Time

I have been self-distancing for about a month now. Maybe more, maybe less. It’s hard to keep track anymore. I know a lot of people are in the same boat.

The days seem to go by in 5 minutes, yet the weeks go by slowly. It’s weird and confusing.

Work

I am less stressed than I was at the beginning of all of this. We have been able to keep having an income and have been able to continue operating the business. It was just Jeff and I fulfilling online orders for a bit.

Jeff has continued to work long hours on most days just to keep things going. I have mostly worked from home. A few staff members have returned to work, so I will continue to work from home since I am self-distancing.

My work consists of updating our online store (huge work in progress) and posting on social media to keep our customers somewhat engaged.

Otherwise I have been taking Charlie for walks, binge-watching shows, working on a puzzle, cleaning and organizing some parts of the house (got the pantry, cleaning closet, coat closet and one drawer in the master bath so far).

Zumba

I also did the online training to become a Zumba Instructor! I finished about a week ago. I’ve barely done any Zumba since then. I don’t know why, I’ve just been feeling lazy lately. It is difficult to be as interested in Zumba when I cant see my friends. The “party” aspect is missing.

I miss my family. I think this may be the longest I have gone without seeing my parents. At least it feels that way. I miss my nephew, Stephen. He is only 2 and I feel like he’s gonna be a grown-ass man by the time I get to see him again.

I could be in a much worse position. So, I can’t complain too much.

Grocery Shopping

I haven’t been to my grocery store in a few weeks. The last time I was there, no one was social distancing or wearing masks. Not even employees. I didn’t feel like safety was of much concern.

Costco

Costco has been the only store I have felt comfortable in during this COVID-19 pandemic.

All of their staff are masked
They have the plastic shields up in front of their employees for the safty of everyone.
They have lines marked on the floor to keep people social-distanced during checkout
They wipe down the register, the shield and counter in between each customer
They sanitize carts to give you as you walk into the building

There were, unfortunately, customers in the store that weren’t masked and were not giving a crap about keeping open space. There was a woman just walking around with her cart chatting on the phone as though nothing was wrong. Can’t blame Costco for customers being stupid.

Target

I have also used Target Drive-Up a couple of times. That also felt safe. I just placed my order on my Target App and was alerted when it was ready. Then, I drove to Target and parked in a Drive-Up spot and let them know I was parked and what my vehicle looked like. An employee brought out my order, confirmed who I was, and loaded it into my trunk. No contact. I just sanitized my stuff when I got home. The only down-side was that not everything is available for Drive-Up.

I haven’t been inside a Target for a long time, but from what I hear, there are still plenty of people not giving a shit. Thats who I want to stay away from.

Instacart

Even though I feel safe enough to go to Costco or Target Drive-Up, I decided to try Instacart. Since our county has the highest number of COVID cases in our state, I don’t want to take any chances. I am doing my best to avoid and interactions outside of my husband.

Instacart worked well! I placed orders from Target, Costco and Festival Foods. I was able to choose the time frames for each order. The shoppers chatted with me as they were shopping to confirm replacements and such. I was updated when the checkout was done, and when the shopper was on their way. The app even has a map that shows you where your shopper is along the way. It was definitely convenient and I will use it again (assuming this COVID situation continues for awhile).

We are in strange times these days. I wonder if and when life will start to get back to normal. I imagine it will be a long process.

Self-Distancing