It’s hard to believe that we’ve been “distanced” for 11 days already. There’s no end in sight, of course, as deaths from corona passed into the triple digits yesterday. There are six people confirmed to have the virus here in Stafford county now.
Yesterday the governor closed all schools for the remainder of the year and offered schools four options for completing the year. Each local school district will determine what to do based on local needs. We are luck here in that we don’t have a lot of meal needs as the area is quite affluent. Our biggest problem is the lack of reliable internet for teachers and students, especially those west of us in the county. The superintendent and school board President are supposed to make an announcement today regarding what may happen.
Sydney cried when she found out yesterday, and she cried again when she realized she couldn’t go back to JROTC, and she cried out of stress not knowing what will happen to her AP, IB, and other classes. So we dyed her hair pink and she showed her hair off at Zoom-inary (online local Seminary). I think she had a good time, and the regularity will be good for her as well.
I am still going the rounds with WGU. I can’t believe that I am having to argue that fake data helps no one to a so-called University. I can’t believe they can’t work with me — it’s not like I’m asking for a special dispensation or a change in the program. All I want is a change of timing. It’s idiotic that this is even a thing. I am so shocked by the way this has gone down. What I really want is my money back so I can take it and spend it at a real university. I wish I’d never chosen WGU. What a mistake.
So I cried and felt sorry for myself for an hour yesterday, too. It was not a great day over here.
Jared’s cement kettlebells weigh in at 11 and 20lbs, and he made me some handles out of rope threaded through a piece of old garden hose. The 11lb one isn’t terribly useful as it’s so light. The 20lb one is challenging for one-arm swings but very easy for the two-arm swing. I figure that’s probably good because it means I can practice my form for a few weeks and then move up to a 30 or 35 pounder.
The Simple Gear 
Ghettobells
I look a sight swinging a milk carton with a garden hose handle around in the living room each morning — but so far the family has reacted by mainly staying out of the way. I suspect it’s mostly because they are afraid of having a 20lb blob of concrete accidentally hurled at them. Surely it’s not because I look like a hot mess swinging my ghettobells — no one wants to wake up to that.
In case I didn’t mention it before, I’m doing Pavel Tsatsouline’s Timeless Simple program right now. The program is very simple (naturally) and minimalist. All you need is a moderately heavy kettlebell to get started. It’s 10×10 swings each morning, 6 days/week, untimed followed by 1×5 Turkish getups each morning, alternating arms (10x total), also untimed. For two days you do one-arm swings, and the next day you do two-arm swings, then repeat. Pavel assigns some weird stretches in a specific order to warm up that I’m also doing, but I hate them. Glute bridges with shoes between the knees? Is this really a thing? That seems like a pretty, er, natural movement for men, and I’ve been doing weighted bridges and hip thrusts for ages now so it feels silly to do it unweighted.
But I’m following the program, comrade. I’m no sissy and can grind it out. Today I did feel some improvement in my movements. Tomorrow will be all two-arm swings, and I’m looking forward to it. I think I might be able to do 100 straight just because those are pretty easy for me at this weight.
Friday I painted Boba Fett for a friend’s grandson who is very sick with leukemia. Saturday I repaired the Velcro on some bibs for ASL with no thimble and wished to die for hours afterward. We did Korean facials and watched Call the Midwife and also I picked my first asparagus. Jared cooked it up and let Emma have some, who loved it although she’s never had it before. We all cleaned house and made homemade bread to have ready for the sacrament the next day. Sunday we were able to have sacrament at home because Caleb has a recommend (required for home sacrament administration in our stake), and we played Quiplash and Drawful on JackBox for an hour or so. Sydney sent a pouty picture to “her” little kids from Church and asked for pictures because she missed them.
Sewing is not my thing 
Boba Fett for Seth 
Korean facial 
First two asparagus spears 
Bread rising 
Pouty Sydney 
Emma, Caleb, Jared 
Drawful
Gotta say, I really like at home sacrament. I actually wish I didn’t like it so well. It’s going to be difficult to persuade myself to go back to church. This has really underscored how little I care about formal church meetings anymore.
I finally finished Seven Pillars of Wisdom and A Place to Belong by Fluhman and Olson, and now I’ve picked up The Enoch Letters by Neal Maxwell again. It’s hard to read for a variety of reasons, but I do like envisioning Zion.
I’m bored. In an hour or so I’ll teach the kids how to cut baseboard for Sydney’s bathroom and let them install it. I’m even going to teach them how to cope an inside corner. Life skills.
