Moving Forward When the World is On Pause

Funny how time still marches on. I thought being under house arrest and forced to cook for myself 99% of the time would make the time slow to a crawl, but it's been moving on, seemingly oblivious to all the change.

Brent's grandmother died last week and we went up to New Hampshire for the burial yesterday. It was immediate family only; her four sons, their partners, and a smattering of grandchildren and their partners. We all wore masks, sat sporadically around the funeral home, and drove our separate ways afterwards. All things considered, it was a nice memorial. The immediate family hasn't strayed far, and everyone made it within an hour or so. Without the normal Boston traffic, we were in New Hampshire 45 minutes after leaving the house, which has to be some kind of record.

It was the first time I wore an outfit that wasn't sweats and a hoodie since mid-March. It was the first time we needed to put gas in the tank in over a month. It was the first time I realized that I need to stop treating this time like an all-you-can-eat staycation or I'm not going to have any clothes that fit when I have to go back to work.

Just kidding, I realized that like two weeks ago #yolo

With the days running into each other in a seemingly endless loop, here are a few things that are evolving throughout this pause in time:

I'm not reading as much as I initially thought I would, but I'm still making my way through the stack I checked out right before the libraries closed. With only one book left, I realized it was time to step into the 21st century and give e-books a shot. I've been stubbornly telling myself that I wouldn't like e-books b/c I like the feel of a book in my hand and being able to turn back and reference past chapters, to be able to thumb ahead and see how I'm progressing. I thought e-books would be too impersonal. Turns out, I've been depriving myself for all these years. I've been lugging heavy-ass books on trips and commutes that I could have easily avoided. Granted, I've only ready one book on my iPad, but it was a real game-changer. 

I've been baking like crazy. Cookies, breads, blondies, brownies, pretzels. When you work in a professional kitchen, you don't want to cook at home. When you have anything to make for a family or friend get-together, you do it at work b/c it's so much easier and clean up is practically non-existent. All the baking I've done in the last few weeks made me realize I've been whining for no reason, b/c baking at home gives me so much joy. Except when I forget to put the cats in the bedroom and they track flour all over the kitchen. 

Brent and I have been engaging in quite a bit of drinking. What the hell else is there to do? After over-serving ourselves on Cinco de Mayo, I came to the conclusion that I need to take a break. When you're trapped at home, you can't drunkenly embarrass yourself, right? That's what I thought until I checked my phone the next morning and saw the texts I sent my neighbor downstairs, practically badgering her to come up for margs. Then I remembered I saw her husband and their dog in the yard when I went down to take the recycling out, and I have no idea what we talked about, but I'm sure I was probably staggering all over the place and insisting they all come up for drinks and tacos. Tequila makes you do some crazy shit. So I'll be cutting back on the hard stuff, since beer is practically water, and we all need to stay hydrated as we move into warmer weather.

the drinks in question; but how can you stop at one when they look this amazing?