The 21st Century Matriarch

And now about the beauty for routine….

I’ve been emphasizing some of the things that are different about each day…things that keep the days at home from settling into a sameness. But the routine is important too.

I get up about the same time every day…go to sleep about the same time every day too. My internal clock is quite strong. These days the birds are already beginning to make their morning song when I am waking up. I enjoy listening to them for a few minutes before I get up.

Breakfast is almost always a smoothie…enough that I consider it the routine. But the ingredients of the smoothie change from day to day…and some days I decide to something completely different. I had left over biscuits and ginger preserves yesterday because my husband was snoozing when I wanted to have breakfast (and I didn’t want to make noise with the Ninja to make the smoothie).

Creating at least one Zentangle tile is something that I do sometime during the day. Sometimes I do more than one but not in one sitting.

One way or another, I get 12,000 steps (counted by my Fitbit) during the day. I try to spread the activity out during the day and get at least 30 minutes of ‘active minutes’ as calculated by the Fitbit.

I browse (occasionally read) 4 eBooks a day. Sometimes I count magazines as books if they are lengthy…or I group several of them together to count as a book. For example, 4-6 of the Life magazines are counted as a book.

The blog post is also part of my routine…it was before the pandemic and has continued to be part of my daily rhythm.

And then there are the notes I keep for myself on whatever I am doing. I find that a learn better when I take notes while I listen…when I read…even just after I talk to people.

Noting at least 4 specific things I am thankful for and ways that I was kind to others and to myself at the end of the day.

20-30 minutes of yoga and Breathing app round out the daily routine.

Now that I am looking at my list, I am realizing that it hasn’t changed very much from what it was before the pandemic. Maybe I am doing a bit more reading and might not be as rushed to complete the whole routine every day.

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

Arriving bugs. We ordered them back on 3/18 and are letting it sit on the living room floor for a few days – let any viruses die. Then we’ll start our photography project!

Savoring favorite recipes of the past week. I’ve enjoyed experimenting with food a bit this week.

*Kale‘n’eggs.* I got a bag of kale pieces in my grocery order over a week ago. I’d been using them in smoothies but thought to do something different – maybe as a spinach substitute in scrambled eggs. I chopped the pieces in to small bits using my small food processor, sautéed them a bit before I added the beaten eggs. As little Mrs. Dash for seasoning. Tastey!

Sweet potato soup. I had baked a larger sweet potato than I could eat with the rest of a meal, so I had it left over in the refrigerator along with some chicken. I made a light broth with chicken bouillon and dried onion then added the mashed sweet potato and cut up chicken. Fried onions (the store brand like French’s Fried Onions) made a great topping…or I could have used black bean chips.

Whole wheat biscuits. I don’t eat breads very often. When I do – a batch of drop biscuits is probably my favorite thing to make. It’s a highly modified version of the recipe in my 1960s cookbook (the one I got about the time I became a teenager): Set the oven to 450 degrees. Combine in a bowl (2 cups whole wheat flour, 3 teaspoons baking powder, 1 scant teaspoon salt). Combine in a measuring cup (1 cup milk (I used non-dairy), 6 tablespoons olive oil). Pour the milk and oil into the dry ingredients then blend with a fork to form the dough. Drop onto an oiled cookie sheet; I tend to like a heaping teaspoon size drop biscuit. Eat them hot with butter or orange marmalade or ginger preserves. I usually eat about 1/3 of the biscuits on the 1st day and freeze 2 packages for other days.

Getting a grocery delivery. The only time slot available when I first tried to do the order was for delivery between 8 and 9 on Saturday night! I took it. The order was left on the front porch and we brought it into the house…to the floor of the foyer. We put the refrigerator items away then put the non-perishables in the back of my car in the garage – with the intent of simply waiting 48 hours for any coronavirus contamination to dry up and die before the items were put away in the panty.

Links to my previous “filling a day of social distance” posts here.

And now a little contemplation of what happened to us in March 2020….

On the national level, there were 75 cases of COVID-19 at the beginning of March and 188,000+ at the end; 1 death to 4,000+ deaths in the same time period. Things have changed on a personal level too…and that is what I am thinking about today. Here is the timeline for me:

3/1 Touch Tank and Discovery Cart at Robinson Nature Center
3/5 Grocery store early. No crowd. Used hand sanitizer when I got in the car. Washed my hands with soap and water before and after putting the groceries away.
3/7 Cancelled trip to Texas originally planned for later in the month; decided not to go to training or volunteer gigs after 3/8
3/8 Touch Tank at Robinson Nature Center
3/9 Carload of ‘stuff’ to landfill
3/10 Following “stay at home as much as possible” guidance from CDC
3/11 Grocery store early buying to keep 2 weeks of food in the house always in case we got sick. Store not crowded.
3/15 Starting the daily “Filling a Day of Social Distance” series of blog posts
3/16 Last trip to the dentist for me (finishing some prior work)
3/17 Last trip to the doctor’s office for my husband
3/18 Grocery store early…but they had changed their hours to open an hour later. More crowded. Carts outside. Wipes and hand sanitizer at the door to use before shopping.
3/19 Another grocery store early to find things we couldn’t at the previous store. Not crowded…found a few things
3/20 Another grocery store during senior hours still looking for a few items. More crowded than I expected (all older people too).
3/25 Scheduled 1st grocery delivery…deciding to make do with what we could get delivered
3/27 Telemedicine appointment for my husband
3/31 Gutter clearing – all arrangements made online

During March, we started changing in ways that are fast becoming habitual: more frequent hand washing, using a lot less toilet paper (water spray bottle and toweling), eating at home all the time, appreciating home and family more consciously. We are also paying attention to keeping ourselves mentally healthy…engaging in activities we enjoy and exercising rather than watching the news all the time. Yes – we are worried about family and friends near and far. But we’re all taking precautions to stay healthy. I try to accept that and move on to whatever activity is next in or around our home.

What’s planned for April? The calendar is empty. We have arrangements to spend even more time at home than we did in March…keeping healthy.