Gifts in ugly wrapping paper

Gifts in ugly wrapping paper: Swoon 29

Things are yucky. There are countries closed and people stuck far from their homes. There are people sick, who will never recover. There are shortages of essential supplies for healthcare workers. There are not enough beds in hospitals. There is anxiety. There are jobs lost, businesses closed, people who will suffer. There are parties cancelled, plays closed, celebrations shut down. Things are yucky.

As those that can (or will) start a stay home for a few weeks there is a sadness, and anger, and why me, why my kid, why why. I am not a preacher (well, I try not to be but I see how that might be an amusing statement). I do think we can acknowledge that this is HORRIFIC… but sitting in gloom waiting to be sick or lose a loved one (or waiting to gloat because not THAT many people died) does no good.

We can keep on living. I remember days when my kids played sports and there was a rain day. No sports, we all rejoiced. Same with snow days, we had fun doing inside stuff. When people come back from vacations they say we did nothing… we sat around the house and cooked together, played games, and read books at the beach…let’s go there. Let’s go to the place where we take this time to enjoy all the things we never get to do.

Here is the list I sent my community. You are also now my community so I hope you join in the art project… there will be daily prompts. Skill not required, just go for it.

Activities and to dos for this yucky situation…

Join the Community Art Project (in this case the community is the world…all invited, all ages, all abilities) – instructions at the bottom

Church in your pjs: Facebook Worship Service at Pleasantville Presbyterian Church facebook page live at 10am today Live streaming.

Read… a book. Give yourself a challenge and read a real book. The Pleasantville Book store is delivering! Maybe your local shops are too, or you could do curbside pickup.

Call your local restaurants and buy gift certificates or make donations… they need us right now. When our local toy store closed because of amazon there was much mourning. Donate to your favorite local shops or get gift cards now. Let’s keep them alive. We will be happier in the long run.

Play a board game… then make a time to play that game everyday, see how you improve. Keep tabs and get the excitement going. Keep a running log of the winners money in Monopoly, points in backgammon, gin, and scrabble. Teach your kids crazy eights, spit… things from our childhood. 

Bake… then enjoy your treat every night

Visit art museums: just google art museum tours online and a crazy amount of links come up

Work on wellbeing and spirituality learn how to make a mandala with April… connect.faith

Garden… do a backyard clean up, make it a scavenger hunt, order some native plants on line to plant in the spring

Keep a COVID19 Journal… daily entries in the morning and evening… it will be a cherished keepsake of the crazy.

Consider Jackbox TV games… We play with our “kids” and I have to admit it is hysterical. 

Go through photos online or in albums… Share stories. Scan hard copies. Kids LOVE this.

Have a FaceTime or Zoom party or gathering… Dance party, game night, family chat. We had a family hang out with our west coast peoples and it was really calming. We did nothing, just were in the same “space”. 

Take a daily picture of your toilet paper stack… how long does it take to go down?

Community Art Project Instructions…
Take a piece of paper, 8.5 x 11 or smaller, in any medium, pencil, paint, collage… create!
3/15 prompt: draw a self portrait of how you are feeling today. Abstract art is great! This is not a contest. All comfort levels and abilities are perfect. Do you feel like a rock, a little bear hibernating, a beautiful flower about to bloom in a new world, go for it. Draw you, your feelings and feel free to post below AND please save it in a folder for mailing or delivering later.

Loves to all… stay home, make the most of a terrible situation. And yes, it is terrible. We have all felt the economic hardships personally or a degree away. Some have family stuck in Europe. Some have relatives living the nightmare in Italy. Some are sick. We are all anxious. 

Sitting and being anxious will not help. 
Creating, playing, connecting will.

Swoon