The last few weeks, aka “Lockdown at the Love Shack”

The Love Shack
essential worker cartoon

Thank you, “Essentials”!

I am deeply appreciative of all of you “essential workers” working diligently and cautiously to keep Missoula healthy and to make our basic needs available during our “Stay-at-Home” experience!  You truly are the heroes!  I realize you have been working harder than ever and in sometimes emotional conditions.  I hope to be able to provide care for you as you have done for all of us very soon!

The rest of you who have been working from home?  What has your life looked like the past few months?  Here’s a glimpse of lockdown at the Loves’ House!  We are incredibly fortunate to live in a beautiful cedar home nestled in the pines just a few miles outside of Missoula.  My husband, Blake, and I have both been working from home as many of you have been. 

i was told there would be happy hour

So, how’s this going to work?

The first few days consisted of the basic problem-solving that I’m sure many of you can relate to!  You know, those basic trying-to-figure-the-logistics-out such as;  Who works from what spot in our home?, How do we get these wireless headphones to work?  Zoom or Facebook chat?  My camera won’t work on my computer?  Unmute?  What corner do I need to stand in for phone reception in the forest?,  When’s a good time for a break, lunch or sometimes a soak in the hot tub when the house just isn’t warming up?,  Should I keep working on this work project or tackle that home project?, What time is happy hour???

my kids are not a joy to have in class

Teaching 7th Grade From a Computer?

Blake is a 7th grade teacher and spends most hours of his days in front of a computer screen working with teachers, students and parents.  He meets with them via computer, he generates computer assignments and does lots and lots of correcting assignments as they arrive on his computer both day and night.  He also devotes himself to doing his best to keep email lines of communication running efficiently.   His computer meetings start at 9:00 AM daily so we’ve both incorporated that as our “general start time” to our work days. 

Building a better River Massage!

For me, I’ve been cleaning up my bookkeeping, working with my IT-Guy, Andrew, at spiffing up my website, hitting my long overdue filing & eliminating unnecessary piles of  paperwork, working on insurance billing, learning all the CDC recommendations for intensified sanitation of my Studio, developing new policies and procedures for re-opening and working my tail off cleaning and renewing my Studio.

The New Busy – AND some free time?

So – – it almost sounds like life is crazier than ever doesn’t it??  What I’ve found is how a few uber-focused workhours can be incredibly efficient.  With more efficient work time, we discovered something we didn’t realize we were missing before this “pause”;  time for hanging out and enjoying each other and our home!  And – even more important than time around our home is a renewed focus on taking care of ourselves personally!

Mornings – -na whole new look.

9:00 start to our morning with no commute time necessary.  What that means is a much slower pace to our morning!  This has been amazing!  We have been doing yoga some mornings, taking the dog for a hike on Blue Mountain, coffee under our “cabana” with a patio heater out on our deck, sharing a morning reflection, sometimes a soak in the hot tub.  WAY different start to our days compared to our rushing-out-the-door, spilling coffee everywhere dash to get to work by 8:00 mornings looked like!!!

kathy and blake

Who’s this guy hanging around here on the weekend?

Another big change, in a typical Spring Blake travels most weekends go to wrestling tournaments.  Blake lines out officials for these events, he officiates and oversees the officiating.  I go with him many weekends but, also stay home some weekends to work on projects that need done at home.  That being said;  having weekends of us both being at home for these past several weeks is something totally foreign to us!  We miss our state-wide wrestling “family” dearly but, our eyes have certainly been opened to all that can be accomplished with a couple of days at home between work weeks when we stay in town!  We have built and planted covered garden boxes, cleaned out garden and flower bed areas that have been neglected, taken care of our lawn and knocked out some long-overdue projects in the house – all things that go better when we can tackle them together!  We even got some early Spring-rafting in already this year!   I still haven’t gotten him to do that lip-sync video with me, though. 

Always something to find gratitude in.

 Even though this time of closure and working from home has been challenging, I must admit I have found gratitude in vividly seeing some very simple things I was missing in my everyday, too-fast-paced world.  I’m grateful for the opportunity to scale back a bit in some areas of my life while, at the same time, improving in other areas

In reflecting on  life the past several months, two key words come to mind:

REBOOT & REFRESH

From a reboot standpoint, I have spent hours upon hours working on ways to improve in both how I spend my time for personal wellness and working on ways I can provide Massage Therapy for my clients better than before!  Getting back at it in new and improved ways is very inspiring.

Froom a refresh standpoint, my Massage Studio has never been cleaner and never looked better!  Me, personally, so happy to get back to doing what I love with appreciation for the things that can fall by the wayside when I’m over-doing it!  I love experiencing a fresh perspective on a new “balance” to my life. Beyond-quarantine challenge – each day better!

Let’s keep taking care of each other, Missoula!