My Daughter Was Exposed To Covid-19 In Her Dorm At ASU This Week

What a crazy week it’s been. Sunday, I got a call from my ASU freshman daughter. She told me she’d been to the mall with her boyfriend, and new roommates. She told me that on the drive back to the dorm, one of the girls got a call from the Covid-19 testing center. She was positive! My daughter said everyone in the car quickly masked up… 

They went to the RA (Resident Assistant), to inform and to ask what they should do next. The assistant didn’t know what to tell them. She told them she would call someone to find out. They were told to go back to their dorm room and wait for further instructions. Two hours later, no call back… I kept asking my daughter, “what’s happening”, and she told me “nothing”! This went on for 2 1/2 hours before her Dad and I started calling around to try to get info and answers.

Anyway, I became involved, because I wrote a Facebook post about our experience. Local news channels picked up on the story. I was asked to do a few interviews about our experience. I was glad to get the story out because I knew it wasn’t just happening to us. Sure enough, several parents wrote to me telling of similar experiences some even contracting Covid at move in! 

Before we committed to supporting our daughter in this desire she has to attend in person classes/ dorm campus life- We attended a Zoom webinar that was presented by ASU. The meeting was focused on ASU Covid preparedness. We listened carefully as they spelled out intention and laid a plan for Covid mitigation and protocol. It was then that we decided to try to trust in this safety plan. We now feel the University tried to sell it to us. Smoke and mirrors comes to mind…We wanted to believe this could work! It has been my daughter’s dream for a very long time. We feel it was a sales job. No implementation of a plan is what we have encountered here! Profit driven, they sold tuition, meal plans and housing in the middle of a pandemic! While pitching a false sense of safety that we parents wanted to believe. I think they really had to know that communal living, and in person classes are unrealistic this year! Too much risk to public health and safety! Will they refund our money if they have to close it all down??

Looking back, we probably should have insisted that our daughter attend a online community college that is far less expensive than ASU! I know that I wanted to believe in my daughters dream and her right to have her freshman year in a dorm. I really tried to support her. These kids already missed out on all of the fun senior events in high school along with a proper graduation ceremony and celebration! 

Anyway, I don’t blame ASU for a Covid-19 or the number of cases they do or don’t have! I simply want to feel as if the school is trying to include parents in the loop so that we can better understand what’s happening there with the virus. I also want to feel like the school is committed to safety, and regulation protocols in regard to Covid-19. These are some of the realities we have encountered… Contact tracing is too slow! COVID testing has a 2 day lag time to obtain results. Meanwhile, kids with positive cases are roaming the campus freely while awaiting results! Even after known exposure to Covid-19… The RA my daughter had told the girls they were free to resume campus life since they didn’t have a positive test yet. They were told to “just wear a mask”! Not a good scenario for mitigation of this potentially dangerous and deadly virus! Partly due to the reality of the conditions. Misinformed personnel with misinformation isn’t helping though! 

In person classes, and dorm inhabitation just may not be possible right now! 

We called all the way along the chain to try to get answers and some kind of protocol to follow. Nobody we reached by phone had a clue what our daughter should do. They told us over and over they would call us back but not one person from the ASU staff ever called us back! Till today, still no call. 

Anyway, if you are interested in the interviews that I did for the news here, is my favorite. This was a news talk radio interview that I did with KTAR, The Gaydos and Chad Show. 

My KTAR interview the Gaydos & Chad Show 

ABC15News Story

I also did an interview with AZFamily3 / CBS5NEWS as well. Although I can’t find the link to give you. I guess that I did get to tell my story! I suppose that it helped a bit? The ABC Reporter that had included me in on her transparency story sent me an update after our story aired… 

I’ve got to admit that being a part of change feels a whole lot better than just feeling helpless! My daughter now tells me that they can see the number of cases when they log in to report daily with their symptoms! 

By the way, here is the Facebook link to the ongoing story. If you would like to be part of the conversation please join in! 

My Facebook Post–  click the link -Join in here! 

Sadly, My daughter is the only roommate of the four girls to test negative for Covid-19! The other two girls tested positive and are ill. They found out on Tuesday eve. Yesterday at 2:00 pm they moved to an isolation dorm. They were not locals and didn’t have an option to go home. 

*My daughter is self isolating in her room here at home. I take food to her and check in with her while wearing a mask… She has an appointment for another Covid test on Saturday…

 tynajoymetzner

Falling For The Idea Of Cooler Temps

This is what is called an artist date. I created this wreath yesterday for fun. It’s a bit early to display but summer has been brutal here in Phoenix! Why not manifest fall at least in my mind… Fall here is Phoenix is the shortest season. We don’t truly get any relief from the heat until November. When it finally cools down, it gets cold and we are into winter! So fall really is just a couple of weeks if we are lucky. I love the colors of fall. The colors of fall have always been my favorite. I grew up in Pennsylvania and fall there was just amazing. I have great memories of the feelings that “fall”, evoked.

I helped Zoe move into her dorm room. A very bittersweet day. Above she is pictured with her boyfriend who also moved into a dorm room across the street from Zoe. I’m glad she is going to get her wish of the dorm experience. I’m not crazy about communal living in the middle of a pandemic! Seriously, I thought ASU would just do online classes this fall! I think this is nuts considering Phoenix was a real Covid hot spot just a few months ago. 

Monday was the first day of school for Amelia. This is what distance learning looks like for a bunch of kids this year. She was excited to get back to some kind of learning structure. We have had glitches within the district and server capacity. They seem to have it back up and running. I’m not very tech savvy so having to be responsible for this type of learning made me so nervous! Fortunately, this little girl is a tech sponge and has learned a lot about navigating online learning! She, amazes me! Navigating between various Zoom rooms and Google Classroom…She is proficient!

I stick to what I’m good at… I make food lol. This is Pork Sausage & Ground Beef Goulash 

We had a wind and dust storm that was pretty intense. The above picture is of a Saguaro Cactus that fell over in the storm. These are protected and believe it or not, worth quite a bit of money. Sad to see them go! 

Somebody is missing Zoe. I think he is moving in to her room!

Residual clouds that I thought were amazing on a walk I took earlier this week… 

I may have an opportunity to work on a few musical endeavors this weekend. It has been months since I uploaded a live video to my YouTube channel. I hope I actually get to work on my music! The pandemic has created a real annoyance in having people constantly home working and doing school! It’s hard on everyone I’m sure. Gone are the days that I have any time of my own! 

Author: tynajoymetzner

I've been a stay at home Mom for many years... I feel that I’ve earned a PhD in life experience! My oldest is 35 and my youngest is 17. This year, I adopted a Granddaughter who is now 8 years old.I’m on a quest to see all that I can be! I am a musician, singer/ songwriter as well. Please visit and subscribe to my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWn_VTumL1QLpukYEamtzcg. Look for me on SoundCloud as well! SoundCloud Profile Link-https://soundcloud.com/tyna-j-phipps I would love to make money doing what I love! I enjoy many domestic things as well. I am at a point in life that I would like to be compensated. View all posts by tynajoymetzner

 tynajoymetzner

Beautiful Is A Mindset And Perspective

Beautiful- written by Linda Perry is my newest cover project. I’ve been working on this for the past few weeks. The vocals are forever a challenge. Their is a reason that I don’t cover female artists/ songs lol. Still, I can so relate to the whole vibe of this song. My interpretation is probably far removed from the creators vision for the song. 

I found myself recently in a dark hole with plenty of indecision. The isolation, and life changes surrounding me have been difficult to process. Not depression, although if I continue to feel powerless it will be overwhelming! I refuse to be a victim and a statistic. So I find myself at a crossroad. I’ve been here before… 

My daughter is moving into her dorm room this weekend! My job and commitment to getting her raised is pretty much complete. All of my excuses to stay are beginning to vanish. Yet my ability to leave is financially quashed. Pathetic! I’ve put a ton of energy, time and hard work into making a nice life for my family. I’ve come up with pretty empty pockets in doing so. 

Self sacrifice, is what happens to full time homemakers. This past week has shown me a lot about the peril of my life choices. Many bad choices! I regret that I’m my own worst enemy in choosing my situation. Yet here I find myself longing for the ability to change my career path and my circumstance. In the middle of a pandemic? ! 

Beautiful Cover –  here is the YouTube link 

SoundCloud track link-

Beautiful Cover Track on SoundCloud 

On the brighter side, the slideshow I put with the YouTube Video track makes me smile. When I look at all the beautiful people that I helped to create and shape, I come up wealthy! I’m glad that I didn’t miss a thing. 

Now, on to the next chapter of my life- The chapter, about me lol… I’m ready!

tynajoymetzner

Banana Cake An Easy And Delicious Bake

Leftover bananas. Usually, I’ll make banana bread with my over ripe bananas. I just wanted to switch it up a bit. I didn’t want to add nuts so I made the recipe without the nuts. Here is the cake recipe.

I didn’t have buttermilk so I added a couple of teaspoons of sour cream to 2% milk measuring to the 2/3 cup measure called for in the recipe. I stirred the milk and sour cream well before adding it to the other ingredients.

I love this old cookbook! Tattered and beat up as it survived a significant fire back in the 90’s! It holds a special place in collection of cookbooks.

Into the oven it went. 45 minutes later, it came out perfect!

Easy! 

After it cooled for an hour, I covered the cake and put it in the refrigerator for about 5 hours before I frosted it. 

I cheated and used my local stores bakery made whipped topping icing. It is delicious, light and not overly sweet. Perfect for banana cake. 

I’m going to adorn each slice with strawberries when I serve it. 

Worth the calories ❤️

tynajoymetzner

Mastering The Art Of Manifesting Change

I took the opportunity to master a few of my SoundCloud tracks. I am a Pro member SoundCloudCreator.  They have added the ability to master your tracks on SoundCloud. My tracks are all captured by my iPhone via #AudioShare, or #AudioCopy. No fancy software or mixing, straight up me live. Lol I had so hoped my tracks would be a good representation of my playing experience and ability. You can judge for yourself. I find myself wishing that my music could be taken to the next level. A bit more pro… 

I love being a creator. Whether on SoundCloud or on YouTube, each have an element of fun and some challenges. The production factor on YouTube is something I’m still trying to master. Labor intensive but sometimes fun? I enjoy putting videos together via iMovie for my YouTube channel. I love to add my family footage to my videos.

Escape-Piano Composition Original 

My Cover of Lovers In The Wind written by Roger Hodgson formerly of Supertramp 

Cover Of Nights In White Satin written by the Moody Blues

As you can see, I’m having a blast trying to improve my tracks. 

My mom had a saying. She would say, “For free take. For buy waste time”. I guess that pertains here? This is an incentive to record better quality tracks. 

Anyway, in my daily life, my job is the business of running a family. As CFO and CEO of my household, I try to save money where I can! I have a college freshman this year and a 9 year old daughter to get back to school! Ia spite of the number of Covid-19 cases we have had in Phoenix, ASU has maintained that they will be allowing dorms to reopen! I fear that with the start of fall classes at ASU and NAU the COVID-19 case surge will be overwhelming. This could be very difficult for Arizona residents. We were all assuming lockdown protocols without a formal government imposed shutdown. We as a state, have done pretty well masking up. The latest Covid numbers have been falling! My concern is...what happens when-college kids live in dorms via communal living conditions?  When primary grade school kids resume in person classes?Trust me, I’m ready to have my alone/quiet time back! But what will happen if kids start getting Covid-19 in schools? Will we all end up having to quarantine over and over for weeks at a time?  Not to mention the odds contracting this nasty virus. A lot to think about as we try to live and educate the kids! 

Our governor, has put school reopening decisions into the hands of the school district superintendents and educators to decide upon. Together with the local health department, stats, and criteria, decisions will be made within the next week. School will resume August 17th either in person or with distance learning. To be determined next week. 

I’m going to try to be supportive although I really have concerns either way. I have to say, having everyone home 24/7 has been a challenge! I’m looking forward to having my life back!!! I long for the time to focus on my music and create! I still hold on to my hope of an independent future. Bad marriages only get worse during lockdowns. I’m ready for a fresh start!

tynajoymetzner

Beautiful And Lovers In The Wind

A couple of new covers! I took a few hours to finish up a couple of song covers that I’ve been working on. I had such a great evening playing. Far and few between are my piano sessions but they are so much fun when it comes together! As I mentioned in a previous post, Lovers In The Wind was quite a challenging piece to cover musically. A different way of playing for me! I loved every minute I got to spend with this beautiful masterpiece of music! Made me appreciate the amazing talent that Roger Hodgson has! 

The music to Beautiful just kind of washed over and through me. It was a complete joy to play these hauntingly beautiful chords. A very emotional song for me personally. It has always reminded me of my middle daughter who has mental health issues. She was a teenager when this song first became cake out. We had some really tough years… I had to make the tough love decision to send her to a special program school in Oklahoma. It was a terrible time for both of us as it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done! 

This song played on the radio many times on the drive from California to Oklahoma and back. It was and has been an emotional trigger song. I wasn’t sure that I would ever be able to listen to it all of the way through again let alone cover it! I’m so glad that I did. It’s a beautiful song❤️.

Music Only Cover of Beautiful written by Christina Aguilera

Vocal Cover version of Beautiful written by Christina Aguilera 

Lastly my finally finished cover-Finally finished cover of Lovers In The Wind written by Roger Hodgson 

Home

tynajoymetzner

Sloppy Joe Pizza A Leftover Fusion

Spaghetti Sauce Pizza Rolls
Into the oven it goes for about 22 minutes 
@ 425 degrees.

I created these out of a need to use up the leftover Spaghetti Sauce I made a few days ago. It was a delicious, flavorful meat sauce. Ground beef and ground pork, onions, Italian seasoning, and garlic all went into making this homemade sauce. I needed to use up the leftover sauce! I had shredded cheese and shredded mozzarella in the deli drawer of my fridge so I thought I would use that as well. Also a bit of pepperoni from a previous pizza night was also on hand. I sliced up some onion because I happen to love onion on pizza. 

I’m actually serving this for brunch today. A hearty brunch before we all scatter to do whatever it is that we do today… 

These are store bought bolillo rolls. My first choice would have been a big French Bread loaf. My store was out of them this am. I opted for these rolls as a second choice option. 

Fresh out of the oven and ready to eat! 

This is a good way to use up spaghetti sauce and repurpose it into a different meal. I hate to waste food and this pizza is amazing! 

Amelia and I have decided it is an absolutely delicious cross between Pizza and a Sloppy Joe. A fusion of sorts! 
I give you, Sloppy Joe Pizza!

I’m planning on working on my “Lovers In The Wind”, cover. Song, witten by Roger Hodgson formerly of Supertramp. I’d love to get a good track to upload to my SoundCloud Channel! I have a few hours today to myself so maybe I can finish this cover up! Look for it on my SoundCloud channel soon! 

Here is the link to the teaser I posted on my SoundCloud Channel a few days ago…

Lovers In The Wind Cover ◀️click on the link!

Have a good weekend! I know things are still so messed up with Coronavirus looming around. I still feel like we need to hide out from this enemy. Take care of yourselves and continue to dream big! The battle is mental as well as a physical fight. Keep on dreaming❤️.