March & April 2020: COVID-19 Quarantine

We've been inside since March 13, with me working from home and Nick's school forced to online instruction for the remainder of the year. Nick could not leave the house for months and not care, as long as his laptop works and the cupboards are full of food, we forced him into the yard to plant some grass seed at the point we realized he hadn't walked outside the doors for over a month.

Schoolwork is the biggest struggle, Brandi helps as much as she can, and he stays on it for the most part, but the school hasn't made it easy.  Six different teachers on six different platforms, moved him from an 'A' student to nearly failing some classes in only a couple of weeks (assignments we submit but the teachers can't find.) Brandi has been on top of the school to get answers, and in the end, it won't matter, but it's been considerably frustrating.

I spend my days in the office downstairs, while Nick has a space above the garage adjacent to his room to focus on his schoolwork. There's an old table up there, and a TV and beanbags, and of course, a good internet connection. I get to experience his workspace habits when we switch, such as when he has remote piano lessons and needs the piano in the corner of my office.  He doesn't keep his desktop as organized as I do, I need to clear space between the cans and planes and books and empty cracker boxes to function.

Inside we fill the time by tossing socks up the staircase and swinging at them like baseballs with a stick, or polishing cars or working at the train table.  And lots of cooking.  Brandi is trying new recipes all the time, and Nick is heavy into her Chinese run... fried rice and beef-and-broccoli being consumed in mass quantities (when we can find rice in the stores. We do have plenty of TP.)  I needed a TV show that I could stream that would last me the entire quarantine, and most new shows are 6-10 episodes per season, so I had to reach back... been watching the original Dallas on Amazon Prime, for free, which should keep my occupied (350+ episodes.)

Nick's best quotes of the month, those random things he says for no reason that fit into no conversation.
"Can you imagine a life without pose-able thumbs?"
"Beavers invented refrigeration."
"I'm going to take a lap." (He says this when he's headed for the bathtub, because he runs enough water to go for a swim.)
"I lost track of time due to daylight savings time." (When we was scolded for being up until near midnight on his laptop... over a month after daylight savings time switched.)

Jason