These are odd times… We must probably paper it. ?
I bet lots of of us are doing a lot of the same things (Movie rentals? Zoom meetings? Taking walks outside? Going for drives? Waiting in long lines at Target and Trader Joe’s?). I’m curious, how do you spend your weekdays? Do you have any new family routines? What do you do on the weekends? What’s a normal shelter-in-place day like for you? let me know in the comments.
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Perhaps one day we’ll be able to look back at our answers and laugh about it… Hopefully. ?
Spotted this goldmine at Target just before the world shut down…
Here’s what it’s like at Casa de MBB on a normal weekday. I’ve been sheltering with El Hub, Connor and PGR (Pretty girl Rosie), who, collectively, are known as “the coworkers.”
A few of my coworkers
We maintain a strict schedule. It starts at 5:15 when El Hub gets up for work. His commute only takes a minute, because all he does is go downstairs to his computer in the dining room.
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I get up a few minutes later and go downstairs to get my coffee, make a bite to eat, and then I go back upstairs to my desk, where I check my email, glance at the news (yuck), fill out any paperwork or pay any bills (bluh), before I do my makeup or write a new blog post.
We’ve tried to keep Connor’s regular preschool schedule through all this to maintain some sense of normalcy for her, and that’s been great (but keeping a schedule also helps us too). Her day starts around 7:45 with breakfast (like an Eggo waffle with sliced strawberries, blackberries or blueberries, and maple syrup) and some quiet kicking back music (Spotify is great for this).
Connor’s (home) school starts immediately at 9 on the dot.
Structure helps my sanity, because without it my day devolves into meandering casually from a workout into a long walk around the neighborhood into baking cookies into the next thing into the next thing… before I know it, it’s dinner, and I haven’t gotten anything done, so structure is good for both me and Connor.
With our schedule, we all know what’s coming next, so there’s a rhythm to our day.
It also eases the load of enjoying Connor and trying to get work done. El Hub and I each have set hours where we enjoy Connor, and we pass her back and forth (kinda like a basketball, ha!), so that the other person can have blocks of uninterrupted time for work and to concentrate.
El Hub normally has her first in the morning, so he feeds breakfast, gets her dressed and does her hair…which has resulted in some crazy daddy hairstyles, ha ha ha! We’ve learned to just opt for it. ?
I can normally get a workout in during this time, which is a relatively new thing for me, but those early morning sweat sessions are, no joke, completely needed for my mood, and if I don’t exercise, I’m crabby for the rest of the day (El Hub would attest to this).
Why are cats so obsessed with yoga mats?
Heading off the crankiness has become a lot more challenging every day we’ve been cooped up, so I absolutely need help, and the workouts help.
I have until 9am to finish, clean up, eat and complete any writing or other tasks, and then I take over on Connor duty.
At 9, we start homeschool preschool, which I must be technically calling “crisis schooling,” because that’s what the preschool administrators call it. For a couple hours, we stay busy indoors. I help her with an art project or with a basic lesson (like numbers, colors, letters or shapes), and then we read books. Then, we’ll do some kind of tactile activity — normally making lunch, but often it’s baking or engineering (Play-Doh).
#stressbaking
Before lunch, we’ll go outside for an hour or so for some outdoor play. She’ll ride her bike, water the plants or do sidewalk chalk, and often we’ll take a walk. We try to emphasize the daily school theme during our time outside, so if the theme is spring flowers, we point out all of the flowers we find.
Outdoor art class
At noon, we all break for lunch in the living room, which is when El Hub takes over again. He’ll help her with her lunch and get her ready for rest time (otherwise known as “the golden hour!”), which is from 1 to 3, during which time Connor quietly reads, naps or plays in her room.
After rest time, the school day is mostly over. One or both of us will take Connor outside to play again, and then I’ll normally start dinner around 4. If I wait much later than that, I tend to get hungry and maybe a lot more than a little cranky…
Side note: I am SO sick OF MY own COOKING. I don’t mind making a meal, but we’ve generally been existing on the same three dishes for so long that I’m over it, and I miss how much better food tastes when someone else makes it for you!
A few nights ago, El Hub and I fell asleep providing all of the takeout food we wanted to eat (“honey walnut shrimp with vegetable chowmein; carnitas burritos with extra guac, sour cream and cheese; pad thai and yellow chicken curry…).
First thing I’m gonna do is get some ramen that somebody else made.
Anywho! After everyone’s fed, I’ll sneak in a few household chores, then take a shower, then prep for the next day.
After Connor goes to bed at 8, I’ll enjoy a little TV, then pass out between 9 and 10.
And then we get up the next day and do it over again!
The days are absolutely blending into each other…although Saturdays and Sundays are a bit looser, considering that there’s no “school” on those days.
It’s odd to not have something to “do” or to drive to on the weekends, right? We would normally treat ourselves to a motion picture or a dinner or a trip to the bookstore or window shopping at a mall, but now that we don’t have those, we end up doing things like sewing homemade masks or taking stock of the food in the pantry… Whee!
What has sheltering-in-place been like for you?
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Your friendly neighborhood appeal addict,
Karen
P.S. TGIF!
