Happy Musings Thursday my friends! I’m back with another musings post for you. I’ve got some thoughts, so let’s get to ’em…
Greetings from Quarantine-Land New Jersey! Ho boy another 30 days of this…at least. How are you guys holding out? Have things calmed down, in terms of the grocery stores, by you?
Here in NJ, we’re pretty close to NYC (only about 30-40 minutes, without traffic). So it can get a little worrisome as we see the numbers pile up in NY, and now in NJ. Fortunately, my decades as a germaphobe have helped prep me and my family for this. I’ve been hand-sanitizing and Clorox wiping down surfaces long before Corona made it cool!
My husband did do a small grocery store run this past weekend, and even going around 10am, said the store was completely dead. So that was nice. No craziness and he was able to get everything on our list…and we still didn’t need toilet paper!
In our house, we’re adjusting to the new normal. It’s hard with two little ones who really don’t quite understand why they can’t go to school, see their friends, see their grandparents, or even why they can’t just go to Costco with us like we used to do. Sam, at 19 months, is just way too little to understand. Riley, at 4, is still a bit confused. We tell her there’s a virus going around and they don’t want to make more people sick. As soon as they say it’s safe to go back to school she can. But y’all it breaks my heart daily when she has a meltdown over missing her friends.
As hard as this is on you, just imagine how much harder this is on a 4-year-old who has no real concept of what’s going on. All she knows is her entire world was flipped upsidedown, and she can’t see her friends or family anymore. It’s rough. But we’re trying. We’re trying to do school activities and art projects to keep things somewhat normal for her, and there’s the LEGO challenge! Here’s the last few days of her LEGO challenge…
Here’s the new house she built:
Movie theater showing Toy Story (she’s 4, she has no idea what Star Wars is, and doesn’t know what a movie set is. So she made a theater with Toy Story):
And here’s the World’s Largest Tower:
We haven’t started today’s challenge yet…Build a New Ship…
Anyway, all of that to say we’re all going through our own challenges right now. I’m grateful we have this community to hopefully take our minds off of quarantine, if only for a little bit.
Hopefully, we’ll see a new update next week. I saw a couple of you asking if we’ll see some COVID specific events in TSTO. Honestly, I’m not sure. Most of the stuff programmed right now has been programmed for a while, not sure what their plan for new content is. Don’t forget EA is located in California, and California has a “stay at home order” in effect right now. So not sure if EA Bob is working or not. All we can do is wait and see what next week brings.
Until then, stay safe. Stay positive. And remember, we’re all in this together!
Thoughts? Sound off in the comments below, you know we love hearing from you!
Here in the little town i live in a “stay at home” order has been issued.. but my work is “essential” so i have to go to work.. but being inside has helped me get some Grinding done for Halo 5… 🙂 yup.. am a gamer.
anyone out in tsto land having trouble logging on. been trying for two days now and no luck
If your kids are bored 8-15 years of age. A couple days of sweeping and organizing garage. Washing, vacuuming Mom and Dads cars tends to stop the boredom complaints..
Think I might have to dig out my slot car track. I’ve been collecting 1:32 scale cars for years, most of them have never been out of the box let alone on the track but, heck these are desperate times.
Stay well all!
~MIB👤
NIB toys!!!!.. don’t take them out!!! the value the value!!!… i try to always get 2 of the same “toy” “collectivable” sooooo.. one can be played with and the other.. well, it sits beautifully in a display case collecting value.. i wish i had done that with my Crash Dummies back in the early 90’s… dumb younger me…
Thank you for your post. Reading these helps to give us a distraction from the news media. Cherish the time you get to spend with Riley because 14 years from now when she goes off to college you’ll look back and wish it was longer.
Nevada is definitely on a shut down / stay indoors modus operandi (Southern Nevada has gotten the brunt of the Covid-19 totals due to Population ; but a small % compared to California and New York). As long as we have Roku? We’ve got plenty of Content watch.
We did see National Guard out , also Operation Blue Flag (Military Reserve in Barstow & Air Force at Nellis Air Force Base fly random Helicopter patrols together from Hoover Dam to Las Vegas Strip).
Shopping = order online for delivery OR pickup only (we haven’t been inside a store since stocking up 🧻 and 🧼 weeks ago). We’re also clean freaks, so handi wipes and Clorox wipes are always used (now it’s just hand sanitizer, too) with a Swiffer / Bissel to pick up 🐈 hair.
This is definitely not a situation I ever expected to see the next generation inherit. At the same time? We look forward to living long enough to be that cranky old couple calling out some whiny brat like our grandparents did (“you think your life was tough? I fought in a world war surrounded by dead soldiers!”) with an, “you think life is hard? we survived a viral pandemic stuck indoors for weeks!”
The Mrs can do medical billing from home, I will be out in the field maintaining TMobile Network Towers (4G / 5G) with very minimal contact with the public. The 🐈’s won’t know the difference (they’ll nap thru anything).
I don’t mind EA taking their time, as this allows me to redo my Springfield, but I can understand the anticipation (we didn’t get St Patrick’s, we may not get Easter, but eventually EA Bob and/or Barbera will offer up something).
Stay Alive
Stay Safe
(Staying Sane is optional (lol!)
Hi Riley, my dog Buddy says hello.
Fantastic job Riley, A+ ⭐
She says thank you 🙂
Your daughter is the cutest 🥰
Up here in Mont-Tremblant (1.5 hours north of Montreal,Can) everything considered not essential have been closed for almost 2 weeks. They’ve closed the ski hill so tourists have fled the area, we’re in ghost city ! I’m a furniture store owner, these times are tough AF… Trying to stay positive and working hard on making online sales ! And enjoying this time with the kiddos… You guys stay safe and follow your gov’ts orders !! xx✌️
Thanks 🙂
Sorry to hear how hard it’s been for Riley. 🙁 Have you considered setting up an online play date for her with a friend or two via Zoom? I saw something online about some kids maybe her age (although they might have been a year or two older) doing just that (they had a virtual tea party).
I lead a Classics Book Group at the local Barnes and Noble, and we just had our monthly meeting online via Zoom last night. I had originally signed up for a free Zoom account (which has a 40-minute time limit and no dial-in option) so I could host that meeting, but then, a few days ago, my wonderful company told us that we were now allowed to use our company Zoom account for personal stuff during the crisis, so no time limit and it allotted me to give the one group member who doesn’t have a computer the option to dial-in. The meeting went very well and one member said it was the first chance he’d had to connect socially in several weeks!
Fun times….
We do a lot of video chats (Google Duo) with her cousins, but it’s still hard on her. She just misses having playmates. Her brother is still a little too young to fully play with her. They try, but he’s very much in the “mine” phase.
I may reach out to the parents in her daycare and see if they’re interested in setting up a zoom though.
We’re trying to limit our grocery runs to once every two weeks since Indianapolis is now a hot-spot. We took our 2 dogs and went for a half-hour drive yesterday just for a change in scenery. Luckily, we’re both retired so our income isn’t affected except for my husband’s 401k. But except for extreme cabin fever, all is well, so far. Your little girl’s so pretty! Stay in and stay safe!
Those pics of your LEGO girl snapped me right out my self-pity. God speed to your family and I’m planning to actually watch baseball whenever it’s back on. So much I’ve taken for granted. Thanks so much for posting real and the TO stuff also.
It’s all lock down fun here in UK. Stores are getting better, smaller shops better than the big supermarkets. Can get pretty much all we need Thou doesn’t seem to be pasta anywhere
People seem to be staying in now better than they were and when you do go shopping it’s very quiet on the streets
Hope everyone out there stays safe and we come out of it sooner rather than later 👍