Welcome to Pandemic School
Week 7
Day 42 – Sunday, April 26, 2020
Yesterday was a rainy Saturday, so my day was spent doing inside chores along with reading a playing a little Animal Crossing. I did a very small grocery shopping trip, washed 4 loads of laundry (I believe all 4 are sitting in baskets in peoples’ rooms, waiting to be folded and put away). I know I have a basket of miscellaneous “whites” to fold and put away. I did my actual clothes on Thursday; I wanted my lawn jeans clean so I could mow the lawn on Saturday. It rained instead.
Leah and I did finally get her and Libby set up for a “Disney+ party” via Zoom. The tricky part was getting Libby set up on Zoom and figuring out whose audio wasn’t working and whose sound was just turned down…. They ended up watching Tangled. Thank you, Carol, for suggesting it as a possibility!
Today is a rainy Sunday…. I need to vacuum and put away laundry. I think I need to figure out a not-too-difficult project to give my life meaning at this point. The one that’s staring me in the face is getting pictures up on the walls. At least it’s something to think about.
I got a free year of Apple TV+, and wow does it look terrible. Everyone trying to make a buck on their own platform isn’t going to work well….
For the first time, my tree photo was taken under an umbrella… there have been some misty mornings previously.
Day 43 – Monday, April 27, 2020
We had leftovers for dinner even though I had tacos on the menu. We just had too many leftovers. I created a new-to-us concoction, taco mac. Leah had leftover chicken strips, Hannah had leftover Buffalo chicken pasta, and Elijah and I had taco mac. We had leftover Kraft mac & cheese and taco meat from last week, I mixed them together, added a tablespoon of sour cream and topped it with shredded taco cheese. It was pretty good and Elijah, who dislikes re-heated mac & cheese really liked it. The homemade sheet cake was delicious. My mom makes sheet cake for almost every occasion, but this is only the second time I’ve made it. I did a good job.
We are planning Pandemic Picnic #2 for this afternoon. I’m sure to write about it tomorrow. The plan is to get Chick Fil A and meet some friends in Newburgh. It should be a good time!
My brain these days is ridiculous. I had been thinking about how I need to eat healthier, etc… then “Let’s make a cake!”. It’s pretty obvious that cake won over healthy. Oh well.
I’m able to focus on reading a lot more now. My book is super interesting since it’s the final book in a 14 book epic series, but I’m much better at focusing on it. I wanted to read 100 pages a day to get through it in 2 weeks, but I’m averaging 50 pages, and I’m okay with that. I’m 40% of the way through it, and it will only get harder to put down, I’m sure.
Today is a state waiver day for the girls and me, so no school for them, planning/paperwork for me. Elijah is entering his last week with all of his classes. Next week, he will only have AP US History.
Day 44 – Tuesday, April 28, 2020
I woke up with a bloody nose, a VERY bloody nose. I cannot remember when that last happened. Head down, nose pinched, tissue shoved up my right nostril, hoping I don’t swallow much blood. I know what happens if I do, I’ll throw up. Let’s be honest, a bloody nose is bad enough. One year at Christmas, maybe 1985-86, my mom came home from work (night nurse) sick with the flu and went to bed. I had a severe double nosebleed that morning that lead to vomiting… No thank you.
We had a nice Pandemic Picnic on the Ohio River with the Harpers. I picked up Chick-Fil-A for eight people. I liked ordering on the app, but it’s time consuming and anxiety inducing. When I tried to add $75 to the CFA app, that triggered a fraud alert from my bank. I ended up using PayPal which was fine since that’s how Heather had paid me for their portion, and Pete had sent money to cover our portion. I chose the Curbside Pickup mostly because I had ordered for eight people. The CFA employees all had cow patterned masks, which was interesting. I am glad that masks are being provided for them.
We parked at the downtown Newburgh Library and had a fantastic view of the Ohio River. I miss walking that trail since we moved to the other side of town (Evansville river front is great too, but it doesn’t feel safe enough to walk alone at 6am like the Newburgh trail). It was super sunny, which was great, but I could feel my skin starting to burn after 30 minutes or so.
We tried Chick-Fil-A sauce for the first time! I had no idea it was even a thing until fairly recently. We always got mayo for the sandwiches and ketchup for fries…. We liked it. I was surprised that it seemed to be a honey mustard BBQ blend, but it works.
I got a call from the title company that my check from my refinance was ready to pick up, so on the way home we stopped and picked that up.
I really have to mow the lawn today. I have some work to get done before a late afternoon conference as well.
I cancelled our trip to Colorado in early June as well. Even though Colorado is getting ready to “open back up”, I’m not ready. We could go to a beautiful mountain cabin and not be able to do anything. I’m not convinced the things we want to do will be available, nor do I think that it’s necessarily safe to do so.
Day 45 – Wednesday, April 29, 2020
I’m probably going to make some masks with ties since I think there is going to be a significant amount of mask wearing in our future. I started with the task of rearranging boxes that still aren’t unpacked (have nowhere to go) from our move 18 months ago. My sewing machine cabinet has to be moved out of its corner to be used, but that means re-arranging the room… It’s a mess. Maybe I’ll just roll the sewing cabinet to the living room since I still need the room set up for web conference a few times a week. I suppose there’s a lot of ironing and cutting that need to take place before and sewing happens anyway.
I spent a couple of hours on paperwork and parent contact (or attempting to contact) yesterday, and I had an hour-long web conference in the afternoon.
Leah wanted to make a stuffed frog, so she found a pattern, we printed it, cut it out, found fabric, cut that out, and she hand stitched it together. She was unimpressed with how it turned out, so I’m going to resew it on the machine and see if it’s any better.
We grilled chicken last night which is my favorite healthy meal that I make. I didn’t really wait long enough for the coals to be ready (it was late, I was hungry) and the coals were a little too hot when I put the chicken on. It was still good though. I generally serve it with steamed broccoli and bread (home made lately). Elijah loves it, which is weird because he used to complain about anything with “grill”.
I got an email from College Board about AP tests last night, and it is definitely anxiety inducing to think about the kids taking their AP tests at home. There are some tech practice tests to go through to make sure you know how everything works.
We have a pair of American goldfinches that live nearby, and they are SO pretty and bright yellow. The cats and I enjoy watching them from the windows. I’m sure the cats would enjoy EATING them. I’m content to just watch.
Day 46 – Thursday, April 30, 2020
It’s the last day of April. How on earth did that happen? I guess it’s bill paying day…. I have a 9am WebEx with the speech therapists where we will get information on how to document this last quarter of school (basically, speech therapy report cards). Should be interesting.
Yesterday, the school district transitioned their ‘grab and go’ school lunches three times a week to a pickup a box of 10 MRE’s and 1 ½ gallons of milk for two weeks of breakfasts and lunches. I planned to just get one box because I can’t store 4 ½ gallons of milk, nor would my kids drink that amount before it expired. However, my principal was the one who loaded my car, and he let me just get 2 gallons of milk with 3 boxes of food for the kids. The pick-up time was 11:30-12:30 at the normal lunch pick-up sites. The Daniel Wertz site was added after a couple of weeks of ‘grab and go’ lunches and was usually not busy or crowded. I got to the site (at a church in the neighborhood, not AT the school) right at 11:30 and was surprised that there were half a dozen cars in front of me. I didn’t think much about it at the time, but later I heard that it got really busy (I don’t know if they ran out of boxes, but I assume they did). Other sites were swamped and ran out of boxes. Already there are stories of people loading up with 8-10 boxes (not to be judgy, I know plenty of valid reasons for that) and out-of-state license plates. Who knows? We will not go back for more boxes in two weeks, but I wonder if they won’t check IDs for an Evansville address. If anyone in the Evansville area knows of kids in need who did not get their meals, let me know, I’d be happy to deliver two of our boxes.
As for the contents of the MREs, they are interesting. Some really good stuff that I knew Leah would eat, and the reason I went to get a box in the first place. There are Cheez-its, Capri-Sun, Pop-Tarts, Kellogg’s pastry bars, StarKist tuna, packaged cheese & crackers, etc. There are some interesting things as well. The bread is in an army green, actual MRE, package and is a soft, flat bread. The bread tasted pretty good. There is a sweet potato grape smoothie in a green MRE pouch… it was ok, but my kids don’t consume smoothies. There are peanut butter packets and jelly packets and sunflower seed butter packets. There are MRE packaged cinnamon buns (haven’t opened any yet), single serving (normal brands) cereal and normal looking fruit cups and apple sauce. I plan on saving the sunflower seed butter and the smoothies for my friend with peanut allergies and identical twin toddlers.
At the beginning of Pandemic, I expressed my disdain for bar soap. But since liquid soap was in short supply, I had Hannah bring home three bars of soap from the natural/health supplements store she works at. I have come to LOVE that bar soap. It has the most amazing lather and the three scents we have smell fantastic. After nearly six weeks of use, they are not that much smaller than when they started. Last night I asked Hannah for more information on these soaps. Apparently, they are goat’s milk soap from Australia, how fancy. They only cost $2.60 a bar, so I see a lot more in my future. I never in a million years thought I would be a bar soap convert.
On the mask making front, I found 3 yards of khaki fabric (not 100% cotton, feels like a cotton/poly blend) in my stash of leftover fabric that I’m going to use to make ties for masks. I got it washed and dried. Ironing and cutting will be next on the to-do list.
Day 47 – Friday, May 1, 2020
May Day! Take that however you want. Today the Stay-at-Home order is due to expire at midnight. The governor will likely address this today, but I imagine he will let it expire. Social distancing will still be required outside of homes at all times. Things will likely open up, but people will be in masks, the number of people in a given area will be limited, and people should stay six feet apart.
Hannah was asked to create some coloring pages showing kids/families/pets/stuffed animals wearing masks for Montessori preschoolers. She whipped out a couple immediately, and they are so cute, I thought I’d share them.
Speech therapists were given guidance on monitoring students’ progress for the 4th grading period. It’s kind of intense. I will add to my spreadsheet and tackle a few students per day.
Today I have a “meet & greet” WebEx with one of my student’s with autism, his teacher, OT, and paraprofessionals. I hope he enjoys it and it’s not overwhelming to him. Following that I have a faculty meeting, where I hope to get information about getting into the school building (assuming the stay-at-home order expires)
Leah is dying to get out of the house and “do something”. That’s how I ended up with her making cookies yesterday, she’s BORED. I guess if retailers are allowed to open up, I will likely take her on an excursion, probably to a craft store.
Hannah will likely go back to work, assuming her store can afford to pay her, and they are receiving enough stock that she’s needed. She hasn’t driven her car since March 20th (I drove it a couple of times).
Sounds like I need to get to work on some more masks!
Day 48 – Saturday, May 2, 2020
Yesterday morning Hannah and I took a 2-mile walk, straight south of our subdivision. It’s not a busy road, but there are places where there is no shoulder and a ditch if you leave the road. We saw a pretty orange and brown/black butterfly but didn’t take a photo. After playing so much Animal Crossing, I wanted to collect it with my imaginary bug catching net. I will likely start walking the two miles most mornings as that is something I’ve done for the past several summers. I will have to see if I can get on a schedule this week.
Yesterday the governor of Indiana announced his Back on Track plan to re-open the state. We’ve been in Phase I, and Phase II will start on Monday (except for 3 counties that are hotspots). Moving forward will be based on testing and ICU bed availability, and counties can move backward as well as forward. It seems like a very reasonable, well thought out plan. Is it too soon? Maybe so. Starting Monday, non-essential travel is allowed, and retail stores and restaurants are allowed to open at 50% capacity. Face masks are recommended, and social distancing is expected. If Phase II goes well, we will move to Phase III around May 23rd.
One of the self-contained classroom teachers I work with set up a WebEx with one of our students yesterday. The OT and one of the paraprofessionals also participated in the WebEx. There was significant technical difficulty for the parent, but she did eventually get it to work. The student spoke to us for about 5 minutes, then he was done with us, lol.
We had a staff meeting WebEx as well, but there wasn’t much new information. The governor hasn’t made any decisions about school and doesn’t plan to for at least two weeks. Teachers just want to KNOW what’s going to happen. Our new guidelines to state that school buildings will not open until June 30 at the earliest. The assumption is that would be for students to pick up belongings and wrap up the school year with their teachers. Many teachers would like access to their classrooms so they can close up this year. Two of our teachers are moving to other positions in other buildings and need to pack up their belongings. It’s a frustrating spot to be in for sure.
I finished up my tree photos. I decided 4 weeks was long enough, so I spent more time than I expected editing in iMovie this morning. I am pleased with how it turned out.
My good friend, Karen, is coming over for a socially distant driveway chat this afternoon. She’s bringing me a couple of books for book club, and we haven’t spoken in person since March 15th (beware the Ides of March!).
On Monday, Leah and I have a Target date set up with Penny and Heather since non-essential retail will be allowed. Leah has been dying to go to Target, or anywhere that isn’t the house!
Looks like we are wrapping up Week 7 of Pandemic School on a positive note.
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