Locked up and Loopy - Episode 2

   Trying to focus on all the positive while I'm confined to my home. Sometimes it's not easy.

 I commuted to my dining room for online bible study last week. The location is nice, but lacking in the usual snacks. Prayer group was held in the newly opened three season porch. Snacks also a little on the lean side and reception kinda spotty. May move to the living room for my daily dose of writing before I head up to the office to sort through the unending boxes of receipts. Depends on the traffic in the kitchen. We really need a traffic light in there.

It's a little chilly outside, so I will refrain from extended travel plans to the remote corners of the yard.

   I know I'm blessed. I have multiple rooms, which means my family and I can spend some time apart. Right now, we kinda need that. Don't get me wrong, I love my family. I love spending time with my family. We take extended vacations and long weekends to spend time together.

This is not a vacation.

   It feels a little more like an open ended prison sentence. I don't remember earning a prison sentence, though I have now looked up the distance a taser gun can reach. Did you know they can effectively fire one of those suckers to take you down and still maintain social distancing? This is going to seriously curb my prospective life of crime.

   Sorry, I was derailed. Ignore that part about me considering a life of crime. I'm not that desperate...yet.

   Just getting a little stir crazy. We are now officially on spring break. Seems kind of pointless. We can't go anywhere, so not much of a break, and this is Chicago, so spring is optional, usually held for about forty five minutes on a Thursday morning during the third week of March. I still don't understand why they didn't just plow through with E-learning and tag this week onto the end of the school year when we might actually be able to do something with it.

Maybe they think the kids need to be available to shovel snow or something....

   Thankfully, I have work to do, which tends to keep me busy, but I can't work all the time. This has become a problem. I now have time to notice the walls need painting and there is a crack in the dining room ceiling and the rugs are shot...

   Normally when I get the urge to pull up rugs or tear out walls, I step out to grab a cup of coffee with a friend or go teach class, or something. Now... I make trips out to the garage to review my tool options.

My husband has taken an uncanny interest in reviewing my life insurance policies.

   At the same time he is looking into new career options. After his comments at breakfast, I believe the foremost option is grave digging. He is starting with his own. We have multiple shovels he can use to practice his skills and I have the perfect place in the yard where he can practice. Maybe my daughter can help him.

She asked me to turn down my music while I was working.

I was wearing headphones.

Maybe what we need is a padded room. Those are soundproof, right?

Locked in and Loopy - Episode 1

We have to stay at home?

For how long???

  You think for me this would be easy. I already work from home.

Guess again.

I already have a natural inclination to bristle when told I can't do something. To be told I can't do a lot of somethings...

   While I spend considerable amount of time on a computer (I'm a writer who does side work for a trucking firm), working from home doesn't necessarily mean I am at home ALL THE TIME! Nothing could be farther from the truth. My day consists of errands, picking up and dropping off kids (not just my own - I seem to have accumulated a lot of other children), volunteering, teaching, meeting people, going to the gym, and even my most dreaded task - going to the grocery store. I was never much for shopping of any kind before, but now...

I'm researching which BDUs would be most effective to wear to the grocery store.
This is not what I envisioned when I said I needed to get out.

   My social media involvement has increased, but believe me, it's not the same.

   Last week absolutely no one contacted me to bring missing lunches, books, and instruments to the school. No one needed to be picked up after practice. That meant I went nowhere, except the grocery store. You remember, the place I LOVE to go?

   Several grocery stores. The new norm means the stuff we need can no longer be found at ONE store. My tank isn't big enough.

   Still exercising every day, but the gym is where the treadmill and other equipment is kept. Since I have difficulty walking, I like the treadmill. It gives me something to hold onto when my body up and decides it isn't feeling very cooperative. There is no treadmill at home. Yes, I have seen the video of the guy who uses dish soap and a little bit of water on the kitchen floor to create his own treadmill. That will work, until I have to go to the bathroom. Please, I am trying to avoid a visit to the ER.

   Bible study last week was quiet. Just the video, the workbooks, and me. No one put out coffee and snacks. There was no lively discussion. No clean up either.

   Only took one kid driving this week for practice hours. My kid. We had already talked about everything we would otherwise talk about.

   I did my first e-class for my RE kids last week. I already use technology when I teach, so it wasn't a big stretch. This week I am hoping to add a little more interactive activities to my curriculum to try and keep them involved. Our church is not set up for on-line learning, so there is no connectivity with my noisy, rambunctious class. No one had to be told to sit down for the 7th time.

Did I just suggest I missed the kids!?!

   Mass was quiet too. Just the three of us. No eucharist. No fellowship afterward.

   As for those other errands - no can do. I believe I have cleaned the kitchen twice a day, just so I am looking at something other than my office.

I miss my life outside this house. Dare I say it? I miss actual contact with people.

I must be getting a little loopy.