Days of Our Socially Distancred Lives: Volume 7

     For the past seven weeks I've been trying to capture what  my normal day to day life is like, in full and unedited with the dull stuff as well as bits of interest. OK, so it is all the boring stuff  these days, but these weekly posts capture in more detail the ebbs and flow of my life. 

Friday, October 16th

     Knowing I had a very full day until at least 3:00, I got up and a head start on my day. By 6:40 I had done my Friday W post, and then logged into work to send a couple e-mails that were top of mind when I woke up. Then showered and really started the work day by 7:30. DH was getting up and we had a discussion about the heat-he won, since the temperature in the house went to 57, and I gave in. No sense being sickly to win a target of no heat until November 1. I had said if the house got below 60 I would consider it. We compromised at it set at 66 but I think it feels very warm in here so will need to be lower tonight for sleeping. 

     I had a full morning interviewing Office Support staff. Now we have been on a hiring freeze, but since that was put in place, we had a retirement, and an unexpected resignation. Plus, my  colleague was put in the interim director role after our mutual supervisor was  promoted to the Executive tema, but D was not able to fill in behind herself. Technically, being able to hire just this position compared to being  three staff less since March, was deemed essential. All three candidates were very qualified and feel could do an excellent job. We have on more on Monday then make the tough decision. They will onboard  in a remote work setting. How odd is that for an Office Support Specialist?

     Before the third interview, I quickly mixed up a turkey meatloaf and put in the oven at 3:35. The interviews were taking about 45 minutes  so I figured that would work. Also during the third meeting, the heavens opened up in a blustery icy/snow hail sort of mixed. This went on about 10 minutes, then ended. I didn't get  a picture as I was on line, but this is what my friends deck looked like.

     I nibbled lunch leftover orange chicken and rice from Wednesday in between the last interview and a meeting with D, the Interim Director. We both then had to rush to 2:00 meetings. I finsished up a few more things that had to get done before taking pup out quickly, and then meeting my friend N. This is my friend that was my counter part in another agency, but left about 18 months ago to work for a  foundation, but still in our field. This was a working/friend meet-up in a park that was 1/3 of the way from her house, and 2/3rds from mine, but with great walking paths. It is a really nice park, just 15 minutes from downtown St Paul, but feels in parts like you are deep in the woods. Being cold, we bundled up, but it also was refreshing. We each had our own cups of tea, and  after walking about an hour and 15 minutes, we stopped on a water platform, separated by at least 6 feet, had out tea, and just took deep breaths enjoying the  feeling of normalcy. 

     I was home just about the time DH was getting home. I quickly responded to a few late e-mails, then logged out and turned to supper prep. Supper was air fryer fries from the huge potato I microwaved earlier and put in the fridge to cool, the turkey meatloaf, 1/2 an Aldi asian salad kit; the other half of the salad will be my lunch tomorrow. I walked pup while the potatoes were in the fryer. After supper, I captured this portion of my post, returned comments, read a couple other blogs, after cleaning up, and by 8:00 settled in for a little  streaming-the most recent British Baking Show, and an episode from season one, though dozed off during that and eventually just turned off and went to sleep. 

Saturday, October 17th

     It was nice to read a text first thing from my daughter that her Covid test was negative. The girl that went to the party where there was a positive  case, tested positive, though her roommate did not, but the roommate that tested negative had symptoms more severe. Both are isolating to be sure the roommates wasn't a false negative. DD2's friend also tested negative. 

     I had my morning coffee and looked at Twitter, hopping on the link to a few new blogs that looked interesting. Most through the Retweet mechanisms end up being beauty products, which, lets face it, is not my thing, but occasionally I find a blog with ongoing content that I will enjoy reading. I went down memory lane, curious what my early Covid time posts were like and reposted one from March 21-the first day of my full work from home start, and 30 weeks exactly to today. 

     I also took a look at the pantry and brought a few replacement items up for the box in the basement where I had duplicates or multiples. The pantry is nice, but as it is not deep (built into the wall between kitchen and dining room, larger items like flower, bottles of cooking oil, and extra boxes of pasta have been minimized. I really could probably go the rest of the month if need be with nothing but produce, bread, milk, and eggs, but likely will do a top off at Aldi tomorrow. My daughter and I ran to the farmers market-just a few stalls but I got both the butternut and acorn squash I wanted, plus jalapenos for poppers, maple syrup, and cheddar cheese curds. We went to the orchard again but just bought already picked Honey Crisps, but couldn't help looking at the adorable pumpkins.

     A quick stop at Dollar Tree for various odds and ends, but mostly to get a bunch of the thin gloves I like to have on hand when a glove goes missing, or to keep in jacket pockets and the car. I also grabbed a couple basic  knit hats-black and gray, because winter is coming. I didn't need these little guys, but they needed to come home with us. 

     We got home and had lunch-the leftover salad and air fryer fries, and a sandwich. Then she helped me get the desk out of the bedroom that became a catastrophe when the floors went in. We also hauled out a trunk that contains decades of leftover school supplies. Now though it feels like over time we can better purge and clean and get that room to rights. In the meantime, the picture above will be my work area for the next few months, and the dining room and living room is no longer going to be my home office space. I am looking at chairs and will get a different one. This will give me natural light as a window is opposite this wall, plus if we get that darn  fireplace  fix done, I'll be toasty. 

     She helped me with a couple other things that her muscles and height made easier. She left by 2:00 and I pretty much just puttered with things neglected. I'm not sure what dinner will be tonight, but the rest of the day will just be a few more house chores, laundry, a walk with the pup, and a little relaxing. I'll end this weeks Days of Our Distaned Lives as not much will happen the remainder of the day.