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 9th, 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 1st 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 3rd 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 3rdgraders 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.
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