End of week 6, and we are still hunkering down. The quarantine continues, but we are making the best of it, as I am sure you have heard or said yourself. Life has been pretty good inside our bubble. We are watching much less news these days, unsure if that is good or bad. I think we have come to accept our situation for what it is, and the news wasn’t helping with the stress and anxiety of it all.
Mornings during Quarantine
My morning routine has changed a bit. I am still getting up early, but I am using the time to exercise. With the time change and the arrival of Spring, the mornings are lighter and warmer, so I can walk in the morning. I try to switch it up and add some yoga every other morning.
I have been attending a virtual yoga class on Zoom for the last five Saturday mornings. Our local brewery has offered free yoga classes on Saturday mornings at the bar for a few years. The yoga instructor sent a message out on Facebook to see if there was any interest in continuing the Saturday morning classes on Zoom. Fortunately, there was a great interest, so I rolled out my mat and joined my fellow yogis for class every Saturday morning. Zoom has an option to turn off your video, so you can see and not be seen, which is how I like to Vinyasa. 🙂
With my exercise complete first thing in the morning, I shower and dress for the day. Still not wearing any makeup. I haven’t worn any since my last day in the office on March 16th. I have put on mascara a time or two when venturing out to the grocery store, but that is the extent of it. Earlier this year, I changed drastically and darkened my hair to its original shade. The darker color has made the lack of a salon less noticeable, but the grey sparkles have made an appearance.
Working from Home During Quarantine
I am still working from home and will continue to do so through May. I have become quite accustomed to working from home. Working on a laptop makes my office mobile, so I can move from room to room if I need a scenery change. I like not having to fret over what outfit I will wear each day; I like being able to start dinner in the crockpot, being home with my husband, and having a window in the office versus staring at a cubicle wall. Lots of advantages to working at home, the list goes on. Having this fluffy chonk as a desk mate is certainly a plus.
Keeping in Touch during Quarantine
Video calls have become an important part of our routine over the last few weeks. Naturally, we use video calls for work and meetings, but we also use them to keep in touch with friends and family. On Saturday nights, my girlfriends and I have started using Zoom for a Virtual Happy Hour. The photography club I joined earlier this year used Zoom for our April meeting. My extended family and I used the video call feature on Facebook messenger to surprise my cousin on her birthday. We used Zoom for a 2-hour “reunion” with my in-laws. And we use Facetime to keep in touch with our daughter who lives out of town. The video calls aren’t the same as the face-to-face time, but it has really helped keep us connected.
Bingeworthy
We also participated in the national phenomenon that is the Tiger King. I started seeing all these memes on Facebook about the Tiger King and some lady name Carol. I like to be in on the joke, so I started watching the series on Netflix and watched all the episodes; and even convinced my family to join me in viewing a few episodes. Wow, who knew all that was going on out there in the private zoo communities?
We are also watching Community. My husband and I watched its first run and forgot how funny this show is. One Sunday afternoon, I put it on to have something on, and we got sucked back in. This is our son’s first viewing, and he was hooked after the first episode. We watch it together in the evenings when he isn’t studying or doing homework.
Happy Meals
I am still meal planning and cooking almost every night, except Fridays, which have become our take-out night. While I prepare meals and make desserts, I’ve been working on my camera skills by taking photos. Finding the right settings, lighting, and staging has been challenging, but I am learning and gaining patience. I’ve posted the finished projects on Pinterest and my website. Hopefully, when I look back in a year or even a few months, I will see some improvements in my skills. But if I don’t, that is ok too, because I enjoy experimenting with the camera.
Finding New Hobbies during Quarantine
I am enjoying this blogging thing too. I don’t consider myself a blogger, just a person adding nonsense to a website. Figuring out all this technical internet stuff on my own has been a real confidence booster. Considering I have no training with this jargon, I feel quite proud to learn it independently. Well, actually learning with the help of the internet.
I am still reading. I finally finished The Jungle. It was good and kept me interested, although it was dark and depressing. Towards the end, it became a little political, and I started to lose interest, but I stuck with it and finished it. Now I am reading The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn. It is a page-turner for sure; I was hooked on the first few pages. I can’t wait to see how this one turns out.
We are still tending to the honey bees. They are doing very well; at least, they appear to be doing well to this amateur beekeeper. They are making comb, coming and going from the hive, bringing in lots of pollen, and the queen bee is laying eggs. So far, so good.
Until Next Time….
We will be hunkering down for a few more weeks, so the zooming, blogging, reading, photography, and binge-watching will continue. My goal these next few weeks is to do a Tik Tok. Trivial, I know. I am a grown-ass woman; why would I want to do a Tik Tok on earth? I have no good answer for that. My daughter and I tried together a few weeks ago to learn the Carol Baskins/Savage dance. That did not go well. She couldn’t stop laughing at me, and I could not remember the moves for the life of me. Full disclosure, I have zero coordination and no rhythm. I will have to find something else to try that is more my speed. Check back in a few weeks to see if I was successful.
Take care and stay safe.
Quarantine Chronicles Part One
