Same time same place, and we meet again! Except this time I have a bowl of grape remnants in my lap.

Today marks 42 days in quarantine for me. In 42 days, I’ve been out in the public world exactly three times. That’s a lot of time at home.

Bjork and I are splitting days and times and hours to try to both cover our work and parenting bases, and it is, well, just kind of impossible. It doesn’t make sense – there are two of us, and one of her – but considering we are used to having at least 30 hours of weekly childcare that has suddenly gone away, I guess it makes sense that balancing all of it feels so overwhelming.

Staying home for this long is both important and hard. Week after week, news cycle after news cycle, I am feeling the when-does-the-end feelings right there with you. I’m trying to remember that even if we don’t know when it ends, it isn’t forever.

So back to it – here’s the Quarantine Report List this week:

• Something Delicious
• Something Outside
• Something Connected
• Something Fun
• A Bonus Sage Photo

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Overall

Not a bad week. Also not the most fun time of our lives ever.

It was okay.

We had some mild ups and downs, and I had one day where I just fell into a cry hole after reading a particularly sad news article (THIS IS WHY I TRY NOT TO READ THE NEWS), but overall it felt like the perk-up and love-filled things throughout the week outweighed the bad stuff. It was solid. Solid isn’t bad. Solid is just… solid. I will take it.

Something Delicious

Of course, the deep dish pizza we had delivered last night was delicious, as were the work-with-what-you-have Korean beef rice bowls that I made earlier this week.

But the real winner was these triple berry cheesecake muffins. I made them 3x in 3 days, A) because it’s my job to make sure our recipes are actually really good, and B) because, um, THEY ARE REALLY GOOD and I like to eat them.

Check back – that brand new recipe will drop on Monday morning! Just think – it’s **something to look forward to!**

Something Outside

I’m trying to get better about doing some “field trips” with Solvi during my longer days with her. This week we went to an open field by our house. Literally… just a flat patch of grass. There is a park here, but it’s closed. There are trails here, but she’s not interested in being strapped down in a stroller these days.

So we went to an open field and she just kind of ran around aimlessly in the grass for an hour with me following her around and pointing out trees and robins and dogs walking on the trails. Despite the cold (STILL. WHY.) it was a winning moment in the week.

Side note: when we lived in the Philippines, in the heart of the jam-packed, always-bustling, highly populated urban chaos, we used to LONG for space like this. Just open green space. It is a gift, really. I’m thankful for you, Minnesota!

Something Connected

This week: PAINTING!

Brush lettering for me (during Solvi’s nap – I just couldn’t get any proper tasks done so I dusted off some paints and brushes) and then a stressful / fun watercolor frenzy with Solvi when she woke up.

This is in the “connected” category because I actually just got an email that our community is doing a drive to collect May Day cards for isolated seniors, so it looks like next week we’ll be painting again to contribute some cards for our community’s seniors and send some love out into the world.

Something Fun

This week I did a photo shoot with Sage and Solvi. I took a bunch of pictures on my DSLR and then transferred them to my phone where I just edited them right there from my perma-lounge position on the couch. It was a fun distraction.

Sage Photo

She loves the sun. She is my daughter. She is me.

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How are you guys doing?

Are you on the up-and-up? Stuck in a downward spiral? Riding the rollercoaster of unpredictable emotions day to day?

What are the little things (are there any? one? two?) that are lifting you up this week?

I don’t always get a chance to respond to all your comments (see above about dividing work and quarantine parenting shifts) but I want you to know that I read them and connect with them and absorb them. I feel honored to get a glimpse into your quarantine lives. ♡

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