Covid Free!

When I last left off on the blog, we were all suffering through our bout with covid. By Thursday last week, everyone was feeling much better, so we took some tests to see about going out and about to the grocery store and such. Asa and I tested- and he turned up negative. But somehow I turned up positive. Me! The one who never really had any symptoms. How was I still testing positive? It was a total bummer. So, instead of a trip to Costco, we just ordered another Kroger delivery (Kroger really saved us during this whole covid fiasco). 

Now, I know the CDC rules have changed. After five days of isolating, if your symptoms are resolving, the CDC says you can head back out into the world, masked. After 10 days, you're good to go out into the world, period. Thursday was my 10 days. Technically, according to the CDC I was cleared. I get that. But, I also know people who followed these new rules and infected others. People who specifically told me "I should have waited until I tested negative" to do anything. Now, I know that isn't possible with everyone. Some people have no choice but to go back to school or work, especially after five days with this new rule in place. But, I didn't HAVE to go anywhere. Nor did anyone else in this house. We're set up to do everything from home. 

So heres the thing, the CDC also says if you have access to tests, you should test after 10 days. Basically, this screenshot down below makes zero sense to me. Heres the CDC with you're good to go after 10 days as long as your symptoms are improving. But in the same paragraph, saying if you have access to tests and do test and you come up positive, you should continue to isolate/mask beyond 10 days. Basically, you're good to go, unless you decide to test? Who's going to test then? 

Spoiler alert: me. Me. I'm going to test. Because I don't want to spread covid to like 18 people, or whatever the R rate is with omicron. I want it to stop with us. So, since I was still coming up positive, allbeit, a very faint line (some resources say there is something to that- others say not so much), I decided to continue staying home and wait to test. 

But, hey, our neighbors. They've all been amazing. Everyone's checked in on us, asked what they can do, and T'Ola even stopped by Bucees on her trip to Alabama just to bring us some blueberry yogurt pretzles since we missed out on them on our way home, since we had covid and all. 

Asa, since he was testing negative, went over while she was gone to be there for a repair guy... 

...and then T'Ola thanked us with a whole bunch of Crumble Cookies. This girl. I'm telling you. I want to cry every time I see the "For Sale" sign in her yard. I avert my eyes whenever I check the mail. 

Anyway, in all of this, NFL Football came back!!! This is always an exciting event in our house. And of course, we celebrate with something special for dinner. I wanted street tacos from Costco, but since I couldn't go yet, we got Take Out from Hungry Harrys in celebration. 

Of course, when Sunday rolled around, it was time to bring back the taco bar! If you know us, you know we have tacos for lunch and dinner (and sometimes even breakfast if there is a London game!) every Sunday of the NFL Football season. Last year, we kept a count, and landed somewhere over 500 tacos. I re-set the taco count for this year, and we'll see if we can beat our previous number. 

Our taco bars are no joke. We do nachos, tacos, burritos, tostadas- and all the toppings you can imagine (I did wiff on the black olives this go around though). We put it out before the games start, and it carries us through the whole day. 

Sunday wasn't just awesome because NFL Football came back. I finally tested negative!! It only took me two weeks. Literally everyone else tested negative before me (Peyton waited till Friday to test, since there was a gaming tournament in Orlando on Saturday, but the test was negative on the first try!) 

I will say this about covid, it wasn't too bad for us. We're all vaccinated and boosted. The sore throats really kicked Asa's ass for awhile, and Calib has had a nasty cough. Other than that, it was crazy to have it be so mild (especially for me and Hayden) after trying to avoid it for so long. I do think, however, I have some covid fatige. I am tired a decent amount, but not overwhelmingly so. However, I do find I am sleeping 9 to 10 hours a night like a rock. Way better than I ever have. So, I can't even say that's a bad thing so much. And now, we have at least a bit of a super-immunity. Vaccine. Booster. Natural Immunity. And, in a couple of months, we'll get the new omicron booster (I know it just got approved, but they say to wait 90 days after an infection) Should give us pretty good protection. Besides, I've said it before and I'll say it again: if whatever we did in Ohio gave us covid, literally any vacation was going to give us covid. We certainly would have gotten it on the cruise ship, for sure. 

But, anyway, back to football. The Bucs didn't play until Sunday night (and even then, it was a convincing win, which was exciting), but I kind of like when they don't play with everyone else. That means I get to watch Red Zone literally all day, and then the Bucs at night. After one day of tacos, we're at 33. We'll see how that holds up throughout the season. 

Yesterday Asa and I finally made it out to go grocery shopping. On our way home, we swung by Chicken Salad Chick for our free large quick chicks. Having that Grand Opening reward is so sweet, and we have only done 2 of our 12 months. We keep getting new kinds, too, so we can find our favorites. This month I got the last of the fruity kinds, and Asa got the pimento cheese one. We're having them for lunch, so we'll see how they are. 

In other news, Peyton is getting ready to head back to the UK. I've been getting some things for Jasmine to help out, based on what Peyton said she could use. It's like a little "thanks for taking care of Peyton" care package for her. 

Speaking of which, I'm starting to think we have terrible vacation luck. We don't take one for three years, and then when we finally do, we all get covid. Now, Peyton's plane to London is landing early morning the day of the Queen's funeral. I am sending positive vibes the train is not a nightmare (especially for Jasmine who is traveling from the north through London to get Peyton from the airport very early that morning). I mean, this flight has been booked for months. What are the odds it just happened to land hours before the Queen's funeral? But then, Peyton isn't the only one traveling next week. Asa and I are heading out on a cruise.... to the Bahamas. And despite a very quiet Atlantic up until now, there's a tropical system out there. Hopefully it won't affect us, but we'll see how it goes. Either way, I'm sure we'll at least get to go somewhere, but I'm really hoping my Nassau day and swimming with the pigs at Sandy Toes pans out. If not, I'm sure we'll still have a good time. Anything with Asa is fun. 

In other news, Hamilton tickets go on sale in Tampa today for the December/January showing that was supposed to happen in 2020- but you know, didn't, because, well 2020. I'm hoping to be able to nab some at noon, so we'll see how that goes. 

Next Up: Cross your fingers everyone's trips go smoothly!