Pandemic: Maggie style!

Maggie is one tired pup with us around all day. Her beauty rest is being interrupted and she is crashing wherever she happens to land in order to catch a few zzzzzs. Sorry Mag, we hope your routine goes back to normal soon also!

Stay At Home MN

We continue the pandemic with an official Stay At Home order from the governor. We are told to limit our outings to essential business only. That means groceries, work (if your job is essential and can’t be done from home), and gas. We are officially staying and working at home, only leaving for groceries. We do get out on our bikes and for walks, but we’re are trying to do our part to slow the spread of Covid 19. We do not want to overwhelm our healthcare facilities and staff so while there are days that I feel sad and overwhelmed by the current circumstances, we would like to keep everyone safe and healthy so here we are at home. All things considered we are very lucky to have our jobs, regular paychecks, the ability to continue our children’s education at home, and our health.

We are thinking of you and are hopeful that you stay safe and healthy!

Pandemic: The Beginning

Well, here we are. We are in the beginning stages of a pandemic. Schools are closed, bars are closed, restaurants are closed, salons are closed. We don’t know what to do. We are told to limit social interactions while we continue working and learning from home. We spend our days playing, laughing, and working. We are lucky it is March and not January so we can get out for lots of walks and bike rides. I can’t tell if Maggie likes having us home or if we are tiring her out. I am trying to appreciate the extra family time, but it’s not always easy. I have days when I think this can’t be real but other days are all too real. We are thankful that we and our family are healthy but I still worry about the future of our economy, of our society, and our family.

We are lucky that the girls are young enough to let most of this not affect them. They enjoy sleeping in, getting extra screen time while mom is on another zoom meeting, and taking life at a slower pace. I try to remind myself to look at it from their perspective, as kids usually see the good in most situations. So while we are home, we will continue to try to make the best of the circumstances with more time for our little family.

Stay safe and healthy everyone!

STRIKE!

Well, we did it, the St. Paul Federation of Educators went on strike after working without a contract for over 9 months and without the staff that the students need to be successful. We went on strike to protest the district's unwillingness to prioritize the budget to reflect student needs. Students NEED more mental health supports, language supports, and special education supports. Not every individual student needs those supports but many do and we all do better when we all do better. So, there we were.

The strike only lasted for three days due to the Coronavirus (more on that later). We would have been on strike longer because we didn't get everything we wanted but we did get some and will continue this fight next year when we begin negotiating our new contract. Union Strong!