10 Weeks Behind Us

Well, it's another update from me. Ten weeks have now passed since the coronavirus rocked our world. We don't have too much going on around here, but I'll go ahead and fill you in on the few things we have done.

I totally forgot to post pictures on my last post from our ice cream sundae night. Briana does know how to make a beautiful sundae...

Last weekend, Doug, Bri and I watched "The Princess Bride." It was the first time for Briana. She really enjoyed it...

Full disclosure, it was my very first time watching it as well. I know what you are all thinking...

But it's true. I have finally seen the light. Heh.

So last Tuesday morning, I went to retrieve Briana's locker belongings. She had taken home everything she could carry that last day she was physically at school, but there were a few things she had left behind. We obviously had no idea at the time that Bri would be finishing out 8th grade at home.

I had to sign up for a time to pick up her things and parents were allowed in the building 10 people at at time in 10 minute intervals. It was requested for parents to come only - no students/kids - and for parents to wear masks. I signed up for the earliest slot in the day so I could just get in and out quickly.

Here is Briana's school...

Me and my mask...

I was actually nervous about trying to get into Bri's locker. It's been a LONG time since I've had to do that! But I got in first try (yay me)...

I snapped a quick picture of the empty hallway and classrooms (so sad)...

I was in and out in about 10 minutes. I have a bit of a vent about the whole experience, but I'll address it later on in my post.

Bri's teachers all sent farewell notes, so I decided to put them all on one sheet of paper for her to keep...

The school sent a sweet video of all the teachers waving goodbye.

And the school also sent out a video with the award announcements.

Briana did finally make the "all A" honor roll and she was so excited. Three of her core classes (math, science and English) were honors, so she received high school credit for those. Her social studies class was advanced (no honors class was available). And she had PE the whole year and an elective each semester. She worked so hard this year to get those As. I'm really proud.

Here is her name...

And a surprise award Bri received was the "outstanding buddy" award. About 10 to 12 kids in her grade were chosen to get it. These kids lent an extra hand to the special needs students out of the goodness of their hearts...

Bri's head got cut off in the video - heh...

 Though Bri was finished with all her work two weeks ago, last week was the "official week" of final goodbyes and awards.

And now truly I have a high schooler. Makes my stomach flip a little. How did this happen?

Speaking of growing up, I had to get a new ID card for Bri to get into the neighborhood amenities. When a kid turns 13, he/she needs to get a new card with a picture (and they get some extra perks). She's growing up...

We had a nice rainy day one day last week. I enjoyed it on my back porch...

Listening to the rain...

Mei has a little chipmunk friend that is her big time entertainment right now...

She also loves watching all the birds...

I do a lot of sitting on my porches now. More than I ever have I believe. I sit out there and think. Feeling lots of different things.

This brings me to my weekly personal take on what's going on in the world (feel free to read or skip; proceed with caution)...

Well, I guess I'll start with what happened when I went to get Briana's things from school. In the notice the school sent out about "moving out" day, it was requested that parents wear masks and to not bring students/kids to the school.

The first man standing in line the day I went not only had no mask on, he had his kid with him too. Most of the other parents in line - also not wearing masks (though we were standing six feet apart). I think I saw one other parent besides me with a mask on. Both staff members letting us in had masks on, but only after they entered with school without having them on. 

Nothing was done to enforce what was asked of us.

It's not that I thought I was going to get covid standing there, but the school told us what they wanted us to do beforehand. And I was just trying to figure out why these parents felt they were special somehow. Why did they feel they had the right to flagrantly disregard what was asked of them? It was just another big "middle finger" to people like me I guess...

 

I mean - we have a US president who'd rather ingest an unproven drug (supposedly) when he's not even sick than simply wear a mask to protect himself and others. I feel like the world has flipped on it's axis. But what the heck do I know?

And if schools refuse to enforce rules now, how am I going trust them with my kid in the new school year? I just don't know.

 And a lot of you may have heard, the Georgia DOH got caught manipulating data (they are calling it "errors")...

States accused of fudging or bungling COVID-19 testing data

Georgia's Lastest Errors In Reporting

When you compare the data the GA DOH reports to a number of other different sources, there are some pretty big differences. I could have told you GA was manipulating data weeks ago. Kemp wanted to open early and his people "made" it happen.

And it is true, new cases aren't really "exploding" right now in GA. They still might still go up though. They might not. That's why I am watching and waiting. But I'm already seeing a slight uptick in cases. There is no way it can't happen with everyone moving around unprotected and congregating in large groups.

I do have a small group of friends who are in the "wait and watch" camp like me. But I'm feeling very much in the minority here in Georgia. And it is making me VERY uncomfortable in my own skin. 

To be honest, I am feeling kind of defeated. I am feeling a bit beat down. I am feeling so very tired.

This pretty much says it all...

Despite what a lot of people seem to be doing around me right now, I am continuing to listen to my gut (and Doug's gut too). My gut tells me to keep social distancing as much as possible, be super careful and not take any unnecessary risks. That doesn't mean I won't go to a doctor's appointment or maybe even visit with a fellow cautious friend here and there. But it may take my family many, many months to feel comfortable making certain types of physical connections again.

And just please remember, Covid is deadlier than the flu...

(The above graph is from an article written on May 2. The death toll is now 97,249 in the US.)

I just wish people cared as much about these deaths as those who were lost in 9/11 (and these names are only 1% of those who have died)...

 Well, I think that is all I have in me for this post. I'm super drained. Not really sure what this week will bring. If I have anything interesting to contribute next week, I'll be back with another post. :)

9 Weeks Behind Us

It's been nine weeks since the world was completely turned upside down in Georgia. Doug, Bri and I are surviving (as best as we can)!

Last week, Bri's school sent out the 8th grade "virtual walk" video. This is what I said on FB about it...

 Here is the introduction...

There's my girl!!!

Bri's teachers also started sending out their goodbye messages last week - and that was also bittersweet.

Bri's English teacher (who is leaving middle school to teach for a magnet program at a different high school in the county) sent a sweet video message to the kiddos...

A message from her science teacher...

A joke from her math teacher...

From her social studies teacher...

From her art teacher (except Bri's in 8th grade and sadly won't be seeing her next year)...

Speaking of art, here are a few of B's last art assignments.

Birds...

A flower...

And this was her final assignment...it was to draw a wolf (her school is "home of the wolves"). Very appropriate I think...

Bri did this drawing just for fun...

And here is B's drawing calendar from April (we survived April!)...

I am a bit sad that Bri won't be receiving her "all A" honor roll certificate in front of her classmates. She's worked so hard to get all A's this year (she's been on the A/B honor roll the last two years) and really wanted to get it at the award ceremony. She did say she should still get her certificate at the beginning of the next school year - I really hope so. I told her I'd make her one if she didn't get it.

I have been able to see her receive a number of certificates over the years, so it's really ok. I'm so very proud of her...

So what else were D, B and I up to last week?

Doug's work has been crazy busy - which is a blessing. Bri was very happy to be done with school. She basically just chilled the whole week. She facetimed and texted with some of her friends. But otherwise, she just kept to herself. I'm usually a bit worried with how introverted Bri is, but it can be very useful during a social distancing pandemic - heh. Me - I've been catching up on a lot of things around the house.

This past weekend, we worked a lot outdoors.

 We burned some stuff we needed to burn...

I washed off and weeded the back patio. Doug ordered some new Adirondack chairs and he put them together (our other ones were getting super worn out)...

Doug took Bri out to wash his car...

I spent a lot of time chilling on my back porches. This was me and Miss Mei chilling on Saturday evening...

I spent a lot of last week organizing and filing away paperwork and getting some things together for donation. I came across Bri's service log for beta club. She was just a half an hour away from completing her volunteer hours for the semester before the school went to digital learning. Ugh...

Bri downloaded a coloring book app on her phone to keep busy. She colored in this picture (she didn't draw it)...

The "big" excitement around my part of town right now is the black bear (or possibly bears) that keeps roaming neighborhoods up and down our main road. People keep posting pictures of this poor guy who seems hungry and confused (I snagged these photos off of FB)...

Another exciting thing - FB added avatars! (Ok - that's not really all that exciting, but it's fun)...

So I guess that brings me to my complaining whining semi-informative weekly perspective of what is going on in the world right now. Once again, feel free to read or move right past...

So, here is the graph once again that I check on new Georgia coronavirus cases...

Numbers are still zigzagging a bit, but not as drastically as earlier on. No huge spikes - which is a good thing (hopefully). I'm still waiting to see if numbers start to increase with all the movement happening right now. We are at the two week (plus) mark now of Georgia opening up and I am very curious as to what this week will bring.

If television/internet/social media is giving me any sort of a gauge as to the activities of others (since I am still sticking close to home right now), it seems as if a very large number of people believe this virus has completely disappeared somehow. I have seen more unprotected, lack of distancing, large group gatherings in the last few days than I even want to talk about.

Look, I'm all for people getting back to life cautiously. I totally get that people need to make a living. People want some sense of "normalcy." It's the "reckless abandon" that I am seeing after the "re-opening" that is really getting to me right now.

This was tweeted on May 15th by an Emory Hospital anesthesiologist...

So, I am going to continue to be super cautious right now, protect myself and others, and keep on keeping on. Especially now that I am hearing that children are not necessarily immune to this virus. There is just so much we are still learning.

Caution ~ slight venting ahead...

Those who are in the extremely cautious camp (like me) are being ridiculed and called "sheep" by the "just open everything up" people. Yet, those who are ridiculing us could be just as easily called "sheep" for only listening to those who feed their own belief system. Those who choose to continue to social distance are looked down upon as wimps and scaredy-cats. Right now, Doug, Bri and I go out on a very limited basis, and we are privileged enough to be able to make that choice. I'm just trying to protect my small family that took so long for me to build as best as I can. Some people are proclaiming "I don't have to wear a mask!" and "America is a free country and I can do whatever the heck I want!" I'm really struggling to find where that line is between freedom and self-entitlement.

All the bickering back and forth is overwhelming. Some people are downright hateful. I have to remind myself to stop reading the dang comments - on everything!

It's hard not to feel this way sometimes...

Kind of harsh, I know. But it gets the point across I guess.

Doug sees me get riled up quite often. I know it frustrates him. I wish I could be as calm and logical as he seems to be about all of this. I'm just not wired that way.

So, he sent me this meme to cheer me up the other day...

I think I am getting better at that second one lately - heh.

Is that why Doug got carried away ordering from wine.com the other day?

Do you think he's trying to mellow me out a bit? Maybe? Possibly?

Lastly, I am not going to get into what I think about the president again. If you've read my blog long enough, you already know how I feel. No need to rehash it.

Let me just address one thing though. What he did to Weijia Jiang last week was inexcusable. I had to explain his words and actions to my Asian daughter yet again. There is so much more I could say, but I'm just going to leave it at that...

So when I get overwhelmed by life, I am going to try to remember this...

It's hard to for me to take things day by day. It's hard for me to not take things personally. It's hard for me to not get riled up. But I'm trying. I really am.

Once again, thanks for reading. Be back next week! Hope you'll be too. :)