Well,
quarantine has been going surprisingly well these past few months, but last
week we all hit a wall. Nothing
earth-shattering or bad happened, but our little fam all seemed to get in some
sort of funk at the same time. (Well,
not Brian… he doesn’t ever seem to experience funks. Must be nice!) I think all of these weeks of staying home
and not seeing many friends or family finally started to take its toll, and
there wasn’t much we could do but wait for it to pass.
I always get in
a funk right around 4th of July anyway, so my funk was right on schedule. Early July is the point at which the novelty
of summer starts to wear off for me, probably because the weather starts
reaching excruciating temperatures on the daily, so that’s the point at which I
decide I’m done with summer and I’m ready for fall. Throw in the pandemic and the fact that we
can’t go anywhere, and it’s a recipe for disaster… all we can do is stay inside
our own house because it’s just too hot to be outside during the day! In addition to my usual funk + the pandemic,
Jacob and Olivia, who get along like 99% of the time (yes, we know that’s
really rare and we are really grateful for that), fought like cats and dogs all
last week, and that definitely didn’t help matters.
However, we’re
starting out this week on a much better foot, and I’m hoping that means that
the funk has passed (although, my longing for fall has not – ha!).
Monday, June 29 (Day 108 of Quarantine)
Monday started
out pretty good. I had an appointment
with the eye doctor, finally! I was due
back in February but failed to make my appointment until March, and as you all
know, that’s when things fell apart and everything closed, so my appointment
was canceled. In addition to the
pandemic, I was in the midst of switching to a new eye doctor for the first
time in probably 15 years, so procuring new contacts without an appointment was
a bit of a struggle. My new eye doctor
is very popular, and therefore, hard to get in with, so by the time they
reopened in early May, the earliest he could see me was the end of June. Shew.
I’m happy to
report that he was worth the wait! The
facility is so nice, the staff is fantastic, and the doctor is the most
thorough I’ve ever had. He’s also
hilarious, and we also discovered that we know a lot of the same people because
we both graduated high school in 2000 (although from different schools). Which brings me to… this visit made me feel
exceptionally old because I think this is the first time ever that I have seen
a doctor who was not older than I. How
is it possible that someone my age can be a full-blown doctor?! Last time I checked I was still 25. ;o)
I had to have
my pupils dilated for the first time in years, so I struggled driving home, but
I did stop by Chick-Fil-A to grab lunch for B and the kids. Olivia received some mail from her BFF, Becca, and that completely made her whole afternoon.
I spent the rest of the afternoon working
while the kids played and watched TV.
After dinner, B and I took the kids to the culdesac at the end of our
street to practice bike-riding. Jacob
was not remotely interested, and it put him in the worst mood, but Olivia was
excited to practice. B was able to let
her go for a split second a couple of times, but girlfriend just has zero
balance and falls every single time.
Somebody please send help!! After
a very frustrating 30 minutes (in the sweltering heat, I might add – haha) we
decided to ditch bike-riding practice, and instead, let the kids take turns
riding the scooter while we took Maui for a short walk. They love that thing!
Tuesday, June 30 (Day 109 of Quarantine)
Tuesday morning,
Olivia had her Zoom reading lesson with her teacher, and then after that, the
kids and I washed Brian’s and my SUVs.
We usually just run them through the car wash, but I figured it’d be
something different for the kids to do and a way to spend some time outside
while keeping cool. It started to rain
just as we were starting Brian’s SUV, but we went ahead and got it done. Both vehicles look so much better, but we
didn’t quite do as good of a job as the car wash does.
After we washed
the cars, we checked on our baby birds, and we were excited to finally be able
to see their little beaks, although they weren’t holding their heads up yet.
It rained all
Tuesday afternoon, so the kids built a giant fort upstairs in the play room
(read: made a MASSIVE mess – haha) but it kept them occupied all
afternoon. I sat down to do some work
around 3 that afternoon, and 20 minutes in, the thunderstorm knocked out the
power. The power came back on almost
immediately, but our internet was down for about an hour, so I couldn’t get
anything done. Sigh.
Tuesday
evening, I was pretty frazzled after struggling to get my blog post up for the
next day, so when the kids decided to be whiny and uncooperative during
clean-up time I was done. Thankfully, B
took over and I went out for an hour long walk around the neighborhood all by
myself. That helped me clear my head, so
I was in a much better frame of mind when I got back home.
We all watched
part of America’s Got Talent, and then the kids went to bed.
Wednesday, July 1 (Day 110 of
Quarantine)
Wednesday morning,
I walked into Jacob’s room to see the kids working on the activities my Mama
Cass had mailed to them. She’s been
clipping the kids’ activities in our local paper and mailing them to us and the
kids have loved it! There are mazes and
word searches and things for them to color…
After that,
everything went downhill. Everyone was
cranky and the kids were argumentative, and I just had zero drive to do
anything. Mid-morning, I decided enough
was enough, so I dragged the kids outside to get some fresh air since that
usually helps! I ended up blowing
bubbles while they chased and popped them (Jacob with a baseball bat but,
whatever works! Haha) and by the time we
were done everyone was in a better frame of mind.
A storm rolled
in as we were coming inside, and the rest of the day was spent reading on the
couch, doing summer homework with the kids, and working. I didn’t have a lot of energy and I also felt
kind of nauseated, so it was a very unproductive day. I did Facetime with one of my old coworkers,
though, and he and I got all caught up on life and the recent goings on in the
world.
After dinner,
we decided to go for a walk around the neighborhood since the rain had cooled
things off. I had discovered the
previous day that the new build we’ve been stalking was finally framed, so we
wanted to go explore it since it’s the only house in our whole neighborhood to
have a basement. It turns out, it’s our
exact floor plan, but with a few tweaks – including a third car garage and a
full basement. BRB, moving down the
street! Haha.
We watched the
rest of AGT after we got home, and then the kiddos went to bed and B and I
watched some more of All American and Sneaky Pete. All American is so good, y’all!
Thursday, July 2 (Day 111 of Quarantine)
Thursday morning,
I woke up with a bladder infection, and that actually made me feel better
because that explained my lack of energy and nausea from the day prior. I get them once every year or two, and I was
long overdue, so it was time.
Thankfully, we have Telemedicine services with our health insurance, so
I was able to schedule a phone appointment with a doctor right there from home,
and they sent a prescription straight to my pharmacy. Easy peasy.
While I was
waiting for my prescription to be ready, I tried to do a yoga workout, but I
only got through about 45 minutes of the hour long workout because I felt
exhausted and nauseous. Apparently, my
body was working overtime to try to fight the infection and it wore me
out! Luckily, my prescription was ready
quickly, so I grabbed the kids and headed to get it right when it was
available.
I thought it
would be good to get them out of the house, even just for a car ride, and they
agreed to come if they could get cake pops from Starbucks. Haha. I
ended up surprising them and telling them we could get Chick-Fil-A milkshakes
instead if they wanted… they were ecstatic.
We surprised B
with a shake when we got home, and then I spent the rest of the afternoon
working. After dinner, I was feeling a
little better, so we all went outside to play wiffle ball in the back
yard. It started to rain a little so our
playing was cut short, so we headed back in to watch the very end of AGT and an
episode of Be Our Chef. Then, after the kids went to bed, it was more All American. I'm obsessed.
Friday, July 3 (Day 112 of Quarantine)
By Friday, that
nasty antibiotic had me feeling sick as a dog (anybody else get suuuuper sick
when they take antibiotics?!) so I was on the struggle bus the second I got
up. Thankfully, B was off of work that
day for The Fourth, so we were able to sleep in and then he went out and picked
up donuts for breakfast. We had
initially discussed doing something special (outdoorsy where we could social
distance, of course) since he had the day off, but since I was feeling pretty
terrible from the infection and the meds I didn’t want to venture out too
far. We opted for the park near my
mother-in-law’s house because the walking trail is in the woods, so it’s shady
and cooler. We walked for about a mile
and a half and then headed back home, stopping by Zaxby’s to grab some lunch to-go
on the way.
The rest of the
afternoon was spent laying in the back yard reading while Olivia played in the
pool. Brian pulled out his golf clubs to
teach Jacob the basics since he’s been begging to go play golf. We all showered later that afternoon and B
and the kids played video games while I got some work done, and then B picked
up Five Guys for dinner.
Friday night,
we started a new show on Netflix that we’re all loving – Floor is Lava! It’s exactly what it sounds like… a game show
where people have to make it through an obstacle course and not fall in the “lava.” We ended up watching three episodes that
night and Jacob and Olivia are both obsessed!
It’s such a fun show to watch as a family.
Saturday, July 4 (Day 113 of Quarantine)
Saturday was
July 4th and we had no plans other than to shoot fireworks that
evening. Saturday was the worst day for
me, unfortunately, and I had the antibiotics to thank. I woke up long enough to eat breakfast, and
then I had good intentions to read on the couch, but I ended up sleeping
instead. B and the kids played board
games while I slept, and I woke up just in time to play a game of Yahtzee with
them.
Honestly, this year, I really wasn't feeling super jazzed to celebrate our nation's birthday anyway. We're more divided than ever, our leadership is lacking, and too many Americans haven't taken the pandemic seriously, making us the world leader for Covid cases and deaths. We're kind of the laughingstock of the world right now, and I just felt like that didn't necessarily need to be celebrated. I'm confident things will change for the better, though, and I'm praying that change comes soon... it will be nice to be able to say that the "United" in United States actually means something again.
We had lunch
and then spent the afternoon hanging out in the back yard, reading and playing
in the blow-up pool. Late in the
afternoon, I went in and showered, and by the time I was ready, I was exhausted
again, so I lay back down on the couch to read and… fell asleep again. Two naps in one day… who even am I?! Stupid antibiotics.
Fortunately,
that nap was just what I needed, and I rallied by the time my father-in-law and
his friend arrived at our house with pizza.
We spent the whole evening on the back porch eating, drinking, playing
Cornhole, and shooting fireworks. Tons
of people in our neighborhood shoot commercial grade fireworks every year so we
end up getting a huge two-hour long show right in our own back yard. This Fourth of July may have been the biggest
and the craziest for fireworks in our neighborhood ever! Obviously, the city didn’t put on their fireworks
show, and neither did anyone else in surrounding areas, so everyone just
decided to do their own. It was insane,
y’all. Insane.
We spent most of the night watching from our
back yard and then we moved to the front yard to watch our neighbors do theirs
in the culdesac. Our neighbors down the
street almost blew up their house at one point, but fortunately, all was
well.
I normally
dread 4th of July night because people tend to do fireworks until at
least 2 AM, but we were pleasantly surprised to hear the last of them in our
neighborhood right around 11:15… right as the kids were getting in the bed! Olivia didn’t even have to sleep with us that
night!
This Fourth was
definitely different than the ones in recent years since we normally throw a
big party, but we still had fun, so that’s all that mattered. Next year, I'm praying that our nation will be healthier as a whole, and then we gon’ throw DOWN to
make up for this year. I miss my people.
Sunday, July 5 (Day 114 of Quarantine)
Sunday we were all exhausted and B and I ended up sleeping in until 9:15! We got up, had a quick breakfast, and then I did
a nice, long dance workout before it was time to get ready for lunch at my
mother-in-law’s.
We celebrated
my brother-in-law’s birthday at lunch, and then spent most of the afternoon in
the house since it was so hot. We did
step out into the garden for a bit to see how the fruits and veggies were
coming along, but our time out there was brief.
Summa summatime temps are here and they are no fun!
We made a quick
stop by Publix for some milk on the way home (the kids and I stayed in the car),
and then the rest of the day was spent playing video games, getting some work
done, and eating leftover pizza for dinner since my Momma and Daddy didn’t have
us over for Sunday dinner. They had to
help my littlest brother move into his new apartment all weekend and they didn’t
want to risk exposing us since they weren’t able to quarantine.
