Lockdown without losing my marbles

Image found on Wikipedia, here. 

Well, without losing any MORE of my marbles that have long since left the marble bag, anyway....

So. How are y'all managing this social distancing thing? Are you one of those working from home? Not working from home? Chasing your kiddos around home? Hanging around home? Loafing at home? Following all of the directives and staying home?

Um -- are you one of those admirable people that are using this time to improve yourself by learning a new skill, or improving your physique?

YOU ARE?

Whoa. I'm not. I wish that I were; but y'all should know me well enough by now to know better. Yes, my Bratty Inner Child Julia is bouncing off the walls around here. Every time I try to corral her and suggest some kind of useful activity or learning opportunity, she just blows a raspberry in defiance and goes back to playing her four thousand-th game of Candy Crush.

In stark contrast, John is working diligently from home. He has an impressive bank of computer screens on his expansive office desk here at home with his keyboard at the ready. From his executive style office chair, he manages his job efficiently and tells me that by eliminating the in-person incidental contacts he experiences when working in his office, he is actually more productive from his home headquarters.

I'm impressed.

For the most part, I try to stay out of his way during his workday. Well, I TRY. But it is great having him around. Just knowing that he is here and being able to converse with a non-schnauzer person during the day is great.

I beg your pardon. Sniff.

No offense, Lulu girl. I love you, you definitely communicate amazingly well, but your human vocabulary is somewhat limited.

Just sayin'.

So Lulu and BICJ and I have been passing our days alternating between fussing around outdoors, Netflix, cable news, and just plain goofing around. King, the genius game studio that created the Candy Crush games, has generously offered unlimited lives to its players this week. Which is kind of dangerous for my dry eyes and arthritic hands seeing as it is all too easy to mindlessly play these games for far too much time.

After John signs off his computer for the day, things become a little more interesting around here. We
have been working on jigsaw puzzles, cook together, and enjoy a happy hour on our front porch every day. Which is delightful. Some of our happy hour concoctions are tastier than others. I wouldn't recommend this one, which we saw on a newscast, and was dubbed the "quarantini": It's EmergenC and vodka. Blech.

I prefer my tame spritzer hard cider, which is cider diluted with club soda. Much yummier.

We plunked a card table in our living room and cracked open a jigsaw puzzle. Which, I might add, is NOT PLAYING FAIR because its pieces have several straight edges on pieces that are not edge pieces. Isn't that breaking some kind of puzzle rules?

I am so grateful for the expansive view that we have from our house. It is always changing, either by time of day or cloud formations or weather conditions. I think it's endlessly entertaining and can spend an amazing amount of time in front of my windows or perched on a lawn chair outdoors.

I am also grateful for the technology that allows John and I to see hear and talk to our friends and family. Can't imagine if that were not available right now. It is so reassuring to see my kiddos all healthy and happy in pictures and videos and FaceTime chats.

I care about all of my readers, too. So please tell me how you are feeling and what ways y'all are passing the time these days. I sincerely want to know.

And I really, really want all of you to be around on the other side of this pandemic, so stay home. And be well.

Stay in touch.