Family

We’re stuck at home. We are starting to bored out of our minds. But there is so much to do that you could be doing instead of binge watching Netflix. I’m not judging you for watching Netflix, I’m doing it too! I am also doing some of these X things to do at home too.

10+ Activities for Keeping Busy While at Home

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We are working on our house right now, and that is actually taking up 90% of our time. Like painting the fridge there are a lot of things that are needing updates and we are making the most of our time with my husband home to get them done.

Read

Is there a book or better yet book series that you have been wanting to read but haven’t had the time? Now is that time. I have actually been re-reading though some of mine that I haven’t read in years.

Cook and Bake

Instead of ordering out, make your meals at home. We always sit down to supper together as a family. My husband and I take turns making supper, maybe not switching back and forth every night but he still makes his share.

We also have our kids helping out in the kitchen and they love making snacks and desserts.

Game Night!

We don’t do this one enough. My kids love playing board games, and do so throughout the day, almost everyday. Right now they are into playing checkers.

Learning Something New

Have you always wanted to learn how to crochet? YouTube is an amazing resource, and how I taught myself to crochet. Head over to Pinterest and find a beginner pattern you’d like to try and give it a go.

Listen to a New Podcast

I go through spurts of listening to podcasts. I normally like to listen while walking – on the treadmill or outside.

Learn a New Language

Maybe you can’t completely learn a new language during this difficult quarantine time, but you can start learning and keep up with the practice once things begin to return to a sense of normal. Our library has access to some great online resources and your’s may as well.

Travel, Virtually

Maybe make a travel bucket list! You don’t have to leave your computer to travel virtually right now. There are many, many places giving tours knowing that everyone is stuck at home.

Craft

My husband loves to build and woodwork. He is currently finishing up building a chicken coop out of reclaimed wood and trees he cut down. Then he is moving the crafting into the house.

The kids are using up every craft set, craft material and things that they can find.

I am painting our house, because after eight years it really needs it.

Start a New Hobby

Our new hobby is chickens. We have 11 chicks growing really fast right now, and just picked up quail chicks. And they are just the start of what is turning into a small homestead.

Color

My kids started this, coloring in the living room, or their bedroom, and then I dug out my Where’s Waldo coloring book. I have been enjoying it, it’s a nice way to slow down and not think too much.

Exercise

This has honestly been on the top of my to do list since March! But the nicer weather is more incentive to go for a walk.

Create a bucket list

Create a bucket list of things you want to do. Some bucket list ideas could include:

• for this summer once the stay home order is lifted
• for the remaining of this year
• create a life bucket list and start checking things off
• things you want to accomplish or experience with your kids while homeschooling

When you find something to do while you are staying safe at home, it makes it that much easier to stay home. Find something that makes you happy and helps you forget that you are “stuck” at home, but instead makes you enjoy being home.

We have been self-isolating and social distancing from people for over a month now. That’s with a move in the middle because we had the move planned before all of this had started. So here we are stuck home, and I think I would have lost my mind after the first week without my favorite self-isolation things.

My Favorite Self-Isolation Things

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The first and foremost being Internet. I’m not even going to count that as a thing because I would have lot my mind on day one without internet. How horrible is that?

Favorite Self-Isolation Books

Without books the world would be a very boring place, and I don’t even want to imagine it. Living without the library has been hard enough for us, we went at least twice a week before they were shut down.

Thankfully I like buying books. My kids have a lot of books of their own, and I love my Nora Roberts books. Nora Roberts are the only books I buy for myself unless I am buying from a book sale.

OverDrive from the library has been a huge blessing. Being able to get all of us new ebooks to read is heaven.

Comfy Clothes

Seriously, why wear anything but comfortable clothing right now? Make up? Haven’t worn it in awhile. My people know what I look like, no need to dress up.

TV Series

We have Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime. I love crawling into bed and binge watching my favorite TV series of the moment. I just started going through Bones right now.

Favorite Self-Isolation Craft Kits and More

Craft kits have been giving my kids something fun and different to do, when they aren’t out exploring the yard.

Some of the fun crafts we have been doing are:

• painting a flower pot – we’ll be planting seeds in them later
• making candles
• pompom animal crafts
• chalk making set – I had no idea this exist before!
• bird house -build and paint it.

My husband and I have been finding our own “crafts” as we work on fitting up the house and build chicken coops. He built, and I plan for our kids to paint it once we get some bright red barn paint.

I just finished painting our fridge. I never though I would be painting a fridge.

A House with A Yard

No matter where we have lived we have had a yard and I don’t think I realized how lucky we are. My kids have somewhere to run off their energy and to leave this Momma alone for a bit.

Because we have returned home, to our own house with a large yard we get to have whatever we want with no one telling us we can’t.

Which is why we bought chicks. Cute, fluffy baby chickens. We bought seven Buff Bantam Brahmas, though we have lost two babies, and went through all the emotions the remaining five are growing bigger and have the cutest wing feathers growing. We also have 6 Easter Egg layers, they’ll lay green and blue eggs. Next week we’re getting baby quail chicks and then that will be it for egg layers.

We also have seeds coming to have the biggest garden we have ever had, full of the vegetables and fruits we love. Thankfully we have been working up our garden size over the last couple years and have some idea of what we can handle.

Chickens, quail, and a garden aren’t because of self-isolation to quarantine, or something we’ll lose interest in once this is all over, but something we have wanted for years.

Online Shopping

We can’t go browsing in stores for what we need and want to fixing up our house after renting it out for eight years so long shopping has been amazing. I have a new dishwasher coming from Costco – because know one told me if doesn’t work anymore. We have a new kitchen faucet coming at some point because they broke it, it is still usable but just barely.

With a birthday in the beginning of May, I was able to buy gifts for my girl even if we don’t get to have a party. Thank you online shopping.

Just because we are all trying to do our part and self-isolate and maintain social distance doesn’t mean we need to be bored or not taking care of our needs. We just need to readjust for awhile and do what needs to be done, staying home, and spend time with our family.