This pandemic thing...

Today the news reported that there is a 9th Covid-19 victim in our county, and she is in our little community.  She shopped recently at the same grocery store that we do.

Now it seems real to me.

In the county seat about 20 miles away, yesterday saw the first Covid-19 fatality in the county.  It was a 44-year-old man who had no known underlying health conditions.  Scary stuff.

I had previously scheduled a vacation day for today.  We were meant to be going out of town for my mother-in-law's 90th birthday party.  But her assisted living community is on lock down.  Her children will be having a Zoom gathering with her instead.  So I found myself at home with no particular chores planned.

The most productive, and calming, thing I could think of to do was bake bread.  That felt good.  And though we have plenty of food in the house, there were a few things that needed to be used while they were still usable.  So I thought I would use as many of them as I could to pull together our evening meal.  There were about 5 smallish potatoes that had sprouted and were slightly wrinkly, a few slices of bacon, a few links of sausage.  I knew I had onions, so I thought these might make a tasty hash.  While wishing I had some cabbage to add to it, I remembered that I had a bag of coleslaw mix...well it IS mostly cabbage...so it went into the pan too.

 A hearty hash and a slice of homemade bread made a homey supper on a rather unsettling day.

Life in self-isolation...

Pandemic.  It seems so strange to believe one is upon us.  I pray that all who check in here are safe and well.

Carey and I are working.  Both of us have heard hints of our employers putting plans in place for possibly working from home.  My heart goes out to all of the workers who are already suffering due to the restrictions on public gathering.

At my office, we are no longer seeing clients in person; phone and web-conferencing are all we are allowed.  There are just the two of us in the office, and plenty of space to keep to ourselves.

Yesterday I bought a box of fresh fruit from a vendor who stopped by the building.  It may not have been the wisest thing to do, but neither is it wise to go to the market, and fresh fruit was one thing we were lacking.  Today I washed it all in a soak of water with a bit of chlorine bleach added.

And that is how things go for us.  Be well, friends.  And wash your hands.  :)

What I'm reading Wednesday...

You Never Forget Your First by Alexis Coe

I just downloaded this ebook from the library after being on the reserve list for awhile.  I heard the author interviewed on NPR recently.  It sounds interesting; written with more of a personal view than a political one.  I'll let you know.

Tip of the week...

http://whatscookinwithfaithy.blogspot.com/2016/05/faithys-favorite-layered-dessert_11.html

This may be something you have known forever, and feel free to roll your eyes at me for being proud of myself for learning it within the past year.  LOL

I am forever searching online for something, and then accidentally closing the tab before I am through reading, ordering, or (as in the case of the recipe shown above) making whatever it was I had searched for.  If that happens to you too, rather than retracing your many steps to find the page again, just try this tip.  

With your search engine open (I know this works in Windows, not sure about Mac) press CTRL, SHIFT, T all at the same time.  The page you were last looking at will reopen.  And if you had several different tabs open, just press CTRL, SHIFT, T repeatedly until they each open one at a time.  

I have found this keyboard shortcut to be invaluable since learning it.  Hope it can help somebody else out.  It even works if you close the entire browser; just open the browser and press CTRL, SHIFT, T until all your tabs are open again.  I don't think it works if you have shut off your computer, unless it shutdown accidentally (say you lose battery power, or your electricity goes off; then it will work when your computer restarts.

PS:  The recipe shown in the photo of the website screenshot above is for my friend LB's recipe blog What's Cookin with Faithy.  The link to the recipe shown is under the photo if you are interested.

My Sonic addiction...

Didn't I just say that I was giving up Coke?

YEAH, I DID!  And I'm sticking with it.

But that doesn't mean I can't feed my addiction for Sonic. 

So glad I can order water with lemon...and extra, extra ice, of course...since their ice is the real addiction for me...soft and chewable and unlike any other ice I've come across.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

Making Space, Clutter Free: The Last Book on Decluttering You'll Ever Need by Tracy McCubbin

Taking my time through this one; mostly reading during my lunch hour.  Of course it is common sense things we all know, but written in a manor that appeals to me.

Enjoying it.

Weekend goal...

In yesterday's 7 Random Thoughts on the 7th post, I stated that my goal for this weekend was to get rid of all the cardboard boxes that have accumulated.  First thing I did was gather ALL of them from their hiding places around the house into one place.  Shame on me for letting it get this out of hand! 

Okay, as you can see, I do a lot of online shopping.  In my defense, these are probably from the past year...of course it's not much of a defense that I've let them pile up instead of disposing of them immediately...but it's a lot of work.

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What takes the longest is redacting private information (call me paranoid, it's a compulsion)...

...and letting the air out of packing materials so they take up as little space as possible...

...and tending injuries.  Man, I hate cardboard-caused paper cuts.

Ta-Da!  I kept two boxes to use for putting donations in.  Donations will be taken to Goodwill, and all of this cardboard will be dropped off at recycling this week!

Whew!  Patting myself on the back for completing this goal.

Seven random thoughts on the 7th...

Wow!  It's the first time I've remembered to post a Seven on the 7th in...forever!

1.  Realized recently that I have more paid vacation time coming this year than I thought.  Hot dog!

2.  Names, names, names!  Our office has more cases of what are commonly first names for both first and last than I have ever come across.  I am forever getting them backward when I go to type them in.  For instance (the following are samples, not our clients) Peter James, Bob Francis, Thomas Scott, Meghan Joyce.  And if that's not confusing enough, we also have tons of people with what are commonly two last names for both first and last; (more sample names) Kennedy Johnson, Porter Smith, Carson Davis, Anderson Cooper.  I've been thinking that it was just my imagination, that the frequency can't really be as high as I have been thinking.  But I've been working with lists of clients, and I started paying attention.  On each section of eight clients, roughly three had either two "first" names or two "last" names.  That's 37.5%.  Doesn't that seem a high percentage?  Whether it is or not, it is taxing my brain cells!

3.  Does anybody else hate those blue tinted headlights on cars as much as I do?

4.  

I just finished drinking my last Coke.

5.  My goal for this weekend is to get rid of all cardboard boxes from my house, break them down, and take them to recycle.  So many shipping boxes have just piled up...some with the delivered items still in them.  I will keep only the ones that I fill with donations to drop off within the next three days.

6.  I'm really tired of hearing about Covid 19 (Corona Virus); on the news, in company bulletins at work, in overheard conversations, even in my own head.  I thought twice before going to the store today, then once I decided to go and was parking the car, I actually saw a man walking from the store wearing a mask!  Last week they closed a mall in the nearby city to do a deep clean and disinfect after a recently cleared quarantined test subject was released, visited the mall, and then was called back into quarantine when a test result showed positive.  Oops!

7.  I finally downloaded an app so I could start listening to podcasts.

Now I'm off to start on my goal of getting rid of cardboard boxes!

The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan

I just finished The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan, and it was fascinating.  Time and again well-drawn characters and vivid descriptions kept me reading just one more chapter.