Funemployed...in Greenland [Qatar]

We had been operating under the assumption that I could continue working remotely from Qatar, but unfortunately we recently learned that that will not be a possibility. Since I am moving for personal and not professional reasons (unlike Andrew, who is moving for professional reasons), UGA can't allow me to continue to work, which means that I lose my stipend and scholarship. 

Which is all...fine. 

It simply...changes...my path toward graduation a little. I'll still continue my studies, just...differently...than before. 

We're still working out precisely what changes this will entail. But it'll be fine. 

It is a little sad for me because I've liked my job, but it will also be nice to slow down a bit and focus more on being a mom and (Andrew says this part is important) having fun. 

To get a scholarship/stipend at UGA you have to work part-time (13 to 20 hours a week, depending on the contract) and you also have to take 12 credit hours (that's four classes; three classes is considered full time). Last semester, in particular, felt a little rough for me, so I think it will be nice to let that go...and then I can be more present during our homeschooling. The past couple of years I've really had to assign the kids their tasks and work on my own tasks instead of joining in on tasks with them (and honestly the latter can be much more fun—and sometimes effective—for all of us). 

So that will be nice. 

But Andrew also insists that I become like the fancy housewives from, like, a Jane Austen novel and just...frolic about the town...and have mid-afternoon teas...and whatever. 

He insists that it's funemployment rather than unemployment. 

And, sure, I think it will be nice to have free time to just...do stuff. But it will also be a bit of an adjustment and I think it's perhaps okay to have felt a little...lost...the past few days that I've been processing this. It'll just be one more layer of adjustment that I wasn't expecting to have to make. 

(Finding a job in Qatar is possible, but complicated...so I'm not holding my breath there).

All that is to say that Alexander and Phoebe and I made no-bake cookies today.

Their older siblings were all out with various friends making holiday revelry. 

I don't know about you, but Benjamin and Miriam were at the Duluth laser/drone/whatever show celebrating America's...150th...birthday...which is kind of hilarious (and 100 years too late). As Miriam said when she texted me this picture, "Someone messed up..."

(Edit to add: Nope. It's also Duluth's 150th anniversary. Duluth was apparently established in 1876, although Wikipedia continually uses the date 1871 as the date when "Howell's Crossing" was renamed to Duluth...with the settlement history reaching farther back than that (1821 for white settlers, it seems). But I guess that's what the 150 was for...so less funny. Okay, I found it—1876 was the year Duluth was chartered...which I suppose can be the date they celebrate if they'd like it to be.)

Zoë was out having a late night at a friend's house. 

The rest of us were just home. 

And I thought making cookies with the kids would be...fun. 

(I don't often think that so I must have been in a very ambitious mood—funemployment will do that to you)

Plus we have a lot of oatmeal to potentially use up (and not a lot of other baking staples) so no-bake cookies seemed to be the way to go.

Unfortunately, I am terribly out of practice when it comes to baking. And cooking.

Rachel completely took over the baking in like 2020, which is around the same time Andrew took over most of the cooking. 

I've just been...getting through grad school (and having a baby in the middle of all that) and things like that...and they were happy to take over all the kitchen duties (and excelled in areas where I was mediocre) and so I just haven't been in there much. 

Oh, I've been in there (recall the "bog-standard" cookies of Christmas 2025)...just not much. 

But if we're going to be funemployed then baking holiday cookies with the kids seems like a good place to start, right?

Guys...I dunno... 

I messed up the syrup part somehow and my cookies simply wouldn't stick together, so I mostly ended up with loose (and exceedingly sweet) granola blobs...which the kids were still more than happy to douse in sprinkles (we have a lot of those to use up as well). 

"These are just not working out," I sighed as I tried to force my crumbles into a cookie shape. 

Phoebe sang out her encouragement in what I can only describe as a high-pitched operatic whisper, "When we make cookies we just say..." 

Here she paused to somehow shift into an even higher register than before, "It will still taste good! It will still taste good! It will stiiiiiiiiiill taste good!"

I'd like to thank Daniel Tiger for the role that show played in raising this child the past few years (when sometimes her task was to sit and watch an episode of Daniel Tiger while Mommy got a few quiet minutes to write or whatever) because she can come up with an encouraging song for any situation (and if that's not a life skill, I don't know what is).

Fortunately, whatever mistake I made with the cookies did not affect their taste, only their form, so they really did still taste good. 

And we really did have fun making them together, so it seems funemployment is off to a good start.