The Quarantine Life

With me positive (and Shane and Carrie probably doomed), we settled in to quarantine at home. Shane relaxed quickly.

We've watched a lot of Marvel movies. Usually first thing in the morning. I'm not even out of bed before Carrie's turned on one and starts to watch with Shane! It's a family activity in her mind. She wanted to get Shane more up to date and the quarantine's done just that! 

So far, we've watched: Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarok, and Black Panther. There was a little skipping here and there, but not much. Carrie didn't hide her reaction and interested Shane in a new word (That we still haven't told him what it means and I hope he forgets...).

We haven't decided if we're going to show Shane Avengers: Infinity War yet. He can get upset over minor and even villain deaths and there are some major losses in Infinity War (I won't spoil it for you if you don't know).

Too much electronics are an addiction, though, so Shane had to go without for long stretches of time. Mostly he was underfoot, but I heartily endorsed the train tracks! They've been stored in a bin for well over a year.

Shane built a sprawling track. 

The animals were all interested.

Shane borrowed board games, books, boxes, and more to have some fun with elevation.

Loki only got in the way and stepped on the track occasionally. 

Shane did all the track work himself. I helped only a little with diagnosing some problems with the elevation changes.

The decorations were all Shane, too.

He was proud of all the pictures I took, though! I told him, "This is going on the blog."

It left a mess for many days.

Shane added a few bits here and there on the days to come. It made doing dishes awkward.

But it was creative and off electronics. I used Lego's as a kid. Shane prefers train tracks.

Carrie contacted all the barn people to let them know I was sick. That didn't stop her from going outside to greet people.

She did her best to keep her distance while talking.

Save chores, Shane and I stayed mostly inside. It would've been nice if Shane read more, but if he wasn't poking at Mom or me, he was poking at one of the animals.

He swears Happy likes to be "burrito'd" in a blanket. Max seems to like it, as well!

Shane called for me to take a picture over and over!

A lot of life has gone on much the same for us. Shane still has his chores and that includes talking to Sunny. Carrie and I thought about making Shane do extra chores or studying since he was out of school......but neither of us followed through with anything.

In our defense, we were tired. Robocalls from Shane's school woke us up Monday-Friday at 6 AM sharp. The calls were to alert us his bus would be late (They texted and emailed, too!). I learned to silence my phone at night by Wednesday or Thursday, but then there was Carrie's phone. And her smart watch.

I'm just glad the calls stopped for the weekend!

I spent an inordinate time on email. I wasn't at work (Woo!), but I still felt responsible for work (Boo!). I wrote a quick sub plan every morning ("Do makeup work") and answered emails as quick as I could. I worried about what my little buttheads were doing (Uh oh...), but was glad I wasn't there to have it done to me (Whew!).

It made the week a weird mix of restful and....I don't know, minor guilt pangs? I didn't think I'd be out all week!

I took COVID tests on Wednesday and Thursday to see if I could go back to work. Both tests said, "Say home!"

I missed 6 days of school. Subs came for three of them and teachers were pulled to cover my classes whenever no sub showed.

Loki has been thrilled. He didn't see any reason to leave the house unless it included him. He liked the company when a few storms rolled through, too (We took down the Starlink satellite a couple times, just in case!).

Shane did get electronics. He watched Captain Underpants and Pokemon whenever he got to pick. There were the MCU movies, but we also watched a little Full House. If no one would play Roblox with him (Cole, B, Sarah, or Dylan), then he would deign to play some Deep Rock Galactic with me and maybe Bill (Who was also home due to COVID!).

I had wanted to take Shane to his final soccer game and the pool opening on Saturday. We had to settle for the quiet life.

Well, semi-quiet life. Shane hates quiet. He laid under the table and constant (and repetitive) noises whenever I tried to write. The drone of the train's engine started to get to me over time, too.

I made Shane pick up his train tracks on Wednesday or Thursday. He tried to make a loop around his bed to keep him entertained at night, ha!

As for food, we were well stocked....except for Peanut Butter. There was a recall that cut out one of Shane's major food groups, sadly.

Quarantine has been a good chance to clean out the fridge. I cooked most nights as Carrie started to show symptoms. She acted the sickest of any of us (but it's been less severe than a flu, thankfully!).

We've managed to use up some provisions causing some creativity here and there. I made a sriacha, mozzarella burger one night.

Carrie did get inspired and cooked a wonderful pork loin one night. She treated us to brownies, too (There's another story that goes with that!).

We did have one minor resupply. There were no eggs to make the brownies. Carrie ordered a grocery pickup online. I masked up, drove to Food Lion, and never had to get out of the car. The employee came out, opened the truck, put in the bags, and left!

Quarantine hasn't been paradise, but it's been good. I'm glad I got the chance to stay home with everyone! Shane missed some SOL tests and we haven't done a thing to prepare, but I'm not overly worried.