Online School: Day 1

Today the girls started the online learning they will be doing for the rest of the year. So far, so good!

Since both kids are in high school, the day lasts from about 8:30am-12pm and then they check in for homeroom from 1pm-1:15pm. They "met" with their teachers and classmates through Zoom video conferencing today, but most of the time they will just be completing work on their own. Some teachers will also be utilizing Google Hangout as well...which some teachers had done before. 

As far as grades go, the school has decided that no student's grade will drop below what it is now. The third quarter grades have already been archived and stored. For the last quarter, the school will run a utility that will compare the 3rd quarter grade and the 4th quarter grade...then the higher of the two grades will be the official grade on the transcript. So they will be able to raise their grade, but it won't drop below the grade they earned last semester.

Aubry is loving the online learning. She even said she wished they'd started it sooner! ;) She already has all As and Bs, so she is going to put most of her focus on trying to get those two B grades up to an A. Ashlyn has a few more classes that she really needs to focus on this semester to raise her grades. It didn't help that she started out the second semester by missing three weeks of school when she was sick in January. So hopefully she can get her grades up over the next month and a half.

I did venture out to Walmart today. Aubry needed some new earbuds with a microphone for their video conferencing so I left about 7:45am to pick some up. I went ahead and got our groceries for the next week or two while I was there. It actually worked out better than doing grocery pick-up. Since I was there early, almost everything I wanted was in stock.

Working from home is still going well for Johnny. It's nice that I can refill his coffee for him or grab whatever else he needs through the day. :) I also like his customer service voice! ;) Luckily the kids are older and their dogs stay downstairs with them...so it's relatively quiet. The girls had already gotten pretty used to keeping the house quiet because I've been working from home since October 2018...so that worked out well.

I still haven't been able to grab any files to transcribe. But I've just been using the time to get other things done. :) I think this coming weekend I'm going to steam clean the carpet in the living room and dining room again. So I need to get everything cleaned up and make room to rearrange the furniture while I steam clean.

Stay-at-Home Order

Yesterday, the Kansas county that we live in issued a Stay-at-Home order effective today which limits non-essential movement for 30 days. Of course, it's pretty broad as far as what is considered "essential" business (I don't personally consider liquor stores essential, but whatever) but at least it is a start.

However, I also believe this should be done on a national level (even worldwide), not just by county. If the country was limited to only essential movement for the infectious period of the disease and incoming travelers (or at least those considered moderate or high risk of infecting others) were quarantined for the infectious period...then the sooner we could go back to business as usual aside from continuing to quarantine incoming travelers. If there is no one infectious in the public, then no one will be infected to then infect others.

I downloaded the game "Plague Inc" to play again not too long ago. The basic idea is to create a bacteria, virus, fungus, parasite, etc. that will eradicate the earth's population. It was entertaining for about a day. That's how long it took me to pass every level at normal difficulty. The basic idea is that you have to infect every single country and keep people alive long enough to infect everyone in each country...and make sure that it kills everyone before a cure is found. Throughout the game, you choose modes of transmission (birds, animals, blood, airborne, etc), symptoms (coughing, rash, vomiting, etc), and then characteristics of the plague (can survive in hot or cold climates, resistant to medication, gene re-sequencing and mutation which slow down a cure, etc). All those choices affect how and at what speed the plague progresses and eliminates humans. Yeah...it's kinda morbid when you think about it. :P

But I also find it pretty interesting. I passed each disease type before a cure was finished...usually taking less than 2 years from patient zero until no more humans remained. It really highlights how important it is to stop the spread of infection...especially when there is no cure or vaccine. And that is really what the world needs to focus on right now...isolation and quarantine. It should be common sense. And we can already see what happens when a healthcare system collapses under overwhelming rate of infection. I really think the focus should be on lives and healthcare...not the economy. The economy can recover from a recession. People cannot recover from death.

Anyway...it really isn't much different than what we've already been doing. We've been staying home except to get groceries and necessities (like when I had to grab a few things to get Johnny set up to work from home). Aubry has been going to work 2-3 times a week. Food service is considered essential (now only for carry-out, drive-thru, or delivery), so as long as the business stays open, she is still expected to be at work unless she becomes ill. The girls have been taking their dogs on short walks around the block for some fresh air, but they have to distance themselves from anyone else who happens to be out doing the same. We have used delivery and drive-thru a couple times in the past two weeks...helping out some local businesses while still trying to be responsible citizens.

I still haven't had much work available. There were two files available when I checked first thing this morning but as soon as I clicked to claim one, they were both gone. So far I haven't seen more since. But...I did finally get our census done! ;) And last night Aubry and I did her taxes (I made her learn how to do it on paper before I showed her how to do it on Turbo Tax). And since Johnny is working upstairs in our bedroom, I'm going to work on trying to get the basement cleaned out and organized. It's been a slow process. :P I've also been watching some RV/tiny home shows on Hulu and daydreaming about Johnny and I doing the same someday when we're empty nesters. ;)

Working from home: Day 1

So far, I'm really loving the fact that Johnny is working from home now. The most obvious reason is that now I don't have to worry so much about his possible exposure since he does have respiratory issues and a chronic health condition. But also...the convenience factor is awesome.

He didn't sleep very well last night because we have a certain neighbor who likes to sit out in their car all damn night to listen to music. But I think there was less pressure for Johnny since he didn't have to wake up earlier to get dressed and ready for work and then drive over there. I made his coffee and he was able to relax a little bit and then just start working.

And with Johnny's first day of working from home, apparently I got a new job as his personal IT person. ;) I got him a new keyboard and mouse so he would have a larger keyboard and wouldn't have to use the touchpad on the laptop. I also picked up a 25' HDMI cable so he can use the TV in the bedroom as a second monitor.

And while I was out early this morning, I was also able to pick up a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread, some ground beef, and 2 packages of stew meat...which were the things I wasn't able to get with my last Walmart Grocery pick-up order. So tonight I made some vegetable beef soup for dinner. Luckily cooking it in the pressure cooker doesn't take as long so we didn't have to be tortured by the yummy smell all day. ;) It is probably my absolute favorite thing to make in the pressure cooker.

And since I was able to grab milk, bread, and some hamburger while I was out, I shouldn't have to get back out again for at least another week or so. I'll probably make another Walmart Grocery pick-up order in the next week or two for our staple items. It'll probably be whenever we're about to run out of milk.

Johnny's first day working from home went really well...all 11 hours of it! The girls were able to keep the puppies quiet throughout the day. Our little girl kitty, Angel, was kind of a pain though. She likes to be right up in everyone's business...especially while you're working on the computer. So instead of bugging me like she usually does, she was bugging Johnny. :P Eventually she settled down and fell asleep in my planner cart in the bedroom. I liked being able to spend Johnny's breaks and lunch with him. We also didn't have to wait for him to get home after work, so that was nice! The girls ate dinner and then when Johnny was done working at 9pm, we could relax and eat dinner, too.

I could definitely get used to Johnny working from home on a permanent basis. :)

Quarantine Update

Okay so we're not truly on quarantine, but we're trying to stay home as much as possible. Frankly, I love it...since I try to stay home as much as possible already. ;) However, my high school kids are getting pretty stir-crazy...especially Aubry. She keeps wanting to go to the store and hang out with friends and her boyfriend. So she's been kinda cranky. But she does get to leave the house a couple times a week to go to work. She works in a restaurant and they're still open so far.

In the last week, I think I've only left the house once to pick up our Walmart Grocery order. It was our regular biweekly order...but there were a lot of substitutions and out of stock items. Absolutely no meat, bread, or regular coffee creamer. Johnny bought some hamburger buns a few days ago though so we can use those for sandwiches if we have to. And I still have a couple pounds of hamburger and a bag of frozen chicken breasts so we can get by with that for a little while. The creamer though...Johnny is pretty upset about that one. :P And to disappoint him even further, Quik Trip has stopped selling their self-serve coffee! :P He did find out that he could order a medium through the kitchen though.

And we got some exciting new today! Johnny should be bringing home a laptop after work today to start working from home. I'm pretty happy about that! Too bad he can't always work from home!

The girls won't start online learning until around March 30th. I'm curious to see how that goes. I think it'll be a nice change of pace, though. Trying to look for the positives! :P

I hope everyone is doing well! Stay healthy! Stay home as much as possible!

I'm not a worrier.

Once upon a time, I used to be a person who worried a lot. About everything. All the time. I was so paralyzed by the fear of making my life worse than it already was that I just didn't want to make decisions at all. But...then I went through a messy divorce where I had very little control of the situation. There was nothing I could do to change what was happening. I learned to just do what I can and accept what I can't. It was a bit of a struggle at first, but eventually it just became a new way of life for me.

So I'm not a worrier anymore. I'm married to someone who is very much a worrier. He will stress about things that haven't happened yet -- and may never happen -- until he makes himself sick. It is one of the few ways that Johnny and I are different. I am a problem solver and I try to take care of any issues that arise and do what I can to lessen his worries. When there's nothing we can do, I try to remind him to stay calm and wait until something actually happens instead of stressing about IF it will happen. It's easier said that done, of course, but I support him as best as I can.

There is a lot of uncertainty going around these days. Grocery shopping has become an interesting situation. I'd gotten our normal grocery pick-up order shortly before everything started flying off the shelves so we've been fine...and we'll continue to be fine. We have a little bit of hamburger and I still have a whole bag of frozen chicken breasts. We have enough canned goods to last a little while because I try to stay stocked up. I try to make enough food for dinner so that we have leftovers for at least one more day or to have for lunch.  The only thing we may run out of is milk...which is likely the case for a lot of people. I have our biweekly grocery pickup scheduled for tomorrow...so we will see how much of our order is actually available. ;)

Earlier this week, it was announced that schools in the state of Kansas will be "closed" for the remainder of the school year. There is a statewide task force which is developing strategies that districts can use for continuing education at home, how to make sure students get free meals, how to handle students with IEPs, postponing graduations, etc. There are a lot of people flipping out right now and basically demanding immediate answers...but that's not our household.

I have a freshman and a senior. My freshman has been struggling a bit this year because she missed three weeks of school when she was sick at the beginning of the year. The only thing she is sad about is that she is grounded from her phone at the moment...so she just wants to be at school to socialize. :P My senior was a bit excited at first...then she started realizing that this is really it for her. She was supposed to direct a one-act play and that would no longer be happening. She was going to take her boyfriend to prom. Although she went last year, it was just with her friends. And then, of course, there is graduation (although I'm sure it is just being postponed right now). But, we talked quite a bit the day it was announced...so we're just waiting to see what the district decides and how things go with the Covid-19 situation. I'm trying to impress upon them that it's best to try not to worry about things that haven't happened yet...see what actually happens before reacting.

Johnny is a little more preoccupied with work. He is in an industry which is considered a required service. There is really no distancing going on in the call center. A friend of his there just got back from a cruise...but management is saying that it "doesn't count" per the CDC guidelines because they interpret it to mean that only cruises to certain countries count. And considering this is a company that punishes employees for using sick leave if it is not scheduled in advance, there isn't a lot of confidence with how they will handle the situation. But...it is what it is. And, right now we are trying to be thankful that Johnny still has a job right now when so many have been furloughed, laid off, etc.

I work from home, so I don't have to worry about leaving the house or social distancing. However, work has been pretty sporadic. Most times when I check the queue, there are no orders available. I'm not sure if it is because there are fewer orders or if there are just more people available to pick up the work...but I just keep checking throughout the day and use the rest of the time to get things done at home. Luckily my income right now is just supplemental.

I really just hope that we all stay healthy. The best thing we can all do is remain patient and be responsible. This situation affects everyone...so we're all just going to have to get through it as well as we can.

Pandemic Panic

You know what's ironic? So many of the people complaining about the media causing a panic are also the ones posting over and over again about the issue including the endless amount of memes about toilet paper. Repeatedly mentioning it, posting pictures of empty shelves, all the memes, etc. has completely taken over Facebook. That is pretty much the ONLY thing happening in my feed right now...a constant barrage of availability at the store, belittling others over the pandemic, and people complaining about panic.

Well...that constant barrage of posts and memes about what has run out at the store is causing people to rush out and buy more of the things they might need...because they don't know if or when they'll be able to get it again because of everyone else who is also doing the same thing. First it was toilet paper, Lysol, and hand sanitizer. Then it was milk. Now it's pretty much everything...including produce which doesn't last that long.

So yeah...complain about the media "spreading panic" by reporting facts but ignore the fact that filling everyone's Facebook feed with posts about what is running out at the grocery store is causing its own panic. You are literally doing the very same thing. You are part of the problem.

And STOP belittling people who are rightfully worried about the health of their loved ones for whom this situation could be deadly.

I will likely be just fine if I get Covid-19, but I have many friends and family members who may NOT be fine if they contracted this brand new respiratory virus. Anyone with a respiratory problem like asthma or COPD, diabetes, heart disease, a compromised immune system, the elderly, etc. are all at a higher risk of complications from Covid-19. MILLIONS of Americans fall into one or more of those categories...and I'm willing to bet you know a few of them. So while lots of us may be just fine if we get it, we can easily spread it to those whose life is at risk. Their lives matter.

This isn't "just the flu." You know why this is different than the flu? We already know what the flu is capable of. We already have vaccines to try to protect against it. Many of us have antibodies against it (certain strains at least). We have treatments for it (there are at least three antiviral treatments for influenza including Tamiflu). But unlike the flu, Covid-19 is a brand new type of Coronavirus for which we have no vaccine, no preexisting immunity, no treatment, and we're learning what it is capable of as we go. They are currently *experimenting* with treatments for other diseases to see if they work on this Coronavirus...like drugs developed to treat HIV and Ebola (some of which haven't even been licensed and approved yet).

And as people keep reminding us, tens of thousands of people die each year of the flu. Well guess what? Now in ADDITION to all of those people, we now have a brand new virus that is ALSO making its way around the world and leading to hospitalization and death. Which brings me to my last point...

We should all be a healthy bit concerned about the crisis which could occur within our healthcare system. Our hospitals do not have an infinite number of resources, space, or personnel. And with a flood of pandemic patients in addition to all those patients who already need medical care for childbirth, surgery, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, car accidents, and all the flu patients people keep bringing up, etc...it isn't just going to affect Covid-19 patients. It will affect ALL patients. Italy's healthcare is ranked number 2 in the world...the US is number 37. So don't act like we couldn't be facing the same crisis they are facing in Italy. That's why things are being canceled.

People shouldn't panic. But stop complaining about the panic if you're just going to keep contributing to the problem. How about thinking of other things to start talking about on Facebook? Then maybe that panic you keep pissing and moaning about will die down...

XH is nothing if not consistent...

Ashlyn asked her dad if she was still spending the weekend with him. He picked her up Friday after school. It was the first time she's spend the weekend with him since February 9th (and before that, it was October 10th). So despite the fact that he rarely spends time with his child, he still prioritizes his brand new girlfriend (they've been together 1 week) and her kids over his own.

XH has been living with his aunt and uncle since moving back to Kansas in May 2019. So that is where Ashlyn expected to be spending the night. Well, XH decided to take Ashlyn over to his new girlfriend's house instead. Ashlyn didn't want to be there at all and spent most of the time outside in XH's truck. At 9pm, he told Ashlyn that she needed to go back into his girlfriend's apartment because they were going to lock the door, watch movies, and go to bed. Ashlyn asked him why they weren't going back to his aunt and uncle's house and he just ignored her. She spent the night in his truck instead.

Our court paperwork states that XH can't introduce his girlfriends to the kids until they've been dating for 6 months and he can't have the girlfriend for overnight stays (when he has the kids) until they've been together for one year. The whole reason why the Limited Case Manager made that recommendation to the court, was because it has been a revolving door of women since I left him in 2005...and there has been domestic violence in more than one of those relationships (which was also the reason why I left him). Most of his relationships don't even last six months in the first place...and only one has lasted longer than a year.

Now, Ashlyn didn't have to stay out in his truck. She could have gone inside or she could have called any number of family members to go pick her up. But she just stayed in the truck until morning. But if XH wouldn't have violated our court order in the first place, it never would've been an issue. He spends less than one weekend a month with the only child out of three kids he has (possibly four...never heard if the last one was his or the woman's husband)...yet he still can't tear himself away from the girlfriend for 48 hours to devote his time to his child.

XH loves to post Facebook memes about how important his kids are to him and how wrong it is for women keep children away from their father. But that's the thing...no one is keeping our kids away from him but himself. He gets visitation Wednesday and every other weekend...yet he never shows up on Wednesdays and rarely shows up for the weekend. So he isn't a victim of anything except his own decisions.

Updated to add: By 3/18/20 both XH and the girlfriend are now listed as "single" on Facebook. So that didn't even last a month...