Today marks 52 days (7 and a half weeks!) that I’ve been practicing social distancing because of COVID-19. My husband was laid off a week and a half after I stopped leaving the house, and we’ve both been staying home ever since his last day, with the exception of infrequent trips out for groceries and essential items. I know I’m not alone in saying that it’s been a struggle getting used to this new normal, but we’re committed to doing our part to help stop the spread of the virus. We miss our family and we miss our friends but we want to keep everyone safe and healthy. We had a burst of productivity in the early days of isolation — we finally organized our storage room, hung some art that we still hadn’t unpacked, and decluttered our living space (our living room had been jammed full of furniture that I acquired for my new business, Fox & Phoenix Vintage — all of that is now tucked away in the basement, waiting for the antique mall where I rent a booth to re-open). But we’ve since spent the rest of our time in isolation being rather lazy. It was tough finding any motivation for a while there, but we finally started doing more and have been prepping some walls for painting, continuing where we left off before the holidays. The weather’s getting nicer, so we’ll be able to spend more time in our backyard. We have a very busy 18-month-old son who needs us to be more active with him. It’s getting tougher to keep him entertained when everyday is the same but we’re trying new things to occupy and keep his attention. I’ve been cooking regularly (no change there, I cooked all the time before) and even though I wasn’t wasteful before, I’m especially mindful now of making our groceries last longer. So before, I might sometimes throw away uneaten leftovers, but now I’m meal-planning so that leftovers aren’t just an option, they are specifically planned for an upcoming meal. I’ve also been trying my hand at baking (it seems we’ve all been doing a bit of that, lately!) and I’m learning that I’m not as bad at it as I once thought I was, and I’m starting to gain the confidence to get experimental with recipes and ingredients. It’s also nice to have the extra time to spend in the kitchen (outside of necessary meal-prep time). Speaking of extra time, with a husband home from work to help share in the parenting duties, I should be taking advantage of my newfound time to create more content for my site! I actually have a ton of partially-written articles in my drafts folder, ranging from recipes to motherhood resources to decor tips and more. If staying home all the time is going to be our new normal for the next little while, I may as well make the most of my time and start paying more attention to my blog!! I switched to a new website template at the beginning of this year, but I haven’t finished updating all the parts of my site yet, so if things look funny or inconsistent or if links are missing, that’s okay and I’m aware of it…and it’s another thing on my list of things to do while in quarantine! It seems we’re all spending a little bit more time online lately, and I hope that I can offer something of value here in this little corner of the internet that I occupy. I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy. XO
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