New Habits and Activities

This time at home has lead to the development of some new habits and have introduced new things into our lives - some bad, some good.

As a family, we stay up later and sleep in. The first couple of weeks when it was all new and we didn't really have a feel for how long it might last, we were especially bad, not really paying attention to the time and really messing up our schedules as a whole. It is hard to argue why not one more episode of the show or one more chapter in the book or one more game, we literally have nowhere to be and no specific time to be there. I started seeing it impacting us, so I made the decision that we had to get better at it. Certainly bedtimes didn't need to align with normal but we needed to be reasonable. We successfully shifted and are getting to bed at more reasonable times and getting up to start the day earlier in the day. We also enforce more regular schedule during the week and allow a little flexibility on the weekend. This has helped us return to more normal eating schedule and with both sleeping and eating back on a more normal schedule, everyone generally feels better and has a better attitude too. It will still be tough when we have to be up and out the door at a specific time again but with a more normal schedule it will be a little easier to shift back to that then it would have been.

As a family, we have shifted from team workouts/group workouts to more independent workouts and activities. It's not that we are more or less active or burning more or less calories, we are simply doing it differently. I used to do group exercise and swimming workouts with an occasional lunchtime or evening walk to clear the head, now that those classes are cancelled and the gym is closed, I rely on walking for my daily activity. I have steadily increased the distance so as to stay ahead of my step goal in my otherwise stay at home lifestyle that we have had to transition to. I have successfully walked at least 30 minutes every day for the past 44 days. It has been tough on days that it was rainy or snowy but I watched for the breaks and even dealt with the light sprinkle of rain to get to 30 minutes at least once. It is noticeable too; when I was out walking on Saturday, two different people that were hanging out in their driveways commented on my regular walking. Strange thing is that the time of day I walk can vary greatly so the fact that they noticed surprised me. I have also used these walks to observe the world around me and captured many pictures; yesterday it was fun playing with taking pictures using the puddles.

My husband has been sticking with his running routine but doesn't have the bike/treadmill option on the cold or wet days like he used to. He has switched to running virtual races, as his race schedule for the spring and summer has slowly been cancelled or converted to virtual races. My daughter does a daily work out and often times fits in a short run too. My son, in addition to keeping up with throwing and hitting for baseball, has done several runs and has put more miles on his bicycle than he has in years.

We are cooking and baking more. The cookie jar is almost never empty. There is fresh made bread in the house every weekend. We have found ways to create the tastes of our favorite dining out meals at home. We have tried many new recipes - although it seems they are mostly desserts or at least sweets.

My daughter has Home Ec (they call it family and consumer sciences now though) this quarter - so far, there has only been one hands on assignment - make an egg dish. She chose a souffle - it was good and she really did learn things - separating eggs, why we fold in egg whites, why we cover custard with wax paper, why a souffle will rise and come out of the oven fluffy and deflate within a short window following. Even with that, we are still trying to support local and try to order in at least once a week from a local restaurant and get beer from the local brewery.

We are binge watching series and catching up on movies. On some shows, we have to wait for a new episode to come out and on others we have a few seasons to go. I have started watching new series on HGTV and Food Network, just for a little variety. Some shows we watch as a family, some we watch in smaller groups, some we watch on our own - we use our family room, our media room, our computers and the iPad to provide the flexibility. It helps us as we look to find the right balance of together and alone time - since we all are here pretty much all of the time.

We are reading more. I have been reading from the stack of book sale books that I have near my bedside. My daughter has been reading a couple of different YA series and has even been trying her hand at writing in the style of some of those books.

The kids are playing more. Together and apart. My daughter is spending more time on the swingset. She has always loved it but it is a way to be outside and change up the scenery. They have been playing games / challenges together. They set up a course the other day with dominoes, strings, weights and more. They sat at the top of the stairs and tried to toss a ping pong ball into a cup at the bottom of the stairs.

I am trying to continue the clean-up/purge journey I began when I lost my job. We went through the backroom in the basement and organized and got rid of and sold things that we no longer needed or wouldn't use again. We have gone through the kids clothes to pull out the things that don't fit (or don't wear) and have been trying to sell those. I have gone through some of my files (there are always more and I can only do so much at one time). I used this stay at home to organize the freezers and inventory the food we have on hand so that I could focus on what we needed at the store and ensuring we used things up. I am trying to work through my stack of magazines that have arrived monthly over the years and I simply never had the time to read them. I read them, pull out the page or two that has something that I want to try or look into and off it goes.

We finally have time to tackle home projects and it gives us something to plan and to do. I have painted doors and frames, I have painted (portions) of the playset in the backyard (limited by paint not time). My husband cleaned up and cleaned out the garage. Moved things to mark the change in season and make outdoor activities more accessible.

I have changed the way that I shop (but I will go back at least in some ways). I really like Target's drive up service. I think I will use that for more things even after this stay at home order. If I know I need a few things, it really is easier to order them and pick them up than to park and run into the store. I went for detergent and fabric softener yesterday. The whole trip - drive time and order pick up time was 10 minutes. Since I live 5 minutes away, it essentially took no time to get my order. I am convinced that the 'let us know you are coming' gives them perspective on how close you are when you push the button. They almost always are walking out the door with my stuff as I shift my car from drive to park. I love that the app / their spots are connected and it automatically lets them know I am there. I'm generally not a fan of grocery pick up service - although, I might be more of a fan when they return to allowing you to pay at pick up. I get frustrated that I can't simply maintain and add to my list as the week passes - I have to process a payment each time I make an update. I can start my cart a week out when I reserve the timeslot but I don't always know a week out what we will be low on or be craving or otherwise need when I do pick up. I also struggle to find the magic way to search sometimes. I have gotten better at managing the substitutions so that I get what I want...but that also means that I do without on some things because I ask for no sub even though I might sub if I was in store. I don't like that sales are fewer and/or that sale items are bought out all the time. I like to be able to shop the sales and stock up, so I don't have to buy during non-sales times.

What new activities or habits are you developing? What shows are you watching?