Quarantine Journal: Week 5
I'm keeping a daily journal while we're stuck in quarantine. To check out previous entries, click below!
Week 1: March 18th-24th
Week 2: March 25th-31st
Week 3: April 1st-7th
Week 4: April 8th-14th
Here we are. Week 5. Kind of hard to believe it's been this long. The days feel kind of long, but the weeks feel SUPER short. This whole thing is really just flying by. I think I was made for quarantine, minus the whole so-stressed-you-can't-sleep part.
Day 29: Wednesday, April 15th
Our stimulus check posted today! 💸 I've been checking every day for the past week, and literally as I was checking this morning I said, "I don't know why I keep doing this..." but it was there!
So then I went on Free People's website and fantasized about all the things I would buy with this check if we were irresponsible. It was a fun hour. And then I came back to reality and moved it right over into our savings account in the hopes that we won't need it. (Like my dad says, "Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it." Wise words.)
(Important: I'm not complaining. I feel very fortunate that we don't need it right now. I am not actually upset about not being able to use it to buy even more flowy boho shit to sit in my closet collecting dust until we start washing our hair and putting on shoes again.)
Later, I was sitting on the couch when Sean walked in and said, "Are you watching that Christian channel?" I was! I didn't even realize it, and I wasn't even actually comprehending what was going on. It's kind of like that time I accidentally watched My 600-Pound Life for hours on end without retaining anything. This one was all about the qualities God looks for in the people he "uses," which was weird wording IMO.
Then I watched Little Fires Everywhere because, God bless us all, it's Wednesday. My TV day. Little Fires Everywhere + Survivor + DoOL (which is on every week day, to be fair). LFE is too good and has probably ruined me for all other shows.
Today's Purple Carrot meal was Korean Tofu Tacos with Kimchi Slaw and Cilantro. I burned TF out of my finger. (Pro tip: Don't touch the stovetop mere minutes after turning it off.) The meal was as delicious as my finger is scorched. Definitely my favorite of the three we made and will likely become a staple for us, assuming I can find all the ingredients at Publix next time I go.
Happy Wednesday!
Day 30: Thursday, April 16th
Today was kind of gloomy and rainy and I LOVED IT. At one point, I thought we had lost Michelle because I couldn't find her anywhere in the yard, but then I discovered she was stuck under one of our yoga mats. God bless her - she can barely "talk" right now because she mysteriously strained her vocal cords, so she couldn't even respond to my "Michelle! Where are you? Where's my favorite bird?" calls. I was sure she had wandered out of the backyard and was lost forever until I heard a bunch of flapping and CHICKEN PANIC.
It was super cute.
Our workout-of-the-day included a 1/4 mile run in between each round, but the rain gods smiled on me, and I got out of the last two because it started pouring. Thank you, rain gods!
Then we had the ultimate comfort food for lunch: grilled cheese, black beans and yellow rice. Oh, the carbs and the calories and the sodium. It was delicious (and then, thankfully, gone for good. No leftovers to tempt us.).
Then I sat down to "read for a minute" and ended up reading for a lot of minutes. I finished part one of Barn 8, the book my mom got me, and it is so good! Plus, there's nothing like reading in bed on a rainy day with the door open. HEAVEN.
The book made me want to hug my chickens, but they weren't interested, so I settled for Carly. She was thrilled about it, as you can tell from the pic of the day.
I finished the evening in a battle with a crow that wouldn't stop harassing my chickens. Michelle is afraid of birds (I know - hilarious and adorable), and the little bastard kept swooping down and making threatening (I'm assuming they were threatening) noises at my girls! Then, when I went to put the birds away, I got shit all over my hand from the coop lock. The crow had shit all over the coop and the lock!
Disgusting.
Day 31: Friday, April 17th
Today was really good, but I need to start with a rant. I went to Publix today, and I'm pretty sure my blood pressure has never been higher. There are arrows going down each aisle, along with signs that say, "ONE WAY. DO NOT ENTER. YOU'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY." Yet, somehow, SOMEHOW, people still couldn't figure it out.
I swear, every aisle I walked down, people were going the wrong way, crowding each other, leaving carts all strewn about. I couldn't help but wonder, are these people just really that unaware of their surroundings? OR do they just think that rules don't apply to them?
This one little mouth-breathing punk with stupid hair was literally on every aisle I walked down, going the wrong way, and it got to the point that I made a little game out of it. I started saying under my breath, "You're an idiot," and each time I saw him, I had to say it a little louder. I was pretty sure I was going to end up in jail by the end of my grocery shopping adventure for accosting someone, but seriously. Can we please all just follow the rules? And if you don't want to follow the rules, stay TF home far away from me please.
Anyway, today was a really productive work day. It was nice to have some semblance of normalcy as I worked on some projects and connected with some new team members.
At the end of the day, Sean and I gave the lanai off our bedroom a makeover, complete with some decorations from our wedding! These have been sitting in our garage for so long, it felt good to finally bust them out and find a place for them.
I do need to take a minute to applaud my parents for putting up the curtain lights for our wedding day. Those things were a pain in the ass to untangle, and I can only imagine what it was like having to do that on a day that you're also doing a million other things. Thank you, Mom and Dad!
We ended the night with a virtual happy hour with some work peeps. While I was at Publix, I picked up three mini bottles of Prosecco because I didn't want to open a big bottle and have to drink the whole thing. Ended up drinking all three mini bottles (which probably equals one big bottle). Oops! 😊
Day 32: Saturday, April 18th
Hello, weekend! We kicked off our Saturday with takeout from a new restaurant. Boy, was that disappointing! I'm not going to name names because I'm not trying to hurt any local restaurants, especially right now, but it was a serious bummer of a meal. Which sucks, because takeout has become a rare treat in these COVID times.
Anyway, we headed out to our rival island, Terra Ceia, to say howdy to Sean's parents and cut Sean's hair. (Goodbye, blonde locks!) Sean's dad took some photos of the process for his Corona Diaries Series, so now we're famous. :) Go check it out!
I spent the afternoon dropping off some stuff for my parents and having a socially distanced HH outside with Mom and the doggos. Then we had a virtual happy hour with some more fun peeps!
To finish off the night, we made some chocolate chip cookies and watched a sushi documentary that I had to quit halfway through. It was good but...graphic.
Day 33: Sunday, April 19th
This morning, I made some pancakes and jumped when I poured the mix out of the bag because BUGS! And then I realized they weren't bugs. They were chocolate chips. Turns out I accidentally bought chocolate chip pancake mix. DAMMIT!
They were still pretty good, but they made us both feel sluggish and jittery, probably because we never eat pancakes. This pretty much happens every time I eat pancakes, and I'm like, "Never again!" But then a year later, I eat them again. It's an annual tradition.
People keep saying that days don't matter anymore, but I disagree. I still get some pretty serious Sunday Scaries every time a new week rolls around. Probably because corporate memos don't come out on weekends so it kind of feels like we're back out on the battlefield every time Monday rears its ugly head. So to combat those scaries, I made myself a dirty martini - complete with garlic 🤤 - and enjoyed some fresh air by the pool.
We spent the evening in an epic battle with Carly. It all started when we took the girls for a walk, and I volunteered to be Carly's handler (homegirl is a PITA to walk). She stopped to roll in the dirt, and I was like, "You do you, girl. It's your walk," because she rolls in the dirt in the yard all the time, and it's never an issue. But then I noticed the end of a snake under her, and I was like, "Carly! It's going to bite y-- oh, it's dead." She was rolling in a dead animal.
On her walk of shame back to the house, some kids commented on how dirty she was, and I was like, "Yeah, she's on her way to take a bath." Apparently she heard me because she went straight to the back of her crate and wouldn't come out. Things got ugly, and I ended up having to crawl into the crate and drag her out, but I WON the battle, and that's all that matters.
Plus side: Now both dogs smell great!
Day 34: Monday, April 20th
I woke up at 4 this morning and got so worked up about people protesting...a pandemic? And the president...supporting the protests? And actually kind of...inciting it? And I got so angry and confused and sad and worried that I couldn't fall back asleep. But then I did for a little while! And then Sean woke me up because Millie was absolutely losing it outside, and he couldn't figure out how to make her be quiet.
Will someone please come take this bird? You can have her, free of charge. I will even send food and worms your way. Just please, for the love of god, get her out of my backyard and out of my life. She is the worst. THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULDN'T BUY THINGS ON CRAIGSLIST. (Although, I also got Michelle from some dude on Craigslist, and she is amazing. But he wasn't actually even planning on selling Michelle. He sold out of the birds I originally wanted and offered Michelle as a consolation prize. 20 bucks. Best thing to ever happen to me...other than Bailey. And Sean.)
But I digress.
Anyway, it poured HARD today, and it was so peaceful and amazing. I bundled up in a blanket on the lanai and read my book for a while. The twinkle lights, the rain, the thunder...
Then we went for a golf cart ride around the island and FaceTimed Japan. Sean got to show off his new 'do and smashin' 'stache to Erica and Ryan, along with his new massage gun toy that he's super proud of and loves to scare me with.
Day 35: Tuesday, April 21st
I hurt TF out of my back today. Just straight up destroyed it. On the very first round of our workout too! So I opted out of the rest of the workout and went for a bike ride instead. Let this be a lesson that stretching is VERY important!
When we first moved to Snead Island, I became unexplainably territorial about Emerson Point. Any time I saw someone post a photo at Emerson Point, I'd be like, "Oh, so-and-so was at Emerson Point today. They don't even live out here. The nerve!" And Sean would be like, "Why do you care? You've been there once in the year we've lived here...?"
He had a point, but now that's my go-to place for bike rides, so I'm there multiple times a week. Somehow, now that I spend more time there, I'm ok with sharing it with other people. I guess I've gotten over my territorial phase. Not sure what that was about.
Anyway, on the way back up to the house, I checked the mail and noticed a credit card offer. 🤩 I typically rip those up and throw them straight in the trash because...gRoWtH. BUT I opened this one, and I'm so glad I did because they were offering 0% on balance transfers and 0% APR for 14 months (including balance transfers). So your girl has herself a new credit card coming and won't be paying interest on her balance for 14 months EVER AGAIN.
I'm super excited. Sean is...nervous.
I was trying to decide if I should keep this one or my Marriott card (because I've been cutting up my credit cards as soon as I pay them off), and Sean was like, "Why not keep them both and just only spend what you can afford to pay off each month?"
I was like, "Yeah, Sean. That's cute. Been there, tried that. I think I know myself by now."
Anyway, I also received a FANTASTIC call from the dentist. They canceled on me. Now I don't have to go until August. 🙌
Spent the evening requesting mail-in ballots for Sean and me. I'm hoping we'll be able to go vote in person, but you never know, and I would HATE to miss out on voting, especially in this election. Then I threw some tequila (homemade margs) and salt (bubble bath) at my backpain, but sadly, it still hurts.
That's all for week 5!