Kris's Covid Pandemic Blog

 Got my first vaccine (Moderna) on Monday. Super easy process. I surprised myself by how emotional I felt when she was doing it. I'm sure they get this a lot but after over a year of this getting that shot in my arm brought up some feels. The shot didn't hurt, my arm ached a few hours afterward but I've slept on it and had no real issues. Woke up yesterday dizzy and my head felt heavy. Ibuprofen and water helped. Still quite a bit headachy today, could be sinuses, headaches aren't uncommon for me this time of year. Ibuprofen helps but doesn't totally shake it. I'm a little worried about the second shot because that's when the big reaction is supposed to happen and since my first shot reaction (if that's what it is) has been bigger than a lot of people's maybe that one will suck. On the other hand, maybe it will be better and it could be the headaches aren't shot related at all and just the effects of being a mom in the time of allergy season. Any

 I did something big and scary yesterday. I started writing a novel in verse. I LOVE novels in verse. If you've not read one or have no idea what I'm talking about, here's a few to start with so you can get the feel. Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai Sold by Patricia McCormick The ones I listed are all young adult or kids books. The idea of a novel in verse is not new, there are some from way back, but they've become, for a variety of reasons, much more trendy in children's and young adult books over the past several years. And I love them. I really love reading them. Something about them speaks to me.  I've learned over the past couple of years that I actually enjoy writing poetry, which is something I never expected, particularly free verse which is generally the choice of novels in verse.  I dabbled with novel in verse a little bit for my 2

When you put off doing something...like writing a blog post...long enough, it's hard to figure out where to begin. I have been very much wanting to write but I've been so exhausted by the end of the day most days that even getting up to come downstairs feels like a challenge. Plus my computer got a virus it couldn't shake and I had to back everything up and it had to be basically wiped and rebooted. Good times. Both the desktop and the laptop are 100% operational now, yay, technology. So I'll start with the present and work backwards. It's Friday night and we are wrapping up a week of spring break. It's been an odd one...the governor's mandate to reopen schools had no flexibility for spring break so instead of starting the hybrid school schedule the week after spring break as planned they had to start it the week before. Which meant that none of the last three weeks has had the same schedule. After a second week of "bridge" days where he went for 2