Today I am happy. It was a really good day. Marinette I missed your face! I got to drive my car up to school just to get supplies to teach online and drop things off. This granted a slight reprieve from my new little work-family mesh of late. I did have a pang of missing my students!

I actually always loved my morning and afternoon commute (provided no bad weather or late event evenings). It has always been my chance to think and recharge. I’ve been missing it a lot lately. Today was extra special to get to go, so I had a smile on my face as Remi and I jumped in the car (John couldn’t go because I had to be alone while getting things from the building).  The drive up was foggy. On my way back I loved the feeling of the sun coming through the windows. I got to listen to my podcasts. I got to be alone!

John Michael has this funny thing he says a lot that goes something like, “I can’t just stay in my room forever!” It feels like that sometimes doesn’t it? We will all come out on the other side of this forever changed, that is certain. I loved my podcasts today. Two thoughts stand out to me.

One is, In sixth months, assuming I lived my absolute best life, the best version of me, what would that “me” want to say to the person that is here now? I would say: “Be grateful. You get to be with your son and husband and slow down. You get to have slow dinners. You can savor things. You can get in shape. You can focus on the goals you always said you didn’t have time to do. But remember, be present. Be a joy to be around. Make John Michael remember this time he had with his parents with fondness. He will remember this even if right now he doesn’t understand all of it.” In a decade, we will all look back on this and while lots of it has negative sides, I want to remember those good moments. Did I slow down and play with him? Did we read stories and build things and imagine? When he asked me to do something did I say yes as much as I could? Did we have races in the backyard and dance in the living room? Did I allow him to ask all his curious questions and not get exasperated? Did I have grace for myself- cuz not everything needs to be perfect. Was I loving to my husband and supportive of him? Did we enjoy our long dinners and slow sips of wine, funny shows and movies? Did I reach out to my family and friends and try to help them through this? Did I do all I can with all I have? These are just some questions I am trying to ask myself.

If I could go back in time even 2 months I would have told myself to be more present with moments that are forever going to be different from this point on. But there is no use being in the past, nor having anxiety on the future. I can only control what is happening right now. Haha (Random) my son just ran in here and told me my keyboard felt “cozy.” (I have this little Marinette purple thing that fits over the keys that does look/feel sort of cozy!)

The second thing that has been making me ponder is being careful of what parts of normal you used to have you keep in the new normal on the other side of the quarantine. Yep. Will be thinking on that one.

Forgive my thoughts and bad writing- they are all jumbled. Kinda thinking as I type. I just want to do the best with the time I have right now. My family is important and that’s a big priority. I want to take charge of my physical and mental health. (Can’t help anyone else if my oxygen mask isn’t on first!) and I want to do as good of a job as I can for work. I am lucky and I am grateful. So I’m trying to use this time as best I can to honor all those who are really doing hard and scary work or have made huge sacrifices. I have this time. It’s going to happen either way. This situation is going to happen either way. I can either make the best of it, or I can not. So I’m trying to choose joy not to be selfish, but just to do what I can to honor this. To bring some sort of meaning to this.

However, I do really think that people process things differently. I just know myself and so I have to be busy. Take photos. Exercise. Dance around. Be goofy. Laugh. Schedule things. Make things pretty. Clean. Organize. Schedule my cool virtual meetings. Make funny memes for my students. Try to look for meaning and positivity. I do that because that is my coping strategy. I’m sure everyone’s path is going to look different. I say and explain all this because I know there’s surely someone out there who is annoyed at me.  But this is how I do!

Things I’m grateful for today? The sun on my face. Driving in my jeep. Remi’s happy wiggle. My podcasts. Sweet music. John’s questions. Racing with John in the backyard and his funny dancing. Joe’s laughs. Joe cleaning up the kitchen. A fun clarinet lesson I gave to a student virtually. A good exercise session. A nice walk with John and Remi. John’s joy as he saw some plants starting to sprout in the herb garden. His excitement over seeing the musical instruments I brought home which prompted him to remember a music show he recently watched on rhythm. “Short, short, long” So many things!

Also I made some pretty good salmon last night!

Tomorrow? I hope to have my joy list made. 🙂 Gas is $1.08!

 

 

Right? 4 years old is supposed to be better than 3 and yet, I haven’t seen the data in our household to support that theory. Deep breath. Going to do some intentional activities today with him although it looks a bit cloudy. I have some deadlines for work ahead and I also have to stay focused on this. Joe’s job has him in meetings a lot, so it’s not too flexible as of yet and he can help with JM but not until the evening. So long days. John didn’t do what he was supposed to do yesterday so he lost some privileges. Cue the whining and crying because I held him to it. Exhausting, but I did not give in! I also wasn’t too happy they kept the polls open today. Seems stupid… I voted absentee.

We have it good. We are healthy, we have jobs (not on the front line like some do! Thank you to all that do!!!), we have shelter, we have food. That is all we need. Many many people don’t have that. Will channel up the positive and laugh lots today. Gotta keep it together!

One thing I am proud of in the chaos of yesterday is that around 3pm while juggling work and John’s attitude, I got really stressed and was on the point of a breakdown. But I flipped a switch and started cleaning the living room when John Michael was driving me crazy. That lead to us cleaning up the kitchen and then playing with tiles, and then the train kinda came back on the rails by the time I had to start making dinner. So that’s a win. I think everyone is under a lot of stress and it would have been perfectly understandable for me to just freak out for a second and sit down on the couch. Normally I would have. So that was my small win that is going to help me get through today. Must have been my podcasts!

In other news, last night’s dinner was amazing! Mom got us a Butcher Box a bit ago (thanks Mom!) and there are some good meats in there. Last night I made spicy pork chops, sweet potatoes, and green beans. I will be making that again. Tasty. Tonight is Salmon!

Also in looking for the positive…Day 17 of moving the body daily. Well on my way to a consistent morning routine!

Alrighty. Time to see what the world is up to. OH!!! Here is something amazing! Romeo High School Robotics has been helping with the cause and they even got a mention on John Krasinski’s show! I’m proud of their good deed. Not gonna lie, hearing John Krasinski say “Romeo High School” was not too bad either. And Hamilton? WHAT. This was amazing. Check that out…

 

Now… let’s hope for a good Tuesday! Time to go to work. Here we go kids…

 

(Note: We didn’t get out of the car, just dropped off some checks at the bank!)

My Monday reminder is to reach for joy. Not going to lie, there have been some hard moments here. I’m reminding myself to stay present as much as I can and embrace the time with my son. Hopefully today is better. In other news, I am “that annoying person” who just has to set up virtual nerdy get togethers. 😉 I’m so glad I am that person. Not gonna apologize for that because I think it’s been wonderful to keep us connected and keep us sane. Lots of hangouts with family and friends.

Virtual hangouts aren’t really a new thing for my parents and us because we did usually FaceTime pretty often before all of this. (They live in Michigan, us in Wisconsin). We are still trying to do it more with them too. Yesterday JM told his Nana Lynn that “she was a sweet one.” Awwww. And they did the usual. Watched him sink baskets and run all around. 🙂 I bet it was pretty exciting.

Last night I decided to set one up so that my brother John and his girlfriend Christie could join us for a game of Heads Up. That game is usually one of our go-to’s when we have family gatherings. I’m glad for this because we probably wouldn’t have had this hangout if it hadn’t been for the present situation. And it prompted us to keep on doing it more often virus or not. It was lots of fun. Apparently Wyoming is “that state that has nothing going on.” (According to Joe ahah)

Nothing beats being in person and that very real connection. But thank goodness for technology in our lives. It definitely makes life a little more enjoyable. Hope you all have a wonderful week. The sun is out!

Friday was interesting. Started off pretty good but then it was a very busy and stressful day. John Michael was trying. We did have some good moments amidst all the chaos.

Our district released the video for positive vibes. Love it!!!

Marinette Is All in This Together!– Click here!

The cameraman blasted through all my film but he sure is cute and look at his creations. 🙂

And he built some buildings and painted some paintings.

We are stellar parents (nope) and our child listens to us (nope).

We talked with our buddies virtually again. Lots of laughs. At one point the screen froze and this is funny to me. haha. Why did it do this… so great.

I also forgot to brag on my husband, Joe from Monday! Our kitchen drawers like to break a lot (the tracks just don’t hold up). In these quarantine times, he resourcefully fixed the drawers without going to get new parts. Way to be J!

So Saturday? Well it’s been a relaxing little morning. Did a little walk while I listened to a podcast I missed in the craziness of yesterday. Enjoying some coffee. Might do some things today. Like maybe clean closets or something. Definitely gonna put a little garden together my mom sent me. 🙂 Gotta do something with my face. Yikes.

In random thoughts- why these shirts??? Just why? Pretty sure lots of things make a life worth people’s time. haha.

I’m really proud of the way the house is coming together. I think that candle right up front brings the room together perfectly! John Michael really knows how to spruce up a space.

Alright. Better get going. Hope you all have a good day!

As I continue to look for the good in our new life, Remi has to be at the top of my list. She thinks this is greatest thing ever. All her people home all day long. Long walks and playing fetch. She is content and happy.

This morning she lays beside my desk and it makes me feel good too. Although, she did also make me make the bed around her today. She must be tired from all her extra exercise. 🙂

 

She’s pretty happy. She and John ran around in the warm sunshine yesterday which was lots of fun.

 

We had a good day yesterday.  Got a lot done work-wise and home-wise. Here’s a few photos of our good day. 🙂

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Looking forward to a nice day today. Got up at 6am. The alarm across the room, while brutal, worked pretty well. I got up at my target time and did the workout. Got some things posted for the kids and will soon be off to a meeting. Going to be busy at work today.

Pretty morning sun and coffee. Great start to the day!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!