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How are you passing the time during COVID-19?

ski diva

Administrator
Staff member
I got up this morning somewhat in despair. Another day in quarantine. I'm in my fourth week of isolation, and it feels like the movie Groundhog Day. It's just day after day after day, all of them pretty much the same. Our stay-at-home order in Vermont has been extended til May 15, and it can't come soon enough.

But I got to wondering: how are other Ski Divas spending their time at home?

For me, it's working out (that kills about an hour and a half in the morning), reading, doing some of those long put aside cleaning projects, going to the PO for the mail, surfing the web. Sometimes I'll do laundry or a jigsaw or word puzzle, and if it's a nice day, I'll go for a walk. One morning a week I'll write my blog, though figuring what to write about takes some time. Every day there's meditation and yoga, but I do that daily all year long. For extra thrills and death-defying action, I go to the grocery store once a week.

What about you? How are you filling your days of isolation?
 

Tvan

Angel Diva
Things I am doing:
  • Working from home 50 hours per week at the new job
  • Exercising - daily cardio, 15 mins weights and stretching and Pilates once a week with @Abbi
  • Cello practice and virtual lessons with my teacher in Seattle
  • Cooking
  • Zoom gatherings with friends and family
  • Deep cleaning one room per weekend
  • Laundry
  • A big LEGO build of the London Tower Bridge
  • A big puzzle build
  • Journaling
  • Sewing masks for the hospital... currently waiting for a shipment of elastic so I can finish them
  • Posting affirmations and encouragements on facebook
  • Binge watching youtube videos from the Bon Appetit Test Kitchen - I LOVE those guys!
  • Connecting with colleagues through LinkedIn
  • We’re about to assemble a new kayak rack in the backyard... dock is in the water already
  • Watching “The Good Place“ and “Mrs. Maizel” on Amazon Prime
  • Cleaning groceries and mail with bleach wipes
  • checking in on elderly parents and neighbors
  • planning for our eventual build in Vermont
  • ordering groceries and supplies for delivery
Things I am not doing
  • Reading - Can’t concentrate
  • Reading or watching the news
  • Sleeping straight through the night
While it’s hard to be in quarantine, the reality of this situation is very, very real here. Both DH and my office locations are in a hot zone in Westchester, NY. There are 25 confirmed cases on the campus where I will eventually be working, some critical. Colleagues have lost family members and friends. The fact that I’m a little bored and stir crazy is hard, but harder for DH, so I am keeping a positive attitude and trying to bolster morale since he is struggling with the restrictions more than I am. I also doubt that we’ll be sprung by the end of May.
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
Honestly for me, the only difference has been no commute during the week (which is AMAZING!!) and no skiing which sucks but we are all going through that. On weekdays I’m completely swamped still though. I wake up and do a Zoom yoga class every morning after feeding and playing with Zoey. Then I shower, make breakfast, and log onto my computer to start working. Some days I do another short workout at lunchtime and fix something to eat. Then I work until at least 6 or 7 pm, most days later because I’m doing both my day job and working on the Northeast Face Shield Project which means a lot of communication with other team members as well as following up on all of our requests from healthcare facilities. Then it’s time for dinner and either a book or some tv before bed. I have started trying to pick up my ukulele again too here and there.

Weekends are a little more lazy but still house cleaning, yard work, reading, tv, and I’m planning to start rollerblading finally as well since I have everything ready to go.

Except not being allowed in the mountains, I’m very happy with being home. If I could work from home forever, I would!
 

Abbi

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
@Tvan, thanks for the props! Obviously I am teaching Pilates and am up to at least a class offered each weekday. I try and take a private session and at least one group session a week. My studio has an instructors only reformer class for those of us who have that equipment at home. It’s a lot of fun and really hard!

Unless it’s absolutely pouring I go for a walk or a jog, depending on how much Pilates I’ve done, and see the world a little bit. I find it reassuring out walking that people are still smiling and waving at each other. So we aren’t that terrified yet. I also feed a pair of domestic geese that live semi wild in my area. They are a hoot!

Otherwise my condo is cleaner than it’s ever been and still needs a lot cleaned. I still haven’t completely sorted out my winter gear because it’s not that warm or inviting in my basement garage at the moment. I am reading, studying and planning Pilates sessions and doing the administrative work for said. And spending a whole lot of time on social media! As you know from my anxiety thread I’m not in love with going to the store! I will probably go once next week for coffee. And anything else then I might have run out of. But if I time it right I can get in and out really fast. And for some reason rereading that, even with punctuation it looks like a run on sentence to me! So yes my brain is not functioning in a “ normal“ pattern for me! I wander through stress, happiness, depression and fear at various times. And then pull myself back to center with the help of friends here on ski diva and elsewhere. We are lucky to have each other!
 

SkiGAP

Angel Diva
I am in an extremely impacted industry with worldwide responsibility, so I am incredibly busy work-wise. Outside of that, I spend quite some time on my new apartment - I bought it in December and moved in mid-January. All of those little projects that might take a couple of years to get done (and were not started as I was skiing as much as I could) are fast-tracked - to the extent that certain items can be delivered. This includes painting, change closet flooring, home connectivity, etc. Then there is working out, reading, media watching and cooking. I miss skiing and flying, so much that I've actually planted seeds I was given a long time ago. I bought soil and everything. Took 8 days to see some sprouts..not certain if that is good or bad...

Video apero with friends is mixed in there also :-)

I can work quite well from from home but also go to my office some days as I lead large teams, some of whom need to be in the office - that's a nice change of scenery for me.
 

Jenny

Angel Diva
I was tired just reading that list!

But I guess it motivated me because we went outside and cut down two arborvitae(s?) and dig up their roots and the ones of the bush I destroyed last weekend. Now I have another area to landscape and no idea what to do with it. Would be nice to have a plan.
 

Tvan

Angel Diva
I didn't mean to come across as an overachiever, or to sound like I'm bragging. At the moment, I feel both deeply grateful that we have the luxury of working from home, while at the same time feeling incredibly guilty that we are safe and are not experiencing financial worries.

I also have experience with being seriously, desperately and frighteningly ill. Besides putting me in a high-risk category for this virus, that history also causes my mind to go to places that I really don't want to be. I'm trying to balance keeping my mind and body active, while also trying to help others in my community who are in a far worse situation than I am right now.
 
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marzNC

Angel Diva
I'm trying to balance keeping my mind and body active, while also trying to help others in my community who are in a far worse situation than I am right now.
Balance is really important!

Having been retired for a while and having a kid who started boarding school several years ago, life around our house is the same is some ways and very different in others. Having her home is different. It's a bonus for me, but not easy for her as a college student having to do online classes to finish her freshman year.

I'm taking full advantage of nice weather to be outside in the yard as much as possible. Since it's a huge yard (~6 acres), there is always too much that could be done. It's an evolving yard, not a planned garden except for a few areas. A fair amount of land is wooded. Having grown up in an apartment in NYC, I feel very lucky to have a lot of space for Stay At Home.

The task that takes up far more time than usual is also fun most of the time. I probably haven't ever cooked this much for this many people. Some days it's simple, but I've also been experimenting with new recipes as well. Others in my house are doing the dishes. :thumbsup:
 

ski diva

Administrator
Staff member
No, I didn't think you were bragging or that you're an overachiever, @Tvan -- or anyone else who's extremely busy. I think the difference is that I don't have a job (I'm older than many of you, so I already did my hitch. Which also explains why I ski more than many of you during a regular ski season). Still, that makes things somewhat difficult during times like these. I don't have the sense of purpose that many of you have, or the distraction of working many hours per day. I think it's interesting, though, to see in what way our lives have changed, and how we're making it through, day by day.
 

Christy

Angel Diva
I really feel for the people that are retired or unemployed. I know it would be a lot harder if I wasn't working. Similarly I think this would be hard on another level for people that live alone or that have very small spaces without outdoor access/yards.

My days are actually pretty busy with work, ~2-3 hours reviewing applications for dogs in foster care from the Seattle animal shelter; online Pilates; dog walking; cooking dinner; reading or watching TV at the end of the day. I fit in gardening here and there too. When this all started I need a list of house projects we could do but it's pretty clear they aren't going to get done. To my husband's employer everyone working at home just means they are available all the time.
 
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Tvan

Angel Diva
I keep reminding myself that this situation is brand new for us and there is no one way to experience it. Everyone's mileage is going to vary.
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
I really feel for the people that are retired or unemployed. I know it would be a lot harder if I wasn't working. Similarly I think this would be hard on another level for people that live alone or that have very small spaces without outdoor access/yards.

My days are actually pretty busy with work, ~2-3 hours reviewing applications for dogs in foster care from the Seattle animal shelter; online Pilates; dog walking; cooking dinner; reading or watching TV at the end of the day. I fit in gardening here and there too. When this all started I need a list of house projects we could do but it's pretty clear they aren't going to get done. To my husband's employer everyone working at home just means they are available all the time.

It’s interesting to see what different employers consider is expected from us working from home. In my case we have been told frequently that it’s okay to stagger your hours throughout the day. Understanding that many now have kids at home to school, or other responsibilities. On the flip side, my fiancé finally started working from home last Monday, and his company expects those at home to be online and available at all times during the normal business day. I really appreciate the freedom to plan my own hours. Would be nice if all employers were a little more understanding and flexible for those who need it. In our case we have no kids, so no added responsibility there, but for those who do I’m sure they could really use as much flexibility as they can get! I just like it because it allows me less stress to plan my day and add in things like live Zoom classes etc. to really focus on wellness too.
 

Christy

Angel Diva
It’s interesting to see what different employers consider is expected from us working from home. In my case we have been told frequently that it’s okay to stagger your hours throughout the day. Understanding that many now have kids at home to school, or other responsibilities. On the flip side, my fiancé finally started working from home last Monday, and his company expects those at home to be online and available at all times during the normal business day. I really appreciate the freedom to plan my own hours. Would be nice if all employers were a little more understanding and flexible for those who need it. In our case we have no kids, so no added responsibility there, but for those who do I’m sure they could really use as much flexibility as they can get! I just like it because it allows me less stress to plan my day and add in things like live Zoom classes etc. to really focus on wellness too.

It's a smaller tech company that still has kind of a start up mentality. He works 7–5 pretty much straight through – – he even has to book himself out so he has time to make himself a sandwich for lunch, otherwise people just book him into meetings. And people will text at night or on weekends. By people I mean the male executives/coworkers. I can't remember a single complaint about any female college doing this.
 

Jenny

Angel Diva
Don't worry, @Tvan, I didn’t think you were bragging. But you had me at 50 hours of work! I've gotten accustomed to my schedule over the last few years and the thought of working actual FT hours is kind of daunting.

I was also interested to see your comment about a sense of purpose, @ski diva. My first thoughts were that retired people wouldn’t find this so different from their regular retired life, except that you couldn’t just pop out to the mall, or a movie or something. But then, all the retired people I know tell me how busy they are, and it all seems to involve going out somewhere so, yeah, affected.
 

ski diva

Administrator
Staff member
I was also interested to see your comment about a sense of purpose, @ski diva. My first thoughts were that retired people wouldn’t find this so different from their regular retired life, except that you couldn’t just pop out to the mall, or a movie or something. But then, all the retired people I know tell me how busy they are, and it all seems to involve going out somewhere so, yeah, affected.

Part of that has to do with the abrupt end of ski season. I ski nearly every day during the winter, so my days have a definite shape . When ski season winds down, I almost always get depressed. In a normal year I know it's coming, so I have time to get used to the idea and figure out what to do. Not so this year. So I think that's part of my feeling a bit at sea. Not being able to really replace skiing with something else is a problem.
 

Salomon

Certified Ski Diva
Well I am retired ...as in quit paid employment .. aged 44 . It was always the plan . Work hard . Stupid stupid hard and save a #### load of money . So that’s what we did .
And we have this place . Which is quite big . And takes a lot of work . An awful lot of work .
And we are very happy because we do t have any friends or family visiting for free holidays in the sunshine . So we have time to do stuff .
And no one drinks all our wine
very grateful to be where we are . But apart from no one visiting and drinking wine , nothing has really changed .
 

altagirl

Moderator
Staff member
I'm working full time from home, but have sewed 75 masks so far to donate. Plus exercising at home, working on learning to play guitar, binge watching lots of TV, cooking, having virtual cocktail hours with friends... But the other day I posted on our nextdoor app that I'm sewing and donating masks and have lots of requests to fulfill now, so really I'm sewing during the majority of my free time.
 
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