Quarantine Journals - Updates

So, here we are, now replacing the carpet all over the house, but also repainting the living room, hallways, and study.  We are getting rid of the popcorn and repainting the ceilings and the trim as well.  Another week added to the timeline.

I had some aquarium folks come in to move the aquariums, and I did tell them I had concerns about scratching the floors... so, of course, they scratched them.  Also, on the subject of property damage, I found paint on the kids pikler triangle when I was there packing things up this weekend.  And now I am being told that there is also paint on the couch... which they are trying to say was my own doing.  The paint job on the vanities etc is not impressive. I find it to be subpar, and there are issues with the hardware on the cabinetry as well. I had a long list when I got back here.

A cool front is coming in, and the weather was really nice today.  The pool was getting cold already, and I know it is going to be really hard on the kids to be here and not be able to swim.  Both of them are obsessed with it right now.  Oliver loves for me to hold him so he can pretend to climb the walls and swing back and forth like Spidey. Penny pretends to be Green Goblin and we go all over the pool catching her and letting her get away.

After our swim today, we decided it would be fun to eat dinner in the gazebo. So dad cleaned it off and we ate leftovers in there.  I think it would have been really nice if Oliver hadn't realized that he woke up 2 hours early this morning, took a super early and short nap, and proceeded to have a total crisis. So the whole thing was pretty stressful.  I ended up giving him my phone to draw on so I could eat in peace and enjoy the weather.  We called it Cafe Gazebo and Penny was excited to be the waitress and serve us all our food. She had fun, I think.

We had a telehealth visit with Oliver's allergist today. He basically said he thought it was okay to trial egg, but that he understood if we wanted to do an in office trial and just to let them know when we were comfortable scheduling it.  Which is definitely not now. And he was fine with that. Shockingly enough.

Today was the first day of school of a lot of districts in Texas since Abbott allowed them to delay their starts. Dallas choose not to. And We could have avoided face to face learning several more weeks, but Dallas ISD didn't think that was necessary either.... so face to face learning started in Coppell today. I got an email this evening already saying that there are 4 known cases of covid across the schools.

Meggan's daughter, Arya, was having a horrible time with her first day of school.

The video Penny made was amazing.  She talked to Arya about how nervous she is doing videos every time, but that it gets better and that she would be okay.  Then she gave her some advice for mindful breathing, and practiced the breathing with her.  So many words of love and encouragement, and I was so freaking proud of her.  She has a heart of gold.  She is a helper, that one.   Even Arya's dad texted me about it. 

So that's it. I hate hate hate picking paint colors, I have realized.  Especially from here and like this.  I am glad that it's over, but every time I see the new stuff at the house, something in me dies because it doesn't look the way I had hoped / imagined.  This is so hard on my brain.

Lots of good, productive meetings with Paul regarding the website. I am encouraged that we are making progress and things are looking really nice.

Until next time...