My anxiety went through the roof this week. I haven’t been like this since March 13. The day my normal life ceased to exist. The day the world stopped. Over the past few months I have tried to keep informed while still maintaining my composure for my family. as we all know, kids look to us to see if the dangers out there are real and as concerning as the hype says they are.
Ninja and I have stuck to the same message, if we follow the safety precautions we will be safe. Precautions like, washing our hands, using hand sanitizer, wearing a mask inside public places, avoiding places with lots of people, staying a safe distance (2 meters) away from people and only going out to busy places for necessities.
So far it has been working! BC has been successful in flattening the curve! Until this past week. Until tourism in our small town skyrocketed to higher numbers than in years past. There are people everywhere.
I saw this because this was my first week back at work. I have been inside homeschooling, nesting and looking after my family’s needs for the past 120 days. Wow. Now of course we go out but we have avoided tourist areas, Kelowna, and all gathering places and restaurants in town. We have been adventuring outside far away from the hundreds, no thousands, of people that have descended on our slice of paradise in the past 3 weeks.
This was the first week that I wasn’t with my Girls. Having them out there, making their own healthy decisions was terrifying! Who would be there reminding them to wash their hands, not touch their faces, and to stay 2 m away from people? All week I worried that I had made the wrong decision. All week I worried about the lasting affects of COVID and whether my kids would bring the virus into our bubble that we had safely been living in since March 13.
My heart rate went up and my sleep went down.
Another aspect of my anxiety came from the decision that my Sis and I made about summer vacation. We decided that if she stayed in her bubble and we stayed in our bubble that this would be the perfect week for our bubbles to join. After a lot of talk we agreed that a visit wouldn’t be the end of the world and really… Everyone else is doing it.
The day after we came to our decision, our numbers began rising. Apparently a small group of tourists from around BC and Alberta got together in Kelowna on Canada Day and had small gatherings at their resorts. From that small gatherings came positive COVID-19 cases. The tourists then did all the tourist things! They went to a spin class, wineries, the beach, and they enjoyed the local cuisine at many restaurants. As of yesterday the cases surrounding the small gathering is up to 70 and continuously rising with 110’s more being contact traced.
People began letting their frustrations out about tourists on Facebook and other social media sites. Restaurants began closing the doors to tourists and a few wineries shut their doors to everyone. In a place that had done the work to keep the virus out suddenly we saw numbers that terrified us all. I am no exception.
It became obvious to my Sister and I that no matter how badly we want to see each other, now just isn’t the time. Although this brought my anxiety level down it heightened my emotions and made me very very sad. I miss my Sister. I hate going this long without seeing her especially during a time where our future is so uncertain.
How long will this go on? When will I be able to see my family again? Now that the virus is running rampant through my community how can I keep my family safe?
These are all the questions that the majority of us have been facing every day since this pandemic began. For the most part we have weathered the storm well but I see the cracks in our resolve forming and it is all out of my control.
I can’t fix this. I can’t control this. I can’t take a break from this. I have to trust that people are all doing the right thing and that we are looking after each other, for the well-being of humankind.
When I watch the 24 hour news cycle these facts scare me even more. How can I trust people to look after each other when some people won’t even wear a goddamn mask? We are not at our breaking point yet and that is even a scarier thought.
OK that’s enough. Putting questions out into the world isn’t helping anything. We have decided to work at the things that we can control. We are maintaining our safety rules and taking a step back from the amount of time we spend outside of our home. We will keep our bubble to our parents and a small group of friends. We will remember that there are more good people out there than bad people and that we are all in this together.
We will as Dr. Bonnie Henry says,
Be kind,
Be calm,
And be safe.
Check out How Was Your Week, Honey? Episode 180 – I’ve Got the Tingle HERE This week we enjoy recording on our new deck. Topics: DJ’ing, Palmer’s present, COVID, tourism, no visits, grocery store, back to work, homemade cake, Star Wars completed, & ear worms.
I used to work at a Greek restaurant. Actually, I have worked at many Greek restaurants. Moussaka, dolmades, and Avgolemono soup were a part of my daily vocabulary. Because I have eaten so much Greek food throughout my lifetime, I go between never wanting to see a souvlaki again and craving the flavours of lemon, good olive oil, and oregano 😂. A few weeks ago HBear and I decided to try making different cuisines from new countries. We tend to stick to Mexican, Asian, Italian, and Canadian but we have been trying to branch out more to Indian, Filipino, and of course… Greek! I made a great Greek dinner a few years ago and it’s actually one of my most popular posts! I wanted to try something different than I had in the past so we started with a very easy Greek potato packet for the barbecue! We also made our very own to Tzatziki sauce and some homemade pita bread! I may never buy pita bread again! Although it took a while to rise, the actual prep and cooking of the pitas was incredibly easy and fast AND very very satisfying! They were like perfect clouds with the exact right amount of chew! Enjoy!
Greek Potato BBQ Packet
5 potatoes, chopped
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon fresh dill, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh chives, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
juice from 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
Take a big sheet of foil, about 2 feet long. Place all the ingredients into the centre of the foil, in the order that the ingredients are listed.
Tzatziki Sauce
Adapted from Cooking Classy
1 cup Greek yogurt
10 oz. English cucumber (1/2 a cucumber)
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Sea salt, to taste
Peel cucumber. Slice cucumber in half throught the length and use a spoon to remove seeds.
Chop cucumber into chunks, then add to a food processor. Pulse until cucumber is almost finely chopped.
Remove blade from food processor and press cucumber against the sides of the bowl to remove excess liquid, reserve liquid.
Add yogurt, cucumber, dill, garlic, olive oil and lemon juice to a medium mixing bowl. Season with salt, and pepper if using, to taste.
Stir mixture until well blended. If you find it’s a little thick, you can add some of the reserved cucumber juice from the food processor.
Pita Bread
Adapted from I Heart Naptime
1 cup warm water, 110°F
2 teaspoons active dry yeast, 1 packet
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
Combine the warm water, yeast and sugar in a large bowl. Mix in 1/2 cup flour and let sit for 10 minutes, or until it has puffed up.
Mix in the oil and salt. Then stir in the remaining flour. Once it becomes to hard to stir, use an electric mixer with a dough hook. Knead for 3-5 minutes.
Roll out one piece of dough at a time on a lightly floured surface. Roll into circles about 1/8″ thick.
Place a pizza stone on the 2nd to bottom rack. Preheat oven to 475°F. Once the oven is hot, add 1-2 rolled out circles onto the stone. Close the oven and cook for 2-3 minutes, flip and cook an additional 1 minute.
This week almost felt like normal! I was back at work, SBean was back in the dance studio at circus camp, and HBear tried out riding camp for the first time! Both the Girls had fabulous weeks and just getting out of the house and seeing people really helped their moods!
I started a new Beachbody program this week! It is called the Morning Meltdown 100! It is 100 workouts! The number of workouts doesn’t really scare me as now that I have gotten into a routine, I fully expect to be working out for the next hundred days anyways so at least now I don’t have to pick a new program! I really like it because it mixes up a lot of new things for me like mixed martial arts, cardio, weights, and yoga!
While SBean was at dance camp her and her friend invented their own recipe! I was actually shocked at how perceptive they were and that they didn’t leave any of the usual cake ingredients out! Whether the measurements were correct is a whole other story 😂. When she came home she insisted on trying out her recipe and it wasn’t that bad! The actual cake reminded me of my Nana’s plum cake and the berry flavour was very tasty! She enlisted her sister’s help to make the glaze and it was just as sweet as it was bright 😬😂.
On Friday SBean had her final dance camp day while HBear and I had a date day at the beach! We were careful to go to an area of the beach that didn’t have many people, socially distanced ourselves and had a quiet afternoon in the sun complete with Tickleberries ice cream!
SBean has been into her morning smoothies and while she gets up every morning to make a healthy drink, Ninja and I received a parcel from our good friend Agent Palmer from Pennsylvania. He shipped us 2 amazing bottles of wine from a local vineyard, Meyer Vineyard, as a housewarming present! Thank you so much Plamer ❤️.
On Saturday we took advantage of the beautiful weather and went up to Chute Lake. It is a beautiful place to get away for the day! Not as many tourists, tons of fun family activities to do, and delicious food and drinks!
We finished the weekend with SBean losing another tooth and a wonderful family dinner on the deck!
