By: Revanche

Living in the time of pandemic: COVID-19 (26)

November 30, 2020

Week 36 of COVID in the Bay Area.

Week 36, Day 248: I can’t believe that I made it to 7 pm without needing to cuss out someone at work. That’s a first for all Mondays nearly this entire year. Here’s hoping that it isn’t just deferred to tomorrow though I know there’s one specific email that’s going to piss me off when I get around to it.

We had homemade meatballs and sauce from last weekend ready to go for lunch today, and leftovers from yesterday’s Japanese curry dinner was our dinner tonight so on the meals front, we were very pleased with not having to think very much about it. JB doesn’t actually like eating the meatballs very much but they love making them so I promised they could make the next batch.

PiC did the Costco run this evening to make sure we’re stocked up on staples as we see the curve of COVID cases start to trend upwards again. Brave soul. He brought me the large bag of clementines I was craving.

Our Penzey’s gift cards arrived today! I’m gifting one to a friend and this will complete the last of the holiday gifts I intend to deal with this year.

Week 36, Day 249: I caved over the weekend and decided yes, we should order in our Thanksgiving meal this year. I’m just too tired to cook our usual feast which I normally love to do.

PiC would happily volunteer to do all the cooking and then end up stressed, and grouchy in the kitchen trying to do all the recipes I have practiced but he has not all these years and no one would have a good day. He can and does cook just fine but the pleasure of creating a full Thanksgiving meal is something I’ve hogged to myself making it all unfamiliar territory for him. I’d rather spend the money and order in this year so we can all take some time to just be together and rest and not have us be a play of one harassed parent and one harassed cook.

I texted a friend for a referral code to Good Eggs which gave us $25 off for our dinner. That covered all the fees off the five dish order. It’s definitely too much food but I don’t care, we’re going to enjoy those leftovers! We also ordered a pie from a local bakery.

What are your favorite Thanksgiving foods? Did you enjoy any of them this year?

Week 36, Day 250: We’ve been avoiding people as usual but because of the yardwork, PiC has been exposed to people who aren’t masking properly when they’re talking to him. Our GP was happy to set up a COVID test for him and since he mentioned I was also not feeling 100%, she went ahead and set me up with a test order too. I love our GP.

We can’t be seen until the weekend, which is fine, I’m just grateful we don’t need to jump through a million hoops to make a test happen. It should be this easy for everyone.

Week 36, Day 251: February 1st was the last time we dined out at a restaurant, and March 7 was the last time we attended a social event with friends. It’s really weird to think about those specific dates as lasts this year. We barely remember what happened in January. We have no real anticipation of when we’ll be able to do any of those things again either. It’s such a weird time right now.

I still get travel deal emails and while I am absolutely not getting on a plane in the foreseeable future, I had a moment of wondering: what fabulous luxury vacation would I want to take in the far off future when that kind of thing is possible again?

Pre-COVID, I hoarded points and miles for a possible fantasy trip to Japan for a few weeks. I wasn’t sure how I’d make that happen but I wanted to have the points and miles to burn. I’d imagined we would eat our way around the country, meeting up with some friends in the cities and outlying countryside. I really do travel on my stomach. Now it just feels like getting as far as being on the plane safely would be a big accomplishment and adventure!

But maybe we could go somewhere balmy and warm and islandy with cocktails and the ocean and time to just read and be. Well, no, that’s not going to be how our vacations look for a very long time with two kids in tow but maybe something LIKE that is vaguely possible.

Do you have any travel yearnings right now?

Week 36, Day 252: I do not have Zoom fatigue the way most people have it. I have too many calls with humans fatigue which is a far bigger circle. I also have people fatigue. Because we don’t have enough to do, we need to spend time fixing the FSA account allotment. We checked on our options since we cannot use up the remaining balance and at the end of that conversation, they were told to leave it alone for now.

Naturally someone then decided to take the initiative and changed our election amount to an arbitrary new dollar amount that’s less than the amount already approved for payment this year. Not helpful!