The Covid Diaries --Day 1

Per assignment, I'm to take five pictures that demonstrate what my life looks like during this pandemic.  These photos are supposed to be interesting and representative of who I am. I'm not sure how interesting they will be because the days have been very similar and familiar for at least a few weeks now. I try to somewhat keep a schedule and some structure in order to break the days into more interesting pieces. I'm encouraging the kids to do the same thing because they tend to let the day get away from them too often.
Cooking and cleaning the kitchen three times a day sucks. And I love to cook, well, at least I used to. Gone are the days I tried a new recipe every evening. It's the same carb-loaded meals that the kids won't whine about (such a Debbie Downer!) So, with the whole diary, honesty thing, I'm letting the kids sleep in. I think they are thinking, why get up today? I'm cooking a late breakfast and making an early dinner.  There. Down to two meals and kitchen clean-up per day. They've eaten the snacks too fast to last for the next grocery trip so they are learning the term and meaning of 'rationing,' which is a word my mom used often during my childhood because we did not have extra money for tons of snacks and extra food to spontaneously invite friends over for dinner.

Dish washer runs twice a day instead of just once.

Multiple walks a day to get out of the house.

After breakfast we have to move! I'm running now more than ever because of the need to get out of the house. My 10 year old has movement issues, as in, he doesn't want to move his body off the couch, so he and I take walks around the neighborhood or he rides his bike down to a park and back. He's no longer allowed to play at the park or with his friends. It's difficult because he can see other kids in the neighborhood still playing together and we decided that was a risk. I'm feeling terrible for my kids. They are 10 and 13 and their friends are their world. I was the same way at that age. In fact all throughout my childhood I only wanted to play with and see my friends. I'm sure this quarantine is much harder on them than it is on us.

Jason bikes to this wonderful park in our neighborhood.

My husband works from home when he's not traveling and he's definitely not traveling. I'm a realtor and have only showed one vacant house since the quarantine and most of my clients are waiting to move. I'm using my work time to catch up on continuing education and planning for a busy summer and rest of the year. It's great I have that to focus on. The kids have student resources available to them through their school district. The activities are voluntary at this time. They take the rest of the morning or early afternoon to get in some math practice and reading.

Working from home looks like no shower, no makeup, large bags for me!

Dining table is for puzzling and school work.

Mid-afternoon has been the most difficult time of the day for me. I'm tired of reading and I already exercised. I've found it helpful to call a friend or parent just to talk which is very spirit-lifting. I'm dying to go to a happy hour and I've never really did that much prior to the stay-at-home order. The fact that I can't see my friends makes me want to have more meet-ups for coffee and come over to my house for back-porch drinking. When this passes, there will only be better perspectives.
Dinner time gives me a second wind while getting out the cutting board and chef knife. Maybe I'll even pour a glass of wine and I think about the rest of my family that I can't see. Dinner has been eerily quiet. I guess everyone thinks they don't have a 'day' to talk about. I wonder what everyone is thinking, but I'm just kinda dozing off into space myself. It could be so much worse. We've spent time counting our blessings and feeling grateful for what we have.
We try to agree on a movie to watch in the evening. I'm the only female so I'm always outnumbered by Marvel, another episode of The Office or another episode of the Simpsons. After about a half hour into whatever we're watching, one by one, people start disappearing from the family room to go text a friend, finished up some work, or get into the shower and I'm left with the remote I don't want because I'm scrolling through Facebook looking at all the funny memes about The Rona.