Stuck At Home? - Let's Talk (1 Viewer)

[KarmaPolice]

There's always public parks with nets. As long as he is just playing by himself, there shouldn't be any worry.

There's only a couple in town, but we are also about 5miles outside of town so he needs rides in.  I guess walking/jogging in will help that endurance in a hurry.

 

[comfortably numb]

I've been an empty nester for a few years now.  I would cut off my right pinkie for a couple uninterrupted weeks with my kids.  Yes we would get on each other's nerves, and yes there would be times when we would each be doing our own thing in separate areas of the house/yard, but I would love to spend that kind of time with them again.

Just a random thought from and older guy for you younger guys with kids to think about when you're climbing up the walls.

Interesting that you didn't mention anything about a spouse...

 

[WDIK2]

Interesting that you didn't mention anything about a spouse...

Don't have one.  Maybe that does make things easier.   

 

[Kal El]

My church had an online message this morning, where our pastor spoke of how we should care for others during these times, while remaining conscious of the risks, but he had a really good example of perspective that I wanted to share. He spoke of being on a fishing boat in the Atlantic that was getting rocked by a decent swell, and he was getting really seasick. The captain saw him, and said for him to move to the front of the boat and focus on the horizon. He did and the seasickness was greatly reduced. 

I think that's a great example for us. Yes, things are uncertain, and it's cause for concern. However, we need to find a horizon to focus on(for me, it's my faith in Christ, but there are other examples if they work), and we can make our way through this. Don't let the swell overwhelm you.

 

[bostonfred]

We are all leaving each other alone for the first hour of every day. 

We are then all doing whatever assigned work we have that day.

We are addressing one room in the house per day.

We are all doing some form of sustained exercise every day, outdoors. Regardless of weather but preferably under sun. 

Contact someone outside of our 4 walls. Multiple someone's are okay, but one is required.

We will cook something every day.

There will be a one hour reading break most days. If we get to dinner time and it hasn't happened then we won't force it, but it's already part of the night routine anyway. So even if it's just 20 minutes instead of an hour it's still part of the old normal. 

Good list. 

 

[pantherclub]

its raining here and I am hungover and bored

 

[IvanKaramazov]

I know a lot of us -- me included -- have joked around about how great social distancing is because it gives us an excuse to sit around playing video games and watching Netflix all day.  As an introvert, I'm honestly not joking.  "Social distancing" is exactly how I would choose to live anyway so this is a very easy transition for me to make.

That said, the next couple of months are going to be hellish for extroverts.  And I also expect that things are going to be much easier for people our age than for folks with young kids in the house.  

 

[JohnnyU]

A 2nd baby boom.

 

[Binky The Doormat]

Get Hulu and binge Letterkenny.  

(I got seasons 1 & 2 from the library ...but when my son saw them - he told me he had a Hulu subscription!!!)

boom.

 

[Joe Bryant]

I've been an empty nester for a few years now.  I would cut off my right pinkie for a couple uninterrupted weeks with my kids.  Yes we would get on each other's nerves, and yes there would be times when we would each be doing our own thing in separate areas of the house/yard, but I would love to spend that kind of time with them again.

Just a random thought from and older guy for you younger guys with kids to think about when you're climbing up the walls.

Yup

 

[Da Guru]

My 2 daughters are spending the whole weekend with us.   Yesterday we all walked the dogs 4 miles, went to a park and walked around.  Shot some hoop in the driveway, had a couple beers, grilled some food,  watched some TV and everybody was in bed by 10pm.  Woke up this morning and we all went for another 4 mile walk with the dogs.  Have not done that with everyone in years.  Wife and daughters on a major cleaning mission now, getting ready to donate a ton of clothes.    I am going to start cleaning out the garage today.

Amazing how fast you can adapt and actually get things done without watching sports all day.

 

[AAABatteries]

Have a coin jar at home and kids?

Start a project. 

Seperate all the coins into denominations.  Sort by year. Create a list of what years you "need" have kids look around house for any coins. If when you go out try to pay cash and bring home  (after you sanitized) and let the kids sort for their collection. 

This isn’t a bad idea for younger kids - I could maybe convince my youngest to do it but my older 3 would be  

 

[joffer]

i've never watched an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.  what is that, like 10 seasons worth?

 

[Joe Bryant]

Tour These Museums From Home

 

[KarmaPolice]

For those that have a library that supports it, Kanopy has a bunch of free Great Courses available through their app.  

 

[bostonfred]

My kid is excited about no school but wants to go out to restaurants and play places.  He's on the autism spectrum and he's very picky about foods.  I've recently gotten him into trying different foods at new restaurants (still kid foods but it's huge compared to what he used to eat). But with all this happening I had no idea how we'd get him to eat.  

I made a menu for the "Family Restaurant" with all the foods we've got in the house. We're using that so he can order foods like we're at a restaurant.  So far we've made chocolate chip pancakes (he's tried them a few times recently vat the local diner), waffle fries that I'd forgotten we had in the freezer to have "chick fil a", French toast "sticks" that are really just French toast cut in strips because he likes the sticks from burger king, homemade pizza and put it in a flat cardboard box.

He's loving it, and I'm loving that he's trying homemade food that he used to categorically refuse. I'm hoping that this becomes a permanent thing. 

 

[Jules Winnfield]

I have a feeling I will be getting an unwelcome vacation so I am going to order a hockey game from Plaay and a baseball game from Dynasty League, Payoff Pitch, SoM, or Plaay
I miss being young and playing SoM baseball everyday in the summer so this will be fun

 

[tommyboy]

Go outside get some air. Sun. Walk around. Chop some wood, do yard work. 

Home projects. Fix that door you put off for a year.

Board games, play cards

Read a book. Call and talk to a friend for a long conversation

Go skiing, golfing if possible. Go fish. Hike. Camp.

Do an art project. organize your music, find new music, listen to music.

Take a nap

Eat better

 

[Murph]

Definitely gonna cook more. I enjoy it more than my wife does, but she does most of the cooking because I work longer hours. Nice activity to immerse yourself in and ignore the news for a while.

 

[cosjobs]

Have a spa day with the SO. Dim lights, soft music,candles, warm bath, sleep a bunch, use some of her fancy face masks, give each other massage. '

IDK

Are offering yours or do I have to use my own?

 

[joffer]

Definitely gonna cook more. I enjoy it more than my wife does, but she does most of the cooking because I work longer hours. Nice activity to immerse yourself in and ignore the news for a while.

I’m wondering how long Blue Apron and Hello Fresh will deliver.  They’ve got to be getting a lot of new members.

 

[Murph]

I’m wondering how long Blue Apron and Hello Fresh will deliver.  They’ve got to be getting a lot of new members.

You'd have to think they'd thrive. They don't need to hand deliver. They way they package the kits they can sit on the porch for a while. On the other hand they aren't cheap and if we're in a recession...

 

[chet]

Remember the small businesses in your neighborhood.  We bought gift certificates from several stores and restaurants over the weekend.  

 

[Mr. Ected]

All housework projects. 

Need to paint a room...or 9?

Retile project?

May not be wise to take on a full kitchen remodel...would such to be at the part where you need sheetrock and something is closed for the time being. 

My kids are off until at least 3/27 (I'm a Mr. Mom). We will likely extend, because neighboring counties have gone longer than that.

I'm doing a bunch of spring cleaning, going thru junk to see what we still need. Will move on to bigger projects after that.

I have 3 kids, 1 in MS 2 in HS. My oldest (Jr. in HS) just got his license 2 weeks ago. For the first couple days of this (they started this 'vacay' on Thursday, he was starting to enjoy the freedom of hanging out with friends away from carpooling!

I treated the first two days off and the weekend as an extended snow weekend. They will get back to work this week, especially the oldest who will be doing SAT/ACT preparation. The problem is that the county has not issued any schoolwork for the kids. They are having meetings in the middle of this week to discuss how this will be handled. The older kids (3rd grade on) have their own Chrome Books that they can bring home, so they will be able to get at schoolwork remotely.

All of my kids are musicians, so they can practice whenever they want, so that helps with me having something to push them to do!

 

[Keerock]

A 2nd baby boom.

Update... Day 5 of quarantine.  Haven't had sex in 6 months.

 

[Nemesis]

If you’re not yet fluent in Skype and Zoom, get on it. Remote communication is the norm for a little while. And your company might use something else, but your customers, prospects, and whoever else might be Skype or Zoom people. Get used to more than one.

Tidy up your LinkedIn profile. Who knows all the ramifications of this pandemic? Some companies are closing suddenly. Others won’t be recovering from the financial burden for a while. When was the last time you made sure your LinkedIn profile clearly told the story of who you are right now and how you can help?

Regarding LinkedIn.......consider joining LinkedIn Premium and brush up your resume with some "actual" skills that could make you more valuable as an employee or marketable as a job-seeker.  The site contains 1,000's of video courses that are easy to follow along that are various lengths in duration.  Each course contains a completion certificate that you can attach to your LinkedIn profile.......and as an added bonus, I use the video courses to receive my required Continuing Educations credits for the 2 licenses that I hold.

I did take a 3 hr Skype course (for credit)....but add'l topics that I'm going to look into/take:     improving my Powerpoint skills, Data Visualization/Analytics, Power BI, various Project Mgmt

Normally it's $30/month........but IIRC, the first month is free and you can cancel at the end of the trial period.
With the extra time we have on our hands, and the economic uncertainty we will surely see going forward......it can only help.

 

[Chemical X]

Learn a language.........

 

[bostonfred]

My kid is excited about no school but wants to go out to restaurants and play places.  He's on the autism spectrum and he's very picky about foods.  I've recently gotten him into trying different foods at new restaurants (still kid foods but it's huge compared to what he used to eat). But with all this happening I had no idea how we'd get him to eat.  

I made a menu for the "Family Restaurant" with all the foods we've got in the house. We're using that so he can order foods like we're at a restaurant.  So far we've made chocolate chip pancakes (he's tried them a few times recently vat the local diner), waffle fries that I'd forgotten we had in the freezer to have "chick fil a", French toast "sticks" that are really just French toast cut in strips because he likes the sticks from burger king, homemade pizza and put it in a flat cardboard box.

He's loving it, and I'm loving that he's trying homemade food that he used to categorically refuse. I'm hoping that this becomes a permanent thing. 

He was refusing food today because it's starting to sink in that we're not going out today or tomorrow or anytime soon but he doesn't totally understand what changed so he thinks this is our idea.  All he wanted was Olive Garden, and he doesn't even eat pasta. He wanted breadsticks with marinara sauce.  I have no idea where that came from because I've never taken him there but he must have found it on the internet because he told me we need to turn right, get on route 95 to route this and exit that and turn left onto such and such road and olive garden is on the left and we can go there and dine in. 

The family restaurant menu now includes Olive Garden bread sticks made from four slices of toast, buttered the bottom of a pan and baked ít with some shredded mozzarella on top, sliced into inch wide strips, with a side of Ragu and some cut up grilled chicken.  And he ate it like it was better than Olive Garden which it might actually be but how would he know that.

I'm totally going to print some family restaurant menus and laminate them along with the ####ty recipes as a memento for when he's older because these are the kid memories that stick with you later. 

 

[Phil Elliott]

Work during the day. Ordered dinner pick-up from local restaurant to support them. Watching tv on the patio tonight. 

 

[jonessed]

Boredom?  I’m somehow supposed to work and teach my kids all day.  Stupid teachers sending graded coursework like it’s a full day of school while simultaneously being completely unavailable.

 

[Murph]

2/2 this week in taking a walk after wrapping up WFH. Seems like a lot of other people are doing the same thing.

 

[Monty Burns]

I'm going to go thru my phone contact list today. I can think of several people in it that I have not talked to in a long time, like a few old college buddies. Good time to do some long overdue catching up.

 

[Harris]

Quarantine day 2 of 15 here. Been working from home since Friday and France went full on lockdown beginning yesterday. We've been able to cook some good meals and finished off catching up on Marvel movies last night with Spiderman Far From Home. Allowed to go outside and exercise alone near to our apartment but will also try to do some reading and keeping up on my French when not working. We do have a bit of liquor so might try my hand at whipping up new cocktails....learning how to make them and then immediately forgetting what I did as I drink more.

I do find that working from home I need to set strict start and stop hours otherwise I'm always partially connected. Got to firmly shut it down at some point to get away.

 

[SayWhat?]

i've never watched an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.  what is that, like 10 seasons worth?

Do it.  All of them.  You won’t regret it.

 

[parasaurolophus]

Not sure where to put this, but seems like the best place. There is an ebook available for "what does the fox say"

My wife was reading to our daughter this morning and i realized what she was reading after a couple pages and it made me chuckle. My daughter thought it was pretty great. 

 

[Deepster]

Day 5 of WFH.  Got lonely.  Made a Wilson.  Didn't have a volleyball so a softball will have to do.  

 

[Summer Wheat]

Got home from work yesterday.  My wife and I took a walk with the kids, player catch in the yard with the kids.  Then we grilled some chicken, then made a little bonfire.   Usually all of us would be gone in different directions with school, practices, whatever.

We plan on doing the same routine for the near future with some outdoor activity.  My son texted me and asked if we could "walk" to the school yard tonight and have me hit ground balls to him.  Have not done that in years.  School is about 1/2 mile from our home. 

 

[JamesonSkittles]

Today, I was supposed to be recovering from St. Patrick's Day....obviously, things change.  Did some spring cleaning,  worked out, will watch a movie.  Will go to my local bar and order food to go.  I will order food at least twice a week to support the bar. 

All the NFL news has been a great distraction.   

 

[Long Ball Larry]

i've never watched an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.  what is that, like 10 seasons worth?

you monster

 

[Poke_4_Life]

2/2 this week in taking a walk after wrapping up WFH. Seems like a lot of other people are doing the same thing.

Wife and I have been walking a mile plus 6ish days a week for a few years.  I've seen more people walking by our house this week than I have in the last year.  Everybody is out walking everyday, kids on bikes, strollers being pushed, etc. 

It is really nice to see even tho I stay away from them.  

 

[Nemesis]

So, i wanted to set up a virtual card game with a couple of buddies or family   (such as Hearts, Spades, maybe Texas Hold'em).......but I'm sorry to say that I'm out of touch with the options out there.   

Any recommendations.......Websites?   or Apps?

i did see where @Murph mentioned BoardGameArena      but when i visited that site, it had a "high traffic load" message.

 

[Murph]

So, i wanted to set up a virtual card game with a couple of buddies or family   (such as Hearts, Spades, maybe Texas Hold'em).......but I'm sorry to say that I'm out of touch with the options out there.   

Any recommendations.......Websites?   or Apps?

i did see where @Murph mentioned BoardGameArena      but when i visited that site, it had a "high traffic load" message.

Haven't been on since Saturday so not sure what the current situation is. It was definitely buggier than usual but we were still able to complete games. Just had to hit F5 a few times when errors came up.

 

[jamny]

you monster

A downright schmohawk.

 

[Punxsutawney Phil]

I am going to get so many house chores completed.  Garage cleaned, pressure washing, new mulch...  It's going to be a great place to ride out the next financial collapse!

 

[Phil Elliott]

Cleaning out my email.

 

[Nemesis]

So, i wanted to set up a virtual card game with a couple of buddies or family   (such as Hearts, Spades, maybe Texas Hold'em).......but I'm sorry to say that I'm out of touch with the options out there.   

Any recommendations.......Websites?   or Apps?

Anyone have thoughts?
I have a local poker group that plays 1x month.............What's the best option to setup an online game?

 

[Nemesis]

So, i wanted to set up a virtual card game with a couple of buddies or family   (such as Hearts, Spades, maybe Texas Hold'em).......but I'm sorry to say that I'm out of touch with the options out there.   

Any recommendations.......Websites?   or Apps?

Anyone have thoughts?
I have a local poker group that plays 1x month.............What's the best option to setup an online game?

Bump again.....anyone?

 

[kutta]

If only there was a really good fantasy football site we could peruse while in lockdown...

 

[Nemesis]

if only this "really good fantasy football site" you speak of would point me in the right direction

 

[Tusken Raider]

My 9-year-old son and I are quarantined at home right now. I'm a single dad. 

Last week, a coworker came by for about 20 minutes to help with a home kitchen project. He tested positive 5 days later, and let me know immediately. I spoke with my PCP, who said that since my son & I were low risk, with no symptoms, to quarantine at home for the next week (which will end up being 14 total days since our exposure). 

Fortunately, I'd planned ahead and made sure we had enough food, meds, etc at home when the signs were pointing to pandemic. Thankfully we're both still asymptomatic. He's been on Spring Break, and I've been on preplanned vacation from work. Next week, I'll use paid sick leave, and his school is cancelled for the next two weeks. But home with a 9-year-old, only child has its challenges.

How's it been? TR Jr. has been doing online math/reading for about 45 minutes each day. His music lessons moved to Zoom online, and that worked out great. We're finding a fine balance between outside playing in the yard when it's not raining, movies on Prime/Hulu/Netflix/Disney etc, and board games. Some reading. I'm catching up on "Vikings", when he goes to bed at night.

We listen to Sirius XM during dinner and talk music. He's already an 70s-80s rock aficionado, so I treat it as "rock history". Yesterday we had a picnic out on the deck while grilling dogs and sitting by the fire pit.

Tomorrow is his birthday. We hadn't planned a party this year due to virus concerns, but now he's not gonna be around anyone but me. So he'll do lots of Facetiming, play some Roblox with buddies, and pick whatever delivery food he wants for the day. I'm also planning on building a fire in the pit in the yard and playing "Corona Shoot Out" - we're gonna write thing like "COVID-19", "Quarantine," etc on his birthday balloons, tack them to the fence, and light 'em up with his BB gun.

I'm trying to figure out some other cool birthday ideas for tomorrow/weekend, so if you've got a suggestion, let me know.