Social Distancing

It has been a while...

as a Busy Mom of Two it really shouldn't be a surprise that life gets busy and crazy at times.

In fact, the course of change and challenges in the past week here in the United States is evidence of that.

The stock market. Wow! I don't know what else to say. I am confident in the advice that has been shared, we have never not seen it come back. Right now, looking at my retirement and other funds in the market and seeing the changes year to date is disheartening to say the least.

A week ago was the first confirmed case of Covid19 in Ohio.

Today marks 3 days of Social Distancing for my family.

We learned on Thursday that the schools would be closing for three weeks (plus a fourth week for spring break) at the end of the school day on Friday and that all extra curricular activities will cease until school reopens. My daughter was told to empty her locker and bring everything home. The schools are treating this week as calamity days, since we didn't use any for snow or cold weather days this year. Then, they hope to have a plan on how to support remote learning. I will give both of my kids credit for taking the initiative this morning to do something educational. My daughter read a few chapters in her book and my son read a couple of chapters and worked on some math problems on the homework syllabus they got earlier in the year.

I have been sharing some resources on Facebook for remote learning. I have seen everything from virtual tours of museums and national parks to online art lessons and cooking lessons to rebroadcasting of concerts and shows, that will allow your kids (and you) to be engaged and learning in unique ways. In addition, there are more traditional learning sites for math, reading, and science. I have even seen online gym classes/activities. It is amazing to me how the country is pulling together to make these things available and sharing them. If I get the chance, I will put them all together in one post for more easy reference.

On Saturday, we learned that the library would be closing. We grabbed a movie that we had on hold but opted not to look for additional books or movies at the time.

We learned on Sunday that all bars and restaurants will be closed starting last night at 9 pm. They are allowed to do take-out/delivery but no dining in services. For some of my friends that own restaurants, this will be a tough time. Some haven't had those as part of their standard services in the past and are having to adapt - how do you take orders, how much to prep, etc. I do like that several of the smaller places are setting up family style meals - designed to serve 2, 4 or 6 and with starters, entrees and sides. The local craft breweries and wineries are setting up limited hours to do curbside pick up of their brews and vintages.

We learned today that all gyms, theaters, rec centers, bowling alleys will close at 9 pm today. Logically, I was surprised that they didn't do this earlier. The only one that applied to me was the gyms and I was disappointed. I had been using the pool 5 times a week over the past couple of months. I had even done research to confirm if chlorine in the pool would kill the coronavirus after the first case in Ohio was reported.

Grocery stores seem to be hard hit. Last week I made a mid-week run to the grocery store for a typical shopping trip which turned out to be well-timed as stores were hit pretty hard by the weekend with out of stocks. I did head out Friday to pick up a few things, like a baguette - part of our typical Friday evening snack plan. In our area, they have shortened hours so that they have time to stock the shelves and clean. This weekend, I took inventory of my freezer stock and have a list of things that I hope to pick up to fill out the gaps in what we have on hand. I don't plan to go crazy but to get some stuff to get me through so that I can go to the store less frequently.

What are things like where you live?