August 10, 2026

Living in the time of pandemic: COVID-19 (323)

Year 7 of COVID in the Bay Area.

Year 7, Day 97: It’s possible that mistakes were made. There was a free Gundum build and take workshop. I power walked the kids to it and we each received kits. Now they are really enjoying building little Gundam robots. SmolAc is fairly well obsessed. This is an expensive hobby! Perhaps we don’t need additional expensive hobbies right now? Buuuuut, counterpoint, despite the occasional frustrating bits where they give you microscopic stickers or plastic bits to attach to other bits, it IS a lot of fun. Which is why I wanted to go in the first place. It’s not as straightforward as LEGO, but it’s fun to have a little robot model at the end. I’ll look into getting a few more inexpensive sets. For motivation.

Year 7, Day 98: I’m resenting the hell out of the physical experience of being a woman in her mid-40s. I’m constantly sweating in temps that used to be perfectly fine, literally dripping sweat and doing that cliched mopping of my forehead. I’m a lumpy potato and despite my best efforts, nothing is comfortable. Pants, tees, skirts, nothing. Grumpy.

Also, it’s come to my attention that my older rings cannot fit my super swollen fingers anymore. They used to go through semi-regular swelling / not-swelling cycles. They’re now stuck in the swollen state.

I now have more rings I can’t wear than I can: my pretty little ring from my teen years (I only had the one), engagement ring, and two hand me down / heirloom (? I can’t tell what it’s called when an elder friend gives me stuff from their collection that they don’t use anymore). I don’t own a lot of rings but the ones I do are precious to me and this makes me sad.

Year 7, Day 99: Suddenly I have three families in my life expecting all at the same time. It’ll be their, third, second, and first, respectively, which makes part of my brain chuckle. I am a little overwhelmed thinking of all the (book and clothes) gifts I’ll need to prep. But I got to cuddle a newborn this week and omigosh that was so healing. I adore babies. Fresh little baby loaves, so tiny and squishy and cuddly and, in this case, hardly screamy at all.

I’m mentally putting together a list of all the remaining baby stuff that I should send to the expecting mothers. I’ve sent the (hopefully effective anti-nausea) ginger beer out to one of them.

SmolAc took ill this week again and I’m nursing them along again. Feels like we just did this cycle. (We did.)

Year 7, Day 100: I HAVE FINALLY DONE IT. I’ve found a shampoo and conditioner that doesn’t set off my brain’s ick! I’m putting it away for now, I’ll need to use up the other experiments first (unless I give them to everyone else whose noses are not at all sensitive) and then I can settle into using the inoffensive Dove pairing. 🎉🎉

Also my sewing machine has gone into the shop for a tuneup and diagnostic ($150+). It’s started doing that KERTHUNK and then buzzzzzz instead of sewing again. The good thing is they’re not nearly as far away from us as the shop that it came from, so I won’t have to drive 100 miles round trip to get it back. I will have to drive 60 instead. 😵‍💫 Well outside my usual acceptable distance for errands but we’re familiar with the shop for other appliance work and they’re good. Luckily, since I’m on a bit of a sewing deadline, I should be able to book time on the library’s sewing machines and keep working on my little projects. I’m also exploring the 3D printer and Cura and Thingiverse (we have about 6 print jobs I want to try already). And I’m learning how to use a Cricut. Welcome to a month of learning too many new things.

Year 7, Day 101: Well, this is crap. I’m still taking my antivirals diligently but SmolAc’s germs still got me. The throat pain is so bad that it’s referring pain right into my ear, and neither set of painkillers is doing a whole lot to reduce it. For once the acetaminophen is a little more effective at blunting the pain than the ibuprofen but that’s not saying a whole lot. Doing my best to rest between creative projects.

Sigh.

Also it’s time to start creeping up bedtimes and waking times because getting these kids up and out the door on time is going to be PAINFUL. (ESPECIALLY when I don’t want to be up myself.)

August 3, 2026

Living in the time of pandemic: COVID-19 (322)

Year 7 of COVID in the Bay Area

Year 7, Day 90: Hm. It’s possible the depression-like feeling of the past weeks was the physical and emotional fatigue. I’ve had both kids sick, one after the other. I’m trying to fight off some virus myself, anxiety nightmares have been coming back. Particularly with the relatives we’re going to be seeing soon, I had a night of remembering all the mean petty things they said that stuck in my craw over the years and that sucked.

I’ve been worn down to a nub and it took a while to realize it.

I’m spending a few days with Mama and it’s starting to heal me inside and out. The exhaustion sore throat finally resolved after being with her two days and my pain levels plummeted after that.

Year 7, Day 91: We took the kids for a pool day that ran a bit long. As we get older I’m much more mindful of sun damage and skin cancer risks for all so I’ve been putting the kids in long sleeve rash guards for an extra layer of protection. No one is good at reapplying sunblock after the initial round, sometimes we lose track of time. I’d bought my first UPF long sleeve rash guard on clearance last year when I needed to hit a free shipping minimum at Lands End and quietly wondered if I was wasting my $20.

SmolAc was unexpectedly enthusiastic about “swimming” (paddling in a life vest) laps so we let them go til we needed to stop them before they crashed. They’ve never done this much in the water and tend to run until all steam is gone and then have an emotional crash. After the few extra hours, the kids are fine and not burned. My neck and legs are a little bit burned and PiC’s torso is lobster red. I didn’t sunbathe, I only laid in the sun for a bit to dry off after toweling off but that was enough to toast my legs. Rash guard – definitely not a waste of money.

Year 7, Day 92: It’s been months plural since I slammed on the brakes at work, giving it my least effort for weeks. I’m just now starting to feel what might be little bits of my brain come back.

A couple months ago, I started trying to learn Morse code to make my brain do something fun and interesting but there simply wasn’t enough operating power left. I never got past learning E / I / S / H. I didn’t want to move to the next set of letters until I could successfully record a full lesson without mistakes. But today I’ve picked out a few letters to memorize and it’s feeling like they’re sticking in a way that I could not force before. I won’t say my brain is back but I’d forgotten what it felt like to encode and access new information. This much (little) is a win.

Year 7, Day 93: I only became aware of Descendants in the past 3 years but it baffles me. It’s massively overwrought, the costuming, the characters, the make up, but it’s very popular with a lot of kids and adults. Meanwhile dozens of genuinely good shows (like Julie and the Phantoms for that age group) are cancelled after one season. Netflix frustrates me!

Ok in hindsight I think it’s because I missed the obsession with High School Musical and the like back in the 2010s that I don’t get it.

And I had given up on the Chase Ink Business card so of course it’s NOW been approved (after far too much time and energy and after I needed it for large purchases) 🤦🏻‍♀️. They are so annoying.

Year 7, Day 94: Here’s me up at 2 am needing to strategize whether we may have enough stock to offer in our craft fair application and needing to make a spreadsheet about it.

Out of the 11 different craft categories I’m envisioning, we have some stock for 5. The other 6 are question marks whether we’ll be able to make them in time and in sufficient quantities to sell for a 6 hour show. We’ve only ever tabled at small 2 hour community affairs. This is much bigger and if we don’t have enough to offer, our application won’t be approved.

I’m also considering inviting a friend to join us, in inventory if not in person, they could supply one of the 11 crafts that we don’t have time to master and make ourselves.

This could be fun if I wasn’t so stressed about all the moving parts and the application and running out of time to get the pieces together for the moving parts!

July 27, 2026

Living in the time of pandemic: COVID-19 (321)

Year 7 of COVID in the Bay Area

Year 7, Day 83: Some stranger on LinkedIn asked my laid off friend for a meeting about their former role ahead of their interview with former bosses. For the job they were laid off from. That struck me as weird but I can’t tell if it feels weird because I know their company and about the layoff or if it really is weird. Probably it just feels weird because from the perspective of knowing why so many roles are open these days. It’s fraught and people have non-disparagement clause to worry about.

I suppose they could be clueless or so centered on their own needs and wants they aren’t thinking about that. Or they could be smart enough to try sussing out if this is a red flag situation by seeing if the former employee had anything good to say about the company. Since they “couldn’t” speak about the company, that could point the applicant to this being a red flag situation. Or, it could be something entirely unrelated. You can’t really pull a lot of info from that short an interaction from the outside looking in. Ah well.

Year 7, Day 84: Every few weeks, Walgreens runs a loss leader on small Arm & Hammer laundry detergents: 3 for $7.50. I did the math and the per ounce price on the sale is better than the Costco price by just a smidge. Usually I wouldn’t bother with it on that basis alone but since it does beat the Costco price, I need saline solution, and I could also combine them with another BOGO50% off and a $4 off coupon on pads, they all added up to an order just big enough to qualify for $10 Walgreens cash back. I’ve got the $10 WG cash from the last one of those, so I’m out of pocket $30 for a $54 order with another $10 WG cash. That reward may have to be manually applied, for some reason their system is bad at applying all rewards, but luckily chat takes care of it so it hasn’t been a big time sink. We won’t need to buy more detergent for a good stretch after this so I can go back to ignoring the loss leaders for now unless I decide to add some of these to the donations box.

Year 7, Day 85: Something (viral) got both me and JB. It’s feeling cold-like since there’s no fever, just a sore throat and congestion for them and a sore throat and massive aches for me. More massive than the usual anyway. I am quietly resenting this. Every week I try so hard to get back on the fitness horse and I manage about three days worth of workout and then bam! Something like this derails me again. It’s so frustrating! But for once I made the smart call and put myself back to bed once I’d gotten everyone out the door.

Year 7, Day 86: Another day of enforced rest in hopes that this won’t get much worse. It’s messed up my sleep though. Resting during the day mostly means working from bed but there’s always a point where I feel like I’m too tired to live. Usually I force myself through but these past two days, I’ve curled up into a ball instead. Probably contributing to recovery but almost definitely contributing to unrestful sleep later.

I saved enough energy to try my chef friend’s suggestion for pork chops for dinner and they weren’t quite right but we’re getting closer to the juicy and not bone dry pork chop. Not quite there. Need to cut them thinner (from the Costco log) and try cooking through pan frying next time. These were thick chunks because I was exhausted when cutting up the log.

Year 7, Day 87: Frustration with my alternate income efforts. I applied to the Chase Ink Business card – Chase has been flashing signs at me that I’m preapproved! for this card! for months.

Ok fine, I have some brain available to do this. I did all my math, confirmed that I could hit the required spend for the bonus and thawed all my credit card freezes for the day to apply. Only to get the “thanks for applying we’ll be in touch” message. WHAT. I’ve been a Chase customer for … so many years. Have a Chase checking account and actively use my Chase Freedom card all the damn time. What’s the problem? If the bonus weren’t so good and we didn’t have such a big lump of expenses on the horizon, I’d have taken the hint and moved on. I really wish I had abandoned it. But no, I’ve been stupidly stubbornly trying to follow this through and so far this is what I’ve achieved with my efforts:
1) A secure letter stating “they are worried this application was fraudulent so call us”;
2) I’ve called them, had an automated message ask did you make this application? Yes? Ok then all set! You’ll hear from us in 7-10 business days!
3) But I don’t.
4) So called them again to get a status update to which Chase said what? what status? what application??
5) ARGH.
6) Got transferred to an agent to find out what the heck, and they told me I had to provide identification information – as if I haven’t been paying you people every month for the past 20 years and you don’t know where to find me or how to bill me – through the secure system by clicking on the link in the email.
7) The link in the email triggered a slow creeping feeling of “is this a long con of some kind”. Think about this one a lot. Reviewed my security measures: I logged into my Chase site using my password keeper, so I wasn’t going from a search site to a fake site (I’ve caught that a few times so I’m much more careful now about what sites I click on from a search page). I found the phone number to call from that site so I was talking to someone from Chase – unless they managed to steal and redirect the calls going to that number. I have no way to defeat that. My credit reports are all locked down again. I guess it’s not a scam? There hasn’t been any weird activity on our accounts.
8) Went to the email and supplied my DL which includes my DOB and address. But again, I reason, all my accounts are locked down. Am told to call back 24 hours later to finalize the application.
9) Call 24 hours later, they verify my identity again, and ok “you’ll hear back in 7-10 business days”.
10) 3 hours later, I get the SAME secure letter stating “they are worried this application was fraudulent so call us” again! WHAT. THE. FUCK.
11) I wait a day to call back and ask what in the name of this cursed reality is going on, please, what is the problem? They insist there is no problem, it’s just standard processing. Y’all are wasting my time because nothing is wrong??? I assured her that I know it’s not her fault and I’m not mad at her but if I have to spin around this vortex again, you can forget the application, I will be moving all my accounts somewhere else because I have Had It.

“I totally understand,” she says, “you can check your email every couple of days for an answer, but it should be complete now and the secondary team is processing it so you will receive a card in the mail in 1-2 weeks.”

The card that you still can’t tell me is approved or not. That card.

SIGH.