse. And numbers continue to get worse. They are only going down in New York.

 Here are my non-matching weights.

 These are all four girls holding hands and kinda swimming together.

 We painted on tattoos. You put the stencil on, then paint on adhesive, then put on glitter.

 Maggie made up a game. We would name an animal and an object and she would draw it. We made a dog-pony (before the object rule), cat smoothie, bird pen, fox apple, and deer something, maybe bed.

 That's Maggie and Ruby both in the unicorn float. So sweet.

 Ruby sunbathing.

Thursday, Day 97 of Quarantine

Ruby asked me to unlock her door last night. She promised to be good and she was. She peeked out a couple of times after I put her to bed but nothing else. 

We turned off screens most of the morning and early afternoon. We played some games, read, put together a couple of puzzles. We watched about an hour of Rogue One.

We went swimming. Maggie and I read. Gosh, you really can condense a whole day to a few sentences.

Wednesday, Day 96 of Quarantine

Another good night. I'm not sure if I should take the lock back off. I really like her not having to use the baby potty. I could always lock it if she gets up for anything other than going potty. I don't know.

I had another meeting this morning. After that I exercised and we cleaned. It took forever. I made the girls cookies. I took away all screens. I'm locking them back up. Stupid screens! You have to be forever vigilant or they creep back in.

We swam. Grandpa came too.

Tuesday, Day 95 of Quarantine

Much better night. Ruby was fine all night and just knocked at sunrise. She's been really good about watching tv and sitting quietly in the living room so I can sleep a little longer.

I was on the phone and on work Zoom meetings all day. Or, at least, it felt like that. The girls were wild. Finally I was done with calls and we went swimming.

Well, the pool people had put chemicals in the so the girls couldn't swim until 5:30. They played in the garage until then. They made bracelets and played with babies and biked and scootered. It wasn't so bad. There was a nice breeze.

Monday, Day 94 of Quarantine

Last night was horrible. Ruby kept leaving her room. First, she just went potty so I told her to go back to bed. Then I found Buddy in her room and I don't know. Finally I put the lock back on her door. Guess we're going back to locks for a while. In better news, she slept in a little.

We were all exhausted all day. I had to go to Target to pick up weights. I have been searching and searching for heavier and weights and no one has weights. I guess everyone bought home workout stuff and now everyone is out. I managed to get ONE 15 pound weight from Amazon and ONE 15 pound weight from Target. They don't match but. . . beggars can't be choosers.

We didn't go swimming. Too tired.

Sunday, Day 93 of Quarantine

I slept late and then cleaned and watched TV and read. It was nice and quiet. The girls got home kinda early. Maggie made me an amazing birthday card. It was so sweet.

Saturday, Day 92 of Quarantine

We just hung out all day. The girls left in the evening and I went over to Laurie's house. Me, Laurie, Jeff, Aunt Susie, and Gwen all hung out. It was great.

Friday, Day 91 of Quarantine

I am so tired today. It's probably on account of getting old. I'll be 39 in two days!!! That's old. Laurie will be 40 in December. Wait. . . no. I'll be 38 in two days. Still quite old.

Ruby's been whiny and Maggie is complaining of a headache. Maybe we'll skip swimming today. I exercised this morning and it was sooooo hard.

Monday, Day 87 of Quarantine

I didn't lock Ruby's door last night! I told her if you come out before the sun is up in the morning, I'll put the lock back on. I told her she had to come check with me when she got up. And she DID! Will it stick? I don't know but here goes.

I bought black-out curtains for her room. I was talking to Jeff about how I always know what time Ruby gets up by checking the weather app for the exact time the sun rose that morning and he said, get black-out curtains and she might sleep in. Genius!

I'm making Maggie a morning list again. I got out of the habit and then it becomes a fight. You can't fight with a list.

Thursday, Day 90 of Quarantine

90 days!!! This is so crazy. And now Covid isn't even the first thing on people's minds. This year!

The girls have been fighting like crazy today. I'm not even sure what happened. Right now they are in separate rooms just doing their own thing. 

I forgot to mention that Grandpa came to swim yesterday. All the girls were thrilled to see him. He brought gifts from New Mexico and suckers. Ruby kept saying he gave her coconuts (it was pine cones). 

Ruby's been coming out of her room after I put her to bed. That doesn't bother me so much. Maggie used to do the same thing. Multiple times I caught Maggie sneaking around and tonight I found Ruby army crawling to the living room. Stinker. 

I put up the black-out curtains. They appear to make zero difference in waking time. 

Wednesday, Day 89 of Quarantine

The days really run together. We do basically the same thing every day. Ruby now gets up on her own. I try to leave out the remote so she can watch TV or play on her kindle. She can get food. She still has water.

I get up around 7:30 or 8 and drink coffee. Then I exercise. Ruby sometimes ecker-sizes with me. After my workout, I take Sav on a walk. We're a show for the neighborhood. Sav is so much better but she's still ridiculous. That scream and leaping in the air. I just apologize and keep going. No one has gotten angry or been rude about it.

When I get home, I do yoga. Then shower. Then turn off all screens. The girls usually want to eat and I do too.

We just kinda hang out. The girls find ways to entertain themselves while I work. I still have CKBH and I check in with my school. I have grad school. Although school is a mess right now. Somehow, at the height of Covid crap, I missed an email that I needed to have applied for my internship by April. So now I can't do my internship in the summer and it's going to mess up my whole schedule. I'll probably have to take a whole extra semester. What a pain!

We watch a movie usually. Today, we watched Part 1 of the Sesame Street/CNN town hall on Black Lives Matter. This is above Ruby's head, although she can learn a bit. It's kind of like sex. I'm not going to have a sex talk with my kids. I'm going to have an ongoing conversation with them. Ruby knows a little, Maggie knows a little more. And I'll keep teaching and explaining as they age and need to know. We need to take the same approach to race. My kids will understand. The town hall is a good place to start but it's just the beginning.

We swim at Laurie's house from 4-6:30 (Monday through Thursday) or 3-6:30 (Friday through Sunday). This has helped my girls so much. The exercise, the time with other kids, the outdoors. They needed this. I love being able to talk to grown-ups.

Then we come home. I put Ruby straight to bed. Maggie has some screen time. Then we read together and talk for a while.

Tuesday, Day 88 of Quarantine

I left Ruby's door unlocked again. She may have opened her door a few times but I never saw or heard her come out.

We didn't go swimming because they got chemicals in the pool and it wasn't open until 5:30 pm.

Sunday, Day 86 of Quarantine

More cleaning. Exercise. Walking Sav. We watched Revenge of the Sith. It's so dark, still not very good. But we're almost to the good stuff.

We went swimming again. This time Laurie joined. I passed on any booze. No more awful headaches for me.

Maggie and I read two chapters last night. It's just so good.

Saturday, Day 85 of Quarantine

We did lots of cleaning. Sheets, dog bed, etc. Fleas!

We went swimming in the afternoon. Maggie decided she wanted to teach Ruby how to swim without her floaties. Ruby clung to Maggie like a little koala bear. It was so sweet and loving. It warmed my heart.

Laurie didn't feel good so it was just me and Jeff and the girls. I drank a mixed drink Jeff made and in the evening it made my head hurt so bad. Something about the heat and booze was a bad mix. So no more of that.

Oh! I've been wanting to remember when Maggie and I read the chapter in HP about Horacruxes she said, did Voldemort accidentally put one in Harry when he tried to kill him? This is THE BIG REVEAL at the very end of the series and she guessed it. I'm putting it here so I don't forget. We are obsessively reading. It's SOOOOOOO good.

A picture Ruby drew.

I got some pictures of Maggie from Jan. These are from spring/summer-ish 2012.