Friday, March 20, 2020

CORONA CRISIS & BOREDOM BUSTERS | FF #125

Oh my goodness, y'all.  So much has changed in a week!  My post from last Friday was full of my thoughts on the Bachelor finale which feels ridiculous now and also feels like a million years ago!  Can you BELIEVE that just last week the hot topic all over Instagram was Barb and her despicable behavior towards Madi during the live show?  That was LAST WEEK!  It blows my mind.  I feel like it was last month.

Everything changed in one week.  The whole WORLD changed in one week.  It's scary, it's distressing, it's annoying...but it's real life right now.  I still feel like it's all a dream we're waiting to wake up from, don't you?


  We've basically been self-quarantining (is that a word?) since last weekend with a couple of trips out here and there to get groceries or pick up takeout so we can help support these local restaurants.

I can't say it's been terrible though.  All the family togetherness is kind of a blessing in disguise.  We've had lots of Family Movie Nights which are usually reserved for the weekends. Craig has been working from home instead of going in to the office, although there isn't a whole lot of work being done.  He is a business broker by day and does football camps across the country on the weekends and does private/group quarterback training several nights a week.  All of this has come to a complete standstill right now so we've all got a lot of time to be together.

I'm still working in my Etsy shop but that has slowed down too since a lot of my sales around this time are for teacher gifts, spring break tumblers, bridal party gifts etc.  Sigh.  On a positive note, that means the turnaround time at the moment is much quicker than normal if you want to get any orders in! ;)

So here's a peek at what our lives have looked like here in the Nall house.

A year or so ago, I randomly remembered this game I used to play as a kid called Hotels.  It was my favorite game.  Sort of like Monopoly but you get to buy and sell hotels and it's buildings and set them up on the game board as you go.

I did some googling and saw that they had a newly revamped version called Hotel Tycoon on Amazon so I got it and the boys loved it.  Mason especially loved it because he loves to buy things--this kid better have a good job when he grows up!  So this game was right up his alley.

He brought it into my room while I was watching TV and working on my laptop one day so we set it up on the bed and played for 3 hours while watching movies.  I had several questions about where to get this game on Instagram and y'all...they don't seem to make it anymore.  I can't find it anywhere for less than $150 but just in case it ever comes back, here's where I got mine from.


Later that night, we all watched The Truman Show.  The boys loved this!  I hadn't seen it in years and forgot how good it was. Highly recommend.


I am not going to pretend I'm winning any parenting awards though.  There has also been a lot of video games and screen time going on around here.  It doesn't help us that it's been raining all week long so really, what else is there to do?!  You can only play Hotels so many times.


I did a little revamp of the media room a few weeks ago and ordered these movie posters and pillow covers, did a little organizing and just made it cozier.  Now the boys are up here all the time playing on the Xbox they got for Christmas.  The movie posters took several weeks to arrive but I love how it turned out up here!  Craig already had a little collection of autographed movie posters from Adam Sandler, Larry the Cable Guy, and Mike Meyers so I went with that theme.  Now we are all represented in the posters around the room.

 The coffee table was something that Craig had in college except back then it was unfinished wood.  I painted it red about 10 years ago and put it up here.  The big brown lump is a Love Sac we bought when we first moved into this house and while I hate it because it is ENORMOUS, everyone else loves it.  So it's not going anywhere, unfortunately.  The boys love to drag it over to the bottom of the 3 or 4 steps that lead down into the media room and then jump off the stairs and on to it.  If your child has been to my house EVER, then I guarantee they have been introduced to this game. 😂

Another night we picked up some pizza and had a Family Game Night/Movie Night.  Craig had never played Hotels before and Lord have mercy--he got into it QUICK.  He was trying to wheel and deal all over the place and we finally had to call it after 3 hours.



Mason ended up with LOADS of money after buying the most expensive property and he was quite pleased with himself. 😂



One day this week, I took Mason up to Walmart with me to grab a couple of things with strict instructions to not touch ANYTHING and we ended up walking out with two new remote control cars.  😂 Anything to get them outside and away from screens for a bit!


They set up a little obstacle course and raced them around. 



Here's another thing that has been keeping us all entertained.  DIAMOND ART!  Ok, so the other day my friend, Dani, posted a pic on Facebook of her working on one of these with her daughter.  I've seen these before and have wanted one but never had time to work on one.  But I thought they'd be a great way to give the boys a little something different to work on when they complain that they are bored and if they hated it, I'd just do it myself. ;)

They did NOT hate it.  They love these!

So there are a ton of designs you can choose from but they come with all these little colored gems, a tool that picks them up and a picture that is super sticky.  It's sort of "paint by numbers".  There is a key on the side of the paper that tells you which color gem is what letter and then you just stick the correct gem on the paper.  Super easy, super addicting, super calming, super relaxing. 


We count this as art class, right?!

Here's what Matthew's will look like.  You can find his HERE.


And Mason has a pretty turtle/beach scene as well.  His is HERE. But you can see all your options HERE.  So many gorgeous ones!!



Our house is getting messier by the day but as long as everyone is occupied and healthy, it's fine.  For now.


And then yesterday, we had sunshine and warm weather!  The high was around 80 so we made the best of it!  


Mason has been dying to swim so we scooped all the dead leaves out of the pool and told him to jump in quick! We could see another storm rolling in and knew the temperature was going to drop about 15-20 degrees in a matter of minutes.


He got in and pretended he wasn't cold.  haha  #hewas

As for homeschooling, here's what we know right now.  School for us is out AT LEAST until April 6th.  This week, the school is releasing resources for the students to use if we choose to and starting March 30th, we'll begin "teacher directed online learning" which I'm guessing means "It's officially time to get back to work."  Until then, we are going to do what we can without stressing anyone out.  That includes both kids and parents.  We'll make the kids read some, maybe play some math games on the computer but honestly, we won't be the family with the color-coded homeschool schedule.  Even when we have to homeschool, we won't be that family.  (As much as I wish I could be that family!)

Now before I go, I wanted to show you some new additions to the shop!

I just got in FIVE glittery smooth colors in these slim can coolers and they are so cool!  These work perfectly with all your slim cans like Truly, White Claw, Red Bull etc and will help keep your drink cold!  They come in shimmery blue, blush, white, lilac and rose gold but I only have 2 of each color right now so don't wait too long if you want a certain color.  (I have 4 in the white.)


I also got new leather-backed cork sheets in this week and made these fun ocean-inspired earrings.  I only ordered one sheet just to see how they'd sell so I'm already running low on these (working on getting more of that cork) but I'm also introducing new leopard print ones as well! 

AMAZON TOP (wearing a small...I also have this in green!) | KANCAN JEANS (these specific ones aren't currently available but my favorite pair ever is HERE | EARRINGS | STAR NECKLACE

I love this cork so much!  It's very neutral but still has that fun leopard print.  All the cork is a little "distressed" looking because...it's cork. haha  So don't let that scare you off.  The backs of these earrings are all a smooth tan leather which helps keep their shape.  Available in teardrop, scalloped or oval!




You can find the new leopard ones HERE.

Also, over in my Daily Deals Facebook Group, I've started a thread for all us small business owners.  I know times are tough right now for a lot of us so I wanted to provide a place where everyone can list their businesses and get a little free advertising.  If you have any kind of small business or side hustle and want to share it with us, please feel free!  You can find the group HERE as well as a ton of other great deals and steals. ;)

And I'll leave you with a few of my favorite memes and posts that have been floating around this week.  Stay positive, friends!  We'll get through this!!







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5 comments

  1. These are the craziest of times - you're right the Barb drama from last week seems ridiculous right now. Thanks for continuing to post! I think we all need some mindless positives right now. I love the leopard print earrings!

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  2. I love your media room! It looks so comfy.

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  3. We've been homeschooling for years and we have had a huge uptake in screen time this week too. Between the awful weather we've been having and everything shutting down we only leave the house for an hour or so hike here and there when it's not raining or snowing.

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  4. Those earrings are darling!

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