Good Things Friday (57)
March 20, 2020
If you’d like to join me in helping Lakota families and/or rural libraries this year, please read this post. Over 6 weeks in 2019, we raised $2669.94 for the Lakota families, touching 27 lives. What can we do in 2020?
Current total: Lakota, $640.74; Rural libraries, $321.62.
1. I’m so proud of myself. I had a list of five recipes I wanted to cook and freeze ahead but I knew it was a very ambitious list as they all required a lot more than my usual effort. I broke up the recipe across two days and made a magnificent vat of gluten free lamb stew. I filled up two containers for freezing, we had a smashing good dinner (PiC had three bowls), and I shared some with a neighbor.
2. PiC bought a medium tub of hot and sour soup from the local Chinese restaurant we like for me to freeze. It’s one of the soups I always want to eat when I’m sick, so if the day comes that I’m down with a virus, I’ll have comfort food close to hand.
3. JB’s preschool program has been closed indefinitely. Thankfully I had already been thinking ahead to that inevitable day so I already have a box of activities assembled and a few recipes ready for cooking and baking projects together.
Challenges this week: I’m baffled by the nonsense people are willing to believe about disease. People are saying: putting Vicks VapoRub in your nostrils will protect against germs – no, it will not. People believe that you can test for COVID-19 by holding your breath for ten seconds, and make it go away by drinking water – no and no. Some people were touting steaming as a way of killing the virus in your lungs – an epidemiologist said that would only work if it were hot enough at which point you’d be long dead.
Why, people, WHY.
Many counties here have been shut down through April 7 or longer. This is a surreal time.
4. My brain therapy session was tough but good. I didn’t feel emotionally flayed, I suppose one can only have so many of those in a row, but I did feel comfort in discussing my past and present and concerns with a professional. I’ve advised others to seek professional help in the past, I believe it can really help people, but this is the first time I’ve ever personally experienced what I imagined it to be.
5. Super grateful to Tanya for sending me this chicken salad recipe, it’s similar to a recipe mom used to make when I was growing up and I’ve missed it. JB liked the dressing but hated the salad. Go figure.
6. Shopping for our Lakota families is usually an exercise in frustration because so many household basics aren’t available for shipping to PO boxes or to that zip code even if the store is willing to ship to them. We’re now experiencing similar issues here with household basics because of COVID-19. Every reasonably priced detergent and heartburn relief, for example, are out of stock even if they would normally deliver to us for a fee. Both at Target and Costco. I’m both annoyed and recognize that we’re very lucky to normally have no problems getting hold of what we need. And we’re lucky that PiC is able bodied and can run to the store and try to find the goods if I can’t. Not everyone has such an awesome and able-bodied partner to pick up the load like that, nor does everyone have relatively easy access to stores that might have stock.
7. Parenting in the time of COVID-19 means we’re relaxing our standards on screen time. I will allow some on weekdays when I need a break and JB has been using up all their willpower. They have been surprisingly good about the isolation considering how social they normally are so far, but at this point it just seems like we’re having a long (looooong) weekend. They are sad about not being allowed to eat out at a restaurant, though. They enjoy the novelty.
8. My massage therapist cancelled our session due to the three week shutdown of the Bay Area. I’ve purchased a gift card to get some money in her pocket because she’s still going to have to pay rent and I want to do my part in ensuring she can. I also cancelled our dogwalker but we’re still paying them because it’s not a ton of money but I’m guessing that every little bit will make a difference. I’m extra aware of these things because I have friends who own small businesses and losing lots of income during the pandemic. I hope their customers remember that people need to pay their bills and pay a little extra if they can.
9. I’m so grateful that JB has generally taken this in stride, aside from the occasional morbid ponderings (what if people die of coronavirus and they’re all alone?? Do you have coronavirus? I think I have coronavirus.) We’ve had some pretty non-scheduled days and rolled from day to day this week rather flexibly unlike my best intentions of having a set schedule. It’s ok. Next week. I wonder how long we’ll go like this with the statewide shutdown set for… Indeif
New York is moving towards the same type of shutdown as California now, which I think takes effect on Sunday, but K and I have already been working completely from home and staying in, except when buying food or going to the drugstore, for a week now. We’re holding up well, though missing being able to go outdoors! (Solitary outdoor exercise is still allowed, but it’s hard to find places where one can stay the required 6 feet away from other people at all times.) Glad to here that you and your family are holding up well so far.
K and I generally get most of our household goods delivered (Target.com is significantly more cost-effective than buying such items in stores here), but we’re having the same issues with getting household basics delivered, even if stores mostly have things in stock again (toilet paper and hand soap are still a bit tough, and of course hand sanitizer and lysol or clorox wipes are nowhere to be found). Hopefully things calm down in a few weeks…
Xin recently posted…Staying In For a While
I’m so glad you’d been keeping to yourselves ahead of any mandated shutdown, I’m sure that makes a difference. I can imagine that where you are, it’s much harder to get that solo outside time. We’re just in a suburb but we have been lucky in that everyone has respected everyone else’s space.
Fingers crossed that we all stay healthy.
It feels surreal here too. Our area is at “social distancing” so we can still do shopping for non-grocery items… but it’s hard to calculate which trips really would be reasonable. Sometimes I only realize later that I should have just waited for the next pick-up order. I feel some guilt too because when it comes to most of the ripple effects my family is VERY privileged; my husband easily switched to working from home, we already homeschooled, we have a decent pantry, we have a spacious house & yard, and we took the early pandemic warnings seriously so we got several Amazon orders done (for reasonable quantities of reasonable things) before the panic-buying completely took over. But several of our friends are in much more precarious positions: furloughed, scarred lungs, 2 or 3 rambunctious kids in a tiny apartment, etc. And – there’s so little we can do to help with those problems. š
Right now it’s sinking in that this could be a much longer slog than even the experts were initially predicting. Because those numbers were based on a country where the government could and did clamp down HARD on people. That…just isn’t going to work here in the USA. Most of the coping strategies I see right now are focused on the short-term, but realistically we could be facing at least some restrictions for the next 12-18 months. So I’m trying to start analyzing what some of our longer-term needs & goals would be. And how we can best help our friends & community over the long haul.
We went from social distancing to shut down in a blink of an eye. I was expecting it but it still took me by surprise a bit.
I hope you don’t feel guilt for too long! You’re in a good position, that doesn’t make you a bad person in any way. When I feel that “we’re so fortunate” feeling, I look for ways to lend a hand to folks in the community who aren’t so lucky. If that’s an option for you, maybe that would help. I’m really into care packages and gift cards right now since we can’t be there in person for anyone.
I agree with you that we could be seeing restrictions for 12-18 months if we don’t do something really effective soon. And that’s a hell of a thing.