A lot has changed since I last posted a blog here. Weeks ago, I thought I would originally come back with an update that we volunteered to emergency host a foreign exchange student from Belgium. Turns out, that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Yeah, I've found myself saying "that escalated quickly" quite a bit these days.
Despite the virus and everything else going on, I've tried to maintain a little bit of normalcy around the house. Easier said than done when Minnesota Government orders a stay home protocol, and only essential work can be completed. Not to mention I have zero desire to be out in the general public any more than I absolutely have to right now.
Which means basically no shopping trips for me.
Thankfully, I'm a planner ... and I've had a lot of things in the works for a looooooong time ...
So regardless of stay home orders, I've been able to have a little bit of seasonal fun. Even if I might have spaced out and forgotten to take my usual insta-worthy photos. Since I've been a little ... disorganized in the chaos as of late ... I totally didn't take ANY staged photos of St. Patty's day stuff.
Thankfully, I used some of the same things from my Reddit St. Pat's exchange in 2019 as teachers gifts this year, so let's pretend my
Not shown, but also included - a small, green glittered clip in hair bow
Lucky for me, I had purchased a bunch of this stuff in bulk, on clearance in 2018 with the intention of using them as teacher's gifts in the future. But when 2019 rolled around, I had only used the headbands out of my stash (thanks to stumbling upon $2 clearance bottles of strawberry booze, LOL!).
While this wasn't as ... impactful is maybe the word? ... as some of my teacher gifts have been historically, all I can do is shrug. Given the situation, at least it was something. And aside from that fact, the teachers were all utilizing at least a portion of the gift when I came to do pickup, so it must have been at least a partial success.
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The night prior, I had given both my son ... and my new "exchange daughter" their St. Pat's gifts so that they could plan them into their outfits for the next day. Since the local high school was already closed down due to the virus, my exchange student wasn't able to show her swag off to her peers, but she played along and wore it anyway.
The earrings were from Amazon if you're curious, and actually the socks I got weren't actually those ... what I chose had more on them - pots of gold, shamrocks, and I think the heel and trim was actually green ... whatever, you get the idea.
Of course, my son was more than thrilled to wear his gift, despite me not being able to find youth sized St. Pat's socks and defaulting to the next best option in green. Although his socks might not have been totally on point for the holiday, the rest of his outfit was. Plus, he came home from daycare covered in shamrock tattoos (he brought them to school to "share"), so he was appropriately festive in plenty of other ways.
Since the socks and other items were fairly small, I had packaged the gifts for the kids in a Target dollar section jute gift bag. It was similar to this one, but covered in mini lucky charms associated with St. Patty's day like horse shoes and shamrocks.
Since I myself wasn't feeling the most festive due to the stress of current events weighing heavily on my mind, I declined to do too much at work or on a personal level. I did manage to at least thrown on a pair of fun leggings for work, anyway. (Yes, I was still being asked to report in to work at that point).
And of course, to round out the day, I served up a crockpot meal of corned beef and cabbage when I got home. Can't skip that!
So there's my St. Pat's 2020 report. Mostly normal, but also a little off kilter with everything that started simmering up around that time. Here's to hoping 2021's celebration is a little better.
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