The End of Another Busy Week

 

The first week of September is almost over. All my classes have their first test coming up. In addition to tests, I also made practice tests so students can see how online tests work. It's more work, but I think it will save time in the long run.

Zoom classes are going well, but online labs are a different matter. The company we picked to supply lab kits is inundated with orders and students haven't received their kits yet. So I started writing labs that students can do with common household items. 

A group of students at the college tested positive for COVID, and they infected  another group, and now all are quarantined in  college dorms. The college is now tracing students, staff and faculty who were in close contact with these students. I'm glad my classes are fully online. 

In the morning I go to office room just like I'd go to work. I take a break for lunch, and then start working again. I have more students during office hours now. I think they find it more convenient to log in to Zoom and talk to me when they have questions. So I keep the Zoom office hour link open, while grading and writing assignments. The other day when I stopped working and went to the kitchen, I realized that it was almost 8.30 pm, the same time I would come home from work after teaching the evening lab. Sometimes I close the office room door and pretend that the work is over.  I still have to learn not to answer emails after work hours. 😔 I decided to turn off email notifications on the phone. Years ago one of my colleagues told me not to add work email to the phone, but I didn't listen. Now it's time to at least turn off notifications during weekends.

I decided not to do any work related things on Sunday and Monday. I have no classes on Monday because of Labor Day. So I worked until midnight on Friday and Saturday, and finished grading all assignments and writing labs. Today I started crocheting a placemat. I also watched several episodes of a detective story on Hoopla. Hoopla is a library media streaming platform, and  I can watch 20 items each month using my library account. Through our library system I have access to another streaming platform called Kanopy. It has movies and documentaries, while Hoopla also has TV shows. Because I canceled Netflix a while ago, it's nice to have these free services. I don't watch movies a lot, but I like watching mysteries, especially British TV series. 

The beginning of a placemat.

I got this idea from a photo I saw on Facebook.  I made a circle from a piece of wire and stuck it in the pot. I want to train this Ivy around the circle. 😃

Last month I contacted my insurance agent and asked if I could get a discount on the car insurance for not driving to work. She said there were no discounts other than the one we received back in April, but she changed my policy from commute to pleasure use and issued a refund. The refund check came yesterday, almost $90, and I deposited it electronically to the checking account. The convenience of online banking. 😊

Speaking of doing things online, the other day my retirement company almost gave me a heart attack. While doing the monthly financial update, I noticed that the account balance was zero! At first I thought that the website hadn't uploaded fully, but after logging out and in again, it was the same. Then I tried accessing the account on the iPad. Still the balance was zero. For a moment I was worried that someone had hacked the account, but then I realized that it was not that easy to take money out of my account.  They require multiple documents with my signature to withdraw money early. I sent an email to my financial advisor and his assistant, and went to bed.  Next morning, even before I received a reply from the advisor, the balance was back.  Later I learned that it was due to an unplanned internal site update (at least that the reason they gave me 😎). 

Yesterday I picked another papaya, and a chili pepper. There are still passion fruits on the vine, but they are smaller.  It has been raining every evening, which is nice because I didn't have time to tend to plants.

I made another batch of deodorant using vegetable glycerin, shea butter, arrowroot flour and baking soda. It's a very easy recipe and a small container lasts for about 3 months. I also waxed my eyebrows. 😎 Before COVID I used to go to a salon to get my eyebrows done. I wanted to learn to wax, and even bought a small wax warmer from a thrift store. But I was hesitant. When I started working from home, I decided to give it a try. Even if I mess up, no one can see it up close. Ha ha! So I have been doing my eyebrows for several months now. It's getting better each time. It's still not as neat as the salon waxing, but I'm not really picky about it anyway. 😁

Have a wonderful week everyone. Stay safe. 🌼🌼🌼

This week I'm grateful for:
1) being able to work from home
2) video chats with Mom and sisters
3) free streaming services
4) online banking
5) rain
6) homegrown fruits

7) car insurance refund check

XXX

Nil