The Covid-19 quarantine time has forced us to have an extra long “hygge” (the Danish/Norweigan word for coziness” blah blah.) I have so many thoughts about this but I’ll just put my energy into a list of projects in case you find it helpful. I always have a list of projects to do way before this quarantine happened… and some were useful since two of our college sons had to move back home. I already have some “far niente” and “la dolce vita” moments and philosophies in our lifestyle, so that was nothing new either.

1. Spring cleaning. We had already started this and committed to 30 minutes every Sunday afternoon to clean out our basement and garage so it doesn’t resemble an episode of Hoarders. Now, I guess I can label the boxes. haha.
2. Create a library. I have one in my house and one in my basement. With the quarantine, I now practically have a Dewey Decimal classification system for these hundreds of books (not really, but could because of all this quarantine time!) We saved our favorites and donated the rest and we still have hundreds. We have the Magic Tree House section, the Dr. Seuss section, the Beverly Cleary books, all of the subject areas: Math, Social Studies, Drawing, States, Presidential trivia. (Yes, we’re nerds). I need these for when my tutorees, little cousins or future grandkids come over. I’m a planner, LOL.
3. Photo storage. I already had flash drives, photo storage files, annual photo books, vacation photo books, Boy Scout photobooks, ….and I pulled those out for the sons to peruse while they came home to cocoon. Now, I’m getting caught up on  more photo books to order later when we can go back to work.
4. Home videos. Luckily, we converted our home videos to labeled DVDs and we can access them and enjoy them at dinner with the whole family…even though we are empty nesters, now. (were empty nesters until March). We also have time to read Grandpa’s joke book which is a wonderful binder my mother-in-law made for all of us as a Christmas gift. We might just memorize all the jokes by the time the quarantine is over.
5. Haulaways. Since pick up services are closed, we will get a load ready for our junk removal company which we pay. They’ll take things the other places don’t take–that’s right….furniture, mattresses, etc. With the two of three college sons home, they can help us with this and they have!
6. Cooking lessons for your kids. Our sons are learning how to cook. They love it and they know men make great cooks because their dad and their grandpas are/were amazing cooks. All these summers our middle son was doing internships out of town, he wasn’t able to learn my recipes. Now, he is learning them and killing it.
7. Home economic lessons. Our sons have always had some brawn to add to the brain thanks to the hunky hubby and Boy Scouts. One son needed the overhead fan fixed in his bedroom. Instead of buying a new one at the hardware store, Dad and son messed around with the breaker box and repaired the overhead fan on their own. They saved the money on the cost of a new fan and a handyman to install it…but dad did get shocked upon installation. It added a little spark to his day.
8. Time capsule. Being a former teacher, I am all about the time capsule. Did it for my class and for my sons. We get to go down memory lane often reliving old memories with all the things I’ve saved up over the years.
9. Coffee and newspaper time. We only get the weekend newspaper. Our middle son joins us on the weekends for coffee and newspaper time. I love it. I love that my older two sons order coffee the same exact way that I do (nutmeg and cinnamon powder). I love that my graduating- from- college son gets to have this perk for a few weeks before going off into the world as a grown up.
10. Patio time and/or Board Games. We always enjoy patio time. We light the chimnea, sometimes the yard lights, sit under the wind chimes, the grapevine pergola, etc. But now, we get to hear our sons bouncing the basketball again. Philosophical conversations while they grill sometimes with dad…..it’s nice. We’re a big board game family and couple. Catan (for the family) and Scrabble for the couple are regular staples around here. Now, we are mastering our skills at these games. All. These. Games.
11. Jewelry organizing. Pretend you’re a stylist and make “gold stories” and “silver stories”, or “bead stories.”  Yes, this is OCD but it’s helpful. Take small boxes, old jewelry boxes and lay out your “jewelry stories” in each container. Earrings, necklaces, bracelets, etc. Edit them and get rid of the ones you don’t wear. Also, you can hang them directly on your outfits in your closet for a quick grab for your next vacays.
12. Pantry organizing. When we were a family of five, having three sons made it challenging to have an organized pantry. When we became empty nesters, I did it. I organized the pantry. I alphabetized the spice drawer ….and it stayed that way. This came in handy when I started cooking again every day when the sons came home.
13. Trying new recipes. A quarantine can breed nervous eaters. Since it was Lent, it was always a vegetarian time. We tried something new—a vegan diet. The Frugal Vegan cookbook was a success this year! It took our mind off the nervous snacking and we learned several new recipes.
14. Home office cleanup. It’s like a bottomless pit. I always have to edit and purge my home office and files. It’s worse than a closet for me. During this quarantine, I have a pile of things that need copies. No excuses, now. I have forms that need to be typed up to email to clients. My home office drawers were already edited and purged but now, I guess I’ll create an inventory list of them.
15. Walking, and walking some more. Everyone is walking more than ever. We see the cute dog memes of how this quarantine is making them go on so many walks. Although we no longer have our beloved dog, we are definitely adding more steps to our fitbit. Unfortunately, it’s allergy season.  Since it’s so darn beautiful, it’s worth it.
16. Job search, Cover letters, resumes. One of our college sons used this time to polish up those cover letters, etc.
17. Beer bread extravaganza. The youngest son has a landscaping business so he’s been busy with online college work and yardwork clients. However, he’s been making a lot of beer bread with mom. Look up the recipe. It’s easy and delicious. We’ve frozen loaves for gift giving later and we’ve delivered loaves to our relatives, too.
18. Zoom! Zoom a zooma zoom! Zooma zooma zooma zoom! We’ve done a zoom birthday with old college friends across the U.S. We’ve done a zoom birthday cocktail party with crazy hats across 2 states. We’ve done church zoom coffee hours and a Sunday School class. Zoom has been helpful during this time. Not as great as the real thing, but what a nice alternative.
19. Create new Pinterest boards and/or interview your ancestors.  Actually, I do this often but now is a good time to create some boards for projects or trips you can take when this quarantine is over. Also, if you haven’t already done this, interview your parents or elders and video tape them. I have already done this for my blog and it’s helpful to have it stored somewhere.
20. Online tutorials. All those tutorials you wanted to do when you were busy, you can do them now! I’m still working somewhat since I’m in an essential business but it’s now become slower than usual. So, I have bookmarked some tutorials I’ve been interested in when those work deadlines are met.

    

There are several other things we’ve been doing but I wanted to limit it to 20. Hoping to spread some positivity with these.  Put your energy into some projects to get your mind off of being at home more than usual. Thanks for sharing any of your ideas, too!

© Gina Michalopulos Kingsley

for hygge ideas which don’t include winter or holiday ideas, search “hygge” in this blog for those articles.