And I’ve started a blog post.

I know if I put my phone down and take my lenses out I’ll fall asleep. But I think it’s the mind numbing pill of social media that keeps me hanging on.

I still cannot settle into this weirdness and it’s because I don’t think we’re meant to settle into it.

I always felt like I lived my life vaguely thinking about the change that’s coming. Be that something as simple as summer break or as complicated as the thought of moving.

But this is a big one. A looming “when this is all over I’ll…”. And then that spirals into “when will this be all over?” And then into “what the hell does all over look like?“

Here is what my quarantine life looks like.

I wake and study with the kids. Arabic and Quran. 80% of the time this is a pleasant experience. 85%. If asked, my children would say “we want mama to teach us not a tutor”. But this is mainly because children do not know what’s best for them, all they know is they want more time with mama.

It’s been 3.5 weeks now that I’ve been teaching them and the fact that they learned some things (and I did as well cause it’s been a while since I did 4th grade grammar) makes me feel proud.

We finish around 1.30-2 and that’s lunch time. Then it was a free for all when it came to TV and IPad usage. Today I admitted to myself there is no end in sight and reinstated screen time rules. 1 hour of iPad a day and TV between 5.30-6.30. All of the details are dependent on how much movement they had.

Conversation with Khaled

Me: you can use your iPad for an hour a day but only if you have played outside or moved and done something active.

Khaled: What if I don’t use my IPad at all? Do I still have to exercise?

He’s the strangest little thing. He’s either running around like the Tasmanian devil or glued to a screen.

Anyway, back to my day. Lunch. After lunch down time.

Around 3 or 4 I start wanting to do something. So I go searching for a child who will indulge me. This is the time my husband is usually reading and will not respond to outside stimuli.

The something we do varies. It could be swimming, cooking, playing a game, walking around outside. Sometimes I get creative. Today I pulled out some paint and canvas and Juji gathered leaves and stones and we went outside with Bader and I thought we would all paint.

I painted, Bader spent an hour mixing paint, pool water, leaves and grass in a bowl and saying he’s making soup. He repeated to me what I said to him to days ago when I was cooking.

He said: Mama, it’s hot. Only Bader can touch it not mama.

Well when I said it, It was the other way around. But this child insists on being the boss and giving the orders so he loved this.

Younger kids have dinner around 6.30. Way too early for my two eldest and me and my husband. We may play something or go for a walk.

Younger kids sleep between 8-9

We try and collectively work out at 8. (This has happened three times. But I like to think it’s a thing now).

Dinner at 9ish. Then showers then we sit and watch a Netflix show called timeless. Perfect escapism show.

Than we all “go to bed” and the surfing starts. I begin with CNN till I feel like I want to cry. Then I switch to Instagram till I feel like I’m inadequately quarantining. Then I turn to google till I feel I’m scattered then I go back to Instagram to chat and I type then delete. On really bad days I watch all the Snapchat stories and on really really bad days I give Twitter a visit.

Ok, tomorrow I’m not bringing my phone into the room. Except I’m waiting for a delivery from Jarir and what if they call for directions…

Time for lenses to be taken out. I am sufficiently sleepy to hopefully not have enough time for my mind to wonder.

Thanks for listening! What’s your quarantine day like?