Pandemic Projects - Retro Version

Remember those first days of the lockdown, 11 months ago, when it was like we were all prepping for a storm? We were staying in, enjoying each other's company, catching up on some of the projects on never-ending "to-do" lists, went on long walks, and trying to suss how long this would be.

I guess we still don't know how long....

This weekend we were supposed to be up in Brimson dogsledding for Beatrix's 13th birthday, but the cold temperatures forced a rescheduling of that. So instead, we're basically going back to the early days of the pandemic and hunkering down.

I started this morning with some zoom meetings, and posting Beatrix's cookie order page. We then cleaned the whole first floor of the house, including spending some time starting in on a deep-clean of our pots and pans with Barkeeper's Friend. We sorted through some old clothes and put them out for charity pick-up. Perhaps most monumentally, I went through a few months of Sunday New York times, clipped what I wanted to, and put them together for recycling.

I spent some time putting together a new puzzle, finished my last bag of Yorkshire Tea, and shot off a couple of emails to friends. Next I'm going to prep some cocktail botanicals, before we play a game as a family (that my awesome friend Rachael dropped off) and hunker down with some desserts, a cocktail, and some beauty masks and foot peel to watch a movie. To be the authentic experience, we'll probably have to listen to at least one of Taylor Swift's albums released over the pandemic.

Still to come? Maybe some more deep cleaning, hopefully picking up my journal again, some reading, bake some banana bread, and hopefully a craft project.

What can you take from the pandemic lifestyle and make part of your everyday life?

ETA: Lest you think it is all sunshine and light around here, Beatrix is currently sulking in her room because she's having trouble recording a track that's due today, Patrick had to take over a pan-cleaning project for me because I lacked the ooomph to do it, and Brutus is lying on the floor with his head between his paws sad because it's too cold to leave the house, much less go to a taproom. Just keeping it real.