Things I learned While In Self Isolation During the Respiratory Virus Outbreak

The past four weeks have been quite different with having to stay at home during the virus Pandemic

 I don't think anyone will forget the year 2020 as it will be a year that will leave many memories both good and bad. Who would have predicted that when we welcomed in the year 2020 that it was going to be a year that was to change so many people's lives. Who knew that a virus called the Corona would change the world in so many ways. I know I never thought in a million years that I would be writing this article while sitting on a bean bag chair in my master bathroom. My family is having to shelter in place and can't leave the house unless we have to work, get food or medical supplies. We can also leave the house to exercise outside but have to follow social distancing rules like we do if we go to the store. My town has set these guidelines to help stop the spread of the respiratory virus disease and we may have another month before we can leave the house again. At this time we don't really know about how long we have to practice the rule of staying 6 feet away from people and staying home. If it will help people from getting sick and dying, then I will do my part and stay home.


Staying home means I am safe

 I am thankful that my master bathroom is the size of a small bathroom and my master bathroom was remodeled 2 years ago so it is a pleasant place to work in for several hours. My bathroom has become my temporary office while other family members are in other rooms of the house doing online school or working from home. My husband is no longer leaving to go to work as he is working from home. My kid's schools, including the college kid, has shut down for the school year. All in the hopes that people staying home will stop the spread of this awful 2019 virus and flatten the curve. I am glad that my house is big enough so my husband can sit in the living room making phone calls all day in his new office and my college kid can sit in his bedroom to participate in online college classes. The middle school kids are in the dining room playing with Legos as their school has not provided any instruction at this time. I am not able to home school them as the stress to both of us is not a good thing at this time.

 Working from home has its challenges right now and my work has not slowed down but I am learning to take the job that I used to do while the kids were at school and spread it out throughout the day so I can also be a parent, wife, cook, cleaner, etc. That 8 hours that used to leave me with a quiet house is gone as everyone is home all the time now. Not being able to leave the house except for 1 hour of exercise in the morning has made life different. My new normal is very different. I am learning to be creative in the kitchen and thankful for the food that I stockpiled over the years in my two deep freezers. Who knew that I would get excited about a bag of frozen apple slices and overcooked pinto beans. I just wish that I could get the food my kids enjoy like eggs and bananas but I am staying away from stores that have little on their shelves, to avoid catching the awful virus. We did try getting groceries delivered but many of the things we wanted we not available and ended up paying $6 for a dozen eggs.

It is the little things that make me smile

 I am discovering that the little things can make me happy or annoy me. The little things that are making me happy right now are toilet paper, flour, and running. I normally buy 30 rolls of toilet paper as it is a better deal so when I went to put it away in the closet, I discovered 20 more rolls so now I can share with my adult children who are running low. Never would I have imagined that there would be a toilet paper shortage. Never would I imagine that people would hoard food like flour and eggs. The trucks and factories can't keep up with the demand for many things like medical supplies, food, and cleaning supplies. Never would I imagine that I could not buy garbanzo beans to make my vegan tuna salad recipe. I am thankful for the pinto beans that I had in my stockpile so I can make plenty of meatless meals.

 It is a nightly cup of tea with my boys that brings a smile to my face as I am glad that they are all safe and I am glad that we have plenty of Manuka Honey to sweeten our tea with and strengthen our immune system. I am glad that we are all healthy and no one needs any cold and flu tea to soothe a sore throat. I am thankful that I connect with family on the internet and search for a recipe for cookies that don't require eggs so we can celebrate my son's birthday. I am thankful for a friend who blessed me with several bags of flour so I can make homemade wheat bread for sandwiches.


I learned that fitness with the family is awesome

 I dreaded the closer of the gym near my house as that meant that I would not be able to lift weights but I also discovered that my family is helping me stay fit and strong. My younger son started joining me on my morning runs so I have been enjoying his companionship and have become each other's fitness trainers. On the days that my son bikes he motivates me to run faster and on the days that my son chooses to run, I am coaching him how to run with asthma. So my son is also able to manage his asthma naturally without an inhaler. My older son has been inspiring me with his creative at-home weight lifting routine that uses no weights and has been showing me how to keep my muscles strong with fitness bands.

 My son showed me different strength exercised to do so I could tone my arms and abs better. I think my at-home weight lifting routine is harder than what I was doing at the gym. I am glad that I discovered a CBD maximum relief balm for my sore muscles from the extra exercise that I have been doing with my kids.

I learned that pulling weeds in the spring is easier

Now that I had more time on my hands since we had to practice self-isolation at home, I was determined to get the yard work done so I could enjoy it once the weather was warmer. So I decided to pull the weeds as I could not spay them with my All Natural Homemade Weed Killer Spray That Works In A Day as stores had no vinegar since people were hoarding that too thinking that it would kill the germs from the virus outbreak. So while the boys played outside I pulled weeds. I discovered that spring weeds are easier to pull as their roots were not as long as they were when I waited to pull them in the summer. I also like the cooler temperatures when I pulled weeds so I could wear long sleeves and pants to prevent my body from breaking out in hives from the weeds. So maybe next year I will find the time in the spring to pull my weeds.

I learned that I don't like my family home all the time

 The little things that annoy me are the never-ending piles of dirty dishes and dirty clothes. It seems that these kids are eating all day and the dishwasher is always full. You would think that staying at home would require fewer clothes but with the increase of handwashing and a college kid who exercises twice a day has the washing machine working overtime. So I am glad that I have plenty of environmentally-friendly detergent on hand to keep my family in clean clothes.

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 My boys can also get on each other's nerves and fight with each other. These same boys can also be loud when they are having fun. Then there is the never-ending snacking that seems to go on all day. I am just glad that we have plenty of food in the house. My boys also like to make body noises that at times has me either laughing or saying to myself, "why me!" The other day the youngest let out a belch that was very loud and his brother said: "that was cool!" There is never a dull moment here with my three boys.

I have learned how to bake bread with whole wheat flour

 Certain food items have been hard to find online and in grocery stores so it has been a challenge to bake bread. While I am one of the lucky ones who have plenty of yeast for bread making, I don't have any white flour. I was thankful for a friend who gave me plenty of whole wheat flour but I have been discovering that bread made with wheat flour does not rise that well. So I discovered 6 ingredients to help bread rise higher and it has been helping with my bread baking. I also discovered how to bake bread without yeast so I am prepared when my yeast runs out.

I have been spending more time in prayer

 I have been learning that I need to pray more and expand who I pray for. I am learning to take my fears and concerns to God more. My prayer time has been more frequent and I have started to pray while I run in the morning. My night time prayers have been longer as I am praying for more people that are outside of my friends and family. I am finding that prayer helps when I am afraid of this ugly virus. Prayer is calming me when my husband has to visit places that he may be exposed to the virus. I am still being cautious and doing smart things like washing my hands and choosing to stay at home instead of going to the grocery store but for things out of my control, like my son having to work, I am giving it to God. Soon this time of self-isolation will be over and we can reconnect with friends again.

What have you learned while in self-isolation?

How I Am Preparing For The Respiratory Virus Epidemic

Things are getting crazy here so I am starting to prepare for the respiratory virus

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  Every day I am being reminded about the respiratory virus. It seems that more cases of the virus are being announced every day and the world is freaking out. I am trying to just go on with daily life but it can be hard when all I see and hear on the news is related to a virus that is shaking up the world. Unless you live under a rock, I bet you are watching the news and have taken steps to prepare for this disease that is affecting almost everyone's lives. In my opinion, I think that people have gone mad and the media is doing an amazing job in helping people go into panic mode. So while I never thought that I would be someone who would be preparing for this coronavirus crisis, I have started taking some steps to be prepared for an attack of a virus named corona. So take a deep breath and learn how how to prepare and not panic.

Information about the respiratory disease of 2019

 There is so much information about the lung virus on the internet and some of it may be false. People are so worried and confused about the 2019 virus state of emergency and they may not have their facts straight. The CDC has a website where you can learn about the virus. This link has answers to many common questions about the respiratory virus. So check it out.

Washing our hands

  The virus paranoia really has not been that big of a deal for me and I have not really done that much in the way of freaking out. I do admit that I am reading the major news stories. I have not changed my family's schedules nor have I changed any of my habits like cleaning or handwashing. Before this mass coronavirus epidemic started my family already knew the importance of washing their hands. So we just continued to follow the best handwashing routine that my family practices year-round. My boys have been trained since they were babies that we wash our hands when we enter the house. So hopefully our handwashing will help keep us safe from the 2019 viruses. Handwashing is always a good practice for any type of virus outbreak. The soap that I am using is a natural concentrated soap. The best part of Dr. Bonner's soap is one bottle lasts a long time as you use 4 parts water to one part soap. It comes in many natural scents and Amazon has plenty in stock.



  I am not stocking up on toilet paper

 I am not really sure why people are freaking out and buying massive amounts of toilet paper. I am not worried about not having toilet paper if I have to be quarantined. I don't really use toilet paper so that is not an issue to me. I gave up toilet paper 2 years ago when I bought a bidet. See my review of my bidet here. So I would be fine if I ran out of toilet paper. My husband does use toilet paper as he doesn't how wonderful the bidet is so I did buy my normal supply of TP last week after I saw on Facebook that people were clearing the toilet paper from store shelves. I just hope that no one beats anyone up over toilet paper. This mania got me thinking that maybe now would be a good time to donate some TP to food pantries. If your town has a coronavirus outbreak, poor people may not be able to stock up on necessities.




Taking off our shoes

  I have a rule about no shoes in the house. Shoes contain dirt, germs, chemicals, and pesticides, so my family takes off their shoes in the house. The main reason I started this shoe rule was to keep my carpet clean. My carpet lasted 22 years and we recently replaced the carpet with tile. You can see the unique tile that we used that looks like wood Here. Now that we have ceramic tile, I am more relaxed about the no-shoe rule and I just wash the floors weekly. I am not worried about the germs on the floor because, for the most part, my hands are not touching the floors, nor are we eating off the floor. We don't follow the 2-second rule here and dropped food goes into the trash.

Taking several supplements

 My supplement routine has stayed the same. When it is cold and flu season, I stock up on many natural supplements that do a great job of keeping my family healthy. So these Natural Products That You Need For Cold & Flu Season are already in my cabinets. They have helped me avoid the flu when my family was sick. The natural wellness products also helped my kids recover from the flu quicker than their friends. I am also drinking this amazing Cold & Flu Honey Lemon Ginger Tea.

Not using hand sanitizer

  I have not bought one bottle of hand sanitizer and I will not be using it during the coronavirus scare. This may shock some people or make people angry but I don't like hand sanitizer. The chemicals in hand sanitizer gives me an asthma attack and cause my skin to develop a rash. I was just at my kid's school and I was having trouble breathing as so many people were using hand sanitizer. The real reason I tell my kids to not use hand sanitizer is for the reason that it kills the good bacteria on your hands and gives a false sense of safety. Hand washing is always better and does a better job of killing germs so my family will stick to washing our hands.

Not using cleaning products

  I also have not bought any harsh cleaning products nor have I used any in my house. I think my hand washing routine is keeping things clean. I will continue to clean my house with water, e-Cloths and the occasional baking soda and vinegar. I am not going to let a virus turn my non-toxic home into a toxic chemical place that will harm my body. My lungs are already sensitive to cleaning chemicals and chemical fragrances and they trigger my asthma. So during this coronavirus attack, I will be avoiding public places not because I am worried about the germs but because of all the excess chemical cleaning that is happening at the public places. I am able to manage my asthma symptoms naturally as long as I avoid my triggers like chemicals in cleaning products.



I am not stocking up on emergency supplies

 Many people are stocking up on emergency supplies and I have not done this. My state does not even have any cases of the coronavirus and people here are clearing the shelves of stores. I have a good supply of items like food, shampoo, soap, and detergent as I am a stock-piler by nature. I tend to keep 2 months' worth of items in my house as it makes shopping easier. I did recently buy 30 rolls of toilet paper as we were down to three rolls and I saw on Facebook that people in other states were clearing the shelves of toilet paper. I also bought 2 big containers of Dr. Bonner's natural soap as it was a better deal to buy that quantity. I am glad that I don't use regular hand soap, my son and I have skin issues, as the stores around me have none. I told my family if we have to be quarantined, we will have plenty of food to hold us over. I have two deep freezers and a pantry filled with food so I will have enough to share with my neighbors.

Update: When I wrote this article there were not any confirmed cases of the virus in my state and now there are three.

I am not freaking out 

 Every day the news and social media come out with new information about the coronavirus. I am not really sure what is true and what is the media giving false information. So while I am keeping up with the coronavirus information, I am not freaking out. I am being calm about the whole situation as I am seeing the numbers. I am reminding myself that I survived the flu, y2k, ebola, norovirus, wildfires, and many more catastrophes. I am putting all this in God's hands and instead, I am being prepared. I am glad that I work from home and my husband would get paid leave. I could occupy myself just fine at home and if my husband got bored, I would have him do some projects around the house. Last year my husband had 6 weeks of paid leave and we took the opportunity to install tile and paint the walls.

I am hugging people

 The media is telling us not to shake hands and I am fine with that. I already do not shake hands because of my sensitive skin. The media also said not to hug people but I am ignoring that one. I will continue to hug my friends and people in my church. People need hugs during a time that might seem crazy to them.



My husband is helping me with reality

 My husband is a health inspector so he knows a thing or two about viruses and germs. My husband has dealt with the norovirus and did not catch that one. I remember my husband coming home and talking about how he had to inspect facilities that had the norovirus. My husband had to suit up for those inspections. 

 My husband says the human respiratory viruses have been around for a while. These viruses are similar to flu viruses. There are 7 known coronaviruses that can infect people. People around the world commonly get infected with 4 of the human coronaviruses but the other three strains that include the 2019-nCoV were not that common up until now. The truth is the CDC is still learning about how the virus 2019-nCoV spreads. For most people, they will die not from this virus but we need to prevent the germs from spreading so the immune-compromised do not get sick and die. This link has answers to many common questions about the lung virus. So check it out.

Practicing good habits 

 Prevention is of spreading germs is always a good practice. So I am just doing what I am already doing. I am washing my hands after I use the bathroom and before I eat. I will cough and sneeze into my arm. I already keep my kids home if they have a fever or stomach troubles. Thankfully my husband has sick time at his job so he stays home when he is sick. I am eating healthy food and exercising, as both with help my body will help my body fight germs better. I am eating foods that are known to boost the immunity system like oranges, onions, garlic, and seaweed. I am trying to get plenty of sleep and these sleep tips are helping me. I am drinking elderberry syrup to boost my immunity. Get my recipe for homemade elderberry syrup here. I am taking a gut-friendly daily probiotic supplement along with other superfoods.

 Right now, my main message for the coronavirus is prevention. These steps will also prevent the spread of colds and the flu. I know this can be a scary time, especially for people who have many coronavirus cases near them or know someone who may be affected by the virus. Stressing out and panicking will not do us any good. The added stress may harm us as stress weakens the immune system. So when you feel overwhelmed by all of this, so something that will help you relax like praying, online yoga, exercising, or calling a friend. If you do have to be quarantined, make the best of your time and declutter your house or simply enjoy the time doing nothing.

What are you doing to keep your family safe from this virus?