First published March 25, 2020

Day 11
Things you might not know about me.
1. I do not know how to work a fire extinguisher.
2. I have never had a banana split. Does not appeal to me though.
3. I did summer stock one summer. I was Sushi the Japanese Yen in Cabaret.
4. The first time I smoked pot…it is legal now so I can talk about it… was with the husband of one of my friends, and they are both here on my Facebook. I remember the Beatles “I am a Walrus” was playing.
5. I am exceedingly self-conscious. I just make up for it.
6. I never wanted children, but I sure have enjoyed my nieces and nephews.
7. If I was rich I would live no differently.
8. I went on academic probation my sophomore year in college. Lots going on in my life, but also look up at #4.
9. Three or four people on my Facebook have been friends since elementary school. Many more since junior high.
10. I wanted to be a teacher because of a few teachers I had.
11. I do not feel short, though I am only 5’2”.
12. I cannot believe I am as old as I am. Only my hips are disloyal.
13. I have hearing aids but never ever remember to wear them. What?
14. I am very well-traveled but am afraid of flying every single minute I am in the air.
15. I feel most relaxed and mellow in water.
16. I never appreciated my siblings until well into adulthood.
17. Hate surprises. I read the first chapter, the last chapter and then the middle of every book, in that order.
18. I saw a UFO….remember Ellen Reiner Roscitt…we were in the Barnes and Nobles parking lot.
19. I saw Ann’s dad peek around the corner of the door three hours after he died, but did not know he had died yet.
20. I prefer my food, except soup, to be room temperature.
21. I can and will keep your confidence forever. I just cannot keep my own secrets. I tell everything.

Enough of me. What do I not know about you?

First published March 21, 2020

Day 7
A whole week. If we have to be in three weeks, we are a third of the way there. Wow….and I still have Cheetos. Have I lost my love affair with food? Wouldn’t that be a great side effect of this whole thing!?

This is a big fish fry area. Every Friday every restaurant (the Elks Club and American Legion alternate Fridays) has its own version of a fish fry, which is usually fish, potato and cole slaw. During Lent, one of the Catholic churches about twenty minutes away has its famous fish fry. For ten dollars you get: fish ( choice of fried or broiled, choice of potato, slaw, mac and cheese (??? At a fish fry?) , roll, green beans (again, at a fish fry???), a soft drink and homemade dessert. Quite a meal for ten dollars.

Oh my gosh, I just spend an entire paragraph on fish when all I wanted to say was we did a pickup of a fish dinner from the Jail House Bar last night. It is what Ann’s mom would have called a honky tonk (a story for another time), but serves up good food. The owner told me she can only allow three people at a time in her establishment, and she said she was really busy all day. I am glad people are consciously trying to help these small businesses.

Some of you are posting beach photo or hammock photos or just talking about the nice spring weather. How dare you!!! I walked close to the lake yesterday, and it was 27 degrees, snowing and windy. So windy that I took a video, and you cannot hear my voice, just the wind. The dog’s ears were sticking out like the Flying Nun. Oh, ick, can you believe we watched that?? I was the only one out, and I had to walk in the road as the sidewalks were icy.

I just looked at the ten day forecast, and after today we are going to steadily be in the forties. Ahhh beach weather in Michigan.

I am not very amusing today. Chalk it up to being an extrovert whose only contact has been Ann, the dog and the honky tonk lady. This came at a good time though. If it had been two months later, and all the activity of a tourist town was in full gear, I would have been crazier than I am now.

I miss playing Mah Jong. I learned last summer, and I have been playing each week. It is a wonderful game, and one that I am not really good at yet. I can play on line, but the robots do not gossip, and it is just not the same. Miss the clickity clack of those tiles.

I have a list of people to call for wellness checks. The senior center needed volunteers, and hell what else do I have to do. My list has 62 people on it, and I started yesterday, and they might get a weekly call at this rate. So far the people are fine, and they are very appreciative of the call. This leads me to my thoughts of the day:

1. When do you use the area code? I call these people and use just the number. Most no issue. One I got the recording to use the area code. I did, and then I got the recording that I did not need to use the area code. Someone is messing with my head, which right now is an easy thing to do.
2. When you plug something into the wall you have two possible ways to do it. Fifty percent chance of getting it right the first time. Why do I NEVER get it right the first time?
3. I have been thinking of downtown Detroit today. The old downtown Detroit with Hudson’s.
4. Teachers are being appreciated more right now. About time.
5. Today is Saturday, and the New York Times Sunday puzzle is available for download at 6PM. Not a minute after it will have been printed, and I will start it. Some weeks it is just not fun. Most weeks I love it. Do not do the daily ones, just the Sunday.

I am off to find my paint clothes. Yes, I actually have paint clothes. I do not enjoy painting, and we were going to have it done, but I am home and I can do it. Keeps the Cheetos of the world safe.

Sorry no laughs today, but some days there are just none. (Shit, how dramatic was that? Lol )

First published March 20, 2020

Day 3984783636854 I mean 6

Had a bit of a mental meltdown yesterday. I know I need to be thankful for what I have, and it is not as if I am missing anything that is going on. It is just that this whole thing gets overwhelming.

Now I read there might be stimulus checks. Please no politicking in the comments. I figure if you need the money, use it. If you think it is an awful thing, and it comes to your mail box, donate it to someone or something that could use it. I cannot name how many people I have put on Facebook “snooze” as they call it. You see me, but I do not see you. Fake news, nasty politics on any side. Gone. I cannot read that stuff anymore. Someone sees something they think is so clever and fresh, and they share it…..then I see it on my feed ten times from all the others who shared it. Nope.

Ok, I am guilty. I did share the sock puppet eating the cars that passed on the road. I did, and I am not sorry. I was really talking about sharing the hateful political stuff.

Woke up to snow and wind. Power went out three times. Internet had to reset. Direct TV had to reset. Funny how I get irritated and forget these are luxuries, and they are luxuries.

Ate Cheetos. Still on the first bag, and that might have to go into the Guinness Book of World Records. If you are a Cheetos aficionado (do you have any idea how long it took me find the correct spelling of that word??) you then know that every once in a while you get a Cheeto that melts in your mouth like butter. Like the heroin addict who looks to match that first high, I look for that buttery, melting experience. Sometimes that means the whole bag. I am giving myself credit for self-control here.

What is on tv? Crap. Honestly, who watches some of this. I will admit I watched ten minutes of Dr. Pill Popper until I about vomited. That woman will never get a date. You cannot wash your hands enough after doing what she does…in her office…not even in an operating room.

I go through the channel guide and see that the move, Anna and the King, is on four channels, ten times a day. Was not that good.

I will rewatch Mean Girls. Bet I have seen that movie a dozen times. Ok, the remake of Parent Trap gets me hooked also. My most resent re re re watch is Jumanji, Welcome to the Jungle. I hated the first one with Robin Williams, but this one is hoot. If you have ever played a video game, this will make you laugh. We saw the sequel before the forced self-exile, and it was even better than that the second. Oh, I loved Little Women and JoJo Rabbit, but this is just silly fun, and so freaking clever.

This next thing most of you will not do. But if you do it, you will do it ten times. If you have Alexa, via Amazon….Say, “Alexa, give us a fart.” You have to say it that way, in those exact words. Do it, and then be transported back to junior high school. She has about a dozen different versions, and if you have visited me, you have heard her do them, because I think it is so damn funny. Farts are funny. Unless they come from my dog. Not funny at all.

I got an email from my insurance guy this morning…one of those virus support things we have all been getting. However, his started out with a quote from Maya Angelou that puts it all in perspective, and I loved it:

“Every storm runs out of rain.” Maya Angelou

I am in a much better mood than I was when I started typing this. Thanks.

First published March 19, 2020

Day 5
The Cheetos are safe. I ate not a one. It would have taken effort. I would have had to go to the kitchen, reach on top of the fridge, and actually take them down.
I lost all vision yesterday (not literally), and I did nothing. Nothing at all. I found a twenty dollar bill in an old purse, so I went on Amazon and ordered fifty dollars worth of books.
I cannot watch or read about the virus because I do not know who to believe any longer. All the stations lie about politics to their advantage…oh do not get me started. Here are a few of my frustrations about lies….or stretching of the truth for some gain…

1. It is reported that there has been one case of Corona (I get a kick out of saying it that way) in Charlevoix County Michigan. That is about on hundred miles north of me. Truth: A woman whose residence is in Charlevoix County has been hospitalized in Detroit with the virus. Seems she had been traveling overseas, landed in Detroit and felt ill. Went to hospital and stayed in hospital. She has not of yet come back to Charlevoix. So in truth, northern Michigan has had no cases. (I have not checked this morning.)

2. They are listing within the numbers for Michigan, Detroit and Wayne County. Guess what? Detroit is in Wayne County. Do they list Asheville numbers and then Buncombe County numbers too? Double count?

3. I walked the dog yesterday. Truth: I did not. I did nothing.

Ok, now maybe I can be civil. I did weave a few inches yesterday and decided I hated the pattern of the scarf I was making, so I am starting over. I will post photos when I get a few inches done on the new one.

It snowed yesterday. Funny how cold weather kills some germs but they say this virus does not like sun and heat. But then again what is the truth.

I have vowed to be productive today. When it stops raining I will walk the dog. Please do not tell her because if you do, she will stand next to me and speak in the dog language that I do understand. I know the gist “Take me the hell out already, will you? Or give me a bone and I will leave you alone for fifteen minutes.”

I am making twice baked potatoes for dinner. As kids we use to call them boat potatoes, and we only had them on special occasions. Easy thing that looks like more effort than it is.
I forgot the other things I was going to do…how convenient. I think a shower was on the list. Might put on a bra. Don’t want to go too far overboard.

I left a gift of Easter candy and teabags hanging on our mail box for our mail lady. LulaBelle loves Marcela, and she barks when she sees her because Marcela brings treats. We live in town, so the mail people walk the route. She drinks tea, and who does not like chocolate.

Today is March 19. It is St. Joseph’s Day. It is the day the swallows go back to Capistrano. It was my mother’s birthday, and she would have been 95 today. I wonder if she would still be able to chase me around the kitchen table with a yard stick. She never caught us. She would swing that yard stick and hit the table. The stick would break apart, and we would all end up laughing so hard we could not run.

Stay well.

First published March 18, 2020

Day 4: I had enough. Let me out of here. Phew…ok, I feel better now. After shopping so early yesterday, I had to nap. Then I napped again because the first one felt so good.

I have a list of things to do:

1. Finish the beautiful scarf I have on my loom
2. Warp the loom again and teach myself to weave with strips of fabric. I can make place mats or small rugs with the strips. I would love to have a couple of half yards of fabric in different gradients of the same color to make place mats, but I do not have it. I wonder if I could order it on line? I digress. I have taught myself to weave this year, all from YouTube.
3. I have the paint and all accessories to paint the bedroom.
4. I have the paint and all accessories to paint the dining room. ( Why is bedroom one word but dining room is two?)
5. Take the dog for a walk each day. She has a dog door and a huge fenced in backyard, but she loves walks. It would be good for both of us. We have done it each day, by the way.
6. Make a list of what is in the freezer and pantry and figure out meals. That will not happen.
7. Write a book. We have the greatest idea for a book by the two of us. Just need to get it going. We have the title, Don’t Put Glasses on the Cat.
8. Play Mah Jong on line and get better at it.
9. Play bridge on line and get better at it.
10. Continue to do the NYTimes Sunday puzzle.
11. Not eat both bags of Cheetos within the first week…first day.

I am a quitter. I always have been. I have great plans and then I act as if I never had the thought. We will see what happens. Right now, like most of you, I am overwhelmed with the amount of time I have. I get more done when I have less time. Makes no sense, but either does the fact that I like to wear my winter boots without socks.

Did you know Corona beer sales are off 30%????? How freaking stupid are people? I like beer, but usually only in summer. I might just get some Corona just to make a point.

Adding: Has everyone else received an email from every CEO of every company you have ever touched saying they are thinking of you and monitoring the virus. In addition we should pay our bills via internet. I even got one from Miracle Ear, and I have never dealt with them….huh? What did you say?

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