Covid 19: Quarantine!

So it has been a really interesting past few weeks and I wanted to take some time to write out what's been going on just so I have a record of it.

And, yes, I know I never made a post about the wedding. I'll do it. It'll happen. I just totally forgot I had a blog that I write on. Then I was thinking about how much I miss writing and I was, like, "Oh yeah. I have a blog for that. I should use it." So. Here we are.

Back to now.

Coronavirus. Covid-19. The contagious virus going around that has overwhelmed hospitals and health care systems. Because of the huge potential this has to overwhelm all the hospitals, the government has put in place new requirements, closed schools and businesses, and is enforcing "social distancing." First it was guidelines to practice social distancing. Then gatherings of 250 or more were shut down. Sporting events, plays, concerts, and other large events were all cancelled. Broadway shut down (the Tony's are postponed!).

Earlier this week the governor laid out an ordinance making it a misdemeanor to be out of your house except for necessary things like food, providing care, or other essential services. You can go outside but you can't congregate and you must maintain social distancing (6 feet apart).

There's a lot of talk about "flattening the curve," or slowing the spread of the disease. This way, hospitals won't get overwhelmed with cases and be unable to treat people due to lack of space, supplies, or people.

Businesses that do not provide essential services are shut down or have gone online. Many people are struggling to pay rent or mortgages. State and federal government are trying to make emergency aid available to those that need it. However, I think it is bringing to light to many people how many of our social structures are not well supported. As well as showing how essential minimum wage jobs are to society as a whole. Grocery store workers, restaurant workers, custodians. These are the people keeping what's still open going. I really hope that we will remember this moving forward and adjust accordingly.

Ok. The other big thing - the STUPIDEST thing - is the shortage of toilet paper. When news hit that people were being quarantined and things were shutting down, people went NUTS. There were fights in grocery stores across the country over TOILET PAPER. The stores are still out nearly two weeks later. Luckily, we had just bought some and we are ok.

FOR NOW.

It's starting to dwindle and we've got a toilet top bidet coming in the mail. Just in case. We'll see how that works out.

For Amanda and me personally, this meant that Oregon schools closed a week early for Spring Break and we will be providing "supplementary education" via "distance learning" until the end of April, perhaps longer. Some states have preemptively closed for the remainder of the school year. I worry that we will also move in that direction. I know some states have stopped providing funding to their schools and teachers aren't going to be paid. Luckily, that is not happening in Oregon. Well, not yet. I don't think it will. At least, I am hopeful it won't.

Amanda and I have worked hard to not go out too much since schools have closed. Since Maddie and I hang out all the time, we've been going to one another's houses, working together and taking some online graduate courses and having some baking adventures. Amanda came with me one day and hung out playing with her Switch and doing work on her laptop while Maddie and moaned and groaned about the class we were taking. Then we had some baking adventures and made macarons and cupcakes.

I've also decided to make a series of videos about self care for my kiddos. My plan is to get them all set up this week and then post two a week through April. Hopefully by then we will be back in school. If not, hopefully we will know sooner rather than later and I can make some more videos to go through the rest of the school year. Right now, our district has instructed us that counselors will not be doing "virtual therapy" since the governor has said we are technically closed. That might change as we move forward. We will see.

And I'm not going to go into the politics about all of this because, well, as much as it might SEEM like I don't try, I actually do try to avoid political debates online (I SWEAR... I just also have a big mouth and strong opinions). So, instead, let's watch a cute video of Thurston the Cat.

An ENGAGING story (get it?!)

It's official! We're engaged! Rings and everything!

Mandy called dibs on proposing (things you have to think about in girlxgirl relationships; there's no set standard for who proposes!) and so while we started plans for a wedding we knew was going to happen - picking rings, finding a venue and photographer - I waited for Mandy to propose. I kind of knew it would happen on our anniversary. She wasn't subtle about our plans for our anniversary being a surprise and "wait until July." Plus she's a romantic cheeseball so our anniversary makes sense.

The day started off with flowers from both of us to the other. Aaaawwww!

We headed downtown and parked near the waterfront then waited by the fountain at Waterfront Park before boarding the Portland Spirit River Cruise.

Stepped up in front of the photographer to take the souvenier photo and Mandy got down on her knee.

Nobody cried. Definitely not. That would be silly.

Then we sat down at our table and she put the ring on me and said really, really sweet things. Then we cried. And then I got out my own box for her.

Mandy loves the movie "Up" and Michael Giacchino (its composer) is one of her favorites. So I painted a box to look like the adventure book from the movie.

 Then there was some more crying. Because we're matching wrecks who cry.

After crying, we ate a lovely dinner. The waiters sang a song before food service and there was a pianist that played. Very cool!

After tasty food, we headed to the upper deck. It had been a little warm when we were waiting to board, but with the sun setting and a nice breeze from the moving boat, it was perfect. The view was awesome and we loved looking at the houses on the shore, the people having picnics on the little islands in the middle of the river, and watching the other passengers.

Speaking of people watching, as we were sitting, there was a big group of people trying to take group pictures and kept having to leave someone out of it. After we watched them struggle for a bit, I got up and asked if they wanted me to take a picture of them all together. I took the guys phone and as he gestured to what button to press, I noticed some Hangul (Korean script) in the corner. So I asked him if he was Korean ("Hangugsaram?"). He was very excited and then the whole group was really excited when I counted to three in Korean and they demanded to know how I knew Korean (you know... the 5 or so words I remember). Then they had to take pictures with us because why not?

After that exciting interlude, we got to go back to being all cuddly and romantic, watching the scenery pass by.

It's such a pretty cruise. I've never seen the city from that view before. I just kept thinking about how lucky I am to live in such a great city and to be in love with such a wonderful woman (who loves me back!? and wants to spend the rest of her life with me!?). To be honest, I spent a long time thinking I wouldn't ever be in this position. But here I am! An amazing lady by my side, willing to put up with me, and loving and supporting me. My friend told me in mock disgust once how lucky I've been in my life and she is totally right. I'm so blessed to have met Mandy and to have been welcomed into her life.

I have to admit, I was a little worried. Like I said, Mandy is a bit of a romantic cheeseball. A romantic cheeseball with access to bands, choirs, and other musical peoples. I was a tad worried there would be serenading and I would love her for being her but feel awkward as heck. The song "What do you do with your arms?" comes to mind. But my amazing lady knows me and how much her stopping the Pride parade in front of me and proposing while backed up by the Gay Freedom Band (that she directs) would be not ideal for me.

The night ended with a beautiful full moon - that refused to photograph well - but we tried. Feeling pretty special right now and excited for this next life adventure. <3

End of year 3!

Today was the last day of school in my 3rd year of being a school counselor!! Wow, I both can't believe it's already been three years and then again it REALLY FEELS like three years. I've been in my career for as long as I was in graduate school now!

Per tradition, I colored my hair PINK! Love my summer hair-do!

You can't really tell in the photo, but my shirt says, "Dear parents, Tag... you're it!!! Love, teachers."

On my way to school, I saw my dad driving the crew truck back to the airport. Hey, Dad!

He was sweet enough to stop by the school and bring hot chocolate and chai tea (hot chocolate for the secretaries and my favorite chai tea for me!) and a cake to the school! So sweet! 

 I had to run away really quick to help hand out attendance awards at the talent show (the parts I got to see were fabulous!).

The day went by quickly. This was the first year I came close to crying when I said goodbye to some of my kiddos, especially one of my 5th graders. Hoo boy...

Ended the day with the traditional water fight (okay... the teachers spray the kids with water guns as they leave... it's not really a "fight" since it's pretty much one sided). I decided last night around 7pm that I did, in fact, need a new water gun so I headed to Target and got a pack of 3 to share. They were fabulous! My favorite part is when the parents drive their car around, roll the back windows down, and honk their horn to get us to spray the kids in the backseat. The kids laugh and scream while they try to get the windows to roll back up (of course the parents have it locked from the driver seat)!

Worked on cleaning out cabinets after kiddos left and then went out to hang with some coworkers. Got home around 6:30 and I immediately knew that my lovely padre had stopped by earlier in the day: my guard goose was on the wrong side of the door.

Oh no...

Came in and, yes, my padre had come over. He took all of the stuffed animals that I have hidden in my office (to prevent Missy from STEALING them) and laid them all out on my stairs.

Dad... no.

What a fabulous way to end my third year! I really feel like this year I have really come into my own as a school counselor. My first year was ROUGH, second year was tough, and while there were definitely hard days (I got bit by my first kid! Milestone!), I feel like I've started to really proactively DO my job rather than always just reacting. Go me! *high five*

Here's to many more!

Well, at least I have muddy buddies, now...

Today I had an unintentional cooking adventure. I did not set out to have an adventure, but adventure found me.

Muddy buddies. I assumed this was going to an easy thing to make. I finally mastered melting chocolate around Thanksgiving last year (it had eluded me for a long time) and that is the hardest part of making muddy buddies.

I think it went wrong when I tried to use a... "creative" double boiler.

I thought I had a double boiler, but it turned out a don't. What I DO have is a steamer and a microwaveable bowl. At first I was going to just balance the bowl in my smaller pot, but the bowl was too small (it fell in) so I had the bright idea to put the bowl IN THE STEAMER. Boom! Perfect!

And it worked great! Melted that butter, chocolate, and peanut butter into a melty deliciousness.

I realized I had a problem when it came time to pour the chocolate onto the chex.

How do I get the bowl out of the steamer?

I couldn't just grab it (it was just boiling for, like ten minutes). So I decided to wrap my hands in a towel and pull it out.

That is when things went horribly, horribly wrong.

As I was fanangling the bowl out of the steamer, I flipped the bowl sideways, spilling chocolate into the steamer which is a bit like a strainer.

As you know, strainers are well known for their ability to NOT contain liquid. This is also true for melted chocolate. I hurriedly carried the dripping strainer over to the chex and threw it in (some of the chex might be a little more crushed than one might hope) before grabbing the bowl and doing the same.

Here are some pictures of the resulting mess:

Not pictured are my sleeves, the pot holder that was in between me and the chex, my pants, my apron, and (somehow?) my hair. You also can't really tell, but there's a nice mess on the floor, as well.

But now I have muddy buddies for our road trip tomorrow!

That doesn't look to appetizing, let's look inside the bag.

That looks more tasty.

The Great Dryer Fixing Adventure

I have a confession to make:

I HATE doing laundry.

Nearly every part of it. Sorting (cuz I totally do that and don't just wash everything on cold... that would be dumb), remembering to move it to the dryer, putting it away (as opposed to simply pulling out choice items (socks, underwear) from the dryer or laundry basket)... I hate it.

I was disgusted last year when I bought my washer and dryer and spent so much money to do my least favorite chore. However, one of the teachers at school pointed out that I just spent that money in order to do that chore at home (in my pajamas was implied).

A few weeks ago I noticed my towels weren't dry when I went to take them out of the dryer. Rude! So I ran it again and they came out dry, but they were all linty. The heck? I mentioned it to my dad and he said that I probably had a lint ball in the right angle where the dryer vent goes into the wall. He used the right technical words, but what I heard was, "Blah blah blah, you have a big ball of lint in your wall." Cool, cool. That's just AWESOME.

He then tells me that I need to pull out my dryer, remove the dryer vent hose and stick my vacuum in the wall to get the lint out. Well, I am SO not motivated to do this. At this point I was pretty stocked up on clean clothes and towels so I was just like, "Meh, I'll do it when I do it."

Then my capris got too dirty to wear. So I'll wear sweat pants, no biggie! If I have to go someplace, I'll put on a skirt.

Ran out of socks. Whatever. It's summer time. Flip flops all the way!!

No more towels. I can use a beach towel for the shower and a kitchen towel as a hand towel...

Ok, underwear is where I draw the line.

Which brings us to today. Of course, at this point, my parents are in Arizona (where it is COOLER than in Portland... rude) so there's no begging my dad to come out and help me. Psh, whatever. I'm a grown woman who don't need no man/dad to fix things in my house!

I decided to take a break from working in my mom's craft house (the organization of which is my part time summer job this summer in lieu of actual employment). The plan was to spend a lazy morning snuggling with Missy and watching TV, eat lunch, and then fix the dryer, start some laundry, and do my weekly vacuuming of ALL THE CAT HAIR.

But The Dryer had other plans.

The first problem I encountered was easily fixed. I couldn't pull the dryer out because the door to the laundry closet was in the way. Ok. Easy fix. Take the door off the track and we're in. Unhook the silver thing, vacuum it all. Notice the floor is dirty, vacuum that, too (so domestic and clean... go me).

Then the real fun started.

I discovered that the farthest I could pull the dryer out in and still have the dryer vent hose connected to the dryer AND the wall, left little room for me to scoot behind the dryer. Like, none.

No way my booty can fit through that

Ok. So, I need to climb over the washer. Gonna need some help with this. I get my stool, set it on top of the dryer for easy access, pull the dryer back, hook all the stuff up, maneuver said stool behind the dryer, and climb out.

Now... how to reach the stool...

Maybe if I got a stick...

Well that didn't work. Not that I really thought it would, but it was worth a shot. Laying over the top of my washer (now putting foot prints on the wall next to it) and bracing my other hand on top of the back of the dryer, I managed to lean down and grab the stool. Unfortunately, in the process of trying to awkwardly maneuver the stool over the power cord, I managed to knock the silver tube out of the wall.

I might have said a few choice words at this point that would not have been work appropriate.

Got a second, smaller stool (which is kind of old... made by my grandpa when they were first married). Climbed back over the washer, fixed up the vent hose, climbed out, "gracefully" fished out the smaller stool. Tada!! I did it!

"Hallelujah" chorus plays in the distance...

Texted my dad annoyed pictures of the process and came back to push the dryer back in. MISSY YOU AREN'T HELPING.

I then examined my vacuum and saw that there wasn't very much lint in there after all that vacuuming which left me still concerned about there being lint in my wall. So I texted my dad and he suggested running the dryer and going out to see if the flaps of the dryer vent were opening outside. I throw a few clean clothes in the dryer and press the on button....

Nothing.

Check the door, check the settings. 

Click, click.

NOTHING.

I climb on top of the dryer (once again getting out my stool) and look behind it.

HOW?! HOW DID IT COME UNPLUGGED WHEN I PUSHED IT BACK IN!!??!?

Get the stools out again, crawl over the washer, plug it in (knock the stupid vent thing off again and have to maneuver that back into place), crawl out, push it in, and yay! It turns on!

Unfortunately, the vent wasn't opening. Rude.

After setting up the ladder and carrying up the vacuum, I find the reason it won't open: the paint. THE PAINT ON THE VENT IS STICKING TO ITSELF AND KEEPING ITSELF CLOSED. Oh my gosh. 

I unstick it and vacuum out the bits of lint that had built up and now the dryer vent works. Yay. I can do my least favorite chore again. I'm so happy.

 After all that, I have to admit I am not very motivated to vacuum. And since Mandy and I are going out tomorrow rather than her coming over, I'm even less motivated to vacuum right now. So I think I will whine dramatically about this on my blog, re-watch a Romeo and Juliet musical on Youtube, and draw.

DAMMIT MISSY YOU STILL AREN'T HELPING!!!