Like all of you, I am still here trying to maintain a sense of routine. The routine part hasn’t been all that difficult. Work takes up most of my day, then there’s the meal prepping. I have gotten really good at not wasting anything but my creative spark is fading now.
It’s Easter! Maybe not an Easter you’ve ever celebrated before but it’s kind of special, really. All of the commercial stuff has been left by the wayside and we are left to focus on the actual day. I’ve spent more time in the Bible the past 45 days that I ever have. It feels good.
Right Now:
Our church has their Easter service online at the top of each hour, all day long. Our youth group is not formally meeting online so we can spend time with our families. However, I am very excited that Andrea Bocelli is streaming a concert from Italy on his YouTube channel at 10am PT. I can’t wait to tune in.
Later, a ham dinner courtesy of Honeybaked Ham. I tried to order online and all the meals were sold out so I visited the webpage for the closest store to me and they shipped me a meal!
This Week:
Work and book club (Zoom). I may attack a closet this week. My closet is just full of stuff I never wear. If it would stop raining, I’d tackle the outside sitting areas but it just keeps raining.
Reading:
I am reading Just Mercy for a discussion. I should have read it last week to prepare but I was having a hard time getting into the mood to read it.
After that, who knows what I’ll read. I want fast, riveting, suspenseful reads. Maybe, The Lying Game by Ruth Ware.
Watching:
For those who loved Tiger King, a new episode is being added soon. I have to say it was rather dull. I know a lot of people have been chatting it up and it’s a strange show for strange times. For sure. I was so bored by half of it though.
My husband has me watching car shows. Shows like Rust to Riches. It’s SO not me but I enjoy them. The craftsmanship that goes into each car, how they come to find the frames, and the business aspect of up-trading.
New Things I’ve Tried:
I can’t say I’ve tried any new products but I have tried every combination of food this past week that you can imagine. Getting creative with meals is a must in this new world we live in.
Grateful for:
- Friends I’ve made through blogging and how they continue to reach out to me during this time.
- As weird as some of our meals have been, we are eating. This pandemic has really bought to light how many in this country go without food daily.
- As dreary as the rain is, it’s keeping people inside so that’s the silver lining there.
I’ve had a few friends this week share that they have loved ones who have been hit with the virus. I pray for them daily. I pray that their symptoms are mild. And even if you don’t believe in prayer, please let me know if you have anyone you are concerned about and I will still pray on my end. It can’t hurt, right?
I love you all and I hope you all stay healthy. Try not to let this get to you too much and if you need to talk, let me know.
Book Chatter 
I just realized while reading your post that I’m so glad that I’ve not had to run into any of the commercial aspects of a holiday in the past three weeks.
I’m losing my creativity in the kitchen too. It’s hard to spin out meals every day when you’re not exactly unstressed. It’s all about making do for now.
That’s thing too… we are still working even though we are home and I’ve never had to cook at much as this. It’s like, no one can figure it out on their own and they most certainly could if they tried. I was upset last week because after a week of meal planning and cooking we got takeout and mine was not good. I was so ticked!
Thanks for the reminder about Andrea Bocelli. Watching it now…wowwwwww! Just went to church TWICE this morning and now sort of here, a third time. I haven’t had this much church in a long time 😉 and :-).
Bocelli’s performance was amazing. I was near tears. It was the perfect tone too for what we are going through.
Just this morning I was thinking how happy I am that I blog and have people to follow and virtually connect with; it really does help. I am becoming the master of grocery shopping (yes, wearing gloves and a mask) and my daughter and I take multiple walks a day.
I am missing Trader Joe’s a lot. The one we have here has quite a line at all times so I’ve completely given up on it. It’s pretty sad when you look at a leftover cut of meat and think, maybe with a potato it would be good. Everything by me is so piecey no matter when I shop.
I’m sad our family can’t get together for Easter dinner today. I’ll miss that a lot and also miss watching my grandkids hunt for eggs 😦
I’m tring to make something that will last 2 nights so I don’t have to figure out what to fix every day. Either that or make something quick and easy like eggs, sausage, and toast. So far it’s working great.
I’ve never seen Tiger King.
I used to watch car restoration shows with my husband.
I can’t remember anything new that I’ve tried in the last week. It’s harder to find new stuff shopping online.
I pray every morning and night that God will put a hedge of protection around my family, friends, and me. That includes all my blogging friends.
My nephew is the pastor of a church in St. Petersburg, Florida and has been having service online. I love that I can watch from home.
So many changes, huh? I’m sorry you could not have your family over for Easter.
The food thing is wearing me down. Today, my son said he was going to cook dinner but I took the chicken out to defrost, I took all the ingredients out for what I thought he could make but he is not moving on it. LOL.
Online church is good. Not the same, but pretty good if you can settle yourself and make a quiet space for it. Ours has been having some streaming issues so as soon as the signal is lost the phones come out.
We are learning not to waste as well. The weather is horrible here and our son won’t be joining us so our Easter is rather sad. My husband watches car stuff on YouTube all the time – I’m going to tell him about Rust to Riches.
Let me know what he thinks about Rust to Riches. I really like it.
We enjoyed our Easter service this morning online. A bit different, but the two of us were singing along. I know that I have so many things to be grateful for. You’re right in saying that this makes clear how much we do have. I did learn of a woman that we used to go to church with several years that died this last week of the virus. So very sad for her family as her daughters could not be with her. However, she lived her life in a way that said that she was person of faith and others knew that. She reached out to people and made their lives better. God has her now – I know this. Please do keep my daughter in your thoughts and prayers. She’s busy as a L&D nurse at a local hospital and their patients are struggling with so much fear while also still trying to have normal deliveries. Makes things a little more complicated with those deliveries, but our daughter is strong and a good nurse. She’s where she’s supposed to be. And God’s got her as well. Take care, Ti!
I am absolutely praying for your daughter. I have friends who are due any day now and like you said, their deliveries are rather special in this time COVID. I know the nurses and doctors are doing their best to maintain care but also keep everyone safe, including themselves. Prayers for protection and strength.
Thanks Ti. It’s good to be in touch. I hope your family will enjoy being together for Easter dinner etc. I’m excited to play the Bocelli concert you mentioned … and will do so right after this. I’m with my husband and our families are spread out far from here … but we’ve been doing Zoom chats, and I even got my Dad to do one today, wow. I haven’t been in the mood either for Just Mercy right now … too hard perhaps at the moment. I did see one episode of the Tiger King … and I worry about all the animals. It’s strange that it’s not illegal in some states to own wild animals … how crazy is that?
Easter dinner was good. I was a little worried about the size of the ham they sent but it was plenty and allowed for leftovers even.
The Bocelli event was so gorgeous. It brought tears to my eyes.
I blew through Just Mercy as soon as I picked it up so I worried for nothing. You can’t put it down once you get going and it is a heavy topic but full of hope, which was pleasantly surprising.
We haven’t really been Zooming with family members but I’ve been doing plenty of that for work and my club will meet this week using it. Today, we finally have a beautiful sunny day but it’s so windy. I always worry about fires when it’s this windy.
Happy Easter Ti; this was a beautiful post. Cherish time with family and stay safe.
We are trying to stay safe here. The only time we make contact with anyone is when I have to go to the store. My husband is not so good at the preventative stuff. He has a mask to wear but he fights it. Also fights the hand washing which bugs me to no end. I would hate to get sick period, but I would really hate to get sick now! We are several weeks into this now so we should all know better.
My husband and I are eating food that has been in back of the cupboard, funny how we have gotten so frugal.
I will be praying for you and your family as well, Ti.
Seems we are all knocked for a loop, and are now learning what really matters.
We have gone through nearly all our old pantry items. They were not expired or anything but obviously things that no one wanted. Gone. Feels good to not waste anything.
We had a nice calm Easter, but we usually do. We’re not near family for the most part, though I did miss sharing a meal with Anna and her family this year. We like to sit and chat and chill.
We did an outdoor egg hunt this year (pic on fb or Insta) for the first time since it wasn’t freezing and/or raining like usual. I’ll take it. She had a blast looking for eggs in the yard.
I haven’t been watching anything except what Kat wants to watch and not really reading much.
I have been watching live streams of musicals or Andrea Boccelli, things like that — though I think I was on Jesus Christ Superstar overload this weekend. I’ve also been watching Billy Collin’s daily reading at 5 p.m. of his poems and others and watching Patrick Stewart read Shakespeare’s sonnets. Those have been calming.
It certainly did not feel like Easter this year. I went to church online but it’s nothing like being with others in person. I have to be satisfied with our Christian meditation Zoom meetings each week. They are a rich time for me.
We have been watching The Good Place and Comedians in Cars and anything else we can think of to take our mind off things. Some days are good. Other days are not. Today was not one of the good days, but I’m going to try harder to trust God with this tomorrow.
Take care, Ti!
It’s really weird because I can be perfectly fine one minute and then the next, I get this niggling sense of dread. I try to quickly redirect to get my mind off of things and it works most of the time. The other thing that gives me pause is how many Bible studies have come out on COVID-19 specifically. Weird to see studies and commercials on a virus.