Catching Up

Updates from the past week:

• I've been trying to drive my car every few days to keep the battery from dying again.
• We had our driveway re-sealed. I assumed it would just be one guy, but it turns out he was working with a partner, neither of them had a mask, and I'm pretty sure they also weren't keeping 6 feet apart 🙈 (I've always been at work when it was done in past years, so I'd never seen how they do it before...)
• Last Saturday I went to visit my grandmom. Like last time, I stood on her front porch; but this time, she put a chair by her front door and we talked through the glass, so I could hear her better and didn't need to call on the phone. My uncle is the one designated person who goes in her house for groceries, but I wish I could go in and help her with things, like vacuuming or cleaning her bathroom. It might come to the point where I lock her in a bedroom, wear a mask, clean her house, and sanitize behind me on the way out.
• On Thursday I saw my mother for the first time in two months. She was out of the house for only the second time herself, and stopped by so I could put her Mothers' Day gift in the back of the car. We talked a little while she sat in the car and I stood 6 feet away, both with masks on.
• On Tuesday we celebrated Cinco de Mayo with a special fajita meal offered by a local Mexican place. They were good, but the stress of having to decant the food from its take-out containers and sanitize everything reminded me why this was only the second time we've ordered food.
• I also got three different grocery deliveries:



This week's Imperfect Foods delivery

• Imperfect Foods, which was great as usual, except I was supposed to get a can of tomatoes and ended up with two jars of marinara sauce. But one of the items available this week was cheese and cracker trays that were overstock from an airline - it's exciting to see the system working in this way to reduce food waste!
• A delivery from Costco I ordered through the personal shopper app Dumpling - this connects you with an independent shopper who visits multiple stores for their clients and sets their own pricing rate, unlike Instacart or similar services that connect you with a random person each time you order. The service was fantastic, she asked about making substitutions, and almost everything I ordered was available. I've already recommended this shopper to others in my area, she was great and very professional.
• A pick-up order from the regular grocery store today - still didn't get everything I'd ordered, but I received most of it, including some things I haven't been able to find for a while. (I'm beginning to doubt rotini pasta exists in this country any longer, though 😂)
• My employer changed their vacation policy for this year: since nobody is taking vacation time right now, they're allowing us to carry over 10 unused days instead of the usual 5. We were supposed to go on vacation in a couple weeks, and I've cancelled all but two days, giving myself a long weekend. They will also be sending us reusable fabric masks, which is very nice of them, and my site is sending everyone a gift (we had four to choose from) to use at home.
• I'm very close to my goal of finishing "Mad Men" during lockdown. As of today, I have 1 season + 3 episodes left. I couldn't imagine trying to stretch this over the course of years watching live - it's such a well-constructed show, and I feel like you appreciate it more when you take it in all at once.