Welcome To Pandemic School - week #2

Welcome to Pandemic School

Week 2

Day 7 – Sunday, March 22, 2020

11:00am

The weather turned chilly yesterday and I only made it out for one walk.  I did make another “one last trip” to Aldi, and tried to pick up Elijah’s prescription at Schnuck’s in the evening.  The Schnuck’s pharmacy was already closed (6:40 pm), so I couldn’t get that.  I pretty much stocked up on snacks… and got another gallon of milk.  The pharmacy opened at 10am so I went back and got the Rx, and then panic bought more chips.  I stress eat chips, what can I say.  

Yesterday, I actually made a little progress on my novel that I’m reading.  Hopefully, my stress level will settle down and I’ll be able to get a few things done.  I have watched a movie on Disney+ for the past 3 nights, and that’s been relaxing.  I watched the first half of Moana, Hannah picked Tangled on Friday, and I watched the live action Aladdin last night. 

I air fried mozzarella sticks yesterday for lunch, and they were delicious!  Also, my friend, Melanie, did a FB live trivia contest for DW teachers and her friends.  That was fun.

I decided that weekly, I will post my journal entries on my blog that has been languishing and ignored for the past several years.  https://mythr3ekids.blogspot.com

Feel free to look at what my life was life when I was a stay at home mom of three little munchkins.  They are practically grown now!

https://mythr3ekids.blogspot.com/2008/04/rainy-rainy-day-august-30-2005.html  My first post, originally posted on Yahoo360, two weeks after we moved to Evansville from Stillwater, OK.

Day 8 – Monday, March 22, 2020

6:25am

I turned off all my alarms.  If we are going to have at least 6 weeks off, I don’t see the point.  I’m pretty sure I’d still be asleep this morning, but I was awakened by the sound of a puking cat.   Poor Trent.  Oliver was actually well behaved all night, and wasn’t banished even once!  

Yesterday was actually a pretty good day.  There was hardly any news, being Sunday, I suppose.  I managed to read about 90 pages in my book, and while that is no where near a record, it is significantly better than the 20 I had been previously managing.  Unfortunately, my digital book is due tonight at 9pm.   I hope no one else has reserved it, so I can re-check it out right away. 

Yesterday, after I picked up Elijah’s prescription, I stopped and bought gas.  My tank was half full, and normally, I wouldn’t have stopped for gas, but it was only $1.63 a gallon.  I’m sure it’s cheaper in Oklahoma, it always is, but it’s been awhile since it was so cheap here.

Leah’s Animal Crossing game for the Switch arrived yesterday as well.  When I pre-ordered it on Tuesday, it was guaranteed to arrive on Thursday.  Amazon decided to make household items a priority, and I applaud them, so the game was delayed.  It’s estimated arrival was Tuesday, then it changed to Monday, but it arrived on Sunday.  Also, in the box was a 4 lb bag of vital wheat gluten that I use for making bread.  I think the game got bumped up because they could toss it in a box with a household item.  Yay!  

I’m kicking myself for not buying instant yeast when I saw it at the store.  I wanted a jar, so I didn’t get the individual envelopes.  Now, there is no yeast to be found.  I’m pretty sure I have enough for my 14 days at home.  If I get to the last bit of yeast, I’ll have to make a sourdough starter with it.  Maybe I’ll experiment with making a starter from scratch…  maybe. 

For the rest of the pandemic, I’m requesting 70-80 degree weather and sun.  Cloudy and 45 is for the birds!

Day 9 – Tuesday, March 24, 2020

When Leah got up yesterday, I got her started on ReflexMath, and she spent 12 minutes doing the assessment (she’s 14% done…), the games didn’t work yet, so I let her stop.  I guess the assessment takes some time.   Not only is she not proficient at her multiplication tables, she’s not proficient at answering the ones she knows.  The assessment was on super simple problems, but I guess she doesn’t answer very fast or maybe reverses the numbers at time.  All the practice can only be beneficial.  

All three kids spent quite a bit of time playing the new Animal Crossing game, so I suppose that will be a decent investment.  When their interest dies down, I might start a character as well.  Who knows?  

A smart friend suggested starting a sourdough start NOW instead of waiting until I was out of yeast, so I did.  All purpose flour was recommended, so I went with that.  I hope LDS cannery flour with an oxygen absorption packet has lively yeast aboard.  

One of the speech therapists that I work with sent a link to sign up for 6 free continuing education hours on teletherapy.  I watched the first hour presentation last night that covered how to set it up (Zoom, document camera, multiple monitors, etc) and WOW, it’s really not impossible.  The more impossible task would be getting many of my students’ on the other end since their households don’t have a lot of tech.  

At 11am the governor of Indiana had a press conference where he announced that the state would be on “stay at home” orders (he actually said “Hoosiers should hunker down”) starting today.  He was quite vague on what was essential verses non-essential, and there won’t be any consequences for not following the order (unless you are a restaurant with their dining room still open). 

Last night, I had a few hours where I felt like I was getting sick, but after watching the teletherapy course, I felt better.  Maybe I just needed a distraction.  

Day 10 – Wednesday, March 25, 2020

It will be interesting to see what our sleep patterns end up like at the end of this thing.  I’m now waking up around 7am, which is probably because that’s when the Do Not Disturb on my phone turns off, and going to bed between 10-11.  Next week, Elijah will have to get up to do school work during school hours, so that will curb his sleeping until 2pm.  Leah gets up around 10am, which isn’t the end of the world.  Hannah has been getting up around 7 as well.  She prefers to go to bed early.  Next week, I will have to be available for conferences and my scheduled chance to pick up stuff from my office.

I’ve worn contact lenses since 1998, and I’ve never had any problem wearing them beyond the occasional pink eye infections.  I sometimes have tiny bumps grow on the inside of my eyelid, but often wearing contacts is more comfortable than not because it keeps the bump off my eyeball.  Well, I’ve got one in a different location that is irritated by wearing contacts (in my left eye which is dominant and has slightly better vision).  Early last week, I was only able to wear my contacts for about 5 hours before it became miserable.  So, I’ve been wearing my glasses for about a week now.  They are fine unless a) it’s rainy b) they fog up with a change of temperature c) you get sweaty d) it’s sunny (I need sunglasses).  I’m hoping that when I wake up Monday morning and put in my contacts, all is well.  

Sometime in the past few weeks, I’ve developed a twitch just below my right eye.  It’s mild and infrequent, but it’s there and it’s new.  A few years ago, I had an eye twitch that was related to stress.  I didn’t feel stressed, but when Christmas vacation rolled around it went away.  I can’t imagine why I might develop a twitch right now.

Leah really hates ReflexMath.  Yesterday, she made it nearly halfway through the assessment (it’s LONG).  Given enough time (to add the numbers up), she can do multiplication, so she doesn’t like having the time constraint.  I know it will be worth the pain in the end.  She was fluent on 20% of the facts that have been presented.

I started another puzzle.  Wal-Mart didn’t have much choice when I went, so I got a 750 piece, with a slightly creepy picture of a toy cabinet with cats…  I sorted out edge pieces yesterday and was disappointed with myself that I missed about 10 pieces.  It will be a fine puzzle to work on since the pieces fit together nicely.

Last night I watched another hour video about speech therapists and teletherapy.  Honestly, I’m surprised at how well that could work for many students.  Then I saw a Facebook post for a free month of CBS All Access to watch Picard.  So, I signed up and watched the first episode.  I’ve been wanting to watch that, and it was even better than I expected.  I was also able to re-check out my digital library book and I got another two chapters (40 pages) read.

The kids spent all day playing Animal Crossing, so at least that’s giving them something to pass the time.  Hannah is also reading and creating amazing art.  Elijah has been working on re-creating downtown Evansville in MineCraft which is a pretty amazing project to take on.    

Day 11 – Thursday, March 26, 2020

Yesterday, the kids were all up early.  I heard Elijah in his room at 7am, but honestly assumed that he’d just stayed up all night, but he said that he got up at 6:00 after going to bed at 1:00.  Leah got up around 8am, when she heard Hannah turn on the Switch to play Animal Crossing.

We were supposed to have gone on our first college tour at IU yesterday, so that’s disappointing to miss that.  Tour of ISU in April was cancelled as well since there’s no one on campus.  Hopefully, this summer we can get a few tours done.  

Not only have I developed a twitch, but yesterday I had a broken blood vessel in my right eye as well.  As least it doesn’t hurt, and it wasn’t very big.

When I went to get the mail, the neighbor who lives behind me walked past.  She’s a professor of education at USI, and we chatted (from 6 feet away) for at least 20 minutes.  It was really nice to talk to another adult in person.  

The sun came out and the temperature warmed up, so we got outside in the afternoon.  I put air in bike tires.  But first I had to remove the broken ball inflating needle from the bicycle pump after the needle broke off the base.  That took a bit to pry it out.  Hannah’s inner tube popped, but she wasn’t really interested in riding.  I was planning on riding her bike, so I had to air up my tires as well.  I took a spin around the neighborhood.  We live on the middle of a not-that-big of a hill.  It was all fun and games until I had to attempt to pedal up the hill (I have a cruiser, so no gears).  I had to hop off the bike and walk the last block.  So, I just took the one trip.

The girls got out the sidewalk chalk and decorated our driveway and some of the sidewalk.  They did an amazing job, as always.  We all soaked up some rays, and my pasty, white skin got the tiniest bit too much.  

I watched another hour-long continuing education presentation on tele-therapy, and then got interested in some of the suggestions.   So, I was up fairly late, and I still wanted to watch an episode of Picard (free month of CBS All Access).  My FitBit says I slept for 5 hours, but I was mostly awake at 3am and ended up getting up at 5:00.  Maybe there will be an afternoon nap.

We continue to chug along.  We are starting to get into the routine of this quarantine.  Sunny and warm weather are certainly helpful.

Day 12 – Friday, March 27, 2020

Yesterday was lovely.  The sun came out and the temperature got up to 80 degrees!  Our first really spring day.  Hannah and I ventured out to Harmonie State Park for a hike.  The weather was perfect, and it was great to be out in nature.  We did see three other groups hiking, but we just said, “hi” and we quickly walked on past.  

I mailed cards to some of my kindergarten students yesterday to let them know that I miss them.  I suppose I’ll need to invest in more stamps to continue that endeavor!   

I wore my contacts during our hiking outing because I knew that I’d need to wear sunglasses.  Nope, my eyes are not ready for that yet.   I did find a name for what I think the problem is, Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis.  Looks like I may need to move to daily disposable contacts once it heals up.  

This morning, it was nice enough for me to sit on my deck.  It’s cloudy, but warm.  If it doesn’t rain, I probably should mow the lawn.  We’ll see about that.  While I was on the deck, I heard a trash truck and realized that I’d forgotten to put the trash out to the curb last night, so I had to hurry to get it out there.  What day is it?  I must have ignored the alarm I have set to remind me to put out the trash.  Teachers got a text on our group text to remind us to send him our Spirit Day pictures.  Once again, what day is it?  Friday = Spirit Day?  How quickly I adapt to zero schedule.

We are planning on getting carry out pizza from Azzip tonight.  March Crabness (Crab Rangoon) pizzas will only be on the menu for a few more days, and Hannah and I don’t want to miss out on that!  

Day 13 – Saturday, March 27, 2020

I did a whole lot of nothing yesterday.  I read a chapter of my book, played Animal Crossing for about 3 hours, did a couple loads of laundry, made bread, and ate take out pizza for dinner.  A friend’s post reminded me that I had kept 3 kids, 3 cats, and myself alive for the past two weeks of pandemic.  That’s definitely a win.

Today, I ventured out to Wal-Mart when it opened at 7am.  I was pleasantly surprised to fine every item on my list.  They had instant yeast, frozen chicken breasts (I bought a 10 lbs. bag), pork chops, paper towels, and even a small amount of toilet paper (not on my list, so I didn’t get any).  They also had a limited selection of cleaning sprays and bleach (I didn’t look for hand sanitizer or disinfectant wipes).  The bread section was well stocked, but we are happy with home made bread.  Why not make some pleasant memories?  Leah tagged along because she hadn’t left the house in two weeks.  I told her to keep her hands in her hoodie pocket.

I’m considering fostering a couple of kittens.  I’m still not sure about it because it seems likely that we would just end up keeping the kittens.  I don’t want to stress Trent out, since he’s not feeling well.

Today will be filled with laundry, just like a normal Saturday.  Some things never change. 

Welcome to Pandemic School Week #1

Welcome to Pandemic School

Week 1

Day 1 – March 16, 2020

Early morning

Welcome to Pandemic School.  This morning it hit me hard that we may not go back to school until August.  I love being home with my kids, and they are delightful.  I’m sad for them to miss out on a normal school experience.  If I had chosen to homeschool at this time, it would be different.  Hannah and Elijah are both missing SATs and most likely AP tests.  I know colleges will make exceptions since everyone is dealing with similar situations, but the missing out part is the killer.  Hannah’s Junior prom will be cancelled (they hadn’t raised enough money anyway, but that’s another story), and her induction into National Honor Society was to take place April 1^st.

The Illinois State Board of Education said “All of the days during this initial closure March 17-30 will be considered Act of God Days and will not be made up.”  I don’t know if Indiana has “Act of God” days or not, but our governor declared this school year would only have 160 mandated days of school instead of the normal 180.  EVSC has had 137 days of school so far and will have 5 virtual days before spring break.  Will we be allowed to have those last 18 days of school?  

I have teacher friends who will be moving on to other positions/locations in August, and I won’t get our last 9 weeks of working together, at least in person.  

The only bright spot, and it’s actually a scary one, is the Fed reduced the interest rate to 0%.  For the love of all that’s holy, are you kidding me?  My mortgage will be refinanced at the lowest possible rate…  Of course, my 401k might have $0 by the time this is all over.  

Elijah is going to make a video every day of Pandemic School and some of his friends have agreed to do the same.  That could be a very interesting project.  

I can only assume the world will recover from this.  Hopefully, the US learns a few things about the necessity of a government that gives a crap about its people.  Healthcare?  Education?  Those things suddenly seem important to people.  It only took an Act of God.

PM update

Got kids up at 8am to eat and get started on schoolwork.  I did laundry and vacuuming while helping Leah and herding cats.  After lunch I ran to the credit union to re-open a $5 savings account so I can re-finance my mortgage at the lowest rate (ever?).  I stopped at the closed library to play my Harry Potter game and finish up an event that’s going on.  Not important, but since I was already out…  When I got home, I ground wheat into flour, which I hadn’t done since moving to this house.  I will likely make bread tomorrow.  Then I worked on our new 1000 cereal box puzzle for a couple of hours.  As I was getting dinner ready, I hopped on Facebook, and all the news and updates really got to me.  Hannah sent me a text saying that groups of people should now be 10 or fewer.  Elijah has a hard time focusing on schoolwork and his teachers are new to online teaching.  I think some of the assignments might have been a bit much for the time they allotted.   After dinner, the girls and I watched Frozen II which came to Disney+ yesterday.  I liked it, though it wasn’t as good as the original.  The Daniel Wertz teacher group text was going crazy, and someone mentioned making a Facebook group, so I made that tonight.   I didn’t get any reading done today, but I was never bored either.  I only crossed a few things off my list, but I have 2 weeks or more worth of things to be done.  

Day 2 – March 17, 2020

6:45 am

Happy St Patrick’s Day…  I guess it doesn’t matter if I wear green today, but maybe I’ll break out the kelly green Converse for good luck. 

I’m going to try to stick with my early morning wake up routine.  Well, the waking up, and hopefully getting up part.  Normally, I’d be leaving for work in about 3 minutes.  I woke up at 4:55 like normal, but I wasn’t super motivated to get out of the warm, cozy bed.  That took about 10 minutes.  After I finally got up, I emptied the dishwasher (that would be a good, new habit to start) then sat at the kitchen table and watched Steven Colbert give his monologue from his bathtub, very funny.

I was a little ambitious on my goals for yesterday, and they didn’t get met.  Apparently, I REALLY don’t want to deep clean the kitchen.  Big shock.  However, it looks like I’ll have plenty of time to get through my list, so I’m not too worried.  Also, I feel like we need to cut ourselves some slack.  This ordeal is mentally taxing, even if we are sitting around on our devices all day.  

I did sign up for The Great Courses for free for a month, so I have a little extra educational stuff to watch for myself.

Today’s goals?  Make bread, clean the stupid kitchen, read (didn’t get around to that yesterday), work on the puzzle for an hour, help Leah with school work, get outside since it will be a tiny bit warmer (assuming it doesn’t rain).  

The cats got off of their normal sleep all day schedule because we were home, so Oliver was a hot mess most of the day before he finally crashed in the afternoon.  He was up a little before 5am, but that’s pretty normal.  I ordered cat food from Amazon yesterday since I hadn’t thought about it when I went shopping on Saturday.  We weren’t really low, but I hadn’t considered that pet food might get hoarded…

Hopefully, the public will stop hoarding so that things will be available in the near future.  I won’t need toilet paper for a while (I generally keep a decent stash), but hand soap is a different matter.  I’m to a point where I would normally add a refill bottle to my shopping list.  I have a feeling, I may have to “stoop” to bar soap.  The horror.  

8:50 pm update

We had a really good day.  The kids were great about getting their school work done.  I made bread, we ate lunch, I got dinner in the crockpot, read, worked on my puzzle for a bit, and read way too much news…

I watched the daily Ohio governor’s press conference at 1pm.  He’s leading the country in what needs to be done during a pandemic.  Then at 2pm I watched the Evansville press conference where EVSC announced they would be closed for an additional 2 weeks after spring break (waiver days, no virtual assignments).  UE, USI, and Ivy Tech will all be online until the end of the semester.  None of that is surprising, but it adds a level of stress.

A journal article came out today with predictions for the US and UK mortality rates allowing for different scenarios of precautions taken.  It doesn’t look good.  Best case scenario would be to keep up this “social distancing” until a vaccine is available.  That’s twelve months away.  I really hope warmer weather kicks coronavirus to the curb.

Also, all the hype about coronavirus not affecting kids is not exactly accurate.  In adults 80% of cases are mild, in kids 90% are mild.  Let’s say half of the children in the US get coronavirus, and 90% of those are mild.  That means that 5% of the children in the US could be in respiratory distress.  Reitz High School has about 1200 students and Daniel Wertz Elementary has around 300, so 60 Reitz kids and 15 DW kids might need help breathing.  At Daniel Wertz that would be one student per classroom. 

I feel the depression creeping in, around the edges.  A few times a day, I’m on the brink of tears.  Thankfully, I continue to have a paycheck.  I’m lucky.  I still don’t know if I’ll be able to buy the things we need when I go to the store, because they might not be available.  Hannah is worried for her employer (a mom & pop health supplements shop).  Their orders aren’t being completely filled due to lack of product, so they aren’t able to stock the items that are in demand.  Elijah, our extrovert, is already going crazy with being home all day. 

The sun did come out this afternoon, and some of us went for walks.  It was nice to be outside, and see some nature (flowers, ducks, and crawdad mounds…).  We’ll make it, and we’ll be stronger for having lived through it.  

Day 3 – March 18, 2020 

5:40am

Another day is dawning and I feel the weight of unknown.  The news cycle of the pandemic is so fast that news from 24 hours ago seems like ancient history.  Every day we learn more information, are told new precautions to take, are constantly reminded at how inept our system is at handling it, not to mention how poorly the information is being received by the masses.  I feel what every mother must feel during times of upheaval.  I’m not all that worried about myself, not that I want to be sick, or hospitalized, or dead at 46.  I’m worried about my kids.  How all of this impacts them and their futures.  

A friend from high school posted that her preschooler has a fever and a cough.  When mom called the pediatrician, she was told they aren’t seeing sick people in the office; it would have to be a “virtual” visit.  Obviously, there are pros to having sick people stay home, but I feel like sick babies need to see their doctor in person.  Call me old-fashioned.

Every one of my kids mentioned their disbelief that yesterday was only day 2 of Pandemic School.  I am right there with them.  I won’t type out the expletive interjections that are floating around my head and occasionally pop out of my mouth, but trust me they are there.  Elijah wants me to wake him up at 6:30 because his school is following a more traditional school day with assignments that are sometimes due at specific times (when class would be over) the day they are assigned.  The girls’ assignments are much looser, and following a block schedule.  So, yesterday’s assignment isn’t due until tomorrow…  that’s a little less stressful.  I’m glad Elijah has all of his technical ability and hardware available to him since he’s able to connect with his friends easily that way.  Several times a day I hear him yelling about the video game they are playing online.  My extrovert needs that.  

Today, we will go pick up free “grab and go” lunches for the kids that the school system is providing.  They already need a change of pace, and to get out of the house.  Also, I’m hearing reports that stores (hopefully not all) are out of lunch meat… we have lunch meat, for now.  If we make it last a few days longer, hopefully the stores will be stocked.  Also, I need to remember to get to the store at 6am, when it opens (or 9am for Aldi).

If I wake up with a scratchy throat, I wonder if I’m getting sick.  Maybe its just allergies, or maybe I’m dehydrated because I do a better job of drinking water when I’m at work.  Its hard to say that coronavirus absolutely wasn’t in the schools for the past few weeks when we know there has been community spread.  “According to the analysis by Shanghai Children’s Medical Center researchers Yuanyuan Dong, Xi Mo and co-authors, mild cases  [in children] (52 percent) were marked by the typical symptoms of a cold — fever, fatigue, cough, sore throat, runny nose and sneezing. Some patients had no fever and only digestive symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea.”  Daniel Wertz definitely had kids with those symptoms, though that’s not unusual for January – March.

I’m off to start my day, and wake up my boy (I won’t wake the girls until 8, and Hannah has been getting herself up a little before then).

8am story telling

I'm sure I'm not the only Gen Xer laughing at the memes saying we are uniquely qualified for coronavirus because we were latchkey kids. I honestly hadn't thought about that, but it's so true.

When I was in K-1st grade and my sister was in 5th-6th grade, we walked home from school (about a mile) and took care of ourselves my dad got home. My mom worked and was in nursing school, so certain things were expected of us. First, we weren't supposed to watch TV , and my dad would feel the TV (a 13" black and white TV) to see if it was warm. We were supposed to vacuum, dust, wash dishes (after dinner), get any homework done, and my sister often made dinner. I got a little nostalgic for frozen pot pies the other day (until I looked at the nutritional content ). We watched a LOT of TV, exclusively old (OLD) re-runs because we didn't have cable. We watched The Brady Bunch, Bewitched, Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Scooby Doo to name a few. We just made sure to turn it off by 4:30 so it would be cool by the time Dad got home. We played games of Monopoly that lasted days, we just wrote down what we owned so we could set it up again the next day. 

During that time, I decided to call my grandparents who lived in California (we lived in Oklahoma City). Those of you who grew up with cell phones likely don't understand how long distance calls worked, and that they cost money per minute. The rates were much cheaper on weekends, so most people made their calls at that time. To make a long distance call in the afternoon on a weekday would certainly have been the most expensive time. So, I opened my parents' address book, looked up my grandparents and called them (on a rotary phone!). After several minutes, my sister came out of the bedroom that we shared and asked who I was talking to. When I told her it was our grandparents she mentioned that she hadn't heard the phone ring. When I told her that I had called them, she was horrified because she was in charge. My grandparents told me that next time I should call them collect (reverse the charges)

7:15 pm update

The kids enjoyed the free lunch/breakfast for tomorrow.  They got a chicken leg, salad, chips, apple slices and mild for lunch and “goody ring” donut and milk for breakfast.  Leah ate the donut and apples for lunch along with a little bit of chicken.  Hannah won’t eat chicken on the bone,  so she ate leftovers and I ate her chicken leg.  I think we’ll get another lunch on Friday.  No lunches next week since it’s spring break, and after that they are going to try to deliver to neighborhoods.  I’m not sure what that will look like.

I just found out that you shouldn’t take ibuprofen if you have coronavirus.  Somehow NSAIDs make it worse.  We don’t have any Tylenol, so I added it to my list and I will look for some early tomorrow morning.  There are a few things I’d like to have:  Kleenex, a spray bottle, more paper towels, spaghetti and sauce, and a few things for making bread.  I ordered ground beef and ground turkey from Fischer Farms and will pick that up on Friday afternoon (they typically supply IU and other large places that are now closed, so they had a sale).  We’ll have meat for several weeks, which will be nice.  

I finished my 1000 piece puzzle of cereal boxes.  My friend Melanie finished a 1000 piece Lego Star Wars Mini Figure puzzle.  We might trade.  

Tomorrow afternoon I get to have my first WebEx meeting with the DW staff.   I hope the technology works like it should.  Hannah’s English class had a WebEx meeting today, and it seemed to go okay.

A local friend has all of the symptoms of coronavirus, but can’t get tested because she hasn’t been in contact with anyone who tested positive.  In fact, no one in Evansville can get tested for that reason.  It’s ridiculous.  Indiana has tested less than 200 people.  

I spent the day trying not to stress, and gave myself zero goals besides getting outside to walk the neighborhood.  I went twice, before and after the torrential rain.

Day 4 – March 19, 2020

Today is first day of spring!  Spring is my favorite season of the year.  I love all the flowering trees, flowers, and GREEN that is Indiana (I don’t love mowing grass every week, but you can’t have everything).

This morning I ventured out to Wal-Mart.  My grand plan was to get there when it opened at 6am, beat all the rush, and be home 30 minutes later.  Thankfully, I checked the store hours, and they changed TODAY to 7am (on Tuesdays, they will let seniors shop an hour earlier).  I’m glad I checked!  I drove into the parking lot right at 7:00, and it was PACKED.  There were as many cars in the lot as there normally is on a late Saturday morning (10-11am), so I was a little surprised.  The store wasn’t too crowded inside, but there were lots of employees stocking and shopping for grocery pick-up.  

I had a few things I wanted to buy today:  Kleenex (Hallelujah!  They even had the kind I wanted in the size I wanted which is unusual on a typical day. ),  rubbing alcohol (still nope), thermometer (nope),  fresh produce (of course),  games for Leah (they didn’t have Life, but did have Uno, and I got a cat puzzle as well…. and a Harry Potter Lego), Tylenol (YES!!), hamburger buns (lots), gluten for bread making(no, but I’m not sure they carry it any more), spaghetti sauce (they only had a gallon container, so I’ll try Aldi), Eggos, and an empty spray bottle (yes).  I will try Aldi and Schnucks a little later.

As I walked into Wal-mart a man was pushing a cart out with 8 cases of diapers.  Wal-mart said they were limiting what you could buy of things like that, but clearly that didn’t happen.  The most interesting thing they were out of was FLOUR.  Apparently people are baking!  That’s actually really great!  I’m proud of Evansville for baking (bread? cookies? biscuits?).

Since Wal-mart didn’t open until 7am, I was able to get in a walk around the neighborhood before I went out (and before the rain started).  It was still dark, but the sun was just about to rise when I got home.  It’s so foggy, you couldn’t see the sunrise, but it was getting light out.

As I was pushing the grocery cart to my car,  I had one of those surreal moments where you think “Is this real?”  It appears to be really happening.  My dad is a bit (ha!) of a conspiracy theorist and wannabe prepper.  I was born for this.  I have food storage (not tons), but several #10 cans of wheat, white flour, sugar, rice, pinto beans, oatmeal, and dehydrated refried beans.  I also have a #10 can or two of dried apple slices and dried, chopped carrots.  That’s not what we want to live off of, but we could.  I did grind a can of wheat into flour on Monday for the bread I made on Tuesday (and will make another loaf today).  

The kids seem a little extra subdued this morning.  They are all up, and I’ve seen them working on school.  I have a feeling that reality is setting in for everyone.  The adrenaline is wearing off.  Now we start pushing through.

11:30am shopping update

At Schnuck’s I wanted to get vital wheat gluten and a jar of bread machine yeast, but that was a big nope.   Aldi, however, was pretty fantastic.  They had limits on most things, but that’s why they actually had items on the shelves.  I saw toilet paper, not lots, but some.  I got spaghetti and spaghetti sauce and rotini.  I also stocked up on canned goods that we use quite a bit.  They were out of most kinds of soup, though they did have cream of chicken and condensed chicken noodle.  They have baby formula if anyone is getting desperate.  I got their last 2 pack of paper towels though.  I ended up ordering gluten on Amazon, but even they didn’t have bread machine yeast…  I guess I’ll have to head back to Schnuck’s when I run out, or see if the envelopes of instant yeast work as well (bread machine yeast is an entirely different strain of yeast that is extremely hardy).  I don't think I'll need to shop again for at least 10-14 days.

12:45pm update

The hits just keep coming.  The governor of Indiana just cancelled school until May 1^st.  The first confirmed cases of coronavirus in the Evansville area were announced today.

Story time

When I was a kid, I went to Girl Scout Camp Red Rock every summer from ages 9 to 14 as a camper, for several summers during my high school years I volunteered to work in the kitchen as a “Scum” (teens who worked in horse stables were “Bums”).  During each two-week session, each unit of girls (up to 32 girls and 4 counselors) would go on an overnight to a primitive campsite within the camp.  They would cook out over a fire and sleep in 4 man tents or army hammocks that they set up themselves.  The girls would plan the meals to be cooked and the counselors would requisition all of the food and supplies from the kitchen.  When their campout was over, the supplies came back.

One evening after cleaning up after dinner, I was putting away leftover supplies.  We always sent dish soap for washing dishes and bleach for the sanitizing rinse in glass baby food jars.  I was pouring leftover soap into the huge soap container on the sink and bleach back into the bleach bottle.  Both the soap and the bleach were the same color, and I mistakenly poured a couple of ounces of bleach into a gallon of dish soap.  The bottle of soap erupted with a column of foam and a lot of toxic fumes.  Who knew? 

So, when you run out of spray cleaner and you decide to make a dilute bleach water cleaner, remember bleach and dish soap DON’T mix.

Day 5 – Friday, March 20, 2020

6am

I’m feeling a lot more positive than I did last night.  I usually write a “P.M. update” that spells out a few of the things that happened.  Last night, I just couldn’t.  I took notes during the day so I would remember some of the things I wanted to write about.

One of the biggest, most disconcerting things for me that I’ve noticed is that I’m having trouble concentrating long enough to sit down and read the book I’m reading.  If this were a snow day (week), I’d be zooming through my book at a 100+ pages a day.  Right now, I’m lucky to read 20 pages…  I’m too tied to the news cycle.  Everything continues to change so fast, and I can’t keep up.  Last night, I sat down and finished a chapter before going to bed, and it was very enjoyable.  For that I’m glad.  

Yesterday, it was announced that Evansville had its first 2 confirmed cases of Covid-19.  Some of my nurse friends were saying that they knew it was here, but no one was getting tested.  Now, it will be easier to get tested because it’s a known fact that it’s here.  Seems crazy since community spread was happening in Seattle for 6 weeks before testing was started.  Why would Evansville be any different?  I’m sure it had started moving around the country weeks ago.  I know there weren’t tests to be had for quite a while, and then there weren’t enough for all the people with symptoms.  It’s just one big mess.  So, just assume you are contagious, even if you feel fine, because people who felt fine are the ones who have spread it.  

Teachers at DW had their first virtual staff meeting via WebEx yesterday.  It went as well as could be expected.  We were much quieter as a group than usual.  I wanted to make my typical snarky comments to my friends, but I couldn’t (I hadn’t figured out the chat feature, so maybe next time).  Our principal, who is just the best, kindest person ever, hosted from his home office with his Chun Ji Do swords hanging on the wall behind him.  It was pretty awesome.

Last night, I watched our school superintendent’s “employee only” update podcast, which was pretty interesting.  He said that he had no idea that the governor was going to shut down schools until May 1^st.   There are a lot of questions that remain unanswered because no one knows yet.  For instance, high stakes tests were cancelled for this year (and all the people rejoiced!), but what about all those 3^rd graders who were supposed to take IREAD?  Will they have to take it in 4^th grade?  Last Friday, teachers told to take all of their personal belongings, classroom pets, and plants home, but we didn’t take ALL of our personal belongings.  How could we?  Even though I knew it was possible that we would be out for an extended period of time, I left student files at school because I was sure we’d be back in school before I needed them (April 22).  A lot of unknowns remain… for everyone.

From what I am hearing, we will be told to “shelter in place” very soon.  Essential personnel have letters from the state police stating their business.  The National Guard has been activated. It’s getting real.

Day 6 – Saturday, March 21, 2020

7:40am

I slept in this morning, until 6:30.  Oliver, the cat, was greatly displeased.  I knew he had food and water, so I didn’t feel bad when I kicked him out of my bedroom.  Every Saturday is laundry day, and today is no exception.  Normally, it’s also grocery shopping day, but not today.  I have meals planned and bought for through Friday.  I have bought a few things since I planned that menu, so I can probably go another week.  I really want to do our part to not leave the house for 14 days.  

Our Friday night tradition is to get pizza, normally from Dominos; however, since local restaurants will struggle significantly than chain restaurants, we will support local.  Last night I picked up pizza from Franklin Pizza Factory and ice cream from Milk & Sugar.  The two stores have teamed up so you can order your pints and pizza at the same time and pick them up together.  I have to say, Pizza Factory was pretty busy considering that it’s “carry out only” right now.  We got a large (18”) pizza that was ½ pepperoni (for Leah) and ½ sausage, mushroom, green peppers (for Elijah).  I was shocked at how heavy the pizza was when I picked up the box!  It seriously must have weighed 5 lbs!  We got a pint of Zanzibar (dark chocolate) and a pint of blueberry cheesecake ice cream.  Both were delicious!!  

Yesterday afternoon, I picked up my 20 lbs of ground meat from Fischer Farms.  I am so distracted right now, I forgot to unpack it when I got home!  I remember hours later… Thankfully, it was all packed in a cardboard box in the back of my car in the garage, and the temperature had been falling all day.  When I remembered, everything was still quite cold, and the garage felt like a fridge.  Everything went directly into the freezer.  Geez!

I finally got a working thermometer yesterday.  My friend’s mom found one in Mt Vernon (the next town west) at Dollar General.  Now, I feel like I have all my preparations together.  I’ve done all that I can do.

I suppose it’s officially spring break now.  The public school kids (my girls) will get 3 weeks of no school (2 weeks of waiver days will be used so teachers can get more online learning together).  Signature School (public charter) will get back to online schooling after spring break.  

Leah’s math teacher enrolled Leah in an online math program (Reflex Math) to help strengthen her math facts.  She REALLY needs that help.   We will probably start that Monday, even though it’s spring break… Leah is not thrilled, but it looks pretty fun.  I think it will be better than she expects.

As for my own students, I’m very disappointed that none of them have done the assignment that I sent home. According to a couple of teachers in my building, only about 1/3 of their students are actually doing the online school.  When we get back to school, the struggling students will be so much further behind than they already were.  It’s heartbreaking.  

I was thinking about BIG things happening that change us as a society.  Here are some of the big things I remember:

1) 1979-1980 Iran hostage situation; yellow ribbons were tied everywhere

2) 1989 The Berlin Wall came down, the fall of communism

3) April 19, 1995 The OKC bombing (being from OKC and being in college an hour away made it more so)

4) September 11, 2001 

5) 2020 Pandemic

I truly hope this changes us for the better.  I hope we find a respect for human life that we seem to have forgotten.  I hope we realize that everyone matters.  Everyone needs access to healthcare.  Doctors and nurses deserve better.  Teachers deserve respect for what they do.  Schools deserve more funding.  We have to do better.

 #WelcomeToPandemicSchool