Self Quarantine Day 8: Woooh Buddy!

Alright so today is a big anniversary date in our family. It’s a bitter sweet and emotional day for me. Today makes two years since we brought The Conqueror home from the NICU but it also makes two years since my Pop left this world behind. Pop was a great man and we all miss him so much. I wrote about his advice last year and still do my best to live by his words of wisdom. Beyond that, it was an emotional roller coaster.

Almost as soon as I woke up I got a message from my friend Irene in Ecuador. I thought we had it bad here but she let me know about how things were going there. People in her city are ignoring the government’s order to self quarantine and social distance and the virus is spreading fast. Neighbors are still playing soccer in the streets and having parties. There are 700 people in her city alone with the virus and now they’ve run out of tests, gloves, and surgical masks. It was a rude awakening. I’m over here fussing about my kids but at least we’re all healthy. She and her family are all quarantining themselves in an effort to stay healthy. It made me appreciate how good we have it here and how sheltered I am from the world.

Things chilled out a little after that thankfully. My cousin came over to help with the Twins so I could actually get some work done. She was a huge help and even helped the girls to finger paint. They actually napped today and everything!

Being able to focus on my work was great because it took my mind off of everything. It was hard not to miss my team though as I dug through my files and worked on my projects. I work with such wonderful people, especially the team who works for me. Being shut down has put them out of work temporarily and I have zero control of the situation. The best I can do for them at this point is to make sure that when our doors open again we’re all ready to hit the ground running. We’ve done our best to keep the lines of communication open and make sure everyone knows that we care about them. I try to stay positive but it can be taxing.

In the midst of all the work, I had a distraction of scarier sort. The Hubs came inside from digging a drainage trench in the backyard (that’s a story for another day) and told me to come outside to see something. When I got out there he pointed to the side of our house and told me that a four foot snake had just gone behind the siding under our carport. Talk about freaky! I don’t like snakes and I sure as hell don’t want them IN MY WALLS! After much googling and asking around we decided that there wasn’t anything we could really do. It looked to be a very large garden snake and was in the wall closest to my husbands tool storage room. Our hope is that it leaves peacefully and doesn’t end up in the actual house. With all the yard work The Hubs has been doing we figure we may have unintentionally destroyed his hiding place or dug up some tasty treats for him. He was subbing himself when my husband walked up and scared him so he went into the walls. I’m doing my best not to think about it.

After that craziness I quickly shot to the opposite end of the spectrum when I found out that my cousin’s tumor was benign. Since it was found I’d been doing my best to stay calm but when I heard the good news all that suppressed fear melted away and I had a good cry. It was the best news I’ve heard in weeks and I’m so thankful for it.

Soon after I found myself in uncharted territory. The Twins were asleep. I was done with work for the day. I was in an awesome mood and miraculously had some energy. Did I do chores? No! Did I clock back in and do some more work so I wouldn’t have to work longer later in the week? No! (I definitely thought about it though.) I decided to treat myself to a creative project and a completed task. I spray painted my three metal chairs that live in the back yard. If you don’t look too closely they look incredible. Haha! Spray painting is not my strong suit for sure. My hands, feet, face, and hair were a sickly speckled blue when I was finished. The good news is it turns out you can take spray paint over spray off of your skin with Clinique make up remover and a rough washcloth. It’s definitely becoming a highly valued member of my bathroom cabinet. Especially after the sharpie incident the other day.

It felt so amazing to accomplish something with such a visible result. By the time I finished I was tired and even managed to get a little nap in before The Twins woke up. Now they’re up past their bedtime but we’re snuggling and watching Frozen II in our big living room chair.

All in all, the day turned out to be a great one. We made art, celebrated good health amidst a sea of illness, and had snuggle time. I hope that you guys had things to celebrate today too.