COVID Isolation, Week 6, 19-26 April

Hiiiiiiiii. Here I am, posting almost a week behind again, who cares though let’s be honest.

COVID updates:

• Sunday positive COVID numbers: A hair under 6K. After weeks of flattening, our numbers have been noticeably up for the past 3-4 days. I also have read that testing in the state is up, so that’s part of it. Also unfortunately, there have been a few bloom outbreaks in plants, like one at a beef production plant in Brown County.

• You can now get gas under $1, at one gas station here at least. I honestly do not think I have seen such a thing since I was a young kid pre-Gulf War. So crazy.

• Weird rumors were flying all week about Kim Jong-Un maybe being dead? Or critical condition? He had major surgery? Or maybe he’s just at the beach? It’s all a mystery I guess.

• Dumbest of the dumbfucks protesting stay-at-home orders at the capitol. I’m just so disappointed in some people. Educate yourselves with actual real science and read some history books. It’s not hard I promise. Or continue to let Darwinism take over, I dunno.

Us updates:

• While we are doing our darnedest to stick to old routines, I’ve also come to the realization that while routines are important, so is some rest. In Normal Times, weekends are kinda busy, lots of running errands and cleaning and To Do lists. I’ve learned now I recover from the crazy weeks now best when I allow myself some grace: Sleep in. Read. Watch a movie. I’ve plowed through several books on my nightstand and caught up on my late 2019 film list, so on top of getting some much needed re-sets, I’m still making progress somewhere.

• Although the bathrooms could use a better scrub-down, admittedly.

• Another weird COVID Times related watch: I’ve been watching old clips of the Nick and Jessica: Newlyweds show on YouTube as a coping mechanism. Takes me back to those early Aughts, when Scottie and I were in our early 20s, getting our careers started. Playing house in that cute modern apartment in the latest up-and-coming neighborhood, in walking distance of all the good dive bars and coffee shops downtown. No smart phones! Also the fashion, decor, and music is so 2003 it’s just amazing. Like, HOLY CRAP I HAD THAT SAME CAKE PAN FROM WILLIAMS SONOMA AND ALSO THOUGHT IT MADE ME VERY GROWN UP.

• School: Pete, he’s golden. He’s got it. Linus, he’s in a one-good-day-one-bad-day pattern. It’s hard for the Littles, guys. But we’re muddling through it and we’ll survive.

• Also also: finally able to order our favorite grapefruit Spindrift (GOD BLESS), from Target pick up ordering. This is the first time we’ve been able to track down some Spindrift since all this started. Bless the Lord for curbside pick up, too.

• Oh, snap! We bought a couch! We went over a year without one, just a buncha chairs in the living room, because I just wasn’t finding what I wanted. But a vintage furniture place that usually only services the Chicagoland decided to throw me a bone and drag over a couch I was lusting after, so here we are. Proud owners of a 1960s vintage number that my children will undoubtedly ruin in oh, maybe two more weeks, give or take.

Cooking/Baking updates:

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  • Lemmmmon muffffffinz. This is a Dorie Greenspan recipe (minus those evil poppy seeds, because I have zero of those on hand). It’s not as aggressive as my favorite lemon loaf from Ina Garten, but Pete loved it and he ate six muffins in one day alone, so I’d still call it a successful recipe.

• Moose and I made cookies too – your standard chocolate chip, this recipe. Can’t beat a solid chocolate-chip cookie. He was pretty proud of them and made a point to obnoxiously, slowly enjoy one in every one of his classroom Zoom meetings this week.

• My bread game is strong, you guys. I bake off about one loaf per week, and every time it gets better. My new normal is to bake a loaf, slice, and freeze whatever the munchkins don’t immediately gobble down (homemade bread doesn’t last more than 2-3 days, so might as well get ahead of that expiration date). This works perfectly for us, just a quick defrost or toast in the toaster and we’re enjoying homemade bread all week long.

And that’s all I gots for this week, folks. Another update coming in hot, and OH MY GOD BUT HOW READY ARE WE FOR SUMMER JUST SO READY.

Jessica Simpson circa 2003, over and out.