Day 8 of 24

When I wake up each morning my mind immediately scrambles for the day; not the day of the week, not the date, but the number. Today is day 8 of 24, minimum. While we're only 1/3 of the way through this hot mess it's still way better than when it was day 3. Baby steps.

Today was also a huge day for the majority of my kids. Today the College Board released how they intend to test my kids for college credit. I understand that it is a business and to cancel altogether would require massive refunds worldwide but man...I'd be lying if I didn't say this decision didn't put a lot more pressure on my kids. Luckily, the exam is abbreviated, in more ways that one. It's much shorter (hooray!) but it also only includes writing, which is something that terrifies my students, partially because I am considered a harsh grader (even though I'm quite lenient) and partially because they don't have a strong foundation of AP History writing.

This is the new normal so we've been working on it as best we can. I have seen some improvements this year so I am proud of their individual efforts. They surprise and impress me every day, which is why I get so frustrated when they respond to the announcement with "Oh great, I'm going to fail."

Switching from my Dubs hat to my Aubs hat: My biggest kid has been over for a couple of nights. The premise of his stay is to clean, organize, and weed out all of the crap in his room. What it has been is a lot of record playing, Pokemon watching, food eating, and sloth-like behavior. And man, I get it. The kid's been working nonstop (God bless delivery drivers) and I know he's exhausted but it took a long time to make this mess and it's going to take exponentially longer to clean it all up and get it ready to move.

So, I did it. Well, I made a huge, 4 hour dent in it because I couldn't just sit there and stare any longer. I started filling and labeling boxes. Then I took stuff off the walls. There is now a huge mountain of laundry (because you can't pack things into boxes that are dirty...that's just gross) and there is visible progress, which makes me feel some satisfaction.

BECAUSE THE CLOCK IS TICKING. And I am starting to stress out. And, when I stress out, I want to do what I have to do even less than I wanted to do it before. So, teenagers, I get it way more than you think I do. Once again.

Also, what's up with the freakin' weather? I mean, it's typical Texas, but I'm really getting tired of the damn roller coaster. Hey, Mother Nature...we've got enough going on here without you being super extra. I literally feel like I'm living in a Katy Perry song: I'm hot, then I'm cold (weather), it's yes then it's no (then yes again...AP exam), I'm in then I'm out (school/no school), it's up then it's down...must I continue? I totally can. It's not like I have anything else to do...besides pack. Nope. I don't want to.

I guess it's better than discussing the availability of toilet paper in my immediate area. Spoiler alert: it isn't.

This is such a crazy time. I really couldn't make it up if I tried. Nobody could. Speaking of: Yesterday the biggest mind-blowing moment was when someone told me to Google the name of the kingdom Rapunzel lives in in Tangled. You know, she's basically quarantined by her "mother" in the kingdom of Corona. What. The. Hell.

Hanging in there but starting to lose my mind. Some would say it's a short trip.

Aubs