DO YOU MULTI TASK - I AM DOING SO RIGHT NOW!

 I haven't written a post since the start of the month?  I am shocked.  I actually have last week's post writing (and posting of it) checked off in my calendar!  

And nothing special to write this week either.  Hmmm -

Multitasking – that's it!  I do a lot of multitasking to get things done.  As I am writing this the first load of laundry for the week is in the washer.  I am in the kitchen and can sort of hear the washer – plus I set an alarm in my older cell phone to remind to go down in 50 minutes and switch loads.  

I will then transfer this load – all of our clothes from the past week (with two sets of exceptions) to the dryer and toss in the towels and laundry bags to wash.  Reset alarm for another 50 minutes and put the clothes in the laundry basket with husband's shirts laid across the top of the load so they don't get wrinkled.  The towels then go into the dryer.  

If we have used most (or all) of our Covid masks (we are still wearing them when we go out as we are both high risk and many people here still do so) I will throw them into the washer for another load.  I put the masks in smaller sized net bags that zipper closed to protect them in the washer.  I own 3 bags and will spread the masks as evenly as possible in the bags.   The alarm is reset for another 50 minutes.  If not the alarm will not be reset as I don't take the last load out until tomorrow.  

If the masks are in the washer, when I go down again I will put the towels in the larger laundry bag from the dryer and leave it on top of the washer.  The masks will go into the dryer set on half an hour and will be taken out the next day.  I take the masks out of the net bags for drying, but zip the bags closed again and put them in the dryer with the masks.  

Some weeks I have a different third load than the masks.  When I have a load of sweatshirts that I wear to keep warm – in winter as it is cold and in hot weather because husband has the air conditioner on and I get too cold.  These would go in the washer after the towels as an extra load every few weeks when I have used up most of them.  Or I could be washing the sheets and pillowcases from our bed as a third (or even fourth load).  Once in awhile I could also be washing the blankets from the bed as an additional load.  

While all of the laundry is being done I write and post to all of you.  I also visit an online needlework group.  Sometimes I do some clothing repair/sock darning.  

And while I do almost everything in the house – the TV is on for me to “watch” - well, mostly listen to and look up at every now.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Plan to use your time as well as possible.  If you have something that you can “set and forget” such as laundry – use the same time to do something which takes more attention. 

NICE WHEN A WEEK ACTUALLY GOES RIGHT

A better week.  

Day after I wrote last week's post I was surprised to receive the renewal for our van – since it was suppose to take until sometime next week to reach us.  Weather has been terribly hot and we are not going anywhere, so we have not changed the window sticker yet.  (Van parked on our driveway so not a problem that the old sticker is still in the window.)

And – after being told that I could not renew that prescription both by our pharmacy and our medical insurance – we received a call Monday asking why we had not picked up the prescription yet and we only had 2 more days to pick it up before it went back into stock!  We went in to pick it up – I was sure that they were going to charge the full price for it – after all, it was the only insurance saying it would not pay for it yet that stopped it from being filled – and if that was that was the case – I would say to put back into stock for now.  Surprise!  It was charged at the usual co-payment.  Not exactly sure how this happened, but it did.  

When we went food shopping last week we stopped at a Wendys near the supermarket for lunch.  This particular Wendys has never been the best, but it is greatly lacking right now – not sure if change of management or if we just never had lunch there before – we used to go for dinner on some Saturday nights.  

How nice it was to go in the supermarket, make only one trip into it, and do our entire food shopping and not even have a problem fitting all the bags in the cart after we shopped.  We have not shopped for a normal sized shopping order in over 15 months.

And then, also on Thursday, we did something else we have not done in over 15 months – we went out for dinner!   Back in the normal times we would go to an Asian buffet for dinner on Friday nights.  We went on Thursday night as we figured it would be a lot emptier than it would be on Friday night.  Very pleased that they handed us large gloves to use when going to the food bar and masks were required for same.  A number of unused serving trays on the food bars  – but not sure if this is due to it being now or if this was always the case on Thursday nights, though we presume the former.  

Everything we do these days continues to involve being organized.  We have to remember to bring our masks (no longer required by state or local government, but often required by the various businesses we are going to  - plus we feel safer with them on.  I carry at least two plastic sandwich bags in my pocket when we go anywhere – we can open doors (at stores without automatic doors) etc with them on our hands instead of touching the doors with our bare hands.  The Corona virus counts here may be very low and we may be fully vaccinated, but I know of too many people who will not the vaccine and feel safer not touching doors that everyone else is touching.  

When food shopping to prevent needing to continuously up and down the same aisles or need to go back to the store in a day or two as we forgot something – we make sure to shop with a list.  I have a strip of paper on the refrigerator for us to list items we are going to run out of – try to do this in time not to run out.  Unless we are going for less  than 10 or so items I write them into a computer spreadsheet.  On one of our early trips into the supermarket during the pandemic I listed by type items that we might use by aisle number – though it is my numbering system – the first aisle we go to in the store I have as aisle one, the next one as aisle two and so on through the food items.  After food is listed non-food items -  cleaning, vitamins and such.  Next on my list is refrigerated items – which involves walking back to the far end of the store, followed by meat items and lastly frozen items.  As we walk through the store we can pick easily find the items we need to buy.  I try to keep each section of the list to match the order in each aisle.  Putting them in this list also helps as my handwriting is terrible and I can always read what I printed out – while I cannot always figure out what I hand wrote on a list. While we are a bit more comfortable walking around in the store, we don't want to be in it longer than we need to be.  I am packing the cold items in different bags than the non-cold items as I am still wiping everything down with alcohol when we come home and want to make sure that I get to all the cold items quickly.  

When we go out food or other shopping we have to remember to bring bags with us these days.  Just as our area went into the pandemic last March, it became illegal for stores to provide plastic shopping bags and either a county or large city could impose a fee for paper bags or the stores in area which did not do so were allowed to charge up to 10 cents a bag for paper bags.  Our areas does not have the fee so it is up to stores if they are going to charge and whether they charge the entire 10 cents (plus a penny a bag in sales tax) or not.  Most, of course, are charging the full 10 cents.  One dollar store which is location of a chain store will automatically put one's items in a paper bag and charge for it – not ask if one wants a bag, even if one is buying one item.  They got me once with this.  The two times we have back I quickly say that we have our own bag.  What we have been going is carrying some of the old plastic shopping bags with us into stores other than when going into the supermarket for more than a couple of items when we bring double bagged paper bags with us.  If the plastic shopping bags are folded down correctly I can fit 4 of them (maybe even more) in each of my two back pockets leaving my hands free until we are done shopping and I am bagging the items we bought after we ring them up.    So, I have to organize our bags also.  When I first read a book about organizing the author said that one does not keep bags - “Have you ever walked into a store and they did not have bags available?”  I still went on keeping most of the bags we got which were normal sized or larger.  Husband made the same comment to me as the author had printed and I replied “you never know”  Up until this law went into effect I had been using those plastic shopping bags as free garbage bags for our bathroom and bedroom little garbage pails.  I now still use them – but dump them into (upstairs) the office pail and (downstairs) the kitchen pail and put the shopping bag into the little pails to use again unless they are messy.  My stash of bags that I would “never need as the stores always have them” will last us for years at the minimum, since they are being used over and over again.

What have you been doing differently to deal with all of these sorts of things this past year plus?

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Who ever thought that going food shopping for just what one needs in the coming week would become something looked forward to.

NEW YEAR TO COME AND ADDEDUM TO LAST WEEK'S POST

 Before this weeks' post a followup –

I finally found the rest of the Christmas ornament hooks I wrote about last week (about 5 times more hooks than we used on the tree).  I always store things logically – problem is the logic is often forgotten.  I have two open plastic boxes under part of my teddy bear village which I keep various small items which are used at different times during the year – such as little park benches, chairs, tables…  I had been turning the idea of what would I consider a logical place to put the tree hooks under the circumstances of last year.  The idea entered my head that I have a bear in an airplane attached to the tree in the village (so he doesn't fall off and it looks like he is flying around the tree) with Christmas tree hooks and I did that since last year.  Yep, the hooks were in one of the brown baskets.  So the teddy bear village Christmas tree is decorated, but, sitting here the night before New Year's Eve, the rest of the village is only partly set up for the “Winter Festival” - okay it is called that instead of the “Christmas Festival” so it can be left up after Christmas.  Things keep happening.  


Now this week's post -

Of course a New Year's post is needed at this time.  I don't believe in making resolutions – they tend to be too big and grand and one does not carry through one feels like a failure.  Those of you who read my blog on an ongoing basis know that I believe that each day is a start of a new year.  

I like to work with the idea of trying to do something better, not making resolutions.  Pick something – relatively small and think how can you do better at dealing with it.  It may be organizing related or family relationship related, or work related or just something that you do or don't do which drives you crazy.  Decide that you will try to do better – and see what you can do about it.  Small steps – not big jumps.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

May the year to come be better for all of us.  

Please keep separate with your immediate family and wear your masks and gloves for awhile longer so you and I and most of us will be here a year from now and will be looking at back at 2020 at the end of 2021 thinking “Thank goodness Covid 19 ended this past year and we can all be together safely.”

COVID 19 #23 TAKING TIME OFF - IT'S A WALK IN THE PARK

 Husband does not like being in the house all time and has been getting very antsy about it.  He saw a post online of friends (a married couple that we went to college with) walking in a local park.  It started him thinking.  

He decided that if went for a walk in a park in the afternoon (we don't do mornings, especially now) during the week while children are in school and people are ate work, there would not be a big crowd of people at the park.  

He at first talked about the park our friends had been in, then decided he wanted to go a nearby park that he went to as a teenager and in his 20s to fish – not that he planned to fish.  I have been to this park with him before and as it was so important to him we would go.  We took our masks and my bug band (I get bitten by bugs when I go out and this was a park) and set off.  

There were a number of people at the park – it is also sort of a boat marina – but not overcrowded.  The sky was very overcast which might have cut back on the number of people out that day.  We spent about an hour there walking around and it made him rather happy to be out and about.

We watched boats out on the water.  Some people were fishing off the pier – when he would fish here, he would fish off the beach – that is not longer allowed.  We walked the path through the park.  There were benches along the path (not that we would sit on one right now) and as we walked I noticed that they had small plaques on them – not large ones – the sort that makes me think the town “sold” the benches – meaning these plaques placed on them – as a fund raiser for the park.  We read a couple of them as walked along, on our way back we stopped read most of them.  A lot of them were placed there by people who must come and sit there and sit there often or in memory of someone who did so from what was written on them.  One of them had an Irish flag taped to it.  

There is a fitness trail along the path and we looked at the various things to do for it along the way.  Even if we might otherwise be tempted to try some of the exercises suggested, we were too concerned about Covid-19 to touch any of it.  One of the things to do involved two high parallel bars – not sure if to hang from and chin up or hang from and walk across with one's hands – but it would be impossible for either us to do either as there was no way, even with jumping up, either of us could reach the bars.  

There was a paved spot in the park and husband was curious what it was.  I looked and noticed a small hilly area adjacent to it and commented that it must be an amphitheater – not remembering one from when he was there before, he was not sure so we went there and he agreed that it must be one.  

People there mostly had masks had on and had them on properly covering their nose and mouth.  They also mostly kept their 6 feet distance – other than mom's with children in carriages who would walk next to each other and take up the entire width of the path with no way to pass them when one was behind them or when was one was approaching them from the front.  We ended up walking onto the grass to pass a few of these pairs.  

It was a nice quiet day out.  He feels he needs to get out and walk more – so tomorrow we are going to the park our friends went to and take a walk there.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Well, as much as I like to stay in, I guess we do need to get out and have some exercise.

Have others been getting out for exercise also?  What have you been doing?

COVID 19 #11 - FOOD DELIVERY AND SHOPPING

On last Thursday (the day after I posted) we received another delivery for the food ordered. Again cans were dented – 5 of the 8 cans we received. I am sure I have mentioned that we don't ordinarily order things – and this is one of the things we worry about.

After we dealt the delivery on Thursday husband decided that it was time to go to the supermarket. His logic was that if we went during dinner time (around 6 pm) there would be less people there. Yes, we could go to the special hours for those who are older or at risk, but we are not morning people – we are barely asleep at 6 am when most of the special hours start. We have a Walmart Neighborhood Market at which we normally do a good deal of our food shopping. It is a supermarket and related items – no clothing, gardening etc. He went online and checked that items he planned to buy were in stock – they were.

He had me bring a can of Lysol spray and used it spray the cart – good idea (no, no one was wiping the carts off and even if they were – we had to bring from the parking lot to the store and would have had to touch it to do so). His plan was that I would push the cart and he would put the food in it – both wearing gloves of course. There was no one at the door counting people in and out as we expected there to be – nor anyone checking that we had masks on (we did). The store when we went in was emptier than the Walmart we had gone to for our medications looked from where we parked and looking in the exit doorway. There were directional markings on the floor, but so small I did not notice them and husband did not notice them until the second aisle we went through.

I had thought we were just there for “cold” items – but our first stop was soup – as he looked for and found some varieties which had not been available online – and the cans were not dented. People ignored the 6 foot rule – and even bumped into us. (Okay, this was the first aisle and we were going in the wrong direction – but still – walk into people when there is room to pass them by at least 2 feet?)

We then headed to the meat department. We normally buy regular foods – not organic. Only chicken breasts they had were organic – so we bought organic – 2 packages of 5 breasts each – a reasonable amount under the circumstances. Next some whole chickens caught husband's eye. “Can you cook a chicken?” I shrugged. “I guess it must be the same as turkey – just less time.” We bought a chicken – He was going for two, but I was concerned that maybe it wasn't the same roasting a turkey.

This led us into the freezer department. He added a number of frozen entrees for families that we had bought before - just not this many. I found the frozen vegetables – they had green peas and green beans that we needed (bought multiple bags of course – they are small), but no carrots. We did find frozen mixed vegetables which included same and I needed them for stews – so figured that was good and bought 2 bags of them. He also bought 2 boxes of frozen fried fish – something I don't eat.

As we headed over to the cheese and hot dogs aisle he stopped in the canned vegetables aisles – not really any vegetables we were looking for left – except – canned potatoes. He had looked online to order them and there had been none listed for delivery or pickup in store. We bought 6 cans, they are great in stews. We continued on – he bought 3 packages of 16 hot dogs – I did not point out that at 2 hot dogs for dinner once a week for him – that was 24 weeks worth of hot dogs. (I used to love hot dogs, but became ill after having them once and since then – it is not even easy for me to smell the while I cook them for him.) Added some American cheese and real cheese without whey that can he eat. He found one package of chicken strips similar to the chicken patties I eat when he has the hot dogs, close enough and one is better than none. Also bought 2 packages of presliced packaged turkey – good for dinner or lunch.

Then he headed to the household items. He uses baby shampoo to wash and finish the pieces he weaves and need more. He has been getting some weaving done while we are in the house – just set up his loom to weave 2 dish towels – something he has not woven before, but seem to be popular. A quick stop in the plastic bag aisle to pick up more zip bags in different sizes and we started for the check out. Our cart was the most full of any cart we have had in 40 years of marriage – more than when I would buy for Thanksgiving dinner for our two families and my regular weekly shopping at the same time. I was feeling good – he had overcome his fear of going out and we would probably not need to buy meat again for several months.

As we approached the checkout he turned pale – he did not feel good – really bad in fact. I told him to go to the car and wait. I checked out. Also had the biggest priced order we have ever had. I went out to the car he was terrible looking sitting in the driver's seat. He pushed the button to unlock the back hatch door so I could put in 9 large bags of groceries. (I had made sure to put all the cold items at the front of the order so those items would be bagged together for when we arrived home.) The parking lot was on an incline. I was holding the cart with one hand and trying to open the car hatch with the other and it was not opening. I finally managed to wedge a foot around a wheel so I could use both hands to open the back. He had to drive home as otherwise he would have been sicker.

When we arrived home sent him upstairs to lie down in bed. When we bring things such as food into the house (including the orders when we received them) I have been wiping them off in the porch with alcohol sprayed on pieces of paper towel and handing them in the door to him – he would then put them either in the fridge or a large towel layed out on the kitchen table until I could decide where to put them. Since he was not there I spread the towel on a small counter between the door and fridge. I brought a bag of cold food into the porch and started each item off and putting it on the towel – I had to stack items on each other. When all the cold items were in the house. I ran upstairs to check on husband.

He had tested his blood sugar and it was low. Apparently between the excitement/anxiety of being out and having trouble breathing through the mask – he had burned off the blood sugar he had and low blood sugar added to the trouble the breathing and anxiety made him ill. I brought up a bottle of a sugared drink he uses when he has a low and when he finished it, I left him to go to sleep.

I looked at what was on the counter – I was not sure it all would fit in the freezer where just about all would need to be stored. For the moment I stacked the already frozen items in the freezer – it just fit – and stacked the cold. Not frozen items in the fridge. I then went out and brought in a bag of non- cold items at a time and repeated the process of wiping the items down and putting them on the towel on the counter until all of them were in the house. (Having also done this earlier in the day with 4 cartons of food delivered I was exhausted.)

I looked at the clock and it was close to 8:45 pm. I went up and checked on husband – he was between sleep and awake and not yet ready to get up and come downstairs. I went back down and wondered – after getting all this food delivered or purchased and stored – what to make us for dinner as he would need to eat SOON. I started water boiling and added some pasta – I figured it was easy on the stomach and would give him carbs to offset his low blood sugar. At around 9:15 I checked with him again – he realized we needed to eat and I told him what I had done – he was unsure, but willing to try. He came down and was able to eat and agreed it was a good choice. We then also had some of the presliced turkey in sandwiches for dinner.

We could relax a bit – we now have plenty of food for a long time – well at least until he comes up with something else we need.

Oh – On Friday the last of the orders was delivered – including 8 pristine cans – no dents – why? These were packed in their cardboard base with shrink plastic holding them in place and small plastic pillow filled air around them to keep them from denting – the other cans had some pieces of paper as the only packing around them and the other food in the cartons and they bounced around – though at least 2 of them had to be dented when packed from the extent of the dents.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Fear is a problem if it stops us from doing something we need to do (or even really like to do). I was so glad that he overcame his fear. Generally our fear is worse than the thing we are afraid of. I am glad that we were able to go out food shopping for the first time since mid-March – next time we know what to expect and it will be easier.

Everyone – hoping you and your family stay well.