Family walk

This week was another busy one with work. Work just doesn't seem to ever slow down for me which really sucks. I'd really like a vacation. Even if it's just here at the house, a couple of weeks of not working would be nice. Unfortunately, that doesn't look like that'll be in the cards anytime soon. I've got so many projects going on and I'll be on call in a couple of weeks so it looks like I'll just keep accumulating comp time.. This week the girls got new computer glasses that block blue light which should help when they start school again or they are on their electronics. Emma is still doing her art which she really enjoys. I've added one of her digital creations. She also has started a YouTube channel that she posts her art on. She hit 20 subscribers this weekend which is awesome! If you'd like to check out her channel, you can subscribe to it here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-FpkKVt5pWXGWYrEC3ZiRQ

Other than that, we're mostly just staying close to home. Last night we had family movie night and we watched a live action stage version of The Little Mermaid mixed in with the animated version. Then we watched the movie "Secretariat" which was also really good. About halfway through it I realized that it wasn't the movie I thought it was. I had wanted to watch Seabiscuit but mistook Secretaritat for it. It was a good movie and hopefully we'll watch Seabiscuit soon too. 

The virus has really been getting worse and living in one of the hardest hit states isn't very comforting. The country has had a few days of over 1000 deaths per day which obviously is very bad. We're just going to continue trying to stay safe as much as we can. I hope everyone has a great week!

Caitlin's Birthday and Emma's Braces

This week was another busy week. Monday was Caitlin's Birthday so we took the day off of work to hang out. We drove out to Medina Lake just to see something different. We didn't get out of the car but it was nice to just get out and drive around. We also took Emma to the Orthodontist in the morning to get her braces taken off. She looks so grown up and mature without them now. On Wednesday both girls had to go back to the Orthodontist. Emma got her retainer and Caitlin got her braces adjusted. It looks like Emma will get her braces on the bottom in 2 or 3 years.

Yesterday we had a family movie night which was fun. We watched one of my favorite comedies Raising Arizona and then watched In Time. The girls liked In Time but weren't too excited about Raising Arizona. I think next up will probably be Apollo 13 and Speed.

Other than that, not a lot new to report. Emma is enjoying her online summer school. I'm not sure how much longer she has but she seems to be enjoying it so far. The school district has said that they will be doing online school until after Labor Day. After that, they will probably open up classes in person for those who want to go in. We'll be keeping the girls at home for online learning. The situation with the virus is a mess and we've now passed 70k cases a day for a few days last week in the country. 39 states are reporting increases in cases and several states are reaching capacity in their hospitals. We have 50 states trying to run 50 different plans and it's just not working. We need a national response for this but at this point, I just don't think that's going to happen. With fall coming and flu season coming with it, I honestly think that 100k cases will be the norm before too long. As for us, we're going to do whatever we have to to take care of ourselves. If the schools are forced to open for in person only classes, we will be turning to home schooling the kids. We'll sell my truck and pay off the house so we can live on 1 income if we have to. When it comes to the lives of the kids, we're not taking any chances. I hope everyone is staying safe and wearing masks if you have to go out.

Happy 12th Birthday Caitlin!

Tomorrow is Caitlin's 12th birthday and today we had a birthday party on Zoom with family to celebrate. We hooked my laptop up to the big screen and hooked up a webcam so we could easily see everyone. It was really cool to see everyone on the big screen. Tomorrow we're off work for Caitlin's Birthday. We don't really have any plans. Emma is getting her braces off which should be cool. I for one can't believe Caitlin is now 12. She looks so grown up and is now around 5'1". I wish time would slow down! Caitlin had fun with the online party and she appreciated everyone dropping by to wish her a happy birthday. 

Other than Caitlin's party, last week was fairly quiet. Work has been extremely busy and I personally think we're heading for another shutdown. Cases of coronavirus have been above 60k per day and Texas is seeing huge spikes. Some hospitals in Florida are at 97% capacity and it shows no sign of turning around. The Governor finally seems to be acknowledging that the problem is real and that simply ignoring it isn't going to make it go away. Unfortunately, I think his change of heart is too little too late. Add on that there's a percentage of the population who has turned something as simple as wearing a mask into a political issue and no national policy to combat this virus, I think the virus is going to be here for quite a while. I won't be at all surprised if we have to celebrate Caitlin's Birthday next year via Zoom again. I'm going to keep this post short but I hope everyone is staying safe. 

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July! I hope everyone had a great and safe day! This week was interesting. I decided to try a juice cleanse to see if that would help with my constant stomach issues. The fast was a little difficult on the 2nd day but I'm glad I tried it. My stomach actually is doing a lot better than before I did it so it looks like it was worth the hassle. My blood pressure is also doing great and during the fast, my resting heart rate dropped about 10 points down into the high 50's which was really surprising. I plan to continue juicing and got a new juicer to make it easy. This week is also week 5 of my beard growth. Overall I'm happy with the growth to this point and just happy to have my beard back, even if it's a much shorter version.

This week we also had a power outage that knocked out power for about 2 hours. During that time we went and filled the truck with gas and went through a drive through for the kids for lunch. Luckily it wasn't anything too major but it did impact a pretty large area of around 3500 people.

This week I also purchased another 2 months worth of freeze dried food and vacuum sealed a few more bags worth of rice and beans to store. I'm starting to notice that as the number or coronavirus cases continues to increase, so does the number of items that are out of stock in my grocery deliveries lately. The number of cases has continued to climb and is now much higher than at any point since this all began. The summer was supposed to be the time that the virus started to drop before the 2nd wave hits in the fall. At this point, I won't be surprised to see cases top 100,000 per day in the fall. Between the complete lack of leadership in the country and the morons who refuse to wear masks, I have a feeling things are going to get a lot worse. There are hospitals that are approaching full capacity and over 30 states are reporting increases in cases. We're continuing to stay home and stay safe as much as possible. We're starting to plan for Caitlin's birthday party which will be an online Zoom call with family and friends. It sucks that we can't go anywhere but if nothing else, this will be a birthday that she'll remember.