COVID-19 - lifestyle and activity thread (3 Viewers)

Brennan77

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So we're all being affected one way or another. For me, my job has been drastically affected. My wife's role at the hospital is completely fluid at the moment. The day care is closed so our two year old needs daily care. And we'll be welcoming a newborn in the next 6-8 weeks. Needless to say, it's a lot of unknown and change in a very short period of time. And the lack of a real timeline is less than comforting.

I'd like to make a thread that is separate from the main update thread or humor thread, which I believe both serve important purposes on their own. I'd like this to be a place to discuss change, frustrations, excitements, joys, and pains. Feel free to share your struggles, thoughts, ideas and tips, or even pictures of your bored kids.

-Brennan
 
To top it all off for me - its been raining here for past 2 days so cannot even get out of the house to play around.

I am re-reading the Plague by Camus and having my older son read it as well. Playing board games and watching movies.
Cannot do this much longer - I am already going crazy.
 
So we're all being affected one way or another. For me, my job has been drastically affected. My wife's role at the hospital is completely fluid at the moment. The day care is closed so our two year old needs daily care. And we'll be welcoming a newborn in the next 6-8 weeks. Needless to say, it's a lot of unknown and change in a very short period of time. And the lack of a real timeline is less than comforting.

I'd like to make a thread that is separate from the main update thread or humor thread, which I believe both serve important purposes on their own. I'd like this to be a place to discuss change, frustrations, excitements, joys, and pains. Feel free to share your struggles, thoughts, ideas and tips, or even pictures of your bored kids.

-Brennan

Two days in, it's definitely awkward. Its gonna take a lot of getting used to having everyone in the house. They need to order everyone to stay home so I have an excuse to tell the kids not to go out. They're still going out and about like nothing is wrong. Meh.
 
Today I wrangled the toddler to city park again. It's beautiful out and it's not very crowded so it's a good place to engage both our minds and energies after coffee and breakfast. We brought out the kite which kept her attention for 30 minutes or so. She's super independent and was frustrated that she couldn't do everything herself with the kite flying. From there we found a spot on the bank of the water and fished for 5 minutes to pull up another perch. She was less impressed than yesterday. I mean, she's an old fishing pro now and she's seen it all. I felt bad because she kept asking for her daycare friends by name. It's clear she misses them already.

To that end, I don't really have a plan at this time for socialization, for myself or for her. It's a weird problem to have but I guess we should lay low and self isolate for now. Next week, I'd like to start some more deliberately educational activities if possible. And I need to see what shakes out with the restaurants to find opportunities to help them and possibly make a few sales. It's just all so weird to not be in control of my own plans for now. We don't know where my wife will be working or in what capacity. They will be transitioning her a lot of her staff to ICU level care at the main hospital soon.
 
Two days in, it's definitely awkward. Its gonna take a lot of getting used to having everyone in the house. They need to order everyone to stay home so I have an excuse to tell the kids not to go out. They're still going out and about like nothing is wrong. Meh.

My 16(17?) year old cousin who used to live with us called me really bummed out. He loathes being at home with his grandmother and sister. School, friends, and sports are his life. So this is a big struggle for him.
 
I've been enjoying some quiet time and most of all time to actually cook meals. I usually go to work at 6 am and are back home at 6 PM and start my second job (working from home) right after dinner. So dinner is usually something quick and easy. A tossed salad and some kind of meat.

Having to work from home for both my jobs spares me from a 4 hour daily commute and allow me to cook stuff that would normaly not be possible. It also takes my mind of the fact that we're both in quarantine due to the fact that my husband has been exposed to the virus at his job. I need to stay busy in order not to dwell too much on that. We're both approaching 60 years of age and my husband has had serious heart problems and I have survieved Cancer. So I really do not like to think too much about Covid but focus on getting through every day - counting down to the day where we hopefully have finished the quarantine without getting ill
 
I worked at home for a long time, working on my degree. So this has been pretty easy for me. I'm also an introvert and grew up in a super tiny house, so I am okay with a lot of these things so far.

My partner is a primary-junior teacher and has been handling a lot of the 'programming.' And I support when I can.

I am handling the cooking, which is pretty typical.

This week is our "March Break" and so we are taking it a bit easier for that reason. But next week, I am back to 'work' through distance and e-learning, but there's still a lot open in our day.

We try and 'block' time and use a routine. We wake up and let the kids play while we make breakfast. Then they are allowed a bit of TV. Then we get out of the house and take a long walk - the city mandates a certain % land by us to be used as parks and green spaces, so there's a lot to see and do really close.

We come back, do some sort of art activity and then lunch.

Post-lunch, we vary per day. BUt it's usually for a more extended time. They clean their rooms and playroom. Or we all watch a movie. Or they can have a couple of hours of 'screen time.' Or we play a board game or two.

In the afternoon, after that, we'll engage with online content. Zoo streams. Children's authors and artists reading their work or conducting drawing lessons the kids can follow along with. Cosmic Kids Yoga. Music and 'dance' party and each kid controls the playlist for a bit

The 10- and 7-year old are fine with this. The 3-year old requires some modification. And patience. Lots of patience.

generally, though, we've found it manageable to think about the day in blocks with some flexibility. Takes some of the pressure off of having to plan for 'an entire day' - it's still the case, but feels less daunting.

And with the weather getting more mild, I'll be able to start running outside again. So I plan on doing more reading and more physical activity, for myself. And playing more guitar, which I hardly have time to pick up any more.
 
Just fitness wise, been a real shocker for me. Usually up at 430 am to hit gym for sprint class/workout. Almost 2.5 weeks of none of that...ran this am first time in many years.

thought i was going to die.

my legs were gelatin.

My kids are substantially older and self sufficient so they entertain themselves by EATING ALL OUR STORES.
 
My wife and I own a business. Due to recent downturns (last 2-3 years) we have trimmed down to just us and one other employee. Our big expense is our office building that we bought and renovated. We've been cautious about the social distancing for a while now. Our employee is now working from home with his two kids and wife that is now working from home per her company's new policy. Work from our clients has come to a halt. Trying to nurture a couple of possibilities but it is going to be tough. We're going to keep our eye on any programs and assistance to help keep us afloat during this crisis. My wife and I both come into the office each day (our daughter is in Houston so no child care needs). We could work from home, but we need to get our mail (or set up an outside box) and answer the phone. All of our work can be done by phone and emailed pdfs.

At home, we binge tv shows and go for walks. I've been hesitant to say this because of the COVID-19 situation, but for about 3 years now we've become hooked on a board game. My daughter and husband introduced it to us and when we get together (in Lafayette or in Houston) we probably play it 6-8 hours each visit. I haven't see anyone bring it up, but it's called Pandemic. It's complicated and has a learning curve, but that is offset by the fact that we aren't playing against each other, but playing against the board and four-five pandemic strains around the globe. If we lose contain before we successfully cure or eradicate each strain, you lose. There are also extension sets that take it up a few notches. We have one that now introduces four animal-borne sectors in addition to the largest cities on the globe. It's a great board game, just surreal to play it to pass time in hibernation.

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I worked at home for a long time, working on my degree. So this has been pretty easy for me. I'm also an introvert and grew up in a super tiny house, so I am okay with a lot of these things so far.

My partner is a primary-junior teacher and has been handling a lot of the 'programming.' And I support when I can.

I am handling the cooking, which is pretty typical.

This week is our "March Break" and so we are taking it a bit easier for that reason. But next week, I am back to 'work' through distance and e-learning, but there's still a lot open in our day.

We try and 'block' time and use a routine. We wake up and let the kids play while we make breakfast. Then they are allowed a bit of TV. Then we get out of the house and take a long walk - the city mandates a certain % land by us to be used as parks and green spaces, so there's a lot to see and do really close.

We come back, do some sort of art activity and then lunch.

Post-lunch, we vary per day. BUt it's usually for a more extended time. They clean their rooms and playroom. Or we all watch a movie. Or they can have a couple of hours of 'screen time.' Or we play a board game or two.

In the afternoon, after that, we'll engage with online content. Zoo streams. Children's authors and artists reading their work or conducting drawing lessons the kids can follow along with. Cosmic Kids Yoga. Music and 'dance' party and each kid controls the playlist for a bit

The 10- and 7-year old are fine with this. The 3-year old requires some modification. And patience. Lots of patience.

generally, though, we've found it manageable to think about the day in blocks with some flexibility. Takes some of the pressure off of having to plan for 'an entire day' - it's still the case, but feels less daunting.

And with the weather getting more mild, I'll be able to start running outside again. So I plan on doing more reading and more physical activity, for myself. And playing more guitar, which I hardly have time to pick up anymore.

Thanks for the tips and for making me feel inadequate....again! :)

Working at home for a while now, 85% of the time anyways. The wife is a 3rd-grade teacher. She and 7 year old Son are on standard spring break so they are just goofing off.

She is writing up a structured plan for him next week. I will suggest she plagiarize some of your plans. Picked up a used treadmill a few years back. That has been an excellent purchase. That is what I do for lunch now. Rotate daily with doing the 7 minute workout a couple of times. Son got a trampoline for Christmas...that has even been a better purchase. It has rained all week so the yard is awfully wet but trampoline dries fast so he gets that daily right now. Wife and Son just busted out a 1500 piece puzzle. That should take up some time.

It is tough to cherish these times with your family at home because of the global situation.
 
I was on PTO last Thursday and Friday when all of this went down with my company and the team I support at ATT's facility. I have 2 contractors working for me so I've had to try and coordinate for them as well as myself, working with 2 different management teams. I'm a bit fried. I finally have my home setup done, but the job will still require going in 1-2 days a week for a few hours. The building is >95% empty so I don't feel vulnerable to get infected there. I'm still trying to get the 2 contractors setup but they want to still go into the office, so for now, that is the plan.

My wife teaches 5th grade and her ISD is moving to online teaching, starting on Monday. So the 2 of us will be home, with our 15 yro and 20 yro who will both be doing online learning for the high school and college respectively.

And we have a temperamental Shih Tzu.
 
It's been raining here in San Diego for a week with maybe one nice day (yesterday). Not having the gym and yoga studio open is making me nuts. I went for a run on Monday and my office gym (which is now closed as of today) yesterday but with the rain today, not even a run is possible.

Still working as I typically work from home anyway 3 days per week. Today my friend came over to work from home at my house because she was going crazy at her own place.

The isolation isn't bothering me near as much as the constant rain.
 
The isolation isn't bothering me near as much as the constant rain.

It's been cloudy and rainy in DFW for a few days, and I've had enough of it. It's times like this that I would usually remind myself that summer is not far away and to enjoy the clouds, rain and nice temps before the bowels of hell open and fries everything.
 
Supposedly NFL Gamepass is now a freebie. I haven’t checked to confirm. Maybe someone can.
 

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