Sunday, September 13, 2020

Stay Home Summer 2020

Now that we're 6 months into the pandemic, it feels like most of the world have somewhat adjusted to the new normal of mask wearing, social distancing, and international travel bans. It's unfortunate that the situation in the US hasn't gotten any better, and most places have already started opening up as if the pandemic is over. Oh well, since we can't control others' behaviour, all we can do is to control what we can control and stay home as much as possible. We were supposed to travel to Malaysia, Japan and Canada this summer but obviously all trips were cancelled/postponed. 

2020 'fashion'. Apart from grocery shopping and a trip to the DMV to renew my driver license, I really haven't gone anywhere public in the past 6 months. For grocery shopping, I've cut it down from once a week to once every 10 days, and going at 7am in the morning to avoid people.

As for work, I continue working from home and have enjoyed a slow and no-stress summer. I'm also glad to finally have time to explore google sheets and project management, which is something I enjoy. As for hubby, he doesn't have the luxury of working from home because he is an 'essential' worker. :P He is working even more now that his company is testing Covid and developing an antibody test (as modeled by Franklin, our sloth buddy).

2020 has been an interesting year indeed...what was originally a 2-week office shut down has lasted for 6 months with no end in sight. We have reached the point where nobody bothers dressing up for work calls anymore, and having 'mini' co-workers make appearances on the calls occasionally. 

Thankful for a promotion + pay raise + bonus when unemployment is at all time high.

Round 3 of Covid cancellations. 2020 is trending well to be the 'cancelled' year but family celebrations are not cancelled...

June 21 (Sun): Celebrated MIL's birthday with home-cooked meals and pool time at MIL's.

Aug 1 & 15 (Sat): Virtual celebration with families in Malaysia for dad and grandma's birthdays.

Aug 15 (Sat): Twin bro, hubby, and my birthdays with families in the US and Malaysia. Thanks MIL for our birthday presents! :) 

Hubby bought a new 4K TV. Our work+entertainment room is now 'upgraded' with 2 TVs and I love it! One for his video game, one for my Kdramas. 

This stay at home summer has given me more time to catch up on all the Kdramas that I've missed over the years. I've been going down the binge-watching rabbit hole for the past 6 months. Obviously I've been enjoying myself a lil' too much to come up with this ridiculous diagram...lol! This is what happens when real vacation is cancelled and I'm forced to home-cation to burn my vacation hours.

I.AM.IN.TROUBLE. Uniqlo was having sales all summer and the deals are so good that I ended up stocking up probably 10 years worth of clothes. My wardrobe has officially been taken over by Uniqlo. 

As usual...my weekly meal prep routine:

June 21 & 28 (Sun): Baked chicken, stir -fry veggies, sausage+potato+baked beans, potato salad.

Jul 5 & 12 (Sun): Lu Rou Fan, paste and meatball, veggie soup, devil's egg, baked chicken, mui fan.

Jul 19 & 26 (Sun): Tomyum soup noodles with mussels & veggies, potato and sausage, stir-fry veggies, braised chicken with mushrooms, potato salad. 

Aug 2 & 9 (Sun): Veggie soup, pasta and meatball, egg sandwich, devil's egg, tomato soup with mixed veggies, chicken rice, stir-fry veggies.

Aug 16 & 23 (Sun): Tomato soup with mussels and mixed veggies, egg sandwich, sausage and potatoes, stir-fry veggies.

Aug 30 & Sept 6 (Sun): Chicken rice, veggie soup, stir-fry veggies, devil's egg, mussels and veggie soup, meatball and pasta, onion fry egg.

Seems like many people around us (including all our siblings) are either buying or selling house lately. Here's our family saying goodbye to our house and my room where I spent my high school years in. 
Twincredibles at 17-19 months. As you can see, my niece has learnt how to give me a side eye...lol!

Nieces and nephew with their funny antics.