ramblings from quarantine...

it's been like 37 days since the kids' schools closed and we all started working from home. for the most part, it's been WONDERFUL. for me.

unfortunately, not all the people who live with me seem to agree with that stance and i don't think they'll allow me to institute a quarantine lifestyle when we're no longer required to do so. {insert sad face}

so I'm trying to make the most of it now, while i can. But, in true "rachel" fashion, i'm already anxiously analyzing what will happen when things return to "normal".  

that's where i am today. it's kind of a blah day. we've had the most amazing string of beautiful spring days. i've taken my dog on a good, long walk every day of this quarantine. i have only been rained on once. ONCE people! do you understand how crazy that is for March/April in the pnw? but today it's been rainy and overcast. it's messing with my positive attitude. 

i've been toying with the idea of creating a pro/con list. or something like that. things i do and don't like about this particular weird and "unprecedented" time in history.

Things I don't like about Quarantine:

1. The obvious: people are sick and dying. The actual reason for this quarantine totally sucks.
2. related to that is the fact that people are out of work, businesses aren't surviving, the economy and stock market are not in a good state.
3. the library isn't open! Not being able to put actual paper books on hold and go pick them up is majorly frustrating me. I can't even return the books i'm done with!
4. i feel like i'm committing a crime every time i go to the store. mostly that's been the grocery store once a week and i went to lowe's once with dave. we discovered that layla's shorts are all too small and she needs new ones. shopping with her is a nightmare anyway, but not having a lot options where she can try stuff on is problematic. online ordering intimidates me because i figure i'll be forking over a lot of money all at once and will involve a LOT of returning because nothing ever fits her, and that will require a trip to the post office, which will feel like a crime as well. 
5. layla is feeling antsy about not seeing her friends and she's disappointed that the school play she was just starting to rehearse got cancelled.
6. i bought a bunch of fun spring dresses from thredup just before this all hit, and now i have no place to wear them.
7. i do miss seeing my co-workers and that fun, but we keep up a group text so that's nice.

Things I like about Quarantine:

1. working from home. there is not one teeny little thing i miss about my sucky commute and long hours away from home. i know how lucky i am that my job has translated very easily to working from home. i like my job, i just don't like having to GET there.
2. messy buns or baseball hats every day!
3. not getting up at 5am!
4. kids going to school at home. i love having them around all day. and not having to put them on the bus at 6:20 and 6:45am every day is amazing.
5. no in-person meetings. dave had a crazy amount of meetings that he was always running off to, which meant a lot of juggling who was going where, how they were going to get there, and who was going to pick them up, especially when they both had to be picked up or dropped off at the same time in different locations.
6. no activities. i know this makes me sound like a horribly unsupportive parent, and it's not the activities themselves i don't like. it's the craziness of everyone running every which-way every night.
7. slower pace of life. i love a leisurely morning. i love going about my day, not rushed by schedules and traffic and making sure the timing is right to leave one thing to make it to the next thing on time. riding the hamster wheel is exhausting to me. and we live way too far away from literally everything.
8. long walks with my dog.
9. knitting projects.
10. reading books - individually, and as a family.
11. not having to put on makeup. (actually, the best part of that is not having to wash it off at the end of the day. i hate that part.)
12. family dinner every night.
13. cooking real food every night.
14. having time to deal with home projects and maintenance that need to be dealt with but we never have time.
15. having time and energy to clean and tidy my house every day.
16. having time (and appropriate weather) for using my clothesline. (it doesn't work very well to hang things up at 5pm... you kind of need all day)
17. seeing my kids truly enjoying each other and spending time together (since that's their only choice!)
18. spending all my time AT MY HOUSE, which i love!
19. saying hi to neighbors as they walk by, because they all do!
20. coronavirus memes. seriously. they're funny.
21. my anxiety level is WAY low. one of my biggest sources of anxiety is the same old vomit phobia i've always had, and that's pretty much non-existent right now. my kids aren't going anywhere, so there's no place for them to pick up the stomach flu! lower anxiety means i have so much more energy, since i'm not in panic/battle mode all day, every day. laugh if you want, but it's a very real thing for me and it sucks.
22. the feeling that we are working together as a family at something. i'm not sure what that something is, but we're in it together. it's not "everyone for himself" every single day as we go off to do our own jobs or school, followed by our own activities, none of which involve anyone else, except for the part where you need a ride to get there.

I guess i must be weird or something, because i feel like everyone else is really hating quarantine life. to me, this feels like living. normal life just feels like surviving.