Week One of Work From Home. It was interesting…a little stressful the first day or two, not exactly knowing what we were supposed to be doing or what the priorities were, given…ALL OF THIS (waving arms in air). But by the end of Day Two, after we had our first Zoom team meeting, I had a healthy to-do list and felt better for it.

For the most part, the days did not differentiate themselves from one another much. Working, not going out, looking at the cat, a little tv, a little reading, go to bed. Peaceful.

I enjoy sleeping til 7 and still having time to fix breakfast, shower, or walk before starting work at 8.

Breakfasts are a combination of the protein du jour (chicken, steak, or hamburger), hot tea, and juice. I’m trying different combinations in juicing but so far my favorite is still my basic apple, orange, grapefruit, carrot, ginger. Mid-morning snack is a rice cake with peanut butter and honey, yogurt with fruit or granola, a smoothie, or half a grapefruit with brown sugar under the broiler (yum). Lunch was tomato, bean, cheese, bacon salad for a few days and canned soup one day. One day I was so busy I didn’t stop for lunch at all. Dinner was pasta with broccoli and sausage from a big pot I made last weekend. I don’t mind eating the same thing every day if I like the thing. It’s preferable to preparing something new every day! I do miss take-out and fast food! I know what I’m preparing and eating is better for me, but…yawn.

During the day Janey sleeps on the bed or the sofa. But the second she hears a zoom video meeting start she shows up on my desk to participate.

Whenever I’m not actively typing, she crawls in for a cuddle.

One thing I have been using for work is the Pomodoro Technique. It’s a time management technique, that, in its simplest form, has you work and break in increments of 25 and 5 minutes. 25 on, 5 off, 25 on, 5 off. After four cycles of this (two hours), you get a longer break of 15-30 minutes. It works well as long as your time is your own. Obviously, if a phone call comes in or a meeting is scheduled or a task needs to be done RIGHT NOW, the Pomodoro goes out the window. But the rest of the time it’s helping me stay focused…and helps me get started on tasks I’m not looking forward to (“I can do ANYTHING for 25 minutes!”). It really wouldn’t work at work because my time is not my own at all. I don’t work in an office where I can close a door and ask to not be disturbed. My job IS to be disturbed, ha ha. But it’s nice to be able to use it now. You can use it for other things too, like housework or gardening or whatever.

I walked two mornings, just about a mile. I’m right on a hill so…no matter what, some part of the walk is uphill. Not a fan. It’s more scenic to go down first, and finish coming back uphill, but that’s harder. But going the other way, the road is less walker-friendly and not as charming.

Things are really starting to come into bloom now so it’s pretty out there and I don’t want to miss it all!

After much searching, I finally found a 5-minute stretch routine that I plan to do during two of my 5-minute breaks during the workday. I’ll let you know how that goes! I want to find a comparable lower body one, too, and alternate.

Friday was a big day as I ran some errands after work. The first time off my street since last Saturday! I expected things to seem more drastically empty, but…people are still out there.

On Saturday I just crashed. Big Time. All this…news and change and uncertainty…is exhausting. And I needed a day of None of It. So after a slow start in the morning, I read for awhile on the sofa, watched two movies, ate chips, and went to bed early. It FELT late. But once I got in bed and picked up my phone I saw it was only 8:45, ha!

And today, Sunday, was grey and rainy and I just sort of piddled. A little blog work, a little housework, you know. One of those days.

The governor has extended the order for nonessential workers in the state to remain at home through April 15. We already knew that schools would remain closed til then. They will re-evaluate the order in two weeks. So work from home continues.

Wow. This might just be THE most boring blog post ever. And if this wasn’t bad enough, I’ve written a couple other things…just sort of my thoughts or opinions or whatever…that I’m not sure if I should share them here or not. They’re not about anything really – certainly not fashion or style. They’re just me blabbing. And honestly, they’re not as boring as THIS, ha. So. Thoughts?

I don’t think I’ve finished reading anything new since last week. Usually, I have an audiobook going in the car while I’m reading something else in hard copy. But with only going out once a week, I haven’t even finished an audio book. And none of the movies I’ve watched are worth recommending. BUT…I do have a couple links to share.

One is “Google Arts and Culture.” It’s an app for the phone that shares works from all the major museums around the world, there are articles about all the different periods of art history, you can search by genre or artist or subject matter or museum…you can zoom WAY IN on paintings in high resolution and see things MUCH closer than you ever could at a museum. You can put yourself in the museum where the artwork is displayed and see what’s near it, how large it is, etc. You can even see a painting hanging on a wall in your home! I spent, literally, hours on it this morning. You can do it from your PC, too, but there aren’t as many “tools” as there are on the phone.

The Metropolitan Opera House is continuing to stream operas nightly for free. This is the third week of this, so if you want something different to watch or listen to…or to try a little opera just to see if you like it, this is perfect. The week’s schedule is all the way at the bottom of the page. Tuesday is Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia – which I only know from The Little Rascals’ Alfalfa singing I AM THE BARBER OF SEVILLLLEEEE while being pelted with rotten vegetables from the audience.

The Headspace meditation app is offering some free guided meditations during this time when we can all use a couple moments in our day to just…breathe. I try to do a 5-minute meditation once a day. I could stand to do more but…I have to work up to that!

Okay. That is all for this week. Stay safe and healthy, my friends!

xoxo