Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Corona week 2

Okay, things got serious this week. And by serious I mean that I ACTUALLY HELPED LIZ CLEAN HER ROOM!! I know - crazy times we are having here.
I had a lot of phone readings this week, mostly from regular clients who needed some sort of reassurance. I'll blog more about this later, but the word from the other side is that this is a HUMAN thing, not an ENERGY thing. So it's up to the humans to take care of it.

But in addition to that I have been cooking and baking and even tried to help Lizzie paint her room until she fired me for "taking over." And by taking over she means that I told her that she SHOULD keep the tarp on the floor even though it was noisy and crinkly but she moved it anyway and then promptly dropped an edger full of paint right onto the carpet. SPLAT!!!

Somehow that was my fault, so I was sent out of her room.

So, left to my own devices I decided to pick up my guitar. I bought myself a new guitar for Christmas and played it about three times. So last week I played every day for a couple of hours. I even recorded a song for all of you blog readers:

You can find it here!

You can hear that my voice is still a little rough from the flu, but it is, what it is. And the message is one I fully embrace. Love is MAGIC!

School went well this week, although the switch from optional learning and review to continuity of learning and new learning is looming. Also I have noticed that everyone is more of a night owl now. I am usually the only human in the house still awake after 10 p.m. and now I never know who is going to come down the stairs and start digging around in the refrigerator at midnight. It makes like exciting (that IS what counts for excitement around here!)


Coronavirus week 1

I keep this blog so that we (and pretty much I mean Hannah and Lizzie) can look back and remember all the fun stuff we did while they were growing up. In fact over the last few weeks we've been laughing over videos they made when they were in kindergarten. I am so glad that I had this blog, although facebook has really taken over most of my day-to-day sharing.

Not for the next few weeks though. We are currently in the midst of the Coronavirus Quarantine and I think that I can use the blog to document how crazy this time is, but also to record some of my thoughts about the whole thing, which are fluid at best. I'll try to add videos and photos when I have the time (ha ha - all we have is time right now!!)

So, week one!

I had actually been quarantining for at least a week before it became the suggestion. I got sick (the flu I think, but Hannah and Liz as well as my friend Amy all believe it was the coronavirus!) I picked something up at a pageant that Hannah did the last weekend in February. I had a really high fever by Wednesday and was down for the count through most of the weekend. Eventually everything seemed to clear from my lungs (Rob got sick and then Lizzie got sick, too. Hannah has remained healthy this winter!) we were told to stay inside.

Here's a picture of Lizzie being sick and getting a breathing treatment at the Urgent Care (look Ma - no hands!!) Luckily the treatment didn't interfere with her ability to use her phone:


The school closure started on March 13. Originally it was just supposed to be Friday and Monday, but by midday Friday there had been enough cases locally (Montgomery County) that they decided to close the schools for two weeks and get the kids started on remote learning. Some people were calling it homeschooling - I was just calling it a mess. No one in this household wanted anything to do with school.

Sometime during that first week of social distancing Rob also got the word that he was to begin working at home. If you know me, you know that I have always said that Rob is welcome to work from home ... just not THIS home. Hardy har har.

So by the end of that first week it was four of us plus the two cats hunkered down here for the duration, although we had no idea what that duration was going to be.

That Friday, Hannah was supposed to compete at the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) in Jersey, but they switched to a virtual version of the contest, so we went to her voice teacher's house (remaining socially distant from her) and recorded six songs for Hannah's entry. Here is one in the Musical Theater Category: It is In My Dreams from Anastasia the Broadway musical.

Check it out!

So we closed out the week on a high note. It wasn't fun and there was a lot of sadness - especially since Hannah wasn't allowed to see her boyfriend Will. They even had to miss their 2nd anniversary. I know they'll be able to celebrate a little later in the spring, but that's hard to see when you are 17. Luckily they have managed to talk and facetime.

Lizzie also took a little more time for her foot to heal, which was great, and she has spent the week taking dance lessons from people at ABT and PDT and the PA Ballet a few times a day. It's not the same as being in class, but, as she says, at least she won't get fat.

That probably won't be true for the rest of us, who are eating our way through the quarantine as cooking and baking are two things that have NOT been cancelled. Sadly, neither have calories.

So here are a couple of pictures from Hannah's pageant. She is the new Pure International Pennsylvania Teen. a

Newly crowned Hannah Banana - the National Competition is in July, so hopefully it won't be canceled!

Here she is hanging with all her prizes. She got luggage, jewelry, clothes, makeup and her fees paid for the National competition. Hannah likes this system because it is faith inspired and they really do look for nice, normal young women:

This is Hannah and Sami. They met through the Cinderella program at least 5 years ago. Those friendships run deep even though the girls only see each other a time or two a year!