Quarantine Diaries- Week Three

Trying to catch up!! This was Week Three of Sheltering in Place.

Loose front tooth after eating a pear

By the end of the day, the tooth was gone after eating a s'more

Izzy moved up to a bigger bike given to us by a neighbor, Wes works on his balance bike skills

My lovely hyacinths 

Working on balance in a nearby parking lot

Small snake in the grass found during our walk

The kids pretending to be scared of the two willow trees during a walk- maybe they are Wamping Willows?? (A lot of Harry Potter reading and watching of the movies the past few weeks)

"I can't walk anymore. I don't have energy"

The kids do "squats" as I do my MM100 workout

Easter silliness

We only had 13 eggs total so I hid them in the back yard for the first round, the kids found all of them and then decided that they wanted CP to hide them, then once they found them it was decided Wes would hide them for Izzy and the finally, Izzy hid them for Wes. It was pretty cute.

Quarantine Diaries- Week Two

WEEK TWO

Izzy was very excited to bring an afternoon snack to me  

CP and Izzy made homemade empanadas. They were delicious!  

My cousin posted about this capillary tree kit so I ordered one for the kids. They were really excited to see the crystals grow very quickly.  

Crystal trees  

Teaching Izzy how to dust  

I really miss my hair stylist. I know that it is totally vain, but I had to get rid of my grays  

We played around with Google 3D

Quarantine Diaries- Week Three and Four (updated)

WEEK THREE and FOUR

The kids have been watching a lot of Rescue Riders on Netflix (sigh). This is Wes' rendition of a grumple
(whatever that is).   

Izzy's rendition of a grumple  

CP got an award at work which gave him an Amazon gift card. He used part of it to buy a basketball hoop for the kids. We installed it and the kids (mostly Izzy) have enjoyed using it so far.  

The kids doing a Beachbody workout (sort of- these are their squats) along with me. 

Izzy has officially moved up to a bigger bike (given to us by a neighbor) and Wes started using and quickly caught onto the balance bike. I could see him on Izzy's old bike very soon.  

My favorite smell of spring.  

Izzy trying out a You Tube workout video for kids  

Finding ways to get exercise in our day that doesn't include the playground.

Izzy bit into a pear and suddenly had a very loose front tooth, which she was very proud to show off.  

That same night as we were eating s'mores on the patio it finally fell out. Thank goodness CP had a dollar bill in his wallet!!

"Stained glass" sidewalk chalk art  

Quarantine Diaries- Week One

 WEEK ONE

We thought we would "stock up" for quarantine but had no idea it would last this long.

Trying to get the kids outside to exercise, which on this day was having them run after birds to clean the field. Sorry birds.

We made an apple pie for Pi Day!

Izzy tries out the free Les Mills dancing class 

We broke out Izzy's out of this world donut kit that she got for Christmas.


(Not sure why Week Two pictures got screwed up, but I'm going to put them on a different post and hopefully they will actually post!)

Quick check-in

My have things changed since I posted last month.

I finished the Beachbody MM100 workout before we left on our vacation to Hawaii. I wish I could say that I had the time to write up a real review, but I was SO PROUD that I finished all 100 workouts. I felt strong and amazing when I was done with the program.

Our family had a fantastic vacation in Maui. I will try to do a post with pictures if I can.

Then after we got back, I left the next day for a work trip to Vegas and had a long month of March traveling for work. That next week I was called back to Chicago from a work trip in Atlanta and travel was (thankfully) banned for the foreseeable future.

We are sheltering in place here in Chicago and while it is not easy, I know that I have it so much better than most. CP works from 6am-12pm everyday while I watch the kids; I work from 12-6pm and then again after the kids go to bed. I often have calls or things that I need to prior to 12pm so the kids have been introduced to ABC Mouse and have watched more tv than usual. If you remember part of my job (well, all of it right now) is disaster work and our country has never seen a disaster this big. So I am working A LOT at night and over the weekends to help communities respond and keep slowing the spread. However, I'm not on the front lines like a doctor/nurse, grocery store worker, delivery driver, shelter worker, etc., so again, I can't complain too much.

I have been trying to work out but it's hard to get myself up and out of bed to work out when I have been up late working and didn't get enough sleep.

I try to get the kids outside as much as possible although today it will be rainy and 40 and we likely won't go out for too long. They miss their friends. I miss hanging out with friends (we have done two virtual happy hours). I miss my parents. My sister and I had to yell at them a bit, but now they are understanding that even though they are relatively healthy 70 year olds, they should not be doing stupid things.

Hope all of you are staying sane and healthy.

Day in the Life- Winter 2020

Day in the Life- Winter 2020

Thursday, February 13th

CP is 43, NSC is 41, Izzy is 6, Wes is 3.5 

Marshmallow and Cocoa are ?

5- The alarm goes off and CP heads downstairs to do some stretches for his back and make breakfast. I fall back asleep. CP comes back upstairs and takes a lazy shower.

6:35- I hear CP open Wes and Izzy's doors to wake them up. The new-ish routine is for Wes to then run into our bedroom to wake me up and get me out of bed (this is really to get HIM out of bed). So he happily jumps on the bed and me to wake me up. I get out of bed and follow Wes to the bathroom because although he is fully capable of pulling the stool over the to the toilet, pulling down his pants and pullup and peeing, I have to be in the bathroom with him (eye roll). I put my contacts in and put deodorant on. Wes washes his hands and we head into his room.

As we are pulling out shirts for the day, Wes tells me that the last person downstairs will be a rotten T-Rex. 

I hear Izzy getting upset in her room because she can't find her unicorn sweatpants and it is supposed to be cold today. I tell her that they are likely in the wash and head to her room to help her find other warm pants while CP goes to help Wes get dressed.

Everyone heads downstairs while I head to our room to get dressed. CP is working on making banana boats for breakfast (a banana with peanut butter on it), when I see that Wes has on long underwear for pants instead of actual pants. I grab Wes a new pair of pants and then put on boots, a hat, and gloves to shovel the snow from last night off the driveway. Thankfully it is super light.

Part of the way through I randomly decide that today is going to be a DITL. I also notice that our neighbor has a bunch of flamingos in her yard to celebrate her 50th birthday. Ha!

7:10- I kiss CP goodbye and he leaves for work. As always, I am so amazed that he is okay with the fact that he gets up and two hours later he leaves for work, but he never complains (as I would!).

7:12- I finish shoveling and head inside to wrangle the kids. Izzy heads over to the neighbors house for a ride to school.

Gearing up for the cold, snowy weather

Wes ran over to Izzy crying because he hadn't hugged her goodbye. This is not typical

7:20- I get Wes into the car after telling him that he shouldn't walk around in the snow with shoes on. As he gets into the car, he complains about wet shoes.

So nice to see sun in the morning as the days get longer!

7:30- I drop Wes off at school, happy that a classmate grabbed him and got him excited to build a tower. I never know if it will be a struggle to leave Wes at daycare or an easy day. My neighbor texted to borrow our travel car seat for her sister's kid this weekend; I reply that I will be home in a few minutes and can bring it over.

I get home and my neighbor walks over and asks if I dropped a phone. I didn't but I can see from the back that it is CP's work phone which he dropped in the driveway, in the snow, either last night and this morning. I get in the house and text him that I found his phone, then plug it in because it is dead.

I head down to the basement, grab the travel car seat and walk it over to our neighbor's house. I head back in the house, fill up my water bottle and head downstairs for Morning Meltdown 100 Workout #98: Fight Club! 

(Side note: I happened to look back on my Fall DITL from October and that day I did workout #10 so it has taken me a LONG time to get to the end!)


My stomach growls in the middle of my workout which means I need to drink some more water, but otherwise it was enjoyable.

Before I head upstairs I start the laundry because it is piling up. I head upstairs and cross out #98 on my sheet. I seriously can't believe that I am almost done!

Laundry: the bane of my existence

SOOOOO close to the end!

I grab some more water then head upstairs to shower and get dressed while listening to Scene on Radio- Seeing White Part 5. <-----highly recommend="" series="" span="" this="">

9am- Turn on computer and start working. Most days I try to start either by 8 or 8:30 but it's nice to get my workout out of the way for the day and I have been trying to not work as much as next month work is going to be INSANE.

My view today

9:40- I walk downstairs to make tea. I move laundry from washer to dryer & put in a new load while waiting for water to boil.

10- First call of the day while snowplows are barreling down my street.

10:50- Move laundry again, get more water, go to the bathroom.

11- I jump on another call. The call was supposed to be two hours, but was done after 45 minutes. Pee again (I always thought that I peed a lot as I love to drink water but Intermittent Fasting makes me pee even more!)

12- Do some work before my next call at 1pm. Change laundry, another bathroom break. I am definitely ready to eat and hungry, but don't have enough time before my 1pm call so I will wait another hour. I finished eating at 6pm last night so I'll do my second 20 hour fast this week!

1- Called my colleague and then realized that I forgot to invite her to our call so she double booked- whoops! Instead I go to the USPS website to create an account and hold our mail for our upcoming vacation.

1:30- My colleague can jump on a call so we talk for a few minutes.

2:15- I head downstairs for lunch. Fast ended after 20 hours, 24 minutes with three scrambled eggs on a corn tortilla with corn and bean salsa on top, a cup of coffee with Sugar Free Peppermint Mocha creamer, and an orange. Read the Washington Post's Daily 202 newsletter as I eat.

Cocoa wants some pets before I go back upstairs

2:45- Back upstairs for more work.

3- I remember that I need to get Wes' ice skates sharpened so I run to a local ice skating shop to drop them off. I'm back within 30 minutes and I'm working again.

4:25- Start watching a webinar. Get the call that the ice skates are ready.

5- I head downstairs to grab laundry out of dryer and pick up ice skates. CP suggests that I pick up Subway for the kids dinner.

(At this point I forget I am doing a DITL and there are no more pictures!)

5:30- After grabbing dinner, I call CP and he asks if I can pick up Wes since he is running late. I drive to his daycare and pick him up.

5:50- Wes and I are home. I ask him to wash his hands while I start to set the table & heat up the adult dinner (gumbo with rice). Izzy & CP get home. We all eat dinner.

6:20- Izzy and I leave for Girl Scouts. A fellow mom leads the discussion on responsibility with the girls while I sit with some of the moms to discuss dates for a cookie booth next month.

7:25- Girl Scouts is over and I have trouble getting Izzy to stop playing and put her jacket on. We have a discussion in our short drive home about the importance of listening to me. Once we get home we put the Girl Scout cookies on counter. Wes and CP are upstairs reading already.

7:45- I ask Izzy to put on her pajamas while I scoop cat litter & try to fold some laundry. She pouts b/c I tell her that I am disappointed in her for running away from me at Girl Scouts and that as of right now, she isn’t getting a book tonight.

I say goodnight to Wes who wants to give me a hug, get noses, cross eyes & give head bumps.

I give Izzy the chance to get a book by putting away her laundry. She does, so I read 
 three Rebel Girl 2 stories. The last one was about Celia Cruz so I quickly play one of her salsa songs. Izzy's comment is that Celia “sounds like a man singing.”

Izzy wants to show me how she can do two perfect belly breaths, so she does, I give her a hug and a kiss and turn out her light. Wes wants another hug so I go into his room and give him another hug. I grab the cat litter bag that CP passed on his way down the stairs and of course didn't pick up to throw away and bring it outside to the garbage. Damn it's cold out!

CP is on the couch doing work because a coworker stopped him & reminded him right as he was leaving that he needed something by tomorrow. I turn on the tv and start eating too many Dos-si-dos. Damn my fasting window should have started at 6:20 but now it is pushed back to 8:45. But mmmm the Dos-si-dos were good.

We watch episode two of the Pharmacist on Netflix. Halfway through I do the dishes and start the dishwasher. Once we finish the Pharmacist episode we turn on Planet Earth 2. We discuss tomorrow’s plans- we going to the night orchid exhibit at the Chicago Botanic Garden with the kids.

9:50- CP gives me a kiss & heads upstairs.

10:10- I do love planet earth but it is time to go to bed! Thankfully there is a commercial & I head upstairs at 10:19.

Before I head up the stairs I put the kid's valentines in their backpacks so that we don't forget them tomorrow.

I brush my teeth, take out my contacts, and quietly put on my pajamas. Cp is already asleep, no snoring so far- yay!

10:40- Turn on my phone alarm for 5am tomorrow & plug in phone. Turn on white noise app to waves. Good night!