3 Years, Say What?

 

Someone mentioned to me last week that March 15th was when the US went into lockdown for the pandemic. Another friend made a blog post talking about how if you feel off, it's due to a dramatic shift 3 years ago. It was interesting to read the comments. I am not sure I have felt off, maybe a little? But I chalked it up to the fact I have been on trips and it always takes me a day or two or three to readjust when I get back home and try to slide back into my routine. 

But it also got me thinking of the last 3 years. I don't think I really blogged a whole lot during covid about my actual thoughts and feelings about being locked down and the never-ending bad news I listened to daily for a while. So since this blog is also like my journal in a way, I figured it better late than never for putting down some of what I remember especially in 2020.

 

I still feel upset about missed once in lifetime trips and opportunities. Upset inside that our amazing Canada trip had to get canceled (it was scheduled for June 2020). 

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The middle of March is when Tony started working from home Monday through Friday since the naval base pretty much shut down and tried to have everyone who was able to, work from home. We had to turn the middle bedroom into an office instead of an Airbnb room. We turned the first bedroom from a storage room of sorts, into a full-time Airbnb room, for when people started traveling again.

Church turned into home-centered gospel learning. We watched a lot of BYUTv on Sundays. Eventually, a Zoom link got set up and we were able to watch our ward online kind of. Definitely not the same as attending in person but I am glad being able to Zoom is still an option, for whenever I travel because I am still able to tune in.

 I found myself being a good citizen and staying home, only going out for essentials. Wiping down groceries for a while (foolishly I know now) and over a period of what felt like forever but was probably just a month or two. Scrolling back in my phone to March 2020, my calendar is pretty empty. April is too. I knew at some point I had to escape my house. I haven't been home in 1 spot since we moved to Ridgecrest in 2016 and I was slowly starting to lose my mind. I convinced Tony that we needed to start taking drives out of town. Anywhere. Just to see something different. So we did and it helped immensely.

Bryce Canyon area, UT & Baker, CA

Blog conferences and events all got put on hold, or canceled and never came back. Or might come back in the future (I'm still holding out hope for some of them). I did attend one conference in 2020 - Inspo Creative Conference in Utah. That was fun and went well overall.

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It also super helped me to stop listening to the news on my Google Mini every day and start listening to more uplifting music.  I did that so much throughout each day and it helped ease the worry and frustration I was feeling about the world.

We got our freeze dryer and kept busy freeze-drying all the things! Meals, fruits, veggies, candy, and more. It was fun and helped pass the time.

Flying with Erica in her balloon in Utah

Craftcation in April was canceled. Super sad! May was a pretty calm and empty month. But we stayed busy! Lots of house projects started happening. I am so grateful Tony still had an income from his job, my job with Homie was put on hold and never did come back, unfortunately, Pinterest parties paused for a moment and then I switched them to happen virtually which was fun but so much extra work. Girls camp was reorganized so the girls did activities at home. I didn't go to northern CA to work on rappelling staff for Camp Ritchie.

Not too many crazy things happened but Tony did shave the back underneath of my hair (I really wanted to try this look) and carved a little mountain design in. Shrug.  It was fun and weird. I don't think I would do it again. 

We didn't bake a ton or gain the "Covid 15" that many people talked about. I delivered gifts to girls in town from a Ridgecrest gifting group I was in. It was fun to get a surprise or two on my porch.  We decorated our front window and part of the sidewalk.

I did all kinds of crafts to pass the time including ice-dying and resin crafts. 

I love love using my Gallery Glass paints. 

Here I made some fun Easter egg clings for the windows

I had a yard sale with a friend. Safe because it was outside and all that and we offered hand sanitizer and most everyone did social distancing. Went well and it was nice to get items sold.

We did lots of house projects including pulling every single thing out of our 1 car garage to paint the floor. We did the laundry room as well. 

Our friend Kim hosted a hot air balloon camping weekend at her house since other events were canceled. It was soo nice to see our hot-air balloon friends and socialize. 

Kim (red shirt) and I. We went to a place to pick fresh blueberries. Awesome!

Explored around California...

Went to Utah and did the Parade of Homes with a friend and also the sunflower fields with another friend in SLC.

I super duper dislike photos of me with a  mask on but it's part of 2020 so here I am with my friends Jessica and Nessa. We went to Waffle Love and enjoyed some food.

Took my mask off as often as possible in 2020 - yay for being able to see my smile which is the only feature I like about myself tbh.

In August my brother got married in the Meridian, ID temple and we had a family reunion too.

It was so much fun to be able to see and hang out with my cute nieces and nephews. 

Despite all the inconveniences and negative news and sadness in 2020, I'd say it was quite the year to remember, and am glad I was able to eventually get out and start living life outside the walls of my home again.

Thanks for reading!