Pandemic At School Week 33

 Pandemic At School

 

Week 33

 

Day 223 – Sunday, October 25, 2020

 

Last night around 11pm, Elijah came in my room and announced that his phone charger had broken, and could I buy him another tomorrow.  Of course, because not only do I love making a second trip to Walmart during the weekend, I had forgotten a few things as well.  

 

I didn’t get up until 7:30 which is late for me, goofed around for a while, and made it out the door around 10 for the second trip to Walmart.  I needed cat litter, shredded cheese, and Halloween candy for Leah’s Wednesday night church activity.  Evansville felt really subdued, and it was grey and cool out.

 

When I got home, I wanted to eat lunch.  Leah wanted me to help her with her English assignment.  We ate first, then I read a chapter aloud to her, she answered the questions mostly by herself.  Then she cleaned her room for a bit.  

 

Hannah went to Mayse Farm with some friends.  She was a little nervous about driving there by herself, but it’s not a complicated drive by any means.  She made it just fine.

 

I was thinking about starting a short project, but Leah wanted me to read another chapter to her.  I did, then as she was getting to the questions, Hannah sent me a text.  Her car wouldn’t start.  After some questioning, I found out, yes, her friend had jumper cables.  I told her I would drive to her in case jumping the battery didn’t help (I would call AAA, if needed).  They got her car started right before I arrived, but they had planned to go have hot chocolate.  I had Hannah drive her car home, so I could deal with it, and they came and picked her up. 

 

On my way home, I stopped and bought a new battery (the last one three months shy of two years… it had a “Two Year Limited Warranty” whatever that means.  I’m guessing it means you’ll be lucky if it lasts two years! I’m now a battery installing expert, lol, and it took longer to get my tools out than it did to replace the battery.  I was happy to be done before it got dark.  

 

For dinner, I made scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast.  Hannah arrived home, just as we were sitting down.

 

Leah read the third and final chapter for her English assignment on her own and answered all but one question without help.  She likes to be helped…. 

 

I was not expecting an afternoon adventure, but it all worked out.  

 

Day 224 – Monday, October 26, 2020

 

Today was definitely a day. 

 

I was 0 for 3 on virtual students attending, though one mom did let me know beforehand.  

 

The (self-contained) room next door had a student who had a difficult morning… so difficult that at several points I wondered “What the heck is going on?”

 

When I went to another self-contained room to work with a student, they screamed a blood curdling scream every time I asked them to do something.  So, I created 15 solid minutes of blood-curdling screaming, go me. 

 

The school district is losing money by being self-insured for our health insurance.  They promised that rates would not go up this year, but likely would after that.  However, today, they announced that they would no longer be making contributions to the highest deductible plan’s HSAs.  They’ve done that because THEY play a lot less for the insurance that pays for nothing.  So, no one’s rates go up, but they are screwing over those of us with the highest deductible plan…. We have to make any changes next week.  It’s cheapest for me to stick with the highest deductible plan, but I’ll probably have to up my own contribution to my HSA.  

 

Leah had band practice after school, so I picked her up after getting Elijah.  I don’t think she was thrilled about getting home an hour later than normal.  She was trying to cajole answers to her English assignment out of us, but Elijah gave her a hard time about it and she stormed off.  

 

I made potato soup for dinner which was perfect for our chilly fall day.  After doing the dishes I sat down and immediately had a cat in my lap.  I think Trent needs an electric blanket.

 

I know two people who have COVID in their homes…. A parent of a kid, and a kid of a parent (two different families).  It’s definitely here.  I pray that everyone has mild cases and recovery is quick!!

 

I wasn’t a bad day, by any means, it was just a little different.

 

Day 226 – Wednesday, October 28, 2020

 

Yesterday was fairly uneventful, and I went to bed early because I’d slept poorly the night before. 

 

OKC had a terrible ice storm, and lots of my friends are without power, so I called my mom to check up on them.  They had power yesterday afternoon, but weren’t optimistic about keeping it since tree limbs were dangling over their power lines.  The trees still had all their leaves, so they were super heavy, and there was lot of damage.  

Both of my siblings were without power.  I believe it’s the earliest recorded ice storm in OKC, usually they wait until January or February.

 

Today I had Annual Case Review IEP meetings all day at Reitz High School which was a bit of a change of pace.  

 

One of my middle school virtual students who never did any virtual work is supposed to enroll at Perry Heights tomorrow.  I guess we’ll see if that happens.

 

Elijah decided to stay after school for math club (good ol’ Mu Alpha Theta), so I went home from Reitz, started dinner, and then picked him up.  Leah’s Wednesday night church group had a trick or treat where they passed out candy.  I think she’d rather be on the receiving end, but she had fun.  She had to be there by 6 to get set up, so everything was very tight.

 

Trent received an Amazon package today containing a heated sleeping pad for pets.  I wasn’t sure who it was from, and thought it might be a couple of different people.  I plugged in the heating pad, put a towel on it (he barfs a lot), and a cardboard box (because, cats).  I couldn’t get him to lay down on it, but the other two cats are living their best lives taking turns in the heated cat bad…. Heather later asked if it had arrived, so she was the sender.  

 

*** I got the inside scoop on the Life Skills class at Reitz.  One assistant has COVID and is sick, but recovering, one student tested positive (just had cold symptoms), one student has two parents who are very sick with COVID.  All three cases seem to be unrelated, but half of the class is quarantined from close contacts.

 

Day 227 – Thursday, October 29, 2020

 

Today did not get off to a good start.  It was dark and rainy when we left for school, and when I dropped Leah off, I got stuck behind some cars that didn’t let their kids out of the car for several minutes.  As I was dropping off Elijah, he realized that he didn’t have his backpack…. So, we drove the 20 minutes home, 20 minutes back downtown.  I was supposed to be at a conference at the high school at the same time as I originally got to Elijah’s school.  Needless to say, I was extremely late.  They just had the conference without me.

 

The rest of the day was spent in conferences, and it was pretty relaxing.  Elijah stayed late for speech team practice.  By the time he got home it was 5pm.  We had an extremely easy dinner of frozen chicken poppers and bagged kale salad.

 

The girls are carving pumpkins and watching Totoro since they both chose Miyazaki characters for their pumpkins.  

 

Halloween is predicted to be sunny with a high of 60* which sounds perfect

 

Day 228 – Friday, October 30, 2020

 

Today had a much better start.  Everyone got dropped off on time, and I took Leah’s inflatable T Rex costume to work.  I asked the principal if I could wear it while students were being dropped off and during breakfast.  He was all in.

 

I got inflated right before 7:45 when the students start arriving and I startled some daycare kids on the way to breakfast.  Then I went out to the front of the school to greet kids as they got out of their cars.  After most of the students had arrived, I went to each classroom while they were eating breakfast and generally riled them up.  It was hilarious, and no one expected me to be in the costume.  

 

I did a group lesson of the book Room on the Broom followed up by a comprehension Kahoot game.  Then I got to be part of a case conference.  Then I did another group lesson (same book and Kahoot).

 

Elijah had a half day so I had to run him home during my lunch.  One virtual student canceled at the last minute and the other was a no show… that is really NOT working out.  By that time most classes were doing special Halloween activities so I let them be.  

 

We ordered pizza for dinner and Elijah wanted Leah and me to play a “new” (actually old) game called Rhythm… something.  It was pretty fun, and I’m terrible because of the delay with the WiiMotes.  I would do better with wired controllers, I’m sure.

 

Leah’s pumpkin needed a little dental work last night, so I carved a couple of new teeth and placed them with toothpicks.  We are looking forward to Halloween tomorrow night.  

 

**Another DW teacher is positive, but asymptomatic. 

 

Day 229 – Saturday, October 31, 2020

 

Happy Halloween!!  Halloween on a Saturday is really nice and relaxed.

 

The cats got me up at 5am, but that gave me time to create my menu for the week and make my shopping list.  I even managed to get to Walmart by 7:30.  I stopped by the library on the way home to pick up Elijah’s movie for the week, but they were closed today which is unusual.  They only had curbside pick up during early voting, but voting at the library ended yesterday.  I suppose they’ll still have the DVD on Monday.

 

At home, I did laundry… all day.  Now that it’s jeans and sweatshirt weather, there’s a lot more laundry to do.  

 

The exterminator is scheduled to come on Monday.  Leah’s room has been too messy to spray the last 2 or 3 times he’s been here (he sprays quarterly), so I told her that her friends could Trick or Treat with her if she cleaned her room by today.  She had at least 10 days notice.  She finally finished around 1pm, and I was even able to vacuum.  I was afraid that I was going to have to cancel her Trick or Treat plans…

 

Then I got the urge to clean and organize the pantry.  It was a mess.  I chucked a lot of things that were past their expiration dates.  

 

Our first Trick or Treaters came to the door around 2:30.  I was not ready for that!  After they left, I shut the front door.  I ended up making a sign that said, “Come Back After 5:30”. I actually got set up around 5:15.  I set a card table up in the driveway with a plastic table cloth, the girls’ jack-o-lanterns, and the treat bags Leah made a month ago.  My 48 treat bags were gone by 6:30.  A tiny girl dressed like a baby zombie came up to me and told me, “I like it when people tell me I’m cute”. Hilarious!  I told her she was cute that she’d go far in life.  

 

The time change is tonight.  I love fall, but I hate the change back to Standard Time.  Now it will be dark by 5pm and in a few weeks by 4:30.