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by Hope

With the exception of History Buff, who continues to work full time as an “essential” employee at this time, all the kids were home all weekend and the weather was beautiful. We put it to good use!

Princess spent the bulk of her time cleaning the inside of the house…even vacuuming and wiping down window sills. She washed dogs, cleaned bathrooms and swept and mopped floors. (Due to her allergies, she most always does the inside work.)

Gymnast was on Grandmama duty for the most part although he helped with a few other things as well.

Sea Cadet and I planted our first gardens of the season, created an outdoor living space and rearranged furniture to give everyone a space and a closet. History Buff is the only one in the house with his own room and closet.

We moved all our outdoor furniture to our side driveway and created an outdoor seating area complete with lights. Once our tree leaves come in, it will be shaded. It’s nothing fancy, but it does work for us. I enjoyed having my breakfast and hot chocolate there yesterday. And while we tried to have dinner there last night, the rain caught us and sent us back inside.

While we typically have a car parked there, we decided with the unknown length of the quarantine, this would give us some much needed separate space. We’ve got 3 hammocks (kids have them from years at camp,) one picnic table, one lounge chair and a grill. It has become my new happy place.

We won’t be able to leave it like this forever because we will need the parking back when we start going places again. But for now, this will be a much more practical use of the space.

(Speaking of that, the younger kids’ dad did confirm, when he was here dropping Gymnast off, that he plans to give Princess a car for her birthday. So we will see if that happens…two months and counting until she can get her license.)

On the financial front, I am paying bills as they come in, but am not paying any extra on debts at this time. Just feel better with the uncertainty of the times to keep more cash on hand. I plan to do a debt update at the end of the week.

I hope you are well and not going stir crazy or driving your “quarantine” family/friends batty. At this point, we are still enjoying this time. Lots of laughter, good food and now that we all have a “work place” kids are more content to get their school work done without screeching at one another.

by Hope

All of my kids are home. Grandmama is moving into an assisted living facility.

History Buff is still working full time. And Sea Cadet is actively looking for work while on leave from Americorp. (He believes he will have a full time job in the next week or so with the local EMS. *crossing finger) And we are getting tons of together time. Tons!

Princess has started online schooling along with an online drivers ed course. We are waiting to hear from Gymnast school, but we are pretty certain they are going online as well. (Technically, this is their originally scheduled spring break.)

As anticipated, work has been a bit wonky…clients have cut hours and tightened their belts but there are requests for new proposals coming every day. I’m spending equal parts of my day working and marketing.

Overall, I am just enjoying this time though. Having all the kids together, cooking and trying new recipes, and now that Grandmama is moving, I have much more latitude in my schedule.

Handling the Change in Life

We are working on establishing routines and boundaries for this new normal. Other than the bathroom, no one really has any privacy, so practicing patience and grace has become a running mantra. We’ve settled into everyone fending for themselves for breakfast and lunch and then I cook one big meal a day.

Still have some rearranging to do as Sea Cadet is technically living in the middle of my office and Gymnast doesn’t have a dedicated work space for when school starts back. But we know where there’s a will, there’s a way. And after our time of living in the tiny 900 square foot apartment with two bedrooms, and then in the camper with essentially no rooms, living in an 1100 square foot house with a good size yard is like heaven.

On the financial front, we are still living on last month’s income so no big changes there and haven’t had to look at savings. But it sure feels good to have it!

We are not spending any money to speak of…not going anywhere so no gas (Grandmama lives a mile from us,) we have picked up take out once when it was just Princess and I, otherwise we are eating at home and we are well stocked on everything else. We are all healthy so far. But I have also stocked up on the recommended medications should any of get sick.

How are you doing? What are your biggest joys with this new way of life? What are your biggest challenges? If you could use some support in this time, I am happy to jump on a call and brainstorm together in ways you can evolve your business or homeschool your kids…(You can book a Strategy Call using this link.)