No Fooling

It's no joke...I haven't written a post in over a week!  What is up with that?  Well it's mostly been because the first quarter of the year was wrapping up.  Quarter close is a big thing where I work...and this quarter it seemed particularly stressful.  I'm not sure why that was; usually it's 4th quarter which is the killer with 2nd coming in...well, 2nd.  My days were longer than usual.  (Yikes!)  I was pretty darned burned out by the end of them and every time I tried to start a new post at the beginning of the day...well, something would come up and I would get distracted and...No blog post!  (To be honest; no much of anything.  Don't ask my family how "snappy" I got during the day...and yes, that's putting it nicely.)

But a lot has been happening in the past week and since this my "boring" blog, let me bore you with some of what's been going on and what I've been thinking about.

• The saying is that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.  I'm saying it came in like a somewhat tame lion that turned into a cartoon-like Tasmanian devil and ended kind of sheepishly.  (See what I did there?) Then came back like a lion on this first day of April.  I used to think February was a rough month, last year it was March and March it continues to be.  Although we didn't have it as bad as many in the Midwest, the wind was whipping around here for too many days.  Our flagpole broke again.  The wind had done a number on it earlier in the month, but hubby managed to fix it.  But the wind wasn't done with it yet.  The flag and part of the pole are currently hanging out in my sun parlor/music room.  At least the flag didn't fly away/disappear like it did the last time.  Can this pole be fixed (again)?  I think we'll wait a while to find out.  Or maybe the wind is trying to tell us something?  
• I entered the battle to get my husband a vaccination.  His diabetes puts him in the eligible group.  (I'm currently too young [how good it feels to say that!] to qualify...but that will change come June or if the eligibility age is lowered again.)  Originally, we were told that our medical group would be providing us with the vaccine when it was our turn.  That turned out not to be true.  (Annoying, but not the group's fault.)  He has been complaining about this for way too long.  (But he didn't seem to be doing much about it.)  I took matters into my own hands.  As I was doing my inside cycling (because it's been too cold and/or wet to go outside for a morning walk), I checked CVS online (the generally update their site around 6) and they had some appointments available.  (This was after weeks of "completely booked.")  So I rushed upstairs and tried to get in the queue. After about 40 minutes I was in, only to find out that the locations nearby were now full.  Annoying, but...I continued on with my day, which included taking my son and his girlfriend to school.  (Which is another topic I will be covering in a bullet point!)  When I got home I hopped on our county Covid site.  Their appointments update around 8.  They had some openings...they actually had one on the 26th, but when I tried to snag it...well you can probably guess what happened.  However, I WAS able to get one for him for next week.  So I'm feeling like the best wife around...I rock!
• I may be the best wife, but I am not the best person...that title goes to my neighbor who has made it her mission to get people vaccinated.  Getting my parents vaccinated has been a challenge due to mobility issues.  She managed to get an appointment for my dad at a location that was not ideal, but worked.  (No more than 10 miles away from their house.)  So as I write this my dad is "half vacced".  My mother wanted only the J&J vaccine. (Both she and I have some really weird allergies.)  My neighbor managed to find and snag and appointment for her last Saturday.  It was more of a distance, so I drove down and took her.  It was a little hard on her because it meant standing in a lot of lines.  However, the staff was wonderful and got her a chair and I ended up being her line proxy.  She was one of the last patients of the day and because we had to wait 30 minutes afterwards (they keep you/observe you longer if you have a history of allergic reactions), the place was pretty deserted when left and since our car was a near the entrance, but not the exit we were able to get a wheelchair for her and one of volunteers pushed her out.  (While I carried the walker.)  So my mom is fully vaccinated AND I got to take a short walk on the beach too!
• 
• On a sadder note my husband and I also attended our first pandemic wake last Friday night.  (https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2021/03/unexpected-2-ultimate-fab-soy-bomb.html)  While I'm glad we went (because Ed was great friend), it was not a great experience.  The funeral parlor did everything right (had masks on hand, lots of hand sanitizer) it was a very uncomfortable situation.  We did get to share some of our stories with Ed's family, but open casket is not my cup of tea.  (For me it doesn't represent the person that I knew.)  It's difficult to comfort each other when you cannot touch and everyone tries to stay away from each other.  I would have preferred to have gone to the funeral itself (which I learned after the fact was live streamed), but I needed to get mom vaccinated.  I know that many of the people who wanted to say goodbye could not come and I am hopeful that in the future we will be able to get together and honor him properly.
• Since I mentioned it above (bullet 2), the third marking period will be wrapping up in April and for the final quarter of the school we have yet another option.  In addition to all remote, mornings in school/afternoon remote (4 classes in person, 2 after lunch at home), all day is in person is back on the table.  So few students have been going in physically that I am relatively comfortable with this (especially since hubby, who is probably the most vulnerable of us, will be vaccinated by then.)  What does make me a little "nervous" is that students need to go outside for lunch and are allowed to go off campus for lunch.  It's not lunch that makes me antsy; it's that he will have to keep an eye on the time and get his butt back in to class on time.  (He frequently loses track of time.)  (An aside; if it rains during the day/before lunch, all afternoon classes will be remote.)  My son assures me he can handle this (and to be honest, he's been getting a lot more responsible this year...but I shouldn't have said that!), so we're going for it.  It will actually be a lot easier for days when he has rehearsal for the musical since he'll already be on campus.  You know there will be more blogging about this before the school year is over.
• Finally, we are coming to the end of Holy week.  My Lent "project" is almost over (https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2021/02/ash-wednesday-2021.html) and has been very rewarding.  (If I have half a brain there's another post!).  I have stayed away from chocolate (and am trying to decide what the first item I will eat on Easter will be).  I did have a glass of wine once (on the evening of the virtual fest; I always gave myself a wine pass when the fest was going on and for this one night I indulged).  I also did toast my friend Ed with a margarita on the day of his passing and his wake.  I must truly be an adult now...I miss my alcohol more than my chocolate.  Unlike last year, I went to church for Palm Sunday.  It felt a little off...maybe it was because we didn't sing "The Palms" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NMz8ItzoCU).  There was no processional and while there were palms...I don't know...the rainy gloom of the day might have dampened things too.  I am hopeful for a sunny and uplifting Easter Sunday.  I may not be singing this year, but I will be ringing! We've got a small hand bell choir going...we don't have much experience and we kind of sound like that, but it's something.

Here's hoping (and hopping) that this April isn't a foolish one, but a happy and healthy one!