Saturday 28 March – Day 8

Converted our guest room back into its original configuration of a two desked home office.  I am now pleased we kept the benchtop in the garage and didn’t get rid of it.  Moved the bed from the guest room to the front room – or as we will now call it, the quarantine room.   Finished pruning the hedge – its great to get that chore off the list.

We made chickpea patties for dinner.  We used some of the chickpeas we cooked last week instead of canned ones, left out the coriander and added a splash of lemon juice. We had them with chips and veggies as patties rather than burgers.  They turned out pretty good.  Then had blueberry lemon microwave mug cakes which were a great combination of sweet and tart.

Sunday 29 March – Day 9

Walked the dogs in the morning.

Backed up the phones from my iPhone to portable hard drive – they backup to Google photos too, but I like to have multiple copies.

Start sorting a stack of old family photos and albums I inherited from my grandparents and probably my great-aunt.  Also family documents including BDM certificates.  This has been on the to-do list for years.

Started the job of weeding the driveway between the pavers.  Another “never-never job” done – or at least started.

Roasted some chickpeas in the air fryer to go with our rice bowls for dinner – yum!

Monday 30 March – Day 10

Steam mopped the tile floors before breakfast. Worked for a few hours and then dropped Mum off late morning for another scheduled doctor appointment at the hospital.  Detoured by my boss’s house to pick up our office chairs on the way back.  Luxury seats compared to the dining table chairs!

Mondays we work an 8 hour day instead of 7.5 hours. We get a short 30-minute lunch break so only had time for a couple of small chores before back to work again.

Had some equipment dropped off from work.

Picked up Mum from her appointment towards the end of my workday.  Finished up work and then walked the dogs and ran 4km on the treadmill.

Tuesday 31 March – Day 11

Uneventful day, didn’t leave the property.

Mixed it up a bit with breaks during work, took 4x 20-minute breaks instead of 2x 10 minutes and an hour for lunch.  The breaks seemed to come around quicker and I felt more energised and focused during my 1.5 hour work periods.

Mum called my Dad who lives in New Zealand and is in full lockdown.  Luckily the retirement village he lives in has mandatory quarantine.  Else he would be going getting his groceries etc.  He is a very high-risk person and in denial about it …  some people need saving from themselves.

Swam 1000 strokes after work.

Got a bit excited about the grocery delivery on Wednesday.

Wednesday 1 April – Day 12

Groceries arrived nice and early.  We now have a well-stocked pantry and fridge for the next couple of weeks.  I confess we might have panic bought chocolate and chips… but at least it wasn’t toilet paper and cleaning products – seriously, what is wrong with people?

Walked the dogs before work.  It was good to see fellow walkers and their dogs keeping their distances.

Ran 4km on the treadmill after work.

Thursday 2 April – Day 13

Blah, blah chores before work – but seriously who wants to read about picking up dog shit and vacuuming?

Mowed the back lawn during a morning break.

Swam 1000 strokes after work – give or take – I lost count during one set.

Took the dogs for a short walk.

This is getting repetitive – the blogging, rather than working from home which I am still enjoying.

Friday 3 April – Day 14

Survived the week.

Didn’t leave the house, but the wildlife came to us.  Saw black cockatoos fly over the house on one of my work breaks – first time I have seen them this close to home, they are pretty scarce.

We get a variety of native birds in our gardens including occasionally white cockatoos.  Any that come looking for a handout get fed.  You don’t realise how big a cockatoo is until a wild one with a very large, sharp beak carefully takes a piece of cracker out of your fingers.

Also noticed that one of the plants in the back garden had lots of ladybirds on.  Beautiful!

Took one of the doglets in the pool after work – a rinse before her bath.   I then shampooed her by the pool rinsed her off with a bucket of warm water.

Ran nearly 3.5km on the treadmill before bed.  For the first time in ages, I couldn’t complete 4km.  Bloody runners gut!

Week Summary

So week two down.  Challenges, none.

I think the biggest challenge will be actually going back to “normal”.   I am well aware that I have been passing an extrovert for years, now I can happily hibernate at home and not have to come up with excuses as to why I don’t want to go out.

Week 3… here we go.

Follow @paula_from_nz