Pandemic at School
Week 26
Day 174 – Sunday, September 6, 2020
I got up in the middle of the night to deal with some Oliver-the-cat nonsense, and I noticed I had vertigo. I wasn’t terrible, and it was gone when I got up in the morning; however, when I signed up to get another round of antibody testing, one of their COVID symptoms was being light-headed or dizzy. I couldn’t find those symptoms listed anywhere else.
I ran to Walmart to get the things that Walmart had deleted from my grocery pick up. The store was legitimately out of Great Value tortilla chips, but there were plenty of tortilla chips that could have been substituted. There was no shortage of sliced cheddar cheese…
Elijah had spent the night at Dawson’s house, and I expected to pick him up in the afternoon, but he texted me at 10:30am to come get him.
Leah wanted Penny to spend the night, but she’s allergic to cats. Penny came over for a few hours, we all went to eat at Five Guys (it’s been more than six months since we ate there), then I dropped Leah off at Penny’s house where she will spend the night. It all worked out for everyone. Also, Leah’s room got cleaned, and I got my floors vacuumed before Penny arrived.
It was a relaxing day which I fully enjoyed.
Day 175 – Monday, September 7, 2020
It was a fantastic Labor Day where we did almost nothing. I ate breakfast on the deck, and it was almost chilly (it didn’t stay that way!). My only real chore was to spray Round-up on things popping up in the landscaping and driveway.
Heather and I met downtown so I could pick up Leah from staying the night with them.
Hannah went to eat with Dylan because they smoked some meat. Therefore, we had leftovers, because it didn’t seem worthwhile to make a big, hot meal if we weren’t all going to eat it.
I encountered two house centipedes in my kitchen today, and I was less than thrilled.
I read. I played Animal Crossing. I ate too many snacks, lol.
I really enjoyed my 4 ½ day weekend, especially since Elijah’s test came back negative. I have a bunch of conferences for students who have moved to Virtual Academy this week, so I prepared for the three I have tomorrow.
Day 176 – Tuesday, September 8, 2020
One of my conferences was rescheduled for next week, one parent requested that we have the meeting without her, and the other went normally. Two more conferences tomorrow.
In the afternoon, I was able to see some of my students. Tuesdays and Thursdays are when I normally schedule my students with language impairments, so we get to do some fun things. One of my new kindergarten students was super cute while he played a “feed the monster” game on the iPad. He would just giggle when funny things happened.
When I got home, I got some chicken enchiladas started, and I sat at the table with the girls and ate a snack.
Leah needed a black binder for band… it had to be black, and she needed it by Friday, so we went to Walmart at 6pm. That is NOT when I want to go to Walmart.
On the way home, I got a call from the credit union that my car loan is with. My auto bill pay from my bank that they sent 8/29 has not yet gotten there. Fantastic. However, since I was able to spout that information immediately, they just put a note in the system that it was on its way. They blamed the holiday weekend. However, I think the bank actually puts checks in the mail… so USPS is likely to blame as well.
Day 177 – Wednesday, September 9, 2020
I missed seeing my middle school students this morning due to a couple of IEP meetings. They both went as well as could be expected.
We got some new kindergarteners, so I think the one, giant class is now up to 28 or so students. I hope we get enough more that they split it back into two classes. It’s too much with them spread 6 feet apart…
Leah said there were lots of students missing from her some of her classes today. We can make assumptions about what that means.
I heard that the high school is actually doing a very good job of contact tracing and sending possible exposures home.
I miss the Daniel Wertz staff from last year that moved to other jobs. It’s a great school, but we are missing some who are simply irreplaceable.
Tomorrow, I’m getting another round of COVID antibody testing done to see if what we had in July was COVID. If I ever do have antibodies, I plan on donating convalescent plasma. Though my donating blood didn’t go so well…
Next Thursday, I go have the rest of my basal cell carcinoma removed from my cheek. I’m a little nervous, since the biopsy was no fun… I paid the bill for the biopsy, and it wasn’t as expensive as I thought it might be. I will say that wearing a bandage on your cheek during a mask wearing pandemic is the right time.
More of my students appeared to be successful with completing their homework on Google Classroom tonight, so that’s a win for sure.
Day 178 – Thursday, September 10, 2020
After I took Elijah to school, I went to have some blood drawn to see if I have COVID antibodies. I hope so. I got done early, but I had taken off work until 9am, so I stopped at a park and played my Harry Potter game. I still got to work a few minutes before 9:00.
I had yet another case conference for one of my students who has moved to Virtual Academy. When I was checking information in RDS, I found out that two more of my high school students have moved to Virtual Academy. It’s just never ending (though the deadline has come and gone, so maybe it did end).
After lunch I got to see some delightful students, and we practiced using the correct pronouns to order ice cream for our girl and boy superheroes (He wants chocolate. She wants sprinkles.). A good time was had by all. One little guy wanted to play Hungry Hungry Hippos as his reward for working so hard. It was hilarious. That game is way too hard for tiny kindergarten hands to play, so he ended up just opening the hippos’ mouths and feeding them. I don’t recall the original game being as difficult to manipulate as the newish one I have….
I grilled burgers for dinner, and they were great. Hannah had no appetite, which is weird. I asked if she was sick and she said she hoped not…. To be honest, I feel like we are going to end up being out of school as much as we are in school.
Day 179 – Friday, September 11, 2020
Today is the six-month anniversary of COVID-19 being a global pandemic. In my neck of the woods, it appears that we’re just getting started.
Today is the 19th anniversary of 9/11/2001, the day we were attacked in three places almost simultaneously. My children will never truly understand what it was like to live through that (even 1000 miles away) or be amazed at how quickly the country united. Just as I don’t fully understand “the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month” or VE/VJ Day or the JFK assassination or the Vietnam War, those who didn’t live through it can never really know what it was like.
I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing. I was a speech pathologist in Glencoe, OK, and I had two 2nd grade boys in my office. The special ed teacher came in and told me that a plane had crashed into the WTC. It took me a second to process that, but my first words were “My brother in-law works in the WTC”. I went to tell the principal that I needed to go home, and he tried to console me that only the upper most floors looked to be affected. I had no idea what floor or tower Wayne worked in. As I drove the 30+ minutes home, I listened to the radio broadcast of the events. The first tower fell as I was driving home. I’m not actually sure how I made it home safely since I was sobbing uncontrollably.
When I got home, there was a message from a friend of Wayne’s who lived in NY, but not Manhattan. Phones in Manhattan weren’t able to call out, but somehow this friend in (Brooklyn, maybe?) happened to call him. He gave her a list of numbers to call to report him safe. We were one of those numbers.
Unbeknownst to me, Wayne would not normally have been at work yet at 9am. Many people came to work later in the morning because they often work so late at night. However, there was an important meeting that was scheduled on 9/11 before 9am, so he should have been there, BUT he was sick. His boss had told him the day before to stay home from the meeting. His office was on a lower floor of the WTC (I still don’t know which tower). All but one of the people from his office that were there made out with time to spare. That one person didn’t leave with the group and stayed behind. Because of the prior WTC bombing in 1993, they had evacuation drills, so people did know what to do. I’m sure that saved thousands.
On a happier note, today is the birthday of three great friends that I’ve had at different points in my life. My very first BFF, who I met in kindergarten, Aimee has a birthday today. My BFF that I met in 8th grade, Sally has a birthday today. My BFF that I met 12 years ago; Heather has a birthday today. Also, it’s my half-birthday because I totally believe in celebrating half birthdays when you remember. The six months since my birthday have been pretty craptastic… Happy Birthday all you September 11th babies!
My COVID antibody test came back already. Negative for antibodies….
School was hit or miss today. I saw all my morning students (one was absent). My afternoon had meetings where parents failed to attend so they had to be rescheduled. I did see some super silly second graders at the end of the day.
Driving home from work, I saw the huge flag that the fire department raised on a ladder truck on the bridge near my house. It stirred up a lot of emotions.
Day 180 – Saturday, September 12, 2020
Another Saturday, so another day of grocery shopping and laundry, and not much else.
We ate leftover pizza and had movie night. I let Leah choose, but she couldn’t make a decision, so Hannah chose Avatar. Leah only watched the first half hour or so since the blue people creeped her out. Elijah complained and complained, but I think he mostly enjoyed it. Did it really come out in 2009? I’m sure I saw in in the theater, but that seems highly unlikely since Leah was 2 ½ years old….
Looking at our positive test results, we have had a significant spike in the past 3 days. Which coincides exactly with having all the students in school for two weeks.
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