Pandemic sheltering - random thoughts

There are so many ups and downs during this thing.  It's hard to track your emotions they change so much from minute to minute.

We survived our fridge slowly dying and are enjoying our new one.  Very impressed with Lowes' customer service for hearing our sob story and delivering the fridge within 3 days of ordering, 13 days sooner than the original delivery date.  It's not like we can run over to the neighbor and stock our groceries in their fridge right about now.

We are all sad that Jav has to go back to SMU Monday.  Especially Jav.  He has enjoyed this extra time with the boys more than he can say.  But we're thankful for his job and that for now it seems safe.  My job and how things are going are worth an entire other post.

Gabriel has had his Reading and Writing finals this week.  He has math Monday, a religion assignment due Tuesday, then his Ted Talk presentation for writing Wednesday and that's it.  Official last day of school is a week from today.  Joel doesn't have finals yet and I know he's hoping next week will just be a fun, NO-WORK week.  It's so surreal to think that we haven't walked into the building since March 6th.  Unlike most public schools, our kids are not getting Pass/Fail grades but regular old numbers that correspond to a letter grade.

Today was a hard, hard day.  It should have been the Candle Mass, where the 8th graders hand their candles over to the 7th graders for next year.  It would have been the first Candle Mass I've ever been to, with Gabriel receiving his candle.  I am very sad it didn't happen.  We'll never get that back.  I understand a little more about high school seniors and the things they will NEVER get to experience. And of course, there is still so much unknown about how things are going to proceed next year.

The grocery orders are still coming, and I've backed off the disinfecting of everything.  Still no bags in the house, setting non perishables aside in the laundry room for three days, and either emptying perishables into our own baggies or washing off the sturdier items with soap and water.  It's pretty exhausting but not as hard as it was at first.  If I hear someone say "Welcome to the new normal" one more time I'm gonna sock them.

We had a great Mother's Day weekend - pics to come.

We are still enjoying mostly nightly walks with the dogs and the boys.  It is truly amazing how many people are outside getting exercise and working in their yards.  Kind of ironic that we are all keeping up with each other and saying hello more than ever but we can't have any close contact with any to our neighbors.  We are supplementing these walks with short exercise sessions-either flexibility/core work or circuit training.  I started teaching the boys some kickboxing moves.  We only worked on punches for about 20-25 minutes.  Gabriel is fine, because he learned to use his core for things like this from Running Club last year.  Joel doesn't know how to use his core so was throwing the punches using only his shoulder.  He is so sore he can barely move his arms today.  😢Bad mama.

I heard yesterday that the FW Symphony Orchestra is canceling the entire Concerts in the Garden season.  We have been two years in a row now (Led Zeppelin and Queen) and it's become a summer tradition.  But I respect and agree with their decision.  People are packed in that space like sardines.

Then today we got the email from the Boy Scouts that all resident camps are canceled this summer, which we expected.  But it's still all so sad.  Gabriel had already decided he did not want to go this year.  He didn't enjoy his first week long campout at Worth Ranch and they were to return there.

I'm typing this as a thunderstorm moves through at midnight.  It's kind of comforting and we needed some rain.

I have been planting the new plants I got for mother's day and still had a few things to get in the ground that I had bought the week before.  I hit a wall yesterday and I'm not sure I'm going to get a few things done.  Normally I am stubborn and bullheaded about giving up, and won't throw any plants away.  But I wouldn't be opposed to giving up this year.  I literally COULD NOT make myself go outside and do anything.  Very unlike me and I would imagine these bad days qualify as depression.

We haven't been able to figure out why the majority of folks in FW refuse to wear protective masks.  It is SHOCKING how many people are gathering places with no distancing or mask-wearing.  That's just good ole independent-thinking, pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps, no one's-gonna-tell-me-what-to-do kind of Texas mentality we deal with here.  Sigh.

TV Watching Update:

Jav and finished all 4 gloriously fun and sexy seasons of Mozart in the Jungle last weekend.  We have SO enjoyed that show - the music, the whimsy, the writing.  We're not sure what to watch next.

Wednesday nights we watch the Masked Singer.  We all LOVE it and look forward to each new episode with glee, even though about half the time we have no idea who the person is ever after they take the mask off.  #weareold

Friday nights we've been all watching Stranger Things.  Jav and Gabriel had already watched all three seasons.  I only watched 2 episodes in for season 2 and quit just because I was too busy.  We told Joel he could start watching when he turned 10, so I started over in December so I could watch with him.  Then Jav and G decided during this crazy We Are Stuck Together time to join us to rewatch from midway though season 2 and all of season 3.  I think the 3rd season is a little clunky and unrealistic (even for this show), but I gotta tell you there are very few TV shows out there that can compete in suspense and intensity with those first two seasons.  Plus it is a microcosm of our high school years.

I am loving watching Top Chef for the first time in years.  The bloodthirsty competition where everyone turns cutthroat really turned me off and I had no desire to watch.  But that tone seems to be gone, and they are back to just creating amazing food.  Plus Last Chance Kitchen adds that backstory to the main one.

You would think I have had more time and have been enjoying some reading and good books.  Nope. Too tired when I get to bed.  So I'm now addicted to the NY Times Crossword Puzzles.  I do the Mini every night, then attempt archives of Monday or Tuesday puzzles, which are the easiest.  The Saturday puzzle is the most challenging.  Trying to work up to that.  (Goals are good to have.)  Time to start another puzzle to help me drift off to dreamland.  I've been having lots of trouble sleeping lately (chalk it up to hormones and maybe worrying about, well, EVERYTHING IN THE UNIVERSE).