We are nearing the end of stringent sheltering in place in Indiana…it’s been a slow move…very intentional and methodical. While I still have no idea what the new normal will be, I thought I’d share a few of the ways we’ve been spending the time since the middle of March. Because we’ve spent three summers in Europe as a family for various lengths of study abroad, the idea of it just being our family wasn’t completely new. But this was the first time we couldn’t go see or do things and then come back home as we wanted. In some ways though I think our summers abroad were a testing and preparation for being largely us for four months.

We love games as a family and filled many evenings with various games. Above we’re playing Monopoly Deal, a card game that is much faster (and thus better) than the board game version. It can be played with a couple people or with six or more. Another game we’ve really enjoyed since Christmas (and had to get the expansion packs as they released at our local Barnes & Noble) was Disney’s Villainous. It’s a strategy game that everyone in our family from the nine-year-old up can play and enjoy. Just a note, said nine-year-old also plays Settlers of Cataan with us, so he is a strategy game playing dude.

My husband also had the brilliant idea to build this sandbox with our nine-year-old and then got out his army men and sets he’d been saving for the boys. A friend sent a bunch of tiny flamingos that were added to the mix, some with painted on camoflauge. Hours spent outside setting up all sorts of battles.

My husband and sixteen-year-old are also replacing the old raised garden beds we inherited with the house. The old railroad tie type wood had rotted, and since we weren’t going to be in Rome for a couple weeks, this was the summer to replace them. As you can see, the tomatoes and cucumbers are very happy. They’ve grown even more since I took this photo. I love that we have beds we can use again…especially since there’s nothing rusty to require a tetanus shot.

I’m also delighted that my various flower bed are producing flowers. This was one of my first bouquets from the weekend. My goal is to have fresh flowers from my garden from June through at least October. We are off to a great start, and most of the big flowers like daisys and black eyed Susans haven’t flowered yet.

Anyone else tackle puzzles over quarantine? This is the latest of the ten or so I’ve tackled. I love that this one has cats and books, but I’ve done everything from a NYC watercolor street to a French village to a fair. One of my other favorites involved all different kinds of coffee…that one inspired a series of instagram live videos on how to make different types of Starbucks inspired drinks at home. You can find those here for your viewing pleasure.

Then there’s reader mail. This was today’s packets of books and envelopes of thank you goodies to readers who have requested my books at a library or left review. If you’ve done either, please make sure you fill out this form, so I can send goodies your way! Thank you!

And if life wasn’t crazy enough, we decided to get a puppy four weeks ago after losing our faithful family dog of 13 years in April. We resisted for a few weeks, and then decided that if we were going to get a puppy eventually, while we were all home wasn’t a bad time. We were in denial about how much work puppies are, but she’s going to be worth it. She’s smart and growing like crazy.

She’s a shelter puppy, so we really have no idea what she is other than an educated guess that she’s a boxer/lab mix. The good news is she’ll be on the smaller side — at least that’s the vets best guess.

I’ve also been reading all the books in addition to teaching, lots of long walks, etc. Eric laughs because I’m often reading my Kindle or listening to an Audiobook while walking. If you have Kindle Unlimited, this summer I have my Ohio WWII series on that platform — start here with A Promise Forged. Happy reading! In the spirit of traveling in a good book, I’m giving away an autographed ARC of The Socialite, J’nell Ciesielski’s latest book that released in April. It takes place largely in Paris during WWII. I really enjoyed it and can’t wait to share it with one of you. Just use the form below. What have you been doing during shelter in place?

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