Reflections on a pandemic

This whole Coronavirus pandemic is really abstract: this is not one neighbourhood that is affected, nor is it limited to one city or country. It is the whole world. Wow. It is also incomprehensible as to how fast it took hold. One day, I was listening to a BBC report about some virus in distant China and, poof, a few weeks later, the world is shut down. On March 1, I had a plane ticket and plans to see family/friends/work in England and head over to Amsterdam for a conference (departure March 13, return March 22) . By March 6, that conference was postponed indefinitely. After having a discussion with my travel agent on March 10, I decided that I was still leaving to keep my family/friends/work plans in England and Amsterdam. It was not a controversial decision at the time. After all, my ticket was not refundable and I really wanted to go. Some of my colleagues said that they had cancelled their conference plans... others said that they would still go. Andreas encouraged me to enjoy my trip. During the night between March 11 and 12, I heard a report on the radio that Trump was closing the borders to international flights. When I woke up, I told Andreas about my fears about not being able to get back home again. After an initial "come on, your are going", he understood my concerns. A few hours later, my flight was cancelled (with the absolute support of my travel agent who had intended to call me that morning anyway... and a full ticket refund) and I sadly told my family/friends/work that I could no longer go. At that moment, I felt that maybe it was a rushed decision, a bit paranoid... maybe I was being silly. By the next day (March 13... the day that I was supposed to leave), countries started shutting down one by one... My university posted travel advisories and shut down clinical access to all those coming back from international travel. The boys' school closed... and then so did Andreas'... then mine... I no longer felt silly.

Little did we know that day that by May 12 (2 months after my trip was cancelled), we would still be isolating at home.... still no school... work from home... all meetings and classes online. Little did I know that having a "drink with friends" would mean logging onto Zoom. I online shop... for masks. Laboratory hygiene would be required for grocery shopping, as would line ups. Following footprints and arrows on the floor would be almost "normal" and expected behaviour. Social distancing is common knowledge. After biting my tongue so that I would not say "go play with your friends" to the boys, it no longer comes out of my mouth (although I think it regularly). I do not use cash, nor do I need to fill up our gas tank because we don't go anywhere. Take out is the only restaurant experience that is possible. Having a latte at Starbucks involved following footprints and standing at the front door... waiting for my turn... putting my debit card in a plastic box, witnessing someone else tap for me, retrieving my bill, card and coffee from the same plastic box (that was dutifully wiped down before and after me) and handing one of the coffees to Andreas when I got back to the car while I removed my mask and sanitized my hands... and almost finding this normal. All this within 2 months... No one knows what will happen in the next 2 months... no one dares to guess...

Why am I writing all this? Honestly, beats me. I guess I need some sort of reflection. Some sort of WTF?!? Maybe, when I flip through my blog pages on May 12, 2021, I will think: wow... that was messed up. Hopefully, I will then be complaining again about making school lunches and our busy schedule, taking the boys from activity to activity. Right now, as much as I value the time with my family because I am fully aware that, as the boys get older, they will no longer want to hang out with us, I also miss our day to day. Our old day to day.

Sending love to you all xox

The view... from home.

Helping out

In respect of all the work that our front line workers are doing during these times, I put our names in to volunteer to do our bit in the community. We got called in today to deliver groceries to people who could not leave their houses. The plan was that Alexander and Nicklas will take turns on each shift. Today was Nicklas' turn and he had such a good time that he even offered to go next time as well. The people were so friendly and happy to get their food... it made us both feel good about helping out... the least we can do.

If anyone reading this needs a hand with groceries (local... as much as I would like to do international deliveries it is not possible right now 😉), let me know in real life and I am happy to take some groceries to you as well xox

Questions

These strange days result in a lot of questions... deep, meaningful questions: when will this be over? When can we resume our normal life again? When will the curve be "flattened"? How will we know when it has been "flattened"? Are my loved ones safe? Some people ask themselves about the meaning of their lives and what higher being do they believe in.... I find myself asking myself very important questions such as: how the heck can my dishwasher always need emptying? Why is the pantry empty already? Where are all my dishes? Who forgot to change the toilet paper roll (couldn't resist putting that one in 😉)? How on earth can they use up so much milk? Oh yes, and the famous one: do they need to fight ALL the time? 😉

Sending socially responsible hugs to you all xox

Yes, dog, it appears that we need to unload the dishwasher... again... ;)

Happy Easter!

I know this post is a day late but we spent all day yesterday in the garden, getting everything ready for our summer in our backyard ;) We are accepting that our summer plans to Spain are probably out the window ;) so we will make the best of what we have here. Trampoline (aka cage fighting ring) will be put up next weekend after the remaining snow melts and the mud pit dries up a bit more.

This was the first year that we didn't colour eggs with the boys. Oliver was the only one who was kind of into it but, after asking if he really wanted to do it, he confessed to be more interested in eating chocolates so the Easter bunny delivered on that point ;)

Hope you all had a good Easter weekend, filled with chocolate... and a bunny who got an exemption from the quarantine rules ;)

Hope

Not sure where the rainbow in the window started or how far this extends in the world (maybe it is local?) but people here put rainbows in their windows to provide comfort and remind others that we will be OK. Andreas heard about this and put our resident artist on the task. Anyway, we now have our lovely window rainbow up, made with love and good wishes. Andreas told me that I should also put up a bottle of wine in the window too... some of my fellow mothers might appreciate that one as well ;)

Sending love and rainbows (and wine) to you all xox

Baking with Oliver

So sue me (see picture below) 😉 and, yes, he is still wearing his pajamas late in the day. It IS Sunday after all.... oops, actually, it is Monday 😉 #whatever

I DID get him to brush his teeth... and we fed him lunch before he got the cookies... it is a good day😉

Hope you are all doing well! Hang in there! xox

Some days, you just have to take the path of least resistance... plus he asked specifically for these ;)

Oliver's art gala

Oliver has a teacher who is really into art. I guess she struck a chord with him because he is now determined to be an artist. Even before school closed for the boys, I had promised to buy him an art set for his birthday in May. On one of the last days before the non-essential stores shut, I figured it was probably the best time to pick up a bunch of art supplies as an early present (aka something-to-do-while-school-is-out and a-way-to-preserve-my-sanity-at-the-same-time). Let me tell you, he has become a machine at painting.
Last night, he told me that he wanted my help so that he can put together an art gala. His school has one every year to fund raise for the Home and School so I guess that he figured it would be a good idea (full disclose: I said no to buying him some stupid skin for Fortnite. Guess this is what he wanted to raise money for 😉). Anyway, today we put together his art gala. Oliver arranged all his canvases in the hang out space under his top bunk bed. He even put up Christmas lights to make it more art-looking (he takes it very seriously 😉). He raised $14 dollars by charging $2 entrance... his grandparents in Sweden got a discount because it was by Skype... only $1 for them 😉. Fund raising for stupid Fortnite skin successful 😉. At this point, I don't even mind so much. He put in a lot of effort and did a good job at setting up his gala. Maybe he can even set up an art gala for our retirement fund raiser because Andreas wants to buy a boat 😉or, more realistically, to cover our "teenage boys snacking at home because they are bored" grocery costs 😉

Here are some pictures of his art gala... without entrance fee... lucky folks 😉

Happy Saturday xox

The sea/sky canvas isn't by Oliver... he put it there to support other artists ;) 

Oliver's artist look

Keeping sanity in the house pt. 4

Do you want to know how to keep sanity in a house filled with active boys? You put up your basketball net. Best investment ever.

We bought this net earlier in the winter when our old one came crashing down in a windstorm, missing our car by centimeters. A friend of ours gave us a heads-up of one for sale in his neighbourhood. We literally stalked that poor seller with text messages until we were finally able to pick it up and bring it home (thanks, to our lovely neighbour with a truck). Andreas was worried that it would either fall again or get in the way of snow removal, so it ended up at the side of our house... and, subsequently, frozen into a snowbank. Guess the boys were driving him crazy because Andreas literally dug it out and set it up.

Presto... sanity! ;) All relative, you know ;)

Hope you are all keeping yours xox

All the boys were outside. I just wasn't allowed to take a picture of Alexander and Nicklas. They called me annoying. Oliver didn't care ;)

Keeping sanity in the house pt. 3

Today, after this weekend's thoughtful planning to take the boys out and get a good football workout in, it snowed... boo! Not just a little bit of snow either... it looks like winter again. Anyway, after the basic "1 hours of math or science on the computer", I kind of gave up. Surprisingly, Nicka agreed to cook dinner with me (coming from the kid who only learned how to boil water last week, he did well on the butter chicken) and Oliver went all out on a painting (he has decided to become an artist so he says he may not need to finish elementary school anyway😉). Alexander is absolutely proud of himself by reaching the 400th episode of a Japanimation cartoon that he has been working on since the Christmas break. What can I say? Congratulations? Aim high, son? Glad this is the important school year for college applications? #whatever 😉

Today, I also learned that the alcohol and cannabis stores in Quebec are deemed an essential service. You have to love this province... we seem to have the right priorities... stay home and drink wine 😉 I also started an online Swedish course (I will let you know how that goes) and Andreas is busy watching all the movies that I never wanted to see 😉

The Police's song "Don't Stand So Close To Me" is on perma-loop in my brain.

Wishing you all a great... umm... Monday, I think... Tuesday? No Monday 😉 xox

Keeping sanity in the house pt 1

So, as you all probably know and are experiencing the same thing, the boys' schools are closed until further notice. So, as you all probably are going through yourselves, the entertainment factor is seriously lacking. No play dates, no going out, no gym sessions, no school..... no sanity 😉 At the same time, Andreas and I are trying to figure out how to organize the rest of our semesters and keep some sort of work schedule going. By the way, the boys home in the current situation does not mix well with trying to get work done 😉 Yes, Captain Obvious 😉 Anyway, lacking ideas (and wanting some sort of empathy), I went to Facebook to get some ideas...

Today's big adventure (besides trying to get them to do some math review) was baking... and we picked banana bread. It was conveniently planned out because I had a big load of bananas that I needed to get out of my freezer 😉 and the boys like banana bread so it provided motivation 😉 Despite the rocky start (ie: the need to push each other in the kitchen and fight over who got to put which ingredient into the mixing bowl), we ended up with some pretty good banana bread... and we ended up with a project that kept our sanity going for about 40 minutes before I kicked them out of the house to play on the street... our street... not a busy one 😉 Tomorrow, we will move on to baking bread... wish me luck!

Sending virtual hugs to keep up the social distancing 😉

Andreas couldn't resist putting a banana into his banana tree 

Adding ingredients

No idea what was so interesting

Putting the batter into the pans

Voila! Finished product!