Day 8 of LAUSD’s vaccine mandate

I’m almost done with this series…

9/17/21. Friday

8:00 – 8:45 - My alarm goes off but I lie in bed for the next 45 minutes. I drag myself out of bed and go downstairs to say good morning to the dog.  I need to log in to my high school class so I quickly rub her tummy and urge her along so we can go outside as soon as possible. She grabs her toy and out we go while I stand around, waiting for her to go potty.  Back inside and I give her pieces of American cheese while I  make my coffee. I go to work.

8:45-10:05 – I log onto Canvas and the students are all up in arms and emailing me because they have a short day and how dare I expect them to complete the Video Quiz in a timely manner when class ends at 9:40 this morning? Apparently, they have Mass…again. I send an email blast to the students informing them that I extended the due date to Wednesday, then respond to those students who emailed me, individually, so they think a) that I care; and b) that I’ve been hovering in the wings since 8:30. 

I smooth everything over, the students are satisfied, and…crisis averted.

Two of the students start chipping away, demanding to be given the opportunity to complete an assignment that they missed last week because they had an “approved absence” and if I don’t believe them, then I can ask Mrs. B.  In college, if you miss an assignment because you’re sick, then, surprise!, you get a 0 on that assignment…at least in most circumstances. But not here.  I’m an adjunct instructor, but I’m teaching high school students so college rules don’t apply because the high schools are the client and the students increase our enrollment, which helps us qualify for more federal funding. But where does the funding go?  Adjuncts don’t see any of it as we watch the tenured teachers move to the next step in the salary schedule.

I email the quizzes to the students who missed the assignments and tell them to email me their answers to me at their leisure. 

10:05–12:00 - TGIF!  I go back to bed and set my alarm for 12:00.

12:00-1:00 – Shower. Lotion. Covid-19 uniform. Light make-up. I listen to The Daily and What a Day.

1:00-1:30 – I drive to my therapy session and listen to Citations Needed on the way.

1:30-2:00 – Session went well.  As always, it’s good to see my therapist.

2:00-2:30 – Driving. I listen to Citations Needed again.

2:30–4:30 – I work on meal prep for the coming week and make turkey chili.  This is somewhat labor intensive in that I have to brown the ground turkey and sauté the onions and wash the kidney beans.  I peel and chop carrots and celery for snacks that I will eat throughout the week.

Kitchen duty.  I clean up the mess I made, then;

4:30-6:30 – I have some of the turkey chili while I watch two episodes of Nine Perfect Strangers.

6:30-8:00 – I could easily binge this series in its entirety but there is always so much to do around here. I turn the TV off and report to my patio.  The spray paint I ordered for my trellises arrived a few days ago and it is almost an exact match!  I can’t believe my good fortune. Home Depot had nothing even remotely similar to the color I needed so I had to order the spray paint from Walmart.

My backyard contraption is referred to as a “Pop-up Gazebo.” Recall that Gustavo welded pieces of black rebar to my trellises – which were rusting/rotting in several places, probably due to the sprinklers – in order to reinforce the columns. Then, he screwed each trellis into the concrete, so this set-up isn’t going anywhere.  The only problem is that he painted the black pieces of rebar, gray – he didn’t color match at all, but I didn’t demand that he color match.  It was more important to me that he shore up the gazebo, which he did. I was pleased with the job.

I spend this time moving my plants to the side, setting up cardboard ‘shields’, and spray painting the rebar. I survey my work when I’m done and it looks…great!  The color is perfect.  I’m so pleased!

-I have some time so I spend it doing a “save-and-sort” with the last few remaining items in the garage. I ‘pare down-scale down’, throw a few items away, and move some paint cans to the floating shelves where I keep our Halloween and Xmas decorations. 

8:00-8:30 – I take the dog for a walk; then

8:30-9:00 – leave for Home Depot because I am looking for a DL 2430 coin battery for my home security system. The front door no longer chimes or will arm and there is an error message on the key pad that says “Check.” Prior to the “Check” message, there was a message that said “Battery”, so I changed the batteries in the main alarm, which didn’t do anything. L. and I still are unable to arm it. I think the battery in the door sensor is out, so I need to replace it. Unfortunately, Home Depot doesn’t have the 2430 battery, but they do carry the next size up – 2450 – which actually looks like an exact match – so I purchase that size.

There are hardly any customers in the store at this hour, which is why I came, and everyone is masked.

9:00 – 9:30 – I get gas and go home.

9:30-10:30 – I spend this time inserting and reinserting the coin battery into the door sensor, but the alarm still won’t work. This is so frustrating!  I go online and search the difference between a 2430 battery and a 2450 battery – aren’t they identical?  Turns out the Internet says one cannot substitute for the other. great. I need to find the actual size.

10:30-11:30 – I do a 45-minute Insanity Max Cardio workout.

11:30-1:30 – It’s nice and cool outside – finally – so I spend this time gardening.  I sweep the patio, clean the rock bed, and water everything.  I hope my neighbors can’t hear me…they must think I’m nuts.

1:30-2:30 – Nighttime routine. Bed.