March took forever and now suddenly April is over... so here's what's been going on! (To be honest, I thought it wasn't much... but it was more than I expected!)

Content warnings: alcohol and food

As expected, I've been playing a lot of Animal Crossing. It's been a nice way to sink time into something quant and rewarding, as well as play with other people. We added two of our friends onto my Nintendo Family Plan so that we could visit each others islands and run around. It's the simple things that have made staying inside doable. Running around and getting tours of everyone's islands was really fun and a great way to spend a Sunday evening!

Different colored blue, pink, and purple thread sitting on top of black aida cloth, which is fabric you use for cross stitching

There was a cross stitching project I started some time last year that I put on the back burner for a very long time. Reason being, I misaligned the pattern I was doing inside the cloth I had cut out, so if I had continued what I started, I would have run out of room and the pattern would have been cut off. I was so hesitant for the longest time to cut the threads and start over since I didn't want to waste the perfectly good cloth... But I finally did it! I removed the threads (which was more of an effort than I thought it would be) and now I have a fresh blank canvas to restart. I'm really excited to have a new project to focus on... just have to make sure I balance it with what I'm already working on!

A multi-colored jungle gym in a school yard, the fixtures wrapped in caution tape so people won't use them.

I would say I'm pretty well built for staying home in long durations, but even a home-bodied, introvert like myself needs to get out every once in a while. That though... has proved to be a bit harder than I thought.

Given the state of everything right now, leaving the apartment is very anxiety inducing. Walking our trash and recycling to the dumpster just outside the building results in 5 minutes of hand washing once I get back inside. Maybe some people can sympathize, other people might say I'm being too paranoid but.. I'm an anxious person and I'm just dealing with it how I can. I'll be going back to work soon, and I'm lucky enough to have an understanding manager who realizes I'm having a hard time right now. So I won't be going back in full capacity, but just a few days a week to ease into it. Our interaction with the public is minimal due to how we are operating currently which is comforting. My coworkers too have been saying it isn't super busy and that the atmosphere is fairly relaxed. I'm holding onto those pieces of information to help the transition back into the work space go a bit easier (hopefully).

A picture taken of a slow cooker from the top view. You can see through the glass cover inside, where a beef stew looking meal is cooking away.

One nice thing about being home so much is that I'm getting into the habit again of cooking! Working odd hours that aren't usually consistent left me eating a lot of fast food or just eating at work. There would be days where I just... wouldn't open the fridge lol. With all this time at home though, I'm getting back into the habit of cooking and rummaging for meals at home, even if they aren't anything worth bragging about. This is a big improvement compared to how much food I was purchasing on a weekly basis. We've even broken out the slow cooker a couple times now to do some multi-meal cooking. Nothing like Mongolian beef and basmati rice to have on hand in the fridge when you don't feel like making anything!

Our cat Echo, lounging full stretch on our black futton

Figured I would do a cat update as well. The boys are loving having both my partner and I home so much. I'm a bit worried about Echo though once I slowly start going back to work full time. At least my partner will still be here but he's going to be in a real surprise when he realizes I leave for 40 hours a week lol. The two of them have been slowly getting along, but Echo is still very much a kitten and doesn't know what personal space is so he's giving Spicy a run for his money!

Boxes of alcohol on the floor. Twisted Teas stacked on top of multiple boxes of Mill St. Organic beer

I don't drink as much as I used to, but it's been nice having something yummy to look forward to around dinner time. I'm the beer drinker in the house, so it's fortunate that my partner and I have differing tastes in alcohol. We can ration our choices how we please without having to share our stock and having it deplete quickly lol. I usually don't have more than two a day, and it's only usually when I'm playing Dead By Daylight with my friend online. Something about having a beer while "hanging out" with a friend adds a layer of relaxation and escapism from what's going on outside.

Two bowls sitting on a counter, both filled with spagetti and meat sauce!

My little social exposure over the last couple weeks have been quick parking lot visits from my parents. They live about 1.5 hours away, so the past couple Sundays they've made the drive out to say hi and do a parking lot exchange for some homemade food (to me it feels like we're doing a drug deal but in broad daylight and the drug is Bolognese sauce lol). It's been really nice having them come visit, I miss them a lot and it's comforting to have some of my dad's homemade meals when I'm barely piecing a decent sandwich together during the week!