April Showers and Social Distancing in Pandemic Times

As was expected (by myself), I’m already slacking on updates. I thought it would be a great idea to have a digital diary so I could add images and because it’s faster than writing, but it feels weird having both. When I’m laying in bed and would normally write down a few things, I’ll think, “Oh, I’ll just leave it for prosebox,” or, “It feels wrong writing an entry in here when yesterday’s was online.” Maybe I’ll print these out and put them in it? I don’t know.

My husband’s job finally decided to create separate work crews in an effort to not expose the entire workforce if someone gets sick. He works 5 days and then gets 10 days off, paid. It’s really nice! It’s also really helpful because we keep buying things or needing to pay things such as:
-Live/work in the same county tax
-Both cars had major work done RIGHT before Covid set in
-Fence for the yard
-Surveyor for the yard (umm… WHY is that so expensive? Is it the equipment costs or something? How much do those guys make an hour? He was here maybe 30 minutes and it cost $450. Whaaaaaat)
-Had three trees moved up 3 feet because we’re totally inexperienced parents/homeowners who last year thought we didn’t want a fence. Now with a toddler we’re begging for a boundary, lol
-Furnace/AC UV system and a whole home dehumidifier. I think we got a little screwed here. Our AC has a funny smell. The HVAC guy told us both things would fix it. Well, my house still smells like a foot when we run AC. Ugh.
-Student loans. Congress passed a bill that put all Dept of Education loans into forbearance interest-free until September. I figured mine was that. Nope, of course not. I don’t quite understand (I haven’t looked into it) but I think that my loans are too old. I think Dept of Education owns newer loans OR they get sold after a certain period of time. Not sure which, just that I read something about older borrowers being left out of Congress’s deal. Whatever.
-Another kid. We want another and will probably have to have an embryo transfer. That’s big $$$

Two nights ago we had a really bad line of storms. At one point there were three tornado warnings going on around us. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like any were actually on the ground. A couple areas experienced roof damage/trees down. The worst part was that it was trash night and the winds made a whole mess of things.

As far as covid goes, the CDC now recommends that everyone wear masks in public to keep your germs to yourself. I haven’t been in a store since March 15th, so it’s a moot point here. My husband did bring two home from a friend, so maybe he’ll wear one at the grocery. Kroger now offers free Clicklist (they bag your groceries and load them in your car). I’ve only used the service pre-pandemic. In those times, you could fill up your virtual cart the night before and pick them up the next afternoon. If I were to fill up my cart right now (Friday), I wouldn’t be able to pick it up until Tuesday. I’ve seen people on Facebook saying that they’re waiting in line up to TWO hours for pickup, with a lot of items being substituted or cancelled because they’re out of stock. Disinfectants are pretty much nonexistent in the grocery. I’m not sure if they go fast or if they’re not being restocked due to hospital/commercial demand. Toilet paper and cleaning products are hit or miss. We haven’t been able to find my daughter’s small thin-sliced bread for over a month now. Amazon has made changes too. Prime (two-day shipping) applies only to essential items like household/medical. Anything else has a much longer wait. I ordered a flour sifter about two weeks ago. It should be here this weekend. On the upside, ovulation pee sticks were here in two days, haha! Downside though, I’ve seen parents complaining that toys and games are either out of stock or will take up to a month to be delivered. I totally understand that they’re not essential, but the parenting struggle is real these days.

I haven’t been following the White House briefings. I’ve tried here and there. Trump gets up there and trips and sputters his way through some information (sometimes misinformation) and it’s painful to watch. It’s painful to see my mom and aunt defend him so much. He’s bragging about the viewership of his briefings on twitter. I’ve read articles that his staff are begging him to let Fauci and Birx (the doctors on his team) take the lead, but he won’t. He name-calls and reacts like a child when reporters ask him questions that are in any way critical of his actions. Today he said, “The germ has gotten so brilliant that the antibiotic can’t keep up with it.” The germ being a virus. And the antibiotic being…not something you use against a virus.

I have been following my governor’s briefings, though they are pretty much the same every day. Today was our highest # of new cases, 242. We have 1,693 positive cases and 90 deaths. The county right next to ours is a hot spot. Churches have been asked to stop in-person services, but some are not obeying the orders. With Easter this weekend, that’s a real concern. State parks and campsites have closed. We’re not allowed to travel across state lines unless it’s for work/groceries/medical. When shopping, it’s supposed to be one person per cart with exceptions for single parents and adult caregivers.

Also, covid is expected to be seasonal. So that’s fun. I guess I’m never seeing my parents again until either they get it and die or when there’s a vaccine. I’m being overdramatic. I hope.

(notable) Twitter Trends:
Antibiotics: for the quote I mentioned earlier
SaveThePostOffice: Trump supposedly wants it to fail because he’s against voting by mail, which may become a necessity. He has said that if vote by mail is allowed to happen, no Republicans will ever be elected again. If everyone was able to vote and suddenly America’s voice was Democrat, shouldn’t that be acceptable? We the people, of the people, by the people.