10 Tips for Quarantine Times

Hey There Ho There Peeps!!!

Well, here we are again with nothing but Time.   With everyone stuck in the house I thought I'd share some pointers with you on ways to keep your house and you from becoming a disaster zone.

First up, I "loosely" live by the FlyLady and her practices.  If you are TOTALLY living in C.H.A.O.S. and don't know where to start I highly recommend you start with her.  You'll never be overwhelmed and little by little you'll get all those big projects done.  

In the meantime here are a few tips to help you out during this time:

1) Unless you are working form home and your job requires it, don't beat yourself up over getting off your schedule.  We're all going to be "off" for quite some time, go easy on yourself.


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2) Spend 15 minutes at some point during the day sweeping/vacuuming/dusting.    I mean we all know there are chip and cookie crumbs all around our workspaces.  haha  I'm not telling you to clean your entire house and spend hours, just find 15 minutes when your activity tracker is telling you to stand up to do some light tidying up around the house.

3)  Do a load of laundry.  Just one load, wash, dry, fold, put away.  Don't let the laundry take over, a load a day keeps mount wash more away!!  (Flylady)  Also, you need to change your clothes anyway your pj's are starting to smell.  (Case in point: While I wrote this blog post I washed a load,  moved them to the dryer then folded and put away; easy, peasy)

4) On that note, take a bath/shower EVERY DAY!   I personally don't take one as soon as I get up, mine usually occurs around noon and sometimes I read in the tub for an hour or so. It doesn't matter when but do take some sort of bath/shower every day.   And put some lotion on those dry hands!


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5) Take the 15 minutes before you head off to bed to empty the kitchen sink of dirty dishes and start the dishwasher if necessary.  No dishwasher? Wash those dishes NOW.   Believe me, waking up to a sink full of dirty dishes is a good way to start your day off wrong.


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6) Speaking of starting the day off:  Get up, go relieve yourself, drink a glass of water and MAKE YOUR BED!!    Don't let that bed tempt you to nap all day, you should do this every day but during this quarantining it's especially important.  And don't forget, at least once a week those sheets should get washed too.



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7)  Get coffee pot, water, clothes, etc ready for the next day.   Hubster lays out his clothes the night before religiously and while he's doing those things I usually get the coffee pot ready to go so all I have to do is hit the button in the morning.  I also get Hubster's big water glass filled up and in the refrigerator so he can grab it as he goes to work out in his office.    Seeeee, the sink is clean and you have everything you need to start the day!



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8)  Take a walk, even if it's only 15 minutes. Hopefully you have some area near your home where you can get outside and you can still practice your social distancing.  The fresh air will do you some good and your watch probably already told you to stand up anyways.  If you can't make sure you are doing something physical for at least 15-20 minutes a day even if it's chasing your toddler down for a bath.



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9) Try to limit your social media time.....I know this one is seriously hard but try.  Decide to hop on Facebook, check out some blogs, look for some meme's then set the timer.  Set the timer for 15 minutes then get up from the computer and do something else.  You can come back later but try to limit the amount of gloom and doom you expose yourself to each day.




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10)  Take care of yourself, mentally.  Write in a journal, meditate, sit outside in the quiet, take a bath, make a gratitude list, etc.  Whatever GIVES you a mental boost, we are all different and we all need different ways to clear our minds of the stresses of the day.   Do what works for you and don't forget that sometimes, doing for others helps you more than them and that 1 extra cookie isn't going to kill you.  (unless you are a diabetic then it might but you already know that!)

Stay safe, wash your hands and BE KIND to everyone, we are all doing our best!

Peace, Love & Hand Sanitizer!

Quarantine....Day 4,379

Hey Peeps!!

Hope you are all doing well during this fine Pandemic we're experiencing!   This self proclaimed homebody is getting B-O-R-E-D indeed!   Don't get me wrong I have PLENTY to do.  Take my bathroom, last week I started painting it (LONG overdue) and it was raining and it was fine.   My wallpaper samples came and I'm not crazy about either of them so those are hanging over the tub still reminding me that I need to find new wallpaper samples.

 My closet (which is part of the bathroom) is the catchall for all my supplies so this is what it looks like....

The sun came out yesterday, FINALLY, and it was 80 degrees and I don't want to be cooped up in the house so I played around in the back yard yesterday and then washed my car so until it rains, that bathroom is probably going to be a mess! haha  

Anywho, I thought I'd pop on here and share what we've been having for dinner.   Since everyone is in the same boat of having to eat at home and running out of ideas for easy dinners I thought I'd share what we've had and you can show me what you've been doing.   There won't be photos because I haven't taken any.  I will probably throw in some odd ones from my camera roll just to make sure you are awake.  haha

Let's start waaaaay back on the 16th after we took the kids on a Costco trip in preparation of the impending lockdowns.   

Monday- March 16:  We had Spinach/Chicken Ravioli with a Salad

Tuesday - March 17:  Stir Fry 

Wednesday - March 18:  Pulled Pork (Costco) on Hawaiian Rolls and Potato Salad

Thursday - March 19: Grilled Chicken  &  Salad

Friday- March 20: Homemade Pizza's    ( I made a grocery run today, mostly for fresh produce)

I'm currently reading this creepy book.   I read it many moons ago but it was the book for April Book Club, it's now the May book club book.  Charles Manson freaks me out so bad!!

Saturday - March 21: We ordered Take out from the Mexican restaurant, La Choza.  It's just outside our neighborhood.  We even rode up there to pick it up on the golf cart.  

Sunday - March 22:  Grilled Pork Chops and Roasted Green Beans with Hawaiian Rolls

             This was the laziest day we've had, it was rainy and icky and we piddled around in the house               doing nothing most all day long. 

Monday - March 23:  Lemon Pepper Shrimp Scampi, Salad & TX Toast   ( I've made the lime pepper shrimp scampi on the blog before and the only thing is I used a frozen shrimp and followed the directions on the package for defrosting.  It didn't take nearly as long to cook so watch your shrimp and don't overcook them)  

Tuesday - March 24:  Taco Night  We had regular hard shell Taco's and a cooked up a corn & black bean skillet mixture with some fresh jalapeño's as the side dish.  I'm going to mix up some rice and we'll have Taco bowls for lunch today.

Wednesday - March 25:  Tonight we are having Ham steaks with mashed potatoes, green peas and biscuits. 

I also had this bottle of wine over the last 2 nights.  I'm not a huge Chardonnay person but my "wine guy" recommended it to me and he was NOT wrong.  It's lovely!!  We've been eating out back on the patio in this wonderful weather so it's paired perfectly with that.   

In case you wondered, Winston has been extra vigilant with protecting our kitchen door from evil doers.  He's done more than anyone's fair share of napping too, he's really having no trouble with this Shelter in Home initiative.   

He's also quite the pro at finding all the mud in the backyard and we've had a few dips in the pool to clean our feet.  As a matter of fact, I left you guys momentarily after the above photo to do just that.  I'm gonna get a shower because now my feet are chilly!   The pool is only about 65 degrees but it's actually not horrible.  I'm considering a float excursion later today!  

Don't forget....let us know what you're having for dinner!  Stay at home and keep washing your hands!

Peace, Love & Toilet Paper