If you had told me a week ago that I would be writing about being quarantined in my home, it would have sounded like a work of fiction.
Paul was in Minneapolis when we started seeing this virus taking its grip on our country.
As a result of sporting events across the nation being cancelled, his company’s entire fleet of trucks was re-called to the home office, except for his. His re-call came a day later, and he was on a plane toward home on Saturday.
Friday was our normal grocery day. I hadn’t yet made a menu for the coming weeks, but knowing lots of folks were heading toward grocery stores, I decided this grocery trip probably needed to be full of staple items for our pantry and freezer.
I’m so glad I went! By Sunday, stores here were pretty empty. It’s odd, and really unsettling, to see store shelves bare.
I picked Paul up from the airport on Saturday. We stopped for lunch, and to return some building supplies, on the way home.
Everyone was out just doing their normal things- it was strange to see, especially since I kept reading all these stories about corona virus spreading through the US.
As it happens, our family has had a head cold that seems to want to linger. We decided to stay home from church on Sunday. That was quarantine day 1, for us.
We rested.
It’s exactly what we needed as a family.
Paul and I quietly discussed what the coming days might need to look like for our family- more and more states were advising that residents stay in small groups, and out of public places. We played Charades and Monopoly with our children tonight. That was a lot of fun! Paul spoke with his brother on the phone. All is well.
We decided at that point to start our 2-3 week quarantine, (hopefully, this will have calmed some by then.)
We normally do buy groceries for 2 weeks at a time, so I believe we should have what we need to not have to leave our house for the weeks ahead.
On this day, I’m thankful my husband is home. I’m thankful I was able to buy groceries before all of this began. I‘m thankful none of my family is showing signs of illness. I do miss my church family.
Day 1 Menu-
(I’m hoping this might be inspiring to someone trying to come up with ideas for eating with limited options.)
B-Cereal (I had a pile of cereal stocked I found at Dollar Tree)
L-Hamburgers with a bag of chips and a dill pickle (I had hamburger patties in my freezer, pickles from the 1st grocery trip this month, and chips we were saving for a zoo trip, but it doesn’t look like that is happening any time, soon.)
D-Chicken and Brown Rice with Dill Carrots and bread (These were the last 4 hamburger buns we had from a pack I sliced and buttered.)
(This week, we ate off of a turkey I had purchased on sale after Christmas. We smoked it and today, I started turkey broth in the roaster.)