In an effort to talk about something other than COVID, I thought it would be nice to share how we are spending our days - little projects, big projects, interesting books or netflix shows, whatever.

I'll start:

I painted LL#1's room to make it more hospitable for her to spend the next 5 months in (it was painted lime green with hot pink accents from her middle school days). We're in the process of purging everything in that room too - she basically hoarded her entire childhood - but now I am left with piles of crap everywhere because there's no thrift stores or donation places to take anything to and it's too nice to throw out. So somewhere I have to find some boxes and box everything up then find somewhere to keep it til I can donate it.

- I'm waiting on a delivery from IKEA (scheduled for 4/18) of dressers from with which I am planning to build her kind of a loft bed. She basically wants to recreate her dorm room, I think. I find it ironically annoying that when we finally have the time and motivation to attempt a huge project like this, IKEA is shut down and we can't go there and just browse around til inspiration strikes and then buy a bunch of stuff, bring it home, and see what works. Here's hoping I planned it out right so I don't have to wait another month for whatever else I need to get delivered!

- I'm doing yard work, but I will never be caught up!

- We bought a cheap used pool table for $50 right before the lockdown thinking we could set it up in the basement. Alas, it will not fit (technically it fits but there's not enough clearance around it to actually play!), so now we are trying to make our very messy garage somewhat hospitable so we can use it as a pool hangout this summer. We are again facing the issue of nowhere to donate the stuff we don't want anymore - since it's all garage stuff like lawn spreaders and rakes, I'm going to set it out by the curb and hope it disappears.

- I'm trying to teach myself to play marimba and possibly drumset, although I am hopelessly uncoordinated (especially when feet are involved - could never even learn the pedals on an organ!) so I'm guessing drumset is never going to happen! I'm not half bad at the marimba though (for a beginner!). But I haven't attempted 4 mallets yet - god help me!

- I'm planning to install faux tin ceiling tiles in our hall bathroom - it's the one all 4 of us use the most and the moisture from showering has really messed up the ceiling drywall. This requires math to figure out how many tiles I need and how I will lay them out and the room is an odd shape so I am not getting very far with my planning, LOL! If we stay in lockdown long enough, this will get done though!

- Mr. Lisa and I have been binge watching Money Heist on Netflix - it's set in Spain and has been overdubbed from the original Spanish which is a little distracting (I hate when their mouths don't line up with their words!), but it's a really good suspenseful show and I find myself rooting for the crooks to get away with it! There's like 4 seasons so it's going to be a while before I find out - we're not quite done with season 1.

- I am avoiding finishing our taxes. I really need to stop doing this one!

Well, I'm still "working," though I rarely go in to my office these days. My classes have transitioned to online, and I am busily making accessible mini-lectures using the Panopto software. This will enable me to teach my international trade class remotely, on in to the future.

I meet with my classes via Zoom, just like I did before, and for roughly the same amount of time. I assign essays and grade them. Exams and homework are assigned online and returned via email and scan. I hold office hours via Zoom.

I continue to write, though the distractions of home are getting in the way, i.e. it's an effort of will to get back to shaping those paragraphs and getting those figures and tables up to snuff.

I am finding more time to do outdoor things, paradoxically (and maybe perversely). I have been riding my bike 10-15 miles every few days. Jamestown Island national historic site is wide open. That's a beautiful 12.5 mile ride/loop from my house.

I say perversely, because I have been seeing lots of people walking in groups on the access road to the island, and I go past (and and passed by) lots of other cyclists. I try to give a wide berth, but lots of people are out and about in the beautiful spring weather. No, I'm not seeing "packed beaches," but people (including me) aren't staying completely cloistered inside. The governor's commands do not preclude outside exercise, but people should pay attention to distancing. Not all of them seem to be there yet, but at least I'm not seeing boisterous crowds in close quarters.

I am still working as well, and find it harder than ever to have work-life balance. A lot of things take much longer through email than if I could actually stop by someone's office for a quick chat. My course prep takes longer, grading takes longer.... And I'm behind in my writing. And I spend too much time on WTF and FB!

Other than that, I'm trying to get my home-office in a little better shape, and running into similar problems to Lisa. I ordered a bookshelf which should arrive by the end of April. I ordered some frames which are coming this week, so maybe the area behind my head in my Zoom classes will look a little nicer.

And I'm planning to try to start making some piano videos by recording audio with my Zoom (the recorder, not the videoconference platform!) and video with my iPhone and then syncing the two. So I've been working on pieces in my repertoire to see which are in good enough shape for this, and I'll probably try the first one this weekend.

I tend to get really shaky hands when I feel stage fright, and I'm thinking that maybe having the camera pointing right at my hands may induce that, but that's ok! :P

Other than that I'm trying to get out for a walk as often as I can. I am moving around sooo much less than when I'm working on campus, so that's a little frustrating.

Mr. SK is trying to repair our lawn (we had a big tree removed and the stump ground up, and it was a big mud pit after that!) so he's been planting grass seed, watering, etc. But what he really wants is to go to a garden store or Lowes/HD garden ctr, but since he can't do that, his options are sort of limited.

The other thing I do is call my mother at least once every day, which is good (for both of us), but it's funny how time consuming that is! She lives alone but is a very social and active person, so the isolation is really hard on her I think.

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Mr. SK is trying to repair our lawn (we had a big tree removed and the stump ground up, and it was a big mud pit after that!) so he's been planting grass seed, watering, etc. But what he really wants is to go to a garden store or Lowes/HD garden ctr, but since he can't do that, his options are sort of limited.

Those stores are open and probably doing a bang up business here. My wife bought some plants and potting soil just yesterday. Shows the variance in closures across states.

You call the store. They pack up your stuff. You drive in and pay, or prepay over the phone if they allow it. Most everyone keeps their distance and wears masks (but 100% of the employees don't fully behave ... my wife saw one young employee without a mask). You pick up your stuff and leave.

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You call the store. They pack up your stuff. You drive in and pay, or prepay over the phone if they allow it.

Down here, you can only do prepay and pick-up for things that you can order online. Seeds in bags fall into that category, but not anything that's in a pot (even the little ones that you re-plant right away, I don't know that they're called in English, cuttings? seedlings?) So he got grass seed, but I won't let him actually go shopping after we saw what it looked like when we went to go pick up the grass seeds. The aisles are very narrow, people are *not* keeping their distance and no one is wearing a mask etc. etc. And it was packed!

This was Saturday though, maybe we'll try again later in the week on a weekday.

He wants to plant phlox and it's supposed to work better if you can plant the cuttings/seedlings as opposed to using just seeds.

I'm still working. My home office is in NY, so I'm just as remote as I ever was. From that perspective, nothing has changed.

I don't go to the gym any more, obviously. Serendipitously, Mary Anna and I set up a home gym, with a Murphy bed, a Mirror, and a bike last fall. So we can both still get a degree of exercise.

I am working though more like being 'on call' as some days I really do not have much to do. We are now working out the details of changing our major fundraising party to a virtual event. There are enough of us that we all take one item.

I have refreshed my lawn. Homedepot is open here, just limits the number of people who go in. I bought a dethatching rake and a large bag of soil. So lawn is now ready for fertilizer before the next rain.

Starting to get planter boxes set up. My seedlings are almost ready to be transferred.

I have been spinning some beautiful wool. Haven't decided what to do with it just yet.

Sewing. A jumper for our canceled fund raiser and beginning Monday, a few masks till I run out of elastic.

And walking ..walking..walking with my neighbor. We walk a minimum of 2 miles with each outing, sometimes twice a day.

Call my 90 year old Mom.

Working our way through items in the freezer and pantry; great way to clear out.

Requires creative use of ingredients. Like Steve said elsewhere, every meal is turning into an episode of Chopped.

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Homedepot is open here, just limits the number of people who go in.

HD was doing that at the main entrance, but the garden area (where all the seedlings etc. are) has its own entrance/gate, and when we were there, there was no effort to restrict the number of people in there. >_<

I'm still working, and pretty much swamped as we all try to figure out how to implement the various mandated leave systems on top of existing, make sure everything is union-compliant, and manage our existing workforce (who are now all working remotely). Lots of logistical details, infrastructure issues, etc.

My daughter is spending the duration here, which has been fun--so every night we generally cook something for dinner and relax after that. I'm trying to not return to work after dinner, so we've been binge-watching old TV, doing jigsaw puzzles, etc.

It's really not been all that bad, but then again I'm an introvert by nature.

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jigsaw puzzles

I want to do some puzzles!! Something like this one!

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Originally posted by QuirtEvans:
I'm still working. My home office is in NY, so I'm just as remote as I ever was. From that perspective, nothing has changed.

I don't go to the gym any more, obviously. Serendipitously, Mary Anna and I set up a home gym, with a Murphy bed, a Mirror, and a bike last fall. So we can both still get a degree of exercise.

A home gym with a murphy bed?! Your workouts must be very interesting!

Sorry, couldn’t resist.

We’re both still working, but revenue is down, down, down. Lots of cancellations for Mr. AM, no teaching for me. But proposals for teaching at future events, and I hope I can settle down enough to design something new. Seeding the future, right?

Cooking lots. Grocery pickup or Imperfect Produce delivery is very helpful. Learning to plan ahead, and also cooking from pantry and freezer.

Sewing masks, but I think I’m done with that because I’m out of elastic. I don’t like ties, so far resistant to making them.

I just made a pan of lemon bars, so I can deliver some to my friend for her birthday today. She’s an RN and working frontline. Also, I made Irish Cream, so she’ll get a bottle of that, too. Contactless delivery!

Some lemon bars for my sister, who’s a mail carrier, too.

Not much actual knitting right now.

Doing puzzles on my iPad; the cats can’t knock the pieces off the table! You can also put your own pictures in to make your own puzzles. I’m using “The Original Jigsaw Puzzle” by Mobilityware on my iPad. SK, you can put your own music in! How well do you know your score?

Onward!

I still have some work but not much. Crew is laid off for now. I'm doing most of my work in the home office I share with Sharon - who is busier than ever working from home. This is more time together than we have spent since our honeymoon lo these many years ago.

I've been doing yard stuff, garden is planted, much weeding done, edging replaced. I've fixed several appliances, patched some stucco, cut down some overgrown bushes, and cleaned up the utility yard. Now its supposed to rain for three days and I have to figure out more indoor projects.

We've been eating like kings, working our way through a pantry and freezer that still have way too much stuff in them. Sharon usually picks out what she wants and I make it. Leftovers we portion individually and freeze.

Sharon has been making masks at night, I've discovered 343 back episodes of NCIS on Netflix.

Working on work. Fortunately, nearly all the work I do is conducive to working at home. I have my laptop along with three monitors and a real keyboard and mouse. It's good. (Mrs. pj has finally moved from the couch with a laptop and a monitor on the coffee table to taking over one end of the dining room table with a more ergonomic setup.)

Over the weekend, I mostly read. I did a few minutes of work out in the yard. Now that I have some better wire, next weekend I'll sew a bunch more face masks. I may need to retire an old bedsheet for more fabric.

I am kinda beat down from the stress, so it's probably a good thing I'm working, else I might be just sitting in the living room staring out the window.