Easter was this past Sunday, and it was definitely one that won’t soon be forgotten. Instead of going to celebrate at church, I watched the sermon from my couch. Instead of a day full of family and good food, well, we still got some of that, but from a distance.
We went to my parents’ house, where my mom set up an Easter egg hunt in their yard while they watched behind caution tape from their deck. We ate a meal “together,” but it was takeout ordered from a local restaurant and eaten from separate tables a good fifteen feet apart. The weather was, and continues to be glorious though, a bright spot in an otherwise very difficult time.
Friday’s Frugal Five
1. After enjoying being “with” each other so much on Easter, we ended up spending Thursday evening with my family again. We played yard games while my family cheered us on from the deck (instead of joining in), and then again we ate at separate tables.
Above all, I keep writing these weekly updates because I want a true diary of this time – because even while we’re living it, these kinds of evenings are so surreal and hard to believe as real life.
2. I ventured out for a grocery store stock up trip this past week. As we are doing our very best not to go more than every ten days to two weeks, the grocery list felt higher stakes than normal. While I did attempt to look at prices a little bit, just attempting to stock up on the things from our list at all was challenge enough. Again, I am so grateful to be able to shop without worrying too much about price, especially when we are so far outside of normal.
I masked up, walked into the one store entrance that’s open these days (thankfully no line to get in at our local store), and then weaved up and down the store attempting to follow the one way signs.
3. I was able to get most of what I was looking for during my trip to the grocery store, except flour, which was completely out. Again, I let my neighbors know that I was looking, and so when one was on a trip at the business Costco location, she texted me to confirm I still needed some. I now have a giant twenty five pound bag of flour in my kitchen (and a ton of yeast), both of which should last us a good while.
4. I was finally able to find some Walla Walla onion starts at our local hardware store and got them into the ground the very next day.
I have onion seeds, which I was about to plant very late, realizing they wouldn’t have time to get to any real size, so the starts were very much appreciated. With the onions from the grocery store that keep molding or sprouting in short order, I really want to have my own growing in the yard. And now I do.
5. While I myself am not an expert – or really even novice – at sewing, I know people who are. What I do have, though, is reach on the Internet, so I was able to ask and have someone write up a very thorough “how to” post on cloth mask making and publish it over on Ecofrugals this week. If you or someone you know is making masks, especially in some quantity, this is a great guide to doing it faster and easier.
PS – I’m on the Find Your Freedom podcast today talking about how to help your community during a crisis.
Exercise Update
Again I went for at least one walk every day this week. With so many of my hours sitting in front of my computer by myself, having that time in the sunshine makes a huge difference.
I also went for a twenty minute run both Friday and Monday (after running the Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday previous), and I overdid it a little. I think I’ll attempt another run today (Friday), but I’m trying hard to pace myself so I don’t have to go back to no running at all.
How was your week?