Week 30

 Oh my goodness. 30 weeks of this Covid-19 mess. This week was fine. Monday was the normal cutting the grass, laundry, teach piano, help with school kind of day. For family night we met with our missionaries and I am super impressed with them and wish I had 50 friends for them to teach. 

Tuesday was more school work, house cleaning, piano lessons, then dance and baseball practice. I am reading an interesting book about food and the flavors most used in our country and that has been fun. Wednesday I worked out and then it was more of the same. Nothing special happened Thursday either, just more piano lessons, dance and baseball practice. Friday I actually left the house to go do a grocery pick up, kindergarten materials pick up from school, and then we took Lily to dance and went to BJs. Curtis had a late baseball game and originally I was just going to let Josh take him so the others could go to bed but Josh has been so busy and stressed this week that we hadn't had a real conversation in days so we all went. We drove two cars so that I could leave whenever Emma and Brandon lost it and they made it until 9:15 and then I came home and put them in bed. Curtis and Josh didn't get home until after 10pm, which is late for him. He has five more games and three of them are late. It is fun to play under the lights but I just don't like how that means either only one of us can go or we have to deal with tired kids the next day.

Saturday Josh went and got our tire taken care of. It was leaky from a previous patch we had to get while in Rochester two years ago after running over something near the Hill Cumorah so we ended up needing a new one. Once that was taken care of, I told him we needed to do something fun. Our friends went camping and my parents and sister were in Vermont and I was sad we were missing out and just wanted to have some family fun. We left late because of the tire but went up to a park my kids have been wanting to go to for months that is Wizard of Oz themed. It was kind of crowded but everyone was wearing masks and we used hand santizer liberally. The playground was cool and there was also a little farm and nature center. The mini-golf and the train were closed but those looked fun too. Then we went to another playground that looked fun but it was under renovation so we decided to go to National Harbor to play in the sand and get dinner. We got there and parked and walked down to the water only to find out the sand area was closed. Thus began the hunt for a fun dinner that wasn't too expensive and wasn't a resturant close to our house. After trying the outlet mall and wainting in a very slow line (only four booths were open for dine-in) we bailed and ended up at an IHOP down the street. I think we made the most of the day but seriously, I have been so antsy for doing something fun and there just isn't a lot of fun to be had. We had to wear masks all day, use hand santizer all the time, lots of things were closed, it was hard to find a place to eat and it felt strange to be around other people. It met my requirements of being out of the house the majority of the day and being together as a family (the kids even got along well and enjoyed the park and didn't complain when things were closed) and it forced Josh to relax and talk to me so we'll call it a successful day, but only because it is 2020. 

 

Life has felt full of problems lately and normally I can handle them, but my capacity feels low right now. I realized that life is usually more balanced. Yes, there are always problems and having a leaky tire and basement issues are not the end of the world, but we usually have fun to balance it out. The problem is now there is no fun. No social chat time with friends to help relieve parenting pressure, no date nights, no weekend getaways, no new movies to watch, no trips to plan in the future, no hosting groups of friends for game nights or dinner, and very limited opportunities for family fun. I'm grateful it is easier now to get food and that there is hope for my kids to start their hybrid schedule in a few weeks and that we haven't had any financial difficulties this whole time. But I miss having fun and breaks and time to be me with Josh and with my friends. I know we'll get through this but that is how I feel right now.

We watched The Right Stuff on disney plus last night and I really liked it. I love the story of the space race; I think it is one of our best American stories. I have also been watching a lot of Jeopardy and the NBA finals are happening. We are down to the last few games so that is nice. Josh really enjoys it and I do at the beginning of the finals but by now I feel like I've watched the same game so many times and I am ready for it to be done.  

We are trying to figure out what to do for Halloween. Josh has no problem with the kids going trick or treating but that means I have to figure out a way to hand out candy safely and come up with costumes. Seems like if 2020 is going to stink, I should at least be able to get out of Halloween. 

The election is killing me. Every time I think I've made up my mind, I read something else awful about whichever candidate I had decided on. I don't like either of them and really don't feel like I can pick one. The way people are talking about it the country is going to collapse in an awful way no matter which one gets picked. According to the news and Facebook, they are all corrupt and I am just so tired of the arguing and polarized opinions. 

And that is week 30!