Sunday Musings ~ Nature Shows, Cooking Shows, Reading, and Naps (and chickens)

I shouldn't feel lazy, right?
I shouldn't give myself a hard time for my unproductive behavior.
I keep telling myself this, but we are our own worst critics, aren't we?

We all are going through strange times. Our lives have abruptly changed. There is stress, worry, anxiety, and rules. Harsh rules.

• I am not allowed out and about from 7pm to 5am every day. Only from 5 am to 7 pm can we venture out. And even then there are further restrictions.
• Sundays I am not allowed to leave my yard at all.
• I am allowed to leave my house to exercise for 90 minutes daily during the hours mentioned above - except Sundays.
• I am allowed to go to the grocery store, gas station, or liquor store {yes they are essential apparently} only on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays. They split the alphabet and the first half can go those days, the 2nd half can go the other day, you have to show your ID to get in the store.

I will be arrested or fined if I break any of these rules.

I am working full time, however, from home. Which honestly is not bad. Though I am really putting in more hours working working from home, I am actually enjoying being home and still being able to work.

Some restaurants are open, for pick up or delivery only, but who can eat out every day? I wish we could, but that was never possible in our budget so now it is just a temptation we try to resist daily. Because, as I mentioned above, I am still working full time and still have the usual 'I don't feel like cooking syndrome' that hits me hard during the work week.

So this long weekend arrived, and I was so relieved to have a couple days off from work. Friday and Monday are public holidays. Under normal circumstances, this long weekend would have been either one where we shopped for things to do a gardening project, or I would have bought candy and something to bring to my In-Laws place for Easter Dinner. A weekend of rest, but also productivity and enjoyment as we celebrated Spring!

But what have I done? Not much of anything really. Plus, my weekday activities are not that productive either, other than work. I seem to be able to work fine, but other than that not much else gets done. But that may just be fine.

Remember how lucky we really are.....

So what lazy things have I been doing?

I sit on the computer, drawn to Cooking shows, in particular I am drawn to Iron Chef Chef Michael Symon's (with a 'Y') live streaming cooking shows every day from his home. I am hooked. He is cooking with things he has on hand, which is not always exactly what the normal recipe calls for. This is my life, I never have all of what the normal recipe calls for so I am always trying to substitute in with whatever I have handy. Plus, Chef Symon has a dog named Norman who is also a bit entertaining. (check his Facebook page for these live shows, plus some great recipes and lists of substitutions that are not intimidating)

If I think about it too much it is funny how I am drawn to these cooking shows, when most of the time I don't feel like cooking...

I also sit on the computer, strangely drawn to nature shows, particularly BBC's been sharing David Attenborough snippets that don't sugar coat how cruel nature can be. You know the ones. The Killer Whales hunt that succeed to eat the Minke Whale. the Shoebill chick attacks its younger sibling while the mother is away and then the mother comes back and only feeds the stronger one. The poor salmon just jump right in to the bears mouths and then the bear siblings fight over the fish. I just can't NOT watch these. (check BBC Eath's Facebook page for these)

If I think about it too much, I don't like to think about why I watch these brutal nature scenes......

And reading. I have been reading SO MUCH. My Amazon Kindle is actually congratulating me on a reading streak. I read 2 entire books in 2 days. In a row. And over the past 3 weeks I have read for hours every day. I get so lost in these stories that is all I want to do. When I am not watching cooking shows or nature shows, or working.

And what happens often while I am devouring books....I fall asleep. I nap. I nap late morning sometimes, other times it is a nap at 6 pm or 7 pm. I feel like I am sleeping too much. And oddly I have been having food dreams. (Okay, maybe not that odd since I have been watching a lot of cooking shows, and sometimes have ice cream and Chex Mix for lunch instead of proper meals.) But I have been dreaming, and often I want to stay in that dream to finish cooking whatever, or actually taste that bite of whatever. I am disappointed when I wake up.

If I think about it too much, I start to worry that what if all this sleep I am getting is because I am starting to get symptomatic from the virus...

But. I guess I should not beat myself up about this lazy type of behavior. The times that I am not watching shows or reading or sleeping, I am worried and tense and stressed. Or I am putting on a mask and heading out in the world with a hand sanitizer in my pocket to stand in line for an hour to get milk and bread. And then stripping and showering the outside world off me as soon as I get home. It is stressful times. We need to allow ourselves time to process the severity of world right now.

At least that is what makes sense to me. We cannot live in a state of stress and worry 24/7 for weeks at a time. We must have some down time.

And we should be thankful that we do still have internet where we can lose ourselves in videos and shows and download e-books. We don't have to leave our houses for anything but re-supplying food. If we could afford it, we would not even have to do that, we could order food to be delivered.

Not the same, but alright anyways.

Though, it is not like I am a total shut in. Just yesterday hubby and I walked the yard, planning where we would plant this and that. I even got a fire-ant bite, that is itching me to death today, to prove I ventured out in the yard for some fresh air and sunshine.

Thankfully, I also have been able to get out there and get some walks in. (We are allowed 90 minutes a day except Sunday, remember.) That also helps me stay sane.

Believe it or not, adding 10 burpees to my workout has helped me stay sane too. Feel good even. And believe it or not after a week of adding 10 burpees at the end of my walks means I can actually DO 10 burpees without stopping to take a break now. So I now add 15. (This helps me enjoy ice cream and chex mix for lunch a little bit more too.) But here I am working out at home. And maybe I will get up to 20 burpees, because apparently doing 10 burpees only burns 5 or 6 calories, so clearly I have a long way to go.

One of these days I am allowed out I am going to use my 90 minutes swimming in the ocean. Working from home actually gives me the flexibility to actually do this. Because I DID sign up for the Flowers Sea Swim, which has now been delayed until October, showing how the world has had to be re-arranged further.

I am also thankful that my daughter has kept me company on some of the walks. She has now witnessed the Chicken Gang. And when they came in view on our walk the other day, all she said was 'Oh my God there are so many!' And she laughed too. 
The sunsets are totally worth the heat of the evening though. It is because of her we went in the evening and saw this gorgeous site.

Curfew Sunset

There really is so much to be thankful for, even if it is just watching shows, or reading, or napping. It is completely okay to take things at your own pace. We are dealing with so many emotions, so much change. 

And I am truly thankful that I can now go in the kitchen and actually try one of those recipes I watched being cooked. This is how we will celebrate Easter. Not with eggs, or candy (hubby ate all the candy already because I had to shop for it on Wednesday - the grocery stores weren't open on Friday and I was not allowed to shop Thursday or Saturday) I probably won't cook tomorrow, but I am sure gonna cook today. Then I will probably fall asleep and dream about eating. And that is okay. 

Life could be worse, much worse. 

I cannot say how thankful I am without thinking of all those sick, and tending to the sick, those tirelessly working to ensure the rest of us can get food, medicine, and the comforts we have become used to that allow us to work remotely and stream entertainment. A huge thank you to all of them.

Do what you can do to help yourself through the changes, the stress, the strange world we now live in. Whatever you have to do - it is okay. 

Happy Long Easter Weekend full of nature shows, cooking shows, reading, and naps.