Coronavirus Update- Week 1 of the #StayAtHomeChallenge (And the Story of How We Survived the Bug Invasion of 2020)

Does it feel like things are really different than they were just a week ago? If you’re living in an area where they are encouraging (or mandating) social distancing because of Covid-19, you might relate to how I’m feeling.

I’ve had Covid-19 on the brain for a while. I wound up writing about it last week in this post here. (Remember, for accurate and updated information about the Coronavirus, please go to the CDC website linked here).

Last month, I had listed some blog topic ideas in my planner about things I would write about March. And, today, I cannot imagine spending time on any of the topics I’d planned as some involve suggestions that are just not possible as we all try to stay home and hopefully prevent this terrible disease from spreading.

I am also finding that my goal setting list is pretty much in limbo right now. I had all these plans to get certain things done this month, and they now are either not a priority or not possible as they can’t be done from home.

Since these are pretty unprecedented times, and I love me some journaling, I thought this blog might provide an interesting way to document what life is like for us as we literally live through history with this situation. That, and I honestly have nothing else on my mind except this situation- it’s hard not to think about it, you know?

Ch-ch-ch-changes

So, what are the big changes we’ve been experiencing? In an effort to do our part to “flatten the curve,” my kids are home from school, I’m teleworking, and I’m trying to figure out how to do the online teaching thing for the class I co-teach.

Since my husband is considered an “essential employee,” he still has to go into the office. So, I’ve taken to treating him like he works at Chernobyl and make him go straight to the shower each day to wash off what we’re essentially considering the equivalent of radiation fallout.

We also had to make some tough decisions for the kids. We have cancelled all in-person lessons, appointments, and gatherings, but we left my daughter’s endoscopy on the calendar because we felt (and luckily others agreed) that it was medically necessary.

The weekend before our first week home with the kids.

Last weekend was when we started to realize that things were getting serious with this whole Covid-19 situation. I was sent home to telework that Friday, but as far as we knew, the schools would be open on Monday. On Saturday we got the news that the schools would be closed. Even our church decided to close!

Although we had started buying some things to keep the house stocked for an emergency, we decided to get enough food to keep us afloat if this lasted more than a week. Was anyone else surprised by the state of the stores? Pretty much anything non-perishable and desirable was gone. Shelves were empty.

We stocked up, but were careful, and I think we did not cross the line into hoarding. We also knew that preparation required more than just having enough food on hand, we needed to prepare for homeschooling.

Homeschool + telework = challenging times.

I’ve always been able to telework when needed. In fact, I’ll sometimes work from home when I have a big project due and need to work on it without distraction. So, I figured I had this teleworking thing down.

I had no idea what a challenge it would be to add homeschooling to my telework routine. Luckily, I planned ahead and had our days mapped out, especially for the kids.

I used this week’s Happy Planner spread and dedicated the three vertical boxes as follows: 1 for each child’s daily task list, and 1 for mine. Then, I used a Boogie Board to list out the times we would be spending each day on each task.

We have an old Boogie Board that Santa brought a few years ago, and we LOVE it. Here is a more recent version. (They are also good for teaching math problems since you can easily erase and start over). (#Ad).

I set time aside for transitions (about five minutes), snacks, and lunch. I tweaked the daily Boogie Board schedule as the week went along, but kept the list on the Happy Planner the same.

Did it work perfectly? No. Was it better than nothing? Heck yes! Below is a play-by-play of our week, including the Bug-pocalypse that ended our week:

Monday

We got off to a good start on Monday. The kids seemed pretty motivated. Even my teenager got up early and was ready to go when we started our day at 7:30 AM (a compromise between the high school and elementary school start times they normally have). I used my phone’s timer to help with the transitions.

I planned for them to work on 4 educational tasks, do one chore, and practice one instrument. The problem was that I set aside 1 full hour per task, which made the day stretch on forever.

My day was not as productive as I wanted. In order to make sure we were properly prepared for my daughter’s procedure and figure out how to get remote medical care, I spent a few hours dealing with the hospital and our health insurance company. So, it was a half-day or so of sick leave for me.

That evening, we discovered that Josh Gad (who voices Frozen’s Olaf) would be reading kids books each night on Twitter. Although my kids are a little older (yeah, the teenager had no interest), we watched the book reading and had a lot of fun seeing this celebrity trying to do something to make kids smile during what has been stressful time.

Tuesday

I decided to tweak the schedule on our Boogie Board so that our tasks were in 55-minute increments instead of hourly ones. My hope was to end the day a little earlier for the kids so they could go out and ride their bikes, and it worked. We were done by 2:30!

I wound up getting fully dressed up in a suit that day since I had some FaceTime interviews with students hoping to intern at my office this fall. I also figured I’d dress up since had to go downtown to the school where I teach and try reaching our first live-streaming class.

I definitely got more work done at the house without all the medical-related calls, but it was a struggle to get in all my hours while making sure the kids were actually on task and getting their stuff done.

That said, the kids had a good time when they went out on their bikes and the little kids from across the street decided to pretend to battle (pretend to shoot) the bike-riding invaders. They didn’t get anywhere near each other, and it was so gratifying to see them playing with other kids but still maintaining their “social distance.”

Wednesday

This was our day to go the hospital for my daughter’s procedure. It was kind of stressful, to say the least. The hospital was rightfully trying to screen everyone who went there, but they didn’t take our temperatures or anything like that. They just asked questions and let us in.

We spent the whole time trying to keep apart from other people, but waiting rooms are only so big. So, I found myself sanitizing my hands like that would prevent me from breathing in germs, but I guess I felt I had to do something to feel like I was being proactive.

They scheduled my daughter’s procedure later than usual, which was frustrating since she couldn’t eat until it was over. And, she had her usual pre-procedure fever. Now, usually, when we go in, she has a low-grade temperature and we can never figure out why. Is it nerves? Warm waiting room? Her insistence on wearing flannel PJs because they’re cute even when it’s 70 degrees outside?

This time, her low-grade fever, which they normally dismiss, was a big red flag. And, I totally understand why. Fever is usually a sign of infection. And, the last thing a hospital needs during a pandemic is an infection.

Our daughter had no symptoms of any respiratory illness and we had been monitoring her for the few days before the procedure. Since she was prone to elevated temps in the past, they decided to give her a chance.

She changed into the much cooler mini-scrubs they have kids wear at hospitals these days. And, since they take an electronic temp by scanning the forehead, they made her pull her hair back for about 15 minutes to see if her hair was keeping her forehead warm. Luckily, her temperature lowered and they did the procedure.

We got home sooo late after that, and it was almost 3PM before any of us ate anything. Fortunately, the day before, my husband had the presence of mind to call the local Chinese takeout place to see if they were still open for takeout orders. They said they were closing for the foreseeable future the next day, so he bought them out of Wonton soup and paid them extra for it, hoping it would help a little as they shut down their business. (This was really heartbreaking for us).

After I reheated my daughter’s soup for her and scarfed down a quick lunch, I touched base with my co-professor and we decided to record the rest of our classes so we wouldn’t have to return to the law school.

I ended the day spending about 5 hours recording lectures. I got home at 10pm, exhausted but knowing we were back to the telework/homeschool schedule the next day.

Thursday

Luckily, it was a less eventful day than the prior one. I don’t think I could have handled any more of what I dealt with on Wednesday.

Since it was time-consuming to keep resetting the timer on my phone, I set a separate alarm for each transition time. It was like having a bell schedule at home.

The alarm schedule made it easier for me to get some work done, and I managed to knock out a good bit of work that I had been wanting to tackle this week.

Unfortunately, the kids were beginning to lose steam and any fondness they pretended to have for the schedule. They rolled their eyes and got frustrated, saying they might as well be at school. I echoed their sentiments, but in my head of course.

My daughter wound up having a little reprieve from her routine when her teacher sent out a message asking parents to get Zoom accounts so he could test-drive a class meeting. That noon, my daughter had the chance to talk with her teacher and a good number of her classmates on Zoom. She was sooo happy. I didn’t realize how much she missed school until that very moment.

I also found myself getting a little paranoid about the virus itself. I had spent the day before in a hospital with doctors who wore masks and face shields, and I starting feeling like I was getting sick myself.

I became even more panicky when my chest felt tight, I had to use an inhaler more frequently, and I started coughing. Then, my nose started running, and my eyes got itchy, . . . and I realized I had forgotten to take my allergy pill, which is really dumb when the pollen outside is so thick, it’s turning my property yellow. So, yeah. There was that.

Friday– this is when the bug invasion happens. Don’t judge.

We got to the end of the week, and I tried to give the kids a pep talk. If we just powered through and got some stuff done, there would be free time in the afternoon and a pretty free weekend schedule.

I set them up with their schedules and made my own plans to conduct remote meetings and more fall extern interviews. We were set to have a pretty productive day.

But, fate had other plans. As I sat in the living room speaking with one of my current externs, I heard something slap into what sounded like glass. I heard the noise again, and it was coming from the fireplace, which has a glass door that we keep closed.

I suddenly realized that the slapping wasn’t the only sound. It was accompanied by a buzzing as well. At that point, it dawned on me that some big buzzing insect was trapped in the fireplace, and I alerted the kids.

One thing you should know about my family is that we hate insects. My kids have been previously stung and we’re allergic to everything. So, we tend not to give them the benefit of the doubt and will scream like crazy if they come within 10 feet of us (I wish bugs would do some social distancing!).

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Still on the phone, I figured the creature would just be stuck and probably die in the fireplace. But, no. As my son went to investigate, he had the a really good idea- seal the openings around the side of the glass, in case the bug decided it would try to enter the house.

As my teenager was putting tape around the glass edge (and saying in a horrified tone, “you won’t believe the size of this thing’s butt!”), the insect seemingly realized what we were doing and began making its way into the house right where my son’s hands were! We screamed like we were being murdered and ran out of the room.

I got off the phone with my student, promising to call back (and praying she hadn’t lost her ability to hear out of whatever ear was pressed to her phone), and then went into problem-solving mode as the biggest, bee-like insect we’d ever seen began flying around the living room. We all ran into the dining room, except for my daughter, who ran out the front door.

After quickly doing a Google search (what? I research for a living, it’s what I do!), I learned that we might be able to kill the thing with wasp and hornet spray, which thanks to a wasp problem we had a few years ago, we still had.

I ran to grab the spray, while my son kept an eye on the bug’s location. He found the buzzing creature slamming into the living room window, trying to escape (no, we couldn’t just open the window- the bug was there and did I mention we hate and fear bugs?). So, he got within a few feet (brave boy) and sprayed it to death.

After some cleanup, we opened the doors to let out the caustic chemical smell of the bug spray and got back to business. All was well, and we could get back to work.

But, fate wasn’t done with us yet. As we sat at the table together, my son said he could still hear buzzing. We laughed it off as his having been traumatized by the morning’s encounter.

My daughter was enjoying the day as her teacher scheduled another Zoom meeting whether they talked about science and answered the teacher’s questions. I also got their lunch ready, so I could prepare for my afternoon of remote interviews.

It all seemed to be going well until, while I was interviewing a student, my daughter came in and mentioned that my son had seen a bug but she thought he might be imagining it. Then she said he told her there had been a “sting.”

I finished my last interview and went to check on them. My son explained there was no “sting” but rather he saw a “thing.” (Sheesh). And, he was convinced the thing he had seen was a bug while my daughter was convinced he was paranoid. That was until I saw something. A wasp. Or a hornet. Or something like that, I don’t know. I’m not the best at identifying them.

Of course, at that point, the bug starts flying around the living room. My daughter, now a believer, runs out the front door again and the dynamic mother-son duo went back to work. I got the spray and he got, well, an old broomstick handle. This was his compromise when he couldn’t find the fly swatter.

Once the bug landed on the blinds, we hit it with wasp and hornet spray, thinking it would fall to its death like that last one had done just a few hours earlier. But, why do that when it could just live?

We were pretty surprised. The first bug we killed was likely some sort of carpenter bee and it died instantly after being hit with one spray of the wasp and hornet killer. But, this wasp/hornet-like thing didn’t die after being hit by a wasp and hornet spray THREE TIMES!

On the last spray, it fell to the ground, and my son took the broomstick handle and tried to hit the thing. As you might imagine, a broomstick handle is pretty skinny and it’s hard to exert any power with it when you’re holding the tip of it so you can maintain at least 3 feet of distance from the bug you’re trying to smack.

So, he cornered the bug and used the broomstick handle to ultimately poke and crush it. And that was how we ended our “school day.”

I got a little more work done after the final bug died, but I was left feeling pretty unsettled. I mean, if two could come in and attack, perhaps more might follow? Maybe this was all part of some apocalyptic scenario where it starts with social distancing due to coronavirus but ends with a plague of flying bugs that freak you out and make you scream? Only time will tell.

Lessons Learned

All jokes aside, we learned a lot about ourselves and each other this week, even beyond the obvious conclusion that our survival skills are such that we will scream at the sound of mere buzzing when we’ve had a single bug in the house. Much of these you’ve heard before, but they did work for us:

• Try to keep with the usual school day routine. It is so tempting to treat kids at home and telework like a snow day, but with no end in sight, I felt like we couldn’t really do that. My kids are notorious for not wanting to be productive, so we decided it would be best to just keep with our usual routine rather than wait for the schools to roll out an online learning plan and then try to get them back into our prior schedule. All this meant for us was to get up at the usual time, make beds, get dressed in something other than pajamas, eat at the usual times (breakfast, snacks, lunch, and dinner), and go to bed at the usual hour.  
• Use a timer or phone alarm setting. While I started out using a timer to keep track of the intervals we had to spend working or taking breaks, it became pretty obvious that setting, stopping, and resetting the timer was more of a waste of time than a help. So, I added an alarm clock setting for every time and transition in our schedule. It worked really well, and I didn’t have to do anything other than touch the screen to stop the noise. And, while it took a couple of minutes to set up, I now have it ready to go for every weekday.
• Try to stay on top of the older kids. As I mentioned before, my son is not very motivated to get his work done. But, I had to get my own work done and couldn’t monitor everything he was doing. It doesn’t help that nearly everything my teenager does for school is online and he keeps finding ways to play, despite all the websites we’ve blocked. So, I made sure to sit him in front of our china cabinet, which has a mirror that allowed me to see what was on his laptop. In the past, I’ve also just sat next to him. He agrees that this provides accountability and keeps him on task.
• Try to go outside. We are social distancing, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get some fresh air as long as you stay away from others. We took walks and they rode their bikes, and it always left us feeling better. Just a few minutes getting some physical activity helps ease the cabin fever. Also, it was so great to see the kids interacting (at a great distance) with the neighborhood kids. It was a safe way to play.
• Be flexible. Notice that I phrased a few of these as “Try to . . .” Don’t freak out if you have trouble keeping to your schedule. It’s not meant to be a militant way of running your house during a pandemic. For my kids, it was a reminder to get back on track and get some stuff done so they don’t lose what they’ve learned this year. For me, it helped to remind me to stay on track, check my planner for my to do list, and make sure I’m getting my main priorities done (instead of being distracted by all the info about the pandemic that’s raising my anxiety levels).
• Look for the helpers. Mr. Rogers said it best when he coined that phrase after 9/11. It can be sad to think about how far away we are from our neighbors and friends, and it’s anxiety-producing to think about this disease. What I found helpful was to focus on the people who are doing good things. Like the Josh Gad example, above. Also, my kids’ teachers and schools- they have rolled out online enrichment, so we will hopefully have more resources next week. My church is providing services via a video link, youth group links for the kids, and my Sunday school class may be meeting over Zoom. There are so many ways we can still connect and help each other even when we’re staying apart.

I hope everyone is staying home and well as staying safe and healthy. Are you finding yourself working, homeschooling, distance learning, distance teaching? Are you anxious about all that’s happening and need a place to vent? Leave a comment.

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**Image credits- magazine, massage, journal, book, and bath images found on Pixabay.