Didn’t stay up too late last night. Woke up about the usual time. Casey actually woke up not long after me, so it was refreshing to not have to fight to get him out of bed as though he were a teenager already. He wanted oatmeal for breakfast, so I made him some. He didn’t finish it, though. He’s been doing that a lot lately. Got him off to school earlier than even our new normal. I was debating if we should leave that early, because he has the sniffles, but the poor kid needs more time outdoors with his friends.
Ran to Walmart after dropping Casey off, needed the fresh snap peas and avocado for tonight’s dinner. Nice, quick trip!
Got home, did my usual thing with SL, then hopped on Wiz to do some more questing. Had a questing buddy for a little bit this morning, that’s always refreshing.
Casey got home earlier than usual, which means I wasn’t standing at the door watching for the bus for ages. That was kinda nice! Instead of offering him something for lunch, I told him he could have his oatmeal heated up. He didn’t want it. He ended up, at some point, helping himself to both cheese crackers and fruit snacks.
I played Wiz a bit more while he was on his tablet, did Darkmoor again. In the last fight, in the last round of the fight, I got a network connection error. I didn’t lose connection, and I’m not sure if it was with my net or Wiz, but when the battle was over, 2 of the teammates were gone already, and I got no indication of having completed the battle, and I got no drops from the battle. That was frustrating!
I bought a couple new decks for alternate fighting. I usually use life as my secondary these days, for the heals. I also have an amulet that allows me to use fire as my secondary, which was my first amulet and originally my preferred. When the heals became more necessary than alternating my ice and fire spells, that’s when I switched. Anyway, I want to have a separate deck for my fire spells, so I can more quickly and easily switch up what spells I’m using if need be. I’ve used a separate deck for fire for a while, but I wanted the same one I got for my main deck so I start with that extra pip. I also bought another copy of that deck just for when I’m doing Darkmoor, because of the one enemy that needs to be hit every round. I usually end up in that fight with people who are a higher level than me and it just makes more sense if I have the option to volunteer to be the “spammer.”
Then Casey’s tablet was out of time, so I took that as an opportunity to get my chores done instead of having him standing, looking over my shoulder at my desk. He was also saying he was hungry, so I offered him his oatmeal again. He said he wanted it really soupy, and it wasn’t soupy. I added water to it and heated it back up. He ate about half of what was left. Then saw a darkened oat and didn’t want to finish it. He’s so picky!
Spent a bit of time just chit chatting with people online a bit while he played, and then it was time to finish cooking the meal we started yesterday. There wasn’t much to do, thankfully. Casey was in charge of slicing the snap peas in half, during which time he took a couple bites of them!! I was so proud of him for trying something new!
This meal was another fantastic one! I liked it a lot. I wouldn’t necessarily eat it every day like I would the taco salad bowl, but it was pretty good. Maybe a couple time a month type of dish. Casey had a peanut butter & jelly sandwich with cheetos. I wish he’d eat what we eat. Dave kind of gave up on forcing him to eat what we eat, and I don’t see the point in trying to argue with him about it, or fighting with Casey about it without an ally.
Dave had gotten home while we were cooking, and was in the shower while we ate. I was too hungry to wait, and I figured Casey was considering how little he’d eaten so far today. Dave was done with his shower just as we were done eating. Casey served Dave his food, just as he’d done for me, and I started cleaning up my plate and the dishes that were in the sink, but waited on putting the leftovers away in case Dave wanted seconds. I doubted he would, but didn’t want to pressure him either way.
Once I got those few dishes taken care of, I went back to my room to sit down for a few. I heard sounds in the kitchen a little bit later, and when I went out there, Dave had gotten the leftovers put away and some of the dishes put in the dishwasher, and he went to wipe down the counter! I thanked him for doing that for me. It was a shock! There are still a couple dishes in the sink now, but I’m still thankful for the unusual help.
So, I just went back to my room and started scrolling through Facebook. Dave’s doing his online school work, and Casey’s watching TV.
I saw someone had posted in a group I’m in about her son puking ice cream onto carpet, and she actually posted a picture of the stain it left behind. That is disgusting. Why would you do that? Nobody wants to see that! I can’t stand it when I see, hear, or smell puke. It makes me queasy. I see no purpose behind having puking people so prevalent in movies and TV shows. Occasionally is one thing, but it’s too frequent. I don’t need it disrupting my social media time. I hid the post, but Facebook didn’t ask me why. Shame.
Another post I saw was about a child, addicted to his cell phone, had it taken away, and threw a spray bottle that had water in it, causing it to break. I worry about Casey’s screen time. Neither Dave nor I do much to lessen it. Usually, when he has his tablet, he alternates paying attention to it with paying attention to toys, leaving this tablet running. That’s why his “total screen time” allowed by Amazon FreeTime was set to 4 hours. Lately, he’s gone back to just laying there watching the “mini movies” until the tablet runs out of time. So, every so often, I go in and lessen his allowance by 15 minutes. He’s immediately asking for the TV when his time runs out, which I’ve started saying no to until after dinner. I encourage him to play, or color, or something. He always says he doesn’t want to do any of that, that it’s too boring, he just wants to watch TV. We argue about it, but I keep my foot firmly planted on the ground and eventually he’ll either go find something else to do, or lay on my bed and start sucking his thumb. I don’t necessarily worry about him becoming violent about being refused screen time, but I do know it’s a problem. It’s gotten too easy to just let him have his screen time. Hell, when I was a kid, I sat in front of the TV every chance I got, and my parents let me. And in the early 90’s I was allowed my own computer in my room, which I used to get online and chat with people and post in forums. My web site was originated in 1995. So, I know what it’s like to grow up with screens. I can pull myself away from my computer. I choose not to. I used to go hiking, and I’d enjoy doing that with Casey, and Dave even, but I can’t right now because of my knee. Otherwise, I’m not much into the outdoors. I enjoy reading, but I’ve taken to doing that on… a screen. I just kinda like carrying around an entire library with me. I’m not that good at drawing, but I have… an ebook to help me get better. It sounds pathetic, but these days life does run around electronics. It doesn’t have to be a bad thing! But, when your child becomes even remotely violent when screen time is taken away, something needs to be done about it. After seeing the article, I went and lowered Casey’s allowance again, it’s now at 3 hours.
After that, I hopped in the shower. And now, here I am. Casey has up to an hour left of the TV, and then we’re having a “slumber party” tonight. Which means, I snuggle with him for a while in my bed, and when he’s ready to sleep or already asleep, I get back up and do my thing lol.
