Laura

I am tired and out of them. But I know why: I got the second dose of the shingles vaccine yesterday. On the plus side, the local reaction isn't as bad this go-round as it was for the first. On the minus side, the tired factor is at least as bad, maybe worse. But it will pass soon, and I'd far rather be tired for a few days than get shingles.

We will see how much chaos this week does or doesn't bring. I've kept it fairly light on appointments, because Scott is going in for jury duty tomorrow. After tomorrow we'll know if he gets seated and hopefully know more of whether that means I'm soloing school drop-off/pick-up or not the rest of the week. It is doable, but not fun. The busiest piece of the morning starts about 8 am, so if he is at jury duty he won't be helping with that. (The middle school starts at 9:15 am. Whee.)

At least the various decisions on the covid vaccine are all sorted out and we can get them scheduled now, and insurance should cover them. It was uncertain there for a bit, and I'm just as glad to have a clear answer.

The cats remain adorable. It has taken some effort to get Kala to stop trying to nap on our oldest's chromebook while he's doing online school, but she seems to settle for curling up behind it now.

Other than cats on keyboard, so far the school year is going well. And as always the school staff / teachers / etc. here are great. Possibly a little strained this year with the budget cuts, which is not ideal; I hope they're not running toward burnout.

So. When I pack a banana as a snack, I take a Sharpie and write a little note on it. Sometimes it's sweet or kind or encouraging.

Often it is, instead, a joke. Usually a corny joke - which around here gets called "a Mom joke" if that tells you anything. :)

So, I think earlier this week but maybe it was late last, I sent them in with bananas that read:

Q: What do you call a fish with no eyes?

A: A fsh!

This is funny, and I thought Ian in particular would get a good laugh out of it. I was right, but I was a little underestimating, apparently. At parent-teacher conference yesterday, his teacher told me he enjoyed it greatly. Then he told it to her a couple times. And he told it to all his classmates, all of whom started laughing. (She's not sure they all got it - some just liked saying 'fsh!' she thinks, or found it funny because everyone else did.) Then they told it to each other. And her.

...I wonder how many parents got to hear about fsh! that night.

There's a variant in our house now - I first heard it from Ian, apparently he got it from Andrew, and where Andrew got it I am not sure.

Q: What do you call a fish with no eyes?

A: A leaky pipe! *hand gestures of water splashing out* FSH!

...my Mom joke has been one-upped, even.