bluebear

We finally found out the plans today for returning to work. As I suspected, we will return July 20, one week before teachers come for pre-planning. We will go back to our old schedule of remote work 1 day a week. As we have 7 people in a portable trailer, they had to make some changes. 3 people will move out and to another area, and 4 of us will stay. My husband and I will switch our desks to the ones being vacated by those moving. Sounds fun. Guess I need to start washing my hair with a color stripping shampoo, to try and bring it back to close to handbook-approved color! Makes me sad, I was quite enjoying being a "purple head"!!

That's awesome!!

That was an interesting read. Thank you!

My daughter just bought her first car on her own. And got her own insurance. So at 28 we finally have her all on her own, and no longer paying anything. 1 down, 2 to go!

Happy July! At work we are gearing up for the new school year. Not as much or the same as years past, but there's still things to do. New teachers start in just over 2 weeks, all teachers a week after that, and students will return in just a little over 4 weeks! We still haven't been told when we will be returning to the office. But I expect it to start in some capacity around July 20 when new teachers start. I wish we'd find out though, because I need to start washing my hair with a color stripping shampoo, as I may or may not have a handbook approved hair color right now! Of course, it's only noticeable in the sun, and I sit in a dark trailer, so probably no one would see or notice anyway.

Finally got to see my grandson today, it's been 4 months since he was last up. And my daughter, haven't seen her since Christmas. It was a nice afternoon, but I'm exhausted by the 5 hour round trip drive to get him. This was only the second time I've driven since lockdown started, and that trip was only 2 miles down the road and back. Combine that with the fact that I'm terrified of driving on the interstate, and that made for a super fun trip, especially with my mom and a 5 year old!

Those are interesting thoughts. A couple more thoughts to throw into the mix. Some people have been home for 3 months now. And had to occupy their time somehow. I suspect a lot of shopping was done out of boredom, so some people may have completed a lot of holiday shopping already. And a lot of people have been making things, that could become gifts. I have already made 6 blankets, with supplies already on hand to make 6 more (see above about more time to shop). So there may not be as much a need for shopping for gifts either. We'll see how it turns out. Will be interesting.

I *got* to go to my office yesterday for the first time in 13 weeks. My husband had to go set up a new phone, and he wanted me to help put the screen protector on. (We work together) We planned to be there 30 minutes, but ended up being (a very fast) 2 hours! No one was there when we arrived, but 4 people were in the building when we left. Our office is in a trailer behind the building, so we didn't see or talk to anyone else. I was able to get something done that I would have not wanted to have to mess with on the first day back, so that's nice to have that out of the way. It was a very productive 2 hours. So I should be good for another several weeks now! I suspect that we have about 5 more weeks before we start transitioning back. Nice to know that we can go for short times now if needed though.

June 1! 30 years today since my high school graduation. Woohoo!

Finished making blanket #4 since March. Getting stocked up on future gifts! Materials arrived yesterday to start the next one. But now to decide if I should move to another craft for a bit, or if I start another blanket, if I should choose another pattern. I've gotten quite comfortable with the one I've been using.

My youngest turned 21 yesterday. Ack! Next week is my 25th Anniversary. Wow.

We are starting on our 8th week at home. My husband was unofficially told today that we wouldn't go back for the rest of May at least (we work in the same department). Oldest son, who works on the "other side" of our larger department, may have to go in to his school for a few days towards the end of the month to collect student chromebooks. Our leadership is still working on making that decision, because even though he works in the school, he works for the district office, and it's the school that is telling him to come in. So it's a little sticky there. I'm glad to at least know that we won't be going back for May, that gives me some direction. I wouldn't want to be told on a Friday that I'm expected back the following week, like another district was. I like to have some notice and a plan.

The first couple weeks the store I visited were out of both flour and sugar. I haven't needed flour, as I had bought a bag of bread flour not long before, and don't use all purpose much. After a couple weeks I was finally able to find sugar, but it was scarce. Happy May! Our schools have 2 more weeks left (1 for seniors), so things will start picking up for me work wise as we collect computers and start getting ready for next school year.

I dont have anything nice to say about UPS. But we'll just say that the term "stupid UPS" is used often in my house, and has been several times just in the last week. And we'll just leave it at that.

So it might be bad to say, but I'm okay being in and not seeing anyone else. We had a handful of video meetings the first couple weeks, got to see the bosses' houses, but now we are just on auto pilot, and no meetings for me since April 1. The new end of the school year is in 3 weeks, 1 week earlier than planned. But we still have to now make arrangements for students and teachers to come up and retrieve personal things, middle and high students to return textbooks, and seniors to return chromebooks. I'm not sure if I'll have to go into the office while that is being done. But I am anxious to know what the plan is and when we will be physically back. (Partly because I colored my hair and I need about a week's notice to get it washed out!!) New teachers start July 20, and as long I'm back by about July 1st, I can get things ready for that. And my feelings won't be hurt if it isn't until then. Meanwhile though, my state starting opening today... we'll see how that goes. I've got all my fingers crossed, and still staying in! My poor mama though, she wants to go out so bad, and wants us to come to Sunday dinner. This Sunday is my son's birthday, and she really wants us to come over. But our shelter in place doesn't end until April 30, for for sick and elderly it is May 13th, so she can't have any visitors. (She's in denial though that she falls into that category!)

Happy birthday!! <virtual hugs>

That's what I'm thinking. Since they got a shipment of almost 9,000 bags, seems they'd need a price discount to move them. But may not be advertised. At my Home Depot, you just drive through and they load it in your car anyway, so that can be done "contactless". Hope they do!

So in case no one has been checking Home Depot daily like I have... It appears that my store received their big shipment of mulch this week. Wednesday they had I think about 97 bags. Last night it was at 8700+. There is still no circular listed like Brad said, but I'm hoping tomorrow maybe it will go on sale 5/$10.

Oh I understand! We got all the stuff for paint, and 4 days later we prepped the bedroom and hallway, then painted the room. It's now been 2 weeks, hall isn't painted, and nothing has been placed back on the wall in the bedroom. And we still have 5 rooms and a hall left to go! The more time that is added, the less motivated we get.

Happy April! About to finish week 3 of working from home, and I can't say I'm hating it or miserable. Great idea about separating work space by level. We could do that for me and husband, son stays in his room, that's where his desk and computer are. However, all 3 of us are in a support role (same employer), so we really are just waiting for something to come up, so separating all day isn't necessary. Funny though, me and my husband are actually FURTHER apart most of the time at home, than we are at work! Our desks about about 10 steps away from each other at work. We have at least 3 more weeks at home, but probably longer. I wish I could say I've been so productive, but I have little to show. But I'm hoping to get better. Goodness knows I have a list of things I want to do!

The pollen count in Georgia is over 8900 today. Walking outside for any time makes you start sneezing.

My husband and I are both at home, so we decided we'd paint the house. We had been talking about doing it spring break anyway. And we aren't busy, we just have to be available to answer any questions or fix issues that come up. We painted the bedroom this weekend. And called a painter today. (To be a little fair, the other areas to be painted have high ceilings, some of them over stairs.)

Me, my husband, and son will all be working from home for the next 2-3 weeks. Its going to be a little challenging finding things to do for that long. Especially for my son whose job it is to fix kids computers when they bring them up to him. My husband and I support those folks in the schools that fix things, but we also do some backend things. I figure I have about 2 days worth of work I can do right now. Youngest is in college, so he'll be home for the next 3 weeks, and he'll have some online classes. I've read that the cable companies in my area are offering 60 days of free internet for low income families. So that is nice. And our school system is providing lunch and breakfast for students for 2 weeks on a drive up basis. Happy Pi Day! My dad and I sent each other pictures this morning of our calculator after we calculated pi. We are such nerds.

Hello March. We are getting soggy down here in Georgia...

I have a job interview today. And I am terrified. It's a second interview. First one was a phone interview. I'm scared and feel guilty about leaving my job, but the scariest thing about this possible new one, is that it's in downtown Atlanta. Yuck.