The past couple of weeks have been interesting. I haven’t left my house in 13 days. I’m quarantined until September 25th, and I’ve been trying to stick with a Keto lifestyle. In the meantime, I’ve had two family birthdays.
My husband’s birthday was yesterday, September 23rd. Out of respect for him, I won’t tell you how old he turned. He’s a bit sensitive because he’s four years older than me and in a different decade of life.
I’d intended to make a New York style cheesecake for his birthday. It’s his favorite dessert. Unfortunately when I opened my refrigerator, I discovered we didn’t have any sour cream, a key ingredient in cheesecake. We also didn’t have enough milk to make it using the mix I have in the cabinet.
In light of my inability to accomplish Plan A, due to not seeing the inside of a grocery store in over two weeks, I decided to to go with Plan B and make my other half a devil’s food birthday cake this year.
It was not a Keto friendly cake at all. My frosting recipe alone had 3 1/2 cups of powdered sugar in it. While I’ve had good results with Keto, I saw no reason to make something I knew my hubby wouldn’t like. It was his birthday, after all. He deserved a regular, yummy birthday cake made with white flour and real sugar.
He loved it so much that he had three pieces before I even knew what happened. I admit it, I ate a piece, too. After a month of practically no sugar or white flour, that cake was the most amazing thing I’ve ever tasted. Keto is fine, but our celebrations of life are important. I will not deny myself a piece of birthday cake.
I like to shop in brick and mortar stores for gifts. That way I can see, feel, and smell what I’m considering. In my husband’s case, I knew I wanted to get him some Perry Ellis 360 cologne. It smells amazing on him, and he was almost out of the bottle I bought him for Christmas last year. Ordering that online wasn’t such a big deal because I already knew how it smelled.
I also bought some of those cell phone charger adapters that will transform his old chargers into ones that will work with his new phone. I was nervous about ordering those online because I couldn’t hold them up to my phone for a comparison. Thankfully, I chose correctly. He now has the ability to charge his new phone with the charging cords he already had.
The third birthday surprise I had for him was some Mary Kay aftershave moisturizing lotion. His skin gets dry, especially under his mustache, and that lotion helps a great deal. With winter coming soon, I wanted to be sure he was prepared.
The other family birthday this week was my step-son’s girlfriend. I obviously won’t be seeing her until the weekend due to my quarantine, but I put together a pretty nice gift, if I do say so myself. It wasn’t what I’d planned, but I don’t like buying certain things sight unseen.
I won’t go into detail about her gift here on the off chance she reads this blog post before I see her. I honestly don’t think she reads it at all, but I could be wrong and would hate to spoil the surprise. What I can tell you is I filled a box with things she can use to pamper herself and take a little “me time,” which we all need every now and then.
My life will return to normal, or what passes for normal these days, soon. Something I’ve learned about myself through this quarantine is that I enjoy being home. I enjoy getting all of the laundry and dishes done before the evening news. I enjoy sleeping past 5:00 a.m. I enjoy wearing T-shirts and sweatpants. I enjoy the silence of my neighborhood while everyone else is at work. Most of all, I enjoy writing every day. I could definitely live a full-time writer’s life with no problem.
What’s stopping me? I need to make a living, and my writing hasn’t produced enough money for me to consider relying upon it as my sole source of income. Another reason is my husband believes I need to be out amongst other people. He’s probably right. Human contact keeps me grounded, and I’d miss all of my work friends. I’ve spent over ten years with a few of those guys. They are like my brothers.
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