Quarantine

What a bizarre week!

I was on Spring Break, so I spent Monday running errands and avoiding work-related emails, but finally did get back to doing some work. The morning was fairly strange, as Hakan just completely refused to get ready for school. We figured that he may still be struggling with an illness, or maybe coming down with something, so we thought we'd write the day off for him, and see how he did. He went to school on Tuesday, though, seeming himself, so we wondered if he just needed a "mental health" day or something. It was the last day his teacher would be there for a while as she was going to be out for some medical issues, and that may have added to his desire to stay home - maybe he dislikes goodbyes.

Kira's client who was scheduled for the evening canceled, so she was home to help with bedtime. With the nicer weather, I also filled in almost every day taking Apollo for a walk, and I did a lot of projects around the house: more than I planned, if I'm honest.

I've been trying to figure out where a leak is coming from from our master bathroom faucet. It's had a little drip under the sink since we moved in, but we just put a little bowl under it to catch it and then accepted it. It's been bothering me more and more, so I finally tried to figure out where it's coming from, and figured it had to be the hose to the water source. I replaced that, but it still leaked, so I tried replacing a cracked plastic mounting bracket, though I wasn't sure why that would have anything to do with a water leak. After it still leaked, I realized that there was something weird about the cold water lever, where a piece would turn that wasn't supposed to turn. I figured it was time for a new faucet entirely, so added that to my list.

On my way to the library that day, I ran by a used-hardware store I like to see if they had any decent faucets. I didn't find anything I liked, but they had some mirrored sliding closet doors that were perfect for the boys' room. I've wanted to replace their boring doors, so I picked those up and installed them that afternoon, thrilled to have gotten them for $25 rather than at least $100 brand new.

I've also been slowly getting our garage in shape. I hate the beige color it is and the sad shape the walls are in, so I've been adding molding in the corners of the drywall where it looks terrible, and I want to repair the rest of the drywall and eventually paint.

The biggest news of the week is of course the Corona-virus outbreak. Thursday evening, I got an email from my university, explaining that they had decided to postpone classes for another week so that professors could have the time to move all of their courses into an online format. They didn't give a timeline on it, but it sure sounds to me like we need to be prepared to not go back to campus for the rest of the semester. That's mostly okay with me, as I have been moving all of my materials and tests online anyway, so now it's just a matter of making sure the students are okay without having live lectures. I sent out emails that night with my plans for adjusting the courses.

The kids got really excited at the thought of having to miss school for potentially weeks, especially as their spring break is not for 2 more weeks. After school on Friday, they learned that indeed, their schools were going to be closed down for at least a few weeks beginning this Monday. We've been talking with them about what this all means, and helping them to stay calm as the risk of actually dying from this disease is very minimal for their age group. Mostly, they are just excited to get to stay home.

On Friday, Hannah and I made a run to Costco after sampling Wendy's new breakfast menu. We arrived about 15 minutes after they had opened, and were blown away by how busy it was. The parking lot was already full - I happened to get a lucky spot after catching someone loading their car to leave. At the front of the store, the carts were all gone: I had to go back out to find two for us to use. Inside, the line was already wrapping around the back of the store. It seemed that most people were just getting bottled water and paper towels and such for the apocalypse. We formed a game plan: Hannah would get in line with the carts, and I would run and grab a few things at a time from the list. That worked pretty well, as I followed her and worked my way up to the front of the store. Everyone was also very nice: no rioting or anything. They were completely out of toilet paper, facial tissues, and canned chicken, but otherwise, we were able to get the whole list. It was nice to get out of there.

I also picked up a nice new faucet at Costco, that I installed later that night:

It doesn't leak!

In the afternoon, I went to work at the library and get some of my courses fully moved over to online, and then on the way home I picked up some paint for Avey's room. After patching up the hole where the old light switch was, I've been anxious to paint it, so Avey picked out some colors, and I picked up one of them. That night, Kira and Hannah went to the Chicago temple, as it was still open.

Avey and I started painting her room on Saturday, and finished nearly all of it. We touched it up this morning, and then she's been working on painting the trim and parts of her door also. I think she made a really nice choice of color to go with her bedspread and other furniture and decor. It's exciting to get it all done. She's now anxious to paint the boys' room, though I think I want to wait a few weeks before taking on that project (it's even bigger than her room).

So now, we are all at home a lot more. We're not really sure what this week is going to look like, as Hannah doesn't need to drive the bus, I don't need to go into the city, and the kids aren't going to school. We're hoping that we can keep them entertained without really going anywhere, and I need to get some work done amidst the chaos also.

Judging by how Merritt is acting today, this is going to be far worse than just getting the virus.

We hope you are all well!