COVID-19: Social Isolation Week 3

The struggle is real.  This week has hard some hard moments.  In my brain I know that my situation is actually pretty good, and I know that I am blessed and it could be much worse, but sometimes the emotions of it all just bubble up and suppress all reason.   I am not trying to sound ungrateful for my wonderful house, my nice yard, my health, my amazing family, or anything else, but even with all of my blessings, this is hard!   When my four year old begs me to please just take him to the store because he hasn't been anywhere is SO LONG, it's hard.  When my daughter begs constantly to use my phone to text, call, or video message her friends because she is a social girl and her social life has dried up, it's hard.  When my 1 1/2 year old cries at my feet most days while I'm trying to help the older kids with academic time, it's hard.  When I need to spend every minute of every day helping someone with something and stay calm and not show my emotions because I need to be strong for everyone else, it's hard.  And when I see the craziness, sadness, and fear in the world and don't know when or if things will be back to normal, it's hard. 

Most states have a stay at home order in place right now from the governor, but Iowa is one of the few states that still doesn't.  However, the gyms, salons, and all other "non-essential" businesses are closed, restaurants are only open for carryout, we aren't supposed to gather in groups larger than 10 or with anyone outside our immediate family circle, we are encouraged to only go out one at a time for groceries, so I'm not sure how much a "shelter in place" order would really change. 

Grocery stores are implementing one way isles, barriers between cashiers and customers, and only a limited number of people will now be let inside at a time.  I went to Walmart for groceries on Saturday about 50% of people were wearing face-masks.  That is the new recommendation, that everyone wear one now when they go out in public.  As of today, there have been 330,263 cases of Coronavirus in the US and 9,444 deaths.  A new test has been developed that can test whether someone has been exposed to coronavirus or not.  It is hopeful that these can be distributed soon and then once it can be determined whether someone already has been exposed and had immunity, then they can be the front lines in helping our country to get over this. 

A few things from this week:

Last Sunday evening we drove out to a place called Red Feather Prairie that's about 15 minutes from us and it had some nice walking paths through the woods to a lake with some beach-y area.  We didn't actually spend tons of time there but long enough to get a little break and some fresh air with the family. 

We had April Fools Day.  The kids were excited to play some tricks and had some big plans but they didn't end up actually doing all that much.  I put green food coloring in the milk and wore Christmas socks and called them my Easter socks and the kids thought those were pretty good.  I've never been all that in to April Fools Day though so even this much was a lot for me!

I saw gas in Ankeny for $1.26 a gallon.  That's crazy!  I just wish I could take advantage of it and go somewhere!

Jon and I finished the documentary Tiger King on Netflix.  Big cat people are nuts!

I was able to get a decent amount of progress made on my photo organization. 

Madi has had a rash on her face for about a month and it's just not going away so we finally did a Doctor on Demand visit this week and got her a prescription cream.  Hopefully it clears up soon!

We found out that we are allowed (or at least it's agreed my most neighbors that its ok) to ride bikes or walk on the golf course paths when it is closed so we have been going on some fun bike rides on the new trails!

I recorded at posted a Step work-out video on youtube for my Fitness World Steppers.  I felt super self-conscious doing it and I'm finding that I'm really critical of myself watching it over.  I was started to gain confidence in myself and my skills as a fitness instructor before this all happened and I'm worried that if it takes too long to get back to normal I won't have any confidence in that ability anymore!  I'm trying to still practice once a week so I don't totally lose the skill. 

Saturday night the kids decided to have a sleepover together in the guest bed in the basement and they all thought that was pretty fun.  I'm glad that they have each other to keep each other company and have fun through all of this!

It is LDS general conference weekend.  We have been enjoying listening to the apostles and prophets.  It is interesting and weird because the only people in the conference center are the first presidency and speakers and everything else is recorded from previous sessions.  The prophet introduced a new symbol for the church, He read a new proclamation from the First Presidency on the restoration of the gospel, the entire church was participated in the Hosana Shout after the Sunday morning session, and the church was all invited to participate in a 2nd world wide fast for relief from the Coronavirus this coming Friday-Good Friday.   The overall message I felt was that Christ is the source of Faith and Hope and Light so in troubled times we need to remember to look to Him and we need not fear.  :)

An April Fool's Joke from Colton's teacher.  In a Zoom mtg she told them about a rare Lirpa Loof (April Fool backwards) bird that ate carrots.  Colton full on believed and went outside holding up carrots for the bird!