Tag Archives: coronavirus

covid fatigue

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Bleak Ruin

COVID19 fatigue. I am thinking it’s a real thing. No, not talking about people being fatigued after recovering from COVID19, I am talking about being on mental and emotional overload without really realizing it.

I don’t know about you, but I’m just tired of it all. I’m tired of wearing masks but I know I have to wear one.

I’m tired of having a hard time finding masks that actually fit because a lot of them aren’t adjustable.

I’m tired of trying to do things like find disinfectant wipes or even a blessed can of Lysol spray because they are either out of stock or someone is price gouging.

I am tired of not feeling comfortable enough to go do my own shopping in the grocery store because I live an immunocompromised life and the few times I have been out there are so many people that will stand within close proximity to other people not wearing a mask it sort of freaks you out.

I am tired of not seeing my friends and I don’t even go out that much. But it’s summer and it’s the time when you enjoy your friends company and you do cookouts and you go on vacation together. Whatever your routine, it no longer exists.

I am tired of watching all my friends with school-age kids and kids in general worry. It’s summertime kids are supposed to be able to play outside with abandon, go to summer camp, have sleepovers, and a lot of that isn’t occurring.

I was talking to a friend yesterday who said her children don’t even want to do online anything at this point because they are so tired of virtual everything they want real life again. I totally get it. Last week I did a historic “walking tour“ of West Chester, only it was virtual. It wasn’t that it wasn’t interesting, but I realized how much I would’ve loved it being in the town with a group of people on a tour and my camera instead of on a zoom virtual event.

With a few of my friends in particular I’ve seen very little of and it’s just because of what’s going on. Normally this time of year we will have our little summer day trips together where we go and look at antique stores, or walk around say Kennett Square and have lunch, go to a Life’s Patina opening, or to the herb sale or art show at Historic Yellow Springs but we haven’t really seen each other. It’s not because we’re mad at each other or anything like that it’s all because of COVID-19. I haven’t even gone to see the goats this year at Yellow Springs Farm because of COVID19.

We live in a world where we are all holed up in our own little universes. And how can we feel safe out in the world when COVID19 cases keep spiking and people are partying like it’s 1999 with complete abandon and disregard (cue the dumb ass college students at Villanova University.) And oh for God’s sake yes I remember that age and outside summer parties where where it was at, but we didn’t have a global pandemic to contend with.

I am watching via social media my friends dropping off their children at college. And I know they’re trying to put up a good front, but at the same time I know they are concerned because going out into the world with #COVIDidiots can be a problem.

I know people who are keeping their kids home this semester, I know people whose kids want to stay home this semester because they’re afraid of how their schools are approaching COVID19. I know people who are choosing to essentially homeschool their children for the year because they’re not comfortable with whatever it is their school districts are doing wherever they live.

I know plenty of people who are economically stressed right now because of all the additional expenses involved with COVID19. And then there are those who have taken pay cuts and been laid off. And then there is the whole category of my many friends who own small businesses who are just trying to stay afloat.

Meanwhile, a chain restaurant along the Main Line which closed a few years ago got COVID19 money. Bucca di Beppo. And it closed around 2013!

We can’t even go visit our natural resources without worry. And we have Energy Transfer / Sunoco /Sunoco Logistics for that. They polluted Marsh Creek Lake. And oh yes it’s a water source.

People are snapping out at friends and family. It’s COVID19 stress. Then add the stress of this country’s current political nightmare. We have a president who is essentially trying to dismantle the United States Postal Service. Because he doesn’t want to be honest about COVID19 but he doesn’t want to lose the election either so he wants to screw up our ability to vote by mail. Yes I believe the political stress caused by a toxic president who acts like a malignant narcissist adds to all of this COVID19 fatigue as well.

Add to this all of the weird weather. We keep having storms which feel like biblical proportions that do all sorts of damage in a time where we’re really searching for a little good news. Even if you deliberately try to avoid the news these days, you can’t avoid the news these days. like among today’s headlines is the fact that the United States has surpassed 170,000 deaths from COVID19.

Personally, I’m kind of over 2020. This adulting stuff is hard this year. It’s ridiculous. Try to keep the faith, people. It’s like our only option.

UC Davis Health Newsroom
NEWS | July 7, 2020
“COVID fatigue” is hitting hard. Fighting it is hard, too, says UC Davis Health psychologist
It’s time to develop coping skills, which include exercise and talking about our fears and stress.

Washington Post: Health
With no end to the pandemic in sight, coronavirus fatigue grips America. By Brady Dennis, Jeremy Duda and Joel Achenbach
August 11, 2020 at 8:00 a.m. EDT

Press Democrat: Running on empty: How the pandemic has left many of us feeling cranky MEG MCCONAHEY THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
August 14, 2020, 3:31PM

whitetail disposal of perkiominville, pa this post is for you.

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Door to door solicitation is creepy. Gone are the days of the nice Fuller Brush Man of our grandparents’ era. A few years ago I had a very unpleasant experience with door to door window salesmen. Suffice it to say there is nothing like having all new windows and telling a salesman politely you’re not interested and then they don’t and won’t leave.

As a matter of fact the only door to door folks I have found to be polite the past are the clean water action people (can’t remember the correct non-profit name) and the Jehovah’s Witnesses. And when you tell the Jehovah’s Witnesses you aren’t interested they say thank you and leave. They might leave you a hopeful religious pamphlet, but they leave pleasantly and actually GO.

So here we are in the midst of still dealing with a global pandemic AKA COVID-19 with cases on the rise. But that doesn’t matter to Whitetail Disposal of Perkiomonville, PA. Yes, these people are #COVIDidiots:

Today Whitetail Disposal showed up at my door. I have read online posts about their aggressive door to door sales people, who even come back a second time when they have been turned down.

The guy was clean cut and neatly dressed. No complaints there. He was easily identifiable as one of their employees. No complaints there. But when a homeowner (me) says she is uncomfortable with a door to door solicitation during COVID-19, and you should leave and here is what you shouldn’t do:

1. Don’t tell the homeowner you aren’t doing anything wrong. You are by arguing.
2. Don’t keep standing there waving your badge and saying you have a permit to solicit when the homeowner has asked you to leave. That’s called trespassing.
3. Don’t go to leave by cutting through people’s properties to get to other properties, that is still trespassing!

That is what happened to me today. And I do know from others in my area and research I have done that they have been cutting through people’s properties to get to other properties to solicit. If that guy had just said “thank you for your time” and left when I asked him, there wouldn’t even be this post. And I would not have contacted my township. But I did. I understand that townships have no mechanisms to put parameters on times like these because, well, in our lifetimes there hasn’t been a global pandemic. However, it does give you pause with regard to companies which want to put potential customers and employees at risk like this. Even the census takers stopped going door to door!

I had some people in my area give me a hard time locally over my opinion and experience. Suffice it to say this is MY right to tell them to leave and complain to my township is a door to door salesperson doesn’t do so immediately. I am not having them over for tea. I did not invite them over period. So it is at my discretion to ask them to leave and complain if they don’t.

If you have ever done any kind of sales you know the ability to exhibit a graceful defeat and back away means that some day that same person might well remember that moment and HOW the salesperson handled it. Seriously. I came out of the financial services industry and if you want to meet among the most aggressive and pushy breed of salesperson, it’s a stockbroker on commission. The most successful ones I ever knew were the ones who put the customer and potential customer at ease, even if it meant backing away when they were told “no”.

I have spent some time researching Whitetail Disposal and I was astounded at the sheer volume of complaints. Even on the Better Business Bureau website. Here is an array of complaints from here and there and social media:

But they won’t get my business and based upon my research and experience today, it is doubtful that they deserve anyone’s business. My hypothesis is they stay afloat by getting new business by undercutting the other companies. But they can’t seem to maintain their customer basis and it’s kind of obvious when they have employees post how wonderful they are, eh?

My final word? I actually tried to call them three times to discuss their door to door policy. But like their reviews everywhere state, you can’t get anyone on the phone.

#COVIDidiots

Thanks for stopping by.

Amusingly, the Whitetail soliciting person did their best to stay out of range of security cameras and if they are all ok to be around, why is that?

will private school bashing solve educational issues caused by covid19?

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Class of 1981. Source? My yearbook.

I don’t necessarily agree with the way Shipley is choosing to go all in person in the COVID19 world in which we live, but I do respect that they are trying. It means they plan for things, which is something a lot of schools can’t necessarily do. Why? Schools public, private, parochial, charter struggle because of the politics that always get in the way. You know, kind of like how politics is getting in everyone’s way in life in general with regard to COVID19?

Right or wrong that is how I feel.

However, in spite of my occasional issues with my alma mater, I am somewhat uncomfortable with the sharp edges of portrayal in this opinion piece.

The very sarcastic “God bless Shipley” comment and the mis-portrayal of the school as utterly and ONLY as in solely elitist. That is not fair.

Not all of us who went there way back when, nor every student today is born with a silver spoon in their mouths. Not all of us are trust fund babies. And those who came from family money aren’t bad people because their families have money.

I get tired of the us versus them mentality. There are always going to be people with more money than you. Shocking as it may sound, a lot of us (myself included) worked summer jobs and part time jobs during the school year whether it was in a store, a fast food joint, or in my case, babysitting. Not all of us drove around in BMWs sporting expensive accessories. We weren’t cast members from the O.C. or Clueless.

But the tone of this opinion piece sets my teeth on edge and it starts with the title. Does the writer think it was easy for the school to spend this reserve money or to develop a plan? It wasn’t. And as I said, I don’t necessarily agree with it, but they are trying. And also don’t assume all of the students are Richy Rich, because they aren’t. And if I had to hazard a guess that is part of the reason why they are trying to get kids back in school.

I also have yet to see a re-opening plan anywhere that I actually think will work and that is because of the behaviors out in the real world we see. The people who won’t do their part and even wear a damn mask to the grocery store. Or those who thought and still think “Covid parties” are a great idea. Or those who think a global pandemic is a political conspiracy.

Maybe just maybe if more people were just trying a little harder to do their part to slow the pace of this virus by making better decisions we wouldn’t have to have all these damn conflicting and heated conversations about schools reopening or not reopening or going partially or short term virtual?

And then of course there is the conversation that no one wants to have in public which is how many people out there depend on so many others to raise their children in the first place. Oh I am quite sure the knives will come out for that but is it completely untrue? This global pandemic has stripped us back to basics quite a bit. And it will continue to do so until they find a medical treatment to combat it. And maybe the life lessons we take away from COVID19 are something the universe needs us to learn or re-learn?

Read the article. My alma mater is far from perfect, but why private school bashing? What does it achieve? What issues does it resolve? No one knows what the hell they are doing right now.

Inquirer OPINION
At the elite Shipley school in Bryn Mawr, money is no object in deluxe coronavirus-reopening plans | Maria Panaritis
Posted: August 9, 2020 – 5:00 AM
by Maria Panaritis
Maria Panaritis | @panaritism | mpanaritis@inquirer.com

📌”For the price of $24,000 to $40,000 per child in tuition, here is how one of the most prestigious private schools in suburban Philadelphia is planning to get around the problem of a coronavirus pandemic that is forcing the shutdown of in-class instruction at many public schools this fall.

Spoiler alert: The kids get to go to class. Every single day of the week…..The Shipley School is aiming for this lofty outcome through a flabbergasting array of if-then statements and contingency plans shared with me a few days ago by head of school Michael Turner. By the end of our one-hour-long talk, it felt as though I had just interviewed the logistics chief of a major corporation rather than an education guy….In just the past couple of weeks, a number of districts as prominent as Lower Merion have told parents their children will start the school year at home. So what if you and your husband work? So what if the kids are 9 and 10 years old or in kindergarten? Details are scant and have been all summer.
Shipley, meanwhile, is sparing no expense to do the opposite…God bless Shipley. Money, as we know, fixes a lot of problems in this country, and Shipley’s got it. Its board even put together a fund to help students whose parents may have fallen on hard times with the pandemic recession.”📌

the seemingly unending covid19 mess of it all

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I don’t know about all of you , but this is so unnerving what we are dealing with. I am referring to COVID19. And 2020 in general.

As our communities struggle with how and what school districts are doing, many in our communities are making excellent points. Someone said to me if all school districts start virtually how are they possibly going to switch to in person? What is the magic combination? What is going to be different in October that they are suddenly going to feel it is safer? She said she felt that whoever goes virtual should be that way until January if not the end of the year, unless some schools actually go hybrid and it goes smoothly at those schools. She also pointed out a lot of schools which were contemplating hybrid are dropping off one by one.

Let’s start with the school districts who I think are trying but aren’t receiving consistent direction from any THEY answer to. First there is the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to deal with and then there are Federal politics of the United States Secretary of Education Betsy De Vos because face it, she is allowing herself to be used because of the election. Old Betsy wasn’t appointed for anything other than political reasons so how can you trust that woman to decide what’s best for America’s children?

I think literally everything the school districts are dealing with is conflicting information. Then of course, they are also dealing with the sub-level politics within each school district.

Common sense and being more realistic would keep everyone virtual longer but we are dealing with politics over people on every level. And then there are the people who either can’t or just don’t want to homeschool their kids virtually. Economics, jobs, personal choice. It’s a hot mess.

And the problem overall? I don’t think the districts ever had disaster plans to cover any of this. Who knows if they should or shouldn’t have, NONE of expected this, and face it, ever since COVID19 has landed none of us have gotten consistent messages or direction from leadership in Washington DC.

Top down from the White House, they have tried all along to suppress information because of politics. People are dying and they are playing politics. The White House has been playing their agenda at the expense of everyone else and to the extent of trying to discredit their very highly educated experts because the experts are telling them they have to pay attention and do better that this COVID19 global pandemic is far from over.

People I know have lost family members to this virus. Other people I know are separated from family members because those family members are in states that are like big giant hotspots of COVID19.

Someone I know told me yesterday that one of their doctors lost a colleague to COVID19. A surgeon in their 30s or 40s. Not old or sick. This doctor also got COVID19 themselves early on from a patient who did not know they were carrying the virus. As this one doctor recovered they needed physical therapy because the virus caused some kind of movement imbalance.

But I guess the point to this long rant is nobody knows what’s going on and we’re all playing catch-up. And we’re dealing with misinformation and withheld information.

And this virus is affecting the economy. Except I think what is actually happening is it’s pointing out that the economy wasn’t so hot in the first place. Now everyone can hop all over me about that but I spent my life in the financial services industry. I’ve been around as the wheels have come off before.

And the day before yesterday I had to go to the bank only my bank branch is closed for renovations so I had to go to a bank branch for my bank in a supermarket. I haven’t been in a supermarket since March before COVID19 hit officially. I almost had a panic attack as I counted the people who weren’t socially distancing and weren’t wearing masks and didn’t have masks on their children. And were also crowding me. I went home and changed all my clothes, got a shower, and washed my hands multiple times.

I wish I had the magical answers to this problem, but as someone who like many of us out there lives an immunocompromised life, this stuff terrifies me.

Other countries who have been serious about containing this are doing much better now. But the overwhelming problem in this country when it comes to COVID19 from education to just going to the grocery store safely is the politics in this country. The toxic freaking politics.

I just wish we could learn more about what is going on honestly with the politics of it stripped away.

So many people are struggling. Salary cuts, job loss, losing their homes to crazy acts of mother nature. You name, it 2020 is mind boggling.

How do we come together and survive this? How do we usher the children safely back to school? What is safely back to school?

I can tell you I have almost gotten to the point where I don’t want to listen to the news or read newspapers anymore. Like many other people, I have moments where I struggle with all that is happening emotionally. You have to wonder why it is we are all being tested? Is it to make us stronger, teach us a lesson, what? You have to wonder if part of the answer is philosophical or theological.

I don’t have any answers I just have thoughts on the whole thing. And I don’t know if my thoughts are helpful to anyone. But I felt the need to write this out.

I guess we just have to try to continue to soldier along as best we can and try to make good decisions and stay healthy.

Thanks for stopping by.

slightly disgusted with mankind and we need to come together and find peace

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This is just one of my photos. It has absolutely nothing to do with the post.

I am beginning to understand why people move to cabins at the tops of mountains and don’t talk to people. We are living in very strange and angry times and I really wish people would just hit the pause button or take a freaking breath sometimes.

I saw pictures (media coverage) this weekend of people who went to Washington DC. They went to party with Trump on the White House lawn for 4th of July. Now no one can dispute going to Washington DC on the Fourth of July is a very American patriotic thing, the thing that disturbed me is all the coverage I saw of this event no one really was wearing masks. No one was social distancing. And it looked more like a political rally than a celebration of the nation’s birthday. That in and of itself was very distasteful to me. Right or wrong, to me it was very much a Marie Antoinette let them eat cake pre-French revolution kind of a thing.

But now I can’t help but wonder who in those crowds will get COVID-19 or bring it home and give it to somebody else? Because I don’t think they’re going to self quarantine do you?

I had another friend tell me again yet today about how uncomfortable their neighbors make them because all they’ve done essentially is party since coronavirus broke out. And I’m not trying to be a wet blanket, everyone likes to get together with their friends and family. But we don’t live in normal times and there are things we have to pay attention to. The proof is in the pudding as it were because there are spikes occurring all over the country of this pandemic virus.

I mean how embarrassing is it that European countries do not want to let an American in across their borders right now because of the virus and because of how our country is treating the Coronavirus?

Then there is the incredible tension because of well, racism in this country. We’ve had protests, incredibly violent protests at times from coast to coast. We are long overdue in truly addressing this heinous issue.

No one can have a conversation about anything and every conversation is combative and too many of them take place online and not face-to-face. Again, because of the times we live in having newly emerged from stay at home orders. We are truly living in the era of nasty keyboard idiots.

And another new thing that keeps happening. For every community where you say “Hate Has No Home Here“, “ Black Lives Matter“, or other similar signs there are also signs once again supporting local police departments. The impetus of course is to remind people that not everyone in law-enforcement is a bad person. And that’s true. I think, however, all of these different kinds of signs are stirring up people positively and negatively and I have to wonder can we take our protest signs down for a while across-the-board in general? And learn to co-exist peacefully?

And then there is the economy. There are a lot of people out of work. There are a lot of small businesses who are suffering greatly and will never open their doors again in some cases. There are people who also have gotten their salaries cut. I think with everything that has been going on since 2020 started is just creating so much tension that no one knows how to process it.

We need a do-over on 2020.

Global pandemic, unstable economy, and racism. They say bad things come in threes let’s hope this country is done now for a while, right?

Here’s a novel idea: maybe we should all just stop fighting one and other for five minutes and try to shut our mouths and open our ears and listen to what other people are saying. Maybe we should be open to hearing the points of view of others. Maybe we should all try to be better people. Maybe we should pay it forward with something positive however we can.

Part of the problem today again is no one can have a conversation any longer. No one can have a civil discussion about anything. You never know when you open your mouth if you’re going to say the right thing or the wrong thing, so I find myself for me being unusually quiet. Until now.

The impetus for this post, is all the stupid stuff I see going on in community Facebook groups. We’re all supposed to be neighbors, yet all I see is people who want to tear other people down or just starting fights. I would like to think that therapy is cheaper and perhaps anger management as well.

We live in an angry, hateful world right now. And we have to do our part to make it better to enact positive change. But change comes with trying to be tolerant of other people, walking away from stupid online arguments. I think life is hard enough right now at times, so hard, we need to just pause.

Once again, as I’ve said before, I think a lot of the fuel to the fire of negativity in this country comes from Washington DC. They only have one goal: benefiting themselves.

Our forefathers fought and bled and died and suffered so that all of us could be free. What would they think of us today? Would they be shaking their heads in disgust?

I don’t have the answers. I wish someone had the answers. But it’s too damn hot and I think people have to start to take a breath so we can come together as a nation.

Peace people. We need peace. We need love.

this is not my philadelphia

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Because of the oversaturation of COVID-19, and the crazy politics out of Washington D.C. I have not been watching the news. Last night, I watched streaming services TV and went to sleep.

I knew about that poor man George Floyd being murdered in Minneapolis. Sorry that’s how I see it if it offends you. Racism is killing this country again.

I knew about the peaceful protests going on in major metropolitan cities. I have little problem with peaceful protest, I have participated in them over the course of my life. But last night, peaceful protests went away, and opportunistic rioting and looting began. That’s not right.

We live in a very angry country. I think a lot of this can be laid at the feet of the politicians in the current regime in the White House. And last night this also came too close to home. Philadelphia was on fire. When I turned on my phone this morning it exploded with text messages like this one:

This is not my Philadelphia.

When you hear things like that your head feels like a ping-pong ball. So I started looking to see what I found:

Mandatory Curfew Implemented For Philadelphia, Gov. Wolf Signs Emergency Declaration As George Floyd Protests Turn Violent: CBS3 Staff
May 30, 2020 at 11:31 pm

The Inquirer: ⬤ LIVE
Philly awakes after a night of protest and looting; prosecutors today will begin deciding who will be charged;

MAY 30, 2020 George Floyd protests in Philly erupt in fires, looting; City officials blame outsiders
Mayor Kenney, Commissioner Outlaw say Saturday afternoon’s violence was instigated by people who had nothing to do with the morning’s demonstationsMichael Tanenbaum Headshot BY MICHAEL TANENBAUM
PhillyVoice Staff

What the ever-loving F?

This is not my Philadelphia.

I am horrified and almost feel like crying. We are a country of anger and vitriol and racism and discrimination. But this wanton mass destruction? Where innocent people are hurt? What does that accomplish?

Right now I am watching NBC’s Meet the Press. They have mayors from certain cities, officials from Minneapolis and so on talking about all of this and what is going on across the country.

There was a common thread of these people basically saying the president has to stop dividing and lead. I don’t think he can do that because he has a limited grasp on the reality most of us experience every day. I also don’t think he cares. And as the Mayor of Atlanta pointed out he has an unfortunate history of misspeaking and making matters worse. We can’t afford that as a nation. All of these mayors are also commenting on the fact that a lot of these agitators the turned peaceful protests violent came in from out of the area.

I was a little kid in Philadelphia from when I was born in the mid-60s through when we moved in the mid-70s. There were not protests like happened last night then. There was a lot of looting and rioting and other parts of the country but Philadelphia was somehow in a bubble.

Racism in America is a real issue. But looting and rioting and burning cities to the ground like happened in so many cities across this country yesterday and overnight? That is hate and anger which begets more hate and anger.

The images I am posting I have taken mostly off of Twitter. I’ve taken screenshots because they’re not my photos so you can see who took them. But we have to stop living like this.

I am also afraid that because of all these riots across the country that just as we’re getting ready to reopen after coronavirus as a nation I think we are going to see spikes in the virus because of the rioting.

Election Day is June 2nd. As Americans one of the most powerful things we can do is exercise our right to vote. And I hope what has happened this weekend drives a lot of you to the polls to vote out the bad and vote in better. And come November continue that in the General Election.

We are not a country of anarchy and anger, or we shouldn’t be. We, as Americans, are better than that. Or we should be.

Today we should all mourn for what we are devolving into as a nation. It’s getting to the point where do we really feel safe in our communities no matter where we live? It breaks my heart and terrifies me.

#covid-idiots in chester county

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Reader submitted photo dated today 5/14/2020

I will preface what I am about to say with I do NOT disagree with the fact that we need to take steps to get things open again. Only I don’t really know what that looks like because there are some businesses that are going to be harder than others to re-open because of the proximity employees have to customers like with restaurants, bars, hair salons and barbershops.

But the photo you see above taken today in West Chester downtown at the old courthouse is not how to do it.

I think these people are freaking idiots, truthfully.

They aren’t wearing masks they aren’t even social distancing. They are just waving “open” flags. These are the kind of people who are going to keep us closed longer because these are the kind of people who are going to catch COVID-19 or coronavirus by their behavior and spread it.

Do these people think they are actually going to sway elected officials with this protest today? They aren’t. But if any of them pop up with the virus we’re going to be closed longer.

It’s an actual global pandemic. It’s not some political tool to control us. I think this is ridiculous.

Sign me irritated by stupidity.

ready for life again

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The great masks my friend Ginny Kerslake made for me and my family.

We have been at this since March. I admit it, it’s getting old. Our birthday is in a couple of days and never in a million years did I think my husband and I would be celebrating a stay at home birthday. It’s not like we are party animals, but we always do something like have dinner at Fiorello’s Cafe in West Chester. I miss going to Fiorello’s.

We don’t go out tons and I am a homebody, but I am starting to miss the world around me. I talk to and FaceTime my friends but I miss seeing them. It’s spring and I miss treasure hunting with one friend. I miss having “Fran Days” with another. And I miss the Brunch Bunch. It feels like forever since we were all together.

I miss my parents . I haven’t seen them since before Christmas because everyone was sick and my knee surgery was the day after Christmas, so we all weren’t together. Which was weird.

So here we are in COVID19 land now until June 4th. I think we are extended in part because of all of the people not doing their part. There are so many people bitching. It’s enough to make you want to scream.

Do these people think we all collectively love what is going on? Hell no. But we’re a long time dead.

I will admit I am anxious. About money, security, paying my goddamn overpriced health insurance. I have had nightmares a couple of times a week for two months almost at this point. It happens every damn time I watch the news. The news is overwhelming over-saturation and it’s rather repetitive and gloomy. I stopped looking at Chester County’s statistics website. I no longer want to know how many are sick and how many have died.

June 1st is my 9 year anniversary of my breast cancer surgery and I am terrified of getting my mammogram. Not because of the mammogram, I am afraid to be around sick people. I am afraid to get sick. It’s ridiculous. I am feeling ridiculous.

I keep thinking about two of my neighbors’ kids. Seniors in high school. They should be going to prom and celebrating all their hard work. Instead they are just soldiering on being really great kids.

Dreams. Is anyone else having really screwy dreams since this whole Coronavirus started? I have had dreams about the places I have lived since I was a really little kid. It’s bizarre, strange, and comforting. It is also fascinating what your subconscious remembers after decades that you think you’ve long forgotten.

Assholeism. There seems to be a lot of that going around. There are a lot of people out there that should be ashamed of the way they are behaving. I’m not saying my behavior has been perfect. But this global pandemic has in a sense brought out the worst in a lot of people. And it’s like because we’re in the situation they have the perfect excuse to be their worst possible selves. I’m not buying it.

Also to be commented on is the political B.S. I am watching friends who take public service seriously getting the business put to them way too much.

It’s the political status quo. The do nothings are miserable and threatened and we can’t tolerate that crap as voters any longer. They all look so fab posing for photos on Facebook but they are still duplicitous jerks who are utterly self focused.

School districts. Like everyone else they are freaking out. But are we really going to have to watch them like hawks to make sure they don’t raise the hell out of our taxes? We are living in uncharted and unprecedented times in this global pandemic known as COVID-19 or Coronavirus.

People are out of work, they have reduced hours, reduced salaries. Now is not the time to raise taxes on the residents. Now is the time for school districts to tighten their proverbial belts and cut expenses. And don’t tell me it’s not possible, in every business and school district it is possible if you have to do it. They cannot ask all of the residents, many of whom are on very fixed and limited incomes, to pay more right now. Some are already choosing between things like food vs. medicine.

And oh my gosh if you dare say any of this out loud you are a very bad person who is anti-schools and anti-teachers which is crap. I reject that. It’s not fair.

People are stretched so thin. We all feel some days like a boomeranging rubber band with our literal nerves. How can we not? This is kind of crazy like a made for T.V. suspense movie masquerading as real life.

Today is one of those days I feel the weight of the crazy world we live in. My realistic mind knows the end is in sight, but I worry about what comes next. And we can’t predict the future and shouldn’t borrow trouble, but today is one of those days. The glass is not half empty per se, but I feel cranky and intolerant today.

This is when I need to count my blessings and take a deep breath. This too shall pass. And some day in the future, we will look back and talk about surviving a global pandemic.

We can do this. We can. But in the meantime I will keep on gardening and learning how to bake bread. I also might finish repairing two vintage quilts.

The thing about life is situations always teach us more about who we are as human beings. The good, and the bad. The imperfections which seem ridiculously magnified given what we are all living through right now. But love and caring? That grounds us, that anchors us. And the last part is faith. Faith in a higher power, God, each other that we will get through this.

Tomorrow is another day, Miss Scarlett. Tomorrow is another day.

Be well and stay well.

Thanks for stopping by.

news you can use: you CAN vote by mail and ballots are starting to flow through the mail

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Like many others out there, I am choosing to vote by mail this coming primary election. The date for the primary election is now June 2nd.

When I found out in mid-March that we could do this, I registered online for my mail in ballot. I am someone, who as a cancer survivor and still active cancer patient, is considered immunocompromised.

After I registered online at https://www.pavoterservices.pa.gov/OnlineAbsenteeApplication, I first received a confirmation letter acknowledging my application. Then a couple weeks later I received an email that I mistakenly thought was from Chester County telling me my ballot was being mailed out. Only I never received anything. And because my mail sorts through Wilmington, Delaware before coming back to Chester County, I tried to contact Chester County Voter Services.

Because of the coronavirus world we live in I wasn’t successful at first in contacting the county. So I completed a second ballot application. I still received nothing. So I reached out to Chester County Voter Services again. This morning a lovely lady called me back.

Apparently the acknowledgment email we receive along with the additional email that tells us our ballots are being mailed out are generated on a state platform and not a county level. I mistakenly thought the notification of ballots being mailed out came from the county. Apparently I am also not alone in that misperception. This has created some confusion, as have a lot of things quite frankly being issued from the state level these days. (This is all uncharted territory in a global pandemic and health crisis, so for once in my life I’m actually trying not to be hypercritical.)

Chester County IS mailing their ballots now. BUT if you filed more than one application with the state (like I did) because you were afraid your ballot was lost it’s gumming up the works quite literally. Every time you do a new application it sounds like it kind of voids the other applications, so what is happening is it’s essentially a stop check in the system so people don’t get more than one ballot. Basically we’re slowing ourselves down if we’ve done this. And while I only filed a second application, there are a lot of voters who have filed multiple applications.

If you think your ballot is late but you have the email that proves that you successfully completed the application, DO NOT complete additional applications like I for one did. Contact voter services. They are essential workers so a lot of the time they actually are in the offices but the phones are restricted sometimes because I don’t think there are as many people in the officers to answer them. The phone number is 610-344-6410.

Below is a screenshot of what the online request for mail in ballot looks like. Please note if you want to vote by mail, your county office MUST have your application NO LATER THAN 5PM on May 26. Please make sure you complete and mail it ASAP when you receive it because it has to be received by Election Day which again is now June 2nd.

Thanks for stopping by.