Day 49~ Enough with the Rain

Dear Mother Nature~ Enough with the rain!  We deserve some sunshine in our life!  At least I have these cuties to keep me company on rainy days.

Day 49 was a slow one, surprise, surprise.  I watched several episodes of Ozark season 3.  What an amazing show.  I'm usually not into shows this gritty and violent and I more listen to the episodes rather than watch them, but it really is a great show.

I am excited about these upcoming online events and livestreams! 

Day 48- I Miss My City

Day 48 was one of those days, pre virus, that I would have texted JO at lunch and informed him that I needed an emergency city date.  It was one of those days when life blindsides you a bit.  The kind of day that catches you off guard. 

On days like those, the city is my respite.  I go somewhere in the city, a favorite restaurant or bar, a favorite park, a favorite walking route and I let the city wash over me and fill me up with peacefulness.  It takes my mind off of things and helps me rebalance.  (Once, right after my mom died, I tried this and the city felt so overwhelming, I actually was worried I'd lost my ability to be in the city.  Thankfully, that went away on my next visit to Harvard Square.)

My emotions were getting the best of me and all I wanted to do was go out in the city.  Since that wasn't possible I asked JO if he would take me on a drive.  We did a nice lap down Memorial, over the bridge, down Boylston, around the park, and back up Newbury Street and then over to Fenway.  It was so nice to see the city and so weird to see it so empty and hear it so quiet.  Cities aren't supposed to be this way.  They are supposed to be full of people, emotions, noises, etc.  It's supposed to be this beautiful symphony of all the good noises and all the bad noises all balanced together.  It's supposed to be this elaborate dance of people moving past one another in this oddly choreographed dance down the streets. 

In some ways, the drive made me miss the city more but in lots of ways, it was just what my heart needed.  It also made me realize that the old normal isn't coming back and that's bringing it's own set of emotions with it...but those are for another day.

Day 47~ Insert Catchy Title Here

Random thoughts from Day 47....

Who let kittens in the yoga studio?

The Fridge gets it!

Remember my mask tirade from the other day.  My city (finally) instituted a mandatory mask requirement.  Since I'm the resident rule follower, I distributed these flyers to everyone in our building.

You get way more for your money in Connecticut than you do in Cambridge.

Today's main feature~ One of my favorite Forever Huskies, Naphesa Collier, started a book club (#pheesbookclub) and announced the first book would be An Anonymous Girl.  Apparently, one of Naphesa's fans is the niece of one of the authors of the book.  Thanks to the magic of direct messages, the fan connected Naphesa with the author so the first book club featured a conversation between the two.  (How cool is that?)

And for the 47th day in a row, I set up the "coffee shop" for the next morning.

Day 46~ Slow Sunday

It was a slow Sunday around here, even for quarantine times.  JO was a rockstar and got my dad a new tv and hooked it up at his place.  My dad had been without a working tv for an entire week so I'm very grateful to JO for doing this.  I did my school work and lounged around a lot.  I did listen to the first 100 pages in An Anonymous Girl to be prepared for Naphesa Collier's Book Club on Monday and I finished season 2 of Ozark so I guess I accomplished some things. 

An Amazon package arrived containing some necessities, including these peacock leggings, which apparently a week ago I thought I really needed. (Side note- I really like them!)

I whipped up a Fantastic Feast of the Nine Fish Sticks (look at that cool potato hack I did since we only have one sheet pan) and watched Dennis Brennan's live show (I've wanted to see Dennis perform for years now and it took a pandemic for me to be able to have time to "go" to one of his shows.)

Oh, and this happened! 

And in "tweets of the day" I highly recommend you Google Trump Noble Tweet.~ it was so embarrassing that he had to delete it and then play the sarcasm defense!

Day 45~ I'm Losing Faith in Humanity

Saturday was forecast to be sunny, spring day with temps in the high 50s or low 60s.  Last week was rainy, and the upcoming week is supposed to be rainy so JO and I, along with everyone else, wanted to take advantage of the sunshine.

I have no problem with people wanting to enjoy the weather.  We all deserve to soak up some sunshine and breath in fresh, spring air.  But, we need to do it responsibly.  We are all part of the solution and I was shocked with what we saw.  JO and I drove into Boston and took advantage of the "no charge" meters to park our car in the Seaport so we could go on a run. 

We brought our masks with us and planned on running with them on, even though that isn't fun at all.  I had been feeling guilty about the last run we went on when we didn't wear the masks.  I felt like a loser and like I wasn't doing my part.  If I want other people to wear masks, I need to expect the same of myself, at all times. 

JO and I ran from the Seaport into South Boston, to a nice park that had ocean views.  The run was great but I was so disappointed by what I saw.  I estimate only 30% of the people we encountered were wearing masks, and we didn't see much of any social distancing happening.  At one point, I got so frustrated that I pointed at my mask as an unmasked pedestrian passed us.  She gave me two middle fingers in return. 

Here's the thing.  I don't want to wear a mask.  You probably don't want to wear a mask.  I miss going to bars and restaurants and museums and the ballet.  You probably miss some or all of those things.  I wear the mask, practice social distancing, and stay home as much as possible because I want those things back.  You don't do those things but still want and expect for those things to come back.  It's that kind of attitude that's going to make this last longer.  I depend on you and you depend on me.  I'm doing my part, but I need you to do your part. 

Because of all the foolishness that we saw, our run didn't have the desired effect on me and I spent a bunch of time when we got home feeling grumpy.  Thankfully, I had the the best part of quarantine weeks to look forward to.   That would be "A Touch More" Instagram Live with Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe!  And Saturday's episode featured the amazing Diana Taurasi!!!  (Here's a Youtube link)

Usually the show only lasts for an hour but last night's episode went on for at least three hours.  I actually had to stop because it was so late, but oh my goodness.  It was everything and more!  Sue and Diana are besties, going back to their UConn days and have played in four Olympics together with a fifth planned next summer.  As a die hard UConn fan, seeing these two reunited is amazing. 

I was in such a better mood after watching this!  Seriously, it's the best part of each week!

Day 43- Self Care Day

Day 43 started with Lysol having to post a disclaimer about not ingesting their disinfecting!  Yes, that's where our country is currently at.  Maybe it's time for the 25th ammendment.

After I finished up my school work on Friday, I decided I needed some self-care.  For me, during the quarantine, self-care means taking advantage of this time to do things I didn't used to have time for.

I started with another great Melt class to take care of my muscles, that are getting quite a workout from all of the running I've been doing.  I'm continually amazed at how much better I feel when this class is done.  I definitely like having this class to look forward to during these weeks where the days can blend together.

After my Melt class, I took a yoga class on Down Dog.  I love, love, love this app.  I will definitely be subscribing, once the free quarantine special expires.  You can really tailor the class to your needs, from difficulty, to time, to special focuses.  I bought some new candles for my "yoga" studio to really set the mood.  I used to be very anti yoga at home because I thought I would miss the studio aspect too much.  Through this experience, I've learned that I can recreate some of that atmosphere in my house. 

Our evening kind of got away from us because we decided to phone my dad, JO's parents, and JO's brother and before we knew it, it was ten o'clock. 😱

Day 42~ Take Two Tide Pods and Sit in a Tanning Bed

Day 42 was a bit of a slow day.  After a great Google Meet with my class (side note- teaching in a Google Meet is really strange but I think it's forcing kids to develop patience, listening skills, and an appreciation for showing their work on paper so I think there are some positive things that will come out of this) I went for a run with JO.  It was a beautiful day for a run and we went through the streets between Cambridgeport and Harvard Square.  We found some beautiful houses that we've never seen before.  That being said, I think we will need to start shifting our runs to nighttime to avoid people.  There aren't a ton of people out but there enough to make it problematic.  I can't run with a mask on and I don't want to contribute to the problem.  Plus, cases are skyrocketing in Cambridge and I don't want us to take any unnecessary risks. 

After the run I did my school work, watched some more Ozark (my goodness, what a show), read my book, and tried to figure out something fun for us to do that night.  I couldn't think of anything good, but JO recommended we have a Game-o-Palooza and I had fun making the score sheet for the event.  We played three games to see who the champion was.  It was a fun way to pass the night.  I can't believe I pulled out the victory!

But of course, the highlight, or lowlight, of Day 42 was our president suggesting we ingest disinfectant and get light into our body as possible treatments/cures for the virus.  🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦
JO and I don't watch the briefings anymore but for some reason, last night, JO thought we should tune in for a few minutes.  We tuned in right at the exact moment that this was unfolding and we were both just flabbergasted.  This was really, actually happening.  I posted about it on Facebook and several friends didn't believe me.  I mean, I can't believe this actually happened and I watched it live!  We can no longer call ourselves the leader of the free world because the world is laughing at us.  (And today, he tried to take it all back by saying he was being sarcastic towards a reporter.  No you weren't!  No, you are actually that stupid or that manipulative or that empty!)  I rounded up the best posts from Twitter.

On a really great note, one of my favorite Huskies, Naphesa Collier is doing a book club!  I can't wait for this!  You should join!

Day 41

Day 41 will be remembered for this Anderson Cooper moment!  Anderson has hit his limit and I'm on board with this.

Day 41 was the day I tucked the kittens in because I was bored (and they surprisingly didn't hate it!)

Day 41 was also the day I realized that I don't really daydream anymore.  I usually love to daydream, before falling asleep or before getting out of bed early.  I used to daydream about moving to California or our next great hiking adventure or some alternate reality.  I realized on day 41 that I can't remember the last time I daydreamed.  Without a real end in sight, daydreaming seems a bit fruitless. 

I still have all this mint and limes so I made myself a mojito and enjoyed the finale of Little Fires Everywhere.  Wow, wow, wow! The last 20 minutes is some of the best acting on a tv show I've ever seen.

I leave you with this lovely post from Harvard Square!

Day 40- Once More, with Feeling

Day 40, I feel like we got here pretty quickly.  Wasn't it just day 30 like yesterday.  All the days blend together now.  Day 40 was a bit of a roller coaster day.

One of the things I've very much enjoying about the quarantine lifestyle is that I can be more flexible with my work times.  Tuesday was supposed to be rainy but then we woke up and it looked like there was a window of some sunny weather.  Since we weren't able to go for a run on Monday we decided to squeeze in a lunchtime run on Tuesday. 

Sometimes when I run I just know it's going to end with a good time.  Tuesday was one of those days.  I had slept really well the night before.  The weather was perfect for running.  There was a little added incentive to beat the doom clouds we could see in the distance.  It all added up to a personal record!  I've never run so fast before, and look at the last mile split time!  It felt great to accomplish something like this.

When I got back from the run my phone was blowing up with text messages informing me that schools were closed for the rest of the year in Massachusetts.  A lot of my teaching friends were really emotional about this.  Maybe because I couldn't imagine how it would be safe to go back, I wasn't really emotional about this news.  I was rather relieved because for the last week or so, being in this weird limbo where it seemed inevitable that schools would remain closed but no formal declaration, was taxing. 

With this sense of relief, came a wave of what I can only describe as heaviness for a different reason.  It's becoming really apparent that "normal" isn't coming back anytime soon.  I knew this but it seemed realer yesterday.  Maybe it was the combination of yesterday's grocery shopping debacle and this school news but there was a weight in the air yesterday and it was hard to shake.  I remember talking to my cousin who lives in Seattle back in early March.  She was telling me about the lines at grocery stores and the empty shelves and you could hear all the feelings in just a few text messages and I feel like we are at that point now.  And then there were these these updates from the CDC and the president of UConn and everything felt like it was closing in on us.

I'm going to continue to try to focus on the positives and how lucky I am to have this opportunity to slow down and I'm going to allow myself to feel the heaviness and be ok with that when it comes because any feelings are valid and ok.

After dinner, JO suggested we go for a walk.  The crazy rain had ended and there was a bit of a sunset. He had actually forgotten that we had already gone for a run today and wanted to get fresh air.  We walked around our neighborhood.  It is so strange to see it so empty, so still, so quiet.  I miss the carefree ways of a few months ago.  We ended up standing in the parking lot across the street from us, eating peanut butter cups, because of all the feelings.  Yes, I will remember Day 40 because I ran the fastest I've ever run and because I stood in a parking lot eating peanut cups, missing my neighborhood. 

We finished the night by watching another Hitchcock movie and enjoying another Southside. 

I love this picture of Denali!

And in today's "Sad About America" segment:

And my city has started deploying sound trucks to remind people of the rules.  I'm sure this is partly because our certain politicians are sending such mixed messages about everything!