It’s 2020 – Welcome to Hell!

We’re 8 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days into quarantine. Here in California, we’ve had various levels of quarantine, along with multiple classification schemes.

Currently, we’re using colors. In addition to being in the purple (worst) category, we got another “stay at home order” over the weekend. This is what we started with in March and what kicked off my quarantine counter.

For some, the changing levels impact what they do. For me, I’ve been doing pretty the same thing(s) since March—nothing.

Ok, not nothing, but pretty darn close. I haven’t been to get a haircut; I did my own and somehow managed to not make a total mess out of it. But after 3 years of skipping the dentist, I can’t get away with that anymore, so I have gone to my dentist. Oh, and the chiropractor. 

I’ve also gone to the hardware store. I tried not to; I did online-ordering for same-day curbside pick-up. Then my order sits “in processing” for days and days, so I keep going inside the store. But I haven’t been to a grocery store, or to the pet store, in months and months.

Work is good; I’m able to do everything online. It’s a bit lonely not seeing anyone in person, and most zoom meetings are just that—meetings.

We have a vaccine, but it’s unclear if we can get it distributed to everyone or if enough people are willing to take it. Hopefully, it’s safe and will be available soon for those of us willing. I booked a trip to Scotland in August 2021, and I’d really love to not cancel it!

So what am I doing?

Let’s see—I broke my personal record for the number of books read in a year (and I might crack 100, we’ll see!!!); I’ve been doing a lot of small (and not so small) projects around the house; puzzles—lots and lots of puzzles.

I’ve posted many photos of my puzzles, so I thought I’d share some of my home improvement projects today.

  • Plants, I have plants now, and they haven’t died!
  • new ceiling light fixture in the living room
  • new working from home desk set-up 
  • moved the treadmill into the spare room
  • mounted a TV on the wall to keep me entertained while running
  • put all my race bibs and medals up 
  • ripped out the carpet in my bedroom and fixed up the original floor
  • painted my bedroom a beautiful white (bit of sugar), a massive improvement over the old color (dog farts*)
  • replaced the old light/ceiling fan in my room with a new, modern, “smart” led fixture
  • new window treatments for my room and the living room/entryway (TBD, they are in the mail)
I’ve been collecting these for years, and it feels great to finally display them!

So, if this is actually hell, at least I’m going to have a cozy space to spend eternity!

Regarding the projects, the bedroom project started out small; remove the carpet, refinish the existing floor underneath. Turns out it was SO MUCH BIGGER THAN EXPECTED, and it didn’t help that I kept adding to it (let’s paint! new window treatments)! We’re almost done, and I could not have done it without my amazing mom and step-dad, Nancy and Michael. Of course, there are many more projects on the to-do list!

* this is my made-up name for the color; I don’t actually know what it’s called.

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