Katie tested positive for Covid (her second time!)—she even took two tests. I blame the cesspool of middle school. Tom and I are as boosted as we can be so fingers crossed we don’t get it.
She was super upset and crying when we got the results—she really wanted to go to Gramma’s house. I’m just glad we decided to test her at all because we thought it was just a cold.
My Covid isolation is over! Now I get to mask in public for the rest of my time.
I feel about 98% healthy. No more morning headaches. No more cough. Just a tiny bit of phlegm and my voice isn’t back to normal yet.
I’m on library/Kindle book #9—time for something a little different after all my chick lit and mystery titles.
Library book update: I finished book #4, read a super quick short story #5, and am 8% through book #6.
I actually feel pretty good today. Covid has not made me sleepy tired (just physically exhausted) so I was up reading until 1:30am—but then I slept pretty well (even considering I was 95% stuffed up) until 9:30! It was too hot and humid to read outside so I’ve been inside. I still get the morning headache but Excedrin still works. My voice sounds crazy but otherwise I think I’m on the mend.
I’m on library book 4. (I started and finished book 3, A Room Full of Bones, last night.)
If I didn’t know better, I’d think I just had a head cold. I’m stuffed up and I have phlegm. Still have the headache in the morning but Excedrin fixes that. Didn’t sleep great but I generally don’t. Overall I’m just TIRED and moving slow.
I’m excited (again) to be able to sit outside for a little bit—fresh air and a change of scenery. Plus I get to cuddle with Olive…
And watch her be cute and have fun in the yard. She loves laying on these inflatable sleds (for the waterslide).
The kids took a break from the slide to try and take Olive over to it. She made it to the side but hopped off once they set it down and tried to push her down the slide!
I slept pretty well. Woke up with a killer headache. Still have a random little cough and some phlegm. I guess I’m a little stuffed up, too. No fever. Really it just feels like being sick.
I’m thankful it’s not a billion degrees outside this morning so I can sit out here and read while the rest of the family is inside…but I already hear my bed calling me.
A few hours later…
Thankfully it’s not unbearable outside so I’m still on the porch. Different egg chair, though, for a bit different view.
And then this happened.
I tested positive this morning.
Thankfully it’s nothing too awful—a minor sore throat, a random cough, slight body aches (but that could just be me being old), and the worst is a nagging headache but it’s manageable with Excedrin. It really all just feels like an annoying cold. Vaccines and boosters for the win.
The kids feel fine. Tom has tested negative. And apparently dogs can get Covid so if I want to cuddle Olive I need to mask.
At least I have a cute cuddle buddy!
And Katie decided to get out Legos right here. For the first time ever.
Nothing like being woken at 3:30am by a sick kid (“Mom…Mom…I threw up in my bed”) and having to change the sheets twice in 20 minutes. (Which was especially difficult because a teen boy does not take care of his laundry or keep sheet sets together. So he might or might not have one sheet and a dog blanket on his bed.) And try not to get sick myself because that smell was the most vile thing I’ve smelled in my life. (It was half a day before the smell finally left my nose.)
The first load of laundry went in at 4am with more loads to come (sheets, comforter, mattress pad—oh yeah, we learned that his mattress pad wasn’t really waterproof so his mattress got a quick spot cleaning).
I’ve forgotten how awful this is — no one has been sick like this in years.
Thankfully he slept most of the day. Even took a shower and went back to bed.
I had been worried about having to get him tested for Covid — even though we knew it was a stomach bug, everything is a symptom of Covid so it’s mandatory — but the nurse said she knew the stomach bug was going around, so as long as he followed the normal return-to-school-after-sickness protocol (minimum 24 hours with no vomit or diarrhea) then he could come in to the nurse’s office before school and get tested. Excellent!
He was doing pretty well by that night (he was able to eat a little bit) but still tired. And I started to feel a little off so we all went to bed early (plus I was exhausted since I had been up since 3:30am and only had a short nap).
And Katie’s getting her shot next Friday! It’s a good day!
PLOT TWIST, continued!
Out of nowhere about 9:15 I started having extreme pain in my chest and just felt really crappy—enough so that I texted Tom to come home because I was NOT GOOD. It was time to start getting the girls ready for bed and I couldn’t even think straight so needed him to come handle it.
It wasn’t reflux or gas or anything I’d felt before—and I knew women’s heart attacks had different symptoms and that’s all I could think of. I googled and it didn’t seem like a heart attack but whatever was happening was not normal. I thought if I could just go to bed and hopefully fall asleep…maybe I could sleep through it. But the pain wasn’t going away and it was actually a little scary. And then just like that I felt better! Weird. I sat up in bed and just as I was getting excited that it was over…BAM, it came screaming back. At this point I called Tom upstairs and actually told him I was scared and it was at this point (about 10:30) that I said I needed to go to the ER.
Someone obviously had to stay with the kids—and Tom wasn’t able to drive safely (remember, he’d been at a poker night with the boys)—so he called Anna and she got here—from a dead sleep—within about 10 minutes. She drove me to the ER as I writhed in pain and tried to breathe through it. We spent the next five hours at the ER (10:30p–3:30a), most of which I was in about a level 7/10 pain.
I was on morphine for the pain (thank God for morphine) and it was weird how I could feel the pain ramping up (I started breathing differently) and knew to ask for more. Anna was googling trying to figure out what it could be. She was staying in touch with Tom. She was updating the sleepover moms on my phone. When I wasn’t incoherent with pain we visited like normal.
After some tests and bloodwork—my heart was fine, kidneys were fine, my liver was a bit elevated but not worrisome, and overall bloodwork was all fine. But the ultrasound. The ultrasound showed a really pissed off gallbladder. Stones and something else I forget. So then it was my first Covid test ever (which wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be) and a leisurely ambulance ride to another hospital to be observed and prepped for emergency gallbladder surgery! Anna went back to our house to stay with the kids while Tom drove to the hospital to meet me there.
Not exactly how I planned to spend Katie’s birthday…
But I cannot thank Anna enough. Seriously. She was my angel tonight—from the initial car ride to admission to keeping Tom in the loop to grabbing nurses to texting the sleepover moms…to relieving Tom at home (and watching the kids) so he could come see me. Whatever I needed, she was there.
I scheduled an appointment as soon as we could that fit our schedule! He says he didn’t feel a thing!
So I’m having minor effects from my second vaccine shot…nothing horrible, just a general malaise and feeling run down with a headache that will not go away. I’m trying to hydrate and rest as much as possible with Maggie on the couch. I think a nap is imminent, too.
I got my second shot this morning!
When you get called in for a standby COVID vaccination, you drop what you’re doing and go.
Why yes, this is a petoskey stone mask.
So way back in November 2019 we backed this awesome table on Kickstarter. It is the size of a bench (18″)…but expands up to 118″. Cool, right? We certainly thought so, so after much debate (since it was expensive), we did it. We also figured since this was their second Kickstarter they knew what they were doing. The estimated delivery was supposed to be the following month.
Without going into too much detail, it got pushed back a little at a time for a variety of reasons. And then they stopped communicating. And then they’d come out with more delays. Now, we know stuff happens. You have materials procurement issues, warehouse delays, a factory closure, or any other assortment of shit. But they were ridiculous—plus they weren’t communicating. And then…Covid. Which REALLY messed with things. Everyone was furious. Some managed to get their money back (it was a long and arduous process since by that time we were far beyond a credit card’s chargeback time limit). Some received communication but most didn’t. There was lots of drama.
And then fast forward months and months and people started receiving them…and it wasn’t good. Broken pieces, missing pieces, super soft/unusable table tops…and we got worried. We wondered if we shouldn’t try to get our money back. But we held out because we really wanted it…aaaand I knew how much work and effort it would take to attempt to get our money back.
And then we got the call! I almost didn’t answer it because it looked like a spam call—but I recognized the Canadian call and took it. And scheduled our delivery!! Three days later we had it!
So without further ado, here it is!
So now we have to get rid of the two tables we have—our original butterfly leaf table that we’ve had for probably 8-9 years plus the smaller temporary one we bought for this kitchen after we moved in. Normally that wouldn’t be hard but we need to keep the chairs… So Tom may end up cannibalizing the tables to make other things!
I can’t wait to have our first big dinner at this table!!
Kim Ho Ho Ho’ed everyone today with treats and a #momsquad wine glass for our Secret Santa exchange…
We had a great time but can’t wait to see each other in person again…
THERE ARE NO RULES. Run the dishwasher twice.
RUN THE DISHWASHER TWICE.
“When I was at one of my lowest (mental) points in life, I couldn’t get out of bed some days. I had no energy or motivation and was barely getting by.
I had therapy once per week, and on this particular week I didn’t have much to ‘bring’ to the session. He asked how my week was and I really had nothing to say.
“What are you struggling with?” he asked.
I gestured around me and said “I dunno man. Life.”
Not satisfied with my answer, he said “No, what exactly are you worried about right now? What feels overwhelming? When you go home after this session, what issue will be staring at you?”
I knew the answer, but it was so ridiculous that I didn’t want to say it.
I wanted to have something more substantial. Something more profound. But I didn’t.
So I told him, “Honestly? The dishes. It’s stupid, I know, but the more I look at them the more I CAN’T do them because I’ll have to scrub them before I put them in the dishwasher, because the dishwasher sucks, and I just can’t stand and scrub the dishes.”
I felt like an idiot even saying it.
What kind of grown-ass woman is undone by a stack of dishes? There are people out there with actual problems, and I’m whining to my therapist about dishes?
But, my therapist nodded in understanding and then said:
“RUN THE DISHWASHER TWICE.”
I began to tell him that you’re not supposed to, but he stopped me.
“Why the hell aren’t you supposed to? If you don’t want to scrub the dishes and your dishwasher sucks, run it twice. Run it three times, who cares?! Rules do not exist, so stop giving yourself rules.”
It blew my mind in a way that I don’t think I can properly express.
That day, I went home and tossed my smelly dishes haphazardly into the dishwasher and ran it three times.
I felt like I had conquered a dragon.
The next day, I took a shower lying down.
A few days later, I folded my laundry and put it wherever the fuck they fit.
There were no longer arbitrary rules I had to follow, and it gave me the freedom to make accomplishments again.
Now that I’m in a healthier place, I rinse off my dishes and put them in the dishwasher properly. I shower standing up. I sort my laundry.
But, at a time when living was a struggle instead of a blessing, I learned an incredibly important lesson:
THERE ARE NO RULES.
RUN THE DISHWASHER TWICE!!!”
Author unknown
This was the closest Britt and I got just for a quick pic!
Back at the house we sat outside across the deck and I was too lazy to actually remove the chair cover and it kept falling down so we joked it was our way to keep distanced.
This seems like it would be super cool, right? Your face on a mask? I mean, look at how awesome the sample looks?!
And then look at what we got—still good right?
Totally ridiculous funhouse mirror faces. I mean seriously? Tom and I could barely stop laughing long enough to take the photo.
We showed Katie and she even laughed like WHAT THE HELL?!
Needless to say I contacted them and complained and they said sorry, the prints are fine. So I’m done shopping with that company.
Yep, I have to work at the table and babysit this kiddo since she’s not been in class as much as she should be. It’s a good thing I can pretty much work from anywhere.
She said she just wanted to touch base because Katie hasn’t been showing up for class and when she is there she’s often not paying attention. WAIT, WHAT?
She said they can see how long kids are logged into class each day and it should be between four and four and a half hours. And she’s been getting 1-3. Most days are 2 or less. UM EXCUSE ME WHAAAAAT???!!
I mean we know she spends too much time farting around and we are constantly telling her to get back to class, but I’m here with her all day and she appears to be in class. Except apparently not. Her teacher said that she often doesn’t pay attention in class—half an hour in she gets called on and doesn’t even have her book open. So what is she doing???
Of course I’m home but I’m working and doing stuff so don’t pay close attention to her (just like I don’t with Owen) and yes we’ve had some internet issues but not hours worth. Or weeks worth. So it looks like for the near future she will be sitting right next to me at the table and I will be working on my laptop again so I can keep her on track. Just what I want to have to do, right?
The worst part of all this is that she’s waaaaaay behind on school work. She doesn’t do it in class when she’s supposed to OR in her asynchronous time in the afternoon (when she literally has a list of assignments from her teacher) so we’re trying to get her caught up. And that’s a complete joy as I’m sure you can imagine.
We have told her that we know this year is weird. And it sucks. And it’s hard. But none of that is an excuse to skip schoolwork.
Heaven help us.
I wanted you to know that Owen is struggling to attend math class. Lately, he has been coming to class, turning his camera off and not responding when I check on him. For example, his icon is in my class right now but he is not responding to me when I am trying to help him. Anything you can do to encourage him to stay with the class would be appreciated.
UGH.
That was from 9:19am when I was putting on my shoes right behind him. And saw it on the screen. But couldn’t see if his camera was on or what he was listening to with headphones on.
So needless to say we had a HUGE discussion with him about it. Especially after his poor grades last marking period (two As, two Bs, a C, and a D). He hasn’t been doing his homework, he hasn’t been asking for help, and apparently he hasn’t been active in class.
I don’t want them in school because that’s just not safe but this remote learning sucks 100%.
Do you know how some days masks don’t really bother you that much at all while you’re shopping? Today is not that day. I feel suffocated. But I still wear it.
We weren’t sure what trick or treating was going to look like because we knew a lot of people wouldn’t be participating but we told the kids we’d walk around the neighborhood to check it out.
There were a lot of creative solutions to managing candy delivery. Most were just on tables in some way, but we saw a bunch of chutes, some spread in the grass, and one on a truck bed (below).
I think Halloween may be forever changed
after Covid Style 2020 Halloween. The general consensus among moms I talked to was that we kinda liked it more than usual Halloween! I loved not ringing doorbells or wondering who was/wasn’t participating (the city had delivered red and green signs for people to put up to show if they were participating or not and a lot of people used them so that was nice) but most people were outside watching anyway. There were no huge groups of kids. All kids we saw were being really respectful and gingerly taking a piece of candy or a bag or whatever. And we loved how creative a lot of the houses were!
The weather was also gorgeous! We started with our winter coats but they got unzipped pretty quick.
We were out for about an hour and then as we were almost home we saw some neighbors around a fire pit in their driveway so we headed over to say hi—they are the guys Tom has played poker with but we haven’t really met the wives so we thought it was a good time to hang out. So we had a few drinks and visited while we sent the kids on without us to hit more of the neighborhood. (It’s so wonderful they can be out on their own! They came back and checked in with us a few times but pretty much were on their own for two hours!)
Then we left there to go to a nighttime outdoor candy hunt at our friend’s house—which had been planned in case trick or treating was a big fail. We literally just threw candy in the back yard and let them hunt with headlamps and flashlights while we had mulled cider and s’mores and visited around the fire.
Trick, or Treat? I’m seriously asking
Every day we reacquaint ourselves with our family’s ever-shifting needs. Every day we find ourselves at a place where we have to decide who we’re going to ignore, which way we’re going to triumph and which way we’re going to fail, what risks we’re willing to take for ourselves, for our kids, for grandparents who want to visit, for strangers who sell us yogurt, knowing that the best way to love our community is to isolate ourselves from it, and the best way to love our children is to let them connect, and the best way to get through this is badly and at great cost, making a fucking mess of it every day as we spin the wheel toward a harbor on the horizon between two untethered buoys that keep lurching in the swell.
The required sixth grade physicals were still required even though they aren’t technically at school…so off we went. It was really almost eerie walking through an empty hospital. Especially since the parking garage was as full as usual—where was everyone?!
Owen also had to get three shots which he wasn’t thrilled about but at least he just sucks it up and does it without issue.
Well today started out okay with me waking up before my alarm and I got to have some nice leisurely quiet time before the kids got up.
And they showered without much drama and they ate breakfast without much drama and we took school pictures without much drama… And then the shitshow started.
Owen had some technical difficulties dealing with an external monitor and Bluetooth headphones and Google meets and when I asked him if these were the same headphones that he used last year he said yes but they didn’t work for Google meets then either.
YOU THINK YOU MIGHT HAVE TOLD US THAT AT SOME POINT BEFORE THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL?! (What I was screaming in my head—not what I said to him.) But he was completely losing it and this was him just four minutes in to Remote Learning. /cry/ Even though I wanted them home to be safe…THIS. JUST. SUCKS.
But things have gotten a little better since 9:04 AM when it was the worst and I think we might make it through this day without me needing to drink a gallon of margaritas.
I went outside to enjoy the weather in my egg chair…and Owen came out on a break and he seemed much better.
Even though the kids weren’t going to school buildings, we still dressed for first day of school pictures!! (I made them shower and make their lunches, too!)
