Costco today

This is my Costco. I went there this morning to get milk and eggs, I saw lots of cars and a crowd of people outside the bldg and decided to just ditch it. I went to a Stop & Shop, they were out of eggs and the milk that Swe-cha drinks. I then went to Shoprite, I was able to get eggs but still no milk. 

I just called up different Costco locations within a 15 mile radius and got the same answer - "yes, there is a long waiting time to get in". I'm not really up to going out for another try again today. 

Week 3: Social Distancing and Waiting

The husband went to Ranch 99 to get groceries this afternoon and lined up for 1 hr and 30 minutes outside before he was even able to step foot inside the door. This was how the line outside looked like. He says that they were given numbers and by 5pm, those who didn't have numbers were sent home - the store closes at 7pm.

I commented that the distance seems a lot more than the requisite 6 ft and he agreed. he says that this was how far apart people were staying and even with the store staff asking them to come forward a little bit, nobody was heeding the repeated requests. People are scared.

The price of rice has also increased. The same 25 lb of jasmine rice we purchased 3 weeks ago for $17.99 is now being sold for $25.99. I initially asked husband to hold off on buying it but changed my mind when I saw that our rice container is down to less than half and realizing that the Covid-19 situation is just getting worse and worse in our state. I quickly gave husband a call and he was just about to pay at the counter but was allowed to run off to grab a bag of rice. This would be a good time to start dieting, perhaps.

He wore a mask I made for him with a folded paper towel filter stuffed into the filter pocket for added protection. It is made of 3 layers of cotton fabric and is worn with elastics that go around the head - more comfortable, I think, than loops that go around the ears.  The mask went straight to the wash as soon as he got home.

On the work front, my work is going on as usual while husband's work hours were cut beginning this week. I see this as a blessing because it leaves him with 2 whole days a week to work with Swe-cha on schoolwork. Hopefully, this is all temporary and that things go back to the regular normal before the situation escalates.

.... and just like that, we're done with week 3 of the quarantine and are all set to start week 4. Swe-cha gets a break from schoolwork next week - sort of - because it is spring break but we do plan on catching up with the remaining tasks in google classroom that we haven't completed yet.

Face Masks

So this morning, I start checking the news and see articles that NJ hospitals are now being stretched thin with the volume of coronavirus cases. I start worrying more than ever when I find out that my town has 131 cases as of today.

We don't have masks, I didn't buy any from before as I didn't want to be among those panic-buying PPEs so I thought I'd better start looking for ways to make our own.

Thankfully, Mr Google has been a lot of help and there are lots of easy instructions and free patterns out there. I made one for each of us in different sizes and instead of ear loops, I opted to just put in longer elastics that would go around our heads, I think that would be more comfortable.


Thankfully, I had all the materials on hand, as well as the toy sewing machine I bought 17 years ago for $12.80.

For the fabric, I went through Swe-cha's old clothes that I had set aside for donation and pulled out a few ones that were 100% cotton and salvaged fabric scraps from the outgrown shirts. I also still had braided elastic cord left over from when Mom brought some over for me to repair PJs.

The first mask took me 2.5 hours to make and the next, 2 hours and probably less than that for the 3rd one. The only thing that gave me a hard time was that

(1) my toy sewing machine keeps breaking
(2) the threads keep snapping
(3) I didn't have any tailor's chalk or anything that I can use to trace the pattern(s) onto the fabric.

And yes, I'm aware that these have to be washed after every use to prevent contamination so ideally, husband and I should have 2 each. Swe-cha will most likely not be going out.

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Edit: the sewing machine broke. I guess it must not be used to being used this much.

Week 2: COVID-19 Quarantine

So we're at week 2 of self-quarantining due to the COVID-19 pandemic and things are a bit messier.

We've (temporarily) lost R and B, our ABA therapists. Their agency has closed so we're on our own. Today, I gave Swe-cha his worksheets and daily journal to complete and while there were complaints, he did finish them by himself. I will need to sit down with him a bit later today to work on the more difficult sheets.

On the home front, we have a healthy supply (from pre-COVID-19 days) of food and groceries except for milk. Swe-cha chugs down a lot of milk and Costco is limiting the purchase of  Lactaid to 1 container / person. So far, the workaround seems to be getting 1 whole milk and 1 low fat (the limit is 1 container on each variant) and then just mixing them up together before serving. No complaints so far.

I also had a realization that while we thought we have plenty of rice in stock, that may not be the case. We're still good, no worries for the immediate future, but I will have to consider buying another bag of rice if/when we get the chance. I've found that I've been cooking rice more often now that we've been having 2 rice meals at home per day instead of just dinner. Also, not getting takeout is also putting a serious dent in our rice supply.

Husky

Just got the batch of jeans that I ordered for Swe-cha and the size is good. It took me a while to look for "husky" jeans for boys and these were at a good price point too ($8/pair at Target).

This brings back memories of those days when I'd have to look for pants that had elastic garters so that you can shorten the waist. These days, we need elastic that would do the opposite - expand!

He does feel chunky :) We should start calling him Twa-cha.

Drinking water

When we moved in to our house years ago, we already had an in-sink water filtration system. Ours also had a hot water tank installed so we could have both hot and cold filtered drinking water.

In 2018, one of the levers (the hot water lever) broke and water would not stop flowing. Unfortunately, the unit itself is sealed so there was no way to repair the faucet.

We took a look at the plumbing under the sink and sighed at the complex piping and tubing going to and front the faucet, the water supply, in and around the hot water tank. 

Also, as I was trying to look for dual-lever faucets, I was surprised to see replacement costs going upwards of $350.

So far, prospects weren't looking good.

As a quick fix, we decided to just get a cheap, $10 single-lever faucet. Hubby sorted out the maze of pipes and tubes under the sink, relocated the filter to a place where it would be much easier to replace, disconnected the hot water tank (temporarily) and connected the faucet.

I would eventually be able to find a replacement dual-lever drinking water faucet at a more affordable price but by then, we were already comfortable with just the cold water dispenser so the "temporary" solution stayed in place for 1.5 years ... until this morning when the lever broke off.

Thankfully, a few things were going for us.

1) I had not forgotten where I had stashed the dual-lever faucet

and;

2) While I'd already forgotten whether or not we have the right quick-connectors for the tubes,... they conveniently turned up when hubby opened a kitchen drawer.

So now, we have this baby in the kitchen.

It's technically half-installed as of today, as the only the cold-water connection has been put together. We hope to get to the rest in the next few days.

Friday the 13th Miracles

Last week, we lost 3 things.

It started with Swe-cha's hoodie. The weather has been chilly in the mornings lately so we've been sending Swe-cha with a hoodie in the morning. Early last week, he didn't come home with his hoodie one day and we've been trying to find it ever since. I checked the gym, the after-school care, and even his teacher, no one has seen it.

Then, on 9/12, Swe-cha's tooth fell out (he actually pulled it out). The tooth was placed in a baggie by the teacher, it had a card attached with his name and the date that the tooth fell out. After school, he must have played with the tooth so it was no longer in the bag by the time he got home. I was upset.

That same day, the teacher had sent home a note mentioning his tooth and that it was funny how swe-cha tried to ask her for money (tooth fairy) and I replied and said that we gave Swe-cha a penny which made him happy but unfortunately, the tooth was nowhere to be found.

And on Friday, 9/13, I topped things off by losing my wedding ring. I had already picked up Swe-cha from aftercare and we were driving home when I noticed my bare finger and started panicking. I told my family and was inundated with the usual questions...
- where is it ?
- is it loose ? tight ? really lose ?
- did you take it off when you washed your hands ?
- did you leave it ... ?

Hindi ko alam.

My mommy, nakakatuwa,...then asked for a photo of the husband's matching ring. She offered to replace my ring, I declined. The husband and I have 2 sets of wedding bands anyway so it's not like I don't have a replacement.

Later that night, Mom sent a mysterious message to our viber group - "It's okay. Just pray. You'll get the ring back, no need to get a replacement". Mom has feelings like these...

On Saturday morning, things started turning around....

I opened Swe-cha's backpack and found another note from the teacher. Surprise, surprise! The custodian was cleaning the gym and found his tooth. Can you imagine that ? Technically, Swe-cha lost his tooth TWICE :) and it still found its way back to us.

Then on Saturday afternoon, as we were all set to go to mass, B & R - Swe-cha's therapists - dropped by because they'd made a mistake on their timesheets and needed to make a correction. They made us late for mass so we didn't go anymore and just went to Sunday mass instead. On Sunday mass, my ears perked up during homily when the priest talked about how he lost his favorite ring. He didn't stop praying for it and a few weeks later, he moved to a different seminary and after he moved his things to his room, he goes to the bathroom and to his surprise, finds his ring under the sink (no, he didn't put it there).

While the priest was giving his homily, I couldn't stop myself and kept whispering to the husband - "eto na! eto na! there's hope for MY ring!"  even though in my heart, I still had doubt.

Nevertheless, I prayed.

And this morning, what do I see when I get in the office ?

My wedding ring on my desk!!! It was placed in the center of my mousepad which had been moved to the middle of my desk. The placement was deliberate, making sure that it was the first thing I saw.

Happy, I called the husband to let him know and he tells me that Swe-cha's hoodie has been in the bus all along!

and just like that,.... everything that we've lost has been found. God works in mysterious ways.