Category Archives: being an introvert

long spring catch-up post.

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I hate to make proclamations but the spring so far has been okay and vastly better than the winter was. I’ve avoided making this observation because – you know, the proverbial ‘other shoe’ – but in my little corner of the Internet no one is really listening anyway so knock wood and let’s goooooo.

Making. My only recently finished object is a – dishcloth. (I subscribe to the Kitchen Sink Shop newsletter and every month she sends a free dishcloth pattern!) I am a slow knitter. I have two pairs of socks (plain vanilla on 9-inch circulars) going (they’ve been my springtime soccer field knitting), as well as the Cozy Comfort throw from Homespun House, and I have the Shift kit ready to cast on as soon as I finish the socks (and as a side note isn’t Andrea Mowry just absolutely gorgeous and so cool? I wish I could have that kind of edgy yet laid-back coolness). I’m also really close to finishing a cross-stitch kit (a little A-frame cottage). As usual I have too much stash, too many projects to start, and not enough time, and I still keep finding new kits, new patterns, and new yarn to fill all the nooks and crannies of my dusty little office / crafting space. I need to lock in and get some finished objects. (As usual you can find me on Ravelry as sixtenpine.)

Reading. On vacation in the Bahamas I blew through all seven of Martha Wells’ ‘Murderbot Diaries’ and would have just kept going if there were more. These were sci-fi about a futuristic security unit android that attains some level of cold human observation and affinity. SecUnit (or ‘Murderbot’ as it refers to itself) spends the seven novels alternately amused, horrified, sympathetic, fascinated, and repelled by the humans it is charged with guarding and its internal monologue is (for me) un-put-downable. After Murderbot I plunged into some dry histories (I went through a massive Mary Queen of Scots phase and then some Romanov which was depressing). Slogging through beheadings, conspiracies, doomed royals and the events of Ipatiev House might not have been the best overall choice and sadly my reading slowed down a bit. I’m trying to jump-start it with the new Tana French ‘The Hunter’ but it isn’t really doing it for me yet. (I wish she’d go back to the Dublin Murder squad format.)

Watching. Brandon and I finally watched ‘The Bear’ and loved it. I hope next season we get more of the Richie comeback and more Fak. The kid and I are watching the first two seasons of Twin Peaks (a multiple rewatchable for me, her first time) and she’s hooked. I’m debating about whether she’s ready for ‘Fire Walk With Me’ and you know, no one is ready for season 3 The Return. Maybe if I rewatched it, I’d understand it more. While Brandon is in Iowa during the week, I watched ‘Marie Antoinette‘ on Prime (LOVED it) and caught up on ‘Nordic Murders’.

Life Stuff. As I said, I think things have evened out from our winter of discontent (it was a tough one). Brandon still spends weekdays in Iowa and weekends here, and that has made for some adjustment, both for us as a couple and our family unit. It’s not ideal but we are working through it and understanding (or trying to) that it’s just a season of life and it too will pass and fade into a new season.

I am still dealing with pre-menopause health issues which all in all are pretty minor compared to some horror stories I’ve heard. HRT has helped with the mood swings, night sweats and recurring monthly pain and nausea. It hasn’t helped much with brain fog or weight gain, but I just have to keep pushing through. I try to eat well without restricting, and get out 3-4 times a week either to the gym or for runs around the neighborhood. I’d love to lose 20 lbs but I’m also not willing to head into the land of diet culture to do that, so for now it’s bigger pants. [shrug]

Soccer, soccer, soccer. Spring sports are a lot but this soccer season for the kid was fun and for the most part, laid-back. They’re not the best team but they’re not the worst, either, and manage to have fun and enjoy themselves even when they lose and when they’re playing in downpours or gale force winds. She just started a part-time summer job at the local family-owned garden center / plant nursery and I am hoping it’s a great vibe for her, working outdoors with little growing things. She has a male friend (ahem) and after several years of being at home with us every evening, now, on occasion, he’ll pick her up and they’ll get food or go to a school sporting event or movie. She is hoping to get her driver’s license this summer on her birthday and so I feel we’re on the verge of a big jump forward in terms of maturity and independence…I am alternately dreading it and looking forward to it. She took an AP exam this week, is mostly indifferent about her grades yet but still gets things done. She’s a good kid and we laugh a lot when we’re together, which is a lot, especially now that it’s just the two of us during the weekdays when Brandon is away. I have to balance the feeling that she is my best friend these days with the reminder that I am the parent, as well, and so that’s been an interesting line to tread.

Despite things being easier than they were a few months ago, overall, I am in a mostly introverted phase. And since I live my life as a baseline introvert, for me to say I am in an introverted phase probably realistically means I’m full-on hermit now. I viciously culled my personal social media feeds this winter and just don’t post much anymore. I’ve pulled back from volunteering for school things and the parent text threads. Work has settled back down into it’s usual place in my life, instead of waking me up at 3AM in a cold sweat, and if that means that some days I only can do what I can, that’s the way it is right now. I no longer have the bandwidth to put energy into things that look “right” but don’t feel “right” or pay back in emotional dividends and that runs the gamut from doing everything and more at work to trying to look like the perfect normal active cheerful mom in the neighborhood and school community. Hustle culture, social media pressure, competitiveness and comparison – it’s all real and I’ve had to seriously duck back into my introvert shell and focus on us – my little family – and how it feels instead of how it looks. We do our own thing and for us right now that’s healthy and positive.

the last one of 2023

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I’ve been off since the 22nd and while I really appreciate a nice, long break, I’m glad that the New Year is here and things can get back to normal(ish). I didn’t have any goals for the break except to spend time with my family and my best friend, to sleep and eat and run and read, and meditate, and knit, and I did all of those things except not as much knitting as I’d have liked. We celebrated Brandon’s birthday on Christmas, with pastries from the new bakery in town, Cannelle, and back-to-back viewings of ‘A Christmas Carol’ (the 1980’s version with George C. Scott, which is my favorite) and ‘Scrooge’ (the 1970’s musical with Albert Finney, which is Brandon’s favorite). We love them each for very different reasons. I finished my last couple of books for 2023 (‘The Running Grave’ by Robert Galbraith and the last two of Naomi Novik’s ‘Scholomance’ trilogy), I watched ‘Serpent Queen’ on Starz and that spiraled me into a Tudor binge watch that hasn’t quite run it’s course yet. I ran several days, but not as many as I’d have liked.

I had a great meet-up with my lifelong bestie yesterday, which was deeply needed. I am a true introvert so getting out of the house first thing in the morning made me horribly grumpy, especially with Sarge (my big cat) curled up more or less on top of me, nestled in the duvet and begging me to stay put. But my friend Kat and her husband are a tonic, with tales of their big old house and big families and shared bird-watching and crafting excitements.

Brandon went to North Carolina for a couple of days to visit his parents, and I had some fantastic time with my daughter. She’s been meeting friends at the gym / rec center every day to work out and I’ve been driving her and we sing Taylor Swift and then eat together and she disappears into her room to FaceTime and read and do her teenage things and I turn on some anglophile viewing and settle down with a cat and some Chianti.

Today is the last of 2023. I slept in to strange dreams of my coworkers, their kids and grief and switching watches with them, one of them dressed as a beautiful toy soldier with her hair curling over her shoulders, to the accompaniment of a man in a grocery store singing ‘Sundown’ by Gordon Lightfoot on a grand piano. I have to pick Brandon up at the airport this evening and I have a bounty of Italian goodies from Cantoro’s Italian Market for our dinner. The kid will make an appearance to eat her tiramisu and help Brandon pop the cork on our favorite low-budget champagne (‘not champagne sparkling wine since it doesn’t come from the Champagne region of FRANCE’) – Cook’s, $13 Spumante. And we’ll probably fall asleep well before 12 and wake up tomorrow to the biggest Sunday scaries of the year on a Monday, strip the house of the lights and bows and baubles and boughs, and we’ll start 2024.

Happy New Year to any of you who still read this weird little space. See you in 2024.

this is pretty much the most snow we’ve had in december this year and it quickly vanished

seasonal greetings

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some seasonal highlights

If I make any NY resolutions this year, more regular blogging and manicures will both make the list. I hope you’re enjoying your holiday season – depending on where you are, the dark season of short days, the hygge season, that weird time between Thanksgiving and the December holidays.

Brandon is home now for the remainder of 2023. He has been splitting his time between work weeks in Iowa and weekends back home, and the travel is pretty tiring for him. It’s hard for me to have him away, but I really try to just be supportive and love the time together. I think the biggest challenge for me is getting through a long week and having the weekend and Brandon arrive and being just drained of energy- he wants to connect and immerse himself in our relationship and family and I just want to be alone and still. But we have been together for six and a half years now and we understand what recharges each of us – and how those things are different- and make allowances.

And in the time he’s away, I’ve been trying to maximize time with my daughter. We go to the gym, get Panera for dinner, and watch trashy television in my bed. She is fifteen now and I know that these moments are going to become increasingly hard to come by as she grows up and away. She also suffers from a bit of seasonal depression (and currently some pitched battles with her Honors Chemistry classwork) so I think she needs and appreciates extra mom time.

As for me, I find myself just limping into the homestretch until I can take a week off between Christmas and New Year. The weather has been depressing – mild and grey, with no sign of snow, which rings alarming bells of climate change and global warming. At this time of year, work is very busy with many contract renewals and negotiations so I find myself speaking to / dealing with more people, inside and outside of my company, which drains my introvert battery. There are also more social obligations – holiday gatherings, dinners and lunches, band concerts, last-minute dentist and doctor and vet and orthodontist appointments. And the kid’s indoor soccer games every weekend.

I am knitting on a few different items and working on several cross-stitch projects that I pick up and put down. My Christmas shopping is more or less finished, but I do need to make a final candle to tuck into my bestie’s stocking. We are making our menus for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (which is also Brandon’s birthday). And otherwise just trying to light a lot of candles, go to bed early, and take it one busy day at a time.

cinci recap + july goals

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Happy July! The last few days have been rife with terrible air quality from the Canadian wildfires, rage and disappointment at our ‘pay for play’ SCOTUS, and long days thanks to the kid’s Drivers’ Ed. But we are now in July and I have goals.

Before I get into that, though, when we last spoke, I was getting ready to head to Cincinnati with my daughter, her friends, and our mom troop. Unfortunately, my emotional battery did not hold its charge very well and I spent the first ~24 hours with a nervous stomach. We AirBNB’d a massive Victorian in the historic Walnut Hills neighborhood, which promised two floors and sleeping space for 22. We gave the girls the top floor, with their own kitchenette, bathroom, and living room, and the moms bunked on the floor below them. The house may have slept 22 but only if you included couches and multiple folks per bed. This, my friends, is not something I’d be capable of, so I guiltily scoped out a terrible futon in the turret room where I could at least pull a curtain and be alone.

The girls had an absolute blast and between my sick stomach and the endless stairs to haul luggage, food, water, and cooking supplies up to our roost, I lost 4.2 pounds.

Despite the constant threat of storms, we managed to get the girls to Kings’ Island, which is a favorite for my little family since Brandon worked there as a teenager. It was a perfect day – the park was not crowded and the kids didn’t have to wait longer than 25 minutes for any ride. The kiddo has been there before so she played what she called ‘airport dad’ with her friends and gave them the deluxe tour. Even the girls who weren’t too hyped about roller coasters became converts and we closed the park down at 10 with fireworks and the light show. The moms were all impressed with KI – it’s clean and compact with a high concentration of fun coasters and a charming little ‘Main Street’ with fountains, cafe tables under umbrellas, and sweets and souvenir shops under the shade of the ‘Eiffel Tower’. And something about an amusement park in summertime – even the moms got into a lighthearted, almost childlike state – dancing with Snoopy, buying fudge and candy apples, and one of the moms even buying a stuffed Bob Ross doll.

Also among the girl goals was ‘ shopping in cute outfits’ (hahaha – I love teenagers) so the next day, after one of the girls made waffles, we took them to the mall and they spent major bank at Starbucks, Sephora and Ulta. By all measures, a successful trip.

The Canadian wildfires created major air quality issues for us last week, which seem to be diminishing now. The kiddo finished up Drivers’ Ed and hopefully, we can pick up her permit before she heads off for 12 days at Blue Lake Fine Arts camp.

Altogether, June was a bit of a bust in terms of my goals – I didn’t get as many running miles in, or stay in my healthy eating zone for as much as I’d have liked. July will hopefully be better, less busy with the kid at camp, so my goals are:

  • 50 running miles;
  • Healthy eating zone 15 days;
  • 10-minute daily yoga sessions at least 4x / week;
  • 10-minute daily knitting at least 4x / week.

I decided to pick up yoga again a couple of months ago when I temporarily lost my running mojo. I made it to several classes at my local studio. And I was inspired by one of my fellow mom tribe in Cinci, who brought her travel mat and did quick morning yoga videos every day we were there. Even if I can’t get to the studio for a full class, I can certainly fit in a 10-minute daily session several times a week. And since July is Tour de France month, wherein Brandon and I are absorbed in several hours of tour coverage every day, I can easily hit those knitting goals.

I hope everyone is looking forward to a safe and healthy 4th. I am working today, but will be off tomorrow for the holiday and Wednesday for kiddo camp dropoff, which is a 6-hour round trip. Be well and talk soon.

thursday night lights

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As anticipated, last week was rough. I went into it without a lot of energy and my sense of stress and overwhelm already at a high level. The kiddo had a lot of activities that made for a couple of late nights for both of us, on top of a work schedule that was pushing me to take on challenges I didn’t particularly want or feel capable of. Everything just looked like a slog of responsibilities and nothing inspired any real joy or excitement in me.

When my kiddo is struggling, I try to impart on her that she’s not alone and doesn’t need to be. And that when it’s possible, the best way to deal with times of stress, overwhelm, and uncertainty is by leaning on people around you and pushing through. Make lists; tackle things one small step at a time. If you can’t run, walk; if you can’t walk, crawl. Just keep moving forward any way you can and celebrating all of your positive actions, no matter how tiny they may seem to you. This is easy advice to give someone else and hard for me to take myself. When I struggle, I don’t want to lean on anyone and I don’t feel like anything I do is worthy of celebration – it all just feels inadequate. But this week, I DID take the small steps. Pot Roast helped keep me company on those late nights waiting up for the kiddo. I pushed through at work with lists and busy, productive mornings – even if I didn’t accomplish everything, I didn’t stay in bed with the covers over my head.

And I showed up at the first marching band tailgate for the first home football game with a big bowl of pasta salad and another newbie neighborhood mom in tow. She had texted me earlier that day telling me she was having a similar week of challenges at work, she was overwhelmed and tired, had never been to a tailgate and didn’t know what to bring; she didn’t even have camp chairs. “Don’t stress about it. Just bring juice boxes – I heard the kids love them – and I have two chairs, you can sit with me,” I said, without adding that her relying on me was like the blind leading the blind.

As an introvert, and a full time working mom, I frequently feel like I don’t need community or new friends, because they just end up being a drain on my already limited time and anyway, I get enough social stimulation at work. But sitting at that tailgate, hanging out with other marching band parents and petting dogs and swatting away bees while eating really unhealthy yummy food off paper plates balanced on our knees, I felt like it was the best time of the week. Even us newbie moms who felt like it was going to be just another challenge to ‘get through’ found ourselves relaxed and calm. No one needed anything from us except to be there and enjoy ourselves.

So I sat back and took a deep breath; I had another helping of someone’s macaroni and cheese, popped a juice box, and watched my kid fill her own plate and sit in a circle with the other band kids. The hum of laughter and parent conversation rose and fell around me, and later on, we all sat together on the bleachers and watched the halftime show under the Thursday night lights.

do i want to go back?

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I’m still working from home 100% but expect that my workplace will open back up a bit after the holidays, maybe? I have mixed emotions about that. After a year and a half, I can’t imagine going back to the way things were, being in the office 5 days a week. I am an introvert so working from home has been no issue for me; also, my job in the legal profession supports that. My primary responsibilities are reading and reviewing documents, and those are very well-suited to a quiet home office with a cat asleep on my desk and WRCJ classical radio playing in the background.

I’ve also been able to have time with my kid that I have never had since she was born. I’ve always been a working mother and so being around to see her off to the bus, to be home when she gets home in the afternoons, have a snack together, have her do her homework in the armchair in my home office while I’m doing my job – well, it’s been a blessing. It’s been an absolute gift of time and presence. But I do have to admit that from a mental health and productivity standpoint I also benefit from being in an office, too. I can relationship-build, have meetings, and resolve issues more quickly face to face than with a technological hookup like Zoom or Skype or Teams. And being isolated in a home office can be anxiety-producing for me. Issues that are just ‘one more task’ to complete in an office of bustling, busy colleagues with their own agendas, complaints and victories can become looming and dreadful in a home office. Problems can be magnified, worries fester. It’s easy to miss the forest for the trees and remember that I’m a part of a larger assembly, and we’re all going through similar things.

I know a lot of folks who are eager to get back; I know just as many who want to stay home full-time, which I do not think is an option in my company over the long term. So we will just have to see what happens.

thanksgiving 2020

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visitor to our backyard the day before thanksgiving

I had a five day long weekend for the US Thanksgiving holiday and it was delightful. I can’t deny that my morale and productivity in my home office was at a low point in the days leading up to it. Five days off and now it’s Monday morning and I have the glad feeling that I’m ready to be back at my desk. I have to-do lists to make, emails to read, documents to review, and meetings to schedule, and I’m ready for the push through to the end of the year, where I’ve scheduled even more time off.

Miss L was at her dad’s for the holiday so it was just me and Brandon. We’d originally planned our family holiday celebration for the weekend, and invited Brandon’s cousin and girlfriend over for Wednesday night drinks, but with the three-week “pause” instituted by our governor, in the end, no one really wanted to meet up. This was fine with me as it gave me the ideal sort of holiday for an introvert and just what I needed, really. Hopefully Covid cases go down in upcoming days and if not then at least I’ll have the feeling that I’ve properly isolated to see my family over Christmas.

sarge says “hey man”

So Brandon and I were in our own little holiday world. We cooked our turkey and had a candlelight dinner and he made his special family dressing. Unfortunately the only photograph I got was of the pumpkin pie I made. I was very proud of this as I love pumpkin pie and I feel now like the true embodiment of “teach a man to fish” (although my mom’s pie is still the best).

We went for runs and long walks and bought nothing on Black Friday.

wood ducks among the mallards!

I had spectacular afternoon naps with the cats every day, and read and knitted a bit. We drank lots of Malbec and stayed up late watching the latest season of “The Crown” as well as “The Miniaturist” and “Vienna Blood” from PBS (all ‘recommends’). I didn’t worry at all about what I ate or drank but tried to temper it by getting outside daily for fresh air and steps.

I’ve explored some new and fun ways to present turkey leftovers since we had a 14-lb bird and despite our best efforts we did not eat our required 7 lbs each on Thursday. We tried these recipes and all received thumbs-up from Brandon.

Cranberry Turkey Crescent Ring (from Pillsbury)

Pot pie (from Two Peas and their Pod – it’s written for chicken but is great for turkey, too. I’ve made this many times with both chicken and turkey and always a crowd-pleaser.)

Turkey Monte Cristo (from Martha Stewart. We actually got lazy and skipped the French toast step here and just grilled it on the stovetop like a classic grilled cheese, with some good bread, and it turned out absolutely yummy.)

I hope everyone had an equally relaxing weekend and we’re all ready for the push to the end of the year. What’s on tap for this week? We will get our Christmas tree up, and I have to go into the office one day, and I have to meet up at the bank with some of the Girl Scout moms as I’m taking over the role of troop treasurer for this cookie season (whyyyyyyyy do I do this to myself argh). I also have a late work call with Japan one night. I’m still looking forward to being back on a more normal schedule. Oh – and we’re supposed to get SNOW later today and tomorrow!

As Garrison Keillor used to say, be well, do good work, and keep in touch. xo

weekend edition

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Happy weekend, all!

June was a quiet month on the blog but very busy IRL.

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We celebrated my 47th birthday and Miss L finished her very strange 6th grade year.  I now have a 7th grader – I can barely believe it. Although it seems that the kiddos may be able to go back to school in the fall, nothing is certain right now, and even if they do, it will surely look different than it does now.

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I’m still working from home and feeling blessed that my company is being very cautious about bringing everyone back. Miss L’s camps were cancelled this summer and it’s so nice not to have to worry about rearranging all of our schedules to accommodate for her summer care – although the weeks when she is home feel just as busy in the summertime as they did when she was doing virtual school. While I am an introvert, and happy to be at home for large swathes of time without social contact (in this way, self-isolation was no problem for me whatsoever), Miss L is extroverted and I think all kids need social stimulation, interests, and friendships. She and Brandon have bonded over their mutual enjoyment of old kung fu movies and skateboarding, so there are regular visits to the local skate park, but during the weeks we try to make sure she sees her friends from school and get out into the neighborhood. It’s been a balancing act to do this in a responsible, socially distanced way but I think most of her friends’ parents are simpatico on this, and Miss L has been happy to have more bandwidth with a few of her friends and some neighborhood friends at both her dad’s house and mine.

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I have been doing Weight Watchers for about a month now and am thrilled to report that I’ve lost 8 lbs. I still have a bit to go before I get back to what I thought I was before the pandemic, and another 10+ to go before I am finally at my goal weight, but the program is working for me and I am feeling really good on it. In addition to seeing the scale move a little bit in the right direction every week, I’m drinking way more water than I used to, and my skin looks much better. I am strictly limiting refined sugar, processed foods, and alcohol, and I am less bloated, my clothes feel better. I’m taking supplements and sleeping like a baby, and have more energy all around – I haven’t felt a mid-afternoon crash into sluggishness since I started the plan. The plan I’ve picked meshes well with the way we eat anyway, and feels more like a reminder / education about making good choices with food and movement. So here’s to the next month on it and hopefully more loss.

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I went a little crazy signing us up for virtual running events but Brandon and I are having a lot of fun getting our miles in and tracking our progress. The big one, you’ll remember, is the Mitten Run – 160 virtual miles from Oscoda to Empire (across the upper half of the lower peninsula, for you non-Michiganders) and I also signed us up for the Michigan Harvest Challenge, which is a different harvest-themed run per month through October. We’re also doing the virtual Fishtown 5k, which is a fundraiser for historic Leland, and the virtual Crim 10-miler in August. Whew! It’s a lot of running and so far we haven’t made it out of Farmington for our runs, but the Harvest Challenge offers suggested Strava routes up north for the various events so maybe one month we’ll get crazy and drive up north to do one.

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I hope you are all well and safe and healthy. xoxo

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good friday

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You know, Good Friday.

I’m not religious but am super willing to take advantage of this holiday. Everything is going fine, really, here in suburban Elysia’s quarantine fields, but I am feeling the results of having to keep plates spinning. It’s funny but in quarantine I am less alone than I am on a regular basis, I think – when Miss L is with me, we are set up at the same table, doing our online tasks together, and although Brandon is still working, his days start early and end early so he’s home mid-afternoon. I’m responding to emails, working on documents, doing teleconferences and web meetings, planning our annual Board meetings, helping Miss L stay on track with her weekly schedule of classwork, stopping to make lunch and snacks and then dinner (everyone is always hungry) and trying to meal plan for upcoming days and weeks and plan either food deliveries or trips to the store for essentials. I am checking in regularly with my neighbor behind, who is a lovely older woman with cats and a preexisting respiratory condition, and so far she’s only let me get milk for her, but she calls me sometimes when she needs to talk and I am always keeping an eye on the lights in her house and making sure she’s okay.

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So it does get to be a lot for an introvert like me and there are times when I just need some alone time, and today I was able to do that. I restarted the Pink Memories sweater, watched a few episodes of Poldark (Brandon and Miss L tease me for my crush on Poldark “Ooohhhh Poooolddarkkk”) and took a long nap with Emmett aka Unpaid Intern. Of all three of our cats, Emmett is the most unabashedly cuddly and affectionate and needy, and the most willing to disappear for a good long nap with me.

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In other quarantine news, Michigan extended its Stay Home Stay Safe order until April 30, which is no surprise and for which I am glad.  Our office will be closed at least through then and probably into May, and after that I’ll have to figure out what to do with schools closed and summer camp cancellations.

I did make a trip into our office this week – we are considered an “essential business” so we can access our building, although if we can work from home, we are required to do so – I needed to drop off some documents for signature and pick up some files. I had to be screened, have my temperature taken, and the place was like a ghost town. It made me realize how quickly everything has changed for everyone. I can be a bit dissociated – just head down, focusing on the task – but I never, ever, ever imagined that we would live in a world where masks and gloves are a common sight, everywhere, the roads empty, parking lots deserted.

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I’ve scouted out fabric masks and Miss L’s dad and crafty stepmom made some and gifted them to me & Brandon for our trips to the store. I have a few more coming, as well, from a coworker who only asked for more fabric in return, so she could continue to make more. I slip coffee filters into them and wash after every wear. So we have a bit of a stockpile. My freezer is well stocked and our grocery stores, while not as full of the plethora of choices as they have been in the past, are stocked with everything I could need (except toilet paper, but I got on that train weeks ago and am in good shape).  All of these are blessings. I feel like I’m tempting fate if I don’t add, always, gratitude – being busy and stressed means that my job continues and my paycheck keeps coming. Miss L working on her computer means that she’s continuing to get an education and having to meal plan and cook means that we have ample access to food. No one we know is sick, and every prayer to everything I hold true in the universe, I’m sending up that it stays that way.

There are some things that I’m indulging in to make these days easier – little gifts every day. I love this inexpensive bath salt, which I found during a quarantine trip to Wal-Mart (a place I rarely venture into). I am a huge fan of these candles from Target. I burned through the library stockpile I laid in before quarantine, so have a lot of Kindle finds that I’ve started on, with some shipments from Cottage Book Shop (my favorite independent bookstore that I will support as much as I can) to look forward to, as well. I’ll run these down in our next Show Us Your Books and warning, it will be a whomper.

I hope you are all well and safe and healthy. xo

 

the curse of interesting times

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I totally blew Show Us Your Books this week but I wanted to share the below. If you’re into graphic novels, I devoured these last month and can highly recommend them. The art is gorgeous and even though I’m not sure I completely followed the plot, I loved them (and actually ordered the collection on Amazon so I can own them myself).

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We hit almost sixty degrees here in Southeast Michigan last week so I got some muddy spring running in (and then bought new running shoes as my old Brooks were then well and truly trashed).

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I was voter #38 at my precinct on Tuesday and while my first choice candidate wasn’t a winner, I am still very optimistic about the overall turnout and the fact that two important local initiatives passed – one related to a school bond proposal and the other, a millage renewal for the Detroit Institute of Arts.

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So…how is everyone doing?

Personally, I’m swinging between feeling concerned & wanting to be educated about the corona virus and being utterly annoyed at the mass hysteria. Every talking head on our evening news is on the virus train (live at Costco to show every Tom Dick and Karen with their massive carts full of paper towels and gallons of water). Opening Facebook is an exercise in seeing every armchair expert sharing their views or freaking out that we’re on the verge of societal collapse or wondering how they’re going to handle it if their kids don’t have school. I’ve promised myself that I am not posting anything on Facebook related to the virus unless I have something personal or factual to share.

This is my blog, though, so I’m not adhering to those rules – ha.

I feel generally prepared. I am not hoarding, but I stocked my freezer & pantry with some extra food in case of a home quarantine and I’ve already discussed my toilet paper stocks. I’m working from home today, as my company is stress-testing our remote networks to make sure they can support a working-from-home population. Being in the legal department, I’m privy to some behind-the-scenes discussions about how to handle our corporate response to the pandemic and while of course those are not for dissemination unless and until they are needed, suffice it to say that I’m pleased and impressed by our company views on keeping employees safe, healthy, calm, and productive.

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sarge is ready to quarantine

That said, what comes next? These are interesting times and all we can do is look at countries who are ahead of us in the curve and try to extrapolate. I think it’s realistic to expect that schools may close for awhile (all public universities in Michigan have suspended in-person instruction and have moved to online for various lengths of time) and we may be asked to home quarantine for some period of time. We will see what happens but by all means, let’s stay calm, be prepared, and support our brothers and sisters.