Pandemic at School Week 28

 Pandemic at School

 

Week 28

 

Day 188 – Sunday, September 20, 2020

 

Oliver thought I needed to get up a few times during the night, so he had a couple of trips to the laundry room.  I slept in a little bit.  

 

My wound feels pretty okay, and the bruising is turning yellow, it’s very attractive.  However, it swelled a little more around my eye so the corner of my eye and upper eyelid were a bit swollen today.

 

I finally got to wear contacts with my new prescription.  My far vision is much better now.  

 

I made a quick trip to Aldi because I forgot to buy paper plates yesterday.  I picked up a few other things as well since Cocoa Rice cereal is far superior to Cocoa Krispies…. They still have one way aisles, fewer carts available, and the cashier wiped down the handle of the cart before switching my cart with the previous person’s.  

 

Vanderburgh county had their highest number of new cases yesterday at 70.  I don’t think our county will move from yellow to orange this week, but if this continues it could next week.  

 

I got the rest of my weekend chores done (washing towels and vacuuming).

 

We went to Moe’s for dinner, which we fully enjoyed.  Since we were practically in the Target parking lot, we stopped to look in the “no longer a dollar” section.  Leah and got a couple of things.  

 

Day 189 – Monday, September 21, 2020

 

Two more case conferences for virtual students (it’s never ending).  One will get virtual therapy, the other I will email worksheets to because virtual isn’t working out all that great for them…

 

I got lots of paperwork done (it’s a paperwork week, not a direct therapy week, thank goodness for those!) and I have lots more paperwork to get done…. 

 

One of my kindergarten friends noticed the 1mm of bandage peeking out above my mask.  She exclaimed, “OH! IS THAT A BAND-AID? WHAT HAPPENED? ARE YOU OK?’  This is the same kid who gushed over me on my birthday six months ago.  I love her!  

 

When I got home, I put together a shepherd’s pie (Leah asked what kind of meat, so I told her “shepherd”, of course).  Then Hannah and I worked on her Common App for 3 of the 5 colleges she’s applying to.  ACK!!  My baby!!  Her SAT score came back and it was higher than mine was…. However, it wasn’t so high that she would be better off using test scores.  She is an excellent writer and has perfect grades.  Essays and transcripts will definitely go in her favor.

 

I’m tired and my eyes hurt (at least partially from my face being swollen).  I’m tired of my face being swollen…. It does look better every day, and it doesn’t hurt.  It is a little itchy, which I suppose is good, just annoying.  

 

One of the local Catholic high schools is moving to virtual for a week.  They have 6 positive cases and enough close contacts in quarantine that 20% of the school is out.  However, they still played football tonight.  I guess we know where people’s priorities are.  

 

Day 190 – Tuesday, September 22, 2020

 

Thanks to my teacher friend, Amanda Payne, I’m now making my homework assignments on JamBoard, and it’s kind of fun.  I can take screen captures and make interactive worksheets for the computer.  I got this week’s assignments scheduled for posting tomorrow afternoon.  My hope is to get the whole month ready this week.  

 

I had three more virtual meetings today, one had a no show parent, so it had to be rescheduled…. Story of my life.  I got to see one of my students on my computer screen that I haven’t seen since March.  He was entertaining during the IEP meeting with his dad.  

 

I’ve been trying to figure out the easiest way to get flu shots for all of us.  I can get mine at work, but the kids are trickier.  I just saw that Deaconess was doing drive through flu shots, so I’ll probably do that.

 

Leah has her first orthodontist appointment since getting her braces on.  I guess I should prepare for sore teeth… It’s amazing how much her front teeth have already straightened out!  

 

I’m ready to get my stitches out on Thursday, they really started itching tonight… Or maybe they start itching this time every night.  

 

Day 191 - Wednesday, September 23, 2020

 

I started off my day meeting with all of the speech therapists (in person!) at Culver.  There are 30 of us, spread out in a large auditorium, with the majority of us wearing masks.  It’s nice to be able to meet in person.  There were, of course, some new things we will be required to do.  Always.  Some ridiculous.  Some not.  I need to look over the notes our boss sent out since I don’t even remember what some of those things were, lol.

 

When I got to Daniel Wertz, I had a little bit of time to get some work done before lunch, then I had a normal Annual Case Review (not a virtual student) via WebEx.  I did a little bit of testing on a kindergarten student.  Planned some homework for next week.  Homework that will have to be re-planned since tonight it became apparent that none of the kids using iPads or ThinkPad (old hand-me-downs that the self-contained classes have…) could do the assignment I made.  It’s a little frustrating that they want us using tech, but an awful lot of the tech is too old to be super useful.  

 

I took off work an hour early to get Leah to her orthodontist appointment.  They put colored power chain on, but nothing else.  She has to go back for a longer appointment next week to get brackets put on her back teeth…. I’d forgotten how much sick time I used getting Hannah to orthodontist appointments.

 

When I got home, I noticed there was grass all over my driveway.  My neighbor mowed my grass!  He yelled at me from his porch, “Are you mad?  I was bored!”  I told him that he could mow my lawn any time.  I will never be mad, lol.  

 

My stitches get taken out tomorrow!

 

Day 192 – Thursday, September 24, 2020

 

I’m not sure how I failed to mention It yesterday, but Elijah went on a cleaning spree.  First, he started cleaning his room.  He gave Hannah some jeans that no longer fit him.  She was happy for baggy jeans, and he has some bigger pairs on the way.  After dinner, he started rinsing the dishes, and he even took out the trash.  He swears that he wasn’t procrastinating something else.  It was weird, but appreciated.

 

Between 12:30 and 1:30, I went to the dermatologist’s office and had my stitches removed.  I had never had stitches removed (I’d only had stiches after having kids, and those were dissolvable, thank goodness).  It went better than I expected, but there were a couple that were really tight, and were a bit uncomfortable to have removed.  My jaw definitely has a greater range of motion without the stitches!  It’s easier to eat now!  I think I can start wearing the silicone scar bandages now.

 

I was supposed to have a virtual student this afternoon, rescheduled from this morning because they were taking NWEA (low stakes standardized testing).  I have a feeling there might have been a meltdown… or maybe they just forgot.

 

Elijah decided to try speech (and debate) again this year.  He wants to try radio broadcasting this year, which I didn’t even know what a category.  He thought he would be done at 4, but it was 4:30, so we stopped at Chick-Fil-A.  The parking lot where the curbside pick-up normally is located was being resurfaced so I had to go through the drive through (the horror!).  After I was in the line, I saw they had moved the curbside spots, but it was too late…. The order wasn’t exactly taken correctly, but it was close enough.  We certainly enjoyed it.

 

When we got home, Hannah had brought leftover donuts home from school.  Her English teacher often sends extra treats home with her.  No complaints here!

 

Elijah’s school had their online Open House posted tonight, so I watched videos from all of his teachers.  He has 7 male teachers, and 0 female, which I find highly unusual. I don’t think I’ve ever had an English teacher who was male.  

 

After dinner, Leah and I did some math on the deck.  That was a nice change, and it was almost chilly out there.  

 

We had a pretty fantastic day!

 

Day 193 – Friday, September 25, 2020

 

Tomorrow, Indiana moves to stage 5 of opening back up.  Vanderburgh county is doing worse than ever, but restaurants and everything else will be able to operate at full capacity.  Ohio is going to allow visitors inside nursing homes.  Florida is opening up everything including amusement parks.  I guess this COVID show is just getting started.  

 

We have three hospital campuses in the area, one is on diversion because so much of their staff is out sick that they can’t take any more adult patients.  I know of positive cases in the schools I work at.  I know someone in the hospital with COVID.  I had a local acquaintance die from COVID a few weeks ago.  

 

The kids and I are getting flu shots on Tuesday.  I’m not normally pro flu shot, but by golly, we are getting it this year.  

 

I went to lunch at Panera with a speech therapist friend (we ate outside).  It was nice to be able to rant a little to someone who is dealing with the same stuff.  She moved to a new school this year, so she is extra busy trying to figure out a new case load, schools, etc.  I hope I never leave my schools!  

 

I still have a few meetings next week, but I’ll be seeing my full schedule of kids.  I added my RtI kids and virtual kids to my schedule for next week.  I’m not sure there will be time to breathe during the school day.  I should probably take bets on how many virtual students show up for their time slots.  I doubt they realize just how tight my schedule is.  There is NO wiggle room.  Just today, I had a mom try to get me to reschedule a session that was missed yesterday (after I rescheduled it to fit their needs).

 

Day 194 – Saturday, September 26, 2020

 

I was awoken in the 3-4am hour by Hannah in and out of the bathroom several times.  She had been having some stomach issues Thursday night and Friday morning.  Clearly, they had gotten worse.  I made an appointment for an 8am COVID test.  (yawn)

 

I was able to schedule at the downtown location which is much closer than where I took Elijah.  I don’t think the downtown location was previously open on the weekends.  So, things have changed with more testing being needed.  We were the fourth car in line, and we got there just a few minutes before 8am, when they opened.  Hannah said the test burned, but it didn’t make her cough or sneeze.  A young adult named Hannah gave Hannah the test and apparently the young adult in the car in front of us was also Hannah.  Lots of Hannahs!  Anyway, she said it would be about 24 hours for results.

 

I went ahead and ordered groceries for pick up since we were waiting on a test result.  It was a pretty boring day of laundry and waiting around.  I did go to the library to pick up some movies for Leah, fill up the car with gas, and pick up food from Sonic.  My interaction with humans outside of my family was a few seconds with the Sonic car hop.  

 

We had leftover pizza for dinner, and Leah decided which Studio Ghibli movie to watch (I picked up four).  She ended up choosing Howl’s Moving Castle.  She got out her pop-up tent, and some snacks and is enjoying her movie night.

 

Hannah’s test results came back (negative!) in 10 hours, which seems pretty quick.