In the Time of Coronavirus

Well friends, my last post was approximately 1,226 days ago. A lot has changed. Yet some things are still very much the same. You can thank the global pandemic, COVID-19 aka Coronavirus for this resurrection. Sooo my goal will be a daily or semi daily (I should start with low expectations here, let's be honest it's been thousands of days) post about our journey through this time period. I hope it's less than 1,226 days. Let me begin my story last Thursday...when I knew for sure that it was really about to go down.

THURSDAY: 

• Worked a full day, end of the day announcement that we would have school Friday, but workdays on Monday and Tuesday.
• Scrambled to pick up Quinn to try to get a few things at Costco. Got a few things, but not really everything I wanted...mainly no pasta. 
• Matt got home, we ate a quick dinner then I went to Wegmans were everything was over picked or gone (still no pasta...everyone is eating carbs, even though I thought everyone was on Keto), but I did get a good amount of stuff. 

FRIDAY:

• Worked one of the weirdest days of school. Just an eerie feeling all day. About 45 minutes before the end of they day they announced that no one would return until April 14th. All day was a mad dash for me to divvy out food to kids, try to unload refurbished computers, do the daily tasks, etc. Now we had little notice to basically gather stuff ASAP, clean, and leave. 
• Picked up Quinn and went to Target. Here is a picture of the last people we saw up close.

• At Target we gathered the last of the groceries we could find, and picked up a crystal growing kit as well as a rock painting activity for Quinn. Also new sidewalk chalk! Target still had no pasta, but Matt found some at a corner store in DC that day. 
• Matt was also given permission to work from home through March. Quinn's school sends notice they are closed and will reopen March 31. 
• Started the mass amount of laundry. This was mostly school bags, coats, lunchboxes.

SATURDAY: 

• Quarantine, day 1. Sort of. I did go drop off food at a friend's house, but with good reason.
• Continued massive laundry.
• Sidewalk chalk
• Surface cleaned the house. 
• Family walk.
• Movie night: Live Action Aladdin on Disney Plus

SUNDAY:

• Did some online churching.
• Started the crystal growing kit.
• We did cheat a little on this day too...we went and bought new running shoes. Our discount card was going to expire and now there's more exercise time :) 
• Quinn had her first Coronavirus meltdown and refused to get back in the car.

• Took a family walk.
• Ordered books on Amazon.

MONDAY:

• Sight words
• Daily chore...changing all the beds. 
• Playground time and a walk.
• Had a little read in.

• Did miles for the first time in a long time. Never a good time. 

TUESDAY:

• FYI...I typed this out to a friend, so it's the only day that's 100% accurate. I'm struggling to remember Saturday to Monday...
• 745: wake up 8:15: make breakfast, eat breakfast, watch Doc McStuffins 9:30: sight word practice, flahcards and shaving cream, clean up 10:30: puzzles, marble run 11:15: teach Quinn how to play war to work on numbers 12:00 lunch and clean up, some coloring 1:00: play outside 2:00 wash the car inside and outside 3:00 FaceTime with Grandma and Bo and snack 4:00 laundry and tell Dad to stop working 415: the mother went on a walk 5:15 bath 6:00 number zingo 6:30 frozen pizza and Frozen 2 8:30 bed for Quinn

WEDNESDAY:

• Sight words with marker boards and hangman...Quinn is currently obsessed with playing hangman (I guess she learned it a school) I'm so glad she now is learning more words than Quinn, love, mom, dad, cat.
• Daily chore was cleaning out and organizing the playroom.
• Walked 1.7 miles with Quinn (I told her she's doing a marathon and when she accrues 26 miles with me she can order something on Amazon.).
• Got gas in the car...Matt found out today that he's now working 8 weeks at home, so he has to go in to his office to pick up things. I filled up the car at Costco...there is an attendant that cleans the pump after each person. I also brought my own Clorox wipes and coated my hands with them while using the pump.
• Played Sorry
• Revived the Blog. 

Well writing this confirmed my memory is not what it use to be. I also take a lot more videos than pictures. I have gone walking and/or running everyday, so that's a plus. I'm also happy to get more time with Quinn than I typically would. This week my direction from my job was to take a week to address the needs of our family and ourselves. Next week we will begin working virtually, but we do not have exact guidelines yet. They will be provided later this week. I think that will also continue to evolve over time, but only time will tell. Stay tuned. 

The Comeback Post

My original blog post, entitled 'Blogging?,' debuted on February 20, 2011. My last blog post, before this one, was on February 20, 2015...weird. I looked this up today when I decided I really needed to update my blog. It has been so many weeks!!! My longest blogging absence in four plus years! I feel sad that there's no record of March 2015 on the blog at all. 

So...why the extended silence on With a Little Flare? I'm not really sure to tell you the truth. I guess winter got more wintery, and thus we became a little more reclusive and boring. Then there were a few weeks that were just so busy with work and life that it was all I could do to just go to work, make dinner, and try not to be falling asleep on the couch before Matt got home from work. Thankfully, this week is Spring Break! I am getting to reorganize and check boxes, and also have some fun! The sun is shining and Spring is springing. Daylight savings is saving my sanity! 

I have quite a few things to catch you up on...some new recipes, everyday happenings, new adventures, new favorites, etc. I will also tell you soon about my second adventure in wedding cupcake making. This weekend we are traveling to Pittsburgh to visit with my family and celebrate Easter. It will be a nice end to a great week off. 

With this post, I am hoping to restore my blog and post more faithfully. I am sure that with the way spring has begun, I will have lot of exciting and interesting things to share. I'm looking forward to getting back on track! 

Recipe of the Week!

Spicy, Garlicky, Sauteed Rainbow Chard

I know what you are thinking...chard?! Seriously?! Yes, chard. Seriously. I know it's kind of random, but we are habitual vegetable eaters. Habitual as in, 1. I love vegetables and we eat them all the time, and 2. we eat the same ones all the time. I saw a recipe on Dinner: A Love Story using rainbow chard a few weeks ago and I got inspired. The [recipe] on DALS, by their 10 year old daughter (who writes quite well), is not the one I used, but it was the influence. This vegetable side is so simple and so delicious. I'm sure you can dress it any way you like to make it fit your meal or your tastebuds :)

Ingredients:
Rainbow Chard (I used about half a bag, but wish I had more...Matt used some in his juice)
olive oil
salt
garlic powder
red pepper flakes

Directions:
Coat medium or large size skillet with olive oil. Place over medium low heat. Toss in rainbow chard. As the rainbow chard is wilting season with salt, garlic powder, and red pepper flakes to taste. See, I told you, super simple!

Friday Love

It has been so long since there's been a {Friday Love} post, or really any post. May has never been my favorite month of the school year. I'm hoping this gets me back on track.

{ONE} 

Julia on Jeopardy. We all know I love Jeopardy. Julia has been the returning champion for 19 nights. The best part is she seems so normal. She is stealing Ken Jennings spot in my heart this week.

{TWO}

Fresh Herbs. My garden is growing quickly. It has been so nice to go clip some basil or cilantro dinner this week. Basil really just tastes like summer!

{THREE}

This Contest. I entered this week. I love DALS, and I'm really excited about the potential of this!

{FOUR} 

The Book Thief. I just started reading The Book Thief this week. I love the way the book is written with Death as the narrator. It's hard to stop reading. It's getting me excited for summer reading. Any suggestions? I want to start making my list. I need something happy and light after this one.

{FIVE}

Friday Love

{ONE}

A Cup of Jo. So I love, love this blog. She writes about such a plethora of interesting topics, and is super relateable. She also has great voice in her writing...I always feel like I know her even though we've never met.

{TWO}

Forever Young. I love this version of Bob Dylan's Forever Young. It plays at the beginning of Parenthood each week.

{THREE}

Perspective. It's important. Life is all about it. Keeping it. Putting things in it. I'm all about perspectives these days.

{FOUR}

New running stuff. Last weekend in my quest to find Gu, I also bought some new socks, and my fave a new sports bra. I won't go into major details, but I made a serious upgrade. And the socks were pretty good too. I hope to get a couple more pairs of Feetures.

{FIVE}

Springtime Weather! It's finally happened friends! We have made a turn for the better with warm, sometimes sunny weather. A welcomed week since last Sunday's frigid, pouring sleet run. It's been a very long winter, and now I am almost at a point where I can see some summertime light!

Friday Love

{ONE}

Love, Teach. I have recently starting following the blog Love, Teach. Previously I had only occasionally read it, but not I'm a follower. She's got some great posts. My most recent favorites include the 16 ways to monitor testing and Cardigans: A Love Story. The cardigans one really hits home.

{TWO}

Radioactive. I finally downloaded a couple new songs from iTunes earlier this week. Radioactive included. It just brought back some really good memories from summer when I clicked on it and I couldn't resist.

{THREE}

Toms. I wish I was rich and could buy all the Toms I ever wanted. Toms and, you know, lots of other things, but now that spring is coming (finally) I wish I had so many pairs.

{FOUR}

Exceeding Expectations. This week I was testing with fidelity once again and my friend was such a fabulous star I was smiling the whole day! It's just so nice to see my friends rise to the occasion. Sometimes my job really has some benefits!

{FIVE}

A Clean House. I consider myself a nice and neat, orderly person, but truth be told sometimes I really lack the motivation to clean our house. There's just a lot of other things I would rather be doing. Once it's done though, there really is no better feeling.

Renaming

Blog readers...I have to say I am a little disappointed. There were hardly any votes on my poll. Eight, to be exact, which is funny because I know that 56 people viewed the {Friday Love} post where I told you about the poll, and 250+ people have visited my blog since I put the poll up. Hmmm.

Anyway, the winner (with 4 sad votes) was Life: One Plate at a Time. Since I posted the poll, though, two people have mentioned an alternative title with the same thing in common and I actually think I like it the best. One friend suggested "Life With a Little Flare" and another, "Food with a Flare." What I think I am going with is "With a Little Flare" and the subtitle of "life one plate at a time." Obviously, it's making it's debut today at the top of the page.

Matt tried for a good hour to rewrite the HTML to make it look like I want it to, but neither of us can figure it out. I had to change my fonts to get rid of some of the gigantic spacing between the two lines of text at the top, and I really want the subtitle to start more under the H in With. Any advice on how to remedy this problem?

Friday Love

{ONE}

New Blog. Obviously there have been some changes around here. I think how it is formatted right now is mostly the way it is going to stay. The last thing that will change is my blog's name. I am adding a poll to the right side of this page. There are 5 options: Life By the Bowlful, What's Cooking on Lednock, Life: One Plate at a Time, and Now Serving..., and What's On Our Menu. Please vote for what you think is best! I'm really looking forward to the results :)

{TWO}

Starbucks Holiday Drinks. I just love when the Starbucks red cups come out! And strangely enough for someone who doesn't like sweet coffee drinks...I love the gingerbread lattes. I wish I could buy one everyday!

{THREE}

Bows. How cute are these hair bows? Cute, as in tacky-cute! My talented friend made them for all of our Girls on the Run this season. They are made out of duct tape. I shamelessly sported the one below all day on Monday at school.

{FOUR}

Night the Cat. This is a little bit of a long story, I'm going to cut it short. Another friend and I share a silly student. She's in first grade and she's obsessed with lip gloss, cats, and cupcakes. She's always getting her lip glosses confiscated at school. Well one day this cat (who has a long backstory of his own) showed up in the classroom with her lip gloss and a cupcake nose. He's taken on an elf on the shelf role. The kids named him Night and wrote him letters. Night will be writing them back this weekend. I'm so excited about my new pen pal project!

{FIVE}

Salt & Vinegar Chips. This is possibly one of my most favorite foods. The problem is I never really get to eat them. If there is a bag near me I will consume the entire thing. Well, actually, I will consume enough to make my mouth hurt so bad I have to take a break and come back as soon as I have feeling back in my tongue. Therefore, these are not allowed to be in our house. I sometimes text Matt and tell him he should buy them for me on the way home. He never does.

New Pages

With the updating of my blog I have added new pages to the site. You can see the addition of new pages in the header at the top left of the screen. The tab "About Erin" includes a little biography about me and about the blog. There is now a recipe index as well. That was quite a project. I am seriously hoping people use it. At least I probably will. It was fun to go back through almost everything I made in the last three years and revisit some of the disasters and remember a lot of the things I made only a couple times...and should remake soon.

Some things I don't like about my updates that I still can't figure out how to fix: the 'gadgets' on the side of the page and the links posted on my pages. My links use to open up into separate windows, but now they open using the same page. This annoys me and I want the old system back! My gadgets are now on a tab that moves in and out when you scroll over it...I want the gadgets to actual be in a right column on the page like they use to be, but can learn to live with this annoyance if I have to. I also use to be able to click a button to automatically link to Facebook and I can no longer figure out how to do that. I would love to have that convenience back as well. On a positive note I do love the new search which give a little drop down snippet about any keyword you search. So any tips on my problems? If you have a remedy please share.

Construction

I am working on a new look for my blog. I have been considering this FOR-EV-ER...but always get too nervous to actually make the change. Along with my new design I would really like to change my blog's title. I never loved "the.life.&.times.of.erin.," but I was worried I didn't just choose something I would never just start writing the blog. I am taking suggestions. I would really like something with a food in the title. So please friends...rename my blog. Bear with me as I attempt to make my blog look and sound like what I have pictured in my head :)

FRIDAYS

Ok blog readers...I have a few things to ask you. Let me start with a little back story. You might have sensed from my last post that I'm having a little bit of a rough go of it right now. I've recently decided that I should maybe start a new and exciting hobby. Maybe a new hobby would help me be excited about something, or at least give me something to look forward to besides the weekend and the month of June. I don't know what my new hobby should be though. So, any ideas? I mean seriously look at that link I posted above...those are some interesting hobbies.

I did remember that blogging is one of my hobbies and maybe I should try to put more effort into my blogging, however, one of my blogging principles is to not pressure myself to write a certain number of posts because then I might not like blogging anymore. I have been considering doing a "new segment" entitled something like "Friday Love" when I post like a top five of things I love right now, or I post a bunch of links to things around the internet on Fridays. I read a couple of blogs that do things like this and I enjoy reading, or clicking, them. What do you think...top five list, or links to other things on the internet you might like reading?