More Quarantine Quick Takes . . .

1.This month reminds me again how thankful I am that Mark chose a reasonable and sustainable specialty. With urology he works pretty normal hours (technically longer than normal, but the kids and I are asleep for the first couple of hours of his work day, so I don’t count them). He’s home most nights for dinner, and he gets 3 weekends off a month. The fourth weekend he has to work what’s known as “power call” which means he covers call for Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday at 2 hospitals. That can be rough depending on how many patients they have in house and how many consults come in, but it’s better than him working all the weekends.

2. Michigan is starting to slowly open things up. I know the quarantine orders are being more and more political by the day, and while I do not agree with everything Gov. Whitmer has done in her term as a governor, I do appreciate that the level of seriousness she brings to the table right now. Masses are starting in our Archdiocese next week, and that has made me have to come to terms with the fact that our family won’t get to go back to “normal” when others do. And wow, has it hit me harder than I expected. Case numbers are still very high here, which means there’s still a lot of risk for certain populations. Gram falls into that category, and so do I as a pregnant lady. I think that I had it in my head that summer would come and we would go back to some version of normal, but I don’t see how that is going to happen. And I am grieving the loss of mass and summer parties and swimming and family gatherings that are probably not going to happen.

3. This article resonated with me on the topic of going back to mass because I had been reading a lot of posts and articles that made me feel guilty for the fact that our family will be taking advantage of the dispensation even though I am missing the Eucharist viscerally. I appreciated the metaphor Simcha uses because it was a good reminder that discernment has to be about more than just emotions. Disclaimer: I am not making any judgments on the decisions other people make about mass. I think that everyone needs to discern what’s right for their own family.

4. I’m currently bribing my children to clean by playing into their competitive natures. So the kid who cleans up the most gets to choose the tv show for screen time. It’s kind of my favorite thing right now.

5. We are homeschooling on a slightly different schedule this year. We took the month of April off because I was mostly just trying to stay afloat. In that time I was able to take a breath and assess what had worked, what didn’t, and think through what G and Will would need for the “next year.” Because this new baby is going to be born at the beginning of September (and probably be followed quickly thereafter by a book release), I want to be able to take some homeschool maternity leave to let us adjust to the new normal of 4 kiddos. And since the summer will be probably a stay at home summer, there’s really no reason not have school. The flexibility is one of my favorite things about homeschooling. So we started back up with the new school year at the beginning of May. I’m planning a vacation week in June, but our “summer break” will take place this year in September.

6. Joy in my life right now: My Buy Nothing Group, which is easily my favorite part of Facebook and a delightful online local community, was archived at the beginning of March when things got bad here. But as restrictions have eased up, BN is back, with new rules about disinfecting and social distancing. I love interacting with my neighbors and being able to share things that we have that others would appreciate.

7. Other joy: I’m on a reading streak. I had a bunch of holds come off the library e-book list at once, plus got a ton of great recommendations to add to my queue. I’ve found that I’m more likely to get stuck in a reading rut if I don’t have the next book already lined up before I finish my current read. Does anyone else experience that? Anyhoo, I have read 5 great books in a row, with no disappointments! Which is kind of awesome. Here’s my recent list in case you’re in the mood for a good read (affiliate links follow, see the about page for the full disclosure).

• How to Find Love in a Bookshop A book about a bookshop. This might be my new favorite sub-genre
• Delicious! A food based book that includes a WWII mystery. Yum.
• The Vintage Caper A light hearted detective story that centers around wine and France.
• The Marseilles Caper the sequel, which was just as good and had even more descriptions of the French countryside and food. It did make me a little sad about our daily menu here.
• The Summer Country Historical fiction, multiple timelines, a bit of mystery, and a PG love story. Win.

I’m linking up with Kelly this week, so head on over to read the rest of the quick takes.