Living In the Time of Pandemic....Being Normal as Possible

Sometimes I look out my window and think the world has gone mad.

This happened last week at a grocery store I frequent...............

This incident made the pages of that bastion of yellow journalism the NY Post, as well as was covered on the national network news by NBC and Fox.

During my last trip to the Weis(PMITA)Markets grocery store on 24 March I heard a customer in line at one of the regular check-out registers yelling, "We're all gonna die!  This thing is going to kill us all!!  Nobody will escape it!"  over and over again.  I don't know why management didn't escort him out of the store or at least duct tape his mouth shut.

The next door neighbor's wife, he reports, walks around the house and cries all day.  They are both elderly like us and the husband still goes to work now 2 days a week.  But he wishes he went more often because of how this thing is affecting his wife. Being around somebody this distressed all the time wears on a body so I'd want to go to work too. ;-)

I spent down all my Bonus Cash as of Sunday when I bought 3 bags of Robin Eggs malted milk balls, using a $2/3 ManuQ.  I had to pick up Ex-CB's Rx that day anyway at Rite-Aid.
I'll be earning new BC on 2 accounts/cards on April 5th from this Bonus Cash Challenge but R-A has gone back to having 60 days to use or lose the BC due to the pandemic.

Ex-College Boy is still furloughed until further notice.  He got paid for the first two weeks they were closed by his company but since Sunday he is now laid off.  He has applied for Unemployment this week.

The Daughter is still having to report to work in Louisiana but her husband has been given the ok to work from home so they both are still working.  This solves their dog's problem as she has not adjusted to their new house yet(and she may never adjust to being left alone because she's "special").  Daughter has been buying meal kits online or getting take-out delivered so as to stay out of the grocery stores.  I hope their budget can keep up with that expense.

Eldest, who is a teacher, is sitting home playing World of Warcraft(after he spends a minimum of time uploading lessons to some Google platform for his students)in his underwear and day drinking.
Their school district can't seem to get their shit together enough to do online classes and they aren't grading any student during this so he has little to do.

I had to send him this last week.........

A box of toilet paper.  He was down to his last 2 rolls and after going to every store in his town he couldn't secure a pack of tp so I sent him a supply.
Every time he's here to visit I ask him what he needs, to go into my stockpile and take what he wants but he rolls his eyes at me and says, "thanks but no thanks".  And all my kids use to make fun of me for having a stockpile of goods.
But who's having the last laugh now, huh?!?

Eldest and I share a morbid sense of humor so I told him I was making him a mask out of this fabric to weaar if he needs to go out in public..........

With the number of cases in our county now(almost up to 400) Hubs and I have made a decision that if anything(drugs, groceries, take-out)need picking up in April he'll go do it and I am quarantined for the duration.  With my suppressed immune system(due to being on a biologic drug)and my history of asthma/breathing problems he's our "canary in the coal mines". ;-)

Other than disrupting my weekly routine of grocery shopping/Rite-Aid shopping this shouldn't be so hard, right?  I'm usually a homebody anyway if not on an occasional trip somewhere.

But staying home and eating comfort foods snuggled in your pjs watching tv of your own volition is different than being told you can't leave home and you HAVE TO do those things.
It's in your mindset.

We all need to give ourselves permission to do nothing or to at least get less done.
We are in a crisis here and things are NOT normal even if we want to pretend they are.
We are ALL stressed in some way or another......if not financially due to less/no work and less/no pay, then our daily routines are disrupted and we are all anxious about friends and family members and about our own health.

I've been listening to a lady on Youtube for years.  She runs an organizing business in Houston Texas and calls herself the "Clutter Fairy".  She use to tape a monthly local meeting/talk and put it online but went to a weekly virtual coaching session/meeting the beginning of this year.
I found Tuesday's session very enlightening, even if you don't need organizing help.

Pay attention to the first 20 minutes or so of this vlog......


We are all facing a fire hose right now so give yourself some Grace and don't push yourself too hard!

I am trying to keep my own routines in place to give my life some structure(and trying not to kill my spouse)but I am giving myself grace too.
I got some comments on my March Grocery Spending Report about not tracking spending right now because well, pandemic!  Some may feel tracking food spending may be just too much to handle with everything else on their plate, but that's ok.  For me though, it would be a cop-out.  I need to maintain that part of my routine on the blog, as well as tracking monthly spending, meal planning(even if the plan goes off the rails)et al.

I do have to say that I am in a better place mentally now than I was going into March.  Not pandemic related directly but when Hubs signed us up for a medical plan back in Dec. for 2020 we didn't know that Cigna(our insurer)was having issues with Geisinger(the dominant healthcare system in this area-of which  ALL our doctors are part of).  Talks were ongoing until the end of February so until the 29th of that month,  Cigna would still cover all medical charges from Geisinger as in-network.
The last we heard beginning of March Cigna and Geisinger never came to a resolution so we needed to find new doctors asap.
Just trying to find a non-affiliated Geisinger doc around here was difficult but to find one that would take me and my myriad of health issues on what impossible.  I found one but he would refuse to prescribe me any opioid under any circumstance.  This opioid crisis is sad but the over reaction to it by legitimate healthcare providers around here for people with legitimate chronic pain issues is ridiculous!  I was having to choose between seeing out-of-network doctors(mine)and having to satisfy another $4K in payments BEFORE the deductible was met for the year or seeing a doctor who refused to write me pain meds.  I spent much of March hoping I didn't get sick with anything(Covid-19 or not)and need to go to the doctor.

We contacted Cigna again on April 1 and it seems they came to an agreement with Geisinger and those docs/facilities will remain in-network but neither entity contacted us patients about this!!!
So we let them both know how pissed off we were(and we still are).
Next sign-up time Cigna can kiss my fat white behind goodbye!

And I'll close with this prophetic music video of Joe Diffie, a second tier country artist and writer we lost last week to Covid-19.
He was born 24 days before me so this hits close to home.
I've always enjoyed his music may his soul rest in peace.


 

Stay home if you can, stay safe and wash your hands!

Sluggy