Is everyone doing okay?
How are you doing?
How have you been sleeping?
How long have you been in self quarantine?
What are the quarantine rules where you’re from?
I seems like every state in the US has something different going on. I wish we’d just go into full lockdown in the US for 3 weeks instead of this slow drip drip drip. I think we just started our ‘lockdown’ today until April 30th. Some states are on lockdown through June. We’ve had non-essential services closed for a week now and schools moved to distance learning since Spring Break. It feels longer to be honest. I ran in and got my nails done about 2 weeks ago before all the non-essential businesses were required to shutdown. Left my nail tech (who is also the salon owner) a large tip because this is going to be rough time for them until August when the students are allowed to come back to campus. That’s assuming they’re allowed to come back to campus for the Fall semester.
Daily view out my office window 
What I cross everday heading into work
The University closed to visitors on Monday (March 30) and students were even told to stay at home following Spring Break. It was crazy to see students literally moving out. Fridges and televisions were getting put in cars. We’re on full on online course load through the rest of the spring semester. As a result lunchtime is bare of traffic as people are eating in their offices more. Even the evening commute, which is normally a 15 craze of fast traffic, isn’t really stressful. After seeing the images and some of the videos coming out of Florida I was livid. I had my Spring Break in Florida my Senior year and it really wasn’t that big of a deal for me. Expensive, hungover, dirty, and I just felt like garbage when I was done. It just wasn’t a big deal for me, but I’m also not the party person. I wish I would’ve gone elsewhere to be honest to spend my Spring Break. But yes I would’ve gone somewhere in my time. But we also we’re in the middle of a pandemic when I was a senior which was really not that long ago.
I’m still going to work everyday. I work in a small office off the main campus with two other people and a couple of technicians who work 50% here and are 50% at home. Our office staff is all on work from home since they’re mostly considered non-essential and therefore don’t have to go to the office itself. Since I work as a consultant to an essential industry I am therefore considered an essential employee. I spend most of my day answering phone calls, consulting, or literally watching grass grow. My husband on the other hand is back to working in the home office. I spent all weekend last weekend cleaning out the home office out so we can get him moved in and not working on the coffee table anymore. His back has been horrible and I just can’t rub all the knots out when they reform the next day. In order to schedule a site visit he has to do jump through so many hoops. I’m, in large part, am not allowed to do site visits anymore. In-state travel has been suspended indefinitely for me. But that’s the difference between private industry and working on federal and state contracts.
Home Improvement stores are making a killing right now. Our local store was absolutely packed and everyone was OVER 60, the exact people who are ordered to stay at home in my state!!!!! Grocery stores, doctors, pharmacy, and home, THAT’S IT! I had to go get supplies and replacement parts to fix a piece of equipment we needed working ASAP. There were your normal group of contractors getting supplies for their businesses but that was maybe 10% of the people there. The rest were people doing ‘home improvement’ projects like closet organizers, one lady who just came in to walk around because she was bored, another who wanted to walk their dog (I’m not lying), and gardening projects abound. I understand the boredom. I want to get my garden going too. I have a boat load of home improvement we’ll be starting soon but we’re going to order it online and do curbside pickup or delivery if we can. Most places are doing free delivery in our area so really it won’t cost anymore and it keeps people safe.
There’s actually a paint shortage as people are painting their homes. We’re planning on putting in new hardwood flooring (we’ve been planning this for 2 years) and new paint for the bedroom and the home office. We need new vents for the master bathroom as well since the one the builders install doesn’t fit in hole that was cut. One of our vents is metal and started to rust. And who knows I might install a new set of cabinets because I absolutely hate the cabinet and sink set up we have in the master bath. I asked off for some PTO time and depending on what it looks like we may or may not do it. That or I’ll watch a bunch of C-dramas (Yanxi and Ruyi for the win!) and drink wine on my porch. Until then it’s just plan plan plan and then plan some more. I’ll probably end up planning my new house build in the meantime (Prairie Modern with a touch of traditional Japanese in the mix).
So now I’m spending my days working and weekends planning our house remodel, which is finally happening!!!!!!!!! And I’m cooking. Oh my gosh am I cooking. We bought a pig from a friend of ours who is a rancher and had it butchered, so we’re set on meat for awhile as are my parents and in-laws if they run out. So cooking is happening, inventive cooking is happening for sure. Braised oxtail anyone? Red Lentil Soup? Or perhaps lamb chops marinated in soy sauce, whochestershireshire sauce, and bourbon? Shopping has pretty much come to a stop but that doesn’t mean I don’t have $2000 worth of stuff chilling in shopping carts right now.
Because we’ve been cooking and eating out a lot less during lunch, I’ve lost weight and my husband actually commented how good he’s feeling. His stomach isn’t acting up as much and I have a surprising amount of energy and we haven’t been to the gym since everything started to shut down 2 or 3 weeks ago. We’re spending a lot more on grocery store bills BUT our general food bill has decreased by a couple hundred dollars this month.
Our weather over the last month has been HORRIBLE. It’s cloudy and depressing and we’ve had maybe 3 warm, sunny days over the last month. Tonight a massive cold front is suppose to move in leaving it rainy and cold for yet another weekend. It felt like I’d moved to Seattle it was that cloudy. It’s left this odd feeling of gloom and doom in the evenings. There’s no cars, no one out playing with their dogs or kids which on a nice night is normally happening around dusk.
I’ve been looking up how to spring clean my house and putting lists of tasks to do each weekend. Shopping is way more organized as well so we spend the least amount of time in store and make the fewest visits possible. My list is even organized by aisle. In general, we’re organized like crazy even free time so we stay entertained.
Now we’re going to start watching all the James Bond movies in chronological order between cleaning and organization tasks. So if you have a suggestion on the proper order to watch it let me know in the comments. We’re wanting to watch it chronologically (in story order) but none of the orders I’ve seen online start with Casino Royale. I don’t know.
Stay indoors, stay safe. The longer everyone stays indoors the quicker we can all come out of this self-quarantine.
