Day 7 (Sunday) - My anxiety is kicking in, but we haven't had a need to by toilet paper. Now the leaders of the country have to go on national television to ask the hoarders to return excess purchases. Toilet paper, paper towel, Clorox wipes, etc. We can't even find Clorox Wipes. Folks I try to not go to the store normally because I don't like going, I order and have shipped to home our needs. If I have to go to the store I go quarterly. I can't even get some of these items shipped now, when I especially don't want to go to the store AND chances are IF I went to the store I couldn't find them.
We are currently a nation that is suddenly, surprisingly, needing to be reminded to slow down and take the time to clean. I keep seeing reminder after reminder for how to wash hands, clean surfaces, and what products not to mix together (I learned the hard way in my younger years).
Our childcare center closed Monday along with the schools, we're altering our work hours, and working from home as possible. We are finding we are still vital employees. We are touching base with neighbors, and praying.
We are not bulk buying, we always bought minimally in spurts before so we're doing OK. But we're going to need to pick up more "fresh" essentials than usual as our kids are not at care. We eat at home on a regular basis as is, but now we're eating three more meals than usual. I suspect other homes are seeing this as usual as I'm seeing posts like "Use your school stomach". I'm super thankful I did a quick Willy Street Co-op run in February as a birthday treat to myself to stock up on specialty items we get from there as our Co-op closed last May. We haven't tried to do a regular grocery shopping trip since about two weeks ago, just a little spot drop trip the weekend before everything went crazy to pick up a couple last items and dog food. We were able to pick up two gallons of our preferred milk today, and the grocery store looked pretty well stocked. Please if you have to go out only get what your family needs for a couple weeks, don't bring your own bags (we're not going to use any this time), bring hand sanitizer, and practice your social distancing. We run on a mixture of frozen and fresh as we cook a lot of our meals here at home. If need be we could make our own bread, it's not gotten to that point for our home but it has for others.
Things I'm Happy About:
- Family support
- Extended time with our kids
- A slower pace, at times (there are still 24 hours in a day and all the work to do in it)
- Croc-like tennis shoes from Zulily. I sized up so they hopefully last into fall - $13.99 each
- Homeschooling Plan - 21 days free via https://othergoose.com/free
- The founder of this program, Erin Loechner, also wrote the book Chasing Slow
- Yogi Fun Yoga Kids card kid from Amazon - $19.99
We're already starting to see push back/cancellations of appointments on so many levels. Put down phones, turn off the news, be patient, be kind, hold your loved ones close, get outside, buy a park pass, find a new project or complete an old one you've been putting off, plan a Zoom with friends or get out the games. Except if you have toddlers and you're just to dang mentally exhausted, then go lay down.
Above all continue to be safe. We're right here with you.
