Finding Our New Normal

Sunday night brought the first wave of coronavirus cancellations into our lives. All of the kids' out-of-the-home classes have stopped. Anne's performances for the next few weeks have been postponed. Anne also was laid off from her job on Tuesday. My husband works in a hospital so his job is secure, and he is still going to work every day. We are adjusting to our new normal. There are lots of feelings of anxiety and stress associated with this disease. However, we are making the most of our time at home together. I am trying to have one planned "special" event each day. Many of the events are super simple, such as a movie, craft or board game. We are thinking of trying to play every board game we own, if social distancing goes on for a long time. We also have an extended chore time and outdoor time in our yard each day. I am rationing the special foods like chips and dessert.

Highlights from our week ~

Anne has wanted to learn how to sew on a sewing machine for a long time. She has pulled out the sewing machine and learned how to load bobbins, how to work the machine and made a tank top for a dance costume out of a pillowcase. She also made a wraparound skirt out of another pillowcase. We plan on exploring other sewing projects in the coming weeks.

The guys are missing their physical classes. I went out and bought them some axes so that they can chop down all of the weedy trees that are invading our backyard. They are pretty happy with the project.

We had a wonderful time with our Yum Yum subscriptionbox this week, which featured snack foods from Brazil. We made a real event out of it and watched a few documentaries about Brazil on YouTube.

Dean finished three workbooks this week. He only had a few lessons left in Geography Volume I. We have all three volumes and he has jumped around it, depending on the country or region that he was studying. He was close to being done with Volume I and decided to just wrap it up this week. He also finished Reading Detective RX. 

We also watched more movies than usual. We watched a three DVD set of Poirot stories, The Chicago Musical (that was a racy show...yikes), and a host of nature and earth documentaries. Math is going at a much faster pace, now that Anne and Dad can sit down together every night.

Here is a bit of cuteness for you.

I pray that you all remain safe and sound. We are hunkering down for now. We don't have to leave the house for weeks if it comes to that. We want to take the best of care of our adult son Tim. He is considered to be in a very high risk group for this pandemic.

Lastly, our dog is holding steady. We hope the steroids continue to make his life pleasant for a good long time.

Blessings, Dawn