Halfway through January, 2021

 Welp, we're back from the beach.  Hubby is out of travel related quarantine. The kids are overjoyed to be back with him.  I'm glad to be back home with him too, but probably overthinking every single thing, as I was when we were together before his trip.  We haven't had any of the tough conversations that we probably need to have, partially because it has only been a couple of days that we've been back under the same roof, and partially because it is no fun to have tough conversations, and I seem to avoid them at all costs. (Current cost appears to be my sleep.)

My immediate family has been extremely careful, since March, related to preventing contracting Covid-19.  I'm homeschooling my kids; hubby is wearing KN95 masks in the school building; brother and sister and their families taking similarly restrictive approaches to work and social lives. My extended family, on the other hand, who tend to have different political views than my family, have not been quite so careful, and as a result, my uncle died yesterday of Covid-19. He was in the hospital for about 10 days.  The case numbers in my state are staggeringly high.  It seems almost impossible to avoid, at this rate. Yet we carry on, only getting groceries curbside, avoiding almost all in-person shopping, only getting take-out from restaurants, avoiding all social gatherings, and so on. 

My uncle's death followed what seems to be a recurring pattern: he felt ill, had a hard time breathing, went to the hospital, was admitted, and received gradually more and more breathing support, until even that was not able to sustain him. My aunt received few updates, was not allowed to visit (until the VERY end), remained largely uninformed.  The hospital is overwhelmed with Covid cases, in addition to the regular cases that they would be treating, even after postponing routine health care services. It is heartbreaking. 

Well, changing topics. 

At the beginning of January, I posted my #makenine2021 goals on instagram. 

Some will sort of overlap -- like, hopefully I will use the serger to create the running clothes. 

Some will require feats of incredible effort -- like convincing the hubby that it is TIME to recover the loveseat, and then actually getting started. 

The scrap quilt is starting with a loose ambition to make at least one block per month. 

Time will tell how these goals go for this year!

For health/fitness, I'd like to continue to jog about 3 times a week, and continue to eat a fraction healthier than I did before.  So far, I've given up my daily Coca Cola habit -- since Dec. 24th, I haven't had a coke to drink at lunch.  This may seem trivial, but in the past this has given me terrible headaches, and I'm currently sitting at about 3 weeks off of the addiction....Also, I'd like to continue to eat more fruits and vegetables.  In the spring, when shopping first became so very difficult, I started buying a "food share box" of fruits and vegetables.  That group only lasted for a month or so, and then I switched to a different farm group doing curbside pickup, and after they failed to honor a reservation, I switched to ordering a vegetable and fruit basket from a local gardening center.  They are my favorite of the services, so far, and not only because they deliver....but the quality has been great, the vegetables and fruits follow the seasons and are local when possible, and trying to use them up before they go bad has helped encourage me to feed my family more fresh and homecooked meals. 

Should I make it a 2021 goal to finally start seeing a therapist/marriage counselor?