Ok, let’s try this again.

I spent some time yesterday writing a post and when I started adding some images, my iPad froze and the post disappeared. (Learning my lesson and writing it out in a Google Doc first.) So here I am, trying to get my thoughts out once again.

This really is just a bit of a ramble about how I/we are doing during this crazy time in our lives.

Ally and I just got out of a “Moving up to Middle School” Zoom meeting and if that doesn’t tell you how different things are these days then I don’t know what will. :)

3 ½ weeks.

That’s how long we’ve been home from work and school. For the first two weeks we didn’t have a routine at all. It was Spring Break after all. We slept in. We cooked. We baked. We ate. We swam. We did yoga. We biked. We walked the dog. We watched movies and TV. We did things we enjoyed without leaving home other than to go to the grocery store.

Let’s just say, grocery shopping, never a favorite before quarantine, is definitely not something I relish doing these days. The last time I went to the store, I came home an anxious wreck. People don’t seem to care about following the social distancing rules/guidelines and it freaks me out a bit. I’ve never been one to worry too much about getting sick and I’m the type of person that powers through most illnesses. This seems different, I worry about myself, my family, getting other people sick and not knowing it. It definitely doesn’t help if I watch the news too much. I try to take in just enough to stay informed and then have to turn it off or stop reading. Otherwise, my mind will just go in directions it shouldn’t and I start worrying and getting anxious. Which helps no one, least of all myself.

Since I can’t do my job from home, I’ve been working on little projects around the house, like cleaning out my closet, cleaning out and redoing Ally’s room, getting the garage organized, taking care of all the pets and their housing, giving Audrey a much needed bath; all those things that I never seem to have the time for when I’m at work.

In some ways it feels like I’m back to being a stay at home mom and truthfully, I don’t mind. I love having all my duckies under one roof, having family dinner every night, having the occasional family movie night and just spending time together. Ash and I do yoga together and go for walks or bike rides when the weather allows. Conner walks the dog with me from time to time and Ally will just sit near me and draw or play video games.

We are definitely lucky to have plenty of room to spread out and move around in. The weather has been glorious here in South Florida so we spent a lot of time outside, at least I do. The covered part of the pool deck is my outdoor living room. My happy place. Doing yoga in the shade under a swaying palm tree, with the pool fountains as a soothing backdrop, is a wonderful way to destress.

The girls started distance learning last week and it seems to be working well for them. Our school has done a wonderful job of implementing a distance learning program. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, the girls work independently, with work assigned by their teachers and lessons taught through power points, google slides and videos. On Tuesday and Thursday, they have live online classes through Google Meet with each of their teachers. The schedule is a bit adjusted from a regular school day but they get to go over assignments, ask questions and see their teachers and classmates.

I have marveled more than once about how lucky we are to have all this technology available to us to be able to do all these things and be able to stay in touch with our family and friends.

It gives me pause to think that people all over the world are going through the same thing we are. I speak to my sister in Germany and things are the same, I check in with old blog friends and my Instagram community and people far and wide are dealing with the same thing. We are all stuck at home, taking things day by day, and making the best of this strange time in our lives.