If you catch Virtual Carthage, the show produced for Carthage News Online on Fridays; you may know me or guess that I am somewhat “Covid Conservative.” I’ve worked at home for two years now, and aside from being busy, for our family, there are not a lot of reasons to go out; we are having the time of our lives at home. Our pandemic plan focuses on avoiding large gatherings. Not entirely. My husband is a teacher, and we also plan to vote in person, but as a goal, we avoid crowds and stay at home. We get out from time to time, mostly small adventures, avoiding prime traffic hours at our destination. When we went to The Discovery Center in Springfield at three in the afternoon on a random Thursday, we were thrilled to be the only visitors on site. We have had some great adventures just by making crowd avoidance a family challenge.
With Halloween coming up, I am feeling the side-eye from others about our choice to stay home. But we could not be more excited about our plans. Our day is packed; I am getting up early and headed to Carthage for a massage with Doug at The Palms. This leaves me with some time to have coffee by myself afterward and maybe a bit of shopping around the square. I have a couple of grocery pickups scheduled on my way home. Our festivities start around two, with my older daughter and her husband joining later in the evening if I text the perfect photo of homemade treats as a reminder invitation.
The Plan:
- Family walk in the woods to look at trees and maybe gather a couple of bugs for my pet praying mantis.
- Make homemade soft pretzels, caramel corn, deluxe caramel apples, and vinegar taffy.
- Snack throughout the day on a veggie tray and a couple of meaty appetizers or fondue spread.
- Watch many episodes of The Simpson’s Treehouse of Horrors.
- Ava will test her YouTube knowledge of makeup. Brad and I are so excited to find out what we are going to be.
- Play Ava’s favorite game after dark; it’s a blend of flashlight tag and hide and seek that we play in total darkness at the house. It has made us laugh throughout the summer.
The times we are facing in the world today seem so chaotic, and at times a bit forced and even hostile. We’ve enjoyed the peace and joy of our silly activities throughout the year in the quiet of our home. I don’t feel the fear of any virus or overwhelmed by politics. I feel challenged to find a recipe that accompanies the online lesson and crafty ideas to ease stress while creating memories for my ten-year-old to cherish.
Everyone is facing a set of new challenges and new opportunities. My ideas may cause stress for others (and certainly would disappoint the twentysomething me that was never going to Martha Stewart life away) but take some time to make yourself happy this year and try something new.
