This summer may be considered one of the most boring summers of this generation due to the pandemic of the Coronavirus. Staying at home is the new norm for so many of us. Travel restrictions and closed businesses prevent us from having a life this summer. Depression and suicide is peeking. Antidepressants are being prescribed left and right now. Can you blame the world for entering a major depression? Many have not already trained themselves to be happy and content with very little. This is a generation of instant gratification. We are not being satisfied during these months of Stay at Home Orders, forced mandates, and new rules on how we can live. People are now having to learn the things they should have learned a long time ago. Things like covering their mouths, coughing in their sleeve, thinking of others, following rules, living selflessly, and learning to be content with very little stimulation.

For my family and I, this new lifestyle isn’t far from what we are already familiar with. We enjoy spending our days at home, with each other, reading books and valuing our time together. Cooking and eating dinner is oddly enough not the norm for too many these days. We rarely ate out. We rarely took vacation. There are lot of factors as to why we are “home bodies” and “hermits”. We do not like debt, so being frugal is a must for our family. Our smart responsible choices are the very reason we are not suffering too much during this pandemic.

Our days consist of waking up with the sun, snuggling on the couch and watching our morning episode of Spongebob or Lego Nation. The kids then go up stairs to get dressed and ready for the day while I turn on the news to see the latest of the national drama. Once they are back downstairs, they start in on their summer workbooks that keep their minds sharp and ready for the new school year around the corner while I go up stairs to get myself ready.

Our home is a decent size, in the outskirts of the little historic town of Aurora, OR. Therefore, there are plenty of chores that keep us busy every day. The kids enjoy going outside before the heat to pick blueberries and strawberries while my husband mows the lawn and I enjoy my morning ice cold water in one hand and my kratom tea in the other, while trying to stay cool. Being 8 months pregnant in the middle of summer isn’t easy. Set to give birth in the end of August, amongst a pandemic isn’t easy either, but life could be worse. I remind myself of that truth daily.

Regardless of how busy or stressful my day could go as a mother of 2, soon to be 3, stuck at home, I make sure to always end my days on my front porch. That view never gets old. I find it so important to keep to a schedule, even as simple as this one. Learn to appreciate the little things around you. I did a video focusing on just that.