Pandemic Summer
Week 18
Day 119 – Sunday, July 12, 2020
When Elijah got home yesterday after working at the bazaar, he slept from 2-6pm when I woke him up for dinner. He went to bed at 11pm and I woke him at 9am. He’s not used to being outside or doing anything physical. It’s been a long Pandemic.
We had grilled chicken and corn on the cob, my summertime favorite.
My new contacts that I’m trialing are multifocal Air Optix. They are extremely comfortable, easy to insert, though a little slipperier than I’m used to. My far distance increased a tad, but I’m not sure about the near distance on these. They don’t seem much different than having none. I’ll give them a week, but I may ask to trial a pair of Ultra which I previously wore.
I slept until 8am. Remembered to get the kids up at 9:20. Elijah really wanted to get Subway sandwiches and there was $5 footlongs if you order from the app. True, but not at the Subway we went to. It was fine. I like ordering from an app and picking it up from the drive thru.
I need to pick up an Rx (drive thru!) today, and I need to vacuum. I did take the vacuum out of the closet! LOL. I suppose I need to wash towels as well.
Leah is sad that her birthday is during all this craziness, so I’ve dubbed it “Crappy Birthday”. She will likely end up getting more “stuff” since we can’t do much of anything.
Day 120 – Monday, July 13, 2020
Leah and I did some online shopping for her birthday last night. Packages should start arriving in a few days, lol.
I started the day off by getting a COVID test. I had to register to schedule an appointment, but if you cancel your appointment, you can just walk in and get a test. Interesting arrangement, but that’s what I did. It was not busy with just one person ahead of me and another walked in before I finished. The people doing the tests were super nice and explained everything well. Results will take 3-7 days. It was the short swab test, not the super long one. The powers that be are unsure of reliability for asymptomatic people, but are just as accurate as the long swab for those with symptoms.
After that I picked up my groceries curbside, and headed home.
I’m a terrible mother because I didn’t realize that Elijah had the same symptoms as Hannah and me. I’m not sure if he didn’t tell me, or I just wasn’t paying attention. Leah has no symptoms, but maybe that’s because she lost her sense of smell way back in March… Who knows?
Day 121 – Tuesday, July 14, 2020
I attempted a nap yesterday, and within five minutes I’d attracted Leah and two cats, lol. I did doze a bit.
I received a text in the late afternoon that sent me over the edge. Just when you think your emotional resilience is up, there is proof against that! After dinner, a hard cider, a phone call with a friend, and lots of messages to a group of close friends, and a chocolate ice cream cone I felt better. Thank goodness for being able to socialize over distance! (and ice cream)
This morning the weather was so nice outside, I decided to eat breakfast on the deck. The dew was extremely heavy, and I had to wring out the washcloth after the first pass of wiping off a section of the table and my chair. Seventy-five degrees with 75% humidity was very pleasant (the dew point was 66, and the temp had dipped to 63 overnight, causing the heavy dew).
I decided to start an Amazon wish list for the start of school. I really hadn’t started to think about how I would need to do things differently… but there are a lot of things. I’m going to attempt to have each students’ items in a labeled Ziplock bag, which will be kept in a filing system. I will likely start the year with 80 students, over a third of which have autism and need to be seen individually. It’s a lot to think about! School starts in just over three weeks.
Day 122 – Wednesday, July 15, 2020
We were supposed to grill burgers last night, but I opted for Chick-Fil-A sandwiches instead. It could get dangerous having CFA so close!
Leah wants an ice cream cake for her birthday tomorrow, strawberry cake with vanilla ice cream. So, I put in a grocery order to pick up this morning with all the things plus the rest of the school supplies on Leah’s list.
Leah and I made the cake, and I got it put together with ice cream layers a few hours later. I finally used the spring form pan that I bought many years ago. Tomorrow it will be topped with whipped cream, gummy candy, and 13 pink candles.
Leah decided that she wanted to get a tray of subs from Penn Station East Coast Subs for her birthday dinner. I got that ordered today. They must not do that much catering business (at least not since March!) because the manager had to call me back with price since she couldn’t find the paperwork, lol. I will pick that up tomorrow at 6pm along with a ½ gallon of lemonade.
Leah’s first birthday package (that we ordered on Monday) arrived today. She’s anxious for the rest to arrive.
Other than that, nothing is going on. I will grill burgers tonight and probably read.
Day 123 – Thursday, July 16, 2020
It’s official, I now have three teenagers. Today is Leah’s 13th birthday! Pandemic Birthday!!!
Just before midnight, my phone alarmed for a Tornado Warning. By the time I processed that, and got Hannah downstairs, the small tornado had already passed about a mile north of us. No damage at our house, thankfully. I did get to say “Happy Birthday” to Leah at midnight while both girls snuggled in my bed waiting for the Warning to expire.
When I got up this morning, I got the ice cream cake out of the freezer, took off the springform part of the pan, and frosted it with whipped cream. I got it back into the freezer ASAP. I need to put the candles on and put it back in the freezer. Leah will decorate it with gummy candy right before we serve it.
My COVID test result came back negative.
I took the girls to JoAnn and Target, and I have to say that I think the Evansville Mask Mandate that went into effect yesterday seems to be good for business. Lots of people shopping, and everyone was in a mask. I only saw one nose sticking out. I’m thinking that maybe people are feeling safer if everyone is wearing a mask.
Leah’s friends put on a Surprise Birthday Parade and completely made her day. She was pretty bummed out beforehand, so watching her light up was great. Afterward she sorted through all the presents they left for her (lots and lots of Sour Patch Kids).
We picked up a platter of club sandwiches, fries, and lemonade for dinner. It was an awesome birthday dinner! After dinner she asked to play Apples to Apples and Life which we couldn’t refuse because she’s the birthday girl. Then we got out the ice cream cake, which Leah quickly decorated. We lit the candles, sang Happy Birthday, and cut the pieces. It is a very tasty cake! I would never have thought to put strawberry cake in an ice cream cake! Next time, I will likely put it together a little differently.
So, thanks to great friends Leah’s “Crappy Birthday” turned into an amazing birthday! Yay!!
Day 124 – Friday, July 17, 2020
The started off at midnight when Leah woke me up to tell me that her birthday balloons that I had left on her door handle and gotten tangled in her ceiling fan. I got a step ladder and cut them down. That was unexpected. Not too surprisingly, I had a hard time getting up this morning.
After lunch we got ice cream at Milk & Sugar with a couple of Leah’s friends as her birthday “party”. We sat on the shady (but still really hot) library lawn and ate the best ice cream in town. I had peach which was amazing.
We had to get home in time for my 3:15 WebEx conference with the Daniel Wertz staff. When I got on, my principal asked if I’d gotten the text that had just been sent by the district announcing the start of school date was being pushed back two weeks. (I didn’t get the text for another hour). So, our hour staff meeting lasted 15 minutes then we all went to watch the press conference on FB live to see what was going on.
Our superintendent laid out all the plans the district has made to enable a safe start to school, then pushed it back to the community to do their part and “do the things they know they need to do”. I do think our mask mandate will help decrease our number of cases, but if the bars don’t do their part it will be for nothing. Don’t make Dr. Smith come and use his teacher voice with you!
The first half of the alphabet will go to school the first three days of school to learn procedures, the last half of the alphabet will go days 4-6. Day 7, all students will be in the buildings at once. I have to admit that I’m happy with that arrangement. Likely days will be taken from our first semester breaks, so that we will only to school one week later than planned. …until something else changes everything…
Day 125 – Saturday, July 18, 2020
We are wrapping up week 18 of Pandemic and week 8 of Pandemic Summer.
Leah spent the night with Penny last night, and they got to swim twice and stay up past midnight doing whatever 13-year-old girls do. Penny’s little sister, Jacinda is nearly 5, and she is a HUGE fan of Leah. The 2-year-old identical twin girls, not so much. They haven’t left the house in 4 months, and they don’t like strangers, lol.
Elijah volunteered at the Franklin Street Bazaar again (that will be weekly until the end of August), and he was pleased that his BFF Dawson was also volunteering this week. It was hot, he got a little sunburned around the edges and he fell asleep as soon as he got home. I think it was a good time.
Signature School sent out an email that school would start August 5th, as planned. Their board voted on it yesterday morning… EVSC made their announcement to delay yesterday afternoon. Will Sig follow suit? I think Sig can probably make it work safely better than the public schools, and I trust that they would make sure people wore masks inside. We’ll see. It will be a mess if our calendars are off by two weeks.
Tonight, I mowed the front yard and sprayed some weed killer around the edges. It’s so hot and humid that I will mow the rest of the yard tomorrow evening, and do the edging (which is out of control) Monday. I saw my first tick of the season, but it was on the floor after I changed, not on me. I hate ticks.
Since we added two weeks to summer, Hannah and I will be able to go to the big thrift store (it will finally open in August), and I have more time to fit into my work pants, lol. I’m getting back on track with diet and exercise! Really, lol.
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