Ok, the Household Maintenance course for teens is genius! You should video the series for You Tube! 😂 I bet it would end up monetized (of course that’s a whole other lesson...how to make money off the internet.) I had my children submit bids for polishing the silver the other day...two lessons. One, how to take care of nice things, and two, how to come up with a competitive bid that still is worth your time.

We currently are having Pelaton challenges. I made a chart on a white board with various metrics...it’s fun & healthy. You could do this with any exercise equipment.

I have nothing particularly creative to add. After years of trying, I finally got everyone on board with meditation thanks for our current situation.

I am stealing Black tie night. I need something fun to look forward to. Will calendar that for early next week, or tomorrow ;-)

That YouTube series would so work, Mtn. Do it, please.

The toilet lesson is so funny. One of the first maintenance lessons we taught our elementary-age girls was how to shut off the water behind the toilet when it was overflowing. Righty-tighty, lefty-loosey!

Good one Dee! That little saying is how I learned the on/off of several things like the propane knob on the gas grill for example.

We were to host our supper club on Mar 21, which didn’t happen. So Sunday evening we are all getting together at cocktail hour via Zoom for snacks, drinks and conversation. I’m making DH and I a charcuterie board. Most of the stuff I have on hand and it will likely be our dinner.

We have been gardening up a storm. It’s almost time to put my plants I started from seed in the ground here. Other seeds (zinnias, etc) I will direct sow have been here since late January.

Since I do a lot of my own work in my garden beds, DH and I have been busy. I wouldn’t want anyone here anyway.

We cleaned out part of the garage the other day and I got a good bit of the storage room off the garage cleaned.

Cleared a good portion of my potting bench under the house. Threw away a lot of junk.

Walks or an occasional run is great this time of year.

Naps are good.

Mtn, love that you are teaching your teens basic home maintenance.

Pre-linner: Early morning walk and meal preparation. (This week Persian cooking. Today was Saffron and Potato tahdig. (Who knew you soak basmati, boil, then steam?)

Post-linner: Read a bit, AKA rest my eyes, AKA take a nap ;) Then Peloton Challenge (on the free app, mostly stretch and outdoor power walking) then 4 mile sunset walk. I decided I don't like yoga. Pilates yes. Yoga no.

Rabbit hole recipe chasing/debating whether I need an acrylic coffee table/texting/calling friends/ checking in here. A little pro bono and work on some non-profits I'm involved in.

Staying off fb and twitter (except under the heading fun).

Listening to Spanish radio in an attempt to recall language skills.

Trying to limit TV to 2 hours max.

Zoom Family Meetings on Sundays.

Gardening.

Digital Photo organizing.

Praying the rosary.

Planning DD1 30 bday party. Maybe I'll start a thread on that...

If the world was at peace and covid/economy wasn't so far-reaching and uncertain, it would be relaxing and enjoyable.

LOL no on the Youtube series.

So funny, Nini, I have "polish the silver" on my list. Does anyone have a fave product? Mine, a pink paste seems so .... toxic.

Challenge is a good idea; i hadnt thought of that!

Zalco, meditation is an excellent add. One of my girls use to lead us in that.

Dee - yes, they know that already because we turn them off when we leave the beachhouse!

Outside, being productive feels good. I haven't dropped anything at Goodwill yet, but i know they are open and I bet they will be swamped. Our trash output was up this week for sure.

Gardener,

Listening to Spanish radio in an attempt to recall language skills. - so cool!

Trying to limit TV to 2 hours max. - i watch very little TV but have it on on my laptop while i do other stuff; I shoudl turn it off

Zoom Family Meetings on Sundays. - We are all here but in the future i like this idea.

Digital Photo organizing. - good one!!! OMG yes

Mtn my housekeeper used bar keepers friend on our silver and it came out better than w/ the terrible pink polish!

Here is How to Clean Silver from the Society of Silversmiths. It seems that I read somewhere once that the silver at the White House is cleaned by polishing with finely ground calcium carbonate. That method is also used by The Henry Ford.

IC, you made me literally laugh out loud!

@gardener123, when DD turned 30, I planned The Thirty Days of [insert name here]. I contacted her friends and got each one to send her something on an assigned day (I let each person choose the day they wanted to do something).

We started 30 days before her birthday. Some sent cards, some sent emails, some sent small gifts. The BF, who is now the DH, sent flowers on his assigned day. One friend of mine sent a picture of her on her 3rd birthday that I had never seen before. My BIL and nephew sent a recording while they were at a Bears game. I took a day each week and sent a small gift - a monogrammed luggage tag, a Christmas ornament that said “you’re the best“ or something like that, a Tervis wine glass with 30 on it.. I also had back-ups that were ready to be emailed at a moment’s notice in case someone fell down on the job.

As it went along, I collected photos of each day and made it into a small photo book for her, similar to Chatbooks. It takes planning and organization (I sent reminders to each person a couple of days before their “assigned” day), but DD thought it was the best birthday ever.

I like the idea of teaching children the basics...not just home maintenance but car maintenance, yard maintenance and other things about living life (do they know septic tanks need pumping? vacuums need emptying? gutters need cleaning? as do smoke detectors and CO detectors?) that they don't teach like how to balance a check book, how much will a loan cost, what compound interest is and how it works, cursive handwriting, basics of making a contract, or how about some civics lessons about voting. How about taking pics before and after you move into a rental property so you can get your security back, what a car title is and why you need one when you buy a car...and so much more that as adults we take for granted.

I also like the reverse...there are many of us who could learn a lot about technology and lingo from our children that they know intuitively but seem so foreign to adults.

I recently saw a blurb about a woman who writes to her grandchildren in cursive. She then scans or photographs the note and sends it to them to read. I think that is brilliant for keeping cursive alive!

One thing I've been doing more of is contacting friends and family I haven't seen in awhile to make sure everyone is ok...it's wonderful as everyone now has time to talk as all the other busyness is pushed aside. And everyone is sharing tips and hints and info on dealing with this crisis.

I also came across a fb page about growing up in our town. I posted a pic of our 3rd grade class and was amazed who came out of the woodwork to comment...people I haven't seen or heard from in 50 years.

I have no time to be bored! Not an option.

Re house maintenance, DH handles all of it and I never think about it, so I asked him to put together a list for me of things that need to get done, including where to find the valves for the outdoor water spigots, how often to clean/change filters on the HVAC, check the oil on the generator, and all sorts of things I never think about. God forbid something happen to him and I have to think about these things on my own.

Im with Gscience.. too busy to be bored or to enjoy the time. First we were pressing forward to a deadline (we knew wasn't realistic given current conditions) and now I am preparing reports, projections and plans to push the deadline.

I was wondering if anyone else was connecting with people they haven't seen/heard from in years. I received a note from an old (special and wonderful) boyfriend. It's been fun to reconnect the last few days-- nothing serious. It wasn't the kind of relationship that could easily continue as a friendship-- but a sweet reminder of the past.

I haven't taken up anything new. I'm still working 40+ hour weeks, and it seems I filling whatever time I've gained back from my commute, activities, and errands I am pouring into obsessive reading of coronavirus news with a marginal uptick in binge watching Netflix.

But if other folks want ideas, you could learn a language online. I've gone through Duolingo's French and German courses in preparation for trips (2016 for France and 2019 for Germany), and my daughter has been doing Duolingo French as part of her remote learning program. My sister and I are talking about a trip to Brazil when this is all over and we're vaccinated, so Portuguese will be next on the list.

We have carried on the thing that my Dad started. Before you are allowed to have a driver's license, you must know how to change a tire, how to check your oil, how to add more oil if needed, how to check and add if necessary windshield wiper fluid.

Also before we left our daughters alone for a few days for the first time, (I think they were 16) we did a walk around, explanation of water shut off, gas shut off, circuit breakers, resetting the alarm and firing up the generator.

I‘ve been doing the NYT crossword puzzle every day. Previously I only did Sunday’s puzzle.

I have taken a couple of collage classes so I took out my supplies the other day and made several cards for upcoming birthdays.

Earlier today, DD and I did this.

https://lifeasmom.com/diy-on-a-dime-embroidery-floss-eggs/

We agreed that winding the floss around the balloons was somewhat meditative.

I’ve been walking for at least an hour a day and I pick a different random route each day. It’s been fun to discover some streets (and ogle houses) I wasn’t familiar with before.

Trying to avoid too much TV but DD, DH and I watch 1-2 episodes of The Amazing Race every night. We are on season 3 — we started on season 1 about 3 weeks ago.

Here are a couple more....

Clean all your makeup brushes. And while you are at it, toss all the old stuff. (Guess what I did today?)

Go through your old fabric, especially tightly woven cottons, and any bias tape or seam/hem tape and donate any you can spare to people making masks. They would appreciate the fabric being washed and dried first.

Lots of good stuff here guys, thx!

Nek, We talked about changing a tire and I said "no way." First, you can really damage a car or hurt yourself badly if a car falls off a jack. Second, have you ever tried loosening lug nuts yourself? Esp when the tires are put on using those Zhzzzhy guns? NO way. Oh, and we all have AAA, roadside assist, and I think we all have runflat tires.

Good things to know: Sew on a button. Iron a shirt. Check a temperature, and treat a fever. Make a sauce. Make soup - we did this the other day. Kindle a fire. Trina a dogs nails.

...have you ever tried loosening lug nuts yourself?

That's why my DH always puts a 4' length of pipe in my cars...archimedes and all that...

Make soup. Use a lot of curry.

Watch "The Way", a movie about the Camino de Santiago.

Learn to play a few ukelele chords and put it on YouTube like an idiot.

https://youtu.be/jpog8MlnpgM

Dog training, is very time consuming but doable as a diy activity. I think learning how to make things that can cost a lot of money like jewelry: beading and metal work (some of it doesn't require many supplies) and copying other designs that you like so it doesn't have to be about creativity, is a nice craft.

For me tire changing is an important life skill. I have never damaged a tire by changing them, though as I age I find it harder to do and lift. Also I currently own a Honda, a Volvo and a GMC pickup not cars with particularly fancy wheels or tires. I keep a star wrench and pipe in my car. Also, everyone should know how to jump start a dead battery and drive a stick shift. In addition new cars have special spouts you need to use to fill your gas tank from a gas can. As you can see I love to drive, like tools and hate to be stuck anywhere.

mtnrdredux, I have been thinking about different things young adults need to know. I think everyone should know how to change a washer or cartridge on a leaky faucet. Learn what basic tools are, their proper names and how to use them. For example an electric hand drill is super useful for many thing. I use mine to start pilot holes in wood so I can hang up a hook or add a catch to a cabinet door. Everyone should have a philips and chisel head drill bit and hand drivers. How to not damage the faucet with a pliers or vice grips when loosening the mesh screen to clean it out. Hint wrap a rag a round the faucet then use the tool. It always surprises me how many women in this day and age still defer to men to do easy home maintenance and get talked down to by repair people. I will admit I have always loved tools and how things work so ignore me if this does not spark your interest.

These are very good suggestions for our tutorials, thank you! Also, My DH will really enjoy this; he loves to lecture! Some of the things above are covered by their driving school.

Bumble - my dog is a love and a very good girl but she is 10. My DH taught her to bark (I kid you not) because he sees it as akin to speaking. And it is true that she barks differently for different things, but really! Do you think we can teach her anything useful at 10? She knows how to give her paw, to sit, stay, and come (if she wants). She can open a few of the doors with her nose, but never closes them.

ETA - I now have a word file with a list called "life skills." These are great!

What about mini-Olympics. You could choose competition categories and do one a week (or day depending how much time you have) - just improvising here - best chocolate dessert (or other bake-off), napkin folding, oral reading, snowman making (we just got 6 inches after we thought spring was here to stay), etc.

We like playing charades. We use the cards from Pictionary as fodder. On you turn to act, you pick a card, and can choose anything from the card to act out while the others guess. It is a hoot.

Of course playing Pictionary the regular way is fun too.

Local, you know, its funny, I just cleaned out our games closet. We had two versions of charades. One was this really cute set with the charades written on popsicle sticks, the other was a box of cards.

I gave both away, because every time we go to play, most of the clues are not really usable; my kids have no idea what they are. Charades, like a lot of games, doesn't really age well. Same with old versions of Trivial Pursuit, etc. Apples to Apples can have the same issue.

If you find a good set let me know,for now we make up our own.

I recc it before, but we had a ton of laughs playing this, even though I was kind of against it at first .. .Game of Phones: https://www.uncommongoods.com/product/game-of-phones

Mtn I think that’s why we use the Pictionary cards, each one has several options, so there is bound to be something doable. We aren’t competitive so if someone doesn’t like there card they just pick again. Once we were camping and we used a book. Open the book at random and choose a word from the page.

OMG, thanks for the laughs Zalco! I totally read your post as, "After years of trying, I finally got everyone on board with medication..."

I'm still giggling. I may be onboard for medication soon myself. HA!!

Now you've got me laughing, patriceny. This would be totally doable if we were all medicated.

I was looking for a meditation app last night. Now I see I should have been looking for a medication app! 🤣

Being in the country and having DS and family behind us with an extraordinarily long driveway to their house, which half is on a hill, the grands & I , 9 & 11, have a fast walk race. Lots of laughter, and good exercise.

Okay people, I'm going to push and push for you and everybody to read, THIS BOOK until the day I die. Forget the movie if you saw it.

The price is $5 higher than what I paid!

I read it in February and it's just short of a 1,000 pages. The reviews are what sold me. The reviews were spot on.

I don't read historical romances but this is so worth it and full of accurate history. Written and banned and was a best seller in the 40's, still is. When I picked it up to read the first page while reading another book and I never put it down.

A little side note. The reason it's full of historical accuracy is because the author's husband was writing his doctoral on the era, which she read and decided to write a book.

First time I ever wanted to slap the protagonist upside the head & rooted for her downfall.

Okay - AAA is great if you have it, have a charged cel phone with service and often have a couple of hours to wait. I've never heard of anyone hurting their car or themselves by changing a tire, not to say it has never happened. With that mindset, we should all stay out of the kitchen, lest we cut ourselves with a knife or burn ourselves! I think tire changing a good life skill to have. I'm 60 and would have no qualms about changing a tire or helping someone else do it. To each their own.

I guess vacuuming lampshades is out then......

Nekotish, in my 20's I was taught how to change a tire except I didn't have the strength to lift it off the wheel, let alone put it back on. This was when I was going to the gym several times a week.

In my teens I used my parents AAA and before the tire was fixed I kept getting flats. AAA was there in ten minutes. If I was in the back country, that's another story.

Don't ridicule those who don't want to change a tire for whatever reason.

What we do need to teach the kids is where to find the spare tire and how to get it out in case it's chained under a pickup. lol

Wasn't meant to ridicule, I was just disagreeing with the assertion that it is an inherently dangerous thing to do.

And to teach people that, when they check the air in their tires, don't forget the spare....nothing worse than having a flat, going to put on the spare and finding it's flat too.

nekotish, one of the problems come if you have a bumper jack which were notorioulsy unstable, or if you are broken down in a location where you can't get a jack safely under the car to lift it without it falling or collapsing. That's one reason why DH also puts a board in my car, along with the pipe, so I have a better shot at jacking up the car if I'm stuck on the shoulder or something. Some with back issues or other health problems that may cause difficulty in changing a tire. Regardless, it's a great thing to know, so if you can't do it yourself, you could talk a good samaritan through the process for your car. It's also wise to have a back up plan like AAA.

One thing on my list to do while I'm stuck at home is to start going through the boxes and boxes of family photos. There are so many that are unlabeled, unsorted, duplicates, triplicates, etc as I've inherited them from many in my family who have passed. I also should put them together with labels to parse out to younger family members as we have no kids or obvious heirs for them. My Grandmother labeled a bunch of her photos and it's so helpful. It's so easy to assume that everyone will know the same family members as we do, but for subsequent generations, not so much.

Oakley I read Forever Amber several years ago and loved it. I need to read it again. Thank you for the reminder!

Curious, and a bit of an aside - when is the last time anyone got a flat tire? Is it my imagination or did it used to happen a lot more when I was a kid/young adult. Or maybe i buy better cars/tires.

DH had a flat about 6 mos ago...he must've picked something up on the highway that caused a slow leak...a few miles down the road, he had to pull over and change it.

Last summer a neighbor pulled over in front of our house...a car had come around a blind corner and almost cut her off so she had to pull to the side and hit a rock jutting out from the bank and it sliced her side wall.

So yeah, it still happens.

I sent a paint by numbers kit to a niece-- and she is excited to get started on it today. I think it would be fun to work on them as a family-- and didn't you get a custom one recently?

BTW Mtn, did you receive the email I sent to your gmail account? I mentioned the PBN in that.. the source I used was Pink Picasso. There are many places to get them and admittedly Pink Picasso has limited designs-- but I love that it is a small business and I love their designs. I think I am going to get one for myself (my birthday is next week!)

ETA this is the one I ordered for my niece

and the one I ordered for myself just now...

[As far as tires, yeah, still happens. I think everyone should know HOW to change a tire but not necessarily do it unless they must.

We like to go camping where there's no cell service (which is much of the mountains and deserts of the western states and provinces) so tire changing skills are a must. But you better believe I'll be standing on top of my truck trying to get a signal to AAA before I haul out the jack!

Recently my elderly inlaws had a tire go on the Carquinez Bridge (North San Francisco Bay). They changed the tire themselves, right there, on the bridge. Yes, there's cell service there. And of course they have AAA. I found that to be an unneeded risk.]

These past few days I've been switching the contents of the dining and living rooms. It's a form of exercise, both mental and physical. The living room now has what we shall now call a study table along with the piano and all the brass instrument stuff and the former dining room is now a nice snuggly place to read. (For some 1950s reason, the dining room has a fireplace.) Probably weird but I also have a ping pong table in my kitchen so I think I'll get away with it.

Are suburban squirrels considered organic?

I had a flat tire in January in a fairly new tire. It happened on the Major Deegan Expressway. It was road debris from the road construction. Unfortunately I had t buy a new tire as a piece of metal had been imbedded in the sidewall.

As for tires not getting as many flats as in years past, tires were more easily punctured in the past. We now have all season steel belted radials as a matter of course. Run flats are available but my understanding is the ride changes and becomes harsher. I don't know of any tires with inner tubes anymore, except on bicycles.

Every week the National Theatre (UK) posts a different play on YouTube. It’s a priceless opportunity to see some of the most talented actors in the world.

https://www.youtube.com/user/ntdiscovertheatre

We hung a light fixture that we bought in 2016.