Ways to Keep Occupied

Most of us are experiencing some kind of a “Stay Home” edict from some level of government entity. Generally, we had a certain amount of warning. Minimally a day to a week. Even months when you saw what was happening in different parts of our country and the world.

We had the fun times of trying to stock up on stuff. Of course, you’ve heard the crazy stories of the run on TP and empty grocery shelves. This was one day early last week at my local Albertsons.

I’ve been home since then until Tuesday when I drove to my local Walmart which is less than ten minutes away. I ordered on line Monday, and had a scheduled pick up time of 3-4 on Tuesday. I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was. A bit unsettling when my phone beeped with the message: You are here! I had just turned into the parking space in the area designated for Pick-Ups. Then I was asked which number/letter I was parked in and the color of my car. I marked those on my phone app. Within only a few minutes, the young man was out there and loaded my stuff in the trunk of my car. He even signed the digital ticket for me.

But I digress. Now we are home. Now, we’ve got what we think we’ll need for a week or longer supported by ordering on-line with delivery to our house or picking up. Maybe some of us have always been mostly at home. (I do work from home.) But now maybe we’re not alone anymore. Spouse/kids/parents have joined us.

Cooking changes. (I had to plan lunch for my husband Wednesday. His first real day home from work. How are you handling lunch? Every person for himself?)

Sharing the computer changes. (Even though DH has a perfectly good and updated laptop, he wanted to work on the big Dell. I don’t really blame him.) LOL

How do you spend your day? Do you structure it all? Or does it just happen?

Every other day I do my Pilates. And I walk every day. I’ve added a middle of the day walk in order to get to my 10 K steps. I used to go the Walmart or the Mall for those steps. No more. The mid-day walk was working fine, but now our temps are jumping up. 88 today and in the 90s tomorrow! My middle-of-the-day walk may have to be done in the middle-of-the-morning. I’ll have to get up and start my day earlier to make this work.

Working on meditation. Still don’t get it done daily. 😦

My daughter Laura’s Pilates studio has closed, and she has posted Pilates Mat classes on UTube. Very excellent, I recommend it. She’s great the way she shows you techniques for a beginner to an intermediate person.  Here’s the link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYq3NjVzk7k&feature=youtu.be

Here’s me working from home. My legs are smaller than they appear in this pic! LOL

Of course, there is a wealth of TV and movies to catch up on. Are you watching the MSNBC show What’s Eating America? Fascinating. We watched the first one, but now I have others recorded and plan to catch up on this series. We don’t have Roku or any of those newer ways of watching TV. I ordered something from Amazon the other day and signed up for a free month of Amazon Prime. So, I might try to watch something through them. I’m not sure how it works. Do you have favorites there?

I’ve seen Facebook pics of puzzles that some of you are completing! My grandkids are great with puzzles. Me not so much. I’m more of a game person, but DH doesn’t enjoy games very much. I may have to figure out how to play games with the grands on something. I’d be more specific, but you know we’re talking technology. 😊

Maybe I’ll use this gift of time to clean out my files. And maybe even my closets? I have quite a few clothes that are now too big, and I need to send those to new homes. Thanks to Noom and learning new habits, despite the added stress, I’m doing well with the weight loss–about 26 lbs down. It’s very gradual, but that’s the best way. I’ve resisted making tempting deserts, which I see others doing on Facebook. With just DH and me home, I would eat way more of them than would be good for me. Have you made some yummy new dishes? I’ll live vicariously through you. 😊 Are you ordering meals from restaurants to help them out? We do a couple of times a week. Tomorrow, I’m hoping for Mexican.

For those of you still in the throes of winter, I share:

Not ours but we see every day on our walk.

It would seem that this is the perfect time to finish book 8, which you know I’ve named TAINTED thanks to my friend Helena Fairfax. (In the book, she’s called Helena Fairfield.)  I’m working through the ms to see what needs to be added. I wrote it fairly fast, pantsing it, so I have gaps and need more detail. However, I’ve still had church work, last week’s NEWSLETTER, and the Sisterhood of Suspense blog post earlier this week, and this post.

When I finish this, I plan to dive into TAINTED. Good to be forced to stay home.

You stay home, too and be safe. We are blessed with technology that allows us to keep up with family and friends.

If you need something to read, here are some of my author friends who write in a variety of genres:

Susan Bernhardt, Helena Fairfax, Susan H Vaughn, Jerrie Alexander, Donnell Bell, and Barbara Lohr, Jo-Ann Carson, and Kimberly Packard. Here are a few of the gals on the Sisterhood of Suspense blog: Kathryn Jane, Jacquie Biggar, Vicki Batman, Sarah Andre, Marian Lanouette, Pat Amsden, Veronica Forand, and S.A. Taylor. Here’s the link to the SOS blog where you can check out everyone and read my blog post from earlier in the week. 🙂 https://sisterhoodofsuspense.com/2020/03/24/physical-distancing-social-connection/

I’m running out of time to get this up. 😊

And of course, you can choose any of my 7 books. All with a Happily Ever After endings.

Love to hear from you.

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