$17.99, 3-Ply Kids’ Face Masks, Pack of 24
The Covid case numbers for our county peaked last week, including at our elementary school, which had to move to temporary virtual instruction. Unfortunately, the peak of cases perfectly aligned with the nadir of our ability to keep our kids at home, which we have done since March of 2020. (Minus some hours here and there with their grandmother, which I know we are hugely fortunate to have as an option.)
So Monday was our daughter’s first day of in-person preschool. I emailed the teacher beforehand to get an idea of what supplies she needed to bring with her: an extra outfit, extra Pull Ups, and, of course, face masks. I asked what the best kind to get was, since the teacher deals with them every day. She recommended disposable ones because apparently the cloth ones can get quite wet. (Gross!)
It was surprisingly hard to source disposable face masks for a three-year-old. The Target near us said they had low stock so I drove to the suburban Target only to find they didn’t even carry ones that small. I ended up finding some at our Target completely by dumb luck. They were tucked away on an end cap behind some clearance hair products.
She let us put her mask on when we dropped her off on Monday morning and wore it without protest as she ran into her new classroom. When I picked her up two and a half hours later, her teacher apologetically reported that she took it off halfway through class and wouldn’t put it back on. She’s 3. What are you gonna do? Barring a wet mask incident, the box will last her for the first six weeks of school.
$285.78, Damage waiver for 22 days of a car rental
We had a low-speed collision with a median in icy weather the day after Christmas that ended up costing us (well, our insurance company) over $3,000. I never pay for the damage waiver when I rent a car because it feels like a scam. But the day I picked up our rental, which was entirely covered by our insurance company, it was another icy day. While I sat in the car with the employee signing the rental agreement, I saw another car skid coming in the driveway and hit another one in the lot. So I opted for the damage waiver, at $12.99 a day. How much could that end up costing me? Surely it wouldn’t take 22 days to fix my car!
I was glad I had the extra protection twice. Once when I hit a pole backing out of my space at my apartment, and once when I realized someone had scraped the bumper in a parking lot. It was the size of my fist and down to the metal. When I returned the car, I pointed out both spots to the employee, who cheerfully told me that he wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t said anything! Honestly as long as nothing went through the bumper you can pretty much pop it off and put on a new one! Except I didn’t get away with it, I paid him $285. Scam confirmed.
$17.99, Belle princess dress from Target
I was a little surprised at how quickly school felt real. Our daughter missed school on Tuesday because she only slept from midnight to 4am and was in a real mood by the time we had to leave. When I checked my phone at lunch, I had a voicemail from someone at the office asking for a callback to make sure she was okay. I also started getting an email digest with announcements about auditions for the school play and the fact that Friday was “Disney day.”
I told my husband about this, since I didn’t know what was expected of us. Did this apply to preschool? Did our daughter even care? She’s vaguely aware of Minnie Mouse from some apps on her Kindle. She’s too young for movies and I took too many critical literature analysis classes in college to have Disney princesses in the house. They’re not outlawed, she just hasn’t shown an interest in them, and I’m not going to be the one to push it.
He offered to get her a Disney dress from Target, which never would have occurred to me. I didn’t even know they had them, to be honest. It was 20° the morning we dropped her off, and it was a gauzy, short sleeved thing, but we put a pair of leggings on under it and just kind of hoped for the best. When we dropped her off and I unzipped her coat, her teacher said that Belle was her personal favorite princess and I had a brief moment of feeling like a Good Mom™ which was honestly worth $17 even if she never wears it again.