Christmas is fast approaching, we've got the tree up and presents neatly wrapped and stacked underneath. This has been some strange year. April was the longest year of my life, with days crawling by like months as the monotony of "Safer at Home" forced everyone inside. When I finally returned to the office in June, it seemed like things were maybe getting back towards normal. But as this year drags on, we keep looking for ways to have fun. While wearing masks. Avoiding crowds. Etc. This weekend we drove to a house whose family had filled the yard with Christmas. This was our adventure for the week, if you can call it that. It appeared that the lights were synchronized with music so we went searching for the radio station. What luck! We found the station! The lights flashed along to the tune but the song choice seemed strange, not holiday festivity but more love song crooning. And then, "Thank you for tuning in to Light Jazz..." Huh. Guess it wasn't the right station after all. Moving on. We drove to Culver's for a picnic in the van (they're not open for dining inside). A second trip through the drive-thru for dessert and then home. Nothing too exciting. But at this point, we just need something to break the everything's-the-same-every-day feeling that we have. Because everything's still cancelled.
Anyway, on to a recipe. Original is here, mine is below. I don't usually make recipes like this because too many ingredients and too many steps. But it was worth it, so we'll try to get it into the regular rotation.
Crispy Chicken Parmesan
Ingredients 1 1/2 lbs chicken breast salt & pepper to taste 2 eggs 1 1/2 cup panko crumbs 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese 1/4 cup flour 1 cup oil for frying 1/2 cup tomato sauce 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella 1/4 cup fresh chopped basil 1/2 cup shredded provelone 1/2 cup shredded parmesan
Instructions
Preheat oven to 450
Pound chicken breasts to a thickness of about 1/2 inch, season with salt & pepper
Beat the eggs together in a shallow bowl
Mix panko crumbs and 1/2 cup parmesan together in a shallow dish
Use a strainer or sifter to dust chicken breasts with flour
Dip the chicken into the eggs then the panko crumbs, set aside
Heat oil in frying pan until shimmering, fry chicken until golden on both sides, place in baking dish
Top each chicken breast with about 2 Tbsp tomato sauce, then sprinkle mozzarella, basil, provelone and parmesan on each
Drizzle a little olive oil over each breast
Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, cheese should be brown and bubbly and chicken cooked through
We're well into Work From Home, School From Home, Facemasks Everywhere mode.
It has become so normal to see facemasks on everyone that when we're watching TV, I'm surprised to see people not wearing them. Before we walk out the door from home - do you have a mask? Maybe we have an extra in the car. With really no end in sight. The school district just announced students will stay home "until further notice." The teachers are doing "daily check-ins" where students are supposed to put happy or sad faces into a chart or something - is this supposed to be how they take care of the kids' emotional health? Jumping jacks in the bedroom for gym class. These are strange times.
We've gotten into a new groove. No Scouts and no Skating but we've got other stuff now. I go for a walk every day after work and sometimes a kid or two will join me. Archer's got a job that gets him out of the house. Shelly and Eli are D&D gaming with some other kids. David has started repainting the inside of our house, one section at a time. Grandma & Grandpa show up with lunch for the kids every once in awhile, a nice diversion from the school schedule. More family time, for better or for worse, more family time. So much family time.
Here we go again! First day of school, everyone's taller than the year before, now we've got kids in 11th, 8th and 4th grade, they've got new teachers and new schedules.... And no one's going back to the schools. No one's getting on the bus, excited to see their friends again and nervous about the whole thing starting up for a brand new school year. Everything's online. After almost six months out of school, we're going back remotely. We've got all the hardware and software and this morning at 8:00 all of my kids started up the new school year. No backpacks, lunch boxes or shoes. Wear your jammies to school every day if you want. This is a whole new world of way to do stuff. Here we go!!
P.S. Dear Shelly, thanks for making breakfast for us this morning! Archer, thanks for helping E get his equipment up and running. And E? Thanks for getting up on time even though I didn't come to wake you up!
Can you believe we're surviving a summer of EVERYTHING IS CANCELLED and still having fun? Me neither. It's been tough. I'm going to try REALLY HARD to gloss over the garbage that we're going through, still sort of quarantined but not really, still hearing on the news that everyone's going to die and also that almost no one is dying so everyone calm down. Who even knows about school in the fall. Nothing's for sure anymore.
Ok, I didn't succeed at glossing over the garbage BUT let's try again. Take two. Despite some setbacks, we're managing to Get Stuff Done.
1. We're working on the deck. Still. Hardware Store has back ordered the last of the materials we need to finish.
2. I started a project of re-painting my wooden chairs and that's been going really well. Then Epic Storm rolled through last week and blew one of my chairs away like it was a little feather blowing in the wind. It was damaged beyond repair (thankfully it wasn't one of the chairs I had just finished painting). Silver Lining: Eli had the time of his life using a hammer to smash the broken chair to bits. He loved it. What more can you ask for entertainment for a 9 year old with a desire to destroy everything???
3. Epic Storm could NOT defeat our new windows (victory!!) but our back door had a tough time - the rain was blowing in at the TOP of the door!!!!!!!!!!! There are not enough !!! to express what that storm did in our neighborhood. I swear there were waves of ocean smashing up against our windows. The back of the house wasn't the only one taking a beating, the tree in the front of our house lost another very large limb. It had already lost a very large limb a couple of years ago in a snowstorm. Now our sad little tree was just done. I met someone while I was out for a walk and asked him if he could cut down our tree. I left to go to the hardware store and when I came home, the tree was in pieces by the curb. And then two days later, it was picked up by the Village Highway Cleanup Crew. So, the tree we've had for 12 years is now just a stump in the middle of our yard. Sad. Moving on...
4. Roller skating is back! We can't practice together inside, but we've been getting together in pairs and small groups to skate and walk and exercise. It's so good to see my friends again. I'm just resigned that I'll forever look like Bambi on ice when I skate and fall down all the time, but I haven't had any new major injuries so I forge ahead. Sometimes one of the kids will go for a bike ride with me while I skate, that's nice.
5. We had a 4th of July celebration. Actually, three events at our house in six days. So much cleaning and shopping for more food but it was so worth it. Tuesday we had dinner with our Scout friends, they're such great company and it was nice to get caught up on what everyone has been up to all summer. Then.
Usually we go to the lakefront for fireworks but that was out so we invited our friends over for a campfire and food on the fourth. Also, my parents. So everyone shows up (including my parents! yay! I love you guys :) ) and we have a great time and we're wishing there were fireworks but this is so great, we don't even have to use the outhouse by the fish cleaning station at the lakefront, we have actual bathrooms and air conditioning if we need it AND the campfire. So many friends that we haven't seen in so long. And right around dusk, this is when it began. The Show.
People have been shooting off fireworks in our neighborhood for months. This started when lockdown started back in March - a couple are shot off every night. But this was NOTHING like that. The rockets started and didn't let up for an hour at least. We're watching to the south, now east, there's some over there in the west and if you run to the front of the house, you can see the ones to the north. They surrounded us, they were everywhere and they were BIG. Huge bangs, huge flashes of sparkling lights wherever you look. I have never experienced anything like that. My measly little cell phone pictures cannot do it justice. The community rejected the cancelling of the Fourth of July and responded with better shows than we've ever seen before.
{Disclaimer: Yes I know it's illegal. People get hurt. My children only did safe stuff like smoke bombs. Please be safe everyone and make good decisions.}
Alright, ANOTHER Fourth party, this time on the Fifth with all the Fortiers. We hadn't seen each other since CHRISTMAS!! We needed this, we needed to check in with each other and the cousins needed to see who's driving and who's working and what's up on social media. Mamaw and Bampa showed up AGAIN! Bonus visit! It was such a sweet time, we enjoyed each other's company so much. We tried to keep the food simple without too much grilling or prep required so that we didn't have to spend the whole afternoon in the kitchen. It worked out well and we had a very nice time.
And let's not forget. Smooshed in between all those other things was our traditional Fourth of July Pool Party in HC. A wonderful day as always - snacks, pool time, good conversation, all the stuff.
Probably the best Fourth of July of my life. Because absence makes the heart grow fonder and we've all been absent from everything for too long.
6. David and our friend Mary talked Tom (a guest at the party on Saturday the 4th) into giving them some tips. A couple days later we all met up at the local driving range for golfing lessons and lunch. He's a pro. (Literally. Also teaches golf, for a living.) What a pleasure to enjoy the sunshine and get to see the improvements as Tom patiently guided them through their posture, swing, all the stuff.
7. I'm training for a triathlon which I switched to a duathlon so I won't have to swim and Mary's signed up for the same event. Oh the stuff we talk each other into, when will we learn? We did a little mini duathlon with walking, biking and walk/running last weekend. It was nice to have a partner in the moaning over not liking running and it's too hot and I live in the Caledonia Desert (???) and people are jerks and WHAT did we get ourselves into AGAIN????
Anyway, if you've made it this far, nice work. I just spit out everything that's been building up in my brain for the last two months. Every one of these pictures is a story and if I told them all it would be a novel.
No Shoes Shelly
Mandy & Amy, bank parking lot, hoping we don't get kicked out
Friends!
Machete & Mahem after Mayhem wiped out after only 10 seconds on the track
Mary & Amy, post mini duathlon
Golf lesson!
Tom & Mandy, Fourth
Eli & Amy, sometime
More friends!
Everyone who happened to be sitting around outside when we decided to take a pic :) (Kim, Bampa, DavidAmy, Kim, Mamaw, Grandma)
Eli. Hiding.
Friends!
Dance party on the deck w/ Mary & Heather
David. Stoic as always, or something :P
Bampa & Mamaw
Mayhem & Hella
Pandemic. Before the schools closed in March, the teachers told the kids "you're living in history right now." The kids kind of rolled their eyes and moved on. The schools closed and we attempted to home school for three months. No one was prepared for that, no one. Finally, three months after closing, the schools have figured out how to give our kids' belongings back to them, drive-through style.
The fireworks started in April. Almost every night, someone's lighting off fireworks in the neighborhood. At first we ran outside to try to catch a glimpse of the show. Now, in June, it's just another sound of everyday life. Traffic, airplanes, sirens, fireworks.
Everything is cancelled, further and further out. Easter was celebrated in parking lots at churches because no one's allowed to go inside in big crowds. Graduations, proms, sports. All the sports. 2020 Olympics. Scout camp in June, fireworks in July, all the Roller Derby stuff. One by one, deeper and deeper into the year, we cancel it all. State Fair. Family gatherings, tea parties, birthday gatherings. School? What about school in the fall? I'm seeing notifications on FB pages that things like the local theater guild are cancelling everything through the rest of this year. International Tea Festival in November. Christmas parade and tree lighting ceremony.
Yesterday Shelly said she felt like baking something, I suggested dinner rolls, today we see the fruits of her labor.
She found this recipe and decided to make them today. She has no experience with bread and I'm not any help because my bread attempts mostly fail. I DID help her when there wasn't enough flour on the counter and her hands were covered in sticky dough, I sprinkled more flour everywhere. But that was the extent of my advise to her. Here we go!
Shelly Rolls
Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour, more as needed
1 envelopes rapid/quick rise yeast
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp butter
Instructions
1. Mix together 3/4 cup flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl.
2. Heat milk, water and butter until very warm (120-130 F). Add to flour mixture and beat with mixer on medium for about 2 minutes.
3. Add 1/4 cup flour and beat for 2 more minutes. Continue slowly adding more flour and beating until you have soft dough.
4. Generously flour your counter top. Also flour your hands. Also set aside a measuring cup with more flour cause you'll probably need it.
5. Knead the dough 8-10 minutes until it's smooth and not sticky anymore, adding flour as needed to combat the stickiness.
6. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. While the dough is resting, catch up on your dishes or something. Drink some lemonade.
7. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces using Dad's fancy dough cutter. I feel like a putty knife would work just as well, but I'm not sure how it would fare in the dishwasher. Maybe stick to the dough cutter.
8. Shape the dough into balls and put into a greased round pan, aluminum cake pan works best for this. Quit getting distracted by shopping on amazon and cover the whole thing with plastic wrap, use small binder clips if it seems like the plastic is going to fall off.
9. Put outside where it's 98 in the shade and let it rise for half an hour. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 375.
10. Once they're doubled in size, take off the plastic and bake for about 20 minutes, when the tops should be nicely browned.
11. Brush with melted butter (about 1 Tbsp) if you want. Tell everyone how many they're each allowed to have and watch your fingers as everyone dives in to snatch theirs. Guard your rationed portion closely, they go fast!
Why we love it
Perfectly soft and fluffy little rolls, maybe we should have made a double batch?
I'm so impressed with Shelly's resourcefulness and willingness to try new things, she really hit this one out of the park!
After being home for more than two months, working on a little card table with a view out the window, I'll be going back to work in the office next week. This has been stressful and wonderful and so very strange. Everyone wears face masks at the grocery store now and when I don't have one on, I feel like I'm doing something wrong. Everyone stands in the checkout line at a distance and when someone stands only two feet away from me I feel like they're crowding me and doing something wrong. When Shelly and I dropped off groceries for Grandma Sue we chatted but kept our distance. No hugs anymore. And I'm so very grateful that I live in this home with four other people who can never get enough hugs and high fives and cuddles. And sad for those who don't have that.
We're all done with school for the school year - I declared that we'd be done because the endless worksheets and writing assignments just don't seem worth the anxiety they're causing. We wrapped it up a week early and Eli and Shelly played made-up games outside to pretend it was Field Day and came back in sweaty and exhausted and smiling. Archer took his final exam for his last math class at 2:00 this morning and now we're officially done. And as the kids wrap up school and I go back to the office, it seems things are finally starting to get back to normal, a little bit.
I'm going to miss the bird, squirrel, bunny watching out my window. I'm going to miss the stream of non-stop hugs all day long. I'm going to miss wearing slippers while I work. But I'm really looking forward to the kids getting their summer adventures started, and getting back to the office with my colleagues so I can chat with them throughout the day, instead of working alone and seeing their faces only once a week on a video call. Somehow I feel like a vacation is ending, even though I've been working this whole time. At the same time, vacation is just beginning for the kids. And the grandparents are already making plans for some fun!
Here's to recognizing what we have, hoping things get closer to "normal" soon, and looking forward to what's to come!
Ok. I made this ONCE. But it was SOOO good, I'm keeping track of the recipe in case I ever decide to make it again. It's kind of intense - lots of steps and sort of time consuming but perhaps someday, when I have all the time in the world and I've run out of laundry and dishes and books to read... A girl can dream, right?
Original recipe is from a Martha Stewart show, watched many years ago and the recipe scribbled down on a scrap of paper.
Peach Cobbler Delight
Ingredients
Filling:
10 ripe peaches, pitted and sliced
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
3 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp brown sugar
Pinch Salt
1 tsp fresh ginger (optional)
Biscuits:
2 cups flour, plus more for topping
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup butter, chilled and sliced
1 cup + 2 Tbsp heavy cream, plus more for topping
scrapings from 1 vanilla bean
Instructions
1. Filling - Mix peaches, sugar, lemon juice. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Add cornstarch, brown sugar, salt, ginger, mix together. Put peach mixture into glass pie pan.
3. Biscuits - Mix flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, butter until all combined and mushed together.
4. Add heavy cream and vanilla to biscuit mixture, mix together, work fast, should be crumbly
5. Flour your counter, roll out dough into 1/2" thickness. Cut with cookie cutter to make rounds, lay onto peach mixture in pie pan.
6. Spread biscuits with heavy cream, sprinkle with sugar.
7. Bake on the middle rack until top is golden brown and juices are bubbling (55-70 minutes).
Why we love it
Warm and sweet. I don't actually remember who liked it and who didn't, but when I make this someday, I'll update the post with some stars.
A savory treat from my mom, original recipe from Bampa's brother Kim. These never sit around for long when they arrive from Grandma's treats stash.
No Bake Savory Pretzels
Ingredients
30 oz pretzels
12 oz butter flavored oil
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp Cajun seasoning
1 oz packet powdered Ranch salad dressing mix
Instructions
1. Spread the pretzels evenly on a cookie sheet
2. Whisk together the oil, ranch dressing, garlic powder & cajun seasoning
3. Pour the mixture over the pretzels in the pan and stir to coat
4. Sprinkle w/ grated parmesan cheese and stir
5. Bake for approximately 3 hours, stirring every 15 minutes
Why we love it
I can't EXACTLY explain it, other than to say - once you start, you just can't stop. These leave us grabbing for just one more, and licking our fingers and sad when they're suddenly gone. How did they all disappear QUITE that fast???
Next Up...
I've only made this a couple of times but we all loved it. I've vowed to only make this for group events because I don't want us to eat the whole delicious batch ourselves, it's just so rich!
Half a 1 lb bag of mini pretzels, broken into pieces
2 Sticks butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
18 oz semisweet chocolate chips (1 and a half 12 oz bags)
Sea salt
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 375. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, cover with a layer of the broken pretzel pieces.
2. In a medium saucepan on medium heat, add the butter and brown sugar. Once the mixture starts to bubble, set a timer for 3 minutes and allow to simmer without stirring. After 3 minutes, pour the hot caramel mixture over the pretzels in back and forth motion to cover the pretzels. A few bare spots are ok, it'll all bake together in the end.
3. Bake for 5 minutes, then spread the chocolate chips evenly over the pretzels. Put the pan back in the oven to help the chocolate melt. Once it's all melted, remove from oven, sprinkle with sea salt.
4. Refrigerate until set. Once it's all cooled, break into bite size pieces. (After it's set, you don't have to refrigerate any further.)
Why we love it
Buttery, crunchy, salty, sweet. Of COURSE we love it!
This one was something I wanted to make on Saturday but trips to Hardware Store, home, the Other Hardware Store, home again, sidetracked plans for dinner. The Deck Project is keeping me running!
Sunday I planned ahead and made this at 9:30 in the morning, tucked it in the fridge and then warmed it up in the oven at 5 when we were ready to eat. Yay for planning ahead, even if I was a day late. :)
1 lb pasta (recipe says ziti, I didn't have it, I used some other tube shaped stuff)
1 lb ground beef (or sausage)
1 large onion chopped
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
a bunch of diced garlic
1 large jar marinara sauce (about 32 ounces - I tried to use a regular 24 oz jar but this wasn't enough - you definitely need the 32 oz jar)
a bunch of shredded cheese (recipe says mozzarella, we used parmesan)
1 cup ricotta cheese (I used 1 pkg cream cheese)
Instructions
1. Cook the pasta
2. While you're waiting for the pasta to cook, cook the ground beef & drain off the fat.
3. Add the chopped onion and saute for a little bit, letting the onion get soft
4. Dump in a bunch of Italian seasoning, the garlic and the marinara sauce to the meat. Bring it all to a simmer.
5. Put about half or 2/3 the sauce into a casserole dish and add the cooked pasta. Stir it all together. Add dollops (ricotta) or little pieces (cream cheese) to the casserole dish.
6. Pour the rest of the sauce into the casserole dish, sprinkle shredded cheese over everything, and cover with foil.
7. Put in the fridge and save for later, or put it into the oven at 350 and bake until the cheese is melted and the top is slightly browned.
8. If warming up after it's been in the fridge, it takes about 40 minutes at 350. Take the foil off halfway through.
Note for next time - make this 1 large batch, then split it in half into 2 square pans, freeze one, make the other for today.
Why we love it
Easy to make, easy to make AHEAD, warm and gooey and LOTS of leftovers for the next day
Right now, we're in the middle of something I never could have predicted, who would think that disaster would strike, sneak up on you and you can't even see it? I saw it starting in China - an entire city shut down, then an entire region and an entire country. News of a mystery virus in China that could not be stopped. How's it spreading? No answers and the ports in China started shutting down, no one in or out. America stopped travelers from China. I just kept saying, this is going to be so bad for their economy. It's going to be so bad. And then, of course, the virus, now known as COVID-19, started showing up elsewhere. One, two, three cases in the US. More in Italy. So many in Italy. Hospitals overwhelmed, people dying. Isn't it just another form of flu? How many people die of the flu in America every year? People are overreacting, aren't they?
In the meantime, Americans start to take notice of the rest of the world. People are panicking, what if it comes here and we get quarantined and will we have enough ___? The first question is Toilet Paper. And TP was the first thing to disappear from stores as everyone in the country started stockpiling - or hoarding? I don't know.
The numbers of cases in America are climbing and we look around the world to see other countries with their countless deaths and we start to panic. But we're probably overreacting, aren't we? The first I heard of it was December and three months later, Wisconsin's governor has ordered schools closed. My kids are staying home, no school. Try to do some "enrichment activities," read, take a walk or something. Of course I couldn't enforce any "do school stuff" rules because I'm not home, but the kids do their best to follow through. For one week they're home and I'm pretending everything's going to be fine. It's all normal, right? But when I go to the store there's almost no meat. No frozen veggies. Barely any canned foods left on the shelves. I've never seen this, I never imagined it could happen here in America, where there's SO MUCH FOOD. So much extra of everything all the time. Not now, it's picked over every time we go in. It's not because there's no food, but because the supply chain is not prepared for the big surge of an entire country "stocking up" (hoarding?) at the exact same time. We're all scared.
Last Monday Wisconsin's governor announced a Safer at Home order, telling everyone who possibly can to work from home, school work from home, just plain stay home. Restaurants are open for carry out only, all non-essential businesses are closed. Ads on TV are telling us how we can shop for cars from home and everything else you can imagine. Last week 6.6 million people filed for unemployment as businesses laid off employees because who can pay you when the stores are closed and you're not working? And now, I'm taken back to December when I heard about what was happening in China and I was concerned for their economy. Our economy is suffering as cities, counties, states are shutting everything down. Social Distancing has become the norm as we all attempt to stay home, stay away from other people and don't approach our neighbors for a friendly chat. We shout from one yard to the other or video call our friends because we can't get close to each other. Four, six, eight feet, keep your distance. Wash your hands 100 times a day. And stay out of the stores.
The news is only about COVID-19 and the army field hospitals that are being set up in Central Park, Seattle and elsewhere. There's not enough medical anything. Are we overreacting? Is there any TP or meat or CLEANING SUPPLIES at the grocery store today? Was it actually a good thing that I spent 2 months worth of grocery money to fill my freezer and cupboards to the brim with food? What if we really can't leave the house for four weeks and we don't have enough?
Anyway, here we are now. Watching the news for the latest numbers of people infected, people who have died and people who are laid off. I started working from home last Tuesday and have only been into a store twice since then. This week the school district announced their plans for us to start teaching our kids at home and so here we are today. Now I'm a work from home, homeschooling, disaster prepping mom. And we're doing the best we can.
Positives.
1. I now see all the wildlife that visits my yard every day, I sit at my computer with a view out to the patio and garden and see the bunnies and birds visiting daily. It's nice to appreciate the singing birds and blue skies right outside my window.
2. ALL the activities have been cancelled. Our calendars are 100% open. No Swing Choir, Judo, Chess Club, Scouts, Roller Skating, Dentist, Doctor, Anything. With the exception of Piano, which is done via video call and doesn't require that we leave the house.
3. Family dinners every night. Andy wow, we can cook. With no rushing to the next event, we're free to take our time and cook wholesome good food and eat it together, as a family. Wonderful.
4. Family Time. All the time, every minute of every day, here we are, together. Let's take a walk together, let's play a game together, let's watch tv together. It's pretty fantastic.
5. Connecting with more family in different ways. The kids are calling their grandparents and texting with their cousins more than ever before. It's wonderful to see those relationships stay strong, even as we have to physically stay away from everyone we know.
A week ago I wrote a very very long thing about the news and all that's happening. I kept it to myself, maybe I'll put it out there sometime but for now, I think it's best I keep my chaos to myself.
So, here's the shakedown. Schools closed on March 13 and my kids spent a week at home pretending it was an extra long spring break. They'd go back on April 6. A week later, the governor issued the "Safer at Home" order and everyone who could possibly stay home was stuck there. For a month. Ok, fine, I'll work from home. And here I am, working from home. Today the Stay Home instructions were extended through to May 26. So we'll all stay home a little longer.
Now, number one, I have to say, I am SO IMPRESSED with us. There have been NO major blowouts, meltdowns, freaking out about the world today. Of course we have our snippy moments here and there but SERIOUSLY. I have the awesomest family ever. The kids do some school work, take care of their chores, go for walks with me when I make them. David and I are taking turns cooking WONDERFUL meals now that we have time because we don't have All The Things every day of the week. These are such strange times but so very wonderful in a way that I couldn't have imagine - no going out? No visiting friends or going to the library? How's that going to be good? But we have Family Time. Every Minute of the Day Family Time.
So, here's a tiny little picture of Life Today.
My tea has been evicted from the cupboard and now sits shamefully in a paper bag on the floor in a corner. Make way for canned foods in the cupboard.
In addition to no room for tea, there's also apparently no room for soy sauce because I keep finding it in various cupboards. Someone finds it, puts it some other random place.
And best of all - my desk (a little folding table with just one monitor) sits between our dining room and living room, giving me a view of our backyard. I have discovered that my yard is very busy every day with visitors from all over the neighborhood. Even while we're stuck inside our cozy hide-away, the birds are venturing out of their nests, the bunnies (babies even!!) are exploring their world. Makes me smile every time I see someone new venture within sight.
Last night we broke the rules and went to HC because Bampa asked to borrow some tools and when it came down to it, none of the 5 of us could resist going for a drive. It was a very big deal. We were Road Tripping and singing songs on the way. It's like we were on our way to a big vacation! And we got there and I hugged my parents for the first time in month and it made my whole week better. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, I guess? I just needed to see my parents so much, it was the very best thing.
And so we continue on to do our everyday things while the world is all shut down and everyone's afraid of everyone else's germs. Here in our little fortress, we're doing just fine.
