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.