Shelter At Home

It was announced the state is going into shelter at home beginning tonight until April 30. For another month, we are going to be together. In this house. Unseparated. Still Together. For 30 more days. God help us!

 I cannot continue to feed this tribe. I’m done with cooking. I have been banned from making roast and taco salad because someone says we eat it too much. Today’s spaghetti bake was “too simple” and Sunday’s bbq chicken was “too dry.” Chicken pot pie had too many vegetables and is too closely related to chicken and dumplings. I cannot ever make them both in the same week again. Feel free, he tells me, to buy Little Bite muffins, Little Debbie snack cakes, and all of the tortilla chips you can find. 

Keagan woke up from a nap just in time to hear the shelter at home announcement. The expression on his face when Evan broke the news was priceless. It was much like my face when Keagan decides to object to my weekly menu choices. Keagan feels that before the 30 days are up someone in this family of four will end up “turnt.” I quickly announced it couldn’t be me because I’m the only one of us who can cook. Evan decided he would be going “to the grocery store” for hours on end and daily to get food supplies. Keagan is looking to hitch a ride with him. He needs to find Little Debbie. 

Home School

Today was the first day of homeschool. Not one teacher for either boy provided any assignment, enrichment, or even suggested a book to read. The school system’s reasoning is teachers need time to put something together, so it rolls out next Monday. I can’t have the boys thinking they get three weeks of spring break; I took matters into my own hands. My boys are about to learn something at the Toole Charter School!

Keagan is working on factoring trinominals with me. He’s doing drivers ed with Wes. 

He’s training daily for soccer with sessions designed by his travel coach. 

Evan is doing online study sessions for his AP courses and daily ACT practice. He’s putting up 200 shots a day on the new basketball goal.

We are in quarantine through May 1. All non-essential businesses in Tennessee are closed as of midnight tonight. God help us!

The Deck

I have a beautiful and large deck. I love it except it’s painted blue. I don’t want a blue deck. I want a wood-stained deck with a screened in porch. 

I interviewed four teams in January about having my deck sanded and stained. I had many people eager to build me a new deck but no one wanted to mess with the paint. Some stopped returning my calls. Others  claimed it couldn’t be done. Then I found a couple of good-‘ole boys who knew enough to get it done but not enough to know how difficult it would be. 

The first day they tried a paint stripper. This is all that came up. This would be great if I was going for a weathered look. 

They spent day two trying to sand by hand. This what got done.

The next day they brought a large belt sander. They still didn’t get much more paint off.

At lunch time it was decided that we would need to turn the boards over and put the paint side down. Monday we try plan number four. I’m crossing my fingers for a positive outcome. I already have my new outdoor rug ordered. 

Fill the Void

To fill the soccer void, Keagan agreed to play soccer, run some drills, and teach a few new strategies to a young soccer player on post. I had his older brother in my class last year, and I’m friends with his mom. His dad is deployed and he misses hangin’ out with a guy.

In order to follow quarantine rules, they had to remain six feet apart during instruction. 

Keagan was patient. He encouraged Konner. He broke new information down into simpler steps. He was born to coach. 

Keagan said it solidified his plan to be a coach. 

Quarantine Day # Too Many

Today would be our day to climb Macchu Picchu. I’m still not over missing it. Instead of hiking in seventy degree weather, we are hunkered down at home preparing for another round of tornadoes. 

The struggle to shop and find necessary ingredients is real. We are still eating and eating well but sometimes we have to get creative. Yesterday I made pork chops in cream sauce, and we were missing heavy cream. Wes and Keagan went on a hunt for cream and came back with this. 

We’ve established a daily routine. The boys sleep until noon. I fix a big lunch/dinner at 2:00. The boys play basketball. I read a book. Wes works from home. The cat snoozes. The dog chases birds. 

Then we repeat it again the next day. 

Keagan’s play in a late-night FIFA tournament on the PS-4 resulted in game one ending in a win. I was cheering like it was a real game, and Evan was dishing out advice like he was the coach. Those 15 minutes were intense!

Today is Keagan’s big tournament. Evan got an invite to play in a Madden tournament on Wednesday. So even if we can’t play team sports in person with real people, my boys have found a way to still participate. 

Quarantine Day # Too Many

Today would be our day to climb Macchu Picchu. I’m still not over missing it. Instead of hiking in seventy degree weather, we are hunkered down at home preparing for another round of tornadoes. 

The struggle to shop and find necessary ingredients is real. We are still eating and eating well but sometimes we have to get creative. Yesterday I made pork chops in cream sauce, and we were missing heavy cream. Wes and Keagan went on a hunt for cream and came back with this. 

We’ve established a daily routine. The boys sleep until noon. I fix a big lunch/dinner at 2:00. The boys play basketball. I read a book. Wes works from home. The cat snoozes. The dog chases birds. 

Then we repeat it again the next day. 

Keagan’s play in a late-night FIFA tournament on the PS-4 resulted in game one ending in a win. I was cheering like it was a real game, and Evan was dishing out advice like he was the coach. Those 15 minutes were intense!

Today is Keagan’s big tournament. Evan got an invite to play in a Madden tournament on Wednesday. So even if we can’t play team sports in person with real people, my boys have found a way to still participate. 

Spring Break

It’s spring break, so I should be packing. I should be going to the airport tomorrow for my long-awaited dream trip to Peru. Instead I have pulling weeds and doing taxes on my to-do list. 

The Corona virus is causing major changes to our day-to-day lives. Namely, we have no life. The gym closed Tuesday. Restaurants began closing Thursday. Church is closed for a month. No sports or practices allowed. Schools are closed for the next two months. Now that I am done with remote teaching, I have no idea how I will fill my days. 

With a full week of nothing, Keagan has had his fill of video games. Tonight he told me he had great news! Out of more than eight million people who play division 1 soccer in FIFA, he’s ranked in the top 200. I’m not really sure how to react to such an accomplishment. So my kids were doing something more than just sitting on the couch for the last seven days! He said, “No one can claim my soccer expertise.” 😂 There you go. So we aren’t going to Peru, but Keagan is a master of EA sports.