We re in love, said Velma Meredith, 64.
Her living room in Elgin is now filled with new furniture from Austin s Couch Potatoes. She and husband, Cline, 67, can sit comfortably in oversized recliners and a new couch.
Cline, who has kidney cancer that has advanced to his brain, can now rest easily in one of the recliners, on the couch or in a new bed provided by Factory Mattress.
The Merediths and the two teenage grandsons they are raising can gather around a new kitchen table with new chairs that haven t had to be reinforced with extra screws and bolts to keep them together.
OK, parents, what’s your plan? With many school districts switching to remote school on Friday and cold weather, ice and possibly snow in the forecast through at least Tuesday, we re going to need some creativity about how to keep kids busy while stuck at home.
Of course, you ve learned from the coronavirus pandemic how to turn rooms into forts, classrooms, camping spots, home gyms, art studios and more.
But here are several more ideas of what you can do this week if you can t leave the house:
Find museums online resources: The Thinkery has some great online activities you can do with videos and step-by-step instructions. Find it at thinkeryaustin.org/thinkery-at-home.
Central Texans, emergency room doctors and nurses would like you to not fill up their emergency rooms during this cold weather snap because of preventable injuries.
Thursday and Friday, St. David s Round Rock Medical Center s emergency room has been busy with injuries mainly from motor vehicle crashes because of the icy roads, says Kristen Hullum, trauma injury prevention coordinator there.
Car accidents cause things like head, neck and spine injuries from the car stopping suddenly while the body continues to move, as well as broken bones and chest injuries. Hullum also worries about abdominal injuries from the seatbelt being worn too high on the abdomen instead of across the hips.
Austin 360
The need to focus on mental health has become increasingly important during the coronavirus pandemic. All age groups are feeling isolated. For college kids, sometimes that means being isolated on campus or being isolated at home while taking classes virtually.
Students have responded in different ways, says Richard Martinez, coordinator of educational programming and outreach at Texas State University, where he also works as a psychologist in the school s counseling center. Some students, he says, have adapted to a new routine. Other students have struggled to find that new routine and structure around remote learning.
This age group of students is particularly important when it comes to mental health, Martinez says, because biologically between 18 to 24 is when people typically experience the onset of mental illnesses such as schizophrenia or might experience anxiety, depression or mania for the first time. There are also a lot of life transitions such as leaving h