Pandemic Christmas Break
Week 41
Day 279 – Sunday, December 20, 2020
I got up earlier than I wanted to, and made a menu for the next few days until we leave town. I went to Walmart and I’m glad that I won’t need to go back until after Christmas. The lines were long, even at 8:00 in the self-checkout.
I came home, ate some breakfast and watched a 9am church service.
I did a little more laundry and vacuumed.
All the Christmas presents are under the tree. We will have Christmas in Evansville Tuesday morning.
My friend, Karen, came over for a few minutes to bring me a book.
I made dinner, did the dishes, then watched the last three episodes of the Mandalorian. Wow!
Trent had a rough morning, but found some nice places to sleep in the sun this afternoon. Tonight, he’s sleeping on my lap.
Tomorrow night, the “Christmas Star” (conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn) will be visible just after sunset for the first time in 800 years. I went out to see the not-quite-conjunction tonight, and I set an alarm for tomorrow. I hope there are no clouds.
Day 280 – Monday, December 21, 2020
While I turned off all of my school schedule alarms on my phone, my FitBit still has a few set. I might turn them off once we get to OKC. Oliver decided that I should get up at 4:45 which is ten minutes earlier than a normal school day. After a few hours, he eventually gives up… around the time I’m ready to get up. This morning I got up around 7:00.
Last night I had cracked open a carton of peppermint ice cream, and I thought it would be tasty if I put a scoop in my coffee this morning. It was pretty good, but not as fabulous as I’d hoped.
Leah wanted to go to Michael’s and Barnes & Nobel, so we went early. Google lied and said B&N opened at 11, but it was actually 10. We left home at 10 and hit Michael’s first. Leah picked out some wire and gemstone beads to make rings. As soon as we got to Michael’s, I got a text from Hannah that her left contact from her trial pair had ripped… and she didn’t have anything to replace it with. I told her since we were near the mall, I’d stop by and see if I could get her a replacement. Then we headed over to B&N where she ended up buying Hannah a Christmas present with her own gift card (very sweet). She almost got some fairy lights for her room, but decided against it.
The mall eye doctor didn’t open until noon, and it was only 11:30, so Leah and I stopped by Thornton’s to get fountain drinks, well, Leah got a Fizz Freeze (like an Icee). Next, we headed to the mall, and I parked in the back lot. I’m so pleased that I finally realized that was a possibility. I walked into LensCrafters and the manager of the connected eye doctor spotted me immediately and waved me over. (We’ve had enough interactions, that he knows me by name…). He got a replacement lens for Hannah. Her brand wasn’t in stock, but her Rx in another brand was. I was in the mall for less than five minutes, an all-time record for sure.
I told Leah that I’d make her whatever sandwich she wanted when we got home and she opted for a grilled ham and cheese.
I finished my 36th book of the year which was my goal. According to GoodReads this is my 9th year to set a reading goal. I don’t always reach it, and some years have had extenuating circumstances…2019 I read 39 with a goal of 36, 2018 34/30, 2017 30/30, 2016 29/24, 2015 7/25 (tough year!), 2014 39/50, 2013 54/50, 2012 47/50, 2011 28/50. I think 36 will be a good number for 2021 as well, and maybe I’ll read more.
This afternoon, Hannah was heading to her boyfriend’s house when she called me. She had pulled over on the Lloyd Expressway because her car started shaking once it started going over 40 MPH…. I’m fairly sure it’s the transmission on a car with nearly 200,000 miles on it. I really was hoping it would last until summer when my car would be paid off and I could hand it down to her for college, and Elijah would get the hand-me-down Harold-the-Honda-Element. Harold is going to the mechanic tomorrow, but I don’t have high hopes. Hannah was able to drive on the shoulder until she could pull into the Walmart shopping area and get back on slow roads home.
Dinner was a quick meal of left over shepherd’s pie since we are leaving town on Wednesday.
I got a fantastic photo of the “Christmas Star” (the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter) which made me happy.
Day 281 – Tuesday, December 22, 2020
Today was our Christmas in Evansville. I woke the kids up at 7am to open presents. I’m not sure I’ve ever had to wake Leah up for Christmas before….
I spent the morning doing laundry (again) so we could pack.
I took Hannah’s car to the mechanic and they called saying that it needed to go the dealership. The diagnostic codes were for an oil pressure switch and a knock sensor. I’m not sure that either of those would cause it to shake at 40 mph. When we return, I will likely have the dealership do a full diagnostic and get an estimate.
We got take out from La Campirana (the BEST) to celebrate Christmas, Rosen style.
Tomorrow, we drive…
People are starting to get the Moderna vaccine. I just read that the government is working on a deal with Pfizer to get more vaccine from them as well.
Day 282 – Wednesday, December 23, 2020
Oliver the cat apparently decided that I didn’t need sleep before an 11 hour drive, so he was a brat and woke me up several times. After I put him in the laundry room, I was unable to fall back to sleep.
We got on the road by 6am, as planned. The first 30 minutes were in the dark on windy, two lane highways which I’m not a fan of. When it’s light out, no problem. Around 8am, somewhere in Illinois, we drove under a rainbow which was impressive. Hannah snapped a photo, but the photo just doesn’t do it justice.
Not long after we made it through St Louis (around Eureka) Leah started feeling nauseated. The girls often get motion sick, but usually in the form of headaches. My kids rarely barf, but we stopped at gas station to fill up, get drinks, and snacks. Leah got a Sprite and some pretzels (couldn’t find any plain crackers) to hopefully settle her stomach. I had Leah take a sip of Sprite to see if it helped. It did not. However, after losing that sip of Sprite (the only thing in her stomach) she felt better and was able to nap. Not half an hour later, she announces that she has a terrible nose bleed which is highly unusual. This was maybe the third nosebleed in her life, and by far the worst. I had a similar nosebleed on Sunday. I had one back in the spring, and maybe a decade ago. We were discussing causes of nosebleeds (i.e. dry air), and I said that I had not heard of it being a symptom of COVID and it actually seemed opposite of a symptom since blood clots are often the cause of COVID symptoms. These days, everything is a suspected symptom.
Around Springfield, MO, I decided I needed a bathroom break and as I exited the highway for a LOVE’s and torrential rainstorm hit. We waited it out under the gas pump awning. I didn’t really need to fill up yet, but I did hit the bathrooms. The storm wasn’t too big, and we were on our way in 20 minutes or so.
In Joplin, we met Pete for lunch at Five Guys. We ate outside because it was 55 and sunny and Five Guys was kind of crowded, but it was SO windy. The wind was chilly. We ended up going back inside for about 5 minutes.
We were listening to the audiobook Ready Player Two, which I thought would be an easy fun book to listen to. Hannah, Elijah, and I all enjoyed Ready Player One, and I wasn’t convinced the premise was all that great so I hadn’t read it yet. So far, it’s super entertaining.
Three hours later, we arrived in OKC. We only made three stops, and my kids would have been fine with just two. It was pretty windy, especially between Joplin and OKC. The construction on I-44 in OKC is ridiculous and the setting sun was in my eyes. There were a couple of times when I literally could not see the road for a few seconds, but we made it safely!
My brother, niece, and nephew came over when they got off work and ate dinner with us. Our Christmas Eve Eve dinner was potato soup and grilled cheese on Texas toast.
Day 283 – Thursday, December 24, 2020
We pretty much sat around and ate all day long. The girls and I played some Animal Crossing. Elijah played Zelda, Majora’s Mask. I started the newest Brandon Sanderson novel (the hard cover edition is 1200 pages). We all spent too much time on our phones doing whatever.
Drew, Parker, and Bailey joined us for our traditional Christmas Eve pizza. Elijah and I played a few rounds of Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. We talked about doing my cereal box puzzle but haven’t gotten around to it yet, maybe tomorrow evening.
Day 284 – Friday, December 25, 2020
Christmas breakfast was at 9am, and honestly, we were late. I got up around 7, but getting everyone ready for the day just took a little longer than I expected. Drew, Parker, and Bailey joined us for breakfast with Mom. We had the traditional homemade cinnamon rolls, but we had Mrs. Wolfe’s caramel pecan topping instead of our regular icing. We also had scrambled eggs and link sausage. It was all delicious, as always.
My mom is in the middle of a kitchen makeover, and her dishwasher has not yet been installed. So, she washed and I dried the dishes.
We killed a bit of time since Christmas dinner was at 2pm (followed by gifts). We were able to push two tables together to make a long table. There are 10 of us now, and Drew is no longer relegated to the kids’ table (he’s practically 34). Dulcey and John arrived and brought some of the dishes. We generally have a repeat of Thanksgiving for Christmas dinner, and this year was no exception.
We opened gifts, and our stockings were pandemic related. We got masks, hand sanitizer, and a roll of toilet paper among other things.
After gifts, we had pie, but just two varieties (pumpkin and pecan). Mom and I washed the dishes again. Then mom and I started my cereal box puzzle. We got the edges and two boxes mostly done. Elijah and I played a few more rounds of Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes.
By 7:30 everyone had pretty much wandered off to decompress.
Day 285 – Saturday, December 26, 2020
We slept in a bit and went shopping at Half Price Books so the kids could spend their gift cards from Uncle Drew. Elijah got several computer programming books including a classic 1977 book on Principals of Compiling. The cover was VERY 1977. Hannah got a stack of books, and Leah got some non-book fun stuff.
I wanted to make cranberry salsa for the family, so I stopped at the grocery store to buy the necessary produce. I went to three stores before I found cranberries. I suppose the demand for them is definitely waning as we get closer to January. The mom and pop grocery half a mile away was the winner.
Hannah and I chopped and chopped and got the salsa put together. A food processor definitely would have made the process faster. We did a good job and it was super tasty.
We had turkey sandwiches with all the cold salads (and cranberry salsa) for dinner. I think Mom and Parker liked the salsa, but Hannah and I will polish it off with no problems.
There was a discussion about fainting, blood, surgeries, and reactions to prescription drugs… My younger children asked us to please STOP because it was making them ill. They couldn’t believe how many of these stories we had, and we could have gone on a lot longer.
After dinner, Parker worked on the cereal box puzzle hard core. It was impressive how much of the puzzle he got done. Drew and I learned how to (finally) play my card game, Star Realms, that my friend Vanessa gave me in the summer. We liked it, but the instructions were daunting. The game itself was not that difficult. Drew is planning on buying his own deck so we can play with four people, maybe tomorrow. I won, but it was a very close game. One more turn, and I would have been out.
Being an American, I don’t really understand what Boxing Day is all about, but we had a great one.
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