A New Way of Living | Weekly Snapshot

Published : 2021 || Format : print || Location : Colombia ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ What was it about the country that kept everyone hostage to its fantasy? The previous month, on its own soil, an American man went to his job at a plant and gunned down fourteen coworkers, and last spring alone there were four different school shootings. A nation at war with itself, yet people still spoke of it as some kind of paradise.. Thoughts : Infinite Country follows two characters - young Talia, who at the beginning of this book, escapes a girl’s reform school in North Colombia so that she can make her previously booked flight to the US. Before she can do that, she needs to travel many miles to reach her father and get her ticket to the rest of her family. As we follow Talia’s treacherous journey south, we learn about how she ended up in the reform school in the first place and why half her family resides in the US. Infinite Country tells the story of her family through the other protagonist, El

A New Way of Living | Weekly Snapshot

I don't know about you guys but this has been one of the longest weeks ever. With schools closed and work moved to home, this has been a new way of living. When the changes and shutdowns came just before last weekend, there was no time to really process the information. Within days, life had changed. And then on Monday, I reported to work, from my home, with kids also at home. It was when Friday finally rolled along that I felt the gravity of the situation, how we'll be rarely getting out for weeks, if not for months. How schools were likely going to be closed for months. How work still had to be done remotely or worse, there was no work to do anymore due to layoffs or a shutdown. How there was not going to be any dining in restaurants for months.

That was a very sobering thought. I didn't sleep until 1.30am that night.

How are you all doing? What are some of your tips to keep your sanity on while we get through this very difficult time? Some of you are in places that are probably even worse hit. I hope you are coping okay.

24 in 48 Readathon

Feeling like I needed a huge self-care moment (or hours of such moments though I wasn't likely going to get that luxury), I decided to join the 24 in 48 readathon. I'm not going to ace any number races but the readathon was going to be a good enough incentive to shut down FB or IG in favor of Hoopla or Libby. I'm still reading through my first readathon book (The Best We Could Do), which may as well turn out to be my only. But that was alright.

Working remote

I've been mentally writing up a post about my week and how I've been trying to juggle work and childcare so I'll hopefully post that this week. It's challenging, is the short version. I have been teaching letters and numbers to my daughter and she loves doing schoolwork. My work calendar just tends to be too crowded with meeting after meeting for me to be able to be involved enough.

Currently

This is going to be a very funny section to write. For the first time in my life, I don't know what I'm doing that's worth mentioning. That feels super hilarious to write. We're going to be hunkering down as always but today, my hope is to step out of the house and take the car for a spin and maybe drive around. That will feel very good.

I'm also hoping to get some plans ready for what I want to do with my daughter this week. I've mostly winged it this past week, but hopefully with some prep work done, I can have several different "lessons" ready for her.

Looking ahead

Not sure what this week is going to be like. We're still figuring out what's the right amount of food to stock up. We've never been good with overstocking - in the past, this has resulted in food perishing before we could use it or a cooking frenzy to prevent several different items from getting bad. So this needs some more clever thought. We're trying to reschedule my husband's father's tickets for his flight back home from their current April-mid dates. We'll be glad to have him here for longer, but truth be told, at the moment, it's safer to be back home.

Reading

Last Sunday, I finished Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret and loved it. I do wish this was a book I read when I was a tween myself but nevertheless, I still connected strongly with the protagonist. Since then, however, I didn't read a book until yesterday when I borrowed The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui from Hoopla. If I thought I could not feel any sadder, this book has proved me wrong. This was just what I wanted though - something to help keep my emotions and experiences in perspective.

I may continue to read more graphic novels through early part of this week and then pick up The Herd by Andrea Bartz. It appears to be a thriller set against the backdrop of a women-only coworking space so it sounds like it could be an unputdownable read.