Living in the time of pandemic: COVID-19 (296)
February 2, 2026
Year 4 of COVID in the Bay Area
Year 6, Day 280: Snow adventure with new friends completed! It actually went much better than I had feared. The new friends were incredibly gracious and considerate housemates (making my anxiety flare up around whether we were the gross, gauche, inconsiderate housemates by comparison because we were not in the least bit prepared for the levels of FOOD they perform at). All the kids got along like a house on fire. Naturally JB was at the forefront of all the ruckus, being both the eldest and, well, themself. The 3 younger kiddies gladly and loudly followed their lead, crashing up and down the stairs, amok amok amok.
The snow adventure itself was also loads of fun. The kids tried skiing for the first time despite so much trepidation and I stayed safely on the sidelines with my bruised / busted tailbone. I even accidentally made the acquaintance of someone who is nearly a neighbor to us back home! It was fun for all and now I need a week to recover from it all. Plus do 18 loads of laundry. Cold weather/snow gear is so bulky.
Year 6, Day 281: ACK. I can’t tell if this is because of a virus (very possible, JB went down hard with a sore throat and headache today) or if I’m just so exhausted that my body has completely given up and fell “sick” but I feel like barely warmed over death. Between my muscle aches, fatigue, brain fog and massively sore throat, it’s awfully close to what they might have. A friend has pointed out that if I feel sick, that’s pretty much being sick. So the two of us are stuck at home, together, sick and miserable.
I’ve got two whole hands of ginger so I scraped a chunk and tossed it into a pot with chicken and garlic in hopes that we’d have a warm nourishing lunch while I was too tired to exist. I still had to work, I’m covering for other people even sicker than I, this month is critical to making progress in the backlogs that accumulated over the holidays, and I have to complete annual reviews this week. I have so MANY.
Year 6, Day 282: I didn’t think it was possible – laundry is my favorite chore (sincerely) – but I’m too tired to do any more laundry. I’m six loads in and all the ski/snow gear is clean, some is still drying. Most has been squished down and packed into the newly dubbed Snow/Winter bin. I’ve never had enough cold weather experience to warrant a full outfit, this is novel.
But between the *gestures at self* and the work that I’ve dragged myself through, there’s nothing left in the tank so even though I resent it, rest has to come first, or at least as soon as I can wrap the two most important work things.
I carved out a few minutes to cut out bag shapes from one of the sheets of washed and steamed fabric. I got as far as two sets before my whole body was shaking, and on the verge of passing out collapse. Tis unfair and I’m grouchy.
Year 6, Day 283: The annoying byproduct of this process of prioritizing health is knowing that none of the less critical things, the fun things especially, are getting done. I really want to do them! I want our counters cleaned off, my desk area tidied, the piles of accumulated junk sorted and recycled. I have to settle for up to ten minutes of hobby time as the antidote to work.
Today’s microdose of fun was pulling the now clean but incredibly wrinkled fabric out of the dryer and steaming them. It took me a bit to figure out how to do it but then it was like magic! The crumpled all to hell balls of fabric opened up like a blooming flower and I could see the patterns and colors again. Yay! I’ve hung them up for now so they stay relatively line free until I can figure out how much of it can be used. They’re weirdly shaped scraps but I’m pretty sure I can get at least one large bag out of the biggest piece and maybe one tiny bag out of the smaller one.
Year 6, Day 284: Rant: I’m so tired of whatever this is, more and more it seems like a CFS flare up, that I can’t even sustain my anger at still being knocked down and useless. I am angry in my head, and stressing over everything I absolutely cannot do, but I can’t even use the rage as energy like normal. /huff
I did manage to submit the Costco clothing order for the second Lakota family we’re helping but I hadn’t been able to do the second dry goods order they need.
Sigh. Anger brought to you by my making commitments that my body cannot keep. JB wants to table at this craft fair this fall, and I’d like us to try, which means we have to be making a fair amount of goods every month through June to have enough stuff to put in an application. Having multiple weeks where we’re not getting anything done makes me itch.