A Day In The Life Of: Eco Friendly Mama

This post is the first in a weeklong series we’re doing here to document a typical day in the life of local moms during the COVID-19 pandemic and under California’s stay-at-home orders. The following “day in the life of” post was written by me on a Sunday a few weekends ago. In addition to being a Contributor and Managing Editor here, I also have my own website called Eco Friendly Mama, where I write about my efforts to live an eco-conscious life while raising two kids in suburbia. Enjoy!

 

A Not So Typical Morning For Eco Friendly Mama

8:30am: Woke up naturally for the first time in a while. Usually, I’m awoken by a child careening into our room or to the sound of them screaming at each other in the living room. So this was a nice treat (thank you husband for getting up with the kids and keeping them neutralized!).

9am: Today I got to be a guest on the They See Me Mommin’ podcast. I’ve participated as a guest before because of my Eco Friendly Mama work, so Maria and Viv kindly invited me on to their podcast again (I think this was my third time?) to speak about how the COVID-19 epidemic – and more specifically our collective self quarantine efforts – are having an effect on the environment. We also spoke about the things people are doing at home to be more eco-friendly and how we can carry these lessons forward once this period of social distancing has passed. It’s a great episode, and you can check it out here!

10am: I pretend to still be doing my podcast behind the locked door of our bedroom and take a shower. I’m averaging about one every three days right now (I’d like to say that’s purely because I’m trying to conserve water – which I am – but it’s also a bit of quarantine-induced apathy as well #keepinitreal), so this feels like a luxury and a big event.

11am: Read books with my 4yo while my son plays LEGO with dad.

An Unusually Busy Afternoon

12pm: Hubby fixes an easy lunch from last night’s leftovers while I put together a shopping list for our next grocery run. Gone are the days of browsing through the aisles and picking whatever sparks your fancy. This has to be a perfectly-executed strategic mission with one goal – to get out without a mask-less person encroaching on your personal space.

1-3pm: Though we’ve been sticking close to home most days since the shutdown, today is uncharacteristically active. Hubby leaves our nest of safety to run a quadruple errand. We serve as the Treasurers for Hilltop Preschool (the best co-op preschool in the world), so have a batch of registration checks for the next school year to deposit. He wears a mask and uses a disposable wipe to touch the buttons on the ATM. Then he swings by the house of a mom I met through a resale group who has offered to sell us several gently used jigsaw puzzles at a very low price. I am a puzzle fiend as is our daughter, and it’s been impossible to find any online that are in stock and not exorbitantly expensive. I also try to live by the motto of Reduce~Reuse~Recycle~Repair~Refuse as much as reasonably possible. This bag will sit in our garage for 3 days or so “detoxing” as we call it.

He also has to stop by a bike shop to pick up a new bike for our son’s birthday next week. He’s already spoken to the owner on the phone so knows which one he wants to get – just needs to pick it up and stealthily transfer it out of the car without our son catching wind of it. The kid is going to be so thrilled, and I am glad for that because he was really bummed to not be able to have a proper birthday party this year.

Then on the way back my husband rolls through the Seven Leaves drive-thru to pick up a Mint Serrano coffee (his first “outside” coffee in weeks) and a Jasmine milk tea with boba, something I used to get multiple times a week. The bag of reusable metal straws I keep in my car for this purpose has gotten dusty with disuse. I haven’t had one in over a month, so it tastes heavenly!

 

Meanwhile Back At Casa Eco Friendly Mama

While he’s out hunting and gathering though, I’m in the backyard with the kids. We are watering plants, hunting for bugs, and bouncing in the big trampoline we bought once it became clear this quarantine was going to last for a while. It is by the far the best thing we have ever purchased to keep the kids entertained, and worth the almost 3 hours it took us to assemble.

3pm: When dad returns home, we all gather on the living room floor to do the online art lesson my son’s wonderful art teacher has provided via Google classroom. This is technically schoolwork, but what is a weekday versus a weekend day right now anyway? It’s fun to all do the assignment together and see how different our creations turn out. We then tape them up in a spot we’ve designated the “Quarant-Art Wall.” Art therapy is the best.

4-5pm: We let the kids “plug in” to watch their favorite shows for a bit while we tidy up around the house. I organize my books from college on a bookcase. Classic novels I read in the original French, works by great philosophers from all over the world, film criticism texts, and science reading (from the year I thought I wanted to be a neuroscientist). Then I clean our master bathroom. “Oh how the mighty have fallen,” I think to myself as I scrub the toilet.

Afterwards, I sit down at my desk and watch Governor Cuomo’s daily press briefing about COVID-19. My parents are both in the high risk category and live in New York City, which has been the hardest hit US city by this virus. So I have been very concerned about how it’s progressing there. Cuomo is calming and informative (“just the facts, ma’am” seems to be his favorite saying) so I’ve come to look forward to hearing his New Yawk style pronunciation of “ventilator” every day. Ven-ta-lay-tur.

Evening Enchiladas And Escape

5-6pm: Hubby takes the kids outside to bounce and play while I cook dinner. I watch one episode of Gossip Girl on my iPad which is perched on the toaster oven. I never watched it when it was airing on TV, but a friend thought I’d like it so I’m binging it now. It’s perfect for cooking because it reminds me of my hometown and I don’t have to focus too hard on the plot while I work. Tonight’s menu is enchilada pie for the adults, quesadillas for the kids, with fresh-made organic tortillas. Actually my 4yo prefers hers “deconstructed” so will get a plain tortilla, shredded chicken, and shredded cheese on a plate. While her brother is a vegetarian and loves to eat the rainbow, she mostly only eats beige foods, preferably at room temperature. She did just start eating marinara sauce with green herbs sprinkled on top of it though, so that’s an inch of progress. Sigh.

6-6:30pm: We take a post-dinner walk around our block. Actually the kids are on scooters while hubby walks and I jog. Even with my son stopping to give me head starts every few minutes he still zooms past me over and over. But I’m happy to be outside breathing fresh air and getting some exercise.

7pm: Facetime with my dad in New York. We used to do this twice a week anyway, but since the quarantine we chat far more frequently, which is nice.

7:30-8pm: 4yo takes a bath, while a family friend reads How To Train Your Dragon via FaceTime to our 7yo. Entertaining my son is an awesome gift our sweet friend has given us because it allows me to clean up from dinner while hubby catches up on some work.

 

Just Mom And Dad Now

8:30pm: Kids are both asleep. Parents sit down on the couch with laptops and drinks (me: wine; him: beer). I edit a post for this website and my husband continues to do more work while we watch an episode of Top Chef. This is one of my favorite shows, but I’ve developed a love/hate relationship with it. I still love watching these talented chefs prepare delicious-looking food, but now it also kinda makes me sad to know I won’t be having any fancy date night meals for quite some time due to social distancing.

10pm: My mom sent me a face mask for Easter along with some goodies for the kids. It’s made from 100% organic cotton with natural ingredients, and is blueberry-scented. I decide to put it on while we get ready for bed. It feels nice to pamper myself just a bit before the (remote) school week starts over again tomorrow.

Thanks for following along with a day in the life of Eco Friendly Mama! Stay tuned for another “day in the life” post from one of my fellow OC Moms Collective Contributors tomorrow!