What more can one ask for than beautiful days and loving people to make life worthwhile? Today is April 26.
After much anticipation and waiting, today was the day my dad finally made crêpes for breakfast. We don’t have them too often, so they are a delightful treat. We ate them with cherry pie filling and whipped cream, rolling them like burritos and digging into the meal happily. Any time he makes crêpes, I think back to the time we spent in France and the crêpes we ate there. I would love to revisit Europe some day, especially now that I’m older and have a stronger concept of the countries’ histories and cultures.
Once we’d cleaned up dishes from breakfast, I took a little time to myself to relax and take in the nice spring day. Even though my allergies were annoying me and making me sneeze, I liked having the windows and doors open. I could hear birds chirping all day long. I made sure to enjoy the sunshine because the next few days are supposed to be overcast and rainy, which will hopefully motivate me to study and focus on school rather than nature. As much as I love the outdoors, I do need to prepare for Advanced Placement (AP) tests.
Sticking to my new habit of daily exercise, I decided to work out around 12:45 p.m. Because I’d done cardio yesterday, today I worked on lifting weights and doing arm strengthening exercises. For roughly 45 minutes, I pushed my muscles to exhaustion. I did bicep curls, shoulder rotations, bent rows, swimmers without weights, wrist curls and a few other lifting positions. To finish out my workout, I did nearly four minutes straight of arm circles with my arms straight out. This last piece may not sound tiring, but for a beginner who is definitely out of shape, it was.
To help my muscles recover, I drank some water and ate a banana as I cooled down. I probably should have taken a shower, but because I’d just showered yesterday and felt more sore than sweaty, I decided not to. Instead, I curled up on the couch and watched a few episodes of Criminal Minds. At this rate, I might be done with the show (or at least the 12 seasons available on Netflix) before the official end of the school year.
My mom had been working outside in the gardens all day, and my brother and dad were planning on playing tennis around 5:30 p.m., so my parents suggested we order carry out for dinner rather than cooking. The four of us decided to support another one of our favorite local businesses: Flat Branch Pub & Brewing. I love the restaurant’s outdoor seating area, so I was sad we wouldn’t be able to enjoy it. Nonetheless, I am glad my family has the means to continue to have well-intentioned splurges like this even during this time of crisis.
As my brother and dad were leaving to play tennis, I decided to do a little baking. My brother had just finished off the last slice of an apple pastry my dad had picked up from the store, and my dad was sad he hadn’t gotten a taste before it was all gone. To lighten his spirits, I told him I’d make one for us to enjoy tomorrow morning. I’d never baked an apple pastry before, so I don’t think my first attempt was 100% successful. I used canned apple pie filling but made the cream cheese part of the recipe from scratch. Everything was going fine until I had to try to fold the pastry over the filling. As the pictures show, the end result looks a little more like a circular pile of goo than a well-formed pastry. But taste matters more than looks in my family, so I have my fingers crossed everyone enjoys it tomorrow.
Following our lovely dinner, my family and I played Spades for a little while. Thankfully, both my brother and dad had taken showers after playing tennis, so they didn’t smell too bad. I’m glad they had fun playing, and once I’m more in shape I might join them. My muscles felt sore from my earlier workout, and every time I sat down or stood up my legs ached. I think I need to make stretching before and after exercising part of my routine to minimize these pains and prevent pulled muscles.
I need to do some work for college and AP test studying tomorrow, so I’ll try to not allow myself to goof off too much. A little downtime is a good thing, but when I don’t study or do what I need to because I want to spend time outside or watch Netflix, then I have a problem. I’m counting on the rainy weather to motivate me to study, but if it doesn’t, then I’ll just have to count on my own work ethic to get me through.
“You’ll turn out ordinary if you’re not careful.” ― Ann Brashares, American novelist[TS_VCSC_Lightbox_Gallery content_images=”330804,330805,330806,330807,330808,330809″ content_images_size=”full” content_images_titledata=”caption” content_title=”A glimpse into Bailey Stover’s 40th day of social distancing” data_grid_preloader=”-1″ lightbox_title=”caption” lightbox_effect=”simpleSwitch”][/TS_VCSC_Lightbox_Gallery][penci_text_block block_title_align=”style-title-left”]How did you spend your 40th day of social distancing? Let us know in the comments below.[/penci_text_block]
