Isolation

We are currently one week into our 2 week statewide "Stay at Home" order.  It's QUIET in a city that is usually bustling with traffic.  It makes it really nice to go places now, except there is no where to go because everything is closed.  The parks closed, so even the trails are quiet.

I imagine this order will go longer since this week the President extended the Coronavirus distancing restrictions to April 30th.  I am also anticipating longer school closures, but we will see what happens when it happens.

Don't mind the cords.  It is what it is.

So, fortunately, I'm quite used to living on my own and I rather enjoy it.  I am keeping regular "office hours" for school, and am available to students during our regular school hours.  Currently, we are providing learning opportunities weekly to families, but it sounds like we may be moving to a more instruction based approach after Spring Break.  As the technology lead in our building, I'm also very busy responding to staff questions about educational technology and problem solving.  It's an unexpectedly large part of a roll that isn't usually this time consuming in "normal" years.

I replaced my medicine cabinet.  While it looks great now, I'm most definitely a beginner, and need to take it back out and redo the screws.  I don't have an after picture.  Just image something that looks better.  Someday it will be done correctly!

I bought another pair of blue light glasses since I'm SO not used to sitting at a screen all day, and it was giving me headaches.  I have a pair at school for teacher work days but....well, they are at school and I'm not allowed over there. My new work essentials are sanitizer, lotion, and blue light glasses.

My typical routine is to get up and make coffee (Seattlite over here now!), switch on the morning news, and get my computer and iPad up and running.  I respond to any emails, open up my availability for students to reach me, and then basically monitor student conversations all day.  They are working through some of the work that has been sent home, and I'm answering any questions as they go.  I've been doing some online tech training, and I am taking a Computational Thinking course that should be wrapping up in April.

Since the gyms are closed, my kickboxing has been online, which I've actually really enjoyed.  I can still track my heart rate with my monitor and app, and it gives me a nice way to get moving since the trails are all closed right now.  I like to think I'm getting better, but who knows.

Otherwise, I do laundry, clean already clean things, and cook.  I cook a lot.  I went overboard in the picture (I mean, there is only one of me), but I made a cheese soup one day (it was broccoli cheese, but my frozen broccoli had seen better days- in the cast iron in the picture below), and homemade pretzel bites (also in the picture)!  So really, this was more of a way for me to entertain myself, snack, and then clean up for later.

I've tried to stay away from making treats because I'm the only one here to eat them.  So I'm focusing on cooking rather than baking as much as possible.  I've put together homemade pancake mix and hot chocolate mix.  One day I made homemade enchilada sauce and made some yummy enchiladas.  Pasta is always an easy go-to, and I always make my own sauces.  

The other day, my friends from back home all did a video get-together one night with us and all of our collective husbands/wives.  Since I usually don't get to join in on the festivities, it was kind of fun for us to all get to see each other at once.  We talked for 2 hours!  

I plan to clean my carpet one of these days. So basically, it's really exciting around here.  

Early reports seem like Seattle is doing alright in slowing the spread of the virus, but who knows as the weeks continue.  Even if that is true, it sounds like we will still be spending many weeks isolated. 

Otherwise I'm just still over here not leaving my home.