In June I stepped out of my shorts and pants only life and into a life of skirts and dresses. For two weeks I wore only skirts and dresses, except when exercising. At first I felt silly putting on a skirt to putter around the house, although that was nothing compared to how silly I…
Author: Gwen Shaneck
Burn Out
I have four kids. Since schools closed on March 13th I’ve been in full-time full on mommy mode. That’s almost five months. No breaks, except my weekly shopping trip, if that could be called a break, which has now been hijacked by my 16 year old needing driving practice. I go to bed at 9pm….
What I read in July
I haven’t been doing anything extracurricular except reading lately. It shows. I’ve now read 50 books for 2020 and it’s only July. Up until 2019 fifty was about how many books I read in a year. What was I reading? Here’s a list with a brief summary. Just a quick note. If I read it,…
A Desk of One’s Own
We just built our children a desk. The best hope for their return to school this fall is a hybrid of school and home. For the last few months of school we used an ad-hoc and imperfect system of the dinning room table, my desk, and a small table we brought down from upstairs. But,…
8 Great Ways to Exercise during Lockdown
Are you still in lockdown? We are. Although the world around us is opening up we are keeping to ourselves. But, that doesn’t mean that we are sitting inside and molding to the couch. Here are 8 ways we are getting our hearts pumping: Cosmic Kids Yoga: “Your place for yoga, stories, and fun!” Have…
Autolyse, A Metaphor
I have no new ideas of my own and during the coronavirus pandemic’s initial lockdown stage as I watched my yeast stash slowly diminish I became one of those people who bakes sourdough bread. In sourdough bread you combine all of the ingredients together into a bowl and then you let the mixture rest for…
It’s Amazing What You Can Get Used To
The first time I donned a mask a few weeks ago it felt so strange. I felt self-conscious and stupid. But, this past week when I went to the store I barely thought about it at all. I simply strapped it to my face and went out. It reminded me of what it felt like…
What I’m Listening To
I don’t know if I am in the majority, but when this whole pandemic really hit the fan I wanted to know everything that I could about it all. I found a few new and really fabulous podcasts. I’m still listening to a few of my tried and trues, but these two podcasts below have…
Shopping, an Odyssey*
We live out in the country a good 30 minutes from the nearest store. Over the years I have perfected a system where I basically take one day a week and throw it into the garbage of “errands.” I literally put in an 6-8 hr workday visiting all of the stores on my list and…
Dinnertime Experimentation
I know from reading other blogs that I am not the only one who is suffering through this time feeling mopey and sad. I am finding it hard to keep myself motivated to nag the kids about their schoolwork, to clean the house, and even to make dinner. It just feels like every day is…