Living in the time of pandemic: COVID-19 (330)
September 28, 2026
Year 7 of COVID in the Bay Area.
Year 7, Day 146: Welp, we were approaching “better schedule and carpool arrangements” last week. Now we’re redoing everything because JB’s mobility is very limited for the next four weeks. We’re trying something new with dropoffs and pickups. It requires a lot more driving on my part but it also involves a lot more carpooling.
Maybe this change will help me put together a better schedule for post-cast life?
They were walking with a sorta friend a lot of days before and they weren’t enjoying that relationship so much so we can take the opportunity to reconstruct a set up with a lot less time with that person.
Year 7, Day 147: I can’t remember the last time I did anything purely on impulse and I’ve just reminded myself why. I’m not good at it and it’s probably not a muscle I should flex more because it’s annoying and uncomfortable. Going to pick up JB, I suddenly decided that we should get our flu shots today instead of waiting until later in the week. I had an inexplicable brain itch that didn’t like the idea of “later in the week” and since it couldn’t be reasoned with, I wanted it over with.
I decided to borrow a page from Maggie‘s book and preemptively offered the kids a treat: ice cream and fries (we never get fries!) for their cooperation. We went to the clinic and the universe saw me surprising the kids with this sudden decision and raised me the surprise that the COVID vaccine was in, did I want it? Yes I do! Except, I had no antihistamines on me to manage the COVID vaccine effects and we’d be out for a few more hours after the vaccine. So I took my chances with the vaccine and side effects. Then we had no sweaters for when the winds kicked up, for me or SmolAc, or a water bottle because I left the house with the barest bones of supplies. I did have just enough stuff to get by, but not being prepared for all contingencies was annoying. I need to have all the things all the time. But we all got flu vaccinated! Yay!
Year 7, Day 148: I was wondering what the formula is for recovering from burnout. Discord friends suspect that it’s the same as divorce – one month per year of thingie. If true/accurate, that’s not great for me! It’s been 26 years, burning myself to a crisp the whole time. I’ve got 12 months budgeted for, not 26! And there’s no possibility of full decompression since I’m running flat out taking care of the kids’ stuff now.
My therapist thinks I’m already doing some of the healing now by cranking back my working hours dramatically and spending that time and energy on other priorities. I hope that’s accurate. I’m trying!
I have no clue what healing actually looks like but I hope it’s a lot less exhaustion and frustration. Linda’s lengthy mental load recovery post-retirement sounds like it could be what might be in store for me post-job – even if I am actively working on working less all the way to the end, there’s still a mental connection and a responsibility looming for the last weeks.
Today’s not the day, though, because I didn’t get antihistamines into my system fast enough. I was hammered today with post-vax weary.
Year 7, Day 149: We’ve had four power outages this month. Two of them were very short but two were long enough to be an inconvenience. Thankfully not more than that. Our new garage door with the backup battery worked so that’s one really nice thing about having to replace it recently. Before, I had to lift the door manually which is fine if my body is ok but on a bad day? Nothing doing. My new lanterns from Costco, ordered just after the first long power cut, came in time for the second and they were great. Of course SmolAc claimed the big lantern and JB claimed the tiny one.
Now I’m wondering if I should pick up a few more so we have more than the bare minimum to share between the house and cars. And for some redundancy of charged lanterns in case we have a longer shut off. Yes, I think the answer is yes.
We need to solve our water supply and storage problem. We need safe, clean and high volume storage that I can fill, empty, and refill even when my joints aren’t functioning properly. If anyone has already solved this problem, please share!
Year 7, Day 150: I woke up before 5 am, vibrating with unnamed stress, and wondering how much difference it’ll make to officially be out of limbo and out of work. We have what, a month and change left? Two months felt a bit like mental thumbscrews were in. 6 weeks felt more tolerable.
My days are so full right now with things I have to do and kids to care for (mine plus bonus kid on some days). Some days I’m picking up kids for an hour. There’s only 3 of them and it feels like a circus.
I have applied to exactly two jobs to date and have not yet found as many as a third to be interested in. At this moment in time I don’t have time or energy for any other jobs, paying or not.
FWIW: no matter how long I’ve been burned out, I tend to be back to normal in 3 months or fewer. I think the one month per year is the sort of assessment that people like to say because it feels tidy, not because it’s necessarily real. That said, I also think that faster burnout recovery is dependent on not filling your hours back up to max.
For me, once I’ve hit burnout, my mind and body don’t care about the reasons behind an effort. If it’s effortful, my system takes it as a minus and the burnout extends longer. My burnout recovery phases tend to rely on doing the minimum needed, in the simplest way I can manage. It feels weird and self-indulgent, but if I can get more sleep and also have free time in which to read novels or watch programs/videos, the turnaround is faster.
Re: water: we have bottled drinking water in 5 gallon jugs and a hand pump for if the power goes out. Ours is via delivery every two weeks because our water isn’t safe to drink and I don’t want to rely on myself to be getting 20-25 gallons of drinking/cooking water to our house every week by hand. But if our tap water was fine and we weren’t doing delivery, we would just pay for three to four 5-gallon jugs from the grocery store. I think they’re something like $10 for first-time purchase here, and then they give you $2-3 off your next purchase per empty jug returned. (And my kid has enjoyed pumping the hand pump on the occasions we’ve had to use the hand pump. I had her pump it into large mixing bowl with a spout so that we didn’t have any spillage.)