How are we doing almost 7 weeks into our 'stay-at-home' as much as possible order? We're doing okay. Some days it's a dream, maybe even most days since I'm such a homebody. However, I feel like we're starting to have a few 'trying' days. As in, Adam offered to keep the kids last night so I could get takeout dinner and drive around all.by.myself! ha! In the past 45 days, I went to our local grocery store once, the dollar store once, my sisters garage once, for a car ride to Pella once, and then to Wal-Mart last night. Definitely a record, and I'm not even a people person!
The kids are really missing their friends and family. The newness of Mrs. Mom is wearing off and Zoom calls are taking over many evenings. Let's just say summer may come early for the Hubbard house! ;) It's getting more and more challenging to get my full time job done {from home} and keep the kids going with all their school. It wasn't as challenging for the month that Adam was laid off, but he's back to work again {praise God}.
All that to said, we really are enjoying many parts of this 'COVID-19 life'
7 Things Getting Us Through COVID-19 Here At Home...
+ Free nights! || The beginning of COVID brought many family movie nights {Blank Check, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Narnia, Onward, Sonic the Hedgehog, etc}, game nights, and puzzles. Now that our weather finally got the memo that it's Spring, we are spending so much time outside! Playing basketball, fishing, taking Ranger rides, riding bikes {Cullyn is now a confident 2 wheel rider!}, taking walks, etc. I was even able to teach Jordyn cribbage last week!
+ Home Improvements! || My mother in law and I managed to paint our cupboards and Adam added hardware. My mother in law and I also painted the elevator and added wallpaper. The latest project Adam and I did was refinishing the countertops. Now we just need COVID to end so we can get some electrical work done and add the backsplash. These little face-lifts have been so fun for me! We're taking a little breather, but we still have powerwashing and some landscaping on our Spring Cleaning List.
+ New Recipes || We don't eat out a ton normally, but we're cooking three meals a day at home right now, so I've been digging out our recipe books more than ever before. Every meal we've made from the Magnolia Table cookbook has been so good, so while I was having a pitty-party at Wal-Mart last night, I grabbed her new one. I'm super excited go through it and meal plan for next week! I've also been using this time to work through my recipe box - trying a recipe every night. I'm keeping the good ones and ditching the once we no longer love.
+ Book time || I have read/listened to over two dozen books since this started! I'm not sure if it's because only need 5 minutes to 'get ready' now that I'm working from home or that the days are getting longer, but I'm definitely not getting as much sleep as I was a couple months ago! I've also been able to spend so much time in the word, 30-90 minutes a day}, and I'm loving it! The kids have started reading out of their bible each day in addition to us reading together each night. Speaking of reading together, Adam has started reading Harry Potter to all of us and even though Harry Potter isn't my book of choice, it's been amazing to have something they we're all experiencing together for the first time. We're excited to finish book one and watch the movie together.
+ Workouts || For the first time ever, I'm doing an online workout program. After finishing the marathon last October, I didn't work out at all until the Coronavirus started. I really don't have an excuse not to workout right now. I've never had as much free time as I do now, so I'm trying to log into Beachbody and do the 21 day Fix as much as possible.
+ Special Nights || With no distinction between Monday or Saturday, we've fallen into a new rhythm. Mondays are game night, on Tuesdays we have Mexican food, Friday nights are for pizza, Saturday nights = takeout nights, Sunday evenings are popcorn and ice cream during our family movie. We're always looking for an excuse for a little celebrating. Right now we're looking forward to May Day tomorrow, Cinco de Mayo Tuesday, and Lola's Birthday at the end of the month. We started quarantine off letting the kids sleep on the couch in our room every Friday night and it morphed into about 5 nights a week, lol! I keep reminding myself {and Adam} that someday they will not want to sleep in their parents room. Right?! ;)
+ Community || It's been super fun to see the creative ways we've been able to stay connected through all this. We had such a fun virtual small group. Every Friday night or Saturday afternoon we've been having a happy hour with my whole family. Jordyn has had several Facebook Messenger video chats with her friends {and Aunt Alicia} where they all make friendship bracelets while chatting. The kids have been working on drawing with ArtHubForKids {& competing over Facetime with cousins} and typing with TypingClub.com. My Marco Polo app has been blowing up with my mom, sisters, and friends. Finding special ways to celebrate Cullyn's birthday was also memorable. Friends and family sent video messages that we mashed together to sing Happy Birthday, dozens of people stopped by to sign a huge chalk birthday card on the driveway, and of course he had people calling him all day. We have several friends with April birthdays, so we were able to participate it a drive by celebration. People are showing up in so many ways and it's been super fun to see. Online church has been a great experience, an option I've missed since we've moved to this little town. The whole family was excited for Drive-In Church on Easter. Our church is hosting another drive in this week and one next week for Mother's Day. We can't wait!
Not a positive, but also noteworthy, I managed to contract Shingles during this crisis. I can only assume it was triggered by the unknown from the Coronavirus and then Adam being furloughed. Luckily, it's on my leg and not on my face! It's a different kind of pain that I've ever experienced before, but I'm just thankful I didn't have to go to the hospital during this pandemic. Also noteworthy, the nursing home my grandma is in had it's first confirmed case of COVID-19 yesterday, so we've been praying extra for her and everyone that works or lives there.
Stay well friends!
