Quarantine Hacks

E, I love that you took time to read to your students. They will probably remember that years from now! I'm sure they miss you, too.

I had my oldest GS spend the night with me last month, which we rarely get to do, with school, etc. I told my DD that I was thankful he got to, when he did. I miss my grandkids!

I walked today, too...in the rain...and, I think wine is in my future this evening.

Enjoy your week-end everyone~

On Netflix - I've gotten a bit hooked on a show called The Fosters.. It's like a very modern day Brady Bunch-esq Kinda perfect to take your mind away from whats happening out there. It can suck up a lot of time! I'm on Season 5 - and there are about 20 episodes per season. So if you've got some time on your hands and want a cheery distraction, I'd give it a try!

I have been cooking. It's rained here literally all but two days the last two weeks which greatly hinders outside! I have a prayer group and we've been texting regularly how were doing, and I have other friends I bug over text. My kids seem fine. I've had grump days. But now I'm kinda looking at it like I'm back on the 80s, when we didn't have a lot of options to go out to do, when we mostly stayed outside or got creative indoors, when family nights of renting movie to watch on the tv (Now renting on DISH network not a video store) was common, when doing puzzles and board games was the usual. It's a way to cope for my brain !

ShetlandPony! Was that the same winter Pa went with his bucket over to the Wilder boys and walked away with a fill of their "secret" store of buckwheat?You brought back some literary memories. Thank you.

Shetland - I ADORED those books as a child and read them front to back so many times. I definitely remember The Long Winter, and how they all did school work too I think, and embroidery etc during the day. We complain about having to have Facetime catchups with friends, can you imagine having to sit in one small room with a dung burning oven for days on end, and grinding your own grain, waiting for the train to arrive? And yes romashka, that was where Pa went over to the Wilder brothers store maybe? and saw the room didn't match the external dimensions. I can still remember the illustration that went with my copies!

On the same theme, there is a really good book by a NYT journalist called The Worst Hard Time that is an oral history of those living in the Dust Bowl in OK panhandle and that area of Texas. Years of cake-flour fine dust every day, dragging chains behind cars to ground the static electricity, people canning tumbleweed to eat, and one family was living in a dugout and had to kill centipedes using a hot clothes iron. Like good lord, staying inside and working/shopping/communicating from our homes for a few weeks in the grand scheme is not that bad.

Im doing more yeast baking this weekend with fresh hot x buns for Sunday and maybe some savoury crepes. Going to also do some purging of 'stuff' between the move packing and just to get it done.

Spookiesmom I loved your dog poster! I am working from home now, full-time, so am trying to build time into my day to walk the dogs. I also got overly excited about a car ride yesterday: nurseries here got declared essential so I went out and bought some pansies and herbs. It felt freeing and wonderful! I've also dug up a dozen recipes I've always wanted to try and never have. If you subscribe to the New York Times food newsletter you get a few free recipes a week and I've enjoyed reading the ones I don't make. Best wishes to everyone!

Shetland Pony, I love historical fiction; it's how I taught myself the entire details of the War of the Roses (England) and all that complex Tudor history! I am adding it to my list of Goodreads books "want to read" right now!

Claire

I've been going for walks and trying to figure out how to do on my phone things I would typically do on my computer.

my gym is open so I go to classes even if I don't want to, it's gives me time alone out of the house and the 'high' afterwards is addicting. I also downloaded an app, that I won't name of course, that helps with meditation etc so I can get some sleep at night. And cooking. I realize it's great and I'm allowed to take time for myself while stuck in unnormal life. Also I usually lay down in the afternoon, on the couch, again for that alone time instead of for sleep, to center my thinking or just escape in thoughts midday

My gym reopened but is holding classes outside and if you want to a mat and to use weights you have to bring your own. I had always enjoyed walking the mile or so to the gym but even two 10lb weights were too much and I had to drive instead. For my birthday I asked my husband for an under airplane seat suitcase with wheels, more weights!!, a yoga mat and a Wondrous Adventures of Mittens water bottle so I can resume walking to and from the gym in style.

My big salvation has been finding mindfulness! I've had 2 surgeries, a daughter's wedding with reception, 2 adult kids moving across the country with their spouse and my one and only grandchild (center of my universe) and found out some alarming diagnosis with me developing severe anxiety and several family members mental health condition much worse than originally thought.

I'm a devout Christian and feel like I've been supported by my faith and seeing the Hand of God in my life in little ways all throughout. But I also discovered this practice and it's really been a game changer. I've gone from frequently anxious, out of breath and shaking, to rare moments that quickly dissapate with focused attention.

I'd heard about it for a long time and on the free app 10 percent (10 percent happier) I learned what it is and how it works. There are tons of apps that help by my favorite is breethe and I use it at least once a day. I can't recommnd this practice enough.

Picture guided meditation. (I lost you, didn't I. No really, stay with me. It gets easier.) You learn to zone out of all the things in the future and the past and get in tune with your body and surroundings in the exact present. It's a procedure that takes practice and a litle help to understand from skeptics like me, but it's SO worth it.

I listen to sessions that last from 1 minute to 30 minutes. I learn to relax and tune out the rest and live entirely in the present. Then, I can process anxiety, or stress, or sleeplessness, or past trauma, or future problems, etc. in a relaxed and strong environment. I am able to read the response of my body to better understand what my issues are. What am I really afraid of? And then, skip the worry stage and face it head on and fix it or understand it.

I love how I can choose so many (hundreds of topics and meditations, music, hypnotherapy, bedtime stories, etc.) options to help me connect with what I'm needing at the moment.

So how is this a game changer? I am able to be more self-aware. I sense approaching anxiety and am able to prevent the build up. Instead of getting caught up in it, I observe it and am able to help disipate it without any meditation. I just have to take a deep breath, refocus my brain on the moment, ask myself what I can and should do, and then do it.

I wish I had learned this decades ago. It doesn't fix my problems. Not one. But it gave me the tools I need to help me fix my own problems from a stronger position.

There are tons of mindfulness apps. I'm glad I started on 10 percent because I was such a skeptic and their free introduction series was fantastic. I'm on Breethe now and love it, but needed the other app to get me ready for it. Look one up and see if it helps you. It takes a week or two to see results and then they are pretty quick to build- at least for me! You've got nothing to lose except a few minutes each day. Give it a try.