What's Been Going On: Monday, 3 January - Wednesday, 5 January, 2022

 Brrrr! It’s a cold one today. As I write this, it’s currently 5 degrees Fahrenheit outside, and I have no desire to go out whatsoever. Fortunately, other than taking the recycling out (which is located conveniently by my back door!), I don’t need to. Much better to stay inside my cozy, warm little house on days like today.

This week looks a little different. We ended up not sending our daughter back to school yet; her teacher told us, in response to the email we sent her, that they anticipated a lot of absences and that this week was just for review because of that, so we ended up not sending her at all. COVID numbers are far too high, so we’ve been doing our own thing and having plenty of fun together!

Here's what I’ve been up to so far this week!

 

Monday, 3 January, 2022

(This was technically my daughter’s last day of winter break.)

After coffee and breakfast, I wrote my Monday post (I usually like to do this before the day of posting, but there’s not always time). After I posted it, I loaded and ran the dishwasher, tidied the living room, and then did various things on the computer while my husband and daughter played in the living room in front of me.

After lunch, we all went for a chilly three-mile walk. This took a lot longer than normal, because of the snow and ice (fortunately, no falling, only a few slides!). We live in a really active town, so the path was already well-trodden.

 

I took the garbage and recycling cans to the road when we got home (I was already warm from the walk, so I figured this was the best time!), then ran to the library to grab some books for my daughter. At home, I prepared another batch of oven-roasted Brussels sprouts and put a new bag in the trash can, then unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher. Leftovers for dinner, along with those Brussels sprouts!

 

I did my Duolingo and showered, read more of Gory Details by Erika Engelhaupt, then watched two episodes of Killer in Plain Sight with my husband before bed.

 

Tuesday, 4 January, 2022

Breakfast and coffee, and then I got dressed, scooped the litterbox, filled and ran the dishwasher, and tidied the living room. And then it was time for not-quite-homeschool with my daughter! We read a bunch of library books that I’d picked up the day before, about the ocean, activism, simple machines, how things work around the house, and health. We had a lot of great discussions!

After lunch, I made my daughter do some writing, and then we worked on my Read Harder project of silent reading for 30 minutes. She read her Katie Kazoo book; I read American Literary Almanac, edited by Karen L. Rood. When the timer went off, I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, took out the compost, and made a pitcher of orange juice.

When my husband got home, I ran out to GFS to pick up some large containers of peanut butter and also ended up grabbing a bag of pierogies for dinner (total comfort food!). On the way there, the COVID testing line on Main Street was at least 20-25 cars long, at around 3pm. Yikes!

At home, I bagged up the bananas I’d chopped and froze a few days ago. Four bags of bananas, ready for smoothies and baking. Yum!

 

I brought in the trash and recycling cans, finished reading Gory Details by Erika Engelhaupt, and began reading Made in China: A Prisoner, an SOS Letter, and the Hidden Cost of America’s Cheap Goods by Amelia Pang. Y’all…this book is utterly soul-crushing, and I’m not sure I can ever buy anything again in good conscience. Chinese forced labor is devastating, and there’s really no way to tell which products come from forced-labor camps. If you’ve ever bought a product made in China, you need to read this.

I boiled the pierogies for dinner while chatting with my sister-in-law, who is a teacher. Her school district, which is right down the road from ours, shut down for three days due to too many teachers and staff having COVID. No one left to teach. Ugh.

After dinner, I did my Duolingo, showered (this is when my husband went over math with our daughter), read, and watched three episodes of Killer in Plain Sight with my husband before bed.

 

Wednesday, 5 January, 2022

After breakfast and coffee, I made my grocery list. Not many good sales this week.

I wrote and posted my review for Halfway Home: Race, Punishment, and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration by Reuben Jonathan Miller on my book blog, and then it was time for fake homeschooling with my daughter! We read books about mermaids, school in other countries, vaccines, and how food gets from where it’s grown to our homes. Afterwards, I had her do some writing, and she killed it! I was so happy.

I wrote a review for Gory Details, and then it was time for lunch. We did my Read Harder reading, and then I finally got dressed, and when my husband got home, I was off to get groceries. It was extremely cold and fiercely windy, and my trunk wouldn’t open, but the light came on showing it was open- and I’m not strong enough to force it open or thump it closed. SO frustrating. I even cried a little trying to deal with this, but that was more due to everything ELSE going on. I’m so stressed out about sending my kiddo back to school next week; I just don’t think the kids are going to be safe there, unmasking at lunch, with as contagious as this Omicron variant is. (I’ll still be taking her out for lunch, but she’ll still be in class with those kids afterwards, and I’ve seen how poorly some of them mask…). Be kind to the parents in your lives right now; there are no good answers to anything and everyone I know with young children basically all feel like screaming and throwing up all the time because of the stress. (My husband got the trunk to close when I got home. PHEW.)

After hitting two grocery stores (no decent deals anywhere this week), I came home and did an hour of volunteer work, and then we had dinner- Chinese food for my husband’s birthday! I did my Duolingo and biked for 25 minutes (even though I didn’t want to!). I showered, put my daughter to bed, read Made in China, and watched three episodes of Killer in Plain Sight with my husband before bed.

 

And that’s it for now! My poor house is nowhere near as tidy as I would like it, but that’s what happens when you’re home all the time and trying to replicate school for a small child. I should have a little more time today that I can get things in better shape.

I hope wherever you are, you’re staying warm and HEALTHY. I don’t want any form of COVID, ‘mild’ or not, and I don’t want my daughter getting it either (kids can get long COVID as well; I’m not interested in a seven-year-old living the rest of her life with a medical condition that could have been prevented…). I’m really not sure what we’re going to do about school next week. There have been 13 reported cases at her school already this week, in two days, so…Stay tuned, I guess. It’s a whole entire saga…