Hello from the other side (of your computer/phone/iPad screen). A new week is upon us!

If you’re like me, you maaaay be spending more time than usual checking the news or social media just to stay informed and also to keep that churning brick of anxiety really roiling in your guts with fierce abandon. I hope to write on this old, dusty blog every now and again during this challenging season of self-isolation in an effort both to keep myself sane, and also to maybe give you a break from the scary news on your feed.

How have you been? Settling in, or is the cabin fever just really starting to hit? I hope you are feeling supported and surrounded and hopeful, and with what you need to weather the storm ahead.

This made me lol:

I think one of the things that has brought me the most stress (aside from vividly picturing everyone I know and love dying in overcrowded makeshift hospital hallways) is having to discern how much caution to take or not to take in a given situation. We are taking our self-isolation very seriously and are living out a shelter-in-place approach, except for going out to get groceries. But not everyone is taking the same steps and sometimes it feels like this:

(That’s me there on the right.)

It maybe feels like overkill to wear a hazmat suit to the grocery store. BUT MAYBE NOT!

The days have been passing fairly quickly and I think it’s because of ALL THE COOKING. And the cleaning. I feel like I went from a busy career woman to a freaking pioneer in, like, a day and a half.

It’s just been a little jarring, that’s all.

In attempting to work through the pantry and try to use up things that are almost (or have recently, let’s be honest) expired, I have added the following to our menu:

Date squares. They were ok. I wanted a really rich, buttery crumb on top and this was decent. It would have been better if I hadn’t forgotten the OATS! I blame my quarantine brain. Turns out it takes up a lot of mental space to wrap your head around a pandemic.

These pork chops. I unearthed a freezer-scalded package of the meat and tried to redeem them as best I could. Not really anything to write home about. Desperate times.

If you want true meal inspiration, I would highly recommend Jenny’s (from Dinner: A Love Story) series called Project Pantry Purpose where it’s part meal planning, part online journal, part ray of hope. She’s great.

At the start of each new day I tend to think of grandiose possibilities we could conquer while in quarantine, but then before I know it, it’s lunch time, and then it’s dinner and then it’s time for bed. It’s all just been a bit of a blur. I am showing myself grace through this experience, though. Lowering the bar and finding the wins where I can. We still aren’t putting any pressure on the kids or ourselves to get them into homeschooling mode and that’s working for us. I think we will re-evaluate come April. If anything, there are just so many resources that it’s overwhelming to know where to even start.

(Laptop learning hour has been enthusiastically embraced. Kids have been using Duolingo, Poptropica and Sumdog. Any other recommendations?)

Speaking of resources, here’s the best video I found about how to wash your hands properly:

STAY HOME! Seriously! And stay TWO METRES away from people who don’t live in your house!

Stay healthy, call a friend, lower the bar, flatten the curve!