Life In quarantine

Zara & Hana - A blog full of ideas to try out during quarantine, as well as reliable coronavirus news! [i guess you could call us the quaranteens... haha]

[lifeinquarantine]

Things to Do When You're Bored (The Master List)

Last March we started this blog as a way to inspire creativity and activity during quarantine, making it a creative outlet for ourselves and our readers. This post is the master list of all the ideas we have written about in the past year, so you can easily go through it to find something to do when you're bored. If you want to read into these ideas with a bit more depth, they're all up on our blog!

1. Read a book & write a book review

2. Paint something!

3. Organize your closet

4. Watch a bad movie

5. Bake something

6. Make a smoothie bowl

7. Spend an unusually long time customizing a collar for your pet

8. Call a friend

9. Do an eat all foods of one color challenge

10. Play cards against humanity online with your friends

11. Watch a good movie

12. Alter clothes that don't really fit

13. Make friend puppets

14. Miss going to your local thai restaurant and so make your own pad thai at home

15. Make friends online

16. Knit a scarf

17. Start a bullet journal

18. Start a quarantine journal

19. Go outside and tan

20. Find a new celebrity to obsess over

21. Listen to one of our lifeinquarantine playlists!

22. Start a movie review log

23. Read !

24. Make a shared slideshow with your friends

25. Make an obscurely long slideshow about one of your passions

26. Listen to a podcast

27. Start and finish a new series

28. Make a dream closet mood board

29. Draw something you like

30. Play minecraft

31. Make nut-butter

32. Design a dream cast for a book you like

33. Make a list of things you love to do

34. Start a book club

35. Go on a run

36. Do an at home work out

37. Get a disposable camera

38. Follow a bob ross painting tutorial

39. Channel your inner seamstress/seamster (sew something)

40. Go on a hike

41. Start a reading challenge

42. Re-decorate your room

43. Meet with your book club virtually

44. Walk your dog

45. Watch spooky movies (this was a halloween post)

46. Make covid info graphics to put up at school

47. Watch a movie in a language you're learning

48. Do a puzzle

49. Make rings

50. Volunteer online for ZSL instant wild

51. Bake a chocolate and pare tarte

52. Encourage environmental consciousness in your community

53. Create a summer bucket list

I hope you find some of these ideas cool, because we have literally written about all of them.

Lots of love

Hana and Zara

[lifeinquarantine]

#56 Create A Summer Bucket List!

Summer is rapidly approaching, and for some, summer has already begun. For this reason, it has never been more necessary to begin writing up a summer bucket list.

Worry not readers! Your summer doesn't have to consist of events which strongly resemble those of a a john green book, nor does it need to consist of large or expensive adventures to be a good one. Summer is a time to create fond memories and to take care of yourself through doing things you enjoy. With this in mind, I wrote my own list, filling it with small mundane joys I want to experience, like going on afternoon walks, listening to new music, buying books I didn't plan to buy, and basking in the sun.

Have fun!!

xoxo - Hana🍦 🌤️ 🌼

[lifeinquarantine]

Baking update!

Recently, I took it upon myself to bake a lemon cake/lemon pound cake from scratch. I knew going into it that it wouldn't be easy, I simply cannot bake from scratch, but I had some blind faith in my baking abilities (spoiler: I should not have). I ultimately went for the first recipe I found online, and with little preparation, made my way to the kitchen. I came across a few issues in the many hours I spent on this cake (like 3 hours!) 1. Butter Solidity, room temperature just wasn't working for me. 2. The fact that I had to keep moving from one part of the recipe to another 3. My lemons were weird.

Moving past these slight issues, I had a blast! I listened to one of my favorite podcasts, my favorite murder, and really turned my brain off so I could focus solely on my beautiful cake. In the end, the cake looked very cute, a bit sad but cute! Try it out! Baking lemon cake makes for a nice self care day.

Live your life like you're on top chef.

Hana🎂🎊

[lifeinquarantine]

#55 Encourage environmental mindfulness in your local communities!

Seeing as earth day was nearly 3 weeks ago, a very late environmentally friendly post is definitely in order. A simple way to work on helping the environment in a way that poses no covid concerns, is to spread environmental mindsets in your local community. It's likely that you already implement some environmentally friendly themes in your own life, wether through using reusable bags and bottles, avoiding single waste plastics, or recycling, and a way that you can further help the environment is to encourage others to adopt a similar lifestyle if possible. To do this in your own neighborhoods, you can put up the sign shown above alongside some repurposed tote bags! It's simple, and takes a step in a positive direction! Obviously you may want to try some more appealing infographics, but this was the poster I made.

[lifeinquarantine]

Hey everyone! I'm dropping in to apologize for our slight absence as Zara and I currently working towards exams and graduating! I found this quote on tik tok (queenieinspace), and I thought it was a lovely message that everyone needs to hear sometimes. I hope you're all doing well! Hopefully we will be back to post soon.

Have a special day and treat yourself (and others) with kindness.

Hana🌟💌🌲

[lifeinquarantine]

#54 Sometimes, when life gets overwhelming, I like to avoid all of my responsibilities and disappear to the kitchen for a few hours, with a rolling pin in hand and my mitski/the 1975 playlist in my ear. Yesterday, I deemed myself too fragile to edit an essay, and so I decided that I simply could not continue my day unless I baked a “tarte poire-chocolat” or a chocolate and pear tart.

Mind you, this was no easy feat. The dough had to be made from scratch (can you tell I’ve never made anything from scratch?) and put in or taken out of the fridge too many times, the pears peeled, the butter melted over a pot of boiling water, (not to mention the mass amounts of math I had to do).

The entire time this is what was going through my head: “This is going surprisingly well? No. no never mind. Bad. Wait… This looks fine. Not enough water. TOO MUCH WATER. Never mind, not enough. TOO MUCH. ABORT! ABORT! TOO MUCH WATER. What if this works? This is not going to work omg.”

Annnnnyways, final thoughts: You should try baking to de-stress, it can be nice to take some time to yourself to dance to your tunes while you whisk a chocolate + flour concoction. It’s fun to improve your skills in the kitchen and have something to eat after a (possibly traumatic) baking session, but, maybe, might I suggest a box mix?

This is the recipe I used: https://www.eatwell101.com/chocolate-pear-tart-recipe [I think this could even be accessible to beginners with a lot of time and patience, despite how graphically I described it.]

Practice self care and bake yourself a tarte, you deserve it <3

hana🎂💗

[lifeinquarantine]

If you’ve been struggling to find community benefiting projects to participate in this pandemic, ZSL instant wild is the perfect opportunity  for remote wildlife conservation.

ZSL instant wild is an initiative by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL)  which allows online volunteers to tag images in order to help researchers understand and monitor the presence of populations in different locations.

How it works is participants are given a series of live images of wildlife, and are given the opportunity to “tag” the images so that they are labeled with what species are present in the photo. You don’t need to worry about credentials, as the website provides you with all the tools you need to make a positive identification, and all photos are looked over by multiple volunteers. The process of making an account takes less than a minute, and the actual volunteering can take as much or as little time as you want, any day.

You can keep up with the different conservation projects here: https://instantwild.zsl.org/projects and https://instantwild.zsl.org/news

Make your account here and start tagging! 

Honestly, I’ve found this process to be really simple! I was at first worried I wouldn’t be able to correctly name any animals, but the website made the whole experience really accessible. Also, due to being in rather constant lockdown, it was a nice opportunity to safely participate in community service. So far I’ve made 203 identifications, and in this time have become very (like, very) familiar with the Central American agouti. 

Take some time to do online volunteer work! 🌲🍀🦔

hana 🐌

[lifeinquarantine]

#52 Make Rings

I need to admit the credit of this post entirely goes out to my little sister who at the age of 13 is probably more talented than I’ll ever be, but making rings is such a fun pastime and is way easier that you could expect. There are tons of different ways to make rings, you can for example make rings using stones and copper wire or silver if you’re a little more advanced, you can also make ceramic rings which are more a chunky style which I am also in love with. You can definitely make rings with minimal equipment but I do recommend that if you’re going to make some more advanced ones to buy a ring stick (that’s probably not the real name but we’ll work with it).

They look like the image above and they’re so helpful for making rings that fir perfectly on whichever finger you want. You can honestly kinda test yourself forward and see what you want yours to look like but I like using youtube videos for my first ones just because it’s a bit less frustrating when you can follow someone. I attached two videos one with and one without a ring stick. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZnX-34oRpI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rhbep8elIpI

I 10/10 recommend because they always turn out looking really cool and there’s something so satisfying about having made your own rings. 

Here’s a picture of what my little sister made in the span of about 10 minutes. (apologies for my crusty fingers).

I hope this inspires some of you to pick up a crafty hobby ;)))

PS. I am so sorry for being inactive I’ve just been so busy with school, I hope you’re all doing great and staying safe <333

Love,

Zara

[lifeinquarantine]

Puzzle update!

Previously I have written about my goal to become a puzzler, and reaching this goal began with the uneventful start that was a 170 piece puzzle. I thought it might be nice to keep you guys up to date with my puzzle journey, and since then some progress has been made! It took around a week of hunching over a small table in silence, just me and the little dark green pieces, but the outcome was nevertheless glorious indeed. A 500 piece scene of a parrot in a forest, or at least, 498 piece scene (we don’t know what happened to the two missing pieces). (Am I an expert puzzler yet? JK, I know I’m far from it) Stay tuned folks! I know everyones on the edge of their seat, “but where does this puzzle journey go next?” Well, I’m soon to start a 1000 piece puzzle with the help of my mom, it’s ambitious for sure.

On another note, I suggest puzzling to just about everyone! After a long week, you might find that it’s calming to listen to some jazz music, drink some hot tea (or hot chocolate), and puzzle.

Keep on puzzlin’/Go do a puzzle!! and have a good day - Hana

[lifeinquarantine]

Reading Corner: Romance!

Lifeinquarantine presents… books to absolutely read this February! The upcoming list is a series of romances which have flooded (or will flood) my heart with love, and which will hopefully do the same to yours!

1. Heartstopper by Alice Oseman

Heartstopper is a graphic novel series (yes, series, as in 3 wonderful books) surrounding two boys, Nick and Charlie, who prior to sitting next to each other in their tutor group had never spoken. Charlie joins the school Rugby team and gets trained by Nick, and throughout the book there are themes of friendship, discovering sexuality, finding self love, and a budding romance! (Note: I finished this 3 book series in two days and I loved every moment of it! Alice Oseman is an incredible author and artist)

2. If I never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane

After the end of an 18 year long relationship, Laurie is left to deal with vicious amounts of office gossip, pitiful stares from colleagues, and all round embarrassment. Upon hearing that her ex moved on to another woman in the office, Laurie decides the humiliation is no longer worth taking. After the elevator gets stuck, she bumps into Jamie Carter, the office “bad boy”, who so happens to need a steady relationship to prove to his boss that he’s worthy of a promotion. They decide to come together in a fake relationship to reach their separate goals, but of course it’s a complicated arrangement. (Warning! I really liked this book)

3. The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

Two rival publishing companies come together (wow, another office romance. I guess I have a type?) in attempt to survive within the business, and now all the employees must work together in harmony despite their differences. The two bosses assistants, Josh and Lucy, are forced to share an office, constantly annoying one another with silly games. Then the game changes, they’re now playing for a promotion which will place them above the other assistant, and Lucy is determined to win. But now a new game obstacle comes to light, (this obstacle is that they both totally have a crush on one another)

4. Red, White, & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

(I haven’t read this one but it is highhhly rated, and it’s no my tbr)  “First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic. International socialite duties do have downsides—namely, when photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry at a royal wedding leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations. The plan for damage control: staging a fake friendship between the First Son and the Prince. As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations.” (hehe I took this synapsis off goodreads)

5. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Okay okay, hear me out! This is an odd book to suggest for a february romance, I know, but when I tell you reading twilight is an experience like no other, I mean it! Bella moves to the gloomiest town in the US, Forks, to live with her father Charlie. Her expectations are pretty low, but nothing has prepared her for what she finds in this town (Spoiler: Hot vampires!) I don’t think this needs much explaining, it’s twilight! It’s horrific and amazing. 

😻💌Happy February💌😻

Ps. I made the title image into a really cool gif but tumblr wont let me upload it. #wack

pps. It would make sense to include “to all the boys I’ve loved before” in this list, but I forgot lol. That book is good though!! Read it.

🍀Hana🍀

[lifeinquarantine]

Send a Valentines Day card to a patient at St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital

This valentines day season you can spread a little love by sending a message to patients at St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital through the St Jude’s website! The process is simple, and takes no more than two minutes. First you pick a card design, write a short note or pick one of the pre-written messages, sign and send! 

Heres where to do it: https://www.stjude.org/get-involved/other-ways/valentines-day.html 

[brytning]

[lifeinquarantine]

Attention! Wear a mask please

It’s possible that a lot of you are going back to school or work, or are in other situations which result in you being put in situations where you might be at risk of catching Covid-19. Since sometimes it’s not possible to stay home all the time, here are some tips to protect yourself and those around you, as well as why you should be mindful!

How does COVID-19 spread?

The coronavirus spreads from person to person through both indirect (through contact of contaminated surfaces) and indirect contact with a person who is positive with Covid-19. What exactly causes the spread of this virus, is the secretion of the mouth and nose (coughing, sneezing, speaking, laughing, and even breathing).

!It is important to note that a person may be positive for the coronavirus and be completely unaware of it. The world health organization stated that, on average symptoms for Covid-19 appear between 5-6 days, but can take as long as 14 days. You, or anyone else could unknowingly spread the virus, so taking safety precautions is necessary.

How can you be cautious?

Wear masks when you’re in close contact with people, such as on public transport, at the supermarket, or are walking through the hallway at school! Masks help prevent the spread of Covid 19 as they prevent the spread of the secreted droplets. Masks are more effective when everyone is wearing them! So, please wear a mask to protect yourself and others!

Are you feeling kind of doubtful of the success rates of wearing masks and maintaining social distancing? Here is a link to an experiment which utilized laser light scattering to simulate the spread of secreted droplets!

This is an infographic from Community Medical Centers

Maintain social distancing if possible, with a minimum of 6ft/1.5m between you and others.

Wash your hands regularly throughout the day, especially when you go to public spaces. Use soap and water for about 30 seconds!

Avoid big events at all costs! Such as parties, clubs, festivals, etc. it is understandable in big workplaces or schools it is not possible to do this, but attempt to follow the other safety precautions.

If you ever experience symptoms, get tested if possible, make an effort to not make contact with others, and if you are tested positive, quarantine!

Read more about the coronavirus from reliable sources! Such as WHO

The coronavirus is not gone, being careless can result to many more people becoming ill, (including people who have other health issues, and people who cannot afford to get sick!) resulting in Hospitals having limited resources to help the mass amount of patients they will receive. Please do your part and be mindful!

Thanks for reading! -Hana and Zara (quaranteens)

[lifeinquarantine]

Reading Corner: Horror/thriller

Hey gang!

I will never stop suggesting books <3 ever. Now that we spend more time at home, what better way to spend your time than to read scary books? (And tremble with fear?) These are some spooky book recommendations I have for you, alongside some blurbs, as well as trigger warnings regarding the stories. For those well versed in the horror genre, these will all be pretty common suggestions.

The majority of these novels consist of mature themes that are not suitable for all ages, regarding substance abuse, violence, and more. 

For that reason I do not suggest these books to everyone, but rather people who feel comfortable and enjoy the horror genre. For those of you who enjoy other genres, such as romance, fantasy, non-fiction, and more, do not fret! We are working on more diverse recommendations.

Misery- Stephen king 

(Horror)

The famous novelist Paul Sheldon finds himself being rescued by his “biggest fan” Annie Wilkes, after being in a serious car accident. She vows to take care of his injuries but becomes disgruntled when she finds our he has ended his book series Misery, her favorite book series. Her patient quickly becomes her hostage as she forces him to rewrite the ending of his series. TW: drug abuse, gore, violence, strong language, death.

Stillhouse Lake- Rachel Caine 

(mystery/thriller)

Gwen moves to still house lake with her 2 kids in a desperate attempt to escape her horrific past. She seems to have bad luck though, for just as she begins to get comfortable in her new home, a body is found in the lake by her home, in addition to threatening letters that she starts receiving. TW: Murder, death, violence,

I’m thinking of ending things- Iain Ried 

(thriller)

Jake and his girlfriend take a trip to have dinner with his parents, but the night takes an unexpected turn and she finds herself stranded in a high school at night, fleeing from an unknown aggressor, and wondering if escape is possible. TW: Suicide, mentions of depression

The shining- Stephen king 

(Horror)

Jack Torrence, his wife Wendy, and their son Danny move into the Overlook Hotel as part of Jack’s new job as the winter caretaker. The harsh winter forces the family into a long isolation, where Jack is forced to battle with his alcoholism as well as the evil forces present in the hotel. These forces attempt to make Danny a permanent resident of the Overlook Hotel for his precognitive powers. TW: Alcohol abuse, violence, gore, strong language, death,

Please only consider reading any of these books if you are certain that you are comfortable seeing the subject matter. I don’t want to be the reason anyone has a bad reading experience! 

Feel free to send in suggestions, see you in the next reading corner!

Hana

[lifeinquarantine]

#51 Do a Puzzle

Greetings and salutations quaranteens! Recently my interest in puzzles and doing puzzles has peaked as a result of discovering the youtuber karenpuzzles. Upon watching a few videos on the gradient puzzle (5000 pieces) I decided, “I can do that”, and so made it a 2021 resolution to complete a puzzle. I began determined, sorting through the 1000 piece puzzles stowed away in my house, looking for the perfect start to my puzzling career. But, I didn’t quite compensate for my inability to do puzzles. I commenced my journey with a 1000 piece scene of a desert, presumably in Las Vegas. Soon after, and I mean soon after, like, 25 minutes after, I realized that I wasn’t quite equipped for such an ambitious project. I then restarted with a slightly smaller, and thus less exciting puzzle, 150 pieces of a large giraffe kissing a smaller giraffe on the head. This proved to also be difficult, but in about 40 minutes it came together beautifully. In retrospect, this story might have been more interesting if I had persevered and done the 1000 piece puzzle, but it’s not that kind of day. If anything it kind of sets a mellow tone for 2021, maybe the underlying theme is we shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves, and should focus on doing things we enjoy, no matter how unimpressive the amount of pieces they possess is. 

I hope you do a puzzle today, or sometime soon! Hana :-)

Update: It was actually 170 pieces!

[lifeinquarantine]

#49 Watch a Movie in a Language You’re Learning

Hey everybody! Learning languages can be at times rough, and so it’s nice to try a less “academic” approach. You get to watch a movie, and your brain gears keep turning while you try to put together all the words and phrases with the aid of context clues. To help you out, you can add subtitles in a language you’re comfortable with, or even the language you’re trying to learn. When the dialogue moved too quickly, I referred to the subtitles to keep up. 

I’m personally learning dutch and decided to watch the 2010 movie “Alpha and omega” in dutch, and surprisingly I found myself both laughing out loud multiple times as well as shedding many, many, tears near the end. It was a bad movie, but also, oddly good? I definitely suggest it, it was a good use of my time. 

Maybe I should say something in dutch to prove I learned? Het was een rare film, maar ik vond het leuk. Dat is alles, bedankt voor het lezen! Doei!

Tot de volgende keer!! Doei! - Hana

[lifeinquarantine]

Happy Holidays from lifeinquarantine

Hey everyone! Merry Christmas! Firstly, sorry for our absence, we’ve been trying to keep up with our school work and have been a little intimidated by the great “50th post”, but we will be back soon! We’re sending you all wishes of health and happiness, and a happy holiday! Be mindful and wear a mask. 

Happy holidays! - Zara and Hana