I never thought the quarantine life would be for me, but I was wrong. I lived my best life during quarantine! It was so refreshing not to have any commitments other than work. I loved working from home. Luckily, we have a fourth bedroom that is used as my scrapbook room with the computer already in it. It was nice not to have to rush to be to a game or track meet or family dinner every night. The quarantine forced us to slow down and just be. It was also a nice change not to have to get completely ready (hair and makeup) each day. 90% of the time, I don’t leave the house without make up. During the quarantine, I only wore make up a handful of times. It was nice to give my face (and pores) a break! We quarantined with my parents because they live next door and we are basically one household. If we are not at their house, they are at ours. They spent a lot of time with us because they were unable to see any other family or friends.
We watched a lot of Netflix shows that had been on our to do list for years. We watched the entire Breaking Bad series in a two-week period. Jake had been begging us to watch it and once we started, we could not stop! We haven’t begun Better Call Saul, that’s next on our binge list. The kids worked on their school work for a little bit each morning. Like, the bare minimum required! Jake practiced his guitar that he bought for a guitar class at CSN. Mackenzie downloaded Minecraft and played with her friends. She was really upset that we wouldn’t let her go out. Her friends continued to hang out and she couldn’t understand why we wouldn’t let her. Not knowing enough about this virus other that it attacked the respiratory system freaked us out. We didn’t know how well (or even if) she would recover if she got it. We took walks as a family. I honestly can’t remember the last time we did this. On these walks we discussed getting another dog (which we did, but that deserves an entirely separate post!).
Mike did a few side jobs (he’s a painter) and also completed some small projects around our house, but ended up getting real bored real quick with the gyms closed down. He searched high and low for equipment to use at home. He found a few dumbbells online. He also ended up buying two bonsai trees to keep himself busy with. I scrapbooked and got all of our albums caught up. I reorganized a few things around the house. I finally had the time to look into and open an Etsy shop! It’s something I have been wanting to do forever but never found the time. It’s been fun creating things to add to it. I don’t have a specific niche. It is truly a little bit of everything! I am constantly finding new things to make and add! I also found HB Pilates through a friend at work. It’s a Pilates studio in Huntington Beach, CA that was shut down along with everything else. The owner and instructors started recording Pilates classes on Zoom and playing them for free. It gave me something to schedule each day and I loved it. My endocrinologist kept telling me to try yoga, which I did but I have lost all flexibility and just felt awful about myself during yoga. The classes from HB Pilates were doable and made me feel strong and capable. I was also able to focus and strengthen friendships. I texted close friends regularly and met up for socially distanced lunch dates.
Don’t be mistaken. Our quarantine time has not been all sunshine and rainbows. In fact, the day these pictures were taken, we fought like cats and dogs! Mike didn’t want to take pictures in front of the house because he was afraid of the people driving by thinking we were making fun of the quarantine and would do something to our house. He wanted to take the pictures in the backyard. Mackenzie was terrified that someone from her school would drive by and see her, take a picture, and post it. Everyone complained about the masks being ugly and too hot to wear. I was ready to kill all three of them by the time my mom came over to take the outdoor picture! She could feel the tension and left right after she took the picture. We went inside, put all of the props away, continued to argue and all went to our separate corners to cool off. We took the inside pictures hours later!
For fun, we have been saying the word “quarantine” in front of everything. Okay, I have been saying quarantine in front of everything. It’s not mac & cheese, it’s now quarantine mac & cheese. Mike and the kids are over it, but I continue to say it to annoy them! What have you been doing to entertain yourself during this time? I would love to get some new ideas!