Living in the time of pandemic: COVID-19 (160)
June 26, 2023
Year 4 of COVID in the Bay Area.
Year 4, Day 87: Historically, terrible nightmares have plagued my nights but they’d eased off the past couple of years. Last night, they were back with a vengeance. Genocide, cannibalism, and persecution all night long. It was a relief to wake up and shake it off.
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PiC and JB spent all morning and half the afternoon helping our friends move. Smol Acrobat and I stayed home, since they would only have gotten in the way, and played, ran errands, and muddled through lunch and naptime. After JB returned and both kids had eaten, I whisked them both off to the park to get them out of PiC’s hair. I got almost two hours of work done all day. š¤¦š»āāļø ah well. Tomorrow’s another day. (Look at me, I don’t even have anxiety over this lost day!)
JB was reportedly helpful but also furious that the new rental’s fridge was cleared out but not cleaned. As they scrubbed, they fumed: how rude! Who rents out a place and DOESN’T CLEAN IT??
Total spent: $31 on diapers from Target.
Year 3, Day 88: I’ve been searching for the 3-ring binders that I like at Target. I’m looking for the kind that have a very hands friendly design, a single tab to open the rings instead of the standard design where you pull the top and bottom tabs. I don’t always have two good hands to work with.
Silly me, I hadn’t flipped the binder over to check the brand. It’s a Staples brand! No wonder I kept striking out at Target. The prices on binders range wildly between $4-23. š This one is the right one and mid-range at $13. I’m waiting until I have enough Staples reward money to buy it. I don’t want to be out of pocket any more than we have to be.
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Related: I claimed earlier today that I don’t have a problem at all with spending and this immediately disproves that claim. š
I don’t have a problem spending money on other people. I have a problem spending money on things that are for me or my enjoyment. My beloved mentor, Coach Malika, would have something to say about my deprioritizing my needs and wants, and she would be 100% right.
Year 3, Day 89: Day 3 of waking up with swollen fingers crooked into claw hands. What’s up with that? Our weather has been normalish. Ah well. A thing I’ve been practicing with my therapist is not dwelling on the why because for me, right now, that generally leads to self blame and then we spiral into self flagellation. That leads to more pain. So funny swollen hands day! Wee.
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Today I let folks know that I’m picking our June Lakota families, plural for two reasons. First, because I noticed there are a lot of names that have been on the list for a month or more. That’s a long time, usually they get taken care of in a couple weeks. Second, I’m going to be so busy in July, it’ll be really hard to help another family so I should try to pick two before we run out of June.
I started working with the coordinator on the logistics of the first family while contributions came in. It always takes a lot of time and back and forth, and sometimes even phone calls which are at the bottom of my preferences list, to get a complete set of information.
As always, I am grateful all over again to have online friends who step up whenever I put out the call.
Year 3, Day 90: Success! We purchased 200 gallons of propane for June Family 1! This should help them heat water for cooking and bathing for the rest of the summer.
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I’m working on thank you cards to my long time physicians this week. No reason, just wanted to take some time to express my appreciation for their care, especially at the big moments in our lives, and supporting me through my ridiculous health journey without ever making me feel bad for seeking advice or help.
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This was one of my running running running days. Run to drop off the kids, run home to work, run to pick up the kids, run JB over to self defense class. Run home to make dinner. Phew! I wanted to call it quits when we walked in the door but there was still dinner and bath and bedtime to get through. Naturally this was the day that JB would drop and smash one of the glasses from the set my mom bought 15+ years ago right after dinner so I was too tired to even feel mad.
Year 3, Day 91:Ā MERCY. We cry mercy. Smol woke up crying 4 times in the night, just sobbing hysterically, as if they were terrified. Either they’ve begun having nightmares or they’re falling ill. The latter is often what precedes a feverish day. They’ve also been pretty grumpy this week, so we’re all worn down by today. Also I can’t raise my left arm today. My muscles feel like they’re being grated through the cheese shredder if I try, so I won’t be doing that.
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I’m working on shopping for June’s Family 2 today. An older man who has been in the hospital and is recuperating at home needed sandals, hygiene supplies and pantry foods. It took three attempts to figure out a shopping cart of staples at Target that would be shippable, and two tries to get the best prices for the food items I can’t get elsewhere from Amazon. They’re not my top choice but they are willing to ship to a lot of reservation addresses that otherwise can’t get service.
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It looks like we made it through the whole week without needing takeout! That’s a surprise. I don’t hold this over my head if we do need takeout anymore, fed is fed however we manage it, but I do like to acknowledge when we managed to cook all week.
