Quarantine Chronicles - Part 1

Many times in the last few months, I have thought about blogging to share stuff that has been going on over here.  Then, I would stop myself and think....who cares about what is going on in my world....besides me?!?

I have not changed my mind about that, but I still feel compelled to commit a few things to paper (you know what I mean) even if it is just for my own sake and to help me remember.

We had a few birthdays.

We had FANTASTIC trip to Minnesota in February.  The girls and I went and played tourist because I had come to the realization that only A-girl and L-girl had vague memories of Minnesota.  And really, their memories were scattered and mostly things like remembering when we had to go shovel the end of the driveway so Rainman could get home from work....only to have the snowplow go by and us having to do it all over again.  Not exactly stellar, heartfelt memories of my home state.

We stayed with my mom, but we tried to do different vacation-type things most days.  I had to laugh because when we got to Minnesota, we grabbed a bite to eat  at  Pannekoeken Huis and then headed to the famous Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.  We got out of the car and one of the girls said, "Man, I was hoping for some real cold weather while we were here."  I would say about 5 minutes or less....later....she turned to me and said, "Nevermind.  I take it back.  This kind of hurts."  LOL  Yup.  Even I, who have lived through many a year with wind chills in the negatives had become a bit of a pansy.  It was like -11 wind chill that day.  My face hurt.  My lips didn't really want to work and form words.  But, underneath it all, it was kind of refreshing.  I do have a lot of Norwegian blood running through my veins.  LOL

We went to a live taping of a local T.V. show, we went to Benihana, we did this super cool Game Show Battle Thingie.  It was just fun.  Stress free.  I even remembered how to drive in snow and ice - yay me!

Then we came home and the world began to change.

Public school kids came home....and my extra little bonus buddy got to stay home with his mom (special ed. teacher) and not hang out with us. I miss him.

College girl came home.

College boy worked at the dorm - so he quarantined by himself when he wasn't working shifts while everyone moved out of the dorms.

Then, college boy came home (and brought home a dog that he had fostered during the quarantine so he wouldn't be alone.)

Eventually, even Rainman was working from home.

I now have a full house with 9 humans, 4 dogs, and 1 cat living here full-time....and I don't hate it.

I have been cooking and baking.  We sit down to eat dinner together almost every night - because nobody has to run out the door to work, sports, church, etc.

I would say the majority of us LOVE the new routine of eating together.

A-man looked at me one night when I called him to dinner and said, "Mom!  Are we eating together in the dining room again?!?  Ugh....Why?  Nobody really does that anymore.  It is weird."

LOL!  Yes, we force that poor teenage boy to dine with us.  We are just those kinds of tyrants.

There really is a lot that I have loved from this weird time in our lives.

I love the unhurried days.

I love the togetherness.....it feels like our lives when I homeschooled all of the kids.

I love having time to feed my family.

I love our on-line exercise classes.

I love our bonfires or the nights we all just sit around on the deck and visit and joke around.

Daily life has not really changed for those of us that were already home-schooling....other than there are a lot more siblings around to help (or distract) us during the day.

What do I miss?

Going out to eat and going to church (which is also where I was able to see my friends).  That is pretty much it.

It is funny (or not) how different Rainman and I are.  I am hoping to retain most of our new normal once the quarantine rules expire.  He wants to jump back into our old lives of running around, sports, lessons, etc.  He is ready to take off as soon as the restrictions are lifted.  Opposites certainly attract (and eventually annoy).

I am going to try to post more and at least document this time of our lives for myself.  I am also planning a post on what "our" typical homeschool day looks like - just in case anyone happens to be interested.

In the meantime, stay safe.  Wash your hands.