Ridiculousness of Quarantine

This blog entry is a look into the lighter side of this 2020 Corona virus Quarantine. There is nothing spiritual or sentimental in what I am sharing.... I must document the lighter and more laughable sides of day-to-day life. 

I am remembering that while others are in the medical trenches— for which I am so grateful, my life is on “pause”, —-like most other Americans.... please know I don’t want to make light of what others are despairing or enduring right now.

And with that—— here comes my reality...it is necessary for me to write often, like singing or running comes naturally to others....this is my chosen outlet and in 20 years’ time, this time capsule of words will shed a light on my feelings and thoughts of now. Most of which are relayed with tongue-in-cheek 😜.

• You know how music has a way of reminding of us or a certain place and time in life? The kids and I jollied our way through the drive-thru at Wendy’s for a rare lunch “outing” recently.  While snow fell around us on this MAY day...we counted the playing of Michael Buble’s rendition of “Jingle Bells” thirteen times over. This has become our theme song of quarantine.

• Not that the trip to Wendy’s was necessary—- for me or the dozens of cars in line...mind you, I am struggling with the rolls that have rapidly grown in my middle section over the last eight weeks.  Really and truly, this teaching-from-home thing has been a catalyst in a whopping 15 pound gain!!  😬I am so used to being on my feet all day that I took for granted the favor that habit was doing for me. Rotten scale. Do not step on yours.

• Being at home has fried my memory, it seems. Daily I have asked for a location on a number of items——- where is my nice silver ring? What happened to the hardware for the bike carrier? Where is your sippy cup?  Why can’t I find nail clippers— ever?! Most often, where are all the chargers??

• It has been nice to see the outpouring of porch drop offs in the form of cookies, donuts, apple dumplings, but alas- the rolls of my middle.

• We have seen enough “Beauty and the Beast” to last us the rest of my daughter’s childhood. She has been capped. We are done with that one.

• The thought of my day, most days, is  “do something productive.”  The definition of that word has skewed since March....it used to be cleaning windows, Swiffering floors, a few loads of laundry. Nowadays...I give a sniff to a basket of unfolded laundry to determine whether or not it has been washed....then I set it somewhere else to fold at a later date.

• My daughter yells loudly.  My son yells loudly. My husband yells loudly. I do not yell (loudly).

• Naps! Ooooh— these were somewhat hard to come by in recent years, but with enough cloudy and cool days in a row, I have relearned this art.

• Can we talk about dishes? Dirty...clean... doesn’t matter— there is an abundance of dishes. And in that same vein, I have decided that granite countertops are overrated, and I set my mugs down with a bit too much gusto. I have broken 3 mugs and a bowl in the past 2 months.... having only been in this house for six months, granite is still new and way too hard to me.

• My son loathes clothing. This, I knew before, but depending how long we are inside the house, we may not even have to buy any of his newly grown-in size.

• In all fairness, he gets this trait honestly. I dislike wearing pants and so my latest fashion trick has been to wear my robe as far into the day as I can. Then, after I am too hot, I wrap it around my waist like a maxi skirt. Great look. 

• I have also noted how much better I feel when my hair is done, and I have a base layer of makeup on. On the other hand, there is so. much. freedom. in not doing my makeup daily. I also enjoy seeing “real-faced” people on Facebook.

• Everything goes better with vanilla ice cream.... our first few weeks on hunkering down consisted of several desserts a la mode- hence, again, the rolls of my middle.  We are honestly far better off spending $12 at a local ice cream joint in an evening out once weekly than getting the $4 gallon with our grocery pick- up. We simply lack self control come 7 or 8 pm....

• Also, at 8 pm, I turn into Maleficent.

• Teaching online school to 3rd grade has stretched me in good ways. I am proud of what our district has done and accomplished for the last quarter. It has some challenges, though....let me stop at that.

• These two thoughts happened in succession: 

“My children love each other so much, and have an extraordinary friendship.”  ❤️❤️

3 minutes later... 

“Why do they have to always scream and pick at each other as soon as I walk away!!!!”😡😡

• Some of the saviors of my pandemic have been: Jim Gaffigan (look him up!), Caribou Coffee (a lot of it), nightly walks, Lester Holt, and Disney+.

That’s all I have for now.... this has been my Ridiculousness of Quarantine.