Week 3: I’ve reached the one and only time I’ve been disappointed we didn’t have chickens. I never thought the day would come y’all. But when we placed our grocery order last week, Walmart was completely out of eggs. We still had a few, but when you’re trying to avoid the store as long as possible, I really wanted to restock. I was able to meal plan around the absence of eggs without any problem – I just had to make sure I kept enough of what we have left for Aubrey’s birthday treat this week. Our neighbor used to give us his chicken eggs, even before we had our own. But ever since the few duck eggs got mixed in and made Jon VIOLENTLY ill, he’s a little gun shy about accepting any neighborly offers. Pansy. SO, we’re left with a limited supply of eggs. Things could certainly be worse. And hey, the chickens still serve a purpose – in times like these I sure am grateful to have a freezer full of meat.
In the midst of the 3rd week, I found myself really leaning on this attitude of gratefulness. Sure, we’re stuck at home, but things could be worse. Fortunately, although Jon’s agricultural job is considered essential, he is able to work entirely from home. We’re not juggling two demanding careers that are suddenly managed from a home office, and homeschooling kids. Unprecedented, inconvenient, all the things this new situation makes us feel, we are not stuck at home. We are safe at home. This week I truly felt like as much of an adjustment as this is, as much as we want this all to be over – it can go on as long as necessary if it means that we are safe. We’re not risking daily exposure like those in the medical field, or those packing our groceries. Lord, I honestly never thought I’d fear going to the freaking grocery store. It took me TWO HOURS to get groceries this week. Without a toddler. Without a baby. Without ENTERING the store. TWO HOURS because I drove to the store, they were loaded into my car – never getting closer than the entire length of my vehicle (and still I wore a mask), drove home, sterilized the groceries in the garage, washed all the fruit in soapy water, deposited my clothes directly into the washer, and took a shower. TWO HOURS. And I’m not going to lie: I was a little terrified doing it.
The governor announced this week that K-12 in person instruction is canceled for the remainder of the school year. While the district and our wonderful teachers work to set up e-learning, my teacher planner arrived. If you read my post last week, you know I’ve never longed to be a homeschool parent. Ironically though, growing up, I did think I wanted to be a teacher one day. One of my biggest fears is being humiliated because I don’t know something – i.e. looking stupid. And although at times witty, I don’t consider myself someone who thinks well on her feet. I prefer to have all the information and have time to process and analyze a question before deciding what the right answer is. Both of these factors contributed to my not being a teacher (or a lawyer for that matter). Well, joke’s on me. I do however love planners, and my new teacher planner is no exception. So I guess that helps – it’s the little things, right?
Speaking of planners, looking at mine this week made me a little sad. We had SO MANY April plans. A two week extended spring break to share with my parents and nieces. A bachelorette party I planned for 20 people in Chicago. Both of the girls’ birthdays. The pages were filled with gold washi tape – it was so pretty. But we can make this month pretty in our own way. We’re going to plan not one but probably two pretty awesome zoom birthday parties, pretty up the house (goodbye scuff marks and things out of place), and most of all be pretty grateful - for our health and for this time together.
Honestly the world right now feels a little like the twilight zone. And a word of advice: if you don’t want to exacerbate those feelings – don’t watch Tiger King. That shitshow is like a twilight zone inside a twilight zone. And also a train wreck - you can’t look away! Is this real life? Do people actually live this way? Well we may be in quarantine y’all, but at least we’re not Carole Baskin’s first husband. Because she definitely fed that guy to the tigers.
Noteworthy mentions
Having 6 people all home at once means I must also feed 6 people all day. Not only is that twice as many people as I’m used to for lunch, but – SNACKS! Thankfully grandma could make a social distance snack delivery or the minions would be wasting away by now.
Although we swore she was way too little – Aubrey hopped right on a two-wheel bike this week without missing a beat. The very next day on our family ride, she kept making us go further and further, and we rode FOUR miles. Quarantine doesn’t slow that girl down!