holding up

We were supposed to be on the East Coast this week!  Alas, it was not to be.  I am still struggling to get my mind around the fact that we are still in this pandemic-lock down situation.  When we started this back in March, I never imagined it would still be going on in July!  I'm tired of it, and I want my regular life back. 

/whining

Really, we're all fine, even if I am struggling with the ups and downs of minor depression.  I've stayed up past 4AM more times recently than I care to admit, then make up for it by sleeping until noon.  I don't have any particular reason to get up...

News?  When Shane Co. up in Scottsdale reopened, I dragged DH up there so I could get a new setting for worn-through engagement ring.  It was a lovely diversion and it should be ready for pick up tomorrow!   That was a bit of fun.  Other than that?  Just a couple of things... I finally listened to my dentist and am in the process of having my crowns replaced, so my mouth is kind of sore.  By the end of next week I'll have two lovely new teeth... I hope.  It's hard to think of anything as reliable these days.

The other thing is something I really can't see myself ever doing again: I cut my own hair.  It's all one length, sure, and it's long, and I just wanted to lop off a few inches.  Shouldn't be too bad, I thought.  I watched a half dozen YouTube videos and bought a good pair of scissors and went at it today.  I can truly say I was wholly unprepared! I just have so much hair, and the videos really didn't talk or show how to handle very thick or wavy hair, and mine is both.  Fortunately for me the wavey/curliness of it hides a multitude of sins, and it's pretty much always in a pony tail these days anyway.  I'll have a professional clean it up at some point, but it's nice that it's not such a weight anymore.

Everyone else is doing fine, too, more or less.  DH is growing a beard, a first for him!  It looks good but is still at the "kissing a hedgehog" stage.  DS1 is still working at Amazon and wondering why they keep making it difficult for him to actually do his job.  Alas, that is often life in corporate America, and probably other countries, too.  DD has a job interview in the morning, but otherwise has been living a life of relative leisure up in the cool north, and DS2 is pretty much recovered from his pre-enlistment minor surgery, and should get cleared to start training on Thursday.  All in all, we're very lucky.

Speaking of management making things more difficult... yet another one of the "emails from nowhere" dropped this week with admin announcing, "Hey, y'all are going to do cross-curricular project-based units this year, and so half of you need to switch rooms!"  Our heads were spinning, especially since we don't have any idea what going back to school is really going to look like this year. We have a strong suspicion we will be asked to support both in-person and online instruction, even though that will literally be twice as much work.  So now we're supposed to upend our curriculum maps, too?  You can't just drop a project-based-learning unit in anywhere, and every one of us already has curriculum that is sequenced to support student learning.  Plus, I have no idea whether or how this will impact the science fair this year, or even if we're going to have one.  So I spent literally three hours writing and re-writing an email and it boiled down to two questions, asking for explanations and expressing my concerns.  The whole thing was maybe twelve sentences.  The very quick reply came back with no explanations at all, just, "We're doing this, moves will be finished by July 15," plus my VP cc'd the pastor, who has never been looped into anything like this before.  What was that about?  I'm trying to let it go, but now I'm thinking I should ask about science fair.  If we're going to have one, I can and should start planning now, but since I don't know how/if that would work with the project-based-learning plans, I'll need some guidance on that.

That particular day wasn't fun, but I'm still trying not to get too stressed about it.  No one really knows what the school year will bring.  This time is really bringing home how complacent I was about everything just continuing as if on a course.  For most people throughout history, that's not the way it goes.  Disruption and problems are far more common, and so far I've been very, very lucky to have had the life I've led up to this point.  So I'm trying to keep that in mind, too.  But it's only human to chafe at all these restrictions and the general air of gloom that's hanging over everything! 

DH and I have planned a road trip for week after next.  Let's see if we can actually pull it off.