Welcome to Pandemic School
Week 4
Day 21 – Sunday, April 5, 2020
All is quiet in our secluded Pandemic Land. After lawn work and laundry yesterday, I took it easy. I read several chapters of my epic novel (I think I’m on page 825 or so of 1400+), played Animal Crossing for an hour or two, worked on two crossword puzzles (completed one), and checked FB slightly less often. For dinner, we had BBQ pulled chicken sandwiches mozzarella sticks (cooked in the air fryer). It was delicious if not exactly healthy. We did dip the mozz sticks in marinara sauce, so there was a little bit of vegetable… We also had ice cream Drumsticks for dessert.
I did make bread yesterday. The novelty is wearing off, and a loaf now lasts 3-4 days. I’m not sure it would stay good any longer than that. Of course, I’m slicing it pretty thin because Leah likes grilled cheese sandwiches, and the cheese doesn’t melt if the bread is too thick. I’m getting better at getting thin slices with my electric knife.
I was asked about my bread machine last night, and I realized just how old it is. I got if for Christmas the year Hannah was born (maybe the year she turned one). That bread machine is pushing 18 years! Granted, they were mostly years of light use where I made bread on a snow day a few times a year. It’s definitely getting a work out now. It still seems to work the same as it ever did. I looked up new machines, and they look quite a bit different.
I have a little lawn work left to do today, but it’s of minimal importance. We’ll see if it gets done (my arms are sore from yesterday’s lawn workout).
This is the last “teacher planning week” for virtual school. I have a feeling that I will put in more hours of work this week than I will for the next few following weeks. It’s going to be sending information to 70 parents/students. After the craziness of all the web conferences last week, I have enjoyed the more relaxing weekend where none are scheduled.
Day 22 – Monday, April 6, 2020
I saw blooming Tulip Poplar trees when I went to pick up Elijah’s prescription yesterday. Those are my all time favorite flowering tree, and the blooms only last a week, maybe. There was one an easy walking distance away, so this morning I’m going to go take a few photos of it.
Another thing I saw on my trip out into the world was MAJOR progress on the west side Evansville Chick-fil-a. On one hand, I’m super excited that it might open on schedule in August/September, but on the other I’m sad that construction workers are being made to work to build a fast food chain restaurant. I don’t consider that “essential” work, to be honest.
The only tree on my property is a maple, and it is beginning to bud. So, I’m going to take a photo of it every morning at 7am until it is fully leafed out. That’s what the picture of the bare tree photo is about. It won’t be long until it is gloriously GREEN!
Today is a work day, but I don’t have any meetings scheduled. Tomorrow is the opposite with five conferences scheduled. Today will likely be much more productive than tomorrow!
Last night we grilled burgers for dinner. I love grilling! It’s so easy, tasty, and clean up is a breeze.
Day 23 – Tuesday, April 7, 2020
While I have no photos from my morning walk, I saw two things I’d never seen before. First, on the railroad track that runs behind my neighborhood, I saw a pickup truck (I assume owned by the railroad) driving along the tracks. Then right before I turned onto my street I saw a small yellow & black bird that I believe was an American goldfinch.
I did get some work done yesterday, plenty more to go, but I’m not sure I’m capable of sending 70 individualized emails in less than 3-4 days.
I picked up school lunches for the kids. I considered going to the new pickup point near my school, but I would literally drive past the school I normally pick up at, so I didn’t. It had been announced that all locations would be drive-thru now, but this one wasn’t and the cars backed up because everyone thought they were in a car line that would soon move. Next time I’m driving the extra two minutes…
Since my kids won’t drink 12 half pints of milk this week (all the milk provided for Monday and Tuesday), I drove it over to my friend who has kids who will. We got to visit through the glass door for 20 minutes or so, and it was delightful.
Today is a day of conferences. So much fun.
The temperature is supposed to reach 80 degrees today! I bet we spend some time on the deck this afternoon.
Day 24 – Wednesday, April 8, 2020
I had a really busy work day yesterday, which I expected, but I got more done than I expected. I was mentally exhausted by the end of the school day.
I had a moment of (?????), I don’t even begin to know what that emotion is, so I’ll go with grief. It just gets to be too much some days. There are so many things that are helping me through this. Chatting with my kids around the dinner table. Laughing at things my co-workers have sent to our teacher group text, or other friends have posted on FB. Forcing my teens to watch a “classic” movie with me. Even with all that, sometimes it’s overwhelming to fear going to the store. I am the furthest thing from a germaphobe, and here I am grimacing at having to touch the debit card reader. Yesterday was a good day, but I’m just drained.
The first official death from Covid-19 was reported in my county yesterday. Today, I did some math. Vanderburgh County has an average of 5.43 deaths per day (based on 2017 data) and just over 165 deaths per month.
I look forward to the day when I can go to the store without any restrictions and will be able to find what is on my shopping list.
Day 25 – Thursday, April 9, 2020
I’m supposed to be in a 5 hour Continuing Education Zoom meeting right now, but the host didn’t start the meeting at 7:30. I have plenty to do, so I’m not all that disappointed. In fact, I had all my work, drinks, snacks, and activities to pass the time set up next to me. I will just start the work, though it’s a little earlier than I’d planned to get started.
Yesterday we had a record high temperature of 86 degrees! We had a cold front move through last night, though we seem to have been spared the predicted thunderstorms.
(Oh, the Zoom meeting popped up… 20 minutes late)
Today’s high is only supposed to be 58! That’s a big difference. At least Hannah’s upstairs room won’t be so hot. I need to put the window AC back in the window!
I had ordered a school spirit shirt for Elijah that was supposed to be delivered to school. The print shop sent emails to pick up at their back door, which I found kind of hilarious. When I got there, I had to call to let them know I was there. I gave my name and they tossed me the shirt.
The girls wanted me to pick up school lunches yesterday (we can pick up MWF, but on M & W you get 2 days worth of lunch and breakfast). I went to Howell Baptist to pick up, and it was so much nicer than Tekoppel. First, they started serving early, so I was halfway home by 11:30 when they are supposed to start. There was hardly anyone there, and the lunch ladies were calling out to kids in the neighborhood, “Come get lunch! Tell your friends to come get lunch!” The only problem (was me) was they were bagged differently than at Tekoppel, and I only got two food bags instead of three, but I did get all three bags of milk… The opposite would have been better. Elijah complains about the lunches, so he didn’t care (and I’d made tuna salad which is his favorite).
I was happy that I was able to get 20 more individualized parent emails sent out. I’m getting close to being done with that! Then I get to document all of that which might take just as long as sending the emails…
Day 26 – Friday, April 10, 2020
Last night I got to participate in a 1st grade Show and Tell WebEx conference, and it was so much fun! Seven kids, their teacher, our principal, and I each showed off something. I showed them Oliver and told them how Leah taught him to do tricks. He can meow on command, sit, stand on his hind legs, and we are working on lay down. He only does these for treats… he is a cat. I got to see a baby sister, a dog, a few cats, a T-Rex, a sparkly tiara, a hopping chick toy, and our principal’s Mickey Mouse Snuggie. It was EPIC!
For the past few days, I’ve meal planned and created a massive shopping list in anticipation of a trip to Walmart this morning. I arrived just before 7am with my octopus face mask and stood in line to get in. I was about the 20thperson in line. Wal-mart’s new policy only allows 5 customers per 1000 sq ft of store. Unfortunately, 90% of the customers were in the grocery area and it was almost crowded. The aisles are now one-way, but in every aisle there is at least one person going the opposite direction… Maybe they just didn’t notice the bright orange arrows on the ground.
I will say that wearing a mask decreases your field of vision, at least it did for me. I wore mine over the bridge of my nose as directed, and it often rubbed against my lower eyelashes. That was unexpected. I didn’t have any panic moments over wearing the mask (I don’t generally do well with masks), though it was nice when I finally took it off in the car.
I definitely won the Wal-mart lottery today. I got Charmin toilet paper (9 mega rolls) AND a bottle of hand sanitizer! Wonders never cease. They didn’t have rubbing alcohol or yeast (I found that last time). I finally found The Game of Life for Leah. I’m sure we’ll be playing that soon.
The temperature dropped significantly overnight and it was only 35 degrees when I woke up!
I’m glad it’s Friday because I’m tired of making dinner every night. Pandemic didn’t change that, I always make dinner 6 nights a week, but I’m just in a rut. I’ll be able to grill things now, so maybe that will change things up enough.
I keep hoping that we’ll be able to travel in June and the kids will be able to go to camp. I’m not sure I’m overly optimistic that those things will happen, but I hope they will. If we could just have a normal summer…
Day 27 – Saturday, April 11, 2020
My birthday was one month ago, exactly. March 11 was the day the WHO (not to be confused with The Who) announced Covid-19 was a Global Pandemic. Since it was my birthday, I stopped at Starbucks for my free drink. I had been at a speech therapist meeting at Culver and I was heading toward Daniel Wertz, so I stopped at the downtown Starbucks. The downtown Starbucks does not have a drive-thru, so I had to go inside (and I couldn’t do mobile ordering either). Later in the day I got an unrelated email from Starbucks that I only read because I’d been there that day. To paraphrase their email, “Starbucks has been dealing with Coronavirus in China, and we know how to deal with it. In the future we may have to close off dining areas in Starbucks, but we are committed to serving you coffee”. I thought it was the weirdest thing I’d ever read. It didn’t really even make sense to me why they would keep people from sitting in their stores… On March 12 we knew schools would be closed for at least two weeks. On March 13 at 5pm, schools buildings were shut down. That all happened a month ago, and it feels SO MUCH LONGER.
Yesterday, on my epic Walmart adventure, I bought fresh fruit. I got bananas, strawberries, and green grapes. My kids are hit or miss on fruit and I can never predict what will be eaten and what will be ignored. Well, the grapes lasted a couple of hours… The strawberries will be lucky to make it through today (I need to eat at least one before they are gone). The bananas are clearly backup. They can always become banana bread, I suppose.
I promised Leah that if the weather cooperated, her egg hunt tomorrow could be outside. We’ve never done an outdoor egg hunt at home, so she was pretty excited at the prospect. There’s a 70% chance of rain tomorrow… Maybe after I mow the lawn today, we could do it this afternoon.
Last night we had pizza from Azzip again. They are pretty close, you can order online, and they bring the pizza to your car so it’s a good experience all around. The kids are enjoying it for sure! I tried a new pizza last night, Potato Head, and it was amazing! It’s basically a loaded potato on a pizza (including chunks of roasted potato). Previously, the description had not appealed to me, but it was really good.
After dinner the girls and I played a game of LIFE. Leah and I had played earlier, but we didn’t read all the rules and had missed a major part of the game. The second game was a good game. Leah had so many kids that she had to add a second vehicle for her triplets. I spun low numbers the entire game which meant I got a LOT more action cards than the girls (very few were negative, most were “the bank gives you money!”) and I won by a landslide. I promised Leah we could play every day if she wanted to.
My Animal Crossing character found a “tarantula island” last night, and I should be able to pay off my “house payment” today with all the tarantulas I caught. There’s nothing quite as realistic as LIFE and Animal Crossing, lol.
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