Quarantine 2020 - Day 3

No fever news to report, thank God, so our magic number is 11.  Also, no even semi-puncturings of our protective bubble today.  The closest we got to other people was taking a walk over to the middle school basketball courts and passing a dad with his toddler daughter wandering aimlessly in a field, leaving about a 20 foot distance between us.  They seemed nice, but I guess we'll never know.

Today was "Lucky Day" (the day between James and Erica's birthdays, as decided by James).  We celebrated it by building a sofa cushion fort and then watching Juliet destroy it to the strains of Mylee Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball."   Other fun time-wasting activities: building legos, eating yesterday's pumpkin pie, um...putzing around the house, uh... Juliet has adopted this cute little habit of bringing her coat and hat to you indicate she wants to go out and swing on the playset.  Let's see...what else?  James got to play video games for the first time yesterday, and today was very proud to have gotten all the way to Level 3 of Sonic the Chipmunk, so there's that. 

Pre-St. Patty's baby

Tomorrow is Erica's 40th birthday.  On her 30th, we had an insane night of flip cup at Bridget's old apartment.  Tomorrow is unlikely to feature the same.  She'll get a few presents, and will get to choose the evening movie.  Maybe she'll want to play a game of Carcasonne or Uno? 

If the tenor is this blog entry isn't to your liking, perhaps tune in tomorrow for a report on Erica's birthday, which should feature something in the way of news.  If you're reading this today, please stay in.  Don't go outside.  Don't go near anyone else.  Write a song.  Read a novel.  Pander to small children and their strange and infeasible ideas. 

Stay clean!

QUARANTINE 2020 - Day 2

Happy birthday, James!

We did our best to make the kid feel special today.  He came in at 6:04am and informed us of his own magnanimity in sleeping in until six ("which is how old I am!").  He was awestruck by all of the crappy decorations we strung up while he was sleeping last night, and he tore right into his presents.  Most of the day he spent in his room doing his  new Lego Hogwarts Express set.  In the afternoon, I bent my otherwise iron laws against video games and introduced him to (in his words) "Sonic the Chipmunk."  He was instantly addicted, and we had to tear him from it after about half an hour.

James picked the cuisine today.  Breakfast: chocolate chip pancakes with maple syrup and whipped cream.  Lunch: bagel dogs.  Dinner: frozen pizza.  Desert: ice cream.  Ugh.  With a diet like this, it's gonna be a struggle not to pack on the ol' Covid 19, am I right?

James loving life regardless of circumstances

We had a surprise visitor today.  Uncle Tommy came by for his godson's birthday, claiming to have misunderstood Erica's request not to visit because we're, you know, quarantined.  He didn't stay long, but did bring by two kid-sized outdoor basketballs for James.  I don't know if his visit sets us back to Day 1 on the quarantine, but we decided 'no' since we've already started, and we'll keep extra vigilant on Day 15 to see if we don't get a fever.

Juju takes a reading break on her back

James got lots of video calls from family and friends, and Erica and I broke into our second consecutive nice bottle of wine.  Tomorrow is "Lucky Day," a day decided by James as being lucky since it's the one day that falls between his and Erica's birthday.  Traditionally, the literal Ides of March is not considered "lucky" per se, but nothing means anything anymore in this new insane world we live in.

Stay clean!

Quarantine 2020

DAY 1

Well, it's quarantine season out there, what with the first truly global pandemic since the Spanish Flu of Aught-18.  Erica recently discovered that someone at her office has a suspected case of COVID-19, so we took it upon ourselves to hunker down for a whole fortnight at home.  I've spent the last several weeks larding up our larder with all manner of frozen goods, bottled water, and disinfecting agents, and here we finally are.  It looks pretty grim out there, so while I did feel a bit foolish in the beginning stage of the buying spree, I (lamentably) feel decidedly less so now.

The virus usually shows up first as a fever within 4-5 days of infection, but can lie dormant inside you for up to two weeks.  Basically, we need make the following deadlines to ensure we don't have the bug:
1.) If we don't have a fever by tomorrow, we likely didn't contract the virus on our weekend getaway to Memphis (cool city, cool trip!)
2.) If we don't have a fever by Wednesday, we likely didn't contract it from Erica, whose last day at work was yesterday.
3.) If we don't have a fever by Friday, March 27th, we are almost certainly in the free and clear as long as we aren't exposed after that.  It scares me even to even type this out, since I've spent only one day cooped up in the house/backyard, and that last date seems...man...really far away right now.

Juju enjoys a *lengthy* swing

Tomorrow is James' birthday, poor kid.  What was going to be a blockbuster morning spent marching in the downtown St. Patrick's Day parade, an afternoon at Dave & Busters, and an evening being feted by friends, is now a long-ass day spent at home with his mom and dad and annoying baby sister.  We're going to put up a bunch of decorations, feed him ice cream and pumpkin pie, and do our absolute best to make him feel special.  You only turn six once! 

Erica has made a nice schedule to give our days some structure.  And here it is:

Sorry this is sideways

We did have three possible punctures in our otherwise hermetically-sealed day: a FedEx lady came by with a package (from China, no less), and I had to sign for it with her pen.  Nora dropped off some tupperware but didn't come in, and James' teacher came by with the books and supplies he'll need to do some schoolwork during the reprieve.  His school is off until April 13th.  Mine has moved to "E-Learning" indefinitely. 

Friends, please stay clean out there.