Book-Geek

Yesterday was the first wet, yucky day so I figured it would be a good day to settle into my reading/chill/nap/coziness space I have created in my home.  I haven't hung out here much lately so it was a nice break from my mania. You cannot tell from the picture but I have a reading lamp behind me that I call my Grow Lamp.  It is a regular lamp but I picked up a plant light bulb from the hardware store.  The bean bag is actually one of two that I have in this area.  It is a Fuf .  I love these bags because they are filled with foam instead of beans so it is quiet and holds its shape a bit better.  I also have an essential oil diffuser I picked up online.  Today's blend is Cheer up buttercup, which is a citrus heavy concoction that lifts my spirits and is more energizing than a typical lavender blend that you would find in my house, that I picked up at my local health food store. Opposite from me is a small trampoline  in case anyone needs to get their wiggles out!

The view from my walk this morning was a little  Blair Witch . Part of my homebound physical and mental health regimen includes walking the dog behind our house for about 1/2 hour every morning.  I love walking.  I LOVE running but my body doesn't.  When I am walking, I can focus on nothing or everything without worrying about passing out or breaking my knees. One of the things I think about when I am walking is how miserable I am and how sad we all are.  I also think about how lucky I am and how this is an opportunity to reconnect with our loved ones.  I enjoy having my family home.  Before this pandemic, we were so busy, I rarely saw my kids.  Now, we connect throughout the day and in the evening.  We don't have the stress of schedules overlapping and running from this activity to the next.  I am amazed every day at how relaxed we all are and I am grateful. Although the view from my walk this morning was a little  Blair Witch .  I know in my heart, and science, that

I don't know about you but I am pretty lonely.  My kids are doing school work, my husband is working, and my dog is, you guessed it, sleeping.  As I indolently plug away at cooking, cleaning, reading, writing, and exercising, I manage to fill my day but I am left unfulfilled.  How long can I keep this up?  I miss my friends!  I miss being at work and interacting with people.  I'm not even that social!  What is wrong with me! Last night, some friends of mine got together on  Zoom  with a beverage of choice and just talked!  There was no agenda, no judgment, no fear of contagion!  We chatted for about an hour and it was just what I needed. I jumped out of bed with a renewed sense of purpose.  My batteries are recharged and I am ready to go:  Wash doors and woodwork, make phone calls and do laundry.  I will be doing it with a smile on my face, however, and I am anxiously awaiting our next evening together! Shout out to my girls!

My kiddo cleaned out their arts and craft area and found some blocks of beeswax that we got to make some solid perfume in repurposed EOS containers oh so long ago.  That was a long, arduous project that I don't look back on fondly. Fast forward to our current situation where we are blessed with time and clear heads and I decided to put it to good use by making our own reusable fabric food covers.  I scanned quite a few and found this tutorial from Apartment Therapy:   https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to-make-your-own-reusable-food-wrap-244307   It is the simplest one I found. Given my success with this project, I think I will head over to Joannes to help make masks for first responders. I have been sitting on this fabric for 7+ years Cut the fabric to size.  I had a block of beeswax, which I don't recommend.  It was hard to cut. After filling the entire house with a beeswax haze, I think I might want to try microwaving.

Balance comes in many forms I figured out how to turn the DVD player on. Winning! Then there was this... CNN: Trump says he wants the country 'opened up and just raring to go by Easter,' despite health experts' warnings. https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/24/politics/trump-easter-economy-coronavirus/index.html I finally got a few projects checked off my list. Winning! And then the fire alarm went off because a breaker tripped. I figured out which breaker and reset it all by myself! Winning! My husband set up online cribbage with his 90 year old dad so they can play and not risk my father in law's health. Yes, he is that kind of guy! Due to the cribbage, we were a tad bit late for our family walk and the dog took off at the end to follow a fresh deer trail. We found her an hour later in the pitch dark. Due to that little unexpected extra walk, I managed to log 15k steps today. Winning! That is 5 ups and 3 downs. I'll take it! This little 11 year old, one

Rule 1.  Don't have any rules. Rule 2.  Balance between communicating the severity of the situation and not freaking out or freaking your kids out. Rule 3.  Get everyone to eat the perishables first. I got the word Sunday night that I too will be staying home.  I cannot explain it but my initial reaction was disappointment, shock, and maybe a little fear.  The fact that I was still going into work kept this new normal a little unreal to me.  Well, #$@% just got real. Our days are pretty much the same.  My two teenagers are distance learning and so far, I have not heard too many complaints.  My husband is working from home in a non-ergonomic environment so he is pretty sore at the end of the day.  We go for a walk, have dinner together, and switch back and forth between game night and movie night.  We went from being crazy busy and hardly ever seeing each other to spending every free moment together, and, we all sleep in, which is amazing! Positives: I can catch up on all t

As I get ready to write this entry, I am considering changing the name of the blog to, "Dinner is the Worst Time of Day". After years of fighting with my family over dinner, I decided that 4pm is the best time to feed the kids and my husband is in reheat hell.  It "works". I have less, "Mom, I am hungry. I am going to starve to death!" I have tried big snacks at 2:30, little snacks at 3:30 and nothing seems to hold them off until my husband is done work, (anytime between 5 and 6pm. Yesterday, My 7 year old was not quite ready to eat at 4pm so I let it slide.  I let a lot of things slide. My 4 year old and I were eating when she said, "Where is Spencer?" So I said, "He is outside on the trampoline."  Man, do I wish I had a delete button on my mouth or at least a 3 second delay. That girl of mine was out the door so quick I didn't know what hit me.  "Finish your vegetables before you go." I yelled in vain. As I

I read somewhere, (and in true to me fashion, probably only read half of it) that it could be fun to let the kids put the parents to bed at night.  Oh boy did my kids latch on to that one! I had so much fun watching my 4 year old girl call me, "Honey" every 2 minutes and man was she attentive! It was almost overwhelming.  It was quite a window into what it must be like to be them. My son was a little more laid back but he put my unsuspecting husband to bed, (more about that mistake later). After peeing, teeth brushing, and pjs, she tucked me in and read me a few stories.  I tried to "bug" her a little by whining a little here and there. I wandered around when she got sidetracked and begged for two more stories, (which were fantastic).  She was patient and obliging and overall, it was such a fun evening, I remember thinking to myself that I just cannot wait to do that again! Then it came time for HER to go to bed... "Oh no.  Mommy goes downstair