Pandemic at School Week 50

Pandemic at School

 

Week 50

 

Day 341 – Sunday, February 21, 2021

 

Sweet Fancy Moses!  Week 50?  I keep wondering, do I write for a year, or do I write until everyone is able to be vaccinated?  Maybe I’ll write until my children are vaccinated, at least the older two.  

 

The girls and I haven’t been at school since February 9^th, and we have to go back tomorrow.  It was a nice, long break for February.  We definitely enjoyed it, even Hannah, who generally enjoys going to school.  I think that senior-itis is sneaking up on her.

 

I went grocery shopping this morning, did some laundry, cleaned a bathroom, vacuumed and watched a couple of episodes of Downton Abbey.

 

Elijah sold a computer keyboard on eBay for a huge profit.  He bought this super fancy keyboard a while back, but was disappointed in how it worked on the games he likes to play.  Apparently, it “THE” keyboard that Fortnight players are scrambling for and they are sold out everywhere.  He cleaned it, and I listed it with a starting price that was the original price.  The auction ended today, and he did very well.  

 

It’s all packaged up and ready to be shipped.  I just need to drop it off tomorrow.  The west side USPS doesn’t have a self-serve package drop-off, but I can take it to the UPS store.  

 

I made bacon, eggs, and biscuits for dinner.  The dishes are in the dishwasher, and I’m thinking about another episode of The Queen’s Gambit.

 

Day 342 – Monday, February 22, 2021

 

Well, we survived our first day back from February Snow Vacation.

 

Since the speech therapists missed their entire consult week last week, we were given two consult days this week, which was very nice.  I spent the entire day closing out paperwork and starting new.

 

During my lunch, I took the keyboard package to the post office because you can’t actually drop USPS packages off at the UPS store.  The internet lied to me.  

 

Leah wanted to go to Meijer because they have a special purple cow Squishmallow for Easter that no one else has.  I had to pick up a prescription there as well, so after dinner we headed over.  I had been inside Meijer exactly one time before this, but we found the Easter section easily.  We found the Squishmallows as well, but no purple cows.  Leah was sad.  She had me check Walgreens for some different Easter Squishmallows, but they didn’t have any.  Hannah and I saw some at Walmart last week…. I didn’t know they were a hot ticket item.

 

I broiled hamburgers for dinner, and I enjoyed how quick and easy that meal was.  Clean up was fast too.  

 

Leah wanted some help with her science homework, but my knowledge of earth science is minimal, practically nonexistent.  

 

Elijah and I watched the fourth episode of The Queen’s Gambit.  He had not seen this one yet, so now I’m caught up to him.  

 

Day 343 – Tuesday, February 23, 2021

 

It was 60 degrees and sunny today.  I’m ready for spring!  The snow is almost all gone now.

 

I had a very normal Tuesday at school.  I got to meet my new 1^st grader, and that went well since his classmate who will normally go with us was out sick.  I don’t know how well they will get along.  I might be getting a new kindergartener as well, but I haven’t seen an IEP yet.

 

Hannah had a virtual day (tomorrow too) because only the Juniors are in the high schools so they can take ISTEP as socially distanced as possible.  

 

Amazon mailed a button sized battery in a shoe box sized box.  I’m thinking an envelope would have sufficed.  UPS says that they delivered my boots at 1:30, but they didn’t put them on my porch.  My guess is they will arrive tomorrow.  I hate it when they do that.  

 

We had tacos for dinner.

 

Day 344 – Wednesday, February 24, 2021

 

Today, we had #blackout4ed and teachers wore black.  Normally we wear #RedForEd on Wednesdays.  Our group photo might have looked like a bunch of bank robbers, lol.

 

I had a short meeting, and then headed to the middle school.  I got to meet one of my new students, who seems very sweet.  I got “Are you Leah’s mom?” from another kid which was kind of funny.

 

Back at Daniel Wertz, I did my Valentine’s Day group lesson since we missed that week of school.  I did the same lesson at the high school.

 

Reitz only had Juniors and Life Skills students in attendance today, the rest of the student body had a virtual day.  Juniors had to take ISTEP since they missed taking it as Sophomores last spring.  The building was SO QUIET.  

I got back to D.W. around 12:40 and one of the 3^rd grade classes was coming in from a walk.  The power had gone out a few minutes before, and they were locked out of the building.  The RFID reader to unlock the door was not working.  The power was out, but not all of the power.  A tree had fallen in the neighborhood and cut a power line.  Clearly, DW gets power from multiple directions.  Some lights were on, some teachers had computers that worked.  There was no internet, but the intercom worked.  Some bathrooms had lights, but others didn’t.  It was weird.  Maintenance brought free standing lights, but all the classrooms have windows…  By the time the lights got set up, the power came back on.  It was out for about two hours. That’s not the kind of #blackout4ed we meant, lol.

 

At the end of the day, I went into the kindergarten room, and I saw a new student.  I had gotten their IEP in the morning, so I knew they were a speech student.  I asked, “Are you [student’s name]?”  

“No”

Another student says, “She is [student’s name], but she goes by [nickname]”

A third student asks me, “Ms Rosen, what’s your real name?”

“Brooke Rosen”

New student says, “Brooke Rosen, that’s my mom’s name.”

Oh my…. Now, maybe (MAYBE) this kid’s mom is named “Brooke”.  Maybe, lol.

 

Day 345 – Thursday, February 25, 2021

 

Last night when I got home from Leah’s Wednesday night church group, I was putting the dishes in the dishwasher, and the water heater started making louder than normal sounds.  Leah had just gotten out of the shower, so it was refilling, but it was extra loud.  Then I noticed that we had less and less water pressure.  We never lost it completely, but it wasn’t even strong enough to fill the toilet tanks.  I was able to fill a pitcher in the shower to re-fill the tanks.  When I got up this morning, it was back to normal, for which we are all very grateful.  I never found any information about a water main break, so I have no idea of the cause.

 

We had a normal day at school, nothing crazy or weird.  We ate leftovers for dinner, so I’ve spent the evening re-watching Downton Abbey episodes. 

 

Hannah gave me the dates that she’s working at camp and when Dylan leaves for boot camp, etc., and there is no time for all four of us to go on vacation.  If she’d worked at camp in June when Elijah and Leah are attending, we’d have all of July, but then she’d miss seeing Dylan before he left.  

 

I don’t know when Dad’s ashes will be interred at Ft Sill, but I’m guessing that Hannah likely won’t be available.  

 

My Sorel boots arrived yesterday, but I should have ordered a half size bigger.  I need a tad more room for my toes…. I’ll have to return them and re-order.  Bummer.  At least I don’t need them this winter.

 

Day 346 – Friday, February 26, 2021

 

I had a consult day today, so I didn’t see my students.  I had an 8:30 case conference that had been re-scheduled twice due to snow and had some crazy issues with sound and video today.  

 

I had to set up two conferences for the next couple of weeks which always seems to take more time than it should.

 

Elijah had a half-day, so I spent my lunch picking him up and bringing him home.

 

I had another conference in the afternoon that worked a little better.

 

Today, was our much belated Valentine’s party day at Daniel Wertz.  Just before school was out, two of my 3^rdgraders were passing out the last of their Valentine’s to anyone around.  One of them came up to me and said, “Where’s the manager?”  “What on earth are you talking about?”, I asked.  “The manager, Mr. Steele’s (the principal) boss.”  “Oh, Mr. Slagle, I don’t know where he is.”  Mr. Slagle is our D.S.S. (I don’t even know what that stands for) which is essentially the principals’ principal for about 10 schools.  He has an office right next to mine, but he’s not there all that often.  The next time I see him, I’ll let him know he’s the manager.

 

I’ve been re-watching Downton Abbey, which I originally watched 8 years ago (I know exactly because my Facebook memory came up today that I’d watched the episode where Matthew dies).  Tonight, I was watching an episode where several people have Spanish flu, and one of them dies from it.  There is a death bed scene, and another nearly death bed scene where everyone is crowded around.  I kept wondering why they were so close to each other and no one was wearing a mask.  It kind of freaks me out a bit!!  

Day 347 – Saturday, February 27, 2021

 

I got up this morning and the weather was so nice that I decided to start some of my outdoor projects I need to do this spring.  I ordered ten bags of pea gravel and a nice wheelbarrow from Lowe’s and picked it up curbside.  I had to fold my back seats down to have enough cargo area and I put down a tarp since I figured the pea gravel would be wet (it was).  My former co-worker, Sam, brought it out to my car and we wrestled the whole thing into my RAV4.  She commented that I was going to have a fun day.

 

I had plans to for three small projects for today.  Put down the ten bags of gravel in a drainage problem along my back fence (it’s on a hill), prune the crepe myrtle in front of the house, apply weed killer to the landscaping.  

 

The ground is really wet from all the snow and a little rain, and my backyard is on a pretty steep hill which made things interesting.  I got the ten bags of gravel down, and I need at least ten more, probably twenty.  After I pruned the crepe myrtle, I decide to cut a couple of branches off the tree in the back to make mowing easier.  I slipped in the mud and fell, but the ground is squishy and I am squishy so I wasn’t hurt.  I might be sore tomorrow though.  

 

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been given emergency approval.  It’s a one dose vaccine that doesn’t need sub-zero freezers to store it.  Likely, it will go out to more rural areas, and places like Walgreens and CVS.  

Pandemic at School Week 49

Pandemic at School

 

Week 49

 

Day 334 – Sunday, February 14, 2021

 

Happy Valentine’s Day!  I have Snoopy valentines at school to give to my students…. But we haven’t been to school since Tuesday, lol. 

 

I checked the temperature in the garage this morning when it was 7 degrees outside.  It was about 34 in the garage, so I was glad that I’d moved all of the drinks inside.  I don’t want any frozen soda mess to clean up!  The rest of the week the lows aren’t predicted any lower than 9 degrees.  They can stay in the laundry room for a few days.

 

Today, I washed sheets and towels.  I vacuumed and did dishes.  I tried to get everything ready so I could do absolutely nothing tomorrow if necessary while recovering.

 

I got my second COVID vaccination today!!  There was absolutely NO LINE.  It was pretty weird.  This injection didn’t sting like the first one did.  I barely felt it at all. 3 ½ hours later, and my arm is a little bit sore, I have a mild headache, and a bit of cold sweats.  

 

I had book club tonight where we discussed The Bees by Laline Paull, which was a vey interesting book.  It was good to chat with Karen, Sarah, and Melissa.  

 

I made breakfast for dinner, scrambled eggs, bacon cooked in the oven, and biscuits.  It was pretty tasty.  

 

Snow is predicted to start around 9pm, and we are supposed to get a couple of inches overnight, then a lot more in a second wave during the day. They are predicting 6-12 inches of snow.  All the different models are agreeing on lots of snow…

 

Day 335 – Monday, February 15, 2021

 

Happy President’s Day!  I’m glad we have a new President.

 

When I got up this morning, we had gotten an inch or two of snow.  There was a break for several hours before it started back up again.  There was a lot of drifting, so it was hard to tell how much we got.  On the deck, there was a 7.5 inch snow dune drift, but on the driveway it looked like 3.5 inches around 4pm.  It started snowing fat flakes as the sun went down.  I guess we’ll see in the morning what it looks like.  I’m planning on shoveling the driveway and sidewalk then.

 

When I went to bed last night, my legs were a bit achy from the COVID shot.  When I woke up this morning, my whole body was slightly achy, and my right arm was quite sore at the injection site.  After I got up and around, most of the aches went away and I was left with just the achy arm.  I had planned to spend the day recuperating and I did.  I read, and snacked, and drank lots of fluids, mostly uncaffeinated.  

 

Leah wanted to watch a movie, so we watched Mary and the Witch’s Flower on Netflix.  It looked like a Studio Ghibli, but the story was pretty weak.  It was okay.  I read my book during it, and Leah ran off before it ended.

 

After dinner, I brought in a bowl of snow for the cats to eat.  Leah ended up making a tiny snowman out of it.  

 

Texas and Oklahoma had rolling blackouts to keep their electrical grid up.  OKC had -2 this morning, and Wichita had -8.  We were about 8 which was plenty cold.

 

No school tomorrow since the roads are horrible.  Elijah will have “e-learning”, EVSC is using state waiver days that we won’t even need to make up.  

 

Day 336 – Tuesday, February 16, 2021

 

Is it Tuesday?  What day is it?  It’s like Pandemic School all over again.

 

We had a snow day, and will have another tomorrow.  It’s fine, but I hope to get one day at school this week.  Elijah will have e-learning, but EVSC is still working through its 8 waiver days from the state.  I mean, why not?

 

I slept late, got out of bed around 8am, ate breakfast and went out to shovel snow around 9am.  Two hours later, I had shoveled the entire driveway and the sidewalks all the way to both of my neighbors’ driveways.  I’m not sure anyone else in the neighborhood shovels the sidewalks, but I thought the puppers going for walks would like some shoveled sidewalk.

 

Two hours of manual labor and my FitBit gave me ONE MINUTE of credit for exercise…. I know my heartrate was up.

 

The rest of the day was spent recovering from shoveling six inches of snow.  Around 4pm I had to take some Advil.  I held off as long as I could because of my COVID vaccination, but 48 hours after the fact shouldn’t hurt.  

 

We had shepherd’s pie for dinner and Hannah wanted to watch a movie.  We tried to download the Peacock app for FireStick, but apparently there isn’t one.  So, we looked at Apple TV since I have a free subscription from buying my laptop.  I tried to stream When Harry Met Sally, no dice.  Hulu for the win.  We watched You’ve Got Mail.  Hannah seemed to enjoy it.  I did have to explain about AOL and how you really had to connect each time and you couldn’t use your phone if you were online…. 

 

Tomorrow, Leah is supposed to go sledding with Libby at Helfrich Park.  

 

Day 337 – Wednesday, February 17, 2021

 

Another snow day, and another tomorrow, and likely Friday as well.  Elijah came out of his room for lunch and said, “This reminds me of The Pandemic [when we were out of school In the spring].”  I agree, but I’m a lot less worried and stressed than I was then.  However, I don’t live in Texas where the power and water has been out for multiple days due to frigid weather.

 

Hannah and I went to Wal-Mart at 10am to get bread, a few snacks, yarn for Leah’s crochet project, and counted cross-stitch supplies for Hannah.  I also got bird seed and squirrel corn (I’m a sucker).  On the way home, we stopped and picked up Chick-Fil-A for lunch.  

 

After lunch, Leah and I got ready for sledding with her friends at Helfrich golf course.  First, I had to find our sledding saucers.  I hadn’t seen them since the move 2+ years ago.  I was pretty sure they were in the shed, but I didn’t see them at first.  They had gotten tossed up into the loft, so I had to go back to the garage and get the ladder.  Thankfully, we had a pair of snow bibs that fit Leah.  I clearly had bought them for Elijah, but they still had the tags on them.  His size 2 snow boots fit her as well. Once we got there, Libby found us right away.   The hill was deceptively big in the snow.  It went a lot farther than it looked.  I only went down once, because the trek back up the hill was a bit much.  Leah was exhausted after an hour which is all I wanted to stay out anyway.

 

When we got home, we put on My Neighbor, Totoro and the girls worked on their craft projects.  

 

We had chicken and noodles for dinner.  

 

Day 338 – Thursday, February 18, 2021

 

It’s official, we are having a Snow Week off of school.  Elijah only has a two hour delay tomorrow which means I have to both take him AND remember to pick him up.  Poor kid.

 

Today… we slept late.  Goofed around doing very little.  After lunch, the girls and I bundled up.  They made a snow man and I shoveled the driveway.  Hannah wore the snow bibs and boots that I wore yesterday, so I had to wear some hiking boots and layer my clothes.  I was actually warmer in my layers that I was in the snow gear yesterday.

 

When we came back in, I turned on NASA tv to watch the livestream of the Mars rover, Perseverance, land successfully on Mars.   

 

We had lots of leftovers in the fridge, so I warmed those up for dinner.

 

Leah almost finished her first crochet project, a floppy frog bucket hat.  However, it ended up HUGE, so she had to unravel it, and will start again, paying attention to how many stitches are in the first circle.

 

In COVID news, Vanderburgh County is down to 1.5 and yellow.  Things are looking good.

 

Day 339 - Friday, February 19, 2021

 

I had to get up on the early side, though later than a normal Friday, so I could take Elijah to school two hours later than normal.  Hannah wanted to go to Hobby Lobby to buy embroidery floss for a project, so we went after dropping off Elijah.  The main roads were perfect.  Main Street downtown, was not.  The plows were unable or unwilling to plow the on street parking, so it’s a bit of a mess and will take quite a while to melt.

 

We finally had mail delivered for the first time since Saturday.  We got a couple of good things.  Leah got a P-EBT card (Pandemic food stamps to cover the cost of food when out of school).  Over the summer Hannah and Elijah had gotten them, and Leah’s $$ was included on Hannah’s since both were in EVSC schools.  I have no idea why Leah got sent one of her own.  Anyway, there was about $13 per kid on both Leah’s and Elijah’s card, and I checked Hannah’s and it had the $91 left over from the summer.  I didn’t get it all spent before July 1^st and it went inactive.  I’m thinking Hannah didn’t get more money because she’s 18, but I can access the previous money.  None of that makes a lot of sense.  I’m not sure how an 18 year old who is still in high school and completely dependent on their parents no longer qualifies for that sort of thing… but still gets free lunch at school.  

 

Hannah got some “merch” as Leah puts it from IU College of Arts & Sciences.  Some stickers and a journal, a cute idea.

 

I remembered to pick up Elijah on time, but there was nowhere to park on the street due to the snow piles.  I ended up in front of the YMCA as usual.

 

We ordered pizza, from Dominos which was Leah’s choice, and it was late and barely warm.  

 

I re-watched a couple of episodes of Downton Abbey and Elijah wants me to watch The Queen’s Gambit. 

 

Our weather is predicted to return to normal, and the snow should eventually melt off.  Hopefully, Texas will get do the same and people will get their electricity and water back.  

 

Day 340 – Saturday, February 20, 2021

 

I think I’m ready to get back to school after a week and a half off.  I was a bit restless today.

 

We had to get up on the early side because the exterminator was scheduled to come at 9am.  He was here for 7 minutes…. He couldn’t do the outside of the house at all because of the snow.   He’ll come back and do that after it all melts off.

 

I did laundry and not much else.  

 

Lauren Fendrich picked up my old Canon color printer that drove me insane.  Hopefully, it works for what she needs it to do.

 

Hannah and Dylan watched Black Hawk Down this afternoon.  I was confusing it with Courage Under Fire… both sad and bloody.  I guess I actually remember when the Black Hawn helicopter went down in Mogadishu.

 

We had sausage rice casserole for dinner even though I really tried to figure out something else to make with that sausage.  It was good, the prep is just a mess.

 

After dinner we watched another episode of The Queen’s Gambit, and it didn’t disappoint.  I don’t know why I’m reluctant to watch shows that other people recommend… stubborn, I guess.

 

It was sunny and got above freezing today.  There was a lot of melting snow and ice, but we still have a LOT to go.  The back deck is probably down to 4 inches of snow from 10.  The birds and squirrels dug in it all day retrieving seeds that I’d scattered for them.  I put the drinks back in the garage so I could do laundry, and I’ll be able to leave them in there without worrying about them freezing. 

Pandemic at School Week 48

Pandemic at School

 

Week 48

 

Day 327 – Sunday, February 7, 2021

 

I woke up to two inches of snow and a temperature of 10 degrees.  It was sunny, so I decided to go grocery shopping at 8am instead of 7am.  The Lloyd Expressway was okay, but the rest of the roads were not great.  By the time I got home, the roads had improved significantly.

 

Leah made Valentine cupcakes that she’s been meaning to make all week.  She did a nice job.

 

While the cupcakes were cooling, the girls and I went to Dollar Tree.  Leah needed a string backpack for school to replace one that broke. 

 

Leah wanted to watch The Puppy Bowl, so we watched cute puppies for a while.  We had Superbowl snacks for dinner.  

 

Day 328 – Monday, February 8, 2021

 

I really wanted to sleep in today, but no luck.  

 

School went according to plan with no craziness that I was aware of.  

 

Snow and ice are predicted for tonight and the temperature should be low enough for it to stick.  The girls and I are definitely hoping for a snow/ice day off or school.

 

I made turkey smash burgers for dinner which were not quite as good as beef, but were still tasty.  I made some queso that I didn’t make for the Super Bowl to go along with tortilla chips.  

 

Day 329 – Tuesday, February 9, 2021

 

Today is my sister’s 52^nd birthday.

 

There was not enough snow or ice to close or even delay school today.  However, a few miles north of my house, a bus with students slid off the road this morning.  So, a delay probably would have been a good idea.

 

I sat in on ten IEP meetings today, three of which were for my students.  So, it was a sit around and chat between meetings kind of day at work.  No complaints from me.

 

For dinner I used some food from my last EveryPlate box that did not go in any of the recipes.  We had broiled pork chops, and new potatoes with peas and onions in white sauce.  

 

We have another possibility of winter weather tonight, but I’m hoping it misses us since we have 8am dentist appointments in Newburgh tomorrow.

 

Day 330 – Wednesday, February 10, 2021 

 

We got a snow day!  However, we still had to get up at the regular time because we had to be at the dentist office, 15 miles away, for 8am appointment.  We left at 7 since it was icy out.  The side roads were slick, but the Lloyd Expressway was just wet.  I only drove 40 mph and it took us 40 minutes to get there. 

 

On the way home, my low tire pressure light came, so I stopped at Discount Tire and had them filled up.  Then we stopped at Chick-Fil-A for second breakfast.

 

I spent most of the day watching the impeachment trial on C-SPAN.  

 

We had beef and noodles for dinner, and the girls and I watched The Karate Kid, the original with Ralph Macchio.

 

Day 331 – Thursday, February 11, 2021

 

Though there were several weather alerts for snow last night, it appeared that everything that fell was ice or sleet.  Everything was covered with a thick coating of ice.  

 

I finished a good book, The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, my sixth book of the year.  I should be a little ahead of schedule for reading 36 books this year.  

 

Leah had an orthodontist appointment across town at 3:30.  I was a little worried about the side roads, but my neighborhood was fine and the area around the orthodontist office was as well.  Leah got power chain put on her braces for the first time, and went from one rubber band (which was weird) back to two.  I guess she got evened out.  She goes back in 7 weeks, after spring break.

 

I was sure that we’d have a normal school day, so I warmed up Hannah’s car and got all the ice off of the windshield, wipers, and windows.  Then I got the notification that EVSC was going to cancel tomorrow due to icy side roads and sidewalks.  Okay.

 

Signature School rarely cancels, so I told Elijah I was 95% certain he would still have school tomorrow.  Then we got the text saying they were having a 2-hour delay.  I’m shocked!

 

I made chicken pot pie with crescent roll dough for the crust.  It was mostly made up out of my brain, but it was pretty good.  

 

We have some significant cold predicted for this weekend, and the possibility of a foot of snow next week.  I have my menu planned and my grocery list ready.  I plan to shop after I drop Elijah off tomorrow.  

 

I had another pretty significant nose bleed.  That’s the 3^rd of the Pandemic era which is more than I’ve had as an adult…

 

COVID numbers and vaccination numbers are looking good in Vanderburgh County and Indiana.  Yay Hoosiers!

 

Day 332 – Friday, February 12, 2021

 

EVSC cancelled school because some side roads and lots of sidewalks were covered in ice.  Signature School opted for a two-hour delay, so I had to drive Elijah downtown this morning.

 

I slept in until 6am, an hour later than normal, and got ready.  The plan was to leave around 9am since Elijah usually gets to school early so I can get to work.  Elijah wanted me to play chess, but I offered a game of Star Realms instead.  He won.  Half an hour before we were supposed to leave, he decided that we should build a cardboard chessboard for him to take to school.  It took a little extra time to get all the squares colored in, but we were successful.

 

Since we have severe winter weather predicted and no school today, I decided to do my weekly grocery shopping after I dropped off Elijah.  It was just me and the rest of the west side of Evansville!  I was shocked at how packed the store was.  I did get everything on my list.  

 

Leah wanted to go to the big thrift store with Libby, so I promised we could leave at noon.  After I got groceries put away and made some lunch, it was time to go.  Hannah wanted to go too.  The traffic was ridiculous.  We met Libby there, and serendipitously, her friends Raylee and Aubrie were there at the same time.  I found a pair of jeans and an IU shirt for me, and a couple of long-sleeved shirts for Elijah.  Leah found some shirts, and so did Hannah.  

 

We were home about an hour before it was time to pick up Elijah…. It was an extremely busy snow day off work.

 

We ordered Papa John’s Pizza and it was more than 30 minutes late, but it was still hot and tasty.

 

Elijah gave Leah a chess lesson, that went fairly well.  Then, they decided to play Super Smash Brothers.  So sweet!

 

Day 333 – Saturday, February 13, 2021

 

Oliver really didn’t want me sleeping too late, so I got up around 7am.  After breakfast, I got laundry started.  Oliver has been knocking over a pile of papers that needed to be filed away, so I decided to get on that.  Thankfully, most things are digital these days, so my stack of two years’ worth of papers was only six inches tall.  I sorted everything, filed what needed filing, and shredded the rest.  Then I decided to move a few things around to (hopefully) keep Oliver from jumping on my printer.  We’ll see.  I did succeed in making him mad that I’d moved things…

 

After a second cup of coffee, I decided to clean out my bathroom sink drain (disgusting) and then cleaned the sink.  I also did the dishes that I had failed to do last night.

 

The predicted overnight lows are pretty low, so I brought the drinks in from the garage.  Normally, the garage doesn’t get below about 40 degrees, but with temps down into the single digits it could get below freezing in there.  

 

Leah is spending the night at Raylee’s tonight, along with Libby and Aubrie.  I will pick her up around 1pm tomorrow.  My second COVID shot is scheduled for 4:20.  I expect I might feel pretty poorly tomorrow evening and Monday.  We are supposed to get a significant snow storm tomorrow night as well.  

 

 

Pandemic at School Week 47

Pandemic at School 

 

Week 47

 

Day 320 – Sunday, January 31, 2021

 

I stayed up past midnight finishing my book which was fantastic.  I got up early so I could go grocery shopping as early as possible.  I marked everything off of my shopping list this week, and that just doesn’t always happen anymore.

 

I ordered three meals from EveryPlate this week, so I only had to plan for the other four.  While I was at Walmart, I noticed that they have started Scan & Go, where you scan your items on your phone and bag them while you shop.  When you are done, you stop at a self-checkout, scan the QR code and it prints your receipt.  I asked friends about buying produce with the Scan & Go, and it sounds like you can’t buy weighable produce at this time.  The service is bundled into their Walmart+ subscription, but you get two weeks free, so I might try it out.

 

I finished my weekend chores and checked out a new digital library book, but got so sleeping I ended up napping for the better part of the hour.  I always find it amazing that I might not see my kids for hours at a time because they are in their rooms, but if I’m napping, they will all wake me up.  It never fails, and I rarely nap.

 

I made lasagna early in the day, so dinner prep would be done.  It had been a while since I made one from scratch, but mine is a lot better than the frozen kind.  Hannah’s boyfriend, Dylan, came over to try out the lasagna.  He had previously told me that he didn’t like lasagna, but he liked the one I made tonight.  

 

Leah pulled out her homework after dinner.  She had math, science, and needed to finish up an art project (thank goodness we have Hannah!).  I miss textbooks with matching worksheets for science…. Leah’s teacher pulls together a hodgepodge of information in Google Slides and notebooking pages.  The illustrations never match, and it’s often difficult to label the information.  I’m not a fan of this method.

 

We are hoping for a snow day tomorrow, but we need the temperature to drop a degree or two.  It is snowing, but it’s 33 degrees.  That’s hardly fair.

 

Vanderburgh County only reported 53 cases today.  I wonder if more will be added later.  That is pre-Halloween levels of COVID.  Hopefully, we are past the Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year’s spike in cases.  It’s January, and no one has money to do anything in January. 

 

Day 321 – Monday, February 1, 2021

 

Happy February!!  While it did snow overnight, it was never really below freezing.  When I went to school, there was snow on the grass and puddles on the street.

 

With the exception of the teacher’s lounge refrigerator breaking, the day was quite smooth.  I got to school, started my computer, took my lunch to the previously mentioned fridge, left it, went back to my office for a WebEx meeting, got an email from the principal saying the fridge was broken, went back to the fridge that was definitely not cold (but the light was on), took my lunch to the walk-in in the kitchen, and went back to my meeting.

 

Today was a big day for Hannah because she got to apply for housing at IU today.  Honors housing supposedly goes fast so she wanted to apply asap.  All of the computer systems that IU uses are just terrible, they make me crazy.  The honors housing was accidentally left off of the application.  Eventually, I sent an email from Hannah’s IU account to Res Life telling them that honors housing wasn’t listed as an option, and how was one to apply.  There was a reply after dinner.  They added it, told us to log out and log back in.  Lo and behold it was there.  My guess is the only incoming freshman who applied today were applying for honors… so “you’re welcome” to all of them.

 

I got my W-2, so I started on my taxes.  Exciting times!

 

COVID numbers were low again today for Vanderburgh county, 56 new cases, 7 day average positivity rate down to 9.9%.  If we have a couple more days of that, we might be in the yellow on Wednesday.  Even the area hospital census is down to Halloween levels.  All good news.

 

Day 322 – Tuesday, February 2, 2021

 

Happy Groundhog Day, Candlemas, St Brigid’s Day, and Imbolc!  We are halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox.  Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow so six more weeks of winter are predicted.  Prognosticating woodchucks… why not?  This morning Elijah said it sounded like something from the Middle Ages, and he’s right.  Why is the movie Groundhog Day never available on Netflix?  

 

Many of the elementary students had a difficult time behaving today.  I’m not sure what the cause was, or if they were just feeding off each other.  

 

For dinner I made Super Smash Burgers and real fries.  I used the EveryPlate recipe, but I broiled the burgers which was faster and a lot less messy.  I bought Crisco instead of lard to fry the fries in, so my house doesn’t smell like a stockyard.  I didn’t really notice any difference in taste, though my cousins swear that lard is better.  

 

I helped Leah with some ELA homework about The Titanic and reminded her how to figure simple interest in math.  

 

COVID rates in Vanderburgh have been in the 50s for 3 days in a row.  It’s likely that we will move down to yellow from orange.  Just two weeks ago we were red.  Hopefully, the trend continues and we can get more people vaccinated before the more contagious variants arrive here.  

 

Day 323 – Wednesday, February 3, 2021

 

I saw my middle schoolers today; one was out for quarantine.  

 

I borrowed a toy dinosaur and put it in a paper lunch bag for my group lesson today.  We had a rousing game of “What’s in the bag” (like 20 questions)… and the third kid literally guessed, “Is it a toy dinosaur?”  The toy pig I borrowed from their treasure box lasted a lot longer.  

 

Kindergarten was a hot mess of behavior again, and there was a nose biting incident! 

 

As I was making dinner, Southwest pork bowls from EveryPlate, I realized that they sent me the wrong meat for two out of the three meals.  Steak pieces subbed nicely for ground pork, but the pork chops aren’t a great sub for bacon.  I will have to buy bacon for tomorrows linguine carbonara. 

 

Leah has her Wednesday Night youth activity and they had pizza so Leah didn’t want dinner (I made a meal I didn’t think she’d like anyway).  

 

Since I need bacon, Elijah wants me to stop and get a couple of things for his lunch as well.  

 

Vanderburgh county stayed “orange”, but moved from a 2.5 to a 2, if cases continue to stay low, we’ll get to yellow soon.

 

Day 324 – Thursday, February 4, 2021

 

I really wanted today to be Friday. 

 

I saw my “little bitty” kids with autism today.  I almost got bitten, twice.  The first time I didn’t even see it coming, but another teacher walking toward me did, and she saved me (Thanks Rachel!!).  Both of my hands were busy containing little hands, and I didn’t see the teeth coming.  On the way back to their classroom, I did see the teeth and maneuvered around them.  

 

One of my virtual students came back to school in person today, so I got to have their therapy LIVE instead of over WebEx.  A vast improvement, I have to say.  Now, I‘m down to just two virtual students, one who never shows and one who is hit or miss.  

 

I got a good teacher gab session in after school before I had to go pick Elijah up. 

 

Dinner was Linguine Carbonara, which was very tasty, but had very little protein.  I realized that EveryPlate sent me four servings of new potatoes, but none of my dishes this week had potatoes…. Maybe I’ll make them with the pork chops that I got instead of bacon.

The moving seven day average for COVID cases in Vanderburgh county is down to 63, the last time it was that low was October 1^st!  26, 558 people in Vanderburgh county have received their first dose of vaccine, and 7,733 are fully vaccinated.  We have about 180,000 in the county, so 15% partially vaccinated.

 

Day 325 – Friday, February 5, 2021

 

It’s finally Friday! PTA provided all the faculty and staff with the snack and (school friendly) drink of their choice.  They do this every month, and I love it!  

 

I spent the morning in the 1^st-2^nd grade autism classroom, and they all did a nice job today.  One student was really ticked off that the “February” tag was removed from the bulletin board during their spelling test that included the word.  We heard about that for a whlle… 

 

My afternoon was filled with articulation practice and one language group.  I had a student tell me they were absent earlier in the week because they had a “hair problem, and Nana said not to talk about the hair problem”, lol.  However, this student told everyone about the “hair problem”.  

 

Since I was feeling generous (and hungry), I ordered a stuffed crust pepperoni pizza, and a supreme pizza from Papa John’s for dinner.  I do like that their pizza arrive on time and HOT.  

 

The roofer called, and he’s going to fix my roof tomorrow morning.  

 

Hannah got hired to be a camp counselor at Camp Carson, which was expected, but still exciting.

 

Vanderburgh county reported really low numbers of cases, but also a ridiculously low number of tests.  I imagine those numbers will change over the next couple of days.  

 

Day 326 – Saturday, February 6, 2021

 

The roofer told me he would arrive at 8am to fix the roof, so I got up at 6 and got ready for the day even though I would have preferred to sleep a bit later.  I was glad I got up because he was on the room at 7:40.  Two hours later, the roof was repaired and I was $450 poorer, but that’s home ownership for you.  

 

Leah, Elijah, and I had hair cut appointments on the other side of town at 11:00, so we left at 10:20 to make sure we got there on time.  We got there with plenty of time to spare which of course meant that she wasn’t ready for us early…. That only happens when we are running late.

 

While we were waiting for our appointment time, I got a text asking if Leah was available this weekend to hang out with Penny.  Since we were practically in Newburgh already, I said I’d drop her off after haircuts.  

 

Elijah needed a new backpack because the replacement I bought at Target a couple of weeks ago didn’t last an entire week.  The plan was to stop at Academy for an Adidas backpack since they have a good reputation with boys who have a lot of school books.  Academy didn’t have one large enough.  

 

Since Leah had not yet eaten, we stopped at Chick-Fil-A to fill our bellies before I took her to the Harper’s house.  For the first time that I recall, CFA made a mistake on my order.  It wasn’t big enough to complain about either.  One of our chicken sandwiches had cheese on it… which is a little weird.  Elijah ate it, and said it would have been better without, but it was still CFA (also, that was his 2^nd CFA sandwich).  

 

We dropped Leah off, then went to Dick’s Sporting Goods where we did find an Adidas backpack large enough to hold a ridiculous number of textbooks, a laptop, and a lunchbox…

 

Elijah and I returned home around 1:45.  It was quite a morning!

 

The rest of the day was spent lounging and doing laundry.  Trent had a bad afternoon and vomited about 10 times.  He hasn’t been that sick since before Christmas…. The steroids he’s been on for the past couple of weeks have given him a good boost in energy.  The vet said they would only prolong his life a month or two at most.  

 

For dinner we had Kung Pao Beef from EveryPlate.  It was surprisingly good considering that it called for ground beef.  I skipped next week’s box, and tried a two week trial of eMeals.  I’m not overly impressed with their recipes, though I like the idea a lot.  I looked through 30-40 recipes for this week and found two that I thought my people would eat.

 

It started snowing tonight… because it’s not a school day tomorrow.