You betcha

I know you probably already give her lots, but give her even more neck scritches for me please

I will look into those. Thank you for taking the time to type it all up, kind stranger

This is a really good idea. What program did you use to convert them?

Oh Bob’s Burgers is an awesome idea. Adding that to my rotation

Mostly dramas: Bones, House, Criminal Minds, NCIS. Plus Stargate SG-1

I watch a tv show on my phone. I know it goes against all the traditional advice, blue light is bad for sleep, blah blah blah. For me, it means I can get 7 or 8 hours of sleep instead of 3.

I don’t watch just any tv though. It has to: 1. Be a show I know well enough where I can tell which character is speaking when I’m only listening. 2. Have a good amount of seasons (8 or more) so I don’t get to where I’ve memorized the episodes and my mind starts to wander. 3. Is one I know in general what’s gonna happen with the characters (so I don’t have to stay up and find out what happens) but isn’t one I love so much that I can’t stop watching. And 4. Doesn’t have a bunch of nonverbal stuff that’s important to the plot.

I have a sleep headband with little speakers in it so it doesn’t keep my partner up. When I’m ready for bed, I make sure my screen brightness is turned all the way down, I put on my sleep headphones, and I lay down and close my eyes to listen to the show. Usually I can fall asleep in less than an hour, as long as I keep my eyes closed. Otherwise I get caught up watching the show and before I know it I’ve watched 3 episodes and I’m still awake.

I had to read it twice. I forgot what the top said when I read the bottom

Moonlight Rabbits looks adorable. I’ve never played Steam games before (just don’t get my computer out much), but this one is tempting me to start

We’ll have to try this. E we do have a “brain break” when she gets home from school, but some kind of puzzle game to get her brain back in gear might be really helpful.

The Car Song - The Cat Empire

It’s funny because last week I was listening to this song again and thinking about 15 years ago me hearing this song for the first time. And how much it resonated with me because I totally related to the “I really need to buckle down and apply myself but something always distracts me and crap now it’s Monday again where did time go” undercurrent in this song.

I’m glad you were able to find your kid a better school. We’ve been working on some accommodations too, gotta stick up for our kids, right?

I hate it even more now that I have to force my daughter to do it. Truth.

I like the scrap paper idea. So simple. She gets 20 minutes of free time when we get home and then we get started. All of her work for now is on paper worksheets, and she hates writing. I’m looking forward to when it becomes electronic assignments just so we can use voice to text.

Thanks! We’ll try some lofi tracks. I always forget they’re a thing, so I should probably look some up now.

That Hovr thing looks awesome!

I have on my todo list to try this out, thanks for reminding me it exists

So true!

Yeah, you’re right. Switching what we do even throughout one evening would go a long way. I pretty much almost never had homework until I got to college, and that was a very rude awakening for me. I had no study skills, and I’m determined to better equip her.

That would be amazing. We’ve been fairly lucky so far - up until now it’s just been reading (which she loves to do) and spelling words to practice (which she usually gets through in about 5 minutes). This year it’s still usually just those, plus the occasional work that she didn’t finish during class.

But last week she was sick 3 days so we’ve been trying to slog through a pile of makeup work and I realized we may need some more tools in our homework box before she gets to middle school.

It’s not perfect but here’s what I’ve been doing lately. It’s my favorite method so far because, like you, I find cooking to be too much work most of the time.

From the store I’ll get:

• protein: usually ground beef, ground turkey, or boneless chicken
• premade sauce: not just spaghetti sauce but also teriyaki, sweet and sour, curry, pesto, whatever catches my eye
• whole potatoes or sweet potatoes
• frozen vegetables
• cheese
• rice or pasta if I’m running low

Once or twice a week I’ll throw the veggies in the oven to roast, bake a couple of potatoes (or sweet potatoes), and cook the meat with basic seasoning (salt, pepper, onion and garlic). When everything’s cooked it goes in separate containers in my fridge. If rice sounds good I’ll make a batch of it too. Just make sure you make enough for 3-4 meals.

When it’s time to eat, I just throw it all together with a sauce and heat it in the microwave. So maybe I’ll do protein + veggies + rice + teriyaki sauce. Or protein + veggies + cheese stuffed in a baked potato. Or protein + veggies over pasta with spaghetti sauce.

It does take a chunk of energy and executive function to cook the foods, but if you can get yourself to do it then for the next several days you can be eating in 5 minutes with minimal effort. Since my family insists on eating Every. Damn. Day. this makes it a little more tolerable.

I saw one recently someone dressed up like a ghost for Halloween