Hi again. So I have scrolled through the last three pages or so and wow, a lot going on. I hope everyone who has been sick and injured is on the mend. Scary stuff. We are all healthy - knock on wood. One of my SIL out of state got COVID and we were very worried bc she has an autoimmune disease but it was very mild and lasted about a week. She’s fine now. We have not been able to go anywhere to see family and that's been very hard, especially when I think about Thanksgiving and the winter holidays and our aging parents. DH and I took a few days off work in July because we needed the brain break and did a couple of day trips to outdoor areas near us that have pretty views etc. and have plans next week to dine outdoors at a restaurant we like for our anniversary. It amazes me that we've been home for five months with no end in sight. Long update follows:
Like some of you have mentioned, it has taken a pandemic for us to be in the best financial shape we’ve ever been in. Both working from home, which means no 100 mile round trip commutes. We probably save $500/month in gas. We got our money back from the flights to London we obviously couldn’t take, plus almost $4k refunded for DS19's room and board last semester. We do order takeout every Saturday night for dinner and with all four of us eating every meal at home, are spending quite a bit on food. I have done some online shopping for non-food items/non-essentials but we’re barely spending money.
We have been getting some things done around the house that are high-ticket items though, a new garage door opener that we had put off for almost three years, some work done on our porch and gutter repairs. And in Sept. we’re replacing the sliding door to our deck with French doors. And we‘ve put about $2k into the boys’ car, which our (trusted) mechanic says is still the more cost efficient way to go bc even on a 2010 car (Toyota), he thinks there’s a lot of life left. DS19 is in the process of moving into an off-campus house near the university (an hour away from us), even though all of his classes this upcoming semester happen to be online (the school is doing a hybrid approach). They signed the lease in Feb. right before all this hit and even though I would have preferred him to spend another year on campus, now I am glad he'll be sharing space with just four others. A lot of his friends are going to stay home and if they have any in-person classes, commute. He said he would have done that if he was going to be in the dorms. He's getting his (required) COVID test next week and needs to start reporting his temperature and symptoms/nonsymptoms next week before classes start.
Because DS17's senior year of high school will be starting online (makes me very sad), we told DS19 he can take their car with him, mainly so he can food shop easily. Wasn't our original plan, but with DH and me both working at home, we have two other cars mostly just sitting in the driveway these days that DS17 can use. He's been the one out of the house most, he lifeguards at an outdoor pool. We've been teaching the boys to cook and they've each taken a night a week to cook, and we got through the entire Cheers run and are now onto Frasier, and have weekend movie nights together which has been fun. Not how I've wanted their young adult years to start, that's for sure, but they've handled it really well. Better than me.
I am always worried and will keep worrying I'm sure. I'm back on WW (most days) and am struggling to stay motivated on it, but I have lost three pounds. I need to lose probably 10+ more - I gained some at the holidays that I never lost and probably put on a few too. Since mid-May I have been getting up to walk at 7 a.m. three or four days a week before I start my work day. I've been more successful with that than the weight loss, and have walked 114 miles so far. Trying to remember how fortunate we are in the face of this crazy time.
I've jumped from a plane. 
