A Day at Home in Our Quarantine Life

Messy, imperfect, struggling, together, healthy.

But also: dogs, kids, food, repeat.

That pretty much what sums up life lately. As someone who loves to peep how others do life via the internet, I thought it would be nice to share my own. The longer we’ve been at home, the more we’ve been settling into some family routines. This was kicked into high gear on Monday when our three grade-school aged kids started ‘distance learning.’ They are in grades K, 2nd and 5th, so there are a lot of moving parts right now, and managing them as they work is a job. Essentially we are a household with three jobs and two adults. Yikes!

Each morning Mr. Seasons and I try to get up a little earlier than our kids so we can workout. I’ve been using the Sweat app, but I am starting to like Madeline Moves a lot too. However, on this particular day we did not get up early and workout. We stayed up late the night before and finished watching the last two episodes of season 3 of Ozark. It was definitely worth it. Quarantine life is a delicate balance of giving into what feels good and keeping our days productive. And I don’t mean overachiever productive, I mean keeping people fed, alive, schooled and the work completed, productive.

8:20am ish

Mr. Seasons pops in the shower and asks me to take the puppy for a quick walk before the kids start to stir. (We’ve found the earlier in the day we get her energy out, the better behaved she is.) I’m thankful the sun it out.

I come back and take a quick shower and hop into an easy outfit with little regard for my hair or makeup. (Though I put on lipstick because I was inspired by Amanda.) Some days I am motivated to work, on this day I was more eager to get my coffee and get to the table for breakfast and school.

We’ve run out of cereal by now (which doesn’t seem that healthy anyway) and I’ve been making big batches of steel cut oats. In the mornings we re-heat individual servings in the microwave with peanut butter and a little bit of pure maple syrup. When those run out, it’s rolled oats for everyone, thanks to my Costco stash. I like making a game of seeing how many days I can go between grocery runs. My goal is 10-14 days.

It’s been satisfying to dig into my littlest’s education. It’s so fun to watch his wheels turn as he learns to read and do math. These are little things I would not have experienced the same way pre-corona. However, after about 30 minutes or less he is ready to be done for the day. We try our best.

9:30 or 10am

By this time my husband has long disappeared downstairs to start his workday. We have split the kid-duty into shifts. I am with them and engaged in what they’re doing (and not on my laptop or phone*) from about 9:30am until 2 or 3pm. At that time Mr. Seasons reappears to take the afternoon shift, but he is less engaged and continues to work. By this time the kids need less hand holding because they have wrapped school work and are on to chores and piano practice. After that they have free time until 4:00pm when we allow them to watch TV until roughly dinner time. I would say it feels like a victory that they go so long in the day until turning on the TV, but they spend so much time on screens all day for school and Zoom calls or chatting with friends that it all feels like a wash. And I’m not too worried about it.

*mostly

In the middle of this time we usually break for a family lunch, which is a nice, albeit quick, time to reconnect. Did I mention how many dirty dishes we make in a day? In a similar vein, I recently saw an article that talked about how garbage companies are being overwhelmed by the rising amounts of household waste with everyone at home.

2:50 pm

I finally sit down to work: write, answer emails, plan out my content, brainstorm, read the internet, etc. But I find it soooo hard to concentrate these days. I will admit I’ve been super addicted to the news lately, but I think I’m finally coming off it. Honestly, it just feels like more of the same every day. I am still checking a lot, but less frequently, and for shorter durations.

4:30 pm

This day is particularly nice and sunny, which is rare for our usually rainy springs. I decide to treat myself and my legs to some sunshine, because I know the clouds and rain will return and I’ll regret not sneaking in some sun.

I look inside the window and in a little bit Mr. Seasons gets up from his computer to go start dinner. The biggest unexpected bonus for me during quarantine life? Not having to cook. Since my work window is about 3:00 pm – dinner time, all the prep is left to Mr. Seasons and he swears he loves it. I love it too. After a few minutes in the sun I head back to my work station.

7:00 pm ish

We’ve always been in the habit of eating dinner sort of late, and it means we have to fend the kids off the last of the goldfish carton until the food is ready. During the meal most of us are pleasant, and sometimes we share ‘highs and lows.’

After dinner walks have been our favorite pastime lately. I saw a meme a few weeks back that said something about how, now we all know why dogs get so excited for their daily walks. Yep, understood.

Leidy doesn’t understand social distancing yet and wants to greet everyone she comes across. Clearly walking her is a two-handed job.

Does anyone else dress for their daily walks with fashion in mind?

8:30 pm

Mr. Seasons is awesome and he’s reading the Hobbit to our kids. They are all super into it. I’ve never read it nor seen the movie, but it’s cool. Sometimes when they read I use the time to wrap up my work.

After the kids are in bed we like to watch TV because most of the time that is truly the most relaxing option. Other nights one or both of us will have a social hour via Zoom or Facetime. We have NOT watched Tiger King, I just can’t bring myself to do it. We finished the Crown and Ozark, and are on the lookout for our next show.

And that’s how we do life these days. Our state said schools will remain closed through June, so this effectively IS our ‘new normal,’ for now at least.

I’m so curious to hear, how have your personal routines changed? If you have kids, how do you navigate working time and parenting time?