Oh, Ok COVID-19: Or, Is today Thursday?

What even is this? Week 8 now in quarantine. I haven't left my home. My girls and I are safe and healthy; my job is secure and I'm able to do it from home. I'm absolutely privileged during this time while so many people are losing family, friends, dreams. Life. I'm lucky.

And I'm scared of everything. Hi.

I'm also, at this point, Johnny Depp-as-Willy Wonka nuts. It's the year 2020 and we've all been trapped in our homes for two months amidst a terrible plague blighting the land. Two months! I miss everything and everybody. The darkest part of it, of this thing and the ugliness surrounding it, what it's done to the world, I can't talk about right now. How it's punched me in the gut. The weight of it. This isn't that blog post. Yet.

Instead I want to tell you what I've been doing, because you probably don't get enough of that from me on my social media channels.

I've:

• Suddenly become a homeschool teacher (Have adopted a European, Montessori-esque approach. Let the child lead. LOL)
• Been working a ton and doing Zoom meetings while Bess and Floyd jump off furniture and get stuck in the sink.
• Written my first short story in three years. 
• Fallen deep in a misery hole missing my old life, my parents, and my boyfriend. Also deep in an anger hole. And a giddy, out of touch with current reality hole. (These holes will figure into the YouTube playlist below.)
• Got Les Mills On Demand to fill my deep and hot Ragsdale YMCA void. I talk with a New Zealand accent now. 
• Developed neat, personal relationships with my Shipt and Instacart shoppers. Jonathan and Eldora, especially, really get my love language is Words of Affirmation. They text back within 30 seconds and they even know which products to substitute if need be. 
• Been cooking like Ma Ingalls, or like one of my two maternal great-grandmothers (pictured together below. I can't decide which one I feel more like, Grandma Jones or Grandma Estep) Regardless, So. Much. Roast. Chicken! In a braiser! Me! 
• Hitting the online shopping hard. Ann Taylor LOFT has really been taking care of me. 
• Piggybacking on the online shopping: I've also had to extricate myself from a legging cult, which still might not be over. 
• Learned people can love me from a distance. But it doesn't make any of this any easier. 
• Sure enough done my part to support my local restaurant and indie bookstore community. 
• Successfully thus far kept the girls and me from getting rickets thanks to daily doses of sunshine and Vitamin D gummies. I am sure that both great-grandmothers are proud of me for having prevented rickets. 

WV grandmas tired of everybody's BS but can whip up some biscuits for the kids in a skinny minute. 

Also, yes, I've been doing full hair and a red lip this entire quarantine . . . except for when I go two days without a shower and have my hair in a severe bun and peer through the blinds holding a switchblade. I've only done that a couple of times. Here's a photo of of the girls and Floyd not getting rickets:

Sunshine is good for children and dogs. 

       

And, though I'm a 43-year-old small town mom, I've been keeping a YouTube playlist. It's not the first time I've done this. Ok? This one accurately expresses my COVID-19 quarantine through film and song. Maybe there's something here for you.

Judy's COVID-19 emotions as told by YouTube  

Some things to note. There are three versions of "California Stars" on there. And two versions of "Octopus's Garden," one of which is sung by Kermit and his nephew. At first I thought I'd provide you with a helpful description of each clip, but now I think, no, that's too much. If you know me, I bet you can guess what all is happening in my headspace. If you don't then make something up. I want to hear about it. What's on your list? What's in your quarantine earbuds? Is today Thursday?

Think about it and get back to me --- and, above all, stay safe and sound.

Portrait of the artist in quarantine shamelessly made up and still smiling, even if she's faking it