Home alone...ish.

So, as a country, depending on where you are, you are now 2-5 weeks into quarantine.  Again, I'm going to save the vitriol and complaints for another post because I'd prefer to keep the angst contained. Instead I'm going to share what we've been doing for the last four weeks of self isolation. With six kids. And two feet of snow outside. With below freezing temps until this weekend.

Sigh...

Now, I am totally the kind of person who can amuse themselves for hours. Days. Weeks even.  The problem is that most of my kids aren't.  We started our stand against ennui by breaking out the crafts. Back in 2017, I started a temperature quilt.  The plan was that I would crochet one line a day, representing the high temperature, with tassels for the low.  Super easy.  Well, I did such a good job keeping up on it that it took three years to finish.  The result is three Brennas long (roughly 16 feet in layman's terms), and vaguely hourglass shaped, varying between 4-6 feet wide because I'm great at counting stitches AND proportions.

The important thing is that it's done, and now I can burn the rest of my yarn and never crochet again.  Ever.

Between rounds of sorting Magic cards, Brenna got in on some crochet as well, and made a cute little baby Yoda.  She also broke out the sewing machine to make a skirt, and has cranked out a couple pairs of earrings.  I'm just glad we're working through the craft supplies.  And the flour, too.  Brenna's probably made 12 dozen cookies and 2 batches of donuts in the last few weeks.  Some of them were shared with friends.  We won't talk about the rest.

As previously mentioned, Leah took a woodworking course in February.  She was sick and missed a day, which meant she didn't get to finish her hat rack.  This week we busted out the drill and finished it.  I love it.  We've also done some watercolors and rock painting with various levels of success.

Before the world shut down, I picked up some science kits. Between the six savages the kits had fairly short lifespans, but for a few shining hours the kids learned about hydraulic pressure, robotics, and magnets.  Maybe some of it will stick.

Exercise has been a challenge since our treadmill fritzed out.  The temperatures are finally rising--this weekend we hit the 40s for the first time since October--but six months of snow don't melt overnight.  It's a couple weeks of ice-slick mornings and drippy, slushy afternoons.  Since we aren't supposed to see friends, we've had to resort to impromptu dance parties, epic pillow fights, and sometimes just shrieking after each other down the hallway to burn off energy.  One time, the urge to be outside was so strong that snow-kayaking sounded plausible. (Spoiler--it wasn't.) We also spent a useful half hour practicing eating things off our faces without our hands.  For reasons.

Not our snowman.  Still worth sharing.

I've managed to do some writing as well, dusting off several old stories that predate the stupid temperature blanket in addition to blogging a little more frequently. Leah's working on an epic of her own.  Bren won a local writing contest with a short fantasy story. I love listening to the crazy, border-line psychotic storylines that pop up when they're playing Dungeons and Dragons together. *Note to self, keep matches away from Jane.*

We did manage to fit some school in.  Frankly, since we already homeschool we don't have a good excuse to quit altogether, though education did take a back seat while I raged at the internet for a week and a half.  The minions were excited to hear that state testing got canceled for the year...until I reminded them that we test at home.  Mwa ha ha ha ha!

Making pies.

The most important achievement, as far as I'm concerned, was potty-training.  A month ago at the beginning of our lockdown, I decided I was tired of buying diapers and being imperiously summoned to change the preschooler whenever she pooped and offended herself.  Now I'm just imperiously summoned to wipe the aforementioned preschooler's butt multiple times a day--which is still better than diapers.

Our biggest continuous project has been recreating famous pieces of art.  It started when I saw a post on Facebook about the recreation challenge and thought "What else have we got to do?" We tried it out on Egypt Day (when I feel motivated enough, we do occasional themed days) and had a blast, so we did it again the next day with a new picture. And the next.  Now, it's become its own beast.  I have a huge list we're working through until I get bored or we get permission to start living again.

This probably sounds like we've been incredibly on it and productive. We have been...occasionally.  To tell the truth, our pajamas to real clothes ratio is more skewed than usual.   Descendants and Z.O.M.B.I.E.S. (Disney Channel movie musicals with multiple sequels) have been playing on loop in my house.  (They're actually pretty good, and I don't know if that's an objective observation or the quarantine talking.) We've managed some cleaning, but that's boring and never-ending, so we won't talk about it.  There has been crying and yelling and injuries caused by dumb choices with yoga balls.  A couple of kids have tried bolting to freedom.  I've tried bolting to freedom.

There's more.

The garage has not been cleaned and the driveway is still covered in hardpack.  There have been long periods of me ignoring everything and reading in my room (or watching Tiger King and period BBC romances, whatever).  Attempts at self improvement through learning and Tai Chi are scattershot at best.  Laundry is done when I can't walk around the piles any more.  Sometimes the kids just run screaming laps around the house until they crash into something.

In short, it's a hot mess.  And...okay, so that's not too unusual for us, but it's a different flavor of mess.  Nothing about this situation is normal, and we shouldn't try to convince ourselves it is.   Luckily there's still some good times to have, cookies to eat, and some trashy tv to watch.