Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns
If you think Jesus would have come into your home that day and not issued a strong rebuke to the head of household, you are mistaken. These words of condemnation have been haunting me for days now. They aren’t all that different than the soundtrack I play in my head on an almost-daily basis. It’s…
I am nesting. On Saturday I emptied the refrigerator. Last summer’s homemade pickles in their jars. The bread ends that seem to multiply on every shelf. The eggs. The milk. The fruit and veggies. All of it sat on the floor or the counter as I carefully removed the shelves and wiped them down with…
I’ve heard that life is like a highway. And it definitely seems like that sometimes. The pace of life swirls around me at dizzying speeds. We’re all so busy. In such a hurry. Always somewhere to be, something else to do. I’m a get-to-the-point, get-there-quick kind of girl. I don’t like to waste time on…
Two weeks ago, our county moved to the yellow phase, which in our state still means we’re to take precautions but we’re not as limited to our homes, workplaces and essential errands. The transition hasn’t meant big changes for our family, and I’ve still been logging some of our activities just to remind myself how we spent these days.
Here’s a recap for you about what we’ve been up to.
Even though the official start of summer is a few days away, we’re in full summer mode here. As in, the kids don’t have any more school and we had to create a new routine to get us through these days so our brains didn’t melt from all the YouTube. I created a weekly checklist for the kids to complete. They each have a copy, and at the end of two weeks, they’ll get a reward of their choice. It’s going better than it was without the checklist but not always as great as I’d hoped. But they did help me clean the bathroom and weed the garden. We had our end-of-the-school-year dinner from Chipotle. We booked a cabin at a state park for later in July to take a short vacation because all of our previous vacation plans for the summer are not doable.
Things are growing! Including weeds! I have been out to weed the garden two or three times. We have speed mulch that we got free from someone’s yard that was mostly leaves and sticks and mulch that our neighbor who owns the business behind our house had his lawn company dump on our concrete slab. Phil built a trellis for our snap peas. I still worry that we put things in too late to have any chance at a good harvest this year. I transplanted two volunteer tomato plants. Two potato plants have popped above ground. It is consuming my time and attention and I’m not sorry.
Weekly, we’re trying to get out of the house and take a hike. Without going too far from home because of bathrooms and such. One week, we went to Lancaster County Central Park and did a loop path that took us past a creek, under a covered bridge and into the woods.
Another week, we walked a paved path next to the Conestoga River.
Both took us nearly an hour and sometimes the kids complain about it, and it’s always a monumental effort to get out of the house. Always worth it, though.
During normal summers, we like to take day trip adventures because summer is when we have more family time as the four of us. This year, we decided to still try to have virtual adventures. So, we listed a bunch of places we wanted to “see,” wrote them on slips of paper and pulled one out of a hat. Our first adventure was to The White House. We wanted to explore online and make some kind of food related to the adventure, so our daughter created a White House themed menu based on some of the favorite foods of presidents. We had garlic butter steak bites (inspired by William Howard Taft’s love of steak), leather britches (green beans with bacon inspired by Andrew Jackson, with a side of commentary about the pitfalls of his presidency) and the Kennedy family brownies. We watched Inside The White House on Amazon Prime. Our next adventure is Sydney, Australia.
Our son is back devouring the next Harry Potter book because he wants to earn the Lego Harry Potter video game. We placed a pickup order for the library.
We went to the school to pick up the kids’ things. They both saw their teachers. I also went to my school to pick up my personal things. And I cried the whole way home. My driver’s license expired during quarantine, and I was able to renew it online, but I still needed to get a new photo ID. All the PennDOT offices were closed until early June, and while I really wasn’t looking forward to venturing out, I did it and it wasn’t too bad. We also dropped off the library books we’d had for months. And Phil took our daughter to buy running shoes. He also returned our son’s lacrosse equipment.
I cut Phil’s hair one Sunday because it was getting too long for him to feel comfortable while working. I only do one style, though, so he’s rocking a new look that nobody hates.
The kids needed new clothes for summer, so we shopped online. When it came, everything but one pair of shorts fit and that was only because the store had sent us the wrong size. I may never shop with the kids in a store again. And a friend came over for a (no, really!) socially distanced visit on my porch. We attended a socially distant prayer meeting for racial justice with people from church. And for one stretch of 24 hours, both Phil and I were puking because of something we ate, we think. It was not a fun time for us. We’ve been taking almost nightly walks through the neighborhood. And a house in a nearby development caught on fire one night and we watched the smoke billow from our porch. It was close enough that the air around our house was thick with smoke.
Some of these as a family, sometimes just as adults. Lego Batman. Just Mercy. Anne With An E. Poldark. Good Omens. Good Mythical Morning. Ultimate Tag. The Titan Games. The Big Flower Fight. The Office.
I was sitting on the porch one night reading and there’s a bunny that hangs around our yard. It hopped around the yard and paused on the side porch. I got up to go in for a drink or something and saw that something was underneath the bunny. Then 3 baby bunnies hopped out from under our porch and a total of 4 babies were feeding from their mama. I ran inside and said, “Come quickly but quietly.” The kids were not interested but Phil and I stood in the kitchen and watched this happen for a while. Then the mama got spooked and the babies hung out in the yard and I wanted to know where they were staying, but eventually we decided to leave them alone and stop watching. It was marvelous.
And exercising. There’s been a lot of both. I’m working on a 90-mile challenge in 90 days, and I’m already a quarter of the way there. This is what that looks like.
So, what have you been up to?
No, the pandemic isn’t over, and no, life is not “back to normal,” but today, our county finally moves into a yellow phase. Our stay-at-home order is lifted and while we still have to take precautions when we leave the house, restrictions have eased. I will still be chronicling our days because we’re still living in unusual days, but maybe I won’t share them as often. Highlights, maybe, from here on out. So, what you have here is the final 9 days of our stay-at-home life. Thanks for reading along!
Day 75: I’m not sure I want to keep logging the days, but just like social distancing and wearing a mask, just because I don’t want to doesn’t mean it’s not a good idea. While our days are certainly not as busy as they could be if things were as they used to be, the lead-up to the end of school still feels jam-packed. Also, it’s humid and that makes me lethargic.
Phil’s phone is acting up, so that adds a new wrinkle into our lives. He took the car for inspection this morning. We’re living old school without phone connection between us. I think we’ll manage. I checked on the garden this morning, thinking it might need watering. Things look okay out there. I’ll water tonight after another hot day. The soil still looks damp, even after yesterday’s sunny day.
Highlights from this steamy day: Phil took the car for inspection. And went to the garden center to get more plants to round out our garden and herbs for the porch. My medication issue finally got sorted out, so I went to the doctor for an injection. I swung by a friend’s house to pick up some seed potatoes she had left over from her garden. Being out for errands is still a little weird. The mall parking lot was empty and traffic was light in a usually heavy traffic area.
When I got home from the doctor’s office, I washed dishes so Phil would have more open space to make dinner. Then I took a break to watch When Calls the Heart. And before dinner, I went out to the garden to welcome our new plant babies into our family. That took almost an hour. I took another break outside with a book to cool off. After dinner, I potted the herbs. All I have left is the marigolds, which we’re putting in the garden to, we hope, ward off pests.
Phil and I were pretty tired after the kids went to bed. We watched more of the second Cotswolds travelogue. Not only does it make me want to go back to England, but it makes me want to go for a hike out in nature. I need towering trees and lush greenery for my soul’s health.
We went to bed early, a good kind of exhausted (for me).
Day 76: When I sat on the porch with my coffee this morning, a light rain was falling. It was refreshing after a night of sleep that was not as refreshing as I’d like. The humidity is high, and we try not to put the window air conditioners in until mid-summer, if we can help it. The air doesn’t flow well in our bedroom, so the cool mist of the rain was welcome.
I’m having a hard time right now with writing and words. We’re living our life and I’m just tired of all the online connection. I need a break from it all sometimes.
I went for a long run in the morning and when I got home Phil had been on the phone for HOURS trying to get his phone situation sorted out. He finally did. The kids did academic time. We’re in the home stretch now. What else did I do? Dishes. Laundry. Reading for judging. Making dinner. It rained most of the day which made it difficult to get motivated to do much of anything. And it’s humid.
We watched Ultimate Tag during dinner. I played video games with my son.
I watched two episodes of When Calls the Heart after the kids went to bed.
Day 77: I woke at 5 a.m. The humidity is making it hard to sleep well. I read for a little bit. Then I decided to take my body measurements since I hadn’t in more than a month. Then I read some more and took my coffee to the porch. The humidity is thick already, the sky overcast. I have some cooking and baking to do today.
It was ridiculously hot and humid today for May. At one point we had a feels-like of 92. Ew.
My son couldn’t wait any longer for a haircut, so I buzzed it. Add it to my list of quarantine skills. I do not do much work with the clippers, but I can buzz a head down to a “one.” I may get another chance soon.
I watched the final episode of season five of When Calls the Heart this morning because I just needed to do it. Then my son had a counseling telehealth appointment. After that I read a bit until it was time to prepare lunch.
After lunch I got to work on the quiche I needed to make for future breakfasts. I made a pie crust from scratch, something I haven’t done in a while and prepared the quiche and if I wasn’t already looking forward to breakfast every day, I would be even moreso.
I sat outside to read some more because there was a breeze outside. The baby bird has been active today, and I’m almost sure it’s going to fly away soon.
Just as I was getting ready to start on dinner and Phil was getting home, the sky darkened and the temperatures cooled. We finally got a soaking rain and it felt so glorious that I stood on the porch for a few minutes just to feel the coolness.
We ate dinner. Watched more of The Big Flower Fight. Made shopping lists for tomorrow. I sat on the porch again to read.
Academics are winding down. It’s Friday. It’s hot. The day has been all kinds of disjointed. We’ll get back on track with some kind of structure to our days when school is officially over on Tuesday.
Now I’m staring Anne with an “E”. It’s been a long time coming.
Day 78: Saturday again, in case you’re keeping track. Yesterday, daughter thought it was Saturday. If we ever have to be anywhere ever again, we’re in trouble.
I woke before 6 and grabbed a book I was almost finished with. And I finished it. Books are some of the life-giving stuff for me right now. I mean, they always have been, but now especially they are my friends and comfort.
The world feels restless. Restrictions are easing and family and friends are asking about when we can get together and I’m so not sure how to make plans beyond one day at a time right now. It makes me nervous to think about.
Because I was up early, I got an early start to my day. I took a shower to rinse the stink and sweat of yesterday off. By 7:30 I was on the porch for some writing time. I gravitated toward fiction today, writing a scene I thought up earlier in the week. It’s been months since I wrote any new fiction. I’ve missed it. And I need to make time for it. After about an hour, the kids were all up in each other’s business, so I came inside to do what I could to quell that storm. (Truthfully, it’s not much.)
I washed dishes while finishing the episode of Anne With an “E” I started last night. It was a long one. I made no-bake cookies and started a crock-pot full of stock ingredients because I was in the mood to cook/bake and it’s not my night to cook. By lunchtime, the TV had been on all morning, I’m pretty sure. The toilet had leaked a little bit so I had to clean that up. We all got lunch and I sat on the porch reading until it was time to join in the live workout as part of the gala weekend for the fitness program I’m in. Normally, the gala is held in Scotland. (Swoon. Maybe next year.) This year, it’s all virtual, and I’m just glad to participate. I sweated through the workout, then made myself a snack. I thought I better check on the recipe my daughter picked for dinner, and it’s a good thing. It required more prep time than either of us realized, so we got started right away.
Not long after we put the pancake bread in the oven, I was reminded of the SpaceX launch, so I commandeered the TV from the YouTube watcher and we tuned in to watch history. It was as exhilarating as any Space Shuttle launch I watched growing up. Although I must say that memories of disasters flashed as I watched. I don’t think I let myself relax until they were definitely in space.
Now it’s a struggle to keep going. Dinner is in progress. Phil is at the grocery store with some of the ingredients for the rest of dinner, and a phone that isn’t working properly, so I don’t know how long until he’s home. Son is protesting on the floor trying to finish folding his clothes, even though I’ve promised him a no-bake and some out-loud reading when he’s done. I could participate in a yoga session in about 30 minutes, but it will probably depend on the state of things elsewhere in the house. I’m not hopeful.
I AM hopeful about taking a hike tomorrow though. I desperately need one and it’s part of the gala celebration. Just the excuse I need to get out into nature. I need to convince the rest of the family, though.
Dinner became a family affair. Phil got home from the grocery store after 5 and we set out to unpack groceries while our daughter got the second part of dinner–waffle maker hash browns–ready. We ate in shifts and mostly stayed in the kitchen. Then we watched some Good Mythical Morning before putting the kids to bed.
Phil and I started Good Omens. He watched the series months ago, but since I just finished the book, he’s watching it again with me.
Day 79: Sunday. I had a lot of food prep work to do for later in the day, and we were planning a hike in the afternoon so I spent the first part of the morning in the kitchen, washing dishes and prepping food for dinner. We had online church and discussion afterward, and some of it got me fired up, so it was good that we were headed to a nature trail for a hike.
The hike was part of the gala celebration I mentioned earlier. I found a preserve that’s part of the conservancy, and my hope was that it would be secluded. It was. The kids’ attitudes going in were better than I expected. They gathered what they needed and sprayed themselves with bug spray. Our only regret is that most of us didn’t wear pants and the trail would have been better for us if we had. But there were no cars in the parking area and we only saw one person on the trail, which was kind of surprising and little bit strange.
It was a short trail leading to the river, and it was exactly what my soul needed. My inner being thrives when green surrounds me and trees tower over me and nature is everywhere I look. We saw a heron. Our legs got scratched with weeds, and my son almost gave up on the whole thing because his leg was itchy. I promised him a bath when he got home and tried to remember that being outside is worth it, even when there are bugs and steep trails.
We came home, and I got to work on my gala food: smoked salmon ceviche and homemade tortilla chips. I also prepped some dinner food because I wasn’t sure how long the online gala would last. I grabbed a quick shower, then put on a fancy dress, poured myself a drink and sat down with my food to celebrate an amazing community of people I only just discovered late last year.
It was fun. And the beer I was drinking made it difficult for me to focus on dinner prep, but I managed to do just that. We ate at a semi-reasonable hour.
The Titan Games premiered and we tuned in to watch the first hour of that. Before we could find out what happened in the first contest, the news broke in with a special report and we spent the next several minutes watching reports about riots and protests and gatherings in cities across the country. The kids had a little trouble going to sleep after that. And Phil and I stayed up to watch all the news gave us till about 9. Then we finished the documentary about the Cotswolds because I needed to calm down.
Day 80: Monday. The second to last day of school for the kids. Three of us got our morning workouts in. Phil got his new phone and worked to get it connected. Both kids had Zoom calls. My daughter’s was with the middle school counselors, so I sat next to her and listened. It’s a strange thing this year to be wrapping up a year and getting inundated with information about next year. She is on her way to being a middle schooler. I am not prepared. Also I am.
We had lunch. I showered. And then we got ready for the end-of-the-year parade that was going to go past our house. The kids’ teachers from the school were parading through neighborhoods and they were going to pass our house. We made some signs, set out our lawn chairs at the end of the driveway and grabbed the cow bell. (Because obviously what this year needs is more cow bell.)
We waited almost an hour before the parade came toward us, and then it was 10-15 minutes of sheer energy as we waved, cheered and rang the cow bell. Okay, listen, it was mostly me doing these things. I know the teachers were doing this for the kids, but I needed them to know they were appreciated and loved, too. It was so much fun.
I had a hard time figuring out what to do after that because it was a bit exhausting.
Dinner happened. We watched some Good Mythical Morning. I binged the rest of season 1 of Anne With An “E” after the kids went to bed.
Day 81: Tuesday. I had to put the actual day of the week on each entry for the last several days because I had other stuff to occupy me and I didn’t write anything about how we spent our days. This morning, after scrolling social media and sitting on the porch with my coffee, I decided I needed to work in the garden, clearing out weeds and planting marigolds near the tomato plants in an effort to ward off pests. I was in the garden by 7:15 and it took me about an hour and a half to do what needed to be done. I think that’s my workout for the day. Back to the regular schedule tomorrow. My body needs a bit of a break from all the activity.
I sat on the porch reading and having a snack after all the garden work. Today is the last official day of school for the kids, so there’s not much left for them to do. Summer is upon us tomorrow and I need some time to prepare as much as I can with a pandemic still going on.
I didn’t get very far on the summer planning. There were last day of school meetings for the kids online, and I’m just at a loss for how to attempt to plan our days. Restrictions will ease, but I’m not sure when. Taking summer one day at a time will be difficult, I think.
Had the urge to bake again so I made chicken pot pie with homemade crust for dinner. It took a little while to make in the afternoon. I watched some Anne With An “E” and read on the porch for down time. After dinner, there were some BIG FEELINGS about everything, so we decided to take a short walk around the “block,” which is really a loop. All four of us. That hasn’t happened in a while.
Then we had a conversation about screen time going into summer and it ended with both kids crying under blankets on the couches. They were able to go to bed without too much trouble. Phil and I watched another episode of Good Omens. Because when it feels like you’re living through an apocalypse, a show about the apocalypse is fitting.
Day 82: Wednesday. I worked out. I cried because I was feeling like nothing had changed with my strength and abilities. I posted in my fitness program’s Facebook group and got a lot of encouragement and support. We had some emotional/feelings issues in the morning that we had to talk through as a family. The day went kind of weird. I read outside. I washed dishes. A storm rolled through so I read out loud to my son for a bit. The kids received a package from grandparents that included some new toys/entertainment options. We did a video call with our church and friends who live in Kenya. I took an hour-ish in the afternoon to do some writing on the porch. Phil made dinner: brats, macaroni salad, asparagus. We got the grill going. It felt like summer. We took another short walk as a family after dinner before eating zucchini bread Phil had also made. He and I watched episodes of The Office as our nighttime entertainment.
Day 83: Thursday. The last day of our stay-at-home order. Things won’t automatically go back to “normal” tomorrow but more businesses are opening and allowing for customers. It will be a different phase of this whole thing. I might call these entries something else starting tomorrow. I woke early to go for a run because it’s supposed to be almost 90 today and I could already feel the humidity thick in the air. My run went well. I had breakfast and made coffee when I got back, then took a quick shower so we could meet with our son’s counselor at 9. Phil listened in, as well, because we were talking about something that I wanted him to hear, too.
Dishes and laundry for the rest of the morning. Lunch. Now I’m off to the porch to do more work reading.
Spent a good chunk of the afternoon on the porch reading. And eating snacks. And drinking iced coffee. We have transitioned to iced coffee in the afternoons. I’m not sorry. The kids took an hour of screen-free time and I didn’t even have to fight with them. I folded laundry and put another load in, then read some more on the porch. Phil is home now and it’s too early to start dinner, but not enough time to do any kind of big projects. The kids are back to screens.
The heat and humidity are at their max for the day. It’s too soon to put the window air conditioners in but on days like this, I miss the cool reprieve they offer. There will be other days soon where I would miss the breeze flowing through the windows, though, if we put them in. The annual dilemma. At what point do we put the window ACs in?
Our evening ended in an odd way. As the kids were getting ready for bed, thunderstorms were rolling in to the area. I assured them that they would be fine and tried to tuck them in. But it was nearly 90 today and apparently there’s a full moon tomorrow, so sleep was elusive. I talked to my parents for a little bit. My daughter came out of the bedroom worried and upset about the coming storm. When I finished the phone call with my parents, neither child was asleep, and I was not interested in getting frustrated because they wouldn’t sleep. So, I checked the radar and it looked like the worst of it would pass within the hour.
I made my kids an offer they couldn’t refuse. They could get out of bed and join me in the living room and we could watch a couple of episodes of something to distract us from the storm. I told them they were intruding on my relaxation time, though, and I would be eating ice cream in front of them. They didn’t care. They’d already had dessert for the day.
So, we watched two episodes of Nailed It! while the storms came through. They were loud and a bit fierce, but we weathered it together. It was 10 o’clock when the three of us went to bed, not something I’m willing to repeat often, but sometimes what is required is out of the ordinary.