Day 26

It's a Thursday!  Today was a nice day.  Glenn and I both made quick trips to the office. We were both busy with work projects and the kids had more school to do than the day before.  Will had a big Spanish assignment on the vocab for breakfast foods.  He had to fill out a worksheet about what he likes to eat for breakfast, when he likes to eat breakfast, who he likes to eat breakfast with... I was sitting by him and he grumbled, "why does my teacher need to know this, is she stalking me?"  We both cracked up thinking about waking up tomorrow morning to a breakfast basket on our front porch with all of Will's favorite items, tocino, huevos and jugo de naranja.  Reina tackled math with more enthusiasm and less screaming than yesterday so that was a nice change of pace.  She also spent most of the afternoon outside in the backyard with a game that involved a sword, the garden hoe, leaves and stems from the garden and the chickens.  I know she misses her friends and playing at recess but I was proud of her for letting her imagination keep her entertained for a while.

Not much else to report today.  I listened to the Maundy Thursday service while I was making dinner.  Glenn and I took the dogs on a walk after dinner and talked about how hard everything is right now, but that there are definitely moments to hold on to, like the fact that we can go for a walk on a pretty Spring evening and not be driving kids all over town or working late or all of the other things that take up our time.  So there's my silver lining for today.  An after-dinner walk before the snow hits. 

Day 25

I'm too tired for paragraphs tonight so here's the day in list form again.

Wake up earlier than normal to get a jog in while watching old mystery shows from the treadmill.
Drop off Charlie at the vet to get tutored.
Stop by the gas station to fuel up and also get donuts for breakfast.
Join a work conf call, help with math homework, help with science homework, help with Spanish homework.
Open windows because it's nice outside.  Realize that the house is short one cat who escaped her tent outside.  Give her a few minutes of freedom before calling her name a few times and watching her race up to me like "oops I'm outside!)
Work through lunch.
Listen to Governor's press conference on COVID-19, still no shelter in place requirement.
Decide to take rest of afternoon off because of too many errands and need time to spend with kiddos.
Place an online grocery order and cross fingers that most of it will be filled.
Pick up a to-go order from Target for Vicky and make conscious decision to not pilfer her Easter candy purchases.  Take Reina with me so she can get out of the house without leaving the car.  Listen to the Hamilton soundtrack which is her new jam.
Pick up Charlie from vet and he's made it through his surgery without biting anyone.
Drop off Target purchases at Vicky's.
Come home and snuggle Charlie.
Have a virtual piano lesson for both me and Reina.  We hadn't had a lesson in almost a month so it was good to get more instruction even though we've been practicing more than usual. 
Get notification that grocery order is done and mostly filled (they had parmesan cheese - yah!). 
Pick up groceries in the parking lot while Glenn makes a quick trip inside the store to grab stuff we forgot.
Come home and eat grocery store sushi for dinner.  YUM.
Quick walk with dogs.
Mask-making.
Quick blogging.
Earlier than usual bedtime because = tired. 

Today's silver lining that despite all of the stress and homework temper tantrums and could-this-house-get-any-messier-in-two-days, hearing my girl sing "what's your name man?  Alexander Hamilton!" is a lovely part of any afternoon. 

Day 24

Day 24.  Is that right?  I'm pretty sure it's a Tuesday.  Is this what retirement feels like?  Without all of the homeschooling?  Today was a decent day.  The mornings are always the most stressful part of the day, which is a change from life before March 2020.  These days, Glenn and I usually have some work to catch up on first thing and I have an 8:30 a.m. conference call every day.  Will likes to get an early start on his school work and Reina prefers a more leisurely approach to the day. But we got everybody moving and grooving and by lunchtime, the kids were done with school stuff.  Glenn and I can stretch out at the dining room table and crank out an afternoon of work. 

It was sunny today but pretty windy.  The weather is nice for a few more days and then we have some snow predicted over Easter weekend.  Frankly, it's not Easter in Wyoming if you aren't wearing snowboots with your finery.

Glenn and I co-cooked a chicken parm dinner.  We played some family four-square and the game ended without anyone storming off the court. I worked on more masks.  Will texted with a girl (wait, what?) and everyone is in bed at a decent time. 

Reina had another first communion class over Zoom today and it's fun to listen in on their discussions with the pastor.  The juxtaposition of Holy Week and quarantine and hard times and the Good News is really interesting (bittersweet? ironic?) but I'm so thankful that when we can't go to church, church can come to us at the dining room table.  There's our silver lining for the day. 

Day 23

I took another weekend break because for the first time in several weeks, it actually felt like a real weekend.  Not because we were running kids to sports and loitering in Target but because we stayed busy all day, both days!  Glenn decide to embrace the warmer weather by cleaning out the big shed we have in the backyard. The shed stores everything from goose decoys to Glenn's textbooks from college.  It was due for a cleaning.  I didn't take before and after pictures because that would've been too easy but we ended up with about 20 empty totes and 2 trips to Goodwill and a couple of things given away from the front lawn.  But the giant project is done and the shed is so clean that people could live in there, which might happen if the quarantine continues.... "where's mom?"  "oh she lives in the shed now."

Today was the first day of online school for Will.  Reina's starts in earnest tomorrow.  It was a slightly rough start getting all of the technology figured out but I think it's going to work pretty well.  Will has a bunch of assignments that are due by the end of the week so he can pace himself to get everything done.  I'm trying to stick to a plan that has them doing academics, exercise and piano in the morning and then afternoons are free time.  That will work as long as the weather cooperates with me.


Yesterday, Reina and I participated in a Zoom call with her first communion class and I watched the sermon online.  It's so strange to be watching Holy Week over the computer but it's what must be done.  Wyoming has 210 cases today.  Still no deaths.

Day 20

Today was a better day.  Whether it was the sunshine (but cold air!) or just a Friday feel in general, the world seemed easier to bear today.  I took the afternoon off to make masks and jam and hang out with the kids. Only one and a half of those things actually happened.  I made a start on some masks and Reina and I took the dogs for a long walk.  Jam making is planned for Saturday.   I also left the house for a trip to the office and then grocery store and Target pickups.  I even went through the drive through at McDonald's and had a sprite and burger in silence (don't tell the kids.  Or Glenn.) 

Tonight Glenn and I teamed up to make dinner.  Glenn roasted some artichokes and they were pretty tasty.  We also had salmon and rice.  This is what this blog is coming to, a detailed reporting of our dinners.  Pictures next?

We got an email from Will's school and his studies start in earnest on Monday. I talked to the kids about having to devote more time to schoolwork and they were surprisingly amenable to the idea. I think even they are craving some normalcy.... as normal as mom teaching you math can be.  I think the person suffering the most from all of this quarantining is our Reina.  On our walks, she talks and talks and talks.  I think she misses friends to talk to during the day.  Here's my silver lining for the day, my knowledge of cool dances and topics of interest to 5th graders is soaring. 

We are back to our staying-at-home-as-much-as-possible routine this weekend.  Wyoming has something like 166 cases tonight, no deaths still. It's supposed to be 63 degrees on Sunday.  Bring it on.

Day 19

Not gonna lie, this was a rougher day folks.  I can't really pinpoint anything specific.  Glenn and I worked a bunch - he even headed to the office for a while.  The kids were pretty good at keeping themselves entertained.  The temperature was really chilly, it was only 11 when I woke up this morning, and it spit snow on and off all day.  By 5:00, I was done with all of it. I had a quick little pity party, Glenn offered to make dinner so I took the dogs for a brisk walk. I think I just needed a little dose of Vitamin D.  I came home refreshed and I'm ready to tackle the rest of the week.

Today, Reina made some pumpkin bread almost completely by herself.  She's really getting the hang of baking and other than a few corrections like 'tablespoon or teaspoon' and baking soda vs baking powder, she's doing great.  Will's daily Madden games are my sports fix for the day and sometimes he doesn't let me watch in case I jinx the outcome. 

It's hard to think that tomorrow is two weeks since I started working from home and Monday will be three weeks since the kids went to school.  It sounds like we are all in this for the long haul.  For today's silver lining, I'll be thankful for how my kiddos are adjusting and know that we can get through this, however long it takes.

Day 18

Last night as I was drifting off to sleep, I realized that I forgot to blog about Day 17.  I was too comfy to get up and write something real quick, so just assume that Day 17 was uneventful.  Kids were chill, weather was nice, we walked the dogs, we played four-square, we worked.  It was a Tuesday.  Day 18 was good, too.  The weather is changing ahead of a couple of inches of snow forecasted for tomorrow.  Reina and I took the dogs for a chilly walk in the field and we played a short game of four- square when we got home.  Will and I had old football and baseball games on the tv and Reina has been redesigning dress-up clothes in between screen time. 

Reina's school had a parade today with all of the teachers driving around the neighborhood.  It was so fun to see familiar faces and we waved and cheered.  It was a nice break from our regular Wednesday. 

We decided to do takeout for dinner tonight and Glenn chose Panera.  He and drove across town together and sat in the car for a few minutes while we waited for them to bring it out.  That's what passes for a date these days. 

Today's silver lining was watching the dogs race around the prairie in the chilly wind and knowing that they are just happy that we have time to do stuff like that on a Wednesday night. 

Wyoming has something like 139 cases tonight.  No deaths.  I'm off to make more masks.  I don't want it to sound martyr-ish because I'm really having fun making them.  My sewing machine skills are slowly improving and I've bought enough cutting tools and one of those boards to cut on and this thing that makes binding easier and fabric, fabric, fabric that I'm probably going to have to make a quilt when this is all done.