It is a mystery

I have arrived at my parents' place and unloaded everything. They cleaned my old room out and I put everything in there except my spinning wheel, which we need to find a place downstairs where I can set up. We're getting our tree tonight, way ahead of our normal Christmas Eve tree acquiring. I will be baking something in the next two days because I have gone SO LONG without baking, it makes me sad. 

My older brother hasn't felt well for a while, possibly had covid earlier this year and is dealing with the general after affects and didn't know it but he decided not to come. Which is fine. We will video chat with him at some point.

There's no family christmas party this year although I don't know if there will be a food exchange or not. No gift exchange because as it turns out, with all the "kids" out of high school, no one is worried about it. 

yay, relaxing in a place with a well stocked kitchen and access to groceries!

 I have arrived at Isocation 2020 House and it is nice! It is apparently a renovated milk house and it is delightfully weirdly laid out and the laundry is in a doom basement (that apparently freaks the owner out) but just looks like my parents' basement, stone walls and stuff. 

But the rooms are nice and the bed is enormous. Mara seems happy with the backyard.

I brought too much shit but that's okay, I didn't know what to expect. Plus, I'll use things at my parents' house when I get there. The place is well stocked with all the necessities and some extra stuff. 

I almost took my spinning wheel out of the truck as I was packing because I was afraid I wouldn't have room for everything but all I left behind was the potatoes. That did make me sad but oh well. Potatoes. 

My main problem was I realized I had more stuff that couldn't freeze than I expected (acrylic paint gift, switch, laptops, plants!) so those all had to go in the front seat. The potatoes also would have needed to fit in the front and I was out of room to safely stack things so I would have room to shift and also to buckle things in. 

The internet connection is pretty good. 

The house is very close to a major highway so there's traffic noise during the day in the backyard but I can't hear anything in the house. 

Mara is still adjusting to the house noises and spent a while walking around sniffing everything but I put on some music and sat my butt down and got her to lay on her bed and now she's settled in. 

One thing I want to accomplish is getting the very last of the flax out of my truck. I've got two bundles still to be rippled and I'm a little afraid of the seed condition. But then I can dump them at my parents' and get my truck bed really cleaned out because it's getting gross. I got a yard and some room and can get it done pretty quickly I think. 

Anyway, I'm exhausted and will probably sleep early. 

 I have most of the gifts ordered and on their way. They all should arrive in the next two weeks but we will see. I have one more physical thing order to make that I might send to my parents place. Isocation is in two and a half weeks oh boy. 

I'm making packing lists and I need to start looking at parks in the area where I'm staying so the dog and I can leave the house for something. I think we'll be fine but parks in December should be pretty empty, bigger concern will be if any are open to the public. 

I will be making food the weekend before, yogurt primarily since I don't know if I'll be able to make yogurt at Isocation House and it stores better than milk anyway. Also a big pot of brown rice and beans. I won't be bringing my instant pot and it makes the best textured brown rice and beans so I'm bringing other rice to make later. I need to email my mom the things I'd like her to get from the grocery store for my arrival to their place. Mostly yogurt. 

Of course, I've been reading the horror stories on the internet about people who caught covid while meeting up with relatives so that's making me nervous.

But my plan is solid. I won't be going into any stores or restaurants after Dec 6th, no shopping, no takeout, masks all the time while walking the dog. I will be loading up my truck and driving 2.5 hours to isocation house, no gas station stops needed. I will be staying in the isocation house, and only going to parks where no one else is and masked. I will be bringing all my food and dog supplies with me. If I need to get fuel, I won't go inside the gas station and I'm sanitizing before and after touching things. After the two weeks, I'm going to pack up, drive the last hour to my parents place. 

Only potential concern is arrival and when the person may have cleaned the isocation house before I get there. But I plan to ask them and see what they say and adjust plans as needed

I'm also taking all this week off work for relaxing time. I already starting baking things, cornmeal shortbread cookies and pepitas tonight. Pepitas are being split between dragonlady7 , who I'm seeing tomorrow (outside, masked) and my parents, which I will mail. 

Food plans are also a ham, which is currently defrosted. Mashed sweet potatoes for Jade. Mashed potatoes for me. Maybe some kind of corn dish. Ice cream since I have a million egg whites. Possibly squash pie but I might flip through some recipes I have saved and cookbooks and see what gets my interest. 

I spent all day yesterday playing video games, which hasn't happened in a long time. It was fun. I've also been spinning some of the flax that B and I have been working on and it's turning out really well. There's definitely a learning curve on spinning it that is very different than wool or ramie plan fibers. Better than the ramie types for sure. It's so dang slow though. I'm a little concerned I'm not putting enough twist in it because the ply checks don't look quite right but it's enough twist to hold together. I'm going to recheck one of my spinning books tonight and see what it says.