Homebound Day #35: The Other Shoe Falls.

Well, it's been a couple of weeks since my last blog post on the stay at home order and much has happened. For one, our governor has declared school buildings will not reopen for the remainder of this school year; all classes will continue online. So that means it's a good thing I cleared the yogurts out of my classroom fridge before I left.
The other big thing was that my car died. With The Wife and Spud in it, and the dogs, and $100+ in groceries, and the curbside order from Chili's we picked up. Stone dead. Friday evening. Had to get the mother-in-law to come pick us up. I had a spectacular meltdown. Had the car towed to the dealership. Good news, the battery just died. Like forever dead. I also found out I needed front brakes and a tune up (this was not a surprise, the car has like 115,000 miles on it.) Fortunately, it's not like I need the car for anything.
I also discovered that white flour is Nigh Impossible to purchase. Stores that do have flour are selling it in one pound zip bags, like cocaine. The other choice is the convenient 25 pound restaurant/hotel bag.

But at $15.99, I can't complain.
Time to bake 6,000 cookies.

Amazingly that curbside pickup from Chili's was the first meal during this ordeal that was not cooked at home. (They also screwed up my order and gave me fries instead of the onion petals I paid an upcharge for. Granted, the world is coming apart at the seams, so I'll let it go.) I've been cooking a lot, even more than normal. We even ordered a box of meats from a local farm to support the locals and ensure we have good things to eat. 

As far as booze, we've worked through about a third of our supply of wine (originally 48 bottles), and we're close to running out of tequila and gin. We will soon find out how a tequila sunrise is with vodka.

The Spud is taking it all in stride, especially now that the weather will permit her to hang out in the yard. She does comment that she misses school and her friends, and we worry what will happen if her 5th (!) birthday is socially distanced. Honestly, if the cake is big enough, she will be fine.

Hope everyone is doing well and staying safe!

Homebound Day #3: The First Cracks Appear

We are into the third full day of being stuck at home and the first cracks are appearing. It's been raining for the last 48 hours and we can't go outside. Today, everybody overslept and we immediately fell behind schedule. I actually had a fair amount of school stuff to do today, so the Spud wasn't supervised like she's been. Everybody was a bit on edge today.

Breakfast for everyone was a simple affair. The Spud had a bowl of Fruit Loops and a bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon because what child doesn't wan't $15/lb. smoked fish on a daily basis. The Wife and I had toast with butter and Vegemite and a fried egg.  Coffee supply is solid.

Lunch/Snack for the Spud was a half bag of chips and some grapes. I had a leftover smoked sausage. The Wife had a bag of chips because she will die/kill everyone if she doesn't get enough sodium.

Dinner was a slow descent into madness. We served the rest of the shepherd's pie and realized it wasn't going to be enough. Then I realized we had corned beef left. That's when it happened. I suggested an atrocity and The Wife cheerfully said it was a great idea.  BEHOLD:

Reuben quesadillas. 
I am become death, destroyer of worlds.

We'll be outside gnawing on tree bark before you know it.

The Wife seemed to think these were absolutely wonderful, she finished hers with great gusto. I was less enthused and finished mine mostly out of spite and to finally be done with the corned beef and cabbage we were working on since the weekend. The Spud wisely avoided this entree and opted for yogurt, fruit, and some sliced turkey lunch meat. Everyone had another slice of the pineapple upside-down cake from yesterday.

Fortunately, the temperature is climbing into the high 60's. Once the Spud is in bed, we're retiring to the patio for Adult Beverages and  I will have a Big-Ass Cigar. 

Stay Safe!

First full day of staying home

As most of you are acutely aware, the Coronavirus has drastically changed how many of us have to live. My wife and I are both teachers, and both our schools are closed until March 30th. The prevailing notion is the closings will last far longer. It is possible that the schools could remain closed for the remainder of the year and students will work online from home.

That being said, we are stuck home for at least 15 days. We will do everything in our power to not go out, though this means being trapped at home with a feisty four year old. What I've got going for me is that I was raised in a house where you always bought way more than you'd need "just in case."  The Wife continually questioned why I insisted on keeping six jars of peanut butter and jellies, bags and bags of frozen potatoes and vegetables, cases of ramen noodles, matzoh, and assorted pastas. Why did I buy 48 packs of toilet paper every week or so?

Well, "just in case" has arrived. We have plenty of food in the fridge, freezer, and pantry. We have a rack full of food we've canned in the last couple of years. We have toilet paper and paper towels. We get our prescriptions in 90 day supplies, so we're good there. There is no fear of running out of booze.

What this means is that we don't have to run out and grab stuff from the store; stuff that somebody might need more than we do. Our goal is to live on what we've got in the house for 15 days. At worst, we will have to go out for milk. That's it. I'll try to give regular updates of what we're eating and how it's going. I'll post videos when I can (there's one at the bottom!)

Today's Meals:
Breakfast: Egg and cheese on English muffins for me and The Wife. Fruit Loops for the Spud
whoops, we have already run out of English muffins!


Dinner: Shepherd's Pie (using up the leftover mashed potatoes from the weekend)

-Stay Safe!