Quarantime: Our time spent in Quarantine
At the beginning of the quarantine/shutdown/lockdown/stay-home order or whatever you want to call it, the boys were still in school which had changed to 100% online. Dennis was working from home and I was teaching online and helping our Taekwondo school from home. We had no reason to leave the house for weeks except to get groceries. Dennis did all the grocery shopping and anything other than groceries was purchased online.
We spent our free time going for walks and hikes, spring cleaning, watching TV and cooking big meals. Boardgames aren’t really our thing and you won’t find us playing Pictionary. But we’ve watched a lot of movies! Dennis and I binge-watched some shows together, such as Ozark, Boardwalk Empire, Narcos: Mexico, and of course, Tiger King.
And then on July 3 something magical happened
Disney+ released a recording of the hit musical, Hamilton!
We love live theater, but haven’t been lucky enough to get tickets and decided to wait until the hoopla dies down a bit, if it ever does. Then Disney swooped in with free tickets for the best seats in the house: Our living room! Thanks, Coronavirus!
Dennis, Ben and I soaked up all three hours of the hit musical, while Jack gracefully suffered through. Unfortunately, Jack is still suffering while we continue to listen to, quote and sing all the songs.
Dennis and I have always shared our favorite movies with the boys who are usually happy to watch with us. We make sure they see many of the classics, like The Godfather, and frequently-referenced movies like Jerry Maguire and Forrest Gump. We’re even happy to watch their recommendations, like Adam Sandler movies. Because of this, they’ve joined us in our love for pop-culture trivia. Sure, it would be probably more beneficial for them if we were into history or literature. But we’re just not that family.
Ben keeps a list of movies on his phone that we should watch. Some of the ones we’ve been able to cross off so far are Rainman, Mrs. Doubtfire, All the President’s Men, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Pineapple Express, This is the End, and I’ve personally watched many documentaries and movies based on conspiracy theories. Just keep reading.
Tin foil hat time
Personally, I’ve gotten into conspiracy theories and documentaries about conspiracies. I’m not referring to the ones where Bill Gates funded the creation of Coronavirus so he could then fund a vaccine that would implant secret microchips. Yes, that’s an actual theory. I’m talking about actual corroborated theories. I won’t call them “conspiracy theories” because that phrase tends to discredit said theories.
I won’t go into them here, because some of them are very dark and disturbing, but if you’re even slightly curious about how someone like Jeffery Epstein could have become so rich and powerful while not getting caught for so long, look up Lawrence King and the Franklin Credit Union in Lincoln, Nebraska as well as Washington DC lobbyist Craig Spence. Learning about these scandals made me dust off my tin foil hat and dig in.
This re-ignited my love for documentaries and movies that are based on true stories. My love for all things Kennedy really sent me down a rabbit hole as I dove into John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert Kennedy’s deaths further than ever before. That led to learning more about the deaths of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and Black Panther activist Fred Hampton. Okay so maybe not ALL of my theories can be substantiated. But while some folks dive into conspiracies about biological warfare, microchips and 5G, I’m digging into oldies but goodies. Theories that seem more realistic. To me, at least. Dennis and the boys think I’m nuts.
Home Projects
According to Facebook, a lot of folks were using this time for home projects. We got into it a little bit, but there’s definitely more we could do. The first project was setting up a space in the garage for Jack to work out. It was very helpful for his taekwondo training that was taught over Zoom. Then, Dennis found a nice gas grill on the neighborhood sale site that only required a little TLC. He spent a day cleaning and repairing it and, in return, it has added some much-needed diversity to all of this eating at home we’re doing.
I tackled this year’s spring cleaning with unprecedented vigor. Several bags of items have been tossed or donated, every closet has been re-organized, and every inch of carpet has been shampooed. We even splurged on a Roomba in an effort to extend the time between shampoos.
our own DJ Roomba: Ben taught the roomba how to speak
Our biggest project was replacing the sprinklers. We’ve been wanting to replace our sprinkler heads with something more water-efficient, but Dennis just needed the time to do it. He enjoys yard work: In St. Louis he put in a retaining wall and planted flowers and trees. In Kentucky, we had a huge vegetable garden in addition to maintaining 13 acres of yard. But in Colorado, we have a tiny yard in which nothing grows. So instead of rose bushes or vegetables, we baby the grass. Keeping Colorado grass alive requires a LOT of water, and no matter how high our water bill got, we still had dead spots. Dennis replaced the sprinkler heads with ones that used less water but reached more space and it was… not as rewarding as fresh tomatoes and watermelon. But it’s all we have.
I don't have pictures of our grilled dinners, but check out these Scotch eggs we made!
The Boys' Activities
Around the middle of May, Jack was able to resume in-person sparring training three times a week. To train, they must register in advance, wear masks, and stay six feet apart with no contact. Nevertheless, he was happy to see his friends and coach where they could exercise as a group.
A couple of weeks later, Ben’s regular drum lessons also resumed, and the timing was perfect because he was starting to get bored with virtual lessons and even mentioned quitting. He didn’t particularly enjoy Skype lessons, and they were becoming a bit monotonous. But once he was able to attend in-person again, he improved so much that his instructor started teaching him jazz techniques. Just like that, he loves it again and there has been no more talk of quitting.
Ben dabbled in an amazing but short-lived new hobby: Stop motion videos!
Virus Updates
reminders for my future self
At this point, coronavirus cases are soaring in the US while continuing to improve in most all other countries who aggressively tackled the pandemic from the onset. You know, those who didn’t hem and haw while people whined about masks infringing on their freedoms.
More than half the country has begun requiring face masks in public. When traveling from certain hot-spots, some states require a self-quarantine before entering. We still stay six feet away from others when in public. Most stores are marked with with one-way arrows and spots standing in line to ensure proper social distancing.
We generally only go to the grocery or hardware store, taekwondo and drum lessons, but if we were to venture out beyond that, there would be a lot of planning involved. For example: Most restaurants are take-out only but if they do have dine-in, chances are the hours have shortened, seating is limited, and they very well could be closed from one day to the next if a staff member has contracted COVID.
We’ve learned new terms such as social distancing (stay at least six feet from others!), social bubbles (the small group of family or friends you remain physically close to. Your “quaranteam” so to speak.). Then there are many other terms and abbreviations that we’ve never used before have become part of our daily vocabulary (flattening the curve, PPE, SARS, MERS).
School
Both boys return to school around mid-August and will be online, but Jack has a Physics lab so we’re not sure how that will work. Since Dennis and I can work from anywhere, we’re planning a longer road trip for the next phase of COVID. We’re still nervous about exposure, but we figured we can avoid hotels and restaurants, stay with family who has limited their exposure, wear our masks and cross our sanitized fingers!
Blog Update
You may have noticed that my most recent posts have been stories about what we’ve been up to, including details about COVID-19. Currently, I have no long distance relationship content since we’re all under the same roof and Dennis hasn’t been told when he’ll need to return to Virginia.
The COVID stuff isn’t meant to be considered “news” but rather reminders of what’s going on in the world and how our family is coping with it.
When I started the blog, I researched how to monetize a blog through affiliate sales and SEO (search engine optimization). Learning about it and applying it was enjoyable at first, but not enough to keep at it. Storytelling was what I loved and was more sustainable for me. If others who live in a long distance marriage find support or advice through reading it, that’s awesome!
But that will not be my primary goal. I’d rather just document our lives, especially during these crazy times. My scrap-booking and journaling has morphed into blogging and I treat it like it’s my job. Hopefully folks will find some of it relatable, maybe even entertaining. But most importantly, we’ll be able to look back on it and say, “Holy sh*t, that really DID happen!”
Ha! You’ve got a long way to go to get as tin-foil-hat as me, but it’s a nice start! 😉
Glad to see you’re gonna keep up the blog even if it’s without the long-distance-fam angle. Keep on chroniclin’ lady!
I’m reading Beyond the Pale Horse by Milton William Cooper so I might be not be far behind you! 😆
Thank you for always reading and leaving encouraging words! 🎉
If you’re reading that guy, I think you surpassed the Bill Gates thing by a few miles. 🙂 I still say in 2020, the kooks are starting to make more sense!! Also, I don’t know how I missed the stop motion vids last time, but those are cool! Keep it up Ben!
Ha!Those stop motion videos are hilarious Ben.Can you make some of those with Georgie?All the scenery is awesome!