New Pattern and Rhythms

     Wow, April 1 and what a difference a month has made. On March 1, we had just got our daughter home for spring break, our older daughter was on a weekend trip to Chicago, and I was looking forward to several days off work, followed by a work travel trip to New Orleans. Now, daughter is home again and we both are working from home, and no travel anywhere-not even right now to see family and friends in different households. My sisters life went from being a duo to having to face this crisis living alone while grieving and  grossly under employed in her restaurant job. Our family is no worse, though probably infinitely better off than many, so consider this reflection, not complaint. 

     I haven't been sleeping well and my mouth guard fitting for sleep apnea will be postponed indefinitely. Tonight I'm going to try and head to bed without a Tylenol P.M. I've only taken one, four different nights, two made me way to sluggish the next day. As I had both a slight headache, and desperate need for good sleep, adding one to a regular Tylenol was a useful sleep aid. I really don't want to rely on them though, and perhaps have trained my body into falling asleep on my own, and staying that way, rather than tossing and turning to fall asleep, only waking up after just a few hours and unable to sleep again.

     My days feel very long. I'm still getting up between 5:00 and 6:00, well closer to 6:00, doing a bit of exercise and stretching, showering, making coffee, and throwing a load in the washer. I'm logging in between 7:00 and 7:30, and generally stay working, with smallish breaks worked in, until between 5:00 and 5:30. I try and take a decent mid-day break and eat lunch, get outside a bit if it is nice like yesterday. My daughter and I coordinate some of our on-line work to maximize bandwidth. The last couple nights since the Stay at Home measures went into effect, we've met my older daughter for a long walk. We've come home, had dinner about 7:00, me trying to eat no later than that as part of resuming Intermittent Fasting (IF). It's someone folding the laundry, cleaning up dinner, reading, watching TV or video, and then to bed and the whole cycle starts again.

     DD2 stays up late doing her homework, and generally isn't up and doing things before 11:00. DH has been going into his store, mostly doing nothing it sounds, but wiping down surface area, and helping people on-line or by phone. They are not to accept walk-ins and sales must be by appointment. It seems kind of pointless. He leaves by 8:20 and is home about 5:10. He plays with or walks the dog, eats, and pretty much watches something on television or streaming. He needs to find something constructive to occupy himself, but he's talking with people all day so maybe the downtime at night is fine.

     This weekend will be more cleaning, purging, and organizing. There's endless projects to keep me busy. My pantry is a chaotic mess as is all the family paperwork. I'm going to push DH to tackle the family admin, which has taken over our kitchen table and I'll focus on the pantry. A big event might be running out for fresh fruit, vegetables, milk, and bread-quick in and quick out. I'll also look up and see if it is time to start seeds and do that if so. I have plants that need re-potting that due to the rainy last weekend and not being able to be outside unless I wanted to be soaked, I pushed off. It will be a break from the regular cycle.

     This is now our pattern and rhythm for a while. I hope we are doing our part well, keeping that curve flatter. I'd like to write about something interesting, but for now, this is as interesting as it gets. Comment with questions for me to answer and write about if you would. I need ideas. Anything you want to know about Minnesota I could research and share? I want to keep blogging and would love some ideas to write about and then for us all to talk about. Thanks for joining me in this.