Mouseykins

Normally in the summer we get high winds here that are 100+km/h so it's nothing new. This is kind of early for us to have a wind warning. I did manage to go outside this evening and get some yardwork done. My youngest started putting her jacket on and told Dad "I'm a go outside and play with my car." At that point I knew better let her out to play or deal with the tantrum that's going to follow. I got her dressed and let her outside to play. I sent her with her sisters and I followed a few minutes later after I changed to my outdoor clothes and grabbed a garbage bag. Ended up filling a 187L bag with Kai's trash, leaves and some dead grass. It rained last night and this morning, but by this evening it was dry. My oldest and my youngest helped bring dirt from a dirt pile to fill in one of Kai's holes so they were helping somewhat. I still have to fill in that hole a bit more but most of the work has been done for me. Kai is so tired now!! That doctor that didn't listen to me, well for other reasons of him being an incompetent moron, we switched doctors. Our new doctor seems to be a lot better. He's just fresh out of med school. I think doctors pull those cards because it's convenient for them rather then investigating why a person is having these issues. I've had eczema for years and have dealt with it on my own without a diagnosis from anyone other then a pharmacist that that says it looked like eczema and pointed me in the direction of a lotion to try. I used to always use the Aveeno eczema care lotion but now I just use whatever LiveClean lotion we have. We use LiveClean products for just about everything. For our youngest that's what I used when she was a baby instead of the Johnson's stuff. Hand soap and body wash here was hard to come by for a while so when my Mr. went shopping and seen they had some he grabbed a couple bottles of each. Having things being unclean and disorganized actually bothers me. The fact is I'm either busy or too lazy and don't feel like doing anything. Which usually leads to a massive clean with me being up almost all night prior to my in-laws coming for a visit. They usually have a habit of only calling the day before knowing the kids don't have school on the weekends and neither one of us are working so we're obviously free lol. It's also easier for me to clean at night anyways when the kiddos are asleep. I may have them bookmarked, I'm not sure. I found them a while ago. I'll see if I can find it in my bookmarks or history for you. It was from an article I read about certain colleges and unis offering free courses. I'm sure if I look hard enough I'll find it. If/when I find them I'll message you in a PM. Every time my husband needs things typed up for work related things or complaints. Even his statement for Long-term Disability. I typed that all up for him. He usually dictates what to put. I don't even really use the whole home row thing that we're all taught in school. I've developed my own way of typing over the years. I can even type with one hand too and I'm often pretty quick with just one hand too. I can type with both my left and right one-handed. Very helpful while holding a sleeping baby in your arms and you need to get work done or are chatting.

It was warm out yesterday here too with a bit of a breeze. The breeze was making it challenging to rake the yard and clean up all of Kai's junk he dragged out and destroyed over the winter. Last night we got hit with a high wind and some rain. It's still really windy out, so we are staying inside. Much of the area I cleaned up yesterday has stuff in it again. I can't win LOL! Eventually one of us has to tackle the hedge and that'll probably be me so my Mr. doesn't irritate his hand too much. We hired someone last year to do it, but this year we can't afford to. I'm trying to keep on top of the dirt. I'll clean and charge our robot today and probably run it tonight. As far as I know our AC unit still works, it's just unplugged. We've had to leave it in our window for the past two years. The window that goes there is on a wood frame and somehow got exposed to moisture so the frame warped and no longer fits properly. So we insulate the AC unit in the fall as best we can and this year we covered the entire window and AC unit with plastic. The plastic alone did wonders! Instead of taking the plastic off this summer we're just taking the bottom portion off and rolling it up. This way on those chilly days we can roll down the plastic and tape it to the wall. Right now we're using a foaming handsoap with Aloe Vera in it from LiveClean and I haven't had any flare-ups lately. In October I started having a minor flare-up and I call it minor because my hands normally got much worse then they were at that time. I went to my family doctor for a prescription cream Eucrisa that I heard about over TV ads and looking it up. It's safe for anyone 2+ years old and is steroid free. He wouldn't give it to me and instead accused me of having OCD behaviors because I told him from frequent handwashing, my hands get irritated. He basically dismissed my eczema and said to use lotion every time after washing my hands. That's not always possible. I'm not going to wash my hands, put lotion on and then make supper which usually involves touching some sort of food with my hands. I might as well just not wash my hands in the first place. Instead, he gave me a prescription for a steroid cream to use for the week. I took the paper and it went right into my shredder box! Luckily there was another doctor available and he had walk-ins. As soon as I explained my situation and what I wanted he looked Eucrisa up on his computer and made out the prescription for it. He only gave me one to see how it is and told me to come back when I needed a refill. I still haven't opened it!! I was expecting massive flare-ups that I usually get in the winter but none have happened! I've had one where I should have used it but crashed for the night before applying it. I wanted something on-hand in case I needed. Majority of the time my flare-ups occurred when I couldn't see my doctor and by the time I could, my flare-up was gone. It's the out-of-sight, out-of-mind thing. If you can't see it regularly you just forget about it. Plus usually I'm so busy I hardly have time to keep my kitchen and the rest of the house clean. Eventually things will get done. My daughter is going to not like me for a while when she finds out her friends are back at school and she's not so I'll have to get creative. There are times when she's been sick and I refused to let her go to school. In the winter I told her, buses weren't running so the school was closed. I'm sure she'll eventually understand it'll be because we love her and want to keep her healthy. I've always loved Forensic Science and I found a couple of free online courses that I thought of taking for something to do. Plus it helps that I can type fast too so before long I've already got a novel written before I realize it.

It's nice out here today so more yard work and I may see about brushing Kai and using the de-shedding rake on him too. My husband is going in to get the internet hub for his parents and planning to take it out to them some time this week. So I'll have to get everything set up for them on their computer. Lots to do! We're planning on starting a garden as of a discussion this morning, so tomorrow we'll start some seeds.

I have a robot vacuum that I really need to run daily, but since it's usually a couple of days before a good sweeping, all of Kai's hair would be too much for it. Now that I've done the floors today, I'm charging my robot and running it tomorrow. I've noticed a few things around here that people aren't doing. We're in an area that has 0 reported cases so I think people are just getting complacent. Just because non have been reported, doesn't mean none are here. We should still be cautious. People are going for runs and walks together and gathering outside in the neighbourhood once in a while. It's maybe 4 - 5 people that I noticed, but still stay home and keep your distance from others. I was in the grocery store a couple weeks ago in our small town and the meat department manager was talking to me and I was making an effort to keep a distance and he just walked right over to me. I always carry hand sanitizer with me and use it before and after entering a building. My hands are severely mad at me for doing so as I have eczema. Thankfully I'm not going out everyday though so my flare-ups have been few and far between. That's special how you were able to be there for your Dad. Sounds like you have an amazing support system. I normally refuse to let any visitors upstairs because it's always such a mess. We were able to keep my in-laws downstairs until we started working on the bathroom reno then they always wanted to see how it was coming along. It's still not finished, but we're slowly getting there. I have a habit of cleaning up the dining room, living room and kitchen and bringing anything that should be upstairs back upstairs and just leaving it on the floor somewhere, in a closet or sitting on something for me to go through and put away later. Well later never comes Our basement is BAD!! We have bags and bags of recyclables that need to be taken in. We were going to start doing that this summer but now with the virus we're left with our hoards a bit longer. I'm going to see if I can at least get rid of the bags of cardboard. I'm hesitant about even letting my daughter go back to school in September if we still don't have a cure or vaccine for this virus. I may need to resort to homeschooling her if the schools are open until we have something to protect us from the virus. Forensic Science would be awesome to take! Putting that on hold for now sounds like a good idea. I'm so glad you're feeling welcome here and enjoying it! I'm usually a shy person but once I start typing I tend to over share lol. Both of mine are upstairs One I was able to move around in but since the bathroom reno a lot of junk has been piled into there. The other one is our L-shaped room that's going to be come a classroom. That one is mostly occupied on the floor, an old mattress and box spring, an old couch and golf clubs that haven't been used in years since before my husband buggered up his shoulder. All those things take up room. My Kinder-kid is a week and half behind in her distance learning. We have lots to do this weekend! Thankfully it's mostly math left and the math for this week is easy. No coloring that requires me to practically tape my child to her chair to get her to finish it. For some reason coloring is an activity she avoids when it comes to school work. My oldest is grounded for 2 months for her graffiti inscriptions on a dresser. Since grounding her I've gotten more school work out of her this week than I have in all of April so far. Taking away some privileges has really made her want to do better with her studies. I decided on 2 months simply because she's 8 and knows not to write/draw or scratch writings into anything but paper. Here she's written on the walls, drawn on toys, painted toys with nail polish, drawn on the couch, scratched lines and names into her dresser. Hopefully not having certain luxuries like YouTube will have a lasting impression.

All the holes are going to make it hard for the kids to play in the yard safely. I really don't want anyone spraining an ankle or breaking anything right now or really ever, but especially now since we'd like to avoid hospitals as much as possible right now. Every night I sweep the floor downstairs and I'm always picking up a pile of dirt. Like geeze dog keep it outside in the yard. Wipe your paws before you come in lol. My condolences for your loss! I hope you can get back to gardening and other things you put on hold while caring for your Father. Grief is a process and it will take some time before you start getting back into all your interest. You will get there in time! I hope you're able to get what you need when you go shopping. I'm glad we're not the only huge procrastinators lol. I have two rooms upstairs that I need to literally gut out and clean. One has our bowflex in it which ironically has never been used and now we can't use it because part of that room got taken up by the bathroom reno. I'm going to see if maybe we move it around or angle it differently if it can be utilized. If not then that room is going to be for our youngest. The other room is our junk room and right now it's a disorganized mess to the point where I can't even go into the room lol. The entire doorway is blocked by stuff lol. That room leads to the attic and is way too small for a bedroom or my office. So I'm wanting to transform it into our classroom. The walls in there will probably end up being purple or blue. I want a calming color since my oldest sometimes has anxiety when doing her schoolwork. I want to get a large bulletin board for the wall. I probably won't get a large whiteboard since we have the easel, but who knows, I may get a medium sized one. Then just decorate the room and have a few shelves on the wall for our schoolbooks. Depending on how long it takes for this virus to be dealt with I'm looking to possibly home school my middle child as well. But with her I want to do a teacher led-approach instead of me creating lessons and assigning her the work. I basically want her ready so that say by February next year if there's a vaccine or something, then we'd feel safe in letting her return to school. As of now if they were to open the school back up, she would be staying home. I don't necessarily need a classroom but I'd like to have a space that's specifically for learning so there are less distractions. I have big plans!! I'm always nervous when my kiddos have drinks near my computer. My oldest had juice one day and spilled it. It splattered on my keyboard and she didn't say a thing. I went to my desk later and my keyboard was sticky. That's funny with your Husky! I've never had one or really been around one so I couldn't even wager a guess as to what was with the nose digging. We had to get a special water system for Kai that has a filter in it or we'd be changing his water after every time he took a drink. The dirt and grass in his bowl each time was gross. Now the filter stops all that an he gets clean fresh water to drink from his fountain. Very much so!! I'm glad you're feeling welcome here!

So glad I read this before taking a drink! I don't think my mac would appreciate hot chocolate being splattered all over it. A lot of times, especially when Kai was a bit younger we'd wait until he was outside to get a snack or make food for ourselves between meals. He had a habit of barking and begging for food. I blame my husband, he taught Kai to speak for food and it was downhill from there once he got the taste of people food. Just opening the fridge and rummaging around is enough to make him run into the house and your sneaky attempt has been completely foiled. So now you have to put up with a noisy dog demanding you share with him. Kai doesn't get too much people food, compared to what Mouse got. He just gets the scraps of what the kids don't eat and whatever little miss throws onto the floor for him. He knows to go to her for food if she's eating lol. He's gotten a lot better with food and only if ham is involved will he try to trample you to get the ham. My husband made stew the other day for us and some of the meat chunks weren't that great so he made Kai his own little stew with the scraps. He was stuffed after that and left us alone! @Ennoshima Dogs are funny! We have 8 - 10 holes in the yard right now from winter that Kai dug. I've managed to fill one in because all the dirt was relatively still there. There's one by our shed that's about as big as Kai when he was more of a puppy. We're thinking he was planning for summer and making himself a pool in the yard. Holes are nothing new to us. Mouse used to dig holes if the sprinkler was on or water was left running in the hose. She was trying to attack the water and a hole was made and a dirty Mouse got to have her favourite thing ever, a bath! I'm hoping that this summer I can stop his digging by frequent exercise and get rid of some of his boredom. It was too cold this winter to go out and play with him much. He obviously didn't care because of his big thick fluffy coat. Wishing you both luck with your gardening endeavours!! This weekend since we don't have to get groceries, I'm going to clean out my daughter's room. I recently grounded her and part of her punishment is she loses her Shleichs for a while. She has a few sets that need to be gathered up and put away before she's allowed back in her room to play. After cleaning up, I need to empty out her closet and give my Mr. the job of painting the closet walls and helping me install their closet racks and shelving that's been in the box for like 3 years. We're huge procrastinators LOL! All to get ready for bunk beds that will be coming this summer. We're thinking of getting them a 3-person bunk bed so they can share a room and we have a spot for either their little sister or Grandma when she visits. I want to get their rooms done this summer so I can start working on my classroom in August for the school year, especially if I'll be teaching both kiddos.

Not really sure what her deal was and we never had a good relationship and she always resented me and vice versa. The cat was a stray and not used to people. It probably came from someone's barn nearby and lost it's way. Now give me a kitten and I'll be all over that cuteness! That's pretty much what goes through my mind. Plus I have 3 kids so it's not just me in the vehicle. Selective hearing is definitely a thing! They listen when they want to or when they know food or treats is involved. Some places we go for walks in the summer Kai ends up picking up pine needles in his paws and I end up having to dig them out for him. He tolerates it quite well, but then again he's just a calm gentle thing, except when it comes to his ears. We watch for that too with Kai but he's learning some things are not for chewing. Normally he's not destructive in the house, but the yard is a different story because he's mostly unsupervised. He likes to destroy towels though. Kai doesn't mind thunderstorms and sleeps right through them, or at least he did last summer. Hopefully this summer is the same because once he starts barking it's hard to get him to stop lol. I crashed at 11am and woke up at 4:30pm. After the kids had supper they did some school work. My middle monster is about a week behind right now so I want her to finish up last weeks lessons. Right now she only has to trace her numbers worksheet which has 6, 7 and 8s. She already wrote the numbers 0 - 10 on the blank space which her teacher is requesting a picture of so I can at least send pictures of her work for last week. Slowly catching up!

Nope definitely not easy, even when you know it's coming in the not too distant future. It still hits you like a ton of bricks. Meh we only had the cat for a short time anyway. I just didn't play with it or feed it. I did have to clean it's litter box and forever hated that. My step-mom should have done that since she was feeding the cat and not me, but nope I got the disgusting jobs. Kai's been a great addition to our family and his breed is actually nicknamed "The Gentle Giants". They're herd animals and look after livestock, so it's funny watching him herd the kids when we go for a walk. He nudges them in the back as if to tell them to get moving lol. My fear is I'm scared of getting into an accident while I'm driving. I tend to forget to make a list and then even when I do I still forget things on it or forget to add things to it. I find it helpful going up and down the aisles too unless I've had enough shopping due to kids not listening and just want to be done. Wiggling paws are not easy to apply ointment too or bandage either. Mouse had a sore on her paw that I had to put cream on 2x a day. Hubby had to hold her carefully so we wouldn't put too much pressure on her abdomen and keep her paws from scratching him while I put the cream on. After a couple times he just sat beside her and she let me. Last year at Easter Mouse cut her paw outside and was bleeding a bit. We stopped the bleeding and thought she was good to go. Once she started walking again and squishing her pad on the floor the cut opened and started bleeding again so I had to bandage it for her so no dirt would get in it and to stop the bleeding. I bandaged her paw with a gauze pad, gauze wrap that I taped and covered her paw with a small kids sock to keep her from chewing it off. It worked until the sock came of lol. Kai cut his paw a while ago too and I just cleaned it for him and put polysporin on it. He was barely bleeding so I let him be. If I put gauze or anything on him he'd eat it so he was on his own lol. Today is supposed to be a school day for my kiddos, but it looks like I'll be sleeping most, if not all day. My youngest was up until 5am and my middle woke up at 5 and she doesn't like to be alone so I've had to stay up with her. Secretly hoping she'll fall back asleep soon or my husband will come down and save me lol. But since I know I'll be sleeping, I've set out schoolwork he can do with them.

@jellysundae Yay you made it to get the post! I wish you all the best with your growings! That is way too funny about your ex's Jack_Russell. I love their quirkiness so much and I thoroughly miss Mouse's crazy shenanigans. Kai's got his own quirks and crazy antics so watching him develop and grow is entertaining. I'm hoping the more I do this as it's going to be daily for the next week and then every 3 weeks after that for routine cleanings. Hopefully he'll get over it and just deal with it and wait for the treats he gets afterwards. Last year when Kai was small the girls were running around the yard with him and he was so oblivious to his size he would chase them and start biting them playfully. He'd grab onto t heir summer dresses and hold on to them. It got to the point where they played while he was napping in the house. This year they've been able to play outside with Kai as long as they don't run and get him too excited. They know that he's just happy and wants to play so if they throw his ball, a stick or whatever he has to play with he'll go get it and leave them alone. The other day he was excited and banged his nose into my middle monkey's face giving her a nosebleed for the first time. She panicked because of the blood and freaked out. Within about 5 minutes we had the bleeding stopped and her face all cleaned up. As soon as she started crying Kai was chasing after her to make sure she was alright. It's a lot different playing with a giant dog when you're used to a tiny Jack-Russel. Some people are handling the situation great and it's bringing out the togetherness and then there's these bad apples you want to keel-haul. In other news, I think we may have already contracted the virus in early March. I want to contact public health this week and report in and see if/when we can be tested for antibodies.

I know right! I can't believe people most of the time. If we weren't social and physical distancing, if you see someone with two carts, maybe offer to push one out to their vehicle for them or at least be nice. I've been at Walmart pushing my stroller and towing a cart behind me. I've been offered help with it several times, which I always refused because I didn't need it. I was usually waiting for my husband or my kids were helping with the cart or stroller. Good luck with your avocado experiment! Off topic but funny. I was a jerk to Kai earlier today. He was sleeping and his right ear, the one I need to clean, was facing the ceiling so I could get to it easily. I grabbed a paper towel and stuffed that in my pocket and grabbed his ear cleaner and held it behind my back. While he was still sleeping I grabbed his ear and squirted the cleaner in. He gets up and gives me this nasty look of "What did you just do?!" and tries to shake but I still have my hand in his ear with the cloth to work as a stopper so I can massage all the gunk out. Then I let him shake his head and I go clean out the loose debris. While cleaning with the cloth he's groaning the entire time, clearly it felt good. I think it's just the fact of having something liquid squirted in his ear that he doesn't like. His ears are looking better already which is good. I don't think we'll have to take him to the vet just yet.

We're good for TP for at least 2 - 3 months now, thanks to Mom who got a huge pack that she sent with my Mr. It's more of a recommendation here than mandatory because there are people who are single parents and their kids are too young to be left alone in the vehicle or at home. People are quick to shame those who they see as ignoring the rules. My daughter's Kindergarten teacher shops at Cosco and she has a big family with 5 kids. When she goes shopping she doubles up on everything and had two carts last time she went shopping. A guy was standing there starting to video her and she snapped at him that she has a big family to feed. The guy put away his phone right away after that. That's got to ba a challenge for you Jelly! I hope you can get down there to get your seeds. Sounds like it'll be a good way to spend some of your time. Just have to remember that water. Maybe you could start checking on them daily at around the same time so it becomes habit. Even if you know they won't need water for a few days. We did this a couple years ago: https://homeschooled-littles.tumblr.com/post/183243342394/february-25-2019-project-3-soil-homes-our-two The rice and cereal ones smelled awful and I dumped them about a week or so before the experiment was technically over. There's some other interesting things on that blog, but I haven't updated it in a while. We started talking about possibly planting a garden here, but I'm a little hesitant because of my 4-legged excavator.

Awe my condolences! Mouse passed away in May last year. We got Kai at the end of June. There were no plans to get another dog ever, but he was something our family needed to heal. He taught our youngest how to love again when they bonded. I've always had dogs. I did have a cat when I was like 8 but I hated that cat. It was a stray and a mean one. Kai's so gentle the kids can lay on him and sit on his back. My youngest, who is 3, loves to sit on his back and lay on him while he's laying down. But when he lays on her, that's not allowed lol. I'm similar to you in the anxiety department for driving. I don't mind being a passenger as long as my husband is driving. Anyone else and I'm on high alert. I hope your trip goes well. Just keep in mind that some stores may only be allowing 1 person per household. That's how things are here right now. I miss our regular grocery shops. Stay safe out there! She loves to help and will start emptying bags out before we're even ready for them. Her sisters would much rather race upstairs to go play when we get home from shopping. The only problem I ever had with Mouse was anything involving her feet and I don't get it. Her feet were constantly touched while she was a puppy and growing up, she just didn't like it. @Duma and @jellysundae Having allergies at this time of year with the pandemic going on is not going to be a fun time! I wish you both the best in getting through it. I hope your work still allows you to come in as long as you're only showing allergy symptoms. Like you Duma, I'm allergic to some scents and different products. I have to watch what shampoos and bodywashes I used. Even products at the hair salon will give me nasal congestion and sneezing. Usually when I get my hair done I tell them not to use products, especially ones I'm not familiar with.

When we got Kai last summer he was just a big fluffy clumsy polar bear thing! Kai's predecessor was a Jack-Russell Terrier, so going form her to this big clumsy oaf has been an adventure lol. Kai is such a gently giant! The kids grab onto his tail and he drags them around the living room. I would prefer they not do that, but it's on a laminate floor so they're really not hurting Kai and he absolutely does not care. My husband has been the one doing our weekly grocery shop. I don't drive and to get groceries for better prices than our local grocery store it's 40 minute drive. I stay home with the kids. I have gone to the post office a couple of times to get packages in my name to make things easier for the staff and my Mr. That's very nice of your boyfriend to be going out for you. My husband changes when he gets home after things have been put away and we both wash our hands really well. Our youngest normally helps us put groceries away but we're keeping her from helping to keep her safe. It's an adventure for sure! Mouse, Kai's predecessor, didn't mind her ears being touched or wiped. I rarely had to do that unless she had a bath and I was drying her off. Other then that Mouse never had ear infections or anything. Mouse just would not let us trim her nails ever, so she always had these long fingernail looking claws lol. When we started taking her to the vet for treatment they'd do her nails for us and I guess she didn't put up much of a stink. I need to do Kai's nails too one of these days. I was going to get the vet techs to do it but I can't right now with the virus.

I'm so glad! It was pretty funny watching a 120lb lady wrestling with a 100+lb Great Pyrenees pup. I know my husband thought it was funny. But did he get off the couch to help, Nope! Today one of us has to go to the Post Office, and I think I might volunteer my Mr. for that task lol. He's going to have to help me with Kai though. If we want to treat his ear and prevent an infection we need to clean them.

*hands over a soft wipe for your screen* You said it right there, until we have a vaccine we will have restrictions or at least we should if our governments are smart about things. I don't get the mask thing either it's just one of those things I have to shake my head at all the time. Funny Story to Lighten Things Up: Kai possibly has an ear infection in his right ear. Friday I sent my hubby to the vet to pick up a cleaning solution for Kai. I cleaned Kai's right ear first and as I was wiping out his ear canal this big boy was groaning in enjoyment. He absolutely enjoyed it! I was probably rubbing an itchy spot in his ear so it felt good. I go to do his left ear, which isn't showing signs of infection but I wanted to clean it anyways. Dad had to hold him a bit so I could apply the solution. I tried tonight and he ran away from me and leapt onto my Mr. almost sitting on him. Looks like this will be a two person job and probably best to do it in the morning when he's still sleepy. I just thought it was funny how a bottle of solution made him run like that. It does have alcohol in it so maybe it irritated and stung his ear but he never yelped or anything and handled it very well. I even tried sitting on his back as he was laying down, he got up and just about took me with him! I don't put my weight on his back when I do sit on him, that's distributed on my knees which are on the floor so I'm not hurting Kai.

Wow lots to reply to today! That's good! I'm glad you're at least able to get outside and get some fresh air. I know it's not the same but at least it's something. I just keep thinking that things could be worse and that gives me a glimmer of hope. Personally I'm trying not to stress about things so much, but at times it's hard and it doesn't help that I'm not sleeping that great. Well, more so not sleeping at appropriate hours. My in-laws are itching to see their grandkids and I had to send my husband out to their place by himself to get them to not come out here. My husband fixed the quad so it was a necessary trip for him. I'm thankful for the time we get to spend together as a family. Plus Kai loves that we're home so he can get all the attention he wants. He's a big attention suck! I haven't heard of protests or anything like that here yet and I hope people don't get that stupid. I know times are tough but at least our government is trying to help people by allowing those with income losses to apply for a relief benefit. I'm glad they didn't insist on being stubborn. I'm just getting really sick of the 8 pm phone call announcing they're coming out the next day. I'm not a cat person. Dogs are more my thing. My 8yo saw your cat gif and wouldn't let me scroll down to keep reading for probably a good 5 minutes lol. I think consistency is key these days and your city should have a notice up somewhere online stating that. I'm glad the officer decided to give you a mask instead of fining you. For some things, I think they should issue a "warning" that way repeatedly stupid people who do not care about the rules are the ones being fined instead of people like you who are just trying to get things they need and are unaware of the current rules. Masks here are becoming recommended and I'm like why now. Why weren't they recommended when the virus first landed in Canada? They would have kept asymptomatic people from coughing, sneezing and breathing on people while out in public. That is absolutely horrid that they are being forced to do that! It's such a complete turn of events, isn't it? To me, it doesn't make any sense, why now instead of when the virus was first encountered in our areas. A friend of mine has made homemade masks and I think she's selling them to people in the area that need them or want them for venturing out. I may end up making some for ourselves, just in case they become mandatory. That way the kids and everyone has one in case we need to go somewhere with the kids. No way am I wearing one in my yard though. Our yard is completely fenced in and surrounded by a hedge so we are isolated. Plus people can go walk on the street like they usually do or go walk on the other side of the street and save Kai from barking at them so much lol. That worries me to Hanso. If people think they're safe because of the loosened restrictions we're just going to end up back at square one. Even if restrictions are loosened here I'm not going to immediately rush out and have a party with friends or playdates. Even if they decide to reopen schools this year, my daughter will not be going back. I don't care if all her friends are. I won't allow her to go back to school until I think it's safe for her to do so. Her teacher knows I can handle the homeschool learning approach with her since I've been doing it for 3 years now with her older sister. As I say, Stupidity is contagious. Well, this virus is contagious and if people remain stupid about things, then, of course, we'll see at least a 2nd wave of this virus. I've heard that the virus has possibly mutated already. That's a scary thought for those that have had it to think they could potentially get it again when they assumed they now have immunity towards it. I LOVE that analogy!! It is so true and perfect for this situation!

I'm sorry to hear you're having a rough time with things. You're not the only one! Times like these really give our mental health a beating. I'm not sure where you live, but are you able to go outside in your yard at all or just for a walk? My community is allowing people to be in their yards and out for walks as long as social and physical distancing is being adhered to. My kids have not left the house or our yard for a month now and they've been at each others throats lately. This week we've finally been having some nice weather so we've been outside in our yard a bit each day. Today's the first day I actually joined them in the yard. Wednesday they were playing while I did dishes and cooked supper, Thursday I was busy doing other things, but today I decided with most of the snow gone it was as good a time as any to start cleaning up the yard. We got a Great Pyrenees pup last summer and he made a huge mess in our yard over the winter. Unfortunately, things may stay as they are for some time yet. We just have to do the best we can to get through this. Hang in there! I'm glad to hear you're coping well. My family and I are coping rather well with everything too and not experiencing any financial hardships as a result of lockdowns and restrictions. I do miss taking my kids out and about the town. My daughter misses going to school and seeing everyone. Schools here have been closed since March 16th and they're closed for the rest of the year from my understanding of things. I love chatting online, but I am missing that human interaction I get when doing errands around town or just going for a walk and seeing people I know. They are talking about loosening up restrictions and I"m honestly praying they don't. We haven't reached the peak yet and if they loosen these restrictions there's nothing to stop the virus from spreading more and all the hardships people have faced over the last month will have been for nothing and we'll be back at square one. Here's hoping our government actually does the right thing for once. I've heard that tests may become available soon to see who has had the virus already and who has immunity to it to start getting those people back to work. My husband and I are thinking we may have already had COVID-19 in early March before it made it's presence known in our province. We had all the symptoms described and we felt like we were both run over by a highway truck. Our oldest child was sick for two weeks to the point where she didn't get off the couch except to use the bathroom or get a drink. She barely ate during this time too and just slept constantly. Our middle child caught it first and she was sick for about 3 weeks total and our youngest only had a mild cough. It would be nice if we could get tested for antibodies to see if we already did have the virus. @jellysundae How are things for you? My in-laws were going to come out on the 7th and bring us supplies but with all the restrictions in place, plus the possibility of them getting fined and us as well, we convinced them to stay home. Dad ordered a part for the quad we have out there for him to use since he has mobility issues but no one had showed up to fix the quad. So instead of them coming here, my husband went out there to fix the quad and get the supplies, Easter goodies and birthday presents for the two girls. It was the best possible solution. It would have been nice though if they would have called us a couple days prior to their plans so we could have made arrangements to get the internet hub picked up and my Mr. could have brought them their computer and set it up for them. Now that has to wait for a couple more weeks. Dad had a doctors appointment so we're waiting 3 weeks before my Mr. goes out there with the internet and computer. It'll be nice for them to have to keep in contact with the kiddos.

So nice to see Kari back! I wish she was back with more prizes I like though, but oh well. Just limits the decision making for me. Congrats on getting the stamp right away Angelo!

Loic is back! This time he has some spring-themed Dyeworks items for Neopians to dye. This set of Dyeworks items will only be available until April 26, 2020 so be sure to get your items dyed before then. DYEWORKS GUIDE

Hopefully he learns that he needs to stay by the door until his feet are wiped. So far he still likes to leave wet paw prints all over the hall and kitchen. I have to start working with him regularly on that even if his feet aren't clean. Kai still needs to be taught to walk nice on the leash. I find if I walk him on the street he does better than on the sidewalk. Plus I walk too slow for him, so he loves it when we race the kids to the corner. When we do that he has to learn not to cut me off. I do not wish to be up close and personal with the pavement. It snowed Monday night so now Kai's evidence of destruction has been reburied, which is perfect timing in case my in-laws do not heed our warnings and decide to come out anyways. My MIL bought us a pack (or more) of bathroom tissue even though she didn't have to and she's probably going to want to bring us flour and sugar as well. The older girls are starting to go crazy being stuck together all the time. My oldest enjoys the days when her sister is at school so she can play and do what she wants without her sister bugging her. Trying my best to separate them when they get moody so there's no fights. Monday I picked up A's school things and we finished almost everything for yesterday. We just have a coloring sheet to do. Today we're going to finish a few other sheets that she hasn't finished yet from earlier lessons. Her teacher sent home everything we need for the rest of the year just in case the school gets closed completely. She also sent home those square connecting cubes, a play-dough pot, popsicle stick, bingo chips and a bingo dobber! Each week she's emailing with the lesson plan for that week so we know what to work on and certain assignments she's requesting pictures of to be emailed to her so we don't have to keep coming and going from the school each week. This will let her evaluate our kiddos remotely. I'm so glad to know what is happening with A's education now. It's relieved a lot of stress! A wants to write a letter to her teacher, so that's on the plan today. I have to print off primary writing paper for her to use. Her teacher is going to love it! Tomorrow morning her teacher is doing a Google Meet with the kids so that should be exciting. I'll probably sit with A and send everyone away upstairs so there's no noise or distractions. I've never done a Google Meet so this should be interesting. EDIT: A started writing her letter today and I finally published my website!

Things are changing rapidly here so there will still be changes and I expect that number to be lowered. I know it's crazy how people are disregarding some aspects of social distancing and isolation. I know my in-laws just want to see their grand-kids but still. I know they watch the news and health officials are advising against visiting family, so you'd think they'd get the message. We'll just have to wait and see what April brings us. Thanks! My girls really enjoyed it! Olaf's arms, hair, eyes and coal buttons were indeed oreo crumbs. The cake looked a lot better until I added those. I should have just made a chocolate whipped cream and piped them. EDIT Monday Morning: Yesterday my Mr. went into our little city to pick up an air purifier for our home. Our home is really dusty and it gets worse in the summer months. We're hoping that with the air purifier it will help eliminate dust and allergens and help as all to stay healthier. Our furnace filter and regular cleaning of the vents can only do so much. While he was in town I sent him to pick up a few groceries while he's there. Things are cheaper there then they are in our little town. Guess what he found on the shelf at one store?? The ever elusive bathroom tissue. There were two packs and the customer limit is two, but instead of being greedy he only got one. So things are starting to normalize here slowly. According to health officials we are slowly starting to see a flattening of the curve from all our isolation and social distancing so I'm glad it's taking affect. Our province's cases are still rising with 46 in hospital and 14 of those in the ICU. Today I have to go pick up my daughter's learning packet for the week. I'm excited to see what's in there. It'll be good to finally know what to expect each week for my daughter to complete. Once she's completed those lessons we can continue building on her skills with the resources I've purchased for her. Funny Kai happenings: Yesterday it was rather warm out so a fair bit of melting took place turning parts of our yard muddy and making it easier for Kai to excavate. We had just put groceries away and knew his feet would be dirty. My husband went upstairs to get a towel so I could wipe Kai's paws when he came in. He had to wait at the door and he had this sad look on his face like he knew he was naughty. My husband lets him in while he's blocking the path to go upstairs and I'm blocking the path to the rest of the house. Kai right away lays down to let me clean his paws. Even his belly was dirty. I cleaned him up as best I could and he was still banished to lay by the door until the dirt dried and fell off his fur. In that way I love his self-cleaning coat!

That's one way to use the emergency alert system. I'm sorry your mom had to postpone her appointment. I hope she gets her sore looked at and taken care of properly. Because it's not healing there's a chance she'll need antibiotics. In the meantime I would just treat it with whatever first aid supplies you have at home. She could use peroxide to help bring out the infection, but that may sting depending on how open the wound is. Tea Tree Oil is also a good antiseptic too. Might be a good idea to consult with her doctor first before applying anything like peroxide though. Wishing your mom a speedy healing process! Some people are not understanding the "stay home" message being shoved into our faces at every turn. It's rather annoying. My in-laws are one of them. Hopefully you'll have better luck convincing your dad to stay home than I'm having with my in-laws. I know for a fact I'm going to ruffle some feathers when I refuse to let them come out. They're planning to come out around Easter or just afterwards because the weather will be nice then. After telling them numerous times that it's for their own good they stay home as much as possible, they don't seem to be listening. They're both elderly folks with health issues, so you'd think they'd be a little bit more cautious. They don't even seem to understand how some businesses are closed. My husband had to explain to his dad that the Honda dealer is closed because of the virus until April 7th (or something) and another Honda dealer is open, but not to the public so they'll have to send the part out he needs for the quad by courier. I guess the quad's starter switch has been buggered up for a year and dad waits until now to say something. Now my husband may have to go out there and change the part for him when it comes in if the regular mechanic guy they get to do things around their place doesn't want to come out. Parents are frustrating! We got a health update yesterday and it looks like anyone scheduled for an MRI will still receive one so hopefully my Mr. is on that list! I'm so glad you got your trolley and that it helped out! That was so nice of them to even assemble it for you to. I'm glad when we went shopping I was able to get a pack of paper towels! We go through a fair bit for cleaning. I bought 2 large tubs of lysol wipes several months ago and am down to my last one that was just opened not too long ago so we're stocked on cleaning and disinfecting supplies. With kids around I tend to stock up on those things before we run out and before we actually need them. Our grocery store in town put up plexi-glass shields for the cashiers and they also have the floor marked for where you can stand. Almost everything here is starting to be replenished. I'm not sure of the bathroom tissue problem. But food stuffs are being replenished. My husband was able tog et two boxes of chicken strips for the kiddos yesterday and two pizzas for us. There was still no Fairlife milk, so we're starting to think it may have gotten held up at the border since it's made in the US. Little One will just have to make do with what we can get her. The other brand is still on the shelves at least. Here in Alberta they've limited social gatherings from 50 to 15 people now. Yesterday I touched base with two friends who have kids my girls' age. Both families are doing good. The kids are going a bit stir crazy though. Yesterday we did presents and cake. The youngest got an interactive learning desk that she just loves. She also got a singing Anna doll from Frozen 2 that she loves the most. Her other gifts included a set of 9 matchbox cars, her own set of small metal spoons (she chewed all her plastic ones and Kai helped), and a Frozen 2 travel cup. Middle monster got a singing Elsa doll from Frozen 2 and a set of 9 matchbox cars too. They both got a package of 60 Chupa Chups lolipops to share. Elsa and Anna were by far the biggest hit! We had to listen to both their songs all afternoon until bedtime. I had to hide Anna from the little one to get her to put it down so I could get her to sleep. Without further ado, here's their cake:

@jellysundae My husband is also waiting on an MRI. We haven't heard anything so we're not sure what's going on with that. He's on long-term disability because he injured his hand at home last year in January. He's developed complications with the healing and needs to see a hand specialist to either do a small procedure or go in for actual surgery. No idea if and when that's going to happen. His LTD runs out in June next year. There's so much to do in that time frame! Today watching TV and the news programs I'm seeing a lot of ads saying for elderly folks not to go visit their kids and grand-kids so hopefully I can use that with my in-laws and convince them to stay home. Hopefully the nice weather will help people get through this difficult time without causing too much of an uproar. Gardening is a nice idea to start. We're getting close to our growing season here so I'm sure a lot of people will be doing that. I won't be one of them because I have a 4-legged excavator ravaging my yard. In my flower bed I have three groups of a poisonous flower called monkshood or wolfsbane. I'm pulling it out ASAP for the safety of Sir Kai Bosh and my youngest who will probably be running around the yard more this summer. When it was planted I didn't know it was poisonous. I got it from my MIL. She pulled up all of hers I think but I left mine since it wasn't hurting anyone and my kids were old enough not to go into the flower bed. Kai is not that smart lol! In a couple of my flower pots I may plant some herbs, but we'll see. Today is birthday cake and presents for my two kiddos! I'm making a marbled rectangular cake decorated to look like Olaf from Frozen.

I have no idea if people are behaving themselves in my small town. I haven't ventured out in a week now. I sent my husband to the post office today and he went to the grocery store. A math book I ordered for A is in along with Little Monsters' birthday present. Apparently, town looked quiet with not many people out and about so it looks like people may be following the social distancing measures. My biggest problem right now with people is the fact that they're buying up all the essential goods. Even our small town store is seeing people being stupid. We're pretty well stocked on everything except for milk. We rely quite heavily on our local grocery store for milk so that we don't have to make the 40 minute drive to a small nearby city where there's a Walmart. The regular homogonized milk was at the store thankfully! However, my youngest drinks the Fairlife milk that's ultrafiltered and lactose free. There was none of her milk in the cooler. Another similar brand was there so at least my husband was able to get her some milk. She used to drink the regular milk before we switched. Since we switched we've noticed if we give her the regular milk it upsets her digestion. If necessary, we may need to switch her back and in time her digestive system will adjust. In our little city milk was well stocked when we went shopping. It was just the bread, bathroom tissue, hand sanitizer, and certain cleaning products that were gone. I don't understand people and how they have to panic buy and not leave anything for anyone else. The colouring avoidance is only when it's on an assignment and I'm telling her she needs to color something. If any of her school work from her teacher involves colouring I'll have to give her an incentive like "if you color it really nice your teacher will love it". A loves her teacher so I think that may work. We'll see though. I don't know what was up with them last night. They were able to work side by side, but when a movie was put on for bedtime, Frozen 2, they had to argue about who got to sit in the rocking chair and I got to the point of shutting it off until they got their acts together. Anything that involves music for some reason they have to rock in the rocking chair to the music. They can't just sit there and enjoy it. The rocking chair is only big enough for two of them. Little Monster used to be able to fit between them but she's gotten bigger. Usually they're nice to their littlest sister and let her have the chair, but not last night lol. Tonight trying to get them to do schoolwork side-by-side didn't work. I had to work with them separately. He is huge now! Probably weighs 110lbs. I could be way off with that number as I can't take him to the vet for a weight check and we don't have a scale big enough for his bum to sit on. Our vet is still open like normal, but Kai is healthy and we don't need anything so there's no sense taking him there. Plus I don't think he'll fit in the back seat of the truck. We usually take him with the van, but it's snowed in at the moment. Our snowblower decided to not work when we had a huge snow dump. Our truck is a 4x4 so the snow isn't a problem for it. There was just way too much snow to shovel, so we just left it. Kai won't stop growing until he's about 3 years old. Right now he's getting most of his size and he'll fill out more and possibly get a bit taller than he is now. The fuzzy goofball has destroyed our yard! He's got holes everywhere and the trash I've picked up and bagged from the yard, he ends up destroying the bag and dragging everything around again making a huge mess. Kai sleeps downstairs in front of our front door where it's cooler for him so when I get up he's all over me. It's like I just got home and he missed me. He knows he's allowed to come lay on the bed with us anytime, but he hangs out by the door instead. With his thick plush coat I don't really blame him