Pandemic Summer
Week 20
Day 133 – Sunday, July 26, 2020
This morning got off to a slow start which is pretty normal these days. I had promised Leah we could go to Michael’s today for her to pick up some craft supplies. When she got up, I told her that after lunch, I would take her as long as she had attempted to put her contacts in. I recruited Hannah to coach her, and she managed to get one in. I ended up putting in her second contact for her, but it took me a few tries.
We spent a good, long while browsing Michael’s, looking for stuff to make keychains. She found most of what she was looking for in the jewelry section. She bought a few “blind bag” trinkets as well (she was spending birthday money). She spent the majority of the ride home attempting to open them without anything sharp. We had to stop at Schnuck’s for some prescriptions, so we looked for Grippo’s. The racks that are normally stuffed fully of Grippo’s were empty! I did find one small “twin pack”, so I got that. They had all kinds of puff corn, but almost no Grippo’s. Weirdness.
When we left the store, the sun was bright, so Leah grabbed my hand because she couldn’t see. It’s been a while since she’s grabbed my hand in the parking lot.
Right before we got home, a pack of motorcycles passed us. The lead cyclist had a dog strapped to his back in some kind of baby carrier! I’m sure the dog loved it, but I thought it was a bit crazy.
I grilled chicken and zucchini for dinner, and then I edged as much grass as two battery packs allowed. I hadn’t done any edging in quite a while, and it was getting ridiculous.
This should be the last week before school starts, and that is still true for Elijah, but the rest of us have two extra weeks. We have dentist appointments, doctor’s appointments for well visits, follow contact lens visits, and Elijah picks up his textbooks. I need to get Elijah scheduled for a haircut as well.
Day 134 – Monday, July 27, 2020
I meant to get up early and do aerobics, but I didn’t. However, I did get to Walmart by 7:20am, so there’s that. It was nice to see an almost full toilet paper aisle, but the paper towels were few. I found Germ-X hand sanitizer and Clorox brand wipes. Puff corn was back in stock… However, Chocolate Mini Wheats cereal and New York Texas Toast cheese & garlic croutons have been out for weeks.
Leah wanted to go to Hobby Lobby, so I told her when her contacts were in, we could go. (She really likes shopping in contacts because she can actually SEE, lol). She got them in in about 20 minutes with just some coaching from Hannah. Every day is a little better than the last. The girls and I headed off to Hobby Lobby and Leah found all the jewelry stuff she needed to make trinkets into key chains and earrings. She made some cute stuff today!
After lunch I headed to school for a bit to watch some professional development videos. I finished one and started a second, but then I went and talked to some teacher friends. Then the custodian kicked us out because his day was over, lol. I’ll head back in the morning and see what I can get accomplished.
Leah wanted to make some little resin frogs into earrings, but none of us could get the little eye screw to go in. Eventually, I got out my drill and 1/16” bit, and drilled… and the drill bit got stuck. I attempted to twist it out with a vice grip and it the drill bit broke. That was one tough frog!
I made a “healthy” dinner of air fried chicken strips, mac & cheese, and broccoli. It was delicious!
Day 135 – Tuesday, July 28, 2020
Today was the last relaxing day before the crazy (should have been) back to school rush of appointments. Elijah does start back next Wednesday, so that will add to some of the crazy as well.
After breakfast, I headed to school to watch a professional development video & quiz that the state is requiring all special education teachers to take. It was ridiculous, and over things that changed last fall/winter. The quiz required a perfect score to pass (you can take it however many times). My first try was a 96% due to a multiple answer question that wasn’t actually covered in the video….
I came home, ate lunch, and bribed Leah to put her contacts in. She got them in in record time, so I took her to Michael’s to spend more of her birthday money. I think it was win win.
I watched part of a Q&A WebEx with our director of special education. Lots of questions and not enough answers. Therapists will get their own Q&A sometime…. Hopefully before school starts.
I started planning how I’m teach the game “Guess in 10” (similar to 20 questions with animal cards) to my life skills students at the high school. I want to do several lessons at the Pro Board teaching the different concepts. Since I don’t generally have a Pro Board to work with, I’ve never really learned the cool software for making flipcharts. Now, it seems teachers are just using Google Slides and Google JamBoard, so I watched a video on that. I did learn some pretty cool things.
Being that it’s Tuesday, we had tacos for dinner. Hannah’s boyfriend rented the ridiculously hilarious movie, Hot Fuzz. Elijah thought it was great, lol.
Tomorrow will be an early day with 4 dentist appointments starting at 7:45am in Newburgh (a 30-minute drive). Fun times. When I made that appointment back in January, that seemed like a perfectly reasonable time. Little did I know…
Day 136 – Wednesday, July 29, 2020
We had a long, busy day of appointments!
We got up early and left for the dentist at 7:15. Our appointments were a little more spread out than they normally are, so we were there for quite a while. Everyone’s teeth were healthy! Afterward, I stopped at Chick-fil-a for chicken minis for a late morning snack for the kids.
Since I did not eat the yummy snack, I ate an early lunch when we got home. I checked email while I ate, and our new proposed school calendar was announced. Not surprisingly, our long fall break was shortened to help make up for our late start. I called my mom to let her know that we wouldn’t be visiting for fall break to celebrate my dad’s 75th birthday. We will probably go a day early for Thanksgiving instead and get to be a part of their annual Pie Night.
After lunch I took Elijah to pick up his textbooks from the school bookstore. That went much faster than I expected, and I don’t think he had to wait at all. I waited in the car. He says all of the textbooks look boring…. It’s true. He’s taking AP English, PreCalculus, AP World History, AP Government, Chemistry, AP Physics, and German 2.
At 3:00 we had to be at the eye doctor for a contact lens check. That went pretty fast too. I had promised Leah a pretzel from the mall food court, so we got that and an Icee for Elijah.
I made orange chicken, fried rice, egg rolls, and pot stickers for dinner (from frozen). It was pretty good.
Tomorrow is another early day since the kids have their annual wellness visit with our family doctor. I think our first appointment is at 8am, on the other side of town.
Day 137 – Thursday, July 30, 2020
Another early start to the day. Elijah ripped one of his trial contact lenses, so now he has to wait until his six month supply arrives in the mail. I should probably take bets on how long a six month supply will last him… I’m not buying more until January.
We got to the doctor’s office for our 8:15 appointment. Leah is 61.75 inches tall, Elijah is 67.25 inches tall, and Hannah is 60.75 inches tall. It is hard on Hannah to the shortest…. Leah got two shots, Hannah got one, and Elijah got one. No great revelations were made.
I spent the day hydrating in preparation for donating blood in the early afternoon. I was more anxious about being unfamiliar with the building than the actual donation. Finding the right area was no problem, but donating didn’t go so well. I have donated blood a couple of times. Once in college when the dorm had a blood drive, and once at church about 10 years ago. I also gave plasma a few times in college. I am a slow draw at the best of times. They tried to speed things up and ended up collapsing the vein. They did not get the whole pint. I had to have them lay me down flat at the end because I was going to pass out (I’m an old pro at that…). I did not pass out. They made me drink two juice boxes and a snack. The good news is that my iron level is excellent. I think that will be my last attempt at donating blood.
I spent the rest of the afternoon with an ice pack on my arm to minimize bruising. So far, so good. I’m quite tired and will likely go to bed early. I have another early morning, because tomorrow is MY appointment with the doctor.
Day 138 – Friday, July 31, 2020
I had my yearly doctor’s appointment at 7:45am (yawn). My doctor told me that my BFF, Vanessa, was quoted in the NY Times this morning!! I got a “gold star” for actually keeping track of my blood pressure over the past year. It’s still okay, but not fabulous. He’s sending me to a dermatologist for an unusual sun damaged area on my cheek.
I took Leah to Dollar Tree because I wanted to get a drawstring backpack to take to Holiday World (amusement park & water park) on Sunday (outside, socially distanced or masked, they have a FastPass type system for rides to reduce physical lines). Leah found some plastic dinosaurs and a Care Bear figurine, and I found some ColorForm sets for school.
For lunch, I introduced Leah to Campbell’s chicken & stars soup, lol. She wanted to know why I’d been holding out on her all those years, lol. I usually buy the chunky soup…
The last of Leah’s birthday presents finally arrived. I ordered a sweatshirt from American Eagle on July 12th. It was shipped Priority Mail…. I guess it was one of those backlogged USPS problems. The cats have been enjoying all of the Amazon boxes as things off my wish list arrive. Fun for all!
I took some stuff to school after lunch but didn’t stay very long.
Around 5pm, Hannah and Dylan were driving home from Dylan’s, and it started pouring so hard they had to pull over and park in a lot for a good 20 minutes. I had pizza ordered to be delivered at 6pm, but it arrived at 6:40. I’m not sure if that was due to the rain or not enough staff, but our next pizza is free… I never really mind when they are late. They are late quite a bit.
After dinner we were talking about Disney World, and I mentioned that when we went when Leah was 7, she insisted on calling him Walter, lol. She didn’t remember that. I pulled up some pictures from that trip… There were some great ones. That was a great trip, and my first on-my-own real vacation with the kids.
Day 139 – Saturday, August 1, 2020
How on earth is it August? Time has warped and contracted during the pandemic and it no longer holds much meaning. Weird.
Today was extremely uneventful, which is fine, it just doesn’t lend itself to much journaling.
I got up at 6am. Elijah was supposed to volunteer at the Franklin Street Bazaar, but since it was rainy, he didn’t have to go. That was good for me since I was able to run get bloodwork done before 7am at the hospital lab. During the COVID screening process, I had to remove my cloth mask and put on a surgical mask. They aren’t fooling around! I had the most amazing phlebotomist, I didn’t even feel the needle stick.
I did laundry all morning. I ate too many snacks. I wanted to crawl back into bed all day long, but didn’t. Since it was raining, I couldn’t grill, so our burgers were broiled. That’s when Elijah noticed it was raining… at 6pm. The broiler smoked up the house even though I had the vent fan on. I had to open some windows, so it was a good thing it was cool outside.
0 comments:
Post a Comment