Quarantine Journals - Catchup

It's been a long week of stressing about going to see my dad, planning and packing.

The school sent out a questionnaire asking parents what they thought about returning to school next year. It was kind of a joke, but I was clear in my opinions about the matter. LOTS of parents in the Coppell groups are pushing for a return to campus because "the kids want it." I can't believe how many people aren't at all concerned about the pandemic. 

Richard and I talked, and I expressed my concerns about the school being swayed by the masses. He said he's fine homeschooling for a year if that's what we have to do, and that was a HUGE relief because I'm not sending her into the school until this shit is under control.

Richard also mentioned that everyone was giving him shit for still working from home, joking about him not getting anything done, and that the pressure was on because his cell signal was so bad that it made collaborative work impossible. Charlie is still traveling to deliver bids, "and I can't even go into an office with two people or take a phone call." So I spent the next morning on the phone with AT&T getting wireless calling enabled on his phone. Which took four phone calls in nearly 2 hours, but we got it figured out, and his call quality seemed to improve after that. So I'm hoping that helps reduce his stress level a little bit.

He came home from work today – Saturday – talking about how much he hates working on Saturdays.  He said he hates being up in an empty office, and he misses talking to everyone. He says his productivity is off the charts, which is great, but at the office is eerily quiet and surreal. He said that every surface he encounters feels like a potential danger even though he knows it's probably nights, so he spends the whole time worrying about the virus and feeling paranoid about his entire surroundings. He also rearranged his office entirely two days before the shut down, so every time he goes in it doesn't actually feel like his office anymore. He just hasn't gotten used to it, and it's hard to get used to it when there's no one there. But he said he's been Turning on a movie in the background so that it's not too quiet, and then he gets probably a full days work done in just a couple of hours because no one is interrupting him. I told him that I truly do understand how quiet and lonely it must be up there, and I feel bad for him that he's not able to have his work family and the connections that he used to have. I can relate to that being a stay at home mom for sure.

A Dallas studio released some limited edition Black lives matter T-shirts this week, and 100% of the proceeds go to campaign zero. So I purchased a shirt for everyone in the house, and I wore mine the other day, and Penny was really excited. She said "wow, where did you get that cool shirt?" And I told her all about the studio and what they were donating it to, and I let her know that I got her one and she was really excited. She said she wanted us all to put on our shirts and go down to the street with some signs and have our own safe protest.

Penny started up letters with a penpal, a friend of mine's daughter named Lucie. They live in Richmond Virginia, and they've been traveling to all the Confederate monuments that are being torn down and taking pictures with the kids so that they can have a piece of this history.

Our garden is doing well. We have four or five peas, probably half a dozen strawberries, and I think about 20 cherry tomatoes on each of our six cherry tomato plants. We've got about three or four peppers growing and lots more flowers coming. The herb garden is almost overgrown, and the lettuce we've harvested so many times that I think it's pretty much done. So I'll be starting some new ones when we get back from my dads house.

Of course, keeping with our tradition of never a dull moment, our toilet in the master bathroom broke yesterday. We haven't been able to fix it yet, and the seal around the toilet is also broken. I was already aware of that, and I had told the plumber when they came out last time that they haven't sealed up properly when they installed the toilet, but he just shrugged and left. So now every time you flush, the water is seeping out between the toilet and the floor. We tried getting some kind of new weird squeegee plunger, and it didn't do the trick. We also ordered a regular plunger, but it never showed up. Amazon has been a real hot mess this last week.  I've had one order that I was notified got damaged and returned to the sender, I had about three orders that have notified me they don't know when they're going to get here, and multiple orders that have arrived five or six days after when they were supposed to be here. So who knows when the plunger is actually going to arrive. But I'm truly hoping that Richard and I can get this fixed by ourselves. I really, really, really do not want to have to bring a plumber into the house. Or anyone for that matter!

Did I mention that the transformer in the alley blew a few days ago, and our AC went out for about half an hour? Lots of neighbors AC went out as well, and we were able to hack together a six and then share it with other people and get their units back up and running, including our neighbors who is elderly.

The trampoline that my dad got for Oliver's birthday arrived yesterday, and the kids have been having a blast on it. I'm hoping that it's a new outlet for them to get some wiggles out when it's 115° outside. But, we have also been using the pool still. Unfortunately for the pool, the outside temperature dropped about 10° for a couple of days, and that's all it took to get the water way too cold for the kids again. Oliver's last swim ended with him shivering uncontrollably and screaming because he couldn't get warm, so I ushered him into the hot, lava sunshine and he was fine within five seconds.

We are all packed up to go to my dads house tomorrow morning. Penny knows we're going, but we haven't told Oliver yet. We're going to be taking Mosley with us, which is a new adventure since he hasn't traveled with us out to my dads house in probably seven or eight years. Everything stacked by the door including some fresh produce for my dad who hasn't had groceries in a little while.  I made him a gift basket for an early Father's Day gift full of fresh pears, dates, and chocolate chip cookies that we made. He is wanting Brandon and I to space our visits 14 days, so I'm not sure if we will see him again in two weeks, or if we won't see him again for a month. And honestly, I'm feeling pretty anxious about Richard's conversation regarding people guilting him about going into the office and knowing that I'm just now finally seeing my dad and might not be able to do so for much longer. Especially if we're having to bring a plumber into the house, and Richard's gonna have to start going into the office. So I'm really hoping we can avoid that for as long as possible.

The last two nights I have felt incredibly tired in the evenings. Which seemed troublesome to me at first, but my friend pointed out at 1 AM is a time when most people feel incredibly exhausted. So, perhaps my stress is catching up with me, or perhaps my anxiety is balancing out. I honestly don't know, but I wish I had been in the place to take it vantage of wanting to sleep. However, instead, I've been packing. It's insane how much stuff you have to take a long just to spend two days somewhere other than your home when you have two small children. Then double that, maybe even triple it, when you consider a pandemic.

The black lives matter movement continues going forward with much strength. And police continues our streak of brutality and blatant murder of black people for little to no reason. There have been multiple incidents over the last few days, I am only hoping that people can stay motivated and passionate to continue fighting for the rights of people of color. A couple of days ago, they found a 27-year-old man hanging from a rope in front of Townhall. If you can believe that in 2020! The police force instantly ruled it a suicide, and told reporters that there was no camera footage in that area, but many city workers have come out and said that that is not the case, the whole area is covered in cameras. So now everyone is pushing to see the footage. Do we have our first lynching? Or did this man commit suicide and choose to do so in front of Townhall to make a statement? Both are a sign of the times that we're living in, but I am really, really concerned that violence towards black people is escalating.

I'm so tired. I'm going to end this here so that I can get in bed. I've been pacing around the living room waiting to go try to P for the seventh time so that maybe I can lay down and not have to get up and walk across the house that is the bathroom again.