Category Archives: COVID-19

Habits left over from COVID

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More cactus blooms in our yard. Isn’t that amazing for July in Arizona?

I wash my hands a lot. Every time I go outside and come back into the house, I wash my hands. I realized that my constant handwashing was a habit I picked up during COVID. I get up from typing on my laptop or using my phone and wash my hands some more.

I remembered other things that changed from the COVID shutdown days when we didn’t know much about how the virus was being spread that stick with me today.

Washing hands is number one.

Number two is I don’t like being in crowds like going to big sporting events or the movies.

Three is I’m not as social as I was before.

I worry about travel on airplanes. I’ve gotten sick from COVID after travel twice.

I was very confused about masks. In CA, masks and vaccination cards were required to go in public spaces like restaurants. After we moved to AZ, you rarely saw anyone in masks and no vaccination cards were required — even through we got vaccinated in huge stadiums in AZ with thousands of others driving through the parking lots of the State Farm Stadium where the Cardinals play and the AZ state fairgrounds. After visiting our kids in Berkeley, I’d be back home and realize I was the only one wearing a mask at the grocery store.

I had a close friend in Palm Springs whose daughter was working for a grocery delivery app. They’d have her strip at the backdoor after work and put her clothes in the washing machine, shower and then enter the rest of the house. They also took their groceries out of their car and wiped them down with alcohol wipes before bringing things into the house.

I have friends who traveled to visit family in Michigan and Ontario Canada this week who got COVID. They are holed up in a hotel recovering, but are not very sick.

Last summer, during our beach trip to Santa Barbara, we had several friends cancel getting together with us because they all got COVID. It was eerie. We ended up leaving early because of it. We checked websites and local news and COVID was breaking out everywhere in that area. We decided to go back home to our wildlife of Arizona.

I did lose my mother to COVID on January 1, 2023, so I so know COVID is a real threat to our health. I have to say, I was more worried about cancer after my daughter-in-law’s diagnosis of stage 3C colon cancer during last summer’s vacation. That was way more on our minds than our friends in Santa Barbara getting COVID. Thankfully, everyone, including our DIL and Santa Barbara friends are doing well!

Has COVID from 2020 to today changed any of your actions or behaviors? If so, what has changed?

Four years ago…

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I wrote this post on April 7, 2020. We were living in Palm Springs and on shutdown. It was such an odd time. I’m not sure I really managed to get over it. I have more anxiety now than I did prior to COVID. I need more time to myself and less engagement with people outside our family. Those are just few things that linger.

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One of my favorite streets on my morning walk.

21 Days. Isn’t that something? My daughter came home a few days before we got the order. I’m so glad she made it here. She’s been a joy to have around along with her fur baby Waffles. We have plenty of room to have my husband, me and my daughter all working from home — together — yet apart.

Here’s a few thoughts I have about these strange days:

ONE
I go from super calm and productive to anxiety ridden from day to day.

TWO
I’m losing track of the days and the time. Twice I have woken up thinking it’s 6 a.m. and started the coffee only to look at the clock in the kitchen that reads 11:40 p.m.

THREE
My routine of daily three pages of writing, my three mile walk and Bible readings to start my day are more important than ever. All three help me stay grounded.

FOUR
I’m reading lots of good books. Sitting in my back yard in the sun reading is one of my favorite things to do.

FIVE
10,000 people have died in our country. My heart goes out to all the people suffering and losing loved ones.

SIX
We are now told to wear masks when we leave the house. I’m using a make-shift one from my quilting supplies. It’s hard to breathe during my morning walks, though, and my glasses fog up.

SEVEN
My writing jobs are completed and turned in and now I’m in uncharted territory without every minute of my day focused on meeting deadlines.

EIGHT
My daughter and I cleaned and organized the food cupboards and the laundry room. It feels good to have clean spaces.

NINE
I’m reaching out to family via phone and email. It’s important to stay in touch with your loved ones.

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My new morning walk look.

What are your thoughts about sheltering in place during the pandemic?

What things have lingered into your life now from four years ago?

Travel and sickness

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Pretty kitty
Olive hanging out on the guest bed. The bedding was my daughter’s growing up.

Yesterday was my son’s birthday. I was going to repost my son’s birthday story, where he asked to have 50 kids for his second grade birthday party. We had adopted Angus, our yellow lab, from Guide Dogs of the Desert the year before. I wrote about his birthday party in honor of Angus where our son asked for donations to Guide Dogs instead of presents. He raised $1,600. You can read the story HERE.

I remember our family driving to Guide Dogs to meet Angus. I was nervous about the dog and after we had him in the car, I ran back into the office to ask if I could bring him back — if he didn’t work out. The woman looked at me like I was crazy.

Then she said, “Here are his medical records.” I looked at the paperwork and noticed Angus shared the same birthday with my son. I realized that was it. There was no going back.

We loved Angus until after my son went off to college. My daughter was a junior in high school when we had to say good-bye.

When I looked at my posts from last year, I discovered I had COVID this week in 2023. I had traveled to Washington state to spread my mom’s ashes on her birthday and got sick.

Last week, I got sick after my trip to Santa Barbara which I planned for my mom’s birthday. I’m very stuffed up, have a low-grade fever and I’m achy. I can’t stand being sick and this is my second bug since Christmas. Strange that every time I travel, I seem to get sick.

This current bug was because a woman who was on our tour by shuttle bus sneezed and coughed on us. Why she didn’t bow out of activities and stay in the gorgeous hotel was beyond me. I would have.

Actually, I never got sick traveling to Mexico by car. It’s only when I fly somewhere. In Puerto Penasco, our beach get away four hours south, we eat meals outdoors, we stay in a condo and we’re apart from other people. However, I read that last week they found seven bodies outside of town all shot. They were all men, wearing military gear and our government identified them as cartel members. So, no Mexico for me right now.

Do you get sick after traveling? Or is it just me?

What do you think of people who won’t stay home when they’re sick?

Test Time

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Mom and me in the 1990s.
My mom and me in the 1990s.

I’ve been sick for a week now. Some days I feel like it’s behind me, then today I woke up feeling worse. I’m not sure if it’s a cold, flu (I did get a flu shot) or Covid.

Then I had a scary feeling today thinking about last year.

A year ago, I got a call from my brother that mom had tested positive for Covid. She was in an assisted living facility near Seattle, close to where my brother lives. But she was asymptomatic.

By New Year’s Day we lost her. Without symptoms, she died in her sleep. I wrote about that and a shared a children’s story I wrote about her HERE.

I decided I needed to test for Covid, although I’m not sure what I’d do differently if I have it — or if it’s the common cold. At least I’d know. And thinking back to a year ago, I felt scared. And sad.

I tested negative. Next weekend, we have guests coming from Santa Barbara to surprise my husband for his birthday. I’m throwing a small birthday party for him with three couples from our neighborhood, our friends we were supposed to spend Christmas with — and our surprise guests.

I have to be well. So, I’ll continue with rest, fluids, vitamins and other remedies that are suggested.

When I have a day like today, where I feel like I’m relapsing, my body must be telling me that I tried to do too much.

This is my last post of 2023. Last year was very stressful with losing my mom and my daughter-in-law’s diagnosis with Stage 3C colon cancer. I’m praying for a better 2024 and good health for everyone.

What were you doing one year ago before New Year’s?

What’s your favorite cold remedy?

A Merry Little Christmas

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Beautiful Christmas present we received from my husband’s assistant. It’s of my son and DIL on their wedding day this Fall.

Our Christmas didn’t go as expected. I got sick. I’m still sick. I have a headache, low-grade fever, congestion and cough. I am miserable.

I called our friends we were supposed to join for prime rib dinner along with their four kids, spouses and sister and husband. I could barely squeak out my words and ended in a coughing fit.

No, they didn’t want me around.

So far, my husband is fine. Knock on wood.

My daughter was exposed to COVID her last day at work before her break. She was supposed to spend Christmas with her brother and sister-in-law (photo above.) She instead had to isolate.

My son and his wife stayed home alone for Christmas, because she is halfway through chemo and did not want to catch any bugs. It would delay her treatment if she did. I’m not sure that went over well with other family members, but their priority is her health.

All in all it was a sad little Christmas.

Here are few highlights from staying in bed:

Christmas Eve I watched “Meet Me in St. Louis” after my son said he introduced it to his wife for the first time. I love that movie. There’s one point in the movie where the husband comes home with a lavender tin of chocolates and the wife says “Oh! Louis and Sherry!” That was a chocolate and ice cream company that one of my husband’s clients owned. I had the lavender tin on a shelf in my kitchen in Palm Springs, because it’s so pretty.

Once when my aunt was visiting us in Palm Springs, my son asked if she wanted to watch TV with him. He was five or six years old. He turned on “Meet Me in St. Louis.” She was pleasantly surprised because she thought she’d be watching Barney.

I finished reading a book “Bees Don’t Get Arthritis” by Fred Malone, copyright 1974. A friend loaned it to me in August and called to ask when she could get it back. It’s interesting about how many doctors from the 1930s on treated arthritis with bee venom or honey with pretty good results. Many doctors tried to get it approved as a legitimate treatment after having held trials, but somehow it never made it mainstream. Maybe big pharma doesn’t want something so simple?

I watched the mini-series “Black Cake.” I have one episode left. It’s very good but doesn’t follow the book exactly. I wrote a review of the book HERE. It hasn’t added things, but the TV version put more emphasis on things than I felt was necessary from the book.

I finished Lisa See’s “Peony in Love” which I’ve struggled with. The ending picked up. Then I started reading this one:

Because I’m not feeling that well, I put down the book above and used Audible to start Ann Patchet’s “Tom Lake.” I’m really enjoying it and I can lay in bed and listen.

What were some highlights of your Christmas?

How do you decide if you have a cold, flu or COVID — besides testing for COVID?

Have you been sick this winter?

Beware a Nasty Bug

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Me and my babies
My son, at almost three, and newborn daughter at home after an exciting week.

We were on the phone yesterday with friends who mentioned they are going to get the RSV shot. They have a friend who got RSV and said it was way worse than COVID.

My husband mentioned that our son had RSV years ago.

“No it’s new,” our friend said.

“The vaccine is new,” I explained. “But when I was one week from having our daughter, my son got RSV.”

Then I told him the story. The mere three letters of RSV brought back memories.

My son was sick. I had an appointment in the afternoon with our doctor. Our son began a high-pitched wail that morning.

My cleaning lady/babysitter was in my home. Her children were high school aged. She told me to go to the doctor ASAP. I patiently explained that I had an appointment at 2 p.m. I would go then.

“Now. Go now!”

We were only a few blocks from the doctor’s office which was across the street from the hospital. My son’s high-pitched wail was accompanied by blue lips.

The doctor tried an inhaler, but my son was too young for it to work. I was told to go to the hospital. The doctor told me not to stop at check-in. The pediatrics unit was waiting for us.

“It’s RSV and that is a very serious illness,” the doctor who was usually so funny and personable said in a grave voice.

I walked into the hospital and headed towards pediatrics. I was more than eight months and three weeks pregnant at the time, and was swiftly tucked into a wheelchair and pushed toward OB/GYN.

“Not me. It’s my son.”

Within minutes in pediatrics my son was put in a tent, which must have given him oxygen and the medicine the inhaler would have administered — if he was older and could use it.

I spent the weekend in the hospital with my son. I wouldn’t leave his side. I remember it took three nurses to hold him down to administer medicine and the nebulizer. They called it the monkey machine to get rid of the monkeys in his chest.

My husband made calls to friends that we were in the hospital. My neighbor who had to agreed to babysit while I gave birth ran over. My husband explained it was Robert, not me who was hospitalized.

My son got tons of medicine and they took good care of him. They put my husband, me and our son in a room with another toddler and parents. You can’t imagine how thrilled I was to learn the other toddler had Norovirus. They weren’t thrilled to be with our RSV toddler, either.

Our doctor explained that RSV was not to be taken lightly and it was a precursor to asthma. Ever since that weekend, my son has suffered with asthma, got sick throughout most of his childhood until he became an adult. He’s had an emergency inhaler and been on other meds. That nasty bug was life-changing for him and for us, too.

Do you know anyone who has had the RSV virus? What is your experience with it or any other childhood diseases for you or your children?

On a happier note, have a wonderful weekend and Merry Christmas! 💕

Comfort foods

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I woke up so happy the other morning. I was dreaming about making clam chowder with my mom.

My mom, who passed away from Covid on January first this year, believed strongly in two main foods to make anyone feel better. Clam chowder and wild blackberry pie. I could count on both each time I’d visit her in Olympia, Washington after moving to California.

I have collected a series of cookbooks (photo above) that my great-grandmother published in the 1890s and early 1900s. My great-grandfather was a newspaper man and owned a printing press. To earn extra money, great-grandmother Nellie published and sold her cookbooks across the country as a fundraiser for church auxiliary groups.

Just think, she had to typeset these beauties by hand!

I decided to check out my great grandmother’s cookbook to see if my mom followed the recipe for clam chowder. There are a few differences. For example, we use bacon today instead of pork. We don’t use fresh clams. And what the heck are common crackers?

I love this quote from the Soup cookbook:

“Soup preceding sumptuous meal,

Preparing well the way

For happiness and joyous weal,

To brighten every day.”

This is how I make clam chowder — the way Mom taught me:

Dice potatoes and boil in water. Chop onions and bacon into small pieces.

Brown onions and bacon, drain the grease.

Add flour to onions and bacon and brown. Add milk or heavy cream and allow to thicken. Add potatoes with boiled water. Add a can of clams with liquid.

Sometimes she would throw in a can of creamed corn.

I’ve written about comfort foods HERE and what my daughter finds as her comfort food. It surprised me.

What’s your favorite comfort food? Is it from a family recipe?