Un-Hacked

This morning I woke up to an odd email. It looked like it was from Yahoo with all of the usual disclaimers. It said "Are you trying to sign in"? Please use this verification code if it is you. It gave a 7 letter code. It said that someone from Vietnam tried to sign in at 7:48pm PST. There were 2 things wrong with this email. First, if I was having trouble signing in, how could I read this email? Second thing, I always read the header of where the email is sent from. This one was sent from "do not reply@cc-yahoo-inc. com. Obviously it was trying to be a Yahoo look alike address. I hit the delete button.

April Showers

April showers bring May flowers. Enough with the showers. Give me the flowers. This metaphor is not only for the month, it is also for the world. It is akin to the old "It is always darkest before dawn" saying. We have lived the showers. We have lived the darkness. It is now time to focus on the flowers and the dawn. We are all ready for that. I hope that we all appreciate it when it comes.

Humor

Human nature is survival. It is fight or flight. Humor has its place in the fight. It makes things just a bit better and easier on the soul. Everyday I see cartoons about our current situation. They are meant to lighten up a horrible time in our lives. If for one moment we can smile and laugh, the cartoon has done its job.

Culinary Skills

I saw a commercial the other day that rang true. It showed someone on day one of the quarantine making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It showed the same person on day 22 with a chef's hat on cooking haute cuisine. I totally agree with that. I have become more creative as the days have gone by. I have stopped making my standard rotation and ventured out into exotic territories. I am trying to make my dinners versatile and tasty and I am succeeding. Last night I made Philly cheesesteak hoagies with shaved sirloin beef. Tonight will be Shepard's pie with crunchy sauteed onion rings. Who knows what Tuesday will bring.

Second Verse

There is a Herman's Hermits song titled "Henry the Eight". One of the lines is, "Second verse, same as the first". That line has become life. It is groundhog’s day and second verse all rolled into one. This week, at least I knew what day it was. I did get a bit thrown off for a minute and thought Friday was Saturday, but I snapped out of it quickly. I do not look at the calendar like I used to because nothing that I need to do is written on it. No doctor appointments, no dinners, no shows. I only concentrate now on food times and bedtime. That is my basic form of structure.

Tested

I have been tested for the virus antibodies. I might or might not find out the answer. I went to the supermarket yesterday and saw some people sitting at long tables. I thought they were job applicants. When I asked what was going on, I was told that the New York State Department of Health was doing the antibody test. It was going to be used for statistical purposes. Fifty percent of people will be notified of their result and fifty will not. If you are not, you can contact Albany with the accession number on your receipt and find out. The test tracks people who had no symptoms to see if they have antibodies against the virus. I hope that I have the antibodies, as my mind will then relax, even though I will still follow all of the necessary safety precautions.

News

I read the news one time a week. That is all I choose to handle. I am still informed about the world but just on a controlled level. I watch the daily state and national press conferences. I know the statistics. I know the guidelines. I know the forecasts. I am taking a mindful approach to the virus. I live in the moment. I cannot worry about things that might not happen. I cannot project gloom and doom into my life. It would not be beneficial to my health. I act responsibly every day and then add my own safety rules to the mix. If I read every opinion that is published, I will feel like I am being tossed around in a washing machine. The old expression, "The  proof is in the pudding" applies to the link between behavior and outcome. We all need to do our best to have the best results.

Cheap

How cheap does someone have to be? I have come to realize that people with a lot of money do not like spending it. People with less money will spend it freely. My boss is trying to track down gloves and masks for the office. She says that she cannot find them anywhere. She ordered them for delivery in late May early June, if they even arrive. I decided to do my own research. I found a company one town away that has gloves and masks. Fifty gloves cost $10 and fifty masks cost $50. I think that is fair. She will not buy them. One of our psychiatrists thought that was absurd. He went to the store and spent $60 out of his own pocket to buy them for us. His staff's health and well being was far more important than his $60.

Fish

Fish stinks. Since I have been cooking every night I wanted to make a variety of foods. Fish came up on the rotation. I usually make shrimp, but I opted for cod. I unwrapped the package and immediately took it out of the house to not have a smell linger. I cooked the fish and it tasted very good. It decided that since I let it into my house, it would visit for a while. A few hours after dinner it still smelled, so I Febrezed the house. No luck. I got up this morning and the fish was still there. I will deodorize again. I will never invite fish into my home again. It overstayed its welcome.

Extraction

My husband had a toothache. He went to his regular dentist and was told that his back molar had a crack in the root and would need to be removed. He was sent to an oral surgeon a few miles away. I made sure that they accepted his dental insurance. The oral surgeon did x-rays and said they would take out the tooth. Then he explained that he was also doing a bone graft and an implant. My husband immediately called me. Why is he getting a bone graft and implant? He only wanted the tooth taken out. I had him put the dental assistant on and asked her if there was an extra fee for all of the "fancy" stuff they intended to do. She said the extraction was free because they participated in the plan. The graft was $750 and the implant $2000. I told her that my husband only wanted his tooth pulled and that he did not want to make a $3000 decision on the spot. They said if he didn't agree to the implant, they would refuse to pull his tooth. He would not agree, so he went home with his tooth and an antibiotic. The only thing the dentist really wanted to extract was $3000 from my bank account.

Dictionary

Every year new words are added to our languages. In the 1980, internet was not a word and neither was website. Blogs, vlogs and cellular meant nothing to us. This year we will add a few more new words to the list. While they might be words that we know, the meanings are deeper. We now have virtual visits, telehealth and social distancing. Years ago if you called your doctor and said you had a terrible sore throat and couldn’t swallow and you needed medication because you were too sick to come out, they would say no. They had to see you. Now it is the exact opposite. Stay home and they will prescribe. Years ago someone who was socially distant was not normal. Now they are congratulated for doing it. Times change, rules change and life goes on.

Simple Things

With the world being so complicated, it is the simple things that have become important. Amidst all of the sickness and death, people are rising to the occasion in ways that had long been forgotten. In my blog yesterday, I said that my grandson turned 7 and his party had to be canceled. He never complained because he knew the reason why. Instead of a party, he celebrated in a way that he will never forget. At 3pm, his parents told him to get his coat on and stand on the front lawn. He thought he was going out to play. He saw all of his neighbors outside on their lawns also. A minute later his "parade" started. His classmates and family decided to make a birthday parade for him. We lined up our cars a block away and hung balloons and signs on them. We started to drive past his house, honking our horns and yelling happy birthday. The neighbors waved and shouted also. He was shocked. We circled the block twice. He could not believe it. At night his two cousins from out of state sent him a birthday video and he watched it over and over again. He was thrilled. He will never forget his 7th birthday, because of all of the kind people that took a few minutes out of their lives to make a little boy happy.

Lucky 7

Today is my grandson's 7th birthday. I now have 2 seven year old grandchildren. One girl, one boy. Seven is a nice age. They are smart and have minds of their own. They are forming into little people who can think on their own. They have missing teeth and faces that are changing and looking more like what the adult version of them will be. There will be no party this year. The government is keeping us safe, so some things have to be put on hold. It is still a special day because he is healthy and happy and that is all I can ask for.

Masks

I read a funny story the other day. Someone wrote that they never thought that they would be walking into a bank with a mask on, asking for money. Masks will now become fashion statements. Since we are wearing them for a while, we show our own style. Last night I ordered 2 masks, one for me and one for my sister. I ordered a honey bee pattern to honor my mother. I will be happy to wear bees on my face. Wearing a mask will now be something positive, since I have control over it. It is all a mindset.

Poor Jack

Jack is gone. Not Jack, a person. Jack, the telephone box. Yesterday afternoon my house phones went dead. After trouble shooting with Verizon, I was told that one of my portable phones shorted out the system. My husband went to the store and bought a new set of phones. The old ones were taken out after pulling away beds and couches. The new ones were put in their place. The phones were still dead. We took a 100 year old phone that was bought on eBay as a collectible, and tested the boxes. One box did not work. A new box was installed and the phones are working again. Now I have 2 sets of portable phones. It is too much of a process to return the new ones, so we will keep them both.

Menu

As the government kicks around timelines and ways to open up our society again, some of their statements are quite thought provoking. Someone said that when the restaurants reopen, disposable menus should be used. That started me thinking. When we used to go to a restaurant, the waitress handed us a menu that had been touched by hundreds of people that week. Could someone have sneezed or coughed on it? Could someone have just left the restroom without washing their hands and flipped through it? It was then passed to the next person. They have their hands all over it, picking up any virus that is living on it. After your order is taken, the bread basket is brought out. You pick up a roll with your now infected hands and eat it. How disgusting. The same theory goes for the ketchup bottle or the salt shaker. We are sitting in a living petrie dish. When the time comes to go out to eat again, if the restaurant does not have more stringent cleanliness practices in place, I will take matters into my own hands, literally.

Normalcy

It will take a while to return to normalcy. We may never return to the old normal,  but we will create a new one that will be even better. This morning I got a small glimpse that in some way normalcy is on the horizon. When I got online to write this blog, the Yahoo home page was filled with the usual articles. It was not all about the virus. While we are still in the pandemic, the past few days of seeing better numbers due to the new rules has given us hope. It was a nice change to read about mundane and trivial issues. It gave my brain a rest.

Work Day

I remembered that it is Monday so I am off to work. The rain made me want to stay in bed. I thought that Saturday was Sunday so I threw my schedule off. I am dressed and leaving, and I hope the day does not drag on.

Better Late Than Never

My blog is late today. I was all ready to sit down at the computer early this morning when my husband plopped his behind down into the chair first. I knew I was in for the long haul. Once he gets comfortable, it is an eBay marathon. I have learned to just walk away and wait it out. The blog is posted late, but the house remained quite.

Just Listen

If people would just listen, their lives would be better. I don't mean to listen to bad advice. I mean to listen to sound advice. We are seeing this during the pandemic. Now that people are listening to the government's rules on social distancing and cleanliness, things are slowly turning around. They are not hard rule to listen to. Just distance yourself from other people. Clean your hands and do not put them near your face. I would bet that the common cold and flu are less in the last few weeks due to this advice. When someone gives good advice, it is better to comply than ignore.

Days

I have lost track of the days. I know today is today and tomorrow will be tomorrow. Then there is the next day, the day after that, the day a later in the week and another day. I call it the existence of the week. I go about my routines but having a day labeled onto it is irrelevant.

Doggy Pile

I have been working hard to return all 198 calls that had accumulated over the few weeks my office was closed. I am going in order of who called first. Yesterday I called a man who left two messages about his bill. He is an annoying person, to say the least. At 9:45am I called his house and he answered. He said he was sleeping and asked if I could call back later. I said that I would call him when I was done with the other 190 calls. I knew what he was calling about and the answer would have taken one minute. Now he goes to the bottom of the dog pile and if he is lucky he will get a call next week.

Passover

Today is Passover. For the first time ever I will not be with family to celebrate. I have decided to celebrate with just the two of us. The meal will not have as many courses but there will be some traditional foods. After work, I will go to the supermarket and see how many items I can get. Then I will see if I have time to make everything including the matzo ball soup. Even though the celebration is different, the meaning is still the same.

Air Quality

There is a song "Please don't take my sunshine away". Last night my boss decided to take my air away. Since she feels that less money is coming in, she wants to cut corners. She has decided that air is optional. She wants me to sit in the office, that is a sealed in glass building, without and air circulation. She told me to open the door to the hallway. She wants to save on her electric bill. She will be surprised when she finds out that my health is more important than her bill and her air conditioning is on.

Grey or Gray

I never know which spelling of the word grey/gray is correct but which ever one is, that is the color of my hair. I had a haircut the day before the salons were shut down. I usually color it blond the day after the cut. This time I did not. I have the dye in the house. I have the time to do it. The only thing missing is the people who see me. If all I do is go to work and straight home, and only the bookkeeper and I are there, why waste the box of hair dye? I will stay grey/gray until the world reopens.

Mr. Rogers

My husband taped what he thought was the Tom Hanks movie, "Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood". Last night I settled into bed and turned it on. It was not the Tom Hanks movie but rather a documentary on the life of Fred Rogers. It was a two hour show that felt like it flew by in 5 minutes. It chronicled his life from his first show, “The Children's Corner", until his last college graduation speech. We sure do need Mr. Rogers today. He was so comforting and caring and sensible. He was one of a kind. My children never watched Sesame Street. They preferred to watch him. He touched the hearts of many people whether or not they realized it at the time. In the last scene of the documentary,  people were asked to close their eyes and think of a special person in their life that only wanted to see them happy and healthy. Do that now, and it will bring a tear to your eyes.

No Desire

I have no desire to go out anymore. I feel safer in my own home. I am content here. I have food and I have safety. I will sew and clean my house that needs no cleaning. I am secure in my own cocoon.

Ingenuity

For every issue there is an ingenious solution. This morning on Facebook I saw a great way to make a pleated mask in 1 minute without sewing. I didn't think it would work so I tried it. In one minute I had a beautiful flowered mask.  I will try to explain how I made it and hope I am clear.
1) take a square handkerchief the size that will totally cover your face.
2) fold the top of it down to the middle
3) fold the bottom of it up to the middle.
4) flip it over
5) do the same thing folding the top to the middle and the bottom to the middle
6) flip it over again.
7) put the right side through a rubberband 1/4 way
8) put the left side through another rubberband 1/4 way.
9) fold each side over the rubberband so it looks like an ear loop.
10) put it on.

Voila! A fashionable mask that can be washed and redone.

Girl Scout Pledge

With all that is going on in this world, my sister thought of our childhood and the Girl Scout Pledge that we both took over 55 years ago. It says:

On my honor,
I will try to serve God and my country,
To help people at all times,
And live by the Girl Scout Law.
I will do my best,
To be honest and fair,
Friendly and helpful,
Considerate and caring,
Courageous and strong,
Responsible for what I say and do,
Respect authority,
Use resources wisely,
Make the world a better place,
And be a sister to every Girl Scout.

Does anything more need to be said? If only we could live like this after the storm passes.

April Fool's

Today is April Fool's Day. I was never a big fan of April Fool's jokes. This April 1 is different than any other. There is no joking. There are no tricks. The cruelest trick of all is being played. No one know why. We know where and how, but the why is still a mystery.