Slowing Productivity

Russ hit the Christmas present giving jackpot with me when he gave me a puzzle of the month club this year. That was before we even had an inkling that we would be stuck at home for weeks on end.

I chose the 2000 piece program wanting to have the most difficult puzzles to work on. The first one arrived in February and I took almost the whole month to complete it. At the very beginning of the suggestion to social distance I passed it on to my friend Mary Lloyd. Right on time my next one arrived in the mail.

It was a harder one of ice cream with not many hard edged color lines. I started slowly and thank goodness I did because about two weeks ago I got notice that the puzzle company was stopping work and my shipments won’t pick back up until the stay at home order is lifted.

I really slowed down my work. Some days just putting in a couple of pieces. It was hard on me to walk away from a puzzle dying to be solved. Yesterday, with maybe only 100 pieces left I couldn’t take it anymore and I went ahead and finished it up. There it was, many ice creams, none of which was able to eat. Puzzle done.

So today with no new puzzle I sorted my socks. Not half as much fun as a puzzle. I am not to be pitied for I have plenty of old puzzles I can pull out, but it’s not the same as a virgin puzzle, never solved before. Just my general productivity seems to be waning and my spices are already alphabetized.

Refrigerator Management

Now that we only go to a store once a week managing what’s in the fridge has become an actual job. At least it is something to do. With Carter home we need to have different choices as she likes to eat new food at each meal, where Russ and I could eat the same thing over and over and not care much. One on going problem in our house is that I have trouble cooking small amounts so we always have leftovers. There are dozens of container of leftovers. This is why management is an issue.

Understanding all that this is how the conversation went at dinner tonight.

Russ, after finishing his rice bowl: I only finished one container from the fridge tonight.

Carter: I finished one container of cheese at lunch.

Dana: I didn’t finish any containers and sorry I add two new ones tonight.

Carter: Shit, a net zero change in containers today.

I am not sure I see a change in our situation anytime soon. Now I am using containers to grow new food from the scraps of old vegetables. I am hoping to add some Romain to the fridge in two weeks.

Stitching Table Advisors Go High Tech

Today my friend Kate got our needlepoint gang of Stitching Table Advisors together for a Zoom. Seven of our group were able to join. None of us were wearing makeup and most of us were wearing clothes you could go to the grocery store in. We missed our advisors who were unable to join and hope they know that they can join us without video next time if they don’t want to be seen.

Not being able to sit around the needlepoint table is one of the things I actually miss. Learning what people are reading or watching all while we stitch is a joy. Sharing recipes or advice in our multi-generational group means I always learn something. Zoom is good, but I have not learned how to lay beads into a canvas on Zoom.

One of the things I learned today from Needlepoint Nancy is it is a good idea to get your finished canvases into her early this year. The finishers are going to be swamped with all the works people are doing during the stay at home period. Nancy is still taking orders and mailing people threads and fibers they need. She can order you canvases and pull threads. We need to make sure that Chapel Hill Needlepoint stays in business for the long haul.

Now is the time to make that Christmas Stocking for the one family member who still doesn’t have one. Stitching is a comforting thing to do when you have little control in other parts of your life. It is basically coloring with yarn, but unlike a coloring book you have an heirloom when you are done.

My heirloom is the gang of Stitching Table Advisors. Looking forward to our next Zoom and even better when we can sit around the table together again.

He Is Risen, Just At Home

Easter is a favorite of mine. My parents usually come for Church and Easter lunch with our friends the Toms. Usually I am the lector at church on Easter, which ensures a I have a good seat. My favorite part of the Easter service is our Church Brass Ensemble which plays all the hits beautifully along with a Monica on the Organ. We sing the same Hymns year after year and I can sing loudly because I am drowned out by better singers around me in the choir.

This year was different. My parents stayed at the farm. We got up and watched the streaming of our church service on the big TV in the gathering room of our house. Monica had played many Hymns which were filmed by Anne Vann weeks ago when people were allowed out. There was no Brass Ensemble. Our three ministers were filmed in their back yards, by their family members. We had all the parts of the service we normally would, but just with birds singing in the back ground.

I have a disdain for televangelists. Mostly because I had many of them as customers when I sold mail opening machines. Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Jim Bakker all were my customers. As a I trained their employees to use my machines I would see millions if not billions of dollars of checks from little old ladies with shaky hand writing being sent into their “ministries.” It seemed more like a scam to earn money than a real Christian way help the world.

Today as I watched my ministers on my TV I felt comforted. Suddenly I had a change of heart about church and TV together. One of our newer ministers Alex came across on TV in a big way. It was not about the TV but about the message. Cherie, our newest minister dId the children’s message using the story of the Grinch which was a perfect corollary for this time. I texted Chris our head pastor to not leave us for TV after he gave a beautiful sermon. The thing about having them big as life on 80 inches of plasma is I felt like they were talking just to me.

In the end It did not matter if I was at church with my friends and family. It did not matter if we had on our Easter clothes. I got the message. He is risen, he is risen indeed. I got the Easter people feeling, I just got it at home.

Recipe Exchange Laxness

As proof that the world is really a small place and getting smaller I have received the same recipe exchange chain email from seven different people in the last week and a half. The first came from my friend Warren in Maine, then Kathi up the street, Cynthia my high school classmate in Massachusetts was next. I had not responded to any of them as another came from Cecily, in Chapel Hill, who I met because I was the auctioneer for her non-profit. Margaret, down the street sent me the same email as well as Jay down the opposite end of street and yesterday Needlepoint Nancy went it to me and I notice that Kathi had sent it to her.

All these people wanting to share quarantine recipes and I was very lax in responding to any of them. Not that I don’t have hundreds of recipes I created myself and have already shared on this blog, just that I couldn’t bear to send the chain on to twenty people.

I promise I will send this recipe to everyone on the list of all those requests I have gotten, but I can’t continue the chain. Based on how many I received I am certain many people are sending it on.

Today I taught Carter how to make my favorite scone recipe. She did all the work and I just photographed the steps as she did it. The ingredients in the recipe are in weights by grams so you need a kitchen scale to make it. (Really all baking should be measured by weight so if you don’t have a kitchen scale order one this week.)

Perfect Afternoon Tea Scones

Just the thing to make you feel better while you are stuck at home

250 g Cake Flour (you can use All Purpose if that’s all you have)

45 g white sugar plus a little more for sprinkling on top

1 T. Baking powder

1/4 t. Salt

90 g Unsalted Butter- very cold and cut into small cubes

150g -one egg and heavy cream

Dried fruit is optional. We used 10 dried apricots chopped and dusted with flour. You could use raisins, currants, dried cherries or ginger.

Preheat the a Oven to 400°

Using the kitchen scale put a measuring cup on top and zero out the scale. Add the egg and then add enough heavy cream to make the total weight 150g. Whisk the egg and cream together in the cup and set aside.

Measure out 90g. Of butter which will be close to 6 1/2 table spoons.

Place a medium sized bowl on the scale and zero it out. Add the flour, the baking powder, salt and then zero our the scale again to add the sugar.

Remove the bowl from the scale and add the butter. With clean hands working quickly, work the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles sand. Add the egg and cream mixture mixing it just enough to make everything wet. If you are adding fruit, do it now.

Turn the mixture out onto a floured cold surface like a stone counter or marble slab and just push the dough together enough for it to hold together. You want to pat it into a rectangle that is solid.

and place them on the cookie sheet about an inch apart. You can reform the scraps of dough from the first cutting and cut some more, but rework the dough as little as possible.

Once you have all the scones cut out brush with a little heavy cream and sprinkle a little sugar on top.

Place in the hot oven and bake for 14-17 minutes.

Serve warm with your favorite jam or lemon curd.

Place a silpat on a cookie sheet or use parchment paper. Using a biscuit cutter cut scones from the slab of dough

How Things Have Changed

As Easter approaches so slowly I thought I should go to the store this morning for my once a week shop so we can have something that resembles an Easter meal on Sunday. I am doing my best to stay home and when I venture out I wear my mask.

I went to Trader Joe’s early and was there by 8:40. They have senior hour from 8-9 and those of us in the non senior hour line have to wait for them to get through, and they are slow. When I arrived my place in line was well past the Ulta, and I guess there were about 40 people appropriately spaced in front of me.

I was wearing my mask which makes it impossible for my face recognition to work on my phone. So I had to keep putting in my code to read the messages coming in this morning. With my mask on and my voice quiet I am unrecognizable. My friend Kurt arrived to the line about five minutes after me. I had to text him to say hi!

We waited in our line with no movement for at least 30 minutes. Well, I was moving. I kept walking back in forth keeping my distance and place and line, but getting some steps. By 8:55 the line snaked all the way from Trader Joe’s around the back or all the buildings and over to Bruegers.

The way the employees kept track of how many people were in the store was through the use of a few carts. You got a cart to go in the store and they took it back from you at your car after you had unloaded you bags. Then the team member ran it back to the store so a new person could go in. If you only use 30 carts you know exactly how many shoppers are in the store.

The store was well stocked and they bagged the groceries because they are not letting you bring in your own bags. They also have plexi-glass shields up at the check out. It was all very organized.

The grocery is not the only place social distancing. Today the Fed-ex man delivered a package and left it only halfway up our long walkway. I guess he figured we would see it eventually and that we certainly must be home. I am glad it wasn’t raining, but am not sure it would have been too dangerous for him to come all the way to our porch. I am not complaining because I want him to keep working.

Great Neighbors Mean Everything Right Now

During this stay at home time things you wish you had changed about your house long ago become more evident. For us, it would be nice to have a paved basketball court. As we have a gravel driveway I never wanted to add more impermeable surface to our property and pave over it. So even though Carter played basketball for years we didn’t have a net of our own at home.

When our wonderful neighbors Al and Lucy moved in next door they made all kinds of improvements to their property. One was a basketball net right next to our yard. Their kids were grown and they offered us the use of the net.

Basketball is a loud game. Just bouncing the ball on the black top makes a lot of noise. We never wanted to annoy such good neighbors.

Then Carter came home three weeks ago. Being cooped up with us is not good for any of us. Since Russ and Carter love playing basketball against each other I asked Al and Lucy if they could play on their court. Gracious to a T, of course they said yes. So everyday Russ and Carter would go play for a bit. It is saving our household.

Eternally grateful, tonight I made ham and bean soup to bring to Al and a Lucy to thank them. There is nothing better than having good neighbors. I am certain I am not as good to them as they are to us, but I am going to do my best to try.

Faith

Today was a beautiful day in Durham. Stay at home order was no hardship when I went out to work in my garden. The only bad part is not having the plants I want to put in to my driveway garden. Since this is probably one of the worst weeks for the spread of the virus I wanted to do my part and stay home.

So I looked in my seed drawer in the garage. It’s not that I have an official seed drawer, it’s just the junk drawer of the garage when I would stash packets of seeds. Some of them were open and I had only planted some seeds and some were new as the day I bought them.

Seeds are dated on the package. Seed purveyors only guarantee seeds for a year and that guarantee is usually only for something like 80% of the seeds in the packet.

Now I have used only seeds before and when I say old I mean like seeds that we’re 15-18 months old, and they grew. I have no idea at what percentage they grew, but I got something. Today I sewed some over a year old arugula seeds. They will probably yield something. Then I out in some two year old bush beans. Let’s see if half of them come up.

My real test is a handful of green beans from 2014. I planted them with a lot of hope and faith that they even germinate, let alone flourish. I don’t have anything to lose since I already owned them and if they don’t come up in two weeks I can plant something else int their place.

Perhaps my seed drawer will yield results. Technically I never should have kept any seeds, but Mya e my little horde will pay off.

Easter Bunny is Essential, She Said So

In the good news from a world leader category today the winner is Jacinda Arden, Prime Minister of New Zealand. She gave a message to the children of New Zealand that the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy are considered essential workers. She went on to explain that they are also busy taking care of their own little bunnies while they are home, so if by chance they miss your house please understand.

This is the same Prime Minister who single handily in one swift move got rid of all assault weapons after one shooting in her country. She is one to emulate.

Decisive action as well as compassion and concern all rolled into one. This children of New Zealand are lucky to have a leader who understands kids have worries and concerns too and finds a way to reassure them, without causing more pressure on their parents.

She added that kids should create Easter egg hunts in their neighborhoods by placing drawing of colored eggs in their windows. Then kids can take a walk with their families on Easter and search for the eggs. I suggest we take up her plan and do the same thing here. We have had a heart on our front door for to over three weeks for that scavenger hunt. It’s time for a new hunt. Please join me and reassure kids the Easter bunny is an essential worker.

Bravo to Jacinda Arden for showing us what great leaders do, remembering even the little ones.

Zoom Birthday Surprise

Social distancing did not deter us from having a birthday surprise Zoom for Stephanie Perun. Lynn Toms organized it, but still needed daughter Ellis to be the AV Department and get it up and running. Leander, Stephanie’s daughter was able to make the connection and call Stephanie to the computer so we could surprise her.

We all wore something festive, liked hat so it felt like a birthday. I think the hats mostly covered up people’s covid hair so that was a good plan.

Even though we had this Zoom for Stephanie we still need to have a lunch when we are able. I figure that by the time we can go out to eat again we will be celebrating at least half my friend’s birthdays all at the same time.

Social distancing does not mean we don’t celebrate! So thanks to Lynn for organizing and Hooray for Stephanie!

No Snuggling With Friends For Shay

Social distancing is affecting all the beings in our household. The introverts are doing a little better than the extroverts. Shay seems to be the most depressed today. She is wondering why she has not gotten to go to any Church meetings where she is the honorary chair. She looks longingly at the car and wonders why we never open the doors, let alone let her jump in the back seat and take her stance on the console like a Captain on the bridge of her ship.

Not that she is not getting walks. Russ has taken her out twice or three times as much as she normally gets. She has even gone running with him. Something she would never get with me alone.

While Russ works in his outside CMG office, the bench in the front of our house, Shay social distances and watches him from the grass. I came up from working in the sweat shop and found Shay lying on the front porch all alone. She was not barking at the walkers or even lifting her head as canine pals passed by. She knows she has to keep her distance, like all of us. She just doesn’t like it. She is a social animal and is looking forward to the time when she can greet you and snuggle.

What Day Is It?

While I was in sewing on this beautiful day Russ created a new CMG office out on a bench in our front yard. He sent me these two photos of him in his new work spot. It not that he didn’t want to show you his whole corona beard just that he’s not too good at selfies.

After seeing his “work” photos I mistakenly thought today is Friday. Not that Russ doesn’t always work everyday, but I usually know when the weekend is because he works at home on the weekends and not at the office. This working at home everyday for the last three weeks makes me feel like everyday is a weekend, so no wonder I don’t know what day it is.

This is much to close to my favored Dame Maggie Smith Line from Downton Abbey, “Weekend, what is a weekend?” If everyday is the same in your life you have no need to separate out week days from weekends. Although I haven’t gone to real work in a really long time I am looking forward to a schedule of work days and fun days again someday, even if all I do is fun all the time.

I also am looking forward to a ton of belated birthdays to celebrate. Although I am happy to let my birthday slide without any celebration, I miss the birthday lunches with friends as our way of keeping up. Now I wish people good health on their Facebook page on their birthday. Not much of a celebration, but really there is nothing better to wish someone.

April is going to be a really long month. Here’s to knowing what day it is and if it is your special day I wish you good health. Hell, if it isn’t your Special day I wish you good health also.

Diversified Sewing

With Carter home my sweat reverted back to being her office. Since she is working from home for her Co-op and they have been so good to her I can’t really complain. When she is not in “her office,” but in her room I can’t use the sweat shop because it it too noisy. So my sewing has taken a big back seat these past two weeks.

I have tried to make some masks. Since I had just a little elastic I was only able to make myself a prototype and one that requested from me. I also made three cloth masks for my niece who is an ER nurse to cover her N95 mask. Since she has to use it day after day the cloth masks help protect her mask, while her mask helps protect her.

I am awaiting a bunch more elastic and as soon as it comes and I will try and make more masks. Don’t ask me for them yet because I don’t want to disappoint anyone. I will let you know if I have enough elastic to make extras. Elastic is at a premium these days.

The big news is I was able to finish the top for my mother’s quilt. She saw some sandpiper placemats I made for Carter for Christmas and wanted a quilt with sandpipers. It is by far the most complicated quilt I have ever created. I tried to get a photo of it, but it is so big that even Russ and Carter could not hold the whole thing up. It didn’t help when the wind blew.

When I get the quilt back from my long arm quilter and I put the binding on it I will get a better picture of the finished product. I am happy to put my sewing skills to good use at this time.

I Need A Zoom Wig

Another day and another three Zoom meetings. I know I do not have a good Zoom set up. First the angle at which my iPad sits is the least flattering, all chins all the time, angle it can be.

Second the lighting is unflattering and if there was a thing I learned from years at Durham Magazine it is all about the lighting. Not that I really care what I look like since it really isn’t going to change, just that I have to look at myself and that is downright distracting.

The third thing is my hair in the time of social distancing has gone to hell. It’s not about color as it is for so many of my friends who have serious relationships with their colorists. For me it is the lack of styling skill on my part as well as the need for a haircut. My reading glasses when on my face, make little wings stick out above my ears.

I think my best option would be a wig I could slip on before I log into those daily Zoom meetings. I imagine I would look something like Gladys Cravits from Bewitched. Won’t be an improvement but at least I can give my zoom mates a chuckle in this grim time.

I am happy to have a chance to see the beautiful faces of my far flung friends I am zooming with. Thanks Suzanne and Janet for the fun visit today.

A note about my sister’s company that I blogged about yesterday: Last night I asked many of you to spread the word about my sister’s company selling knife sharpeners on GMA this morning. Thank you so much for all of you who shared the message and those who bought or tried to buy from her. She got over 8,000 orders and sold out of all her stock. It was a life saving event for her. This means she can make payroll for all her employees and rent for the next two months. Thank you so much to all of you. Sorry to those who were unable to get one. Thanks for trying.

Please Help My Sister

I know I just posted a blog today, but then I got a message from my sister Janet. She is a small business owner who like everyone else has had her business created by Covid 19.

She is trying to save her employees. Since all her customers are retailers who are now shut down she has turned to Good Morning America to sell one of her products, a great knife sharpener. I have one and love it. It is really good for garden tools as well as knives.

Please consider watching her deal on GMA in the first hour of the morning new tomorrow. These make great Christmas presents. I appreciate your sharing this with your friends.

Keeping Your Mind Off It

As the news reports how bad things are around the world we are trying to do our part by staying home and keeping our spirits up. Carter and I continued our monopoly game we started yesterday because I finally had to go to bed last night after many hours of play.

When I went to bed last night I knew my chances of beating Carter were slim. The version of the game we were using had a top bill of $5,000,000 instead of $500 so the numbers we were playing with was huge. She had over $20,000,000 and fourteen houses on the red and yellow properties at the stopping point last night. I might have had a couple million and about the same number of houses, just not in as a good a neighborhood.

After she finished her work today we started back up to what I thought would be a quick end to my monopoly fight. It took longer than I thought. Carter continued to amass great wealth and I would just hold on. Around and around we went. Carter was giddy with her giant stack of cash.

Eventually she held all the $5,000,000 bills, all the $1,000,000 bills and all the $500,000 bills. When we passed go she was having to hand out 12 $200,000 bills to cover the $2 million payout you get for passing go. After we ran out of money we had to just write down $30,000,000 on a piece of paper as the money Carter loaned the bank.

I slowly had to sell my house, and mortgage my properties eventually going totally broke. Carter counted her cash and she had $170,701,000 along with her houses and properties. It was the biggest win I have ever seen in Monopoly. Winning so much Monopoly money was a psychological pick me up during this time. I think she will play with me again.

Three Zooms A Day Keeps the Dr. Away

Today was as normal a day as I have had in the last three weeks. When I say normal I mean most like my life Pre-Social Distancing. I had my first Zoom this morning with my Needlepoint group. Three of us were able to make it and it was wonderful to see my friends faces as well as hear their voices as we caught up on what has been going on for the last wee bit.

Then after lunch I had a Zoom with my minister Chris and our church receptionist, Barb, so we could talk about plans for our new fellowship hall. I had a construction zoom yesterday and needed to make electrical decisions for security systems. I was quite impressed that Chris was able to set up the Zoom and send the invites. Technology is not usually his thing but this new world has taught him new and useful skills.

Tonight I had my last Zoom with friends from my boarding school class. My friend Mary initiated the gathering and my roommate Nancy joined us. We expected a couple others who never materialized, but we had so much fun we are going to do it again next Tuesday evening so all you Walkers girls from the class of ‘79 come join us. You can find the link to the zoom on our Walkers Facebook page. If you don’t know how to figure it out message me and I will help you.

Getting to spend time with Mary and a Nancy tonight is a bonus of this social distancing. We probably would not have thought of having a Zoom unless we were planning a reunion. The reconnections this new world is offering us is something I hope we continue when we are allowed to re-emerge.

I got nothing productive done today in the crafting/puzzling or cooking world, but I was filled with happiness and love by seeing and talking with my friends.

Empty Calendar

I had two things on my calendar that actually happened today. First was an online Mah Jongg game with my friend Ann who was in Annapolis and then a zoom video meeting of the construction/architects crew for the building I am working on at Church. It felt practically productive to have anything on my calendar.

The rest of the day was filled walking, watering the garden, washing the kitchen floor and playing Monopoly with Carter. I made her cry which did not make me feel good, but she will beat me eventually.

The true highlight of the day was two different Amazon deliveries. One was freeze dried liver treats for Shay that come on subscription and the second one was replacement brushes for the robot vacuum. These parts were not expected for three days so getting something in one day delivery is cause for celebration. I also think actually seeing the delivery man through the glass door and screaming “thank you” to him was part of the excitement. This is what we have devolved to for fun, replacing a part on the vacuum.

It has only been under two weeks that I have been social distancing and what I consider a fulfilling day is drastically swirling down hill. I am trying my best to feel fulfilled by doing my part staying home. I am most excited that my high school friend Mary has planned a zoom happy hour for tomorrow at 6:30. My roommate Nancy has opted in. So any EWS friends if you want to join send me a message. I like to have something on the calendar that does not involve the vacuum.

Hell Might Have Frozen Over

In proof that the world has changed Carter asked me if I wanted to play Monopoly today. Normally I have had to beg my family members to play games with me. Before Russ and I were married he would play gin rummy with me. Once we got married he told me he hated games and stopped playing. It felt like a bait and switch, but I loved him enough to keep him.

My daughter takes after he father. It doesn’t help that when she was little and would attempt to play games with me I would beat her, thus souring her to playing games at all. So it came as such a big surprise that Carter initiated this game with me.

As Carter set the game up I also was play Mah Jongg online with other friends. It was like a dream come true, playing two games at the same time. The only way this was possible was Carter’s willingness to be both banker and real estate broker.

Carter also spent the better part of the day building a charging station for Russ’ power tool batteries. I know she would rather be doing wood working than playing a game, so it was nice she split her time between parents.

We know we are in this stay safe at home period for a while and Carter left the game set up on the game table. That gives me hope she will initiate another game. I can only pray.

Fun Like a Regular Day

As I sit in the sunroom with the pollen hazy light filtering through the dogwood blossoms I can hear the basket ball bouncing on our neighbor’s driveway. They generously let Russ and Carter play since we have a gravel driveway which is unsuitable for basketball.

“Stuck” at home has been lovely for me today. I was up early so I could actually shower since I was having a Mah Jongg game online with Christy and Deanna. When I told Shay we were having Mah Jongg she went to the front door to wait for her friends to arrive. She has not gotten used to greeting people on Face Time and was sorely disappointed not to get a snuggle from Christy.

After a fun time of playing with the new card we parted so I could go outside and supervise the excellent work that Russ and Carter were doing in the garden. In a miracle from above our rototiller started after non use for the last two years. As Russ tilled the driveway gardens and the zinnia garden by the street Carter planted herbs by the front door garden. The smell of basil made her crave tomatoes, which thankfully we have as I am no good at growing tomatoes.

After lunch I went to the sweat shop to work on my quilt. I have been dragging it out as I figure I am not going to be able to take it to my long arm quilter for quite some time. While quilting I started watching the third season of Ozark. I want to drag that out too.

Then Deanna texted me for another Mah Jongg session. If I have to stay home I am thankful that I get to do things I love. My wish for all of you is that you are healthy and occupied with fun too.

No Mah Jongg Christmas, But It’s OK

If this were a regular year tomorrow would be pop-up holiday at my house. The new Mah Jongg card arrived today, normally known as Mah Jongg Christmas at my house. Sadly with the stay at home order I am not having a spur of the moment Mah Jongg Party. Instead I will be playing Mah Jongg on the app called “Real Mah Jongg.”

Real Mah Jongg is a very good way to play The National Mah Jongg League way. If you have never tried it go on and down load the app because they give you a two week free trial. After that it costs $6.99 a month, which is steep for a game, but in these times we have no other choice.

You can play against the computer, real people who you don’t know, or your friends who you invite to play with you. So social distancing is not the best for Mah Jongg since it is all about playing with your friends, but this will have to do.

The canceling of Mah Jongg Christmas is nothing compared to people who have to postpone or cancel their wedding, the prom, graduations, or other major celebrations. I am also certain we will not be having Easter at Church no matter what any particular politician says. It all just goes into the story of the year we all stayed home.

But being home with our little family has advantages of its own and that is how I am choosing to look at this. We will be a lot more appreciative of things after all of this is done.

Time to Clean Your House Again

Last week I noticed on social media a lot of my friends deep cleaning their houses due to being stuck at home. I commented to one friend that none of us will ever have anyone see our house in that pristine condition since we were all stuck home alone. I think many people also wanted to disinfect their spaces just in case.

Now this week in Durham as well as so many other places we are ordered to stay home. This means that that if you have someone come clean your house they can’t come for a while. Now you are going to have to clean your own home. My friend Julie suggested that if your have someone who cleans your house it would be wonderful if you could still pay them through this time. Many may not be getting checks from the government or unemployment if they are self employed.

If you don’t already have a robot vacuum now might be the time to try one. I have a relatively inexpensive one called a Deebot which I have been very happy with for going on two years. Trust me, you are not going to vacuum the old fashioned way as much as you need to. And just because you did a big time cleaning last week I hate to tell you that now you need to do it again.

Don’t kill yourself and do it all in one day, like a cleaning person might do for you. Do a couple of rooms everyday and always be cleaning something. It’s not so bad to clean an hour a day, but it is horrible to clean eight hours a day and not get paid for it. And no one is getting paid anywhere.

Throw Back Activities

Sometimes being a pack rat and having a house with enough storage is a good thing. Yesterday Carter pulled out her old Wii game playing system and set it up on our big TV. She had fun playing games she had not played since she was ten or eleven. It was a great way to get out some of her energy.

Today while I was working on my very difficult puzzle Carter put in the Wii cooking game. She remarked that the game is so old that it is the square aspect of the TV screen. As I was searching for a piece for my puzzle with a green polka dot drinking straw on it, Carter was making virtual lasagna.

The amazing thing about that game is the level of sophistication the recipe had. Carter had to master béchamel sauce and put spinach in her lasagna. The game even explained what Mis en place was and why chefs prepare all their ingredients first. Perhaps playing that game at nine helped her to become the fabulous cook she is today.

I was just happy for a new diversion. Maybe tomorrow Carter and I can play tennis on the Wii. It will provide a different exercise than just walking on the treadmill. I just can’t handle the cooking game because that will make me want to cook real lasagna and I am trying to stay away from that.

Social Distancing Grooming

While humans are letting themselves go during this time there was no reason to let shay turn into a sheep that hadn’t been shorn in three years. Carter set up a grooming station in the garage. She single handily clipped Shay all over. It took quite a while and I could hear carter sweetly reassuring Shay the whole time.

It was a great effort on Carter’s part and I am so grateful that she did it before Shay developed Matt’s that would require her to be shorn down to the skin.

Since Shay got her teeth cleaned last week she has one little peg leg shaved so you can really see how skinny those little legs are. She may not be show quality groomed, but she is clean and can see without too many curls in her eyes.

Great job Carter. I am so happy you are home to care for your puppy. One big benefit of social distancing! Look on the sunny side.

Too Much Togetherness for Shay

For Shay, social distancing has turned into doggy focusing. Shay is our form of entertainment and distraction. While we are trying to keep our minds off things we can not change we look to Shay for things we can.

Before I could find a new groomer, the lock down took place, but no one told Shay to stop growing hair. She has turned into a wooly mammoth. With Carter now home she and Russ have taken the need for grooming serious. Russ ordered a clipper set and it arrived today.

For over a year Shay has had a wonderful groomer who came to our house to take care of all her beauty needs. Before social distancing started I called her up to see if she could give Shay a much needed haircut. Much to my dismay I found out her groomer has moved on to real estate. Our loss.

After Carter and Russ took Shay for a walk Carter gave her a good bath. After her bath Carter did a little combing in preparation for tomorrow’s big clipping session. So this this is a multiple day blog to see how this at home grooming goes. Please pray for Shay and the hands that clip her.

Home Again, Home Again

The reunion of Carter with her baby Shay made the trip worth it after an eleven hour drive. I am just relieved that we are all together under one roof.

Carter and I woke up in her precious apartment early this morning and cleaned out her refrigerator and packed her plants and fish in the laundry basket I brought up. We hit the empty road by 7:45 and drove home with minimal stops.

The greeting from Shay jumping all over Carter for a few minutes straight with little yelps of joy made the day. Just happy to be home with Russ, Carter and Shay.

Retrieving Carter

After over a week of social distancing alone in Boston I couldn’t take it anymore and I drove to Boston to get her. This does not have her happy, but getting back to Durham to wait out this mess gives me peace of mind.

So I left Durham at 5:45 to make the marathon Drive to Boston. As you can see from this first photo the roads were empty.

With all the world doing their best to stay home I made the trip in record time. Never in my life have I been able to drive from Durham to Washington DC in under four hours. Being Alone on the road was very strange.

I had to plan my stops thoughtfully because there were not many places open with restrooms. I also had to touch every gas pump with a napkin.

I had no issues during the whole drove until I reached New Rochelle and there was some reason the road was blocked for five minutes. New Rochelle is the center of the Covid -19 outbreak and I feared having an accident there. But it all worked out and I made it to Boston in eleven hours.

Since there is no traffic here Carter and I went out in the car to look at houses in her favorite south Boston area. Future goals for Carter.

The real proof that no one is here is I got one of the three parking spots right in front of Carter’s apartment that does not require a resident parking permit.

Tomorrow, back on the empty road to Durham, but at least I will have Carter with me.

Good Neighboring

This morning I got an email from our neighborhood list serve. A mother with young children was asking neighbors to help her entertain her kids and other neighborhood children. She wanted to create a neighborhood scavenger hunt and asked us to put a flower or a heart somewhere on our house, this way when her family took an afternoon walk the kids could have something to search for.

Many neighbor’s replied that they were in on the game, including us. So now we have a big red heart taped to our front door. When Russ and I took our walk this afternoon I too looked for the hearts and flowers in the neighborhood. It was a fun game. I am thankful that we can do a tiny part in helping to entertain children when their parents might be at their wits end.

Besides taking a walk I left the house to take Shay for her teeth cleaning. Our vet was doing drive up service. Shay knew something was up when I asked her to get in the car at 7:30 before she had any breakfast. She felt tricked as I turned towards the vet’s office.

The Dr. Came to the car and took Shay and instructed me to return at 3:00. Thankfully Shay had no bad teeth and no extractions were needed. Unfortunately the doodle part of her means she needs her teeth cleaned every year. At least dogs don’t have to social distance and she was able to keep her appointment.

Since she had anesthesia she is still a little groggy. Tomorrow she can look for the hearts and flowers when she feels ready for a walk. Sadly she will have to stay away from the kids.

Real Life Learning

I feel for all the parents with little kids home who are trying to home school them. It certainly is going to make us a nation who really appreciates our teachers more after this episode passes. Being your own child’s teacher takes a very special person. You don’t have to run a classroom like they have at their own school. Learning can happen in so many ways. Cooking is the best science and math you can do. Taking apart the vacuum to clean the brushes is a great life lesson, but I fear most Mom’s don’t even know you can clean the brushes. (The life lessons you learn when you sell vacuums door to door.)

Although I don’t have a child at home I still had a life lesson call with mine today. Carter face timed me to be on the line while she did her taxes. I was really more moral support since I could not see her screen. It was a lot of comic relief for me as she read the instructions to herself, rather than out loud and then made some Scooby do sounds questioning what in the hell they were asking. “Hhuuurrh?”

Then she would ask me what they meant without telling me what the question was in the first place. It was a good thirty minutes of me watching her face as she puzzled out the electronic forms. I won’t tell you the paltry sum all this face contorting was for, but it was excellent practice.

So if you really want to give you kids some big life lessons let them work on your taxes. If you don’t want them to know how much you make because then they might think you can buy them a newer X-box, then at least let them make dinner. Suffering through one child cooked dinner is so much safer than being audited by the IRS and it will still be a good real life lesson.

Outdoor Work Goes On

In a true testament that my mother does not read my blog she called me today and told me she tried to make bread. This is a sign that things are really bad. First, she has never tried to make yeast bread before in her whole life. Second, she doesn’t even really cook. Third, she doesn’t even eat bread.

She told me she tried to make onion dill bread and it was a big fail. She knew she didn’t knead it enough. I am proud she knew that. Almost no one kneads bread enough. Even with my Kitchenaid mixer with the dough hook I can hardly knead the bread enough and my mother doesn’t have any equipment like that. So listen to me people, stop trying to make bread.

Ona different note, I saw people today, from afar. The landscape guys came and took out the dead tree by the house and replaced it with a Japanese specimen that should be more interesting and at least alive.

I also had to go to church to make some decisions about the fellowship hall. Church may actually be closed, but the construction workers are still on the job. Since the building is not closed in yet I felt comfortable going and staying many feet away from people. The windows should be finished being put in tomorrow. It is looking good and thanks to those workers who keep working since this is not a work from home possibility.

For the rest of who are at home I have heard about a lot of Spring cleaning going on. I said to one friend, no one will ever see how clean our houses are since no one can come over. So if you want to show off all your hard work, please feel free to share a photo of your accomplishments with me.

Don’t Tell Me What You Are Baking

For the last few days I have heard from a lot of people about all the baking they are doing. There is something about being stuck at home that turns Americans into Betty Crockers. One person who shall remain nameless said, “You thought the freshman fifteen was real, welcome to the the Covid 30.”

I am thankful that I started on January 1 on my no sugar and limited flour regime. I have to say that stopping artificial sweeteners has rid me of my sweet tooth. I have lost 26 pounds, which is just a start to what I need to do.

Like everyone else stuck at home I have a desire to bake too, but I am holding back. Yesterday my cousin Sarah posted that her son was going to learn one new thing everyday and yesterday’s was how to bake bread. Today my friend Mary Lloyd sent me a link of a guy also trying to make bread at home.

As someone who had made bread for years I have to say it is rarely worth it. Learning to make a good yeast loaf is hard. We don’t have the right ovens, or moisture, or the right flour or fresh enough yeast. Sour dough is even harder. And when you consider you might need five to seven cups of flour to make one loaf of bread it starts to be way more expensive than buying it.

If you feel like baking consider making cookies that you can store in Dough balls in the freezer and only bake one or two at a time. It really might help curb your desire to have just another cookie. None of us want to emerge from our homes at the start of summer and not fit in our shorts.

Stop the Travel Porn

The days of social distancing are really just beginning. I know for many parents it was the first day of home schooling and I hope things went well for everyone- the fighting was kept to a minimum, the sugar consumed was minor and some actual learning took place.

Shay and I social distanced together at home while Russ was social distancing as the only member of his firm in his office. I have cleaned more things in my house than ever before. This morning I removed all the furniture from the breakfast room so I could deep clean the floor. No one will see it, but it is very clean.

I played a record on my stereo while polishing the wood floor. I forgot how good my stereo sounds. I had to remove some junk that had gotten piled up on the turn table inside the cabinet in order to put the record on. It enlightened me as to a whole new area of the house that could get paid attention to during this time of isolation.

Between cleaning and dancing I was checking e-mail. I would like to request all travel sites to stop sending me mail about fabulous trips I can not take. I have never been so inundated with beautiful photos of beaches I can’t get to.

After lunch I got the mail and the only two pieces were a travel magazine and a postcard from AAA about a trip to Hawaii. Really they should save their money and not mail this stuff this week. No one is going anywhere.

I can see I am going to have to limit the number of times I check my email each day if all this travel porn keeps up. For now I am only interested in tips on how to make my own furniture polish and How-to groom my own dog videos as my dog groomer has moved on to a new career. Shay doesn’t know it yet, but we are going to be watching some YouTube this week and ordering clippers from Amazon. Even writing Amazon makes me think of a trip to the Amazon I can’t go on.

Virtual Spirituality

I am thankful people are taking social distancing seriously. Being asked to stay home in our comfortable homes with power, Internet, and food is not the worst thing that can happen to us, if you have all those things. If you feel the need for people other than the ones in your house call someone on the old fashioned phone, of FaceTime them. In order for us all to survive this is what we need to do.

Our church had online service this morning. The wonderful and brilliant Sam Bryan, took his job as technology volunteer seriously and figured out how to live stream the church service. No congregants were invited. It was just the ministers and Monica the minister of music with Sam running the video.

We logged in from our big room and put the service up on the big TV. Shay finally got to go to worship. As a busy member of many church committees she has felt slighted that she was unable to worship, but not today. She paid very close attention to the whole service. The only thing she was not good at was saying the Lord’s Prayer. She did not enjoy when I sang along with the TV, but then again, no ever does.

I multitasked and worked on my puzzle while listening to church. I have no desire to watch other people’s church, but having my own familiar service made the day seem normal. I was also comforted by the praying for the world right now.

I saw on Facebook that Shay’s cousin Brady Pottenger was also watching church with her dad Dave and he was dressed in shorts, like Russ was. This habit of going to church in shorts with your dog might start some kind of revolution.

For now, just stay home, try and not go stir crazy by doing something productive and fun, don’t eat too much sugar and if you need to talk with someone, call them. I have noticed that we haven’t gotten any telemarketer calls for the last couple of days. Social distancing has some advantages. Perhaps we can be excited the next time the phone rings that it might be someone we want to talk with.

Slowing Down

I am a production worker. I like to produce things fast. The first time I read Cheaper by the Dozen when I was a kid I was immediately drawn to the father’s job as an efficiency expert. I can’t help but look at a job or a task and find ways to do it faster. It is a terrible trait because watching most people work makes me crazy with the desire to suggest improvements. I have learned not to always offer unsolicited advice, but I have to really bite my tongue.

I am constantly working on finding ways to be more productive in my own hobbies. This is how one year I was able to needlepoint 63 ornaments in one year. When I work on puzzles I sort the pieces to find the edge pieces and all the while I put the non-edges into groups mostly by color, or if they have words or letters on them, or faces, etc.

Now in the time of social distancing I am spending a lot of time doing my hobbies. I am almost finished piecing a new king sized quilt for my mother. It is the most intricate quilt I have every made. I have worked many hours on it. I got to wondering what I will work on when it is done and decided I needed to slow down just a bit and stretch out finishing this quilt.

I have been working on a big 2000 piece puzzle that is part of my Christmas present of Puzzle of the month. I have almost finished this one and realize the next one is not coming for at least five days. So now I have to slow down working on this puzzle.

To fill my slowing down time I dusted today. I don’t think I have every dusted so well. I did a first pass, then ran the robot vacuum and then dusted a second time. It goes against my grain to dust the same room twice. It’s all just part of keeping occupied while we are staying home. I would say I could clean out the attic, but let’s wait until I am really desperate.

Dogs At Work

Russ went to work today as a way to social distance himself from me. Since he was the only one in his whole giant office he was safest there. He also had a lot of Zoom Video’s and the back drop of his brick office wall is so much more business like than the bunny rabbit border of his home office. See, he lost his original home office to Carter when she moved out of her baby room to his suite of rooms downstairs and I took over his old office when Carter left and turned it into my sweat shop.

I guess I could trade with him and turn the baby room into my sweatshop and he could have his original office back, but that’s a lot of work. It would be easier to remove the bunny border and paint the baby room.

While Russ was at his office he looked out his forth floor window that overlooks the entrance to the Durham Bulls park and saw the Bulls Bat Dog having a photo shoot. He watched as the dog patiently did different poses with his bat at the photographer captured it all.

I think it was optimistic to be doing this photo shoot as the idea of thousands of people gathering for a baseball game seems unlikely anytime soon.

At least dogs are still able to go to work in this time of social distancing. Shay did her best work to stay away from me all day. After not being by my side all day I finally had to go up to my bedroom at 4:30 and beg her to go outside since it was such a warm day. She did it begrudgingly. Perhaps she was put off that the Durham Bull Dog got to go to work today and Shay had to stay home. Social Distancing is making her depressed.

Voting Matters More Than Ever

Politicians are known for spin, but spin should never cross the line into out right lying. With our current White House occupant we got numb to his lying. It was a joke because it happened so many times a day, day after day, week after week. He was aided by outlets like a Fox News and sycophants who he surrounded himself with. It was hardly tolerable, but his own party circled the wagons and protected him.

Now the world is faced with the worst pandemic in our lifetimes and we have the liar-in-chief acting the only way he knows how, incompetently. On the ABC news tonight they reported that he said all people coming off flights from Europe were being tested for Covid-19 then ABC said that was a lie. 45 was exposed to a person who has tested positive, yet he refuses to be tested himself, thus putting everyone who comes in contact with him at risk.

There is not much we can do about him today. The stock markets 28% loss may be the one thing that takes him out. What I am asking is please think carefully about who you vote for and do vote. It makes a difference who our government officials are. Pick people who have some humility and surround themselves with the smartest people they can. No one leader can do everything themselves, but the wrong leader can wreck havoc.

We need people who are intrinsically honest and can actually lead. I pray for all our leaders and all the health care workers. Please practice social distancing, especially if you come across 45. He has been exposed.

Social Distancing

Introverts are finally getting their due with the whole world going into social distancing with the Coronavirus. For ages most people have been more or less forced to interact with other humans more of their waking hours than they would chose because of their work. Now everyone is being told to work from home and not go to large gatherings of people, like concerts or sports events or the movies.

Colleges are closing down classes and telling their students to vacate their campus. I am thankful Carter lives off campus and is working at her co-op this semester. Today was her first day of “work at home.”

In years past when she lived in a dorm we planned for her move out for weeks in advance. Storage companies had to be engaged, boxes obtained and packed and then the waiting for them to be picked up by the storage company. Then there was the packing suitcases to come home. If she only had two days notice to do all this I am unsure how she could get it done.

I did no social distancing today. I met my friend Cristina for lunch where we were the only customers in the restaurant. It was a form of social distancing since we had the whole place to ourselves. We stopped in at needlepoint and Nancy told us that if people have to self quarantine she will start delivering needlepoint supplies to their front porches. Good to know she has a plan to keep us all stitching.

I also went to a Costco where every old couple in a Durham was shopping together. Why couldn’t one of each couple had stayed at home? The lines were crazy, but thankfully I chose the self checkout since most of the old people couldn’t figure out how to work the scanners and they veered away from that line.

I also had two church meetings, both small where we sat far apart from each other. Shay came to the finance meeting because she is the honorary chair of the committee. She sits in the chair between me and Sharron, the business manager, and monitors all social interactions of the committee. Thank goodness Dogs are spared from the virus because she would go into deep depression if she had to social distancing.

Tomorrow I will go back to social distancing after I get my mammogram. The least social thing I can think of to do.

Bring Back Bowing and Curtsying

It’s time we stop shaking hands. Back in the olden days, when everyone wore gloves all the time, shaking hands did not spread germs. After going to the dermatologist and looking at all the age spots on my hands I wish I lived in an era when ladies wore gloves all the time.

So now in the age of Covid-19 we are doing everything possible not to pass germs, so no hand shaking. Yes we can bump elbows, but that is awkward and still gets us close to each other. I propose we go back to bowing and curtsying. Now I don’t want it to be a sexist thing so either sex can bow or curtsy depending on how you feel. It seems a most regal way to greet each other.

Shay has been bowing for years now as she doesn’t have any opposable thumbs for shaking. Her bow is deep and shows great emotion and love for the person she is greeting. I think this could catch on.

So if I see you in the street I promise a curtsy or a bow and please let it convey to you my most warm greeting to you as if I had given you a big bear hug.

“Gnocchi” to Feel Better

I can’t do anything about the stock market or the CoronaVirus, so the best I can do is share a healthy food with you.

During stressful times people tend to eat unhealthy food. The attitude is, “Hell, things are really bad, perhaps this pasta will make me feel better.” I know, because I fell victim to this thinking most of 45’s presidency. I finally came to grips with the fact that he may be getting fatter, but I don’t have to, but the stress still exists.

The answer to the “I need to eat pasta to deal with all this stress,” is cauliflower gnocchi. Trader Joe’s makes an excellent frozen product which can satisfy you pasta craving without succumbing to all those empty carbs.

It is easy to fix, you just put the frozen gnocchi in a non-stick pan with a little water, cover it and cook for eight minutes then uncover and add a little butter and cook another five minutes.

I made a mushroom, chicken, arugula sauce to put over my gnocchi tonight and I had a 400 calorie “pasta” dinner that was very satisfying.

It doesn’t make up for the almost eight percent drop in the stock market, but at least I don’t feel bad and guilty.

Old, Really Old, Clothes

I love my husband. I also love his frugality when it comes to his clothing. I am often begging him to throw away socks with holes or something that has lost its elastic. He rarely succumbs to my requests.

In his defense he is as thin today as he was when I first met him. He hasn’t always been this thin, but as he went up and down over the last thirty years he kept all his clothes. Today after church Russ changed out of his church pants into a pair of jeans. I looked at these familiar jeans and asked, “how old do you think those are?”

“Late 80’s, early 90’s” He said casually.

The barley any blue left jeans had a tear in the back pocket, but other than that they were still acceptable as body covering despite being at least thirty years old. They certainly weren’t in style or up-to-date, but they were classic, at least once. Russ saw no reason not to wear and keep wearing these old pants, along with old shirts and older jackets.

I am very thankful that men’s clothes don’t change so much so that Russ can still wear his decades old wardrobe. I am just thankful that he out grew his 70’s clothes. Having seen the things his mother bought him from Sears I would have to intervene if he still had any of those to wear.

Russ and Carter’s Big Space Adventure

Since I got a special weekend with Carter in Boston Russ thought he and Carter needed a trip together. For the record they invited me on this little jaunt, but when they told me what their plan was I declined. I am not saying they purposely chose something they knew I wasn’t interested in because I know how much they wanted to go on this particular trip.

Russ and Carter have a shared love of nerdy things like Teslas, Space X and the Big Bang Theory. So when they were discussing that Space X was going to be launching their 20th resupply mission on a Friday night they thought it would be something fun to witness.

So they met up in Orlando yesterday and visited the Kennedy Space Center during the day and went back late last night to watch the blast off. I was so thankful that the mission went off on time since Russ and Carter were only going to be there last night and if it got scrubbed for any reason they couldn’t hang out for more days waiting to see it go.

Apparently it was very exciting according to my nerds. Carter even reported on Instagram that it made her cry. Russ created a little bit of art to commemorate the trip.

This morning they went to the beach and then they visited an art museum in Orlando before having a late afternoon meal and parting ways at the airport. Russ is already home, while Carter is still awaiting her flight. It was a fast 36 hour trip for the two of them, but one I am happy they had making some father daughter memories.

As is our family tradition Russ and Carter picked out a Christmas ornament as a remembrance of the trip. Russ had me open it, as if it were a present for me and when I asked whose tree it was going on, he told me it was the best looking ornament they had there. Apparently nerds don’t have tasteful Christmas trees.

Quarantine Stuff to Do If Needed

It seems like the Coronavirus has caused some people in Seattle and New Rochelle to have to self quarantine. This is obviously the best way to flatten out the spread of the virus. It seems to have worked in China as the virus is not expanding in the quarantined area, but that sort of mass self quarantining will be much harder to do here, even if it is the right thing to do.

As I think about self quarantine I feel like it is something not so different from my regular life, minus playing games with live people. I can spend hours in my sweat shop working all alone, work on giant puzzles, needlepoint for at least two hundred and sixty-five hours without running out of canvas or fibers. I have enough rice and beans, oatmeal and homemade chicken stock to feed us for two weeks. As long as we have electricity I can walk miles and miles without leaving my house.

There are many unread books in my house, let alone every book every written available virtually. Millions of hours of pod casts and enough viewing options to occupy every waking hour.

Then there are the parts of my house I can clean that somehow rarely get paid attention to. The inside of all my windows could be washed. The garage could be tackled and that alone could take the entire two week quarantine period. All my files could be reorganized and I could shred thirty years of financial paper work. And then there is the attic.

I am not hoping to get quarantined, but if I do I thankfully have saved all this stuff to do in my house just so I won’t be bored. Thank goodness I always have house work.

Hand Washing 101

I hope Dogs can’t get CoronaVirus because I don’t see a way I can keep Shay from licking my hands. When I go to pet her she often returns the favor by holding my hand down with her paw and licking it. It doesn’t matter if I have just washed them or had them inside a turkey carcass, she thinks my hands need to be simonized.

It is hard enough to keep myself healthy by washing my hands for at least twenty seconds. I am so sick of singing happy birthday twice to make sure I wash long enough. I need to come up with a new song to sing that is the right length. Unfortunately one of the only songs I know by heart is American Pie and that is like nine minutes long. I wouldn’t have any skin left if I washed my hands to that entire song. Maybe I could sing it just until the Chevy gets to the levy.

With the ridiculous run on soap and hand sanitizer I am thinking that no one was washing their hands before. Why didn’t they already have soap? We are those really old kind of people who still use bar soap. Do you know how long a bar of soap lasts? It would take years of me singing American Pie and sudsing up for me to make a dent in all the soap we have in our house.

I have a set of fancy soaps with my monogram engraved into the bars. It takes about 400 washings before I wear the soap down to the place that you don’t know my initials.

I hope all this hand washing takes hold and people continue after Mike Pence has proven he doesn’t know shit about viruses. If you run out of soap I think Shay would lick your hands for you, but then you have dog germs and you will need to wash your hands anyway.

We Are Safe With Jill

No matter what your politics are you have to give it to Jill Biden last night for jumping in to protect her husband Joe. When the anti-Dairy protestors interrupted his speech in LA Jill jumped to his defense and kept the non-cheese eating girls from getting to close to her man.

Not only is Jill an actual Doctor, which means she believes in science and is smart, she can shadow for the secret service guys. I happened to be telling Russ that I thought that potential First Ladies should have to debate when this story came on the news about Jill blocking for Joe. The newscaster said that Jill’s response to her reaction was, “Hey, I’m a Philly girl.” That made her tops in Russ’ book right away.

Way to go you Philly Girl. You made us all proud. I am not sure that eating Dairy is going to be a big campaign issue for either side, but those cottage cheese hating woman will think twice before they attempt to get near Joe again.

Today I am Brilliant, but Not For Long

I went to the dermatologist today for a total body check. If you have never had anyone look at every inch of your skin with a little light-up magnifying tool you have really missed one of life’s most uncomfortable moments. I had a place on my back which I have not looked at, but felt, that worried me. Thankfully it was nothing serious. My Dr. called it a “Wisdom Spot.”

Dermatologists are the best marketers of the medical world. “Wisdom Spot” sounds so much better than “age spot” or “liver spot”, which are the old fashioned nick names for what I have. Well, I won’t have it long as she froze it and hopefully in three weeks it will fall off.

So for the record, right now and for the next three weeks I am smart, at least my skin announces I have wisdom. I am perfectly happy to go back to no wisdom soon.

I just want to know who the person is who invented the “freezing things off your skin machine.” That person deserves the noble prize. Just my two cents while I have all this wisdom.

A President I Like

Tomorrow is Super Tuesday and North Carolina is one of the states involved. Russ and I usually vote early, but this election I said, “I want to wait until the actual day because I need all the latest information available.” So I am glad I did wait since Pete and Amy dropped out today. It is quite a mess to figure out who can beat Trump and not divide the country more.

As I was studying Presidential candidates this afternoon I got a Facebook Message from my College class about a new President. My Classmate Leon Rose was just given the job as President of the NY Knicks. “At last, a President I can get behind,” I commented.

Leon is one of the nicest people I went to college with. He loved basketball back in college, but he found his calling to be on the business side of basketball. He has been the agent for some major players so I think he will make a great President of the Knicks. I wish him all the success he will need as it is a very tough job. NY is not always the most forgiving sports market.

So good luck to Leon. I think the Dickinson Class of 1983 would all vote for you!

Long Sunday

You would think that Russ and I have turned into dairy farmers by our sleep patterns these days. I woke up at 3:30 and he woke up at four and since neither of us can go back to sleep we just got up and started our day. As we were up at the crack of dawn we went to early church. This caused quite a ruckus as we sat in our regular 11:00AM pew but the McCaughns, who sit there at 8:30, came in just after us and had to sit some place else. If we keep up this early waking we will have to wait to go to church until after the McCaughns have already been seated.

It is amazing what you can get done on a Sunday if you go to early church. I was able to work in the sweat shop and then I went off to the Durham Branch of the Food Bank for a special volunteer event for members of the Full Plate Circle. The Full Plate people are extra good givers to the Food Bank so I was there to thank them for their generosity.

I have to say that they were an extra nice group of people. Not only are they generous, but they are very hard working as they were filling boxes for seniors of milk, canned salmon, peanut butter, cereal, spaghetti, juice and all kinds of fruits and vegetables. My dear friend Chuck ReCorr was there dressed in his normal natty attire. He was the only volunteer with a pocket square and a blazer. He pointed out to me that he was not wearing a tie and these were his “work” clothes.

Since I had an official Food Bank name badge on one woman came over to me to ask me if I could tell a man he was putting the juice in the box incorrectly. I did and he didn’t like my suggestion. The woman next to him said, “That’s Dana Lange, and this place is named for her, you better do what she asks.” I wasn’t going to play that card, but I thanked him for volunteering just the same.

Thankfully spending time at the Food Bank energized me enough to stave off a nap. The only problem with getting up at 3:30AM is I am hungry for dinner at 5:30PM. After boxing food for hungry senior citizens I am extra thankful that I get to cook my own food at home. It is always a good reminder how lucky we are.

Parting People From Their Money

See those poor unsuspecting people eating behind me. Most of them had no idea what I was going to do to them once they finished their lunch. Thankfully they didn’t object once I started doing it, probably because they are Methodists and they are a nice bunch of people.

Today was the UNC Wesley Campus Ministry fundraiser. They invited me back to be their auctioneer. I had done this job for them two years ago, but last year was on vacation with Carter and was unavailable.

The first year they were not as used to this brazen Presbyterian telling them they were here to raise money and so not to be shy about giving it. It was a little shocking to them. So when they asked me back I took it as a good sign.

As charity auctions go this is the most polite group of people I have ever auctioned for in the last 20 years. They sit quietly and pay attention. So I have to push them to have a little fun while the bidding is going on. Since most of them know each other I give them permission to bid against their friends. It is for a good cause.

Once they got loosened up they got good at the giving and during the “Fund-a-Ministry” section when I just ask people to give money because it feels good they raised their paddles willingly. I was very happy about the number of $1,000 donors this year. The first year I did this with them they were a little bowled over about being asked for $1,000.

The UNC students I met today could not have been nicer. So thank to Wesley for having me back. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting new friends today and parting them from their money for a cause they clearly love.

Avoidance Continuance

As I have not become an infectious disease Dr. since yesterday, nor a stock market expert I needed to continue my avoidance of news as this week is one I don’t want to affect my overall well being. My work on the quilt and the puzzle only gave me so much relief so I added the ultimate picker-upper and went out to lunch with my friend Sara.

Sara’s husband Dave and I work on many committees together and I had commented to him often that as much as I enjoy his company I really would like to spend time with his wife. So at church on Sunday we made a lunch date and thank God it was for today.

We went to our old stand by Thai Cafe. You can count on getting exactly what you thought you were ordering as nothing about Thai Cafe has changed in eighteen years. After we had enjoyed our lunch with a nice long gab afterward I looked up towards the front window and thought I saw my old a friend Dottie coming to the table next to us. Since the sun was behind her I could only make out her shape and as she got closer she came into detail I saw it was her.

Dottie moved to New Bern years ago and so I see her much less than I used to. She introduced us to her fiancé Robbie, who I had heard lots about, but never met before. Then our friend Lynn came to join them for lunch and then Stephanie.

Sara and I continued to occupy our lunch table and visit with our friends stretching our lunch out over many hours.

Spending time with friends did not change what was going on in the world, but it did make passing the hours much happier. There is not much I can do about big pandemics or stock market melt downs, but I can enjoy the little pleasures of people I love and keep in perspective that we are all personally fine.

In the good news front, Shay is getting better. Her hot spot is smaller and she is more herself. My hope for you is that you too can ride out the week without having it affect your psyche.

Avoidance Therapy

Between CoronaVirus and the Stock Market I needed to do everything possible to avoid the stress inducing news. I was home today nursing Shay who is still uncomfortable with her hot spot so I decided I needed to add color to my day and keep busy.

I spent the morning working on the quilt my mother requested I make for her. I have been doing it for over a month so far and I barley have a third of it done. It is very complicated, but that makes it so much fun.

There is no pattern, but a random gathering of sandpipers. It is a lot like coloring with fabric, which makes my inner child so happy.

After my daily walk I needed to do something beside sewing so I started my new 2,000 piece puzzle. I sorted the pieces into color groups while finding the edge pieces. I think I can officially say that working on a puzzle is as close to putting my head in the sand as I can come.

I hope that things in the world turn around because there is only so much avoidance I can handle.