A few of the books loaned to a friend
Monday, March 16
This is going to be a quick update today, I think.
Since I published yesterday, the Massachusetts governor declared that all schools will be closed through April 7. This is a week past what our local school district declared on Friday, March 13.
Last night, while eating delicious, homemade “Panera” mac n cheese for dinner, we all watched an episode of Designated Survivor. The kids caught me up. We are a sports family who has had to shift. I’m still not ready to write about that.
The seltzer is almost gone.
Our butter supply is low. I am contemplating experimenting with baking with applesauce and yogurt as substitutes.
I have three kids, each in a different school. I have started a folder in my email to save in one place all of the emails I’ve received and anticipate receiving from the administrators and teachers. Wowza.
This morning I heard from a friend in need of books to read during the next several weeks. Before I went to work (for the last time for the foreseeable future), I grabbed a dozen or so books off of my shelves, and she met me outside my office building for a handoff. About a year-and-a-half ago, my daughters counted every book in our house. At the time I think we had 3,000. Needless to say, before this thing is over, I may be lending books out to others.
I use Zoom fairly frequently for board meetings and such. This morning, I participated in my first Zoom meeting as an office. I’m glad this is not a learning curve I need to adjust to. There’s so much that is new right now.
On my drive into work this morning I received yet another call from a school. I know the numbers by heart, and I often ignore them because we receive them on no fewer than three phones, and for some reason my phone seems to receive them last. Today I picked up immediately. Now I don’t even remember what it said. Maybe something about high school students being able to pick up their Chrome books today? I told all my kids to clean out their lockers on Friday, so they are all set to engage in whatever online learning/teaching/activities are yet to come their way.
I stayed at work long enough to attend two meetings about adjusting to working from home over the next unknown period of time. Then I gathered up my computer monitor and a few other things and got the heck out of there before noon. My new office is now our dining room table. Meals will now be eaten in front of the TV or out on the deck on warm days.
I’m getting antsy writing this play-by-play, so here’s the quick summary of the rest:
Spoke on the phone with my sister
Showered upon arriving home
Kids played what I think was capture the flag outside
I set up my new work space and consolidated all of the scattered to-do lists of the past several days
Had a call with leaders of the nonprofit I’m on the board of
Texted with my mom
Checked in with my team at work to establish our Gchat plan going forward
Adding ZOOM links to a few upcoming meetings
Two kids now playing basketball, inside
Although this is Day 3, it feels different than Day 1 or 2. It’s a work day, so I need to be able to focus on my job, and now my work is home, and I had less time to be on Twitter (probably a good thing), but I just feel very disoriented. Clearly, my brain needs to rest, and so I’m stepping away for now. But before I do, here’s my mom’s drawing of the day.
Drawing through COVID-19 and practicing MCE
Stay safe, everyone.