April 18th, 36th Day of Quarantine

The expected high today is 54F.  It is sunny, but windy and still too cool to spend time outside.  At least it's not snowing.

We didn't sleep in much, despite the late bedtime.  After starting some laundry, knocking out a few chores and making some pancakes, it took no time at all for our scheduled Prescott meeting!

Once the kids were finished, Caroline and I got to talk (kind of) face to face until her battery died.  Video technology has seriously been the best during this time, and while it's not nearly as cool as the Jetson's, it still feels novel and fun to chat with everyone on camera. = )

For lunch I ordered pizzas, and happened upon Rachel on my return walk.  It's been a social couple of days!

I reassembled the downstairs beds (It's been more than 14 days since we've spotted a louse) I so hope we are in the clear.  The stuffed animals will be staying in quarantine until May 15th, a couple of weeks past recommended time, because I do not want to take any chances.  I also repaired my broken bedside table, ordered some planters for our front porch and organized the area around my sewing machine.

I ordered some lanterns for Billy, during his last experiment, and they finally came in! (Amazon used to have 2 day shipping, it's a much longer wait during the outbreak.) It was a little windy today, so the lantern did not float. = (

Billy kept having to avoid the flames, so Emily stayed on the porch with me, holding the retrieval string.

We have 4 more to try out, hopefully we can get one in the air when it is a little warmer and less windy!

After our Wine date, Billy and I watched through a few more episodes of the Witcher, again.  Then it was time for bed!

Thankful for milder weather and another Saturday with my family. = )

later days

April 3rd, Day 21 of Staying Home, 1st day of Spring Break!

The expected high today is 61F.  It is currently brilliantly sunny.

I started the morning by stripping the beds that were used (again.)  And spraying everything down.  Hopefully this will be the last day of bedding washing, once we put in the medicine.

This morning the twins had a zoom call with their class.  They were excited to see everyone!

After noon I went to pickup the kids' prescription medicine, and it had to sit on their heads for 8 hours!  It smelled awful and is either exceptionally flammable or does some damage if heated.  We kept the windows open all day to try to air out the house (luckily the temperature was accommodating.)

Now that the talent show has been officially cancelled, Emily put together a package for Abby, which included the matching outfits they were planning to wear.  Emily wanted to send a puzzle of her wearing her dress to Abby, so we took the picture and she made it up.  Sadly, it was drying away from the box, and I forgot to put it in.  = 0  We'll have to mail her a letter with it next week. = )

We played with the Google 3D animal option for a little while.

After dinner, from our local pizza parlor, we waved to our neighbors from the driveway while we drew some happy art.  = )

After coming in, I found that I had completely forgotten to remind Alice about her first class zoom meeting. = (  It was almost 45 minutes after her meeting time, so there was no chance for her to even chime in late.  We'll have to do a better job of setting an alarm next time (versus the single calendar reminder that I missed.)

And last night, I took down the paperwork from the fieldtrips that will never happen.  It made me more sad than I would like to admit.

The twins each put on some jeans and found a toy phone to stick in the back pocket, so that they could be "like mutti."  It's so endearing.

I picked a comedy from the Netflix library that I didn't recall seeing, but apparently had, called The Ugly Truth.  It came out in 2009, so it must have been one of the last movies we saw in theaters before Alice arrived. = )

At the late, late time of 9:45, I started the regimen of showering the medicine out of everyone's hair and combing through along the scalp.  Thankfully, we saw no signs of lice or nits, so I'm carefully optimistic that we may be in the clear.  I also trimmed the girls' hair to make combing easier.  Since I've not trained at all for hair cutting, I cut of the tiniest effective amount. My hope is that once we are able to make a salon trip, they will be able to easily rectify any mistakes that I made.

It was a late bedtime, so the kids were out quickly, and I went to bed as fast as I could manage.  I left one single load of bedding in the dryer, because it was just too late.

later days

April 2nd, 20th Day of Quarantine, Day 14 of School at Home

The high today was a "warm," sunny, still 57F!  It was still chilly, but not bone-chilling! I even opened the window 'this' much for a few hours! = )

I continued to work on my mountain of laundry and gave Emily a lice treatment during first recess and Grace a treatment during second recess.

Once everyone (except for William) was done with school work, I ran to the pharmacy to get the treatment they ordered yesterday, and inquire about the prescription that the pediatrician sent in today for all 5. = 0  After the pharmacy here in town, I ventured into Lansing to purchase 3 cans of spray to respray all the beds, couches, floors, chairs, etc.

Any beds that are not actively used are currently bare, pending the use of the prescription lice treatment. = (

We had BBQ sandwiches and bell pepper slices for dinner.

At 6, William and Alice attended their first martial arts trial via zoom.  They were both impressed (and so was I) enough that we might be subscribers (at least for the duration of the quarantine.)

We wrapped a few presents for the twins' impending birthday = ) then headed out to wave to our neighbors at 7pm.  I broke out a box of the sidewalk chalk that I'd earmarked for Easter gifts, since our old stash was down to nubs.

Emily and William withstood the mosquitoes (seriously?) the longest, and were coloring rocks...

Governor Whitmer official cancelled in school classes for the remainder of the year. This was not surprising.  And, despite the fact that I did not vote for her, I've been overly impressed with her leadership* during this crisis.

Tonight Sarah and Seven did a porch drop for my 'costume' on Sunday.  I'll reveal my movie later (maybe.) lol

I did finally finish all of the bedding (including washing the clean ones the kids used last night.)

And, starting tomorrow, we are officially on second spring break! woohoo!  (of course, we still have 6 zooms scheduled, so we have a 'bit' of a schedule) ; )

later days

*I giggle, despite myself, every time she says Michigander. I just can't help it.  Once a Texan, always a Texan?

Note: Joe Diffie died from the Corona Virus, and he is one of 14 songs I have on my current shortlist (before the virus). This was so sad, especially since he was not even a year older than my mother. I hope Haley and Chris are keeping her tucked away.

April 1st, Directed to Stay Home, Day 19, School at Home Day 13

The expected high today was 47F.  It was mostly cloudy, but the sun peaked out a while.

I had a house full of hard workers this morning, and we had some intermittent zoom calls with friends and classes!

Emily and Abby got to chat at 10, and William's class also took place at the same time (oops...) Emily had the laptop and William used my phone.

For Grace's 11am zoom call with Zoey, she requested my phone, so that she could "show her our house." lol
William made a toilet paper measuring tape (in units of paperclip).  He had to measure several things, and seemed to really enjoy it!

Emily wanted to make some pretzel-marshmallow-chocolate chip spiders.  They were a favorite craft today!

Emily's teacher sent her a card with her address in it, and Emily has been so excited to send her some pictures.  She picked a bicycle theme, and once everyone drew theirs up, we got it ready to mail!


And today, oh today, we had a lice outbreak.  And I'm not even foolin.' = (

Some how, during quarantine, when he has literally had contact with no-one, William managed to catch lice.  ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

The only guess we have is that the bar chair that I bought for Billy must have had some on it, and William just happened to put his head there?!  I sprayed it with lysol and let it sit outside before I brought it in, but didn't even consider lice. ugh.

So, today, everyone has been checked.  Billy ran to get some lice treatment and William has had round 1, all of our stuffed animals are in a secondary level of quarantine.

I'm working on washing every single piece of bedding that we have in the house, plus coats and anything else that might possibly contaminate someone.

Sarah was heading to the pharmacy in Lansing, so she also got us some and brought it by in a porch drop. = /  So, I've sprayed and sprayed some more.

And then, right before bed, I found 3 more lice in his hair.  So, it was back in the tub with him for another 10 minute session. = (

Combing through his hair this time though was very enjoyable, since the big girls brought down their regular bedtime books* and read to me! = )

Now I'm exhausted, the kids are kissed and asleep, the washer and dryer are still working hard, but I'm off to bed.

later days

*Alice is reading Percy Jackson & the Olympians, Emily is reading The Dragon That Ate Summer (and he's still hungry)