Day 226

I have a big post to write about Will's confirmation this past weekend but I'm tired and had to help with graphing points on a line (8th grade math!) tonight and I have no more space in my brain for thinking.  So here are a couple of pictures from the last few days.  

Reina discovered my high school yearbooks and peals of laughter could be heard from the den.  

"Mom, your hair!  How did you get your hair to do that?"  I'm glad that my fashion choices of 1991 can be so entertaining.  

We had a big snow on Sunday and Monday - a record 14 something inches. I can't say that I was ready for this much snow but it's helping put out the fires in our region so that's nice.  

Here's the COVID update.  Unfortunately, Wyoming is now in the top 5 states for COVID infection rates.  We have passed 10,000 cases.  I know a few people who are dealing with infections.   We are trying to be careful with our trips out of the house - the kids are still in school but they both have days off this week for the end of quarter parent/teacher conferences.  We all feel a sense of fatigue from living this semi-quarantined life, but we're trying our best to keep everyone healthy.  I miss the ability to hop in the car and go bounce around Denver for the weekend or head to a football game.  Football!  But we are hanging in there and doing the best we can.  And eating a lot of Halloween candy early.  

Day 219

Reina has spent the last two days schooling from home.  She started to feel yucky on Sunday and had a low-grade fever and sore throat yesterday and a sore throat today.  In 'normal times,' I probably would've given her a few tylenol this morning and sent her on her way.  But today, I let her stay home and she was able to follow along with her class on Zoom and keep up with her work.  In history, they are studying Egypt so I got to sit next to her while she made a poster about daily life in ancient Egypt.  She had to include several illustrations on her poster which she drew herself instead of printing something off of the computer.  Her artistic skills are pretty amazing!   

Reina's 'rich Egyptian woman" with a modern twist.  

Solomon and Snow with Oreo and Black Chicken in the back.  Without combs, I think they look like weirdly sized eagles. 

So it's been a more hectic start to the week than I anticipated but if I haven't learned to take one day at a time during this crazy year, well... when will I ever learn?  I'll just keep looking at my cute chickens from the basement window and see what Wednesday brings.  

Day 217ish

 Another week has gone by and somehow we find ourselves smack dab in the middle of October.  Reina is busy planning her Halloween costume (witch with a Sanderson's sisters vibe).  Will says he has no Halloween plans but we'll see if that changes.  I'm debating whether to design a socially-distanced candy distribution machine.  Glenn has a giant cardboard tube that one of his fishing poles arrived in but my mechanical engineering skills might not be up for the task.  It's Wyoming.  It could be 20 degrees on Halloween night and all of the germs will freeze in the ice.  Stay tuned. 

Both kids have covid cases in their schools but neither one of them is quarantined.  Wyoming has had their largest daily totals in the past 10 days several times and case numbers are above 7,000.  It feels like it's inevitable that we will catch it at some point but I'm still trying to keep all of us socially distanced and masking up whenever we can.  The kids and I got flu shots last week and Glenn's getting his at a health fair next week.  Whenever I take the kids for flu shots, I remember picking up Kindergarten Will up from school, going to get Reina at Montessori, buckling her into the car seat and Will turning to her to say, "Reina, you are getting a shot."  She wailed all the way to the children's clinic even though she's stoic about needles.  Thanks buddy, that was super helpful. 

I feel like there should be more to report after a week of no blogging but life just keeps clicking along over here.  Glenn got to get out of the house and duck hunt yesterday.  I worked on a few sewing projects.  Will had to paint a wooden CO2 car for his shop class.  After presenting him with all of paint options I have in the house, he chose a blue sharpie and an orange sharpie and drew two thin lines on each side of the car.  He's a minimalist when it comes to artistic expression.  

So that's where we are.  We have a week of seasonally appropriate cold weather coming up.  That just means I'll have to wear one of my dressier sweatshirts when I'm on Zoom calls this week and retire the capris and tshirts for another season.  

I'm not even sure what day it is anymore - 210 probably?

 We are at the start of another week!  Here are some highlights from last week. 

1.  In Will's last junior high football game (sob), he got a solo sack on the opposing team's quarterback. I've never yelled so loud for my kid to get another kid.  It was fun. I wish I could've taken a picture of it but it probably would've been all blurry anyway. 

2.  Glenn and Will went antelope hunting for a few days so Reina and I had a fun girls' (part of a) weekend.  We picked out some fabric for her Halloween costume online, painted and watched some movies.  We had a nice time.  

3.  We have had unusually warm weather lately and there's a big forest fire burning about 50 miles from here.  We've had lots of smoke in the air and it's been difficult to exercise outside.  Today the weather finally started to feel like Fall and the mountains got some snow so that's good news. I hope it keeps coming.  

4.  Basketball season must be around the corner because I can hear Will dribbling in the den.  These are the times I remind myself that I support all of their athletic endeavors and if this helps his ball handling for 8th grade basketball then I can suffer through it.  

5.  Glenn caught all of our colds last week and actually stayed home from work on Monday.  He worked from home but he decided to keep his germs out of circulation.  That is definitely a COVID-19 development because 2019 Glenn would've gone to work and shut his door.  

So that's all I have for now.  This will be our first week without Will having practice after school which will technically open up more time for him to complete his homework before 9:00 p.m.  Sometimes I really make myself laugh.  The kids are also getting flu shots this week so that we can stay one step ahead of that nonsense.  Bring on another week!  

Day 204

On Day 204, I'm still working from home.  I go into the office on occasion but most of my time is spent at the dining room table hooked up to multiple screens.  Sometimes I'll work from the kitchen island or I'll take the laptop out onto the deck.  I've appreciated the flexibility to get my work done and be in a comfortable environment.  And I'll admit it, it's been fun to have the pets around.  Granted, both cats decided to try playing the piano while I was teaching a workshop online and the piano shows up on my computer's camera so the workshop participants were treated to a short little concert before I turned around and yelled "get down!"  The dogs follow my around the house when I move to a new location so I'm rarely alone, even when all of the other humans are out of the house.  On Friday, I saw Coco sitting outside in the fall sun and I snapped a picture.  She always has a grumpy look, but I think she's a pretty happy cat.  

 

Day 200

Everybody is back at school.  After our sicknesses last weekend,  Reina ended up with bronchitis too but after a few days on meds, she is feeling much better.  Side note, when Glenn took her to the doctor on Sunday, the dr asked Reina if she preferred a liquid antibiotic or pills.  Reina was thinking of the chewable kid's tylenol so she picked pills.  She came home with a bottle of giant antibiotic capsules.  She hadn't ever swallowed pills before so when we explained what she'd have to do, she freaked out a little bit. Well 20 seconds later, she successfully swallowed her first pill and now she doesn't even need water to do it.  I told her that's weird but also a little awesome.  

Glenn has stayed healthy.  I'm still coughing but feeling better.  Case numbers in Wyoming continue to grow.  The 7th grade football team at Will's school has had to quarantine but nothing at the elementary level yet.  

The Broncos are on tv tonight and its starting to make me angry so this will be a short post.  Hopefully I'll be able to write about a victory next time.