Covid-19 Shutdown Diary Week 5: Part 1 - A quiet few days

Carrying On:

Sunday, Day 35 - I treated it as an ordinary day with no appointments or errands scheduled. It was a strangely satisfying day with chores, exercise, dog walks, a nap, and comfort food.

Monday, Day 36 - Our 3 graduating senior $1500 scholarship winners were picked and they all are not only good students but have consistently demonstrated how motivated they are to continue their education and pursue a career goal despite a low income families. Our club will have to simply mail them their check instead of presenting it at our May meeting but we made it happen!

I listened to some of Governor Newsom's daily briefing where they discussed progress on closing the digital divide for rural and economically disadvantage students. He is really committed to making that happen to help reduce the educational imbalance. He also spoke very compassionately about the deaths so far as not being a number but lives that had meaning and were cherished.

I started rethinking how I am using my days during this period and my goals/bucket list. So far I've decided that I need to do something that needs doing but I really don't want to do plus something I simply want to do each day. Throw in dog walks, exercise, cooking, reading, connecting with others, etc. and the day will feel pretty good.

I was able to drop off a UPS return package although the locations hours are seriously reduced. I will need to identify a UPS drop box for future use.

I found out a delightful twenty-something cousin got engaged to a very nice man she has been with for at least 2 years - how lovely!

Tuesday, Day 37 - Oh my! I stayed up most of the night reading since I couldn't fall asleep. A slow day resulted. I decided to be a realistic optimist and booked a haircut for May 27th and our younger son turned 37.

Wednesday, Day 38 - The new senior hour at my local Vons is quite early even for me and still has people not social distancing - especially staff who were pulling their masks down to chat! They shifted the senior time to 6 to 7 am M-F and I got there at 6:40. Good thing I'm an early riser lol.

Although sales seem to only be for packaged manufactured products, the on sheet flyer for Vons this week did have a $5 coupon if you spent at least $50. Did that.

What was particularly interesting was how what is missing from the shelves or limited in quantity continues to shift based on demand and ease of producing more than the usual annual purchases. Today it was dried beans/lentils/split peas, rice and pasta that were mostly missing. Still no liquid hand soap, disinfectant, or yeast and little baking soda, flour and sugar. Lots of eggs and no limit on bottled water. A little bit of toilet paper. Lots of things like salad dressing, soda and other manufactured items. Plenty of bread, meat, dairy, produce and alcohol.

I'm assuming the dried beans, etc. problem will continue until a new crop is produced. And I will have to make a stop at a rarely used store to try to get the chicken we like.

What did we have for dinner?

Dinner continues to be the meal we have together and put the most effort into although sometimes that is pretty minimal!

Sunday - Turkey burgers, broccoli, corn
Monday - Homemade minestrone soup and garlic bread
Tuesday - Chicken breast with sauteed green pepper, onions & green salsa, refried beans and rice
Wednesday - Leftover minestrone soup, green salad and garlic bread