1.  Week two of social distancing in the books. Hey ya!

2.  Online school has more “connected” moments now. It’s bound to give teachers more than they bargained for.

3.  Like how I treated the Spanish teacher to a loud DAMMIT, GRACIE!! while Bear was recording responses.

4.  Or the biology teacher who witnessed me bellowing a fifteen minute warning.

5.  We need a better system. Hot mic flags flying above computers or something.

6.  The animals are sorta kinda settling into a routine.

7.  We took them on a long walk Wednesday; they snoozed hard through the night and all day Thursday.

8.  We should probably do more of that, especially since it’s spring-ish.

9.  Still cooking ‘cuz there’s all these people with mouths to feed and rumbly bellies.

10.  Midweek we instituted hey, dinner’s almost ready, come without your tech because even though I spend every freaking minute in this house with you your dad doesn’t and he’d like to see your face. I wouldn’t mind the non-school, non-Netflix, non-eyeballs-glued-to-your-phone time either.

11.  It’s working out pretty well so far.

12.  Nobody’s been stabbed by a fork yet anyway.

13.  Fork stabbing urges don’t count, man.

14.  Went wild the other night and made jalapeño poppers that were mmmmmm deee-licious.

15.  You can find a rough idea of the recipe here except, y’know, tweaks.

16.  First, ignore the photo. If you make poppers like that the cream cheese oozes all over the place. You really have to cut off the stem end, cut it into two or three chunks, and remove the seeds with a paring knife.

16.  After you spoon cream cheese into the chile wrap a piece of bacon around the outside (I wrap it to cover the cream cheese opening) and slide the popper onto a skewer so the bacon is held closed.

17.  Four or five poppers fit on a skewer – that makes it much easier to grill them.

18.  I know the recipe says bake but that’s just crazy talk. Grill them. You’ll thank me later.

19.  This week I learned these do best on an indoor grill. Cleanup’s awful but the cooking is easier.

20.  Anyway, this week’s dinners have spanned seafood, Mexican, Italian, turkey burgers, and a please-for-the-love-of-god-we’ve-got-to-eat-these-leftovers night.

21.  With this much cooking I’ll need to plan two leftovers nights a week.

22.  Which also means two free nights for me – bonus!

23.  Social media has been interesting.

24.  I guess I should feel bad I haven’t whisked these kids off to climb a mountain or something.

25.  We’re doing the best we can, folks.

26.  The kids are finally seeing what I do all day.

27.  Seriously, I’m halfway convinced they thought I napped.

28.  Naps are important, don’t get me wrong, but there’s more.

29.  Each day they seem surprised I have a to do list.

30.  Serves me right for sending away the magic house fairies.

31.  This week has scrambled by, though.

32.  It seems unreasonable for someone who’s homebound to have clean laundry sitting unfolded four days later.

33.  Tomorrow! Tomorrow will be the day!

34.  I told you guys about this squishy orthopedic dog bed I bought, right?

35.  It was supposed to be Gracie’s but she just isn’t into it like I’d hoped.

36.  But Phoebe? She loves it almost as much as cheese so I’ve taken to dragging it place to place.

37.  Keeping Bear company at the dining room table? Bed moves to the end.

38.  Sitting in an armchair for lunch? Bed moves to its side.

39.  Maybe tomorrow we’ll drag the thing outside and have a picnic lunch while posing Instagram photos to look like we’re exploring a park.

40.  Who says being homebound squelches creativity?