Corona Quarantine -- Week 5

April 13-19, 2020

On Tuesday, the governor announced that all schools would officially be closed for the rest of the year. I kind of figured that it was coming, but it was still a bit depressing. Homeschooling has gotten easier, but I know the kids miss their teachers and friends. I know they are also going to miss out on exciting parties and fieldtrips, so my heart aches a little bit for them. We have gotten into a pretty good routine, and the boys seem to be keeping up with the material. I think Christian actually likes homeschool better than regular school because he doesn’t feel bullied and because he can work at his own speed. Thank goodness for Jonathon who can figure out his blasted math. It is killer. He will sit down with him in the evenings and figure out how to do the hard problems.

The major thing that I worry about is how Andrew and Hyrum will do in Portuguese. I have become their main teacher, and I don’t speak the language! It's almost comical how this played out. I do my best to muddle through it, but my meager Spanish skills just aren’t much help. Luckily, they have some amazing teachers. Hyrum’s teacher, Profesora Loftus, holds a Zoom conference with the kids every day where she carefully goes over all of the assignments and speaks with them.

Andrew’s teachers do online conferences too, but he understands his assignments pretty well and doesn’t need a lot of help. I love that they still get a chance to hear the language and associate with their teachers. As an added help, Jonathon has started watching cartoons in Portuguese with them. They have started Big Hero 6: The Series, and everyone really likes it. They like to watch an episode before bed every night. It’s been a brilliant way to get them more immersed in the language.

On Wednesday, we got our stimulus check from the government. Since everything has been closed, the economy has plummeted and people all over the country are in very desperate situations. The stock market dropped more in one day than it has in decades, and the government felt like they had to do something to help people get through this rough patch. Congress finally worked together to get something done and passed a 2 trillion dollar stimulus package. Every adult making less than $75,000 got a check for $1200 and an extra $500 for each child. In total, we got $3,900.00

Thankfully, we do not need the money right now, but I know so many people do. Jonathon has been working like normal (although via online methods), and we are very fortunate to be having an excellent year with extra money from several grants he received. In fact, we are making more money right now than we ever have before, but we still qualified for the stimulus money. Our money was direct deposited straight into our bank account. We decided to give the kids each $500 for their college fund.

Then on a whim, we decided that we wanted to book a cruise for our whole family. Joe and Kym have been wanting to go too, so we booked together. Cruise prices are ridiculously low right now, and the whole family has been really sad about our cancelled Australia trip, so it seemed like a fun thing to look forward to. We booked for August 2-6 out of Long Beach, California. The chances are high that the cruise may get cancelled, but Carnival is giving 125% cruise credits for cancellations, so we thought it was worth the risk. We shall see what the summer holds, but the kids were sure excited to start thinking about a cruise.

This week I also decided I wanted to move forward with painting the guest room. I spent several hours cleaning the guest room, moving out all the furniture, and taping the walls. After several trips to Lowe’s to get paint samples, we were still unsure what color to use. We finally got so tired of buying paint samples that we just pulled the trigger and went with “Parlour Taupe” for the walls and “Crisp White Linen” for the ceiling and trim.

After Jonathon got home from work one day, we spent the evening painting. It was so much work, but we are really happy with how it turned out. It is basically just a lighter brown, but the ceiling is now white and everything looks so fresh and clean. It feels like a whole different room to us, but I’m sure most people wouldn’t notice much difference. We are looking forward to doing more rooms, but we need a break for a few days.

Before 

After

This week has seen the U.S. lead the world in coronavirus deaths. New York City has become the epicenter. There are reports of hundreds of people dying daily, and doctors and nurses are working around the clock. I’m glad that we don’t live in a big city anymore because this virus is really hitting urban areas hard. Utah has seen a couple of hundred deaths now as well.

The only places still open are businesses that are considered essential (medical facilities, grocery stores, restaurants that deliver, construction, and the like). I feel bad for the people who can no longer work, as I’m sure it is painful for their finances. It all makes me feel so grateful for the teachings of the Prophets that we need to be self-reliant and have savings and food storage.

Another interesting development is the fact that the government has now asked all Americans to wear face masks whenever we leave our houses. This is pretty common in Asian countries, but Americans never wear face masks, so it is a brand new thing for most of us. All the stores were completely out of masks, but Jonathon’s mom dropped off a bag with a few on our doorstep. I have been wearing it whenever I go grocery shopping. I also make sure to sanitize my hands really well after leaving the store. Walmart and Smith’s are the only places I have been recently, and I take my germ prevention very seriously because I don’t want to infect my family. Hopefully, everyone will remain healthy.