We ESCAPED today!

We finally left the confines of our house!

It was beautiful…sunny and 60 degrees. The wind was out of the northwest and a bit nippy but not so bad that we couldn’t just push our way through it.

It’s been ten days since I posted. The coronavirus continues to wreak havoc on anything that was normal prior to March 12. Prior to the first positive result in our area.

I believe we have all stepped away from the initial shock of what we couldn’t do and are beginning to settle into what we can. We can’t go to school, but we can have online classes. We can’t go to a restaurant and sit down, but we can order take out. We can’t go to a movie theater, but we can order movies via apps. We can’t attend any conferences or meetings in person (unless it’s less than 10 people) but we can have a meeting via Zoom. Changes…they’re all over the place and happening more and more every day.

After Jamie received the email from our school letting her know the kids would not be going back to school prior to April 30, I knew I should step in when I can for her to get a break. I texted her and asked if I could have the three honyocks over the weekend.

They packed their suitcases, sleeping bags and snacks and headed to Gramma and Grampa’s house for a couple of nights. They were so excited when they came rushing through the kitchen door. I told them they could stay as long as they wanted to. Nora only wanted to stay two nights. Eli said he was going to stay 100.

By the time Monday morning rolled around, though, they were all ready to go home. I blame that on the fact that Jamie told them their dad had bought them some toys from Dollar General.

Let’s see, another night at Gramma’s house? Or new toys? I think the decision was pretty easy once they found out what was waiting for them at home. I do hope, though, that both Jamie and Curt soaked up the quietness of their house the best they could before all heck broke out again.

I intended on having them all come back to our house last night.

That plan changed Tuesday night.

I knew Jim had been coughing some for several days. Tuesday night when he got home from work, he told me his “cold” had finally caught up to him. I’m going to go with the idea that it was just a cold. But these days…who knows. He wasn’t really sick. He didn’t have a fever. Just a very runny nose and a pretty deep cough.

Regardless, he stayed home all week. He finally started feeling alive again today. Therefore…the escape was made.

I hadn’t been to Omaha since March 19th. That was the day I went to the grocery store and thought I had stepped into a different country. During the past 10 days, I haven’t been outside a five-mile radius of the house.

Tonight, we decided to actually go somewhere and get a bite to eat. We jumped in the van and headed north to Sonic in Gretna. Tell ya what…sitting behind the steering wheel never felt so good. The traffic was very, very light.

Once we arrived in town, it reminded me of how it looks and feels on Christmas night. No one out and about! Stores all shut down. Very little going on. Again, I almost felt like we were doing something we shouldn’t be doing.

Today, we received the notice of the extension of the social-distancing guidelines until April 30. I bet I’m not the only one who feels like that date seems like an eternity from now. President Trump believes we will see our country on its way to recovery by June 1. I type this shaking my head. Unbelievable.

I wondered what would happen after the first 14-day quarantine mandate came to an end. I guess now I know. Will it be better in 32 more days?

At least the weather is going to continue to get better. We can get outside more than we have in the past two weeks. The wet, cold, cloudy weather doesn’t make it easy to be quarantined inside. At least if it warms up, we could go camping or do something a little different.

And then…there’s the question of harvest. What will all of this mean for us wheaties?

Time will tell.

In the meantime, I guess now is as good as any to set up an Etsy Store. The girls have been telling me for a couple of years that I should do it. With the help of the girls, I’m going to do it! Taylor is taking pictures of the first items for sale – head bows – and adding them to the site. Jenna created a store name and logo. Callie helped by creating cards for me to include with orders.

Guess we’ll see if this new Etsy store gets lost in the masses or if it finds its way to someone’s phone or computer screen.

I’m having fun creating…that’s all that matters, right?

And one of these days, soon, I’m going to have to make my way to the grocery store again. I wonder if there will be any toilet paper?