Quarantine (Kind of) Continues

 We are "semi-quarantined" here at our apartment. 

I was so disappointed over the possibility of not seeing my family for Thanksgiving that I decided Zack and I would get tested.  I originally had no intention of going through the hassle of testing unless I started showing symptoms. But then decided it would be worth it to endure the two-and-a-half hour wait if that meant I could spend Thanksgiving with my parents and sister. 

Thankfully, we both tested negative which meant we enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving turkey dinner at the Ormond Beach Denny's. (Not so) Fun fact: The four adults could all go cheap and order off the "senior" menu.  Yep...it's true.  I didn't quite make the age requirement (since it was November 26 and my b-day is today), but I didn't think 4 days would matter. And no one is going to ask your age anyway. 

Friday we were able to go to C.J.'s for our weekly game/movie night which we had to skip the week before. 

So Zack and I are only semi-cautious about being out and about since testing negative, but my class and I are still not able to return to school this week. I will be so glad when this week is over because, while I love the extra time at home, online teaching is so not my thing. 

The Start of Quarantine

 I suppose, to a degree, it was inevitable. 

We've had several students this year who had direct contact with a co-vid positive person.  They would have to stay home for two weeks and then were able to come back. 

However, today we received word that our school had its very first covid positive student and that child ----was mine. 😞😞

For the next two weeks my students and I are quarantined. Thankfully we had off school next week anyway so I have that week to prepare for the following week of online learning - whatever that will look like. 

If everything goes well, we can all return to school on December 7th. 

Welcome to Our World

 Willow Eleanor.....

Her story is not mine to tell...

Her pictures are not mine to share...

But her entrance in to this world needs a space on my blog...because her family has occupied a space in my heart for 25 years. 

Willow...you are already so loved!  

Universal

 Universal Studios - unfortunately, it's become a thing of the past for us.  For the time being, I am not an employee so I can longer get in for free. Co-vid restrictions made it difficult to get summer hours and we really have not been in any hurry to expose ourselves to hoards of people if not necessary. 

The cancellation of Halloween Horror Nights was a huge disappointment for us, but honestly, without my employee park entrance I probably wouldn't have been able to go anyway. I am hoping by next summer, things will be back to somewhat normal and I can start working again. 

CJ has a premier annual pass so still goes occasionally. On one of his visits he discovered that, before the Halloween event was cancelled,  two houses had already been completed so Universal decided to open these houses for public walk-through. Needless to say, this was an exciting development!!!!  

On the Friday of an incredibly stressful school week (this has been a difficult year so far in general...maybe I'll post about it later), CJ invited me to use one of his complimentary passes and we both released our teaching stress at the park!  

We arrived about 1 and were able to get an unbelievable deal on an express pass, which my son graciously paid for, and it turned out to be such a blessing because we got so much accomplished in the almost 4 hours we were there. 

Since we couldn't use the express pass until 2, we went to see the new Bourne Stuntacular - which I thought was pretty good. We then made our way around the park going on ET, Woody Woodpecker's Coaster, Simpsons, Men In Black (yes, I still suck at it and CJ is as good as ever), and Transformers.  

Then we went through the two houses (went through Bride of Frankenstein twice) before leaving. 

We ended our day by getting together and watching Beetlejuice! 

I have to say, I felt very safe there. The physical distancing markers were very clear and as a whole, people were really good at following them. The only problem we had was with the family behind us in line for the Bourne show. For the show, they left three seats empty between parties and only filled every other row. After the show you had to remain seated and were dismissed by row.  Every party was given their own ride vehicle and hand sanitizer was given out before every ride. 

I even felt safe going through the houses which gives me hope that even if we're unfortunate enough to be going through this pandemic next year, somehow they should be able to still have HHN. 

Aaaaand Lightning Strikes.....aka Redemption

Remember this post from last year?

Big Storm Brewing?

And then......

It Just Sprinkled

The Lightning, after setting the record for the most wins in a season went on to be swept in the first round of the play-offs.  

The past five years have been very difficult for the Lightning

2015 - Stanley Cup Finals

Opponent: Chicago Blackhawks

After leading two games to one, the Lightning failed to win another game and scored only 2 goals in the final three games.

2016 Eastern Conference Finals

Opponent Pittsburgh Penguins

Lightning again collapsed scoring only 3 goals in the final 2 games. 

2017

Decimated by injuries, they failed to even make the playoffs

2018 Eastern Conference Finals

Opponent: Washington Capitals

Up three games to two, the Lightning scored 0 goals in the final two games. 

2019 First Round Playoffs

Opponent: Columbus Blue Jackets

After scoring 3 goals in the first period of the first game, it was all downhill from there. They managed only 5 goals in the final 3 games. 

So, yes, Lightning fans are used to the crash and burn scenarios that made the Lightning a meme on the internet 

but 

NOT THIS YEAR!

Round One 

Opponent: Columbus Blue Jackets

Game one featured 6 overtimes before the Lightning finally scored.  I was still at work when the game started at 3:00 and I was in bed when it finally ended. The Lightning then won 3 of the next four games to win the series in 5 games. 

Round Two

Opponent: Boston Bruins

They lost game one but then won four in a row to take the series in 5.

Round Three

Opponent: New York Islanders

They won in 6 games...game six featuring an overtime winning goal by Cirelli. 

Round Four

Opponent: Dallas Stars

After losing game one by a large margin, they picked themselves up and won three of the next four games (and the loss was a goal scored in double overtime)! 

Finally STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS

Hedman's Hair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nice to have the monkey off our backs.

The Elephant in the Room

I tend to be a bit skeptical. I believe that things are rarely all one side or the other and that the truth lies somewhere in the middle. 

This has been especially true with the Co-vid pandemic. In a time where everyone is looking at the "numbers", whether it be positivity rate number of cases, number of deaths, or number of hospitalizations, and in a time where everyone has their own political agenda, it's hard to determine what is really the truth. 

But through all the conjecture, one thing seems certain. The United States has turned this pandemic into a political side-show. Republicans are resolute in their belief that this entire thing is a hoax and has been entirely blown out of proportion by the media to make Trump look bad in a re-election year. My dearest republican friends believe that there is a cure for co-vid out there that doctors are ignoring. It's both alarming and ludicrous that they believe that doctors are letting thousands of Americans die because they are in an alliance to ruin Trump.

As the Republican National Convention wrapped up its four-day run, Trump delivered a 71-minute speech that largely delivered a version of reality that HE wants America to see rather the a version that most Americans are living. He declared  the "China Virus" a thing of the past even as 1,000 people a day continue to die from it and 40,000 people in the United States are being diagnosed every day - which is enough to be 2nd in the world behind India.  In fact, Florida has more daily cases than most countries in the world. 

Which is a great Segway into my next topic - the state of the state of Florida. As I stated at the beginning, I rarely look at 'numbers as being completely accurate. Just one month ago, the numbers had Florida reporting 10,000+ cases daily. Now that the collecting and reporting of data has been stripped of the CDC and given to the White House, our numbers have miraculously dropped to about 3,000 a day.  I don't believe either one. I believe the CDC mishandled and over-reported data and I believe the White House is manipulating numbers and under-reporting. All that to say, I think we are still hovering somewhere around 5-6,000 new cases a day.  To put that into perspective, that is more than the cases of the following entire COUNTRIES!

1). Austria (181)

2. Canada (315)

3. Germany (785)

4. Australia (123) Interesting to note that at the beginning of the month, the state of Victoria experienced a surge and the numbers went up to about 700. The state issued another lock-down, students returned to distance learning, and just like that... down to 123. 

5. Greece (251)

6. Italy (1,365)

7. Finland (7)

8. Norway (51)

9. Russia (3,711)

10. Japan (850)

11. Hong Kong (15)

12. Hungary (158)

13. Sweden (134)

14. Ireland (142)

15.South Korea (299)

16. New Zealand (2)

17. Egypt (223)

18. Indonesia (2, 858)

19. Georgia - the country (7)

20. The United Kingdom (1,108)

I could list many more, but you get the idea. 

The latest from the United States reports 44, 269 new cases. Despite not conquering the virus, the president announced that school should resume face-to-face instruction so that parents can go back to work and our economy can return to normal. Our lovely governor, who hopes to attain a post with Trump if he is re-elected, jumped all over that and he, along with the Commissioner of Education, Richard Cochran issued a mandate that all schools must return to "brick and mortar" instruction 5 days a week or risk losing funding. The mandate is stated as such "all school boards must return to 5 day a week face-to-face instruction unless they have a recommendation from the local board of health ---wonderful ---except that the governor turned around and told the local health agencies that they were not to give their approval. And because they have government jobs and cannot afford to lose them, they did as they were told. In one county with a severe outbreak, school board members went as far as to seek the advice of 6 doctors - ALL who went on record to say school doors should not open under the current conditions. Surprisingly (not) the local health director would not give his approval. Despite the lack of approval, the board decided to follow the advice of the doctors and begin the first 4 weeks with distance learning. They were immediately visited by DeSantis and Cochran who told them they MUST open the school doors or risk losing 20 million dollars in funding. The board had no choice but to reverse their decision. 

Thankfully, the state teachers association hired lawyers and sued the governor and commissioner and sought to block the mandate. The matter of the lawsuit was three fold...

1). It declared the mandate arbitrary and capricious in nature - basically stated, it was a serious abuse of power 

2. The state constitution says the power of opening or closing schools lie with school boards - NOT with commissioner and governor.

3). The mandate did not provide any parameters of safety meaning it does not fit the requirement of giving the students a safe environment

After a week-long hearing, the judge sided with the teacher's union declaring the mandate unconstitutional and gave power to open and close schools to local  school boards WITHOUT the threat of funding loss. An appeal is pending. 

I'm confidant the appeal will not succeed, but it is too late for school boards to close now.  However, at least they NOW have the power to close if it comes to that. 

We've been back to school for one week now and the results have been mixed. Surprisingly, the kids do keep their masks on all day. However, there is no way to social distance during recess and bathroom breaks. At first, I thought I would just let the kids use the bathroom individually throughout the day when they ask. Yep ---that didn't work out too well as my classroom was a revolving door all day long. So we are doing the class bathroom break thing. 

I have less anxiety though as I have had to adopt the attitude of assumption of risk. I do my best to follow the distancing rule but parents have to understand there is a certain assumption of risk sending their child to in person learning. 

I see a return to distance learning in the future. I could be wrong - we'll see. 

All the Things

School starts Monday (for teachers) and to say I have mixed feelings about this would be a huge understatement. I love teaching! I love staying busy! I love knowing what I'm doing makes a difference! Any ordinary year would see me anxious to begin another school year. 

This year, however, I am anxious in a different way. I have so many feelings about this it's hard for me to put words into any kind of eloquent manner. At the end of June, the Education Commissioner of Florida, Richard Corcoran, issued a proclamation stating all schools must open in brick and mortar 5 days a week. At the time, this was not a big deal. However, since that time, Florida has become the corona virus capital of the world averaging around 10,000 new cases a day and yet our governor refuses to back down at all!  Parents have a choice of face to face or digital and so far, it seems split down the middle so that should help to hold class sizes down, but I cannot help but think this is not going end well!  I sure hope to God I am wrong, but I foresee many teachers and children contracting Co-Vid 19 with deaths of some involved. I just don't see how you can put a group of people in a closed room (we are not allowed to open doors and windows for safety reasons) with central air conditioning circulating the same air from one room to another for 7 straight hours without some virus transfer. So this year, most of my feelings are fear and anger. 

I've have enjoyed my extended time off much more than I thought I would. Zack and I get along very well so being in each others company nearly 24/7 for four-and-a-half months was not a problem. Here are some of the things I have enjoyed doing while enjoying this time off.....

- family game nights ---by far this was my favorite thing to do and I am so glad that C.J. thought of it. Normally, we try to go to Universal one day a week in the summer. Since that was not going to happen this year, C.J. came up with the idea of game night. We would play everything from Sorry, Life, Yahtzee, Sequence, and cribbage. 

- sleeping in--- the only part of my job I hate is getting up in the morning. I am a night owl so rolling out of bed at 6:30 in the morning is the worst part of my day. I have become acclimated to sleeping the hours of midnight to 9:30 or 10:00 so the morning alarm is going to be difficult. 

- 9:00 walks ---I took Ollie for a walk every night around 9:00 (unless we were gone or it was raining). 

- reading outside---most days (unless I was tutoring) I would take Ollie out first thing in the morning and then sit outside with him and read. Usually we could get about a half hour in before the heat and sun got to be too much and we had to go in. 

- Friday night dinner and shopping --- Fridays were usually our days to stock up on food for the week. Then, we would order food for curbside pick-up (usually Chilis) and head home to eat. Very rarely during the school year do I do a full week grocery shopping. I am more of a 'I'll pick it on the way home' kind of person. I think my life could be a lot easier doing a big shop once a week so I am going to try and continue that. 

- Drive-in ---Unfortunately we discovered this too late to take full advantage of it over the summer, but we did get there three times in July. We saw Lost Boys, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Ghostbusters. Being at the drive-in is so nostalgic for me. When I was little, my dad would make popcorn, put it in a brown paper bag, we would pack a cooler of kool-aid, and head to the drive-in. Funny thing is, my sister and I rarely even watched the movie. We would usually fall asleep before the movie even started, but it was still a fun memory. 

- American Horror Story and Dexter --- with all the time on my hands I re-watched Seasons one, two, and four of American Horror Story and Seasons 1 and 4 of Dexter. 

Even though we will be heading back to school, my feeling is that it will not last long. I predict we go all virtual within the first month. Again, I could be wrong, and I pray to God that I am.  

On Saturday we celebrated CJ's birthday and had an amazing evening!  


We started with dinner at Bahama Breeze

With the co-vid numbers soaring here in Florida, we were lucky to be able to eat outside. 

After dinner we did something that I have been wanting to do for quite a while now.

We drove down to the Silver Moon Drive-in Theater in Lakeland 

The movie playing was Lost Boys followed by Nightmare on Elm Street.  We were unable to stay for the second feature but will be paying another visit to the drive-in this week to see it (as they have reversed the order of the movies). 

I had an amazing time and I think it's safe to say that the birthday boy enjoyed his birthday.  

Game Night

We knew going into this summer that it would be completely different and our normal routines of Universal evenings and movie going would not be possible. 

We still wanted to stay connected and make the most of our summer vacation so CJ came up with an alternative - game nights. 

Once a week we head over to CJ's house and spend a couple hours playing various games.  We usually play cribbage every time; other games we enjoy playing are Sorry, Sequence, Yahtzee, and Life. Well....I am not sure how much Jon enjoys playing Yahtzee since he has never won (not even close).  He's had some pretty bad luck with that game. However, Jon and Zack have won every cribbage game so far so that kind of makes up for it!  To make it worse, CJ and I were on the brink of winning one game but then, between the two of us, we had 6 points in our hand while at the same time Jon and Zack had 26 points in their hands (and the crib).  Yeah, that was fun!!!!!  

Always being safe, we have the Clorox wipes on the table. 

Looking forward to more game nights in the future. 

It's the Last Day of School ---Sort Of

This year's school end seems so surreal. Any other year, I would spend the last day of school saying goodbye to my students (with plenty of hugs and tears) and cleaning out my room with "The Final Countdown" by Europe playing on repeat.  

I absolutely love my job, but would be looking forward to a life with a bit less stress, a bit more down time, and (of course) sleeping in!!!! 

In Wisconsin, summer would include trips to Upper Michigan to visit my parents, afternoons at the local pool, and days spent reading outside or mowing the lawn. 

In Florida, summer is spent putting in some hours at Universal, and once a week dinner out/Universal evenings with C.J. 

Today, I had no kids to hug...no room to clean out...and I've been sleeping in for the past two and a half months so nothing to look forward to there. 

While Universal plans to re-open June 5, I do not think they will be needing their seasonal employees this summer, so I'm not anticipating any work there. And since Universal will be working on reduced hours, closing at 6, there will not be any Universal evenings either. 

So what will the summer look like?  Hopefully I will be able to get extra hours at Huntington and C.J. brought up the great idea of having game nights in place of Universal. 

I would LOVE to go spend some time over at my parent's, but the air in their spare bedroom does not work so it makes sleeping difficult. 

For now, despite it being the 'last day of school', day to day life will not change. 

Week Seven (and Eight) - A Bit of Normalcy

This week brought about a slight change from the "new normal" of the previous six weeks.  A slight immersion back into society. 

On Saturday, we went to visit my parents for the first time in a couple months. I did a load of laundry, we played a few games of sequence, and then went to an actual restaurant, Manny's for pizza. 

On Sunday, we went over to C.J's. He ordered a pizza and we watched game 7 of the 2004 Eastern Conference Finals together. 






Huntington reopened this week also. Most parents are still opting for lessons through Zoom, but as teachers, we have to be in the center no matter what. I was there yesterday tutoring my student online and there were 3 students physically present. 

Also on Tuesday, I was at the Pierson Vue testing facility to take an exam that is needed for my professional teaching license. Let me just say, it should not be that difficult for someone with 30+ years of teaching experience to get a license. 

Wednesday evening I received a text from my mom that my dad had fallen outside, could not walk, and the ambulance had taken him to the hospital. Due to Co-Vid 19 rules, my mom could not accompany him. X-rays revealed a broken hip and surgery was scheduled for Thursday night. 

Broken hips have such a wide range of seriousness; especially in the elderly. The most severe breaks can result in extended hospital stays followed up by nursing home rehabs. Thankfully, my dad's was on the less severe side. He was released today already and physical therapy will take place at home. 

Zack and I were brave and ventured out to eat Friday for the first time in a couple months (besides Manny's). It was completely impromptu. We were out to do our grocery shopping, drove by Friday's, and noticed the huge sign  advertising their opening. Everything was very well controlled with tables marked for occupancy or unavailable due to social distancing, all workers wore masks, and hand sanitizer and Lysol wipes were readily available also. 

Finally, this evening was game 7 of the 2004 Stanley Cup finals.







We had to watch it on YouTube as our cable box stopped working this afternoon and we cannot get it swapped out until tomorrow. We are both sad it's over. It's been nice for Zack and me;  it's given us something to look forward to doing together........the Magic are doing the same thing with the 2009 season which I said I'd watch. But I really don't like watching basketball on TV and instead of winning it all, they lose in the finals, so might not enjoy it as much.

And the Beat Goes On --- Week Six

Today begins week 6 of "shelter in place". I know some consider it week 7, but since that first week I was still going into Huntington to tutor, it is week 6 for me. 

And today, Florida began what it calls a "gradual reopening". This means that restaurants and non-essential retail businesses may start operating at 25% capacity and follow the proper social distancing guidelines of spacing 6 feet apart.  But nail salons, barbershops/beauty salons, gyms, and movie theaters remain closed. The statistics derived from this "soft opening" will drive what happens next. 

For now, local theme parks continue to be closed and, if I had to guess, will probably remain that way for a while yet. I have all but given up hope of getting any summer hours this year. 

So, here's what week six looked like

- A Wednesday evening visit to C.J.'s to watch American Pie 3

Image: google

- Evening walks with Zack and Ollie. 

- Learning more Italian.  I am up to about 85 words now and 3phrases - - pleasure to meet you (piacere di conoscerti), how may I help you (come passo aiutarti) and my name is Judy (il mio nome 'e Judy).  

Watching movies. I finally got my act together and watched the Downton Abbey movie.


Was not disappointed in the movie as a whole, but was downcast when Lady Grantham revealed at the end that she was dying. 😢

Also reviving the 80's 


image ---google

image --google




Keeping routine and ritual going. Continue to set the alarm Monday - Friday and set myself up in the living room for a day of 'working' from home. 

See you next week!

Oh My

I was looking through a box Friday night in search of some paperwork and found some old pictures that bring back all the feels.

Here We Are----Week Four

Most notable this week was the announcement that we would be continuing online education for the remainder of the school year. While this came on the heels of our governor's "brilliant" and "knowledgeable" remarks about the value of opening schools because "kids are not affected " by this virus, it did not come as a surprise to me. 

I remember sitting at a basketball game with my boys in February when C.J. asked me if I thought schools would be closed for the virus.  I confess that even though I said yes, I never envisioned anything on this scale. In my mind I envisioned a two or three week break, with the school year then extending into June. 

But here we are ---on week four of lock down and here is how I've been spending all this time at home. Spoiler ---it's not overly exciting.

             -  Late Evening Walks: Ollie now knows when the 9:00 hour approaches and starts getting restless. I like these late evening walks because it's perfectly acceptable to walk around in the dark in your pj's. 

            - Learning Italian:  true story....my grandfather was 100% Italian. His mother (my great-grandmother) immigrated to the United States and spoke almost no English. She died when I was four or five and I have only a few memories of her.  I often felt sad that the language was not passed down and ended with my grandfather. So, I started about a month ago learning some simple words. I started with numbers 0-10, then moved to the days of the week, and colors. I am up to about 65 words now.  I have learned son, daughter, boy, girl, cat, dog, how are you, pretty, beautiful, hello, goodbye, breakfast, lunch, dinner, nose, mouth, ears, eyes, stomach, hands, feet, sorry, excuse me, aunt, uncle, grandma,  grandpa, no, yes, thank you, you're welcome, March, April, very good, not good, so so, I, me, you. 

I write out the word as it is spelled and then put in parentheses how it sounds phonetically. For instance; today is Giovedi (Thursday) - but phonetically is pronounced (Joe - va (long a)   de (long e) ) 

              - Giving Ollie Baths: A couple weeks ago we learned Ollie had a skin infection and I ordered some antibacterial/antifungal shampoo. I have to bathe him every other day with it and spend 10 minutes massaging it into his skin. He has begun to come running when he hears the bath water because he knows a 10 minute massage is coming up. I also have added Selson Blue medicated shampoo as an extra precaution. 

                  ---Watching 2004 Lightning Games: Fox Sports is replaying the 2004 playoff games on the "march to the cup". Game number three is tonight (they are only replaying the games they won)

                      ----Finding Old Pictures: This has been fun and speaks for itself.

                        My sis and me (about one)

                                             Me at about two-and-a-half

      News article on an f-4 tornado that tore through Oshkosh on April 21, 1974

       My elementary school - Sacred Heart School

                      Sacred Heart teachers. My mom is in the white shirt in the front. My third grade teacher is behind her, and my fifth grade teacher is the third one up in the zig-zag dress. My fourth grade teacher is in the polka dot dress. And, how weird is this? The man with the striped tie against the wall ----my future brother-in-law Kim. 

               the Franciscan nuns...my first grade teacher is in the front row with the open sweater (she was super mean and cruel), and my second grade teacher is at the top. 

                           2002 maybe?

             Itty bitty baby Zack

    Thank goodness for blood transfusions - give blood if you can

     It saved his life

           ---- and lastly...a couple more videos that kept me very entertained.

and