Week 10

24 May

Last week was the 10th week of no-school. The 10th week of mostly staying home.

It was starting to feel normal, to me at least. But the state and local governments have started lifting some restrictions, so it feels like now we’re trying to recalibrate.

One of our favorite neighborhood restaurants — a small, independent, locally-owned place — opened for dine-in. I want to support the business, but I don’t want to go sit inside and wear a mask when I could order food and eat it at home (as I said to a friend, without having to wear real clothes or a bra). So while Mike would like to go eat there, I’m decidedly “meh” about it. It just doesn’t sound enjoyable. But I feel like that’s sort of where we are with a lot of things now.

The limit on gatherings hasn’t been lifted, but it seems like more and more people are having get togethers. And once again, I feel this weighing of options going on. I don’t want to violate the public health order but I want my kid to have some kid companionship, especially considering she’s an only child. I have high blood pressure and Mike only has one kidney, so we’re in the vulnerable populations, but Mike is willing to risk it. It just feels very heavy sometimes.

The same is true on the work front. Every bit of reopening of non-school stuff puts pressure on schools. And we’re working hard to plan for reopening, but it’s also hard to plan for September when we don’t know what the public health rules will be like. And don’t get me started on the ridiculously unhelpful guidance from the federal government, or on the proposed 10% cut to school district budgets at the same time we need to basically re-create the entire education system. Schools want to do the right thing for kids, employees, and families, but it’s really tough. We’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t.

That being said, things are generally good at Casa Watson. Mike had shoots every day last week, including four days shooting content for virtual promotions and graduations. Michaela is chugging along with distance learning (although when Mike is gone all day and she’s home with just me and my zillions of Zoom meetings, it’s definitely less academic than days when Mike is home). We’ve been working on home projects, including buying carpet and furniture.

Let me tell you– furniture shopping during a pandemic is quite the experience. You have to make an appointment. You have to have your temperature checked before entering the store. You have to wear a mask. Int he case of one store we went to, we were limited to a party of two (so Michaela had to stay home) and had to be escorted around the store. In spite of all that, we managed to buy a new buffet that we put in our entryway; a bar we’ll use in the master bedroom as a tea and coffee station; a new bed, dresser, and table for our room; and a media console for the family room. We’ve lived her for nearly two years, so it’s nice to make good progress in furnishing the place. We still need some other stuff to be done, but we’re much closer than we were!

The other exciting thing for the week was I booked a cabin for next weekend on Mt. Laguna. I am taking Friday off and Michaela and I will drive up in the morning. Mike is in LA that day, but will head to the cabin when his shoot is done, and we’ll have a work-free weekend. I can’t wait!

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