Update March 26, 2020

Hi all! Sorry about the long absence! I guess everyone else is as busy and stressed out as I am! Part of my problem is also that I usually post blog entries from my phone, but I can’t seem to get the comments to work from my phone, so I need to find a time when the baby isn’t around to pull on the plug of my computer.

Oh, so much has happened since the last time I wrote. Not even sure where to begin, but I’ll try a journal in pictures.

Well, obviously this happened. That’s the toilet paper aisle. But I’m sure you’ve all seen the same thing yourselves, so that’s not news. Just rest assured that no one in our family has yet caught COVID 19. Mayor Walz suggests that 40-80% of Minnesotans are expected to get it in the end, which makes me worry for my elderly parents – especially since dad eschews the idea of social distancing. There is a shelter-in-place order for two weeks starting this Friday. The kids are with their mom until then, because they won’t be able to see her while we’re stuck at home. I started “homeschooling” them on Monday, and they really seem to enjoy it. So far, I’ve had some math work on the computer, watched a documentary in the morning had them read Who Was books and their new virtual book club book Tuesdays at the Castle. I am going to move D to reading the children’s version of I am Malala once I get them back from their mom. I am a little wary of telling her to read books about atrocities, but it’s a good learning experience. I’ll probably keep M up with the Who Was books with a dash of I Survived books (which are fiction, but still educational).

Dad had cataract surgery JUST before the surgery clinic shut down for coronavirus. So he can now see out of his right eye, but not his left. I picked up my aunt (above with her husband) to watch my mom and IL while I was at the surgery clinic waiting for dad. But then they sent me home because of new policies of not letting anyone into the clinic except for patients. So I got to watch my mom and baby after all.

I shaved my head to raise money for kids with cancer. (Saint Baldrick’s Foundation.) I was hoping to do it at an event where there would be lots of people and alcohol involved, but of course that didn’t happen. So I did it quietly at my mom’s parlor as she was getting a haircut herself. Hopefully it doesn’t all grow in grey!

Sunday we had a family day. We played Uno (M’s choice), watched an episode of Bones (D’s choice – we have since then changed our family show to Psych), played Clue (my choice) and Pandemic (Aaron’s choice). It was a good day.

Yesterday, D had her virtual book club with her friends from school. They (and I) read Bridge to Terabithia. Such a sad book. I was balling for the last hour of the audiobook. But she enjoyed talking with her friends, which was great. I also set up a virtual bookclub with my cousin’s kids that both M and D can be part of. They (and I) are reading Tuesdays at the Castle. I’m also reading Wolf Hall, and Five Midnights (which I’ve been reading for a long time – reading slump, you know).