Day 181

Day 181, self quarantine:

Friday, September 11, 2020

September 11.  I can’t type that date without dread.

Who will ever forget.

I’ve written about September 11 before, even in the early days of this apocalypse journal, so I won’t rehash my experience.

But I will never forget the relief of seeing my kids unharmed after racing to their school when the plane went down in Pennsylvania, just 200 miles away.

As a child who was terrorized daily during the Cold War and was forced to do duck and cover drills under her elementary school desk, I was pretty sure it was World War III.

I thought I rescued Julie and Eric so we could all perish together hours later at Casa Slick.

Weirdly, it’s also the official six month anniversary of quarantine for a lot of us.

It feels like more, maybe because we had the longest January ever and now it’s September and the stores are decorated for Halloween.

Except Halloween is canceled this year.

(Though it is well documented that every day is Halloween at Casa Slick where I am never, ever without chocolate)

I just wish it were November 4 and Biden won in a landslide and I could relax.

My anxiety is building. 

Vacation is over and it’s 53 days until the election.  

Oy, I can’t even.

I’m pretty grateful Gary forces me to live in the present.  Woo, I’ve been struggling with the past and the future lately.

Quarantine has me alone with my thoughts too much.

I know I’m not supposed to live in the past, but what about beautiful memories?

Though my problem lately is, I’ll think of something the kids did when they were little and what starts out as a beautiful memory suddenly morphs into this incredible sadness and longing for something I don’t have anymore.

Or maybe I just miss my kids.

I do.  It sucks.

Most of all, I miss our meals together.  The great food, fascinating conversation, and laughter.

There were years when friends of the kids showed up every single evening for dinner.

I would just set the table for 5-6 every night.

Sigh.

This is the first time I really do feel old.  I’m not sure if it’s fallout from being quarantined all these months, or, actually finally being old as in official retirement age.

I never paid attention to numbers before and never acted my age but this feels different, like something is ending.

Oh well.  Maybe that means something new is beginning.

As long as it’s not a Trump family dictatorship.

Omg, can you imagine?

Ew!  I’m gonna be sick.

Haha.  Sounds like six months in confinement has me more than a little nuts, huh.

A short weekend road trip is in order.

And french fries.  Definitely french fries.

And some new art and some new music.

Also, Julie is on the inside cover, full page, of Bass Player Magazine this month so I’m sending Gary out in his mask to try and snag a copy or seven today.

I can’t believe that during the first week of quarantine I worried he’d never wear one.

Ever since he got stung by a bee while trying to avoid an unmasked neighbor while watering his plants unmasked, Gary won’t even take the trash out without one.

Oh and woe the person on the street without a mask who encounters my husband now.

Masks.  I’ll never get used to wearing one.

Though I guess if I went out more than once every two weeks I would, huh.

Okay, clearly I am all gloomy and need to shake this off.

It’s Friday!

We’re having pancakes for dinner!

We’re going on a road trip!

I really want to pick up that new Kingfish Ingram record, too.  “Rock and Roll” is everything.

If you haven’t heard it...

https://youtu.be/L6aJUAfwQc4

Kingfish wrote it about his late mother, who died last year.  She was a single mom who sacrificed everything so he could play music.

The video is made up of lyrics and photographs of the two of them.

I dare you to watch/listen without crying.

And oh man can he play guitar.

Let me know what you think.

Okay, let’s wrap up month six.

Everybody chill.

Happy Friday!

Day 180

 Rrrr

Day 180, self quarantine:

Thursday, September 10, 2020

Okay, I started writing this late last night.  If he hasn’t resigned when I put the news on now, I’m gonna have a stroke.

Here goes...

Ugh, I guess I’m having some stress tea this morning.

OMG WHY IS NO ONE DEMANDING HIS IMMEDIATE RESIGNATION?

Besides me, that is.  I haven’t shut up for the last 24 hours.

So, to recap:

On February 7, 2020, Trump told Bob Woodward it was a deadly virus.  On February 28, 2020 he told a packed audience in South Carolina it was a hoax.

“On February 7, the WHO warned about the limited stock of PPE. That same day, the Trump administration announced it was sending 18 tons of masks, gowns and respirators to China. This caused many deaths of our first responders.“

AND ALMOST 200,000 AMERICANS.

30 million Americans are out of work.

Lives are shattered.

They caught this motherfucker on tape.  We all heard him say it yesterday.

He knew.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/10/politics/donald-trump-coronavirus-bob-woodward-book/index.html

So what did this psychotic, pathological liar in clown makeup and a yak wig say last night?

“For years Fake stories and investigations, then the phony Russia, Russia, Russia HOAX, next Ukraine and the failed Impeachment, now the crummy Atlantic Magazine’s MADE UP STORY, and lastly, the political hit job by rapidly fading Bob Woodward and his boring book. It never ends!”

We heard you on tape with our own ears yesterday, you despicable nitwit.

Then he backtracked and said he lied to the country because he’s a “cheerleader for this country and he didn’t want America to panic.”

Cheerleader?  From where, the zombie apocalypse?

This coming from the man who has been fear mongering from day one, tweeting daily about everything from caravans of Mexican drug dealers with duct taped sex slaves at the border to his latest remarks about anarchists and looters coming to burn down the suburbs.

Here’s a tweet from our “cheerleader” from Tuesday.

“Suburban voters are pouring into the Republican Party because of the violence in Democrat run cities and states. If Biden gets in, this violence is “coming to the Suburbs”, and FAST. You could say goodbye to your American Dream!”

Racist much, Donald?

And of course you heard what he said about Kamala Harris the same day.

“She could never be the first woman president. She could never be. That would be an insult to our country."

Why, Donald?  

Because she’s a woman?

Or because she’s a person of color?

He went on to suggest that his daughter, Ivanka would be a more suitable candidate.

Oh.

I hate him.  I hate him so much.

Oh, and then there’s also this.

“Senior DHS official alleges in whistleblower complaint that he was told to stop providing intel analysis on the threat of Russian interference in the 2020 election because "it made the President look bad."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/senior-dhs-official-alleges-in-whistleblower-complaint-that-he-was-told-to-stop-providing-intelligence-analysis-on-threat-of-russian-interference/2020/09/09/9d0661c4-f2b6-11ea-b796-2dd09962649c_story.html

Yes, Donald is in bed with Russia.  How much more damn proof does America need?

The gaslighting is unbelievable.

Okay, I’m done.  I’m preaching to the choir here, thank goddess.

I’m telling you, people, he’s not on the ballot November 3.

Our little cheerleader is gonna crack.  

And I am going to take deep breaths and catch up on all my food shows so I don’t crack first.

There’s a lot more coming. There’s 54 days until the election, and you can be sure Donald is gonna see to it that we’re shocked and disturbed every damn day in between.

Welp, until he finally resigns, that is.

And then I don’t know about you, but I’m having the party of all parties when he’s gone.

Even if it’s indoors quarantined with only Gary and Jake.

Especially if it’s indoors quarantined with only Gary and Jake.

What a horrifying last four years.

I’m so ready to move on and start my new life without him.

Aren’t you?

Let’s do this!

Happy Thursday.

Day 179

 

Day 178

Day 177

Day 176

 

Day 176, self quarantine:

Sunday, September 6, 2020

Woo, yesterday was tough.  I can’t eat the way I used to.

Note to self:  Never again will you eat four pieces of leftover pizza at 9:00 p.m.followed by copious amounts of chocolate followed by immediately stretching out on the sofa and falling asleep.

Gary woke me at 11:00 to go to upstairs and I was so unconscious I didn’t realize I was dying yet.

Omg, I woke up at 1;30a.m.and seriously thought I was having a heart attack.  I never had indigestion like that in my life.  Somehow I crawled out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom where I chugged Pepto Bismol right from the bottle.

Why why why do I do this to myself?  

I have to go vegan and I also have to give up refined sugar. It’s just not worth it anymore.

Anyway, I went downstairs and was literally awake all night and it wasn’t pretty.

Of course an hour in, I told myself I had Covid-19 because after I threw up for the third time I had a nasty headache but then I mentally went over everything I ate on Friday and yeah, it was more like MePig, not Covid.

I sat up all night on the sofa wrapped in a blanket and tried not to have the sad/scary thoughts as one does in the middle of the night when alone and feeling sick.

I didn’t succeed.

Every time I think I’m acing this whole pandemic thing, just give me a few hours with my thoughts when my resistance is down.  I had tears running down my face most of the night.

And then I remembered it was the anniversary of my mother’s death and I thought Oh perfect, I’m gonna die the same day as my mom (albeit many decades later).

Then I realized I wasn’t going to die because I made the mistake of looking at my work email and I’m “in trouble” for so many things there’s no way I will die a merciful death before my return on Tuesday.

Anyway, getting back to my night in hell, I couldn’t even watch my taped food shows because I was too nauseous.

It was miserable.

Gary and Jake came downstairs around 9:30 a.m. but by then I drank ginger ale, had the backdoors open, the sun was shining, and I somehow  shook it off.

I wasn’t about to ruin the last days of vacation.

I filled Gary in on my night and told him to start planning meals without dairy.

Behold the panzanella salad Gary made for dinner.

Totally decadent, zero animal products.

Avocado, corn, tomatoes, olives, sourdough bread, and dressing made of olive oil, red wine vinegar, dijon and lots of basil from Gary’s garden.

I can do this.

Hey, I’m already a long time vegetarian.

It was soooo good.

And what do you know, I woke up today feeling much better and ready for senior shopping at Trader Joe.

I just wish I could delay my return to work next week but time, and change, march on.

Especially change.

Here’s to better days for all of us.

 

   

Day 175

Day 175, self quarantine:

Saturday, September 5, 2020

Hi.  I ate wayyyy too much at Ocean City and all I want to do today is sip ginger ale and moan.

So enjoy this pic of my husband, the dog whisperer, getting accosted by one of many at Dog Beach yesterday.

Happy Saturday!

Day 174

Day 174, self quarantine:

Friday, September 4, 2020

I’ve never seen a week fly by like this in my life.  I’m grateful I saved the trip to the beach for today.

I’m hoping to be sitting in my chair looking at the ocean in a few hours, munching on cinnamon sugar donuts from Brown’s.

I really need it.

There was major awful news reported in the Atlantic about Donald last night, confirmed this morning  by both the Washington Post and New York Times, and I have been watching local Action News for an hour and there has been zero mention.

Is the television news helping to re-elect this imbecile?

It’s fucking malpractice.

This is appalling.  

Okay, I’ll do their job for them.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/09/trump-americans-who-died-at-war-are-losers-and-suckers/615997/

President Trump, who never served in the military, canceled a 2018 visit to a cemetery where American troops are buried, saying: “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.”

When Senator John McCain died in August 2018, Trump reportedly told his senior staff, “We’re not going to support that loser’s funeral.”

Why does Trump seem to disdain military service? “He has a lot of fear,” one officer with firsthand knowledge of Trump’s views said. “He doesn’t see the heroism in fighting.”

“The president told senior advisers that he didn’t understand why the U.S. government placed such value on finding soldiers missing in action because they had performed poorly and gotten caught and deserved what they got, according to a person familiar with the discussion.”

While Trump took great interest in staging a military parade in D.C., sources say he rejected the idea of such a parade including wounded veterans, because “nobody wants to see that.”

I can’t believe a morbidly obese senior citizen in ridiculous clown makeup and yak wig is so obsessed about appearance.

Does he not own a real mirror?

Apparently not.

Either that, or he got his hands on the mirror owned by the evil queen in Snow White.

Every morning, the Evil Queen asked the Magic Mirror the question "Mirror mirror in my hand, who is the fairest in the land?". The mirror always replies: "My Queen, you are the fairest in the land."

Trump’s mirror needs a serious visit to Warby Parker.

😂😂😂😂😂😂

Sigh...can we have one fucking day without grotesque breaking news about that dementia ridden coot?

I’m exhausted.

Of course Donald immediately denied it in his inimitable way.

“I was never a big fan of John McCain, disagreed with him on many things including ridiculous endless wars and the lack of success he had in dealing with the VA and our great Vets, but the lowering of our Nations American Flags, and the first class funeral he was given by our Country, had to be approved by me, as President, & I did so without hesitation  or complaint. Quite the contrary, I felt it was well deserved. I even sent Air Force One to bring his body, in casket, from Arizona to Washington. It was my honor to do so. Also, I never called John a loser and swear on whatever, or whoever, I was asked to swear on, that I never called our great fallen soldiers anything other than HEROES. This is more made up Fake News given by disgusting & jealous failures in a disgraceful attempt to influence the 2020 Election!”

Ugh, he is such human garbage.  I always feel like I need a shower after he speaks.

And as usual, there is concrete proof, both video and print, that he’s lying.

https://www.fitsnews.com/2015/07/18/donald-trump-john-mccain-is-a-loser/

https://youtu.be/541Cg2Jnb8s

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/07/18/424169549/trump-lashes-out-at-mccain-i-like-people-who-werent-captured

Also, notice the remark at the end, “influence the 2020 election.” He’s doing his best to sow seeds of doubt about the validity of our election every time he opens his hideous mouth.

He has no intention of ever leaving the White House.

I just hope his defeat is a crushing landslide and there’s no doubt of his humiliating loss.

And then there was also this last night:

“Trump mocks Biden for wearing mask: 'Did you ever see a man that likes a mask as much as him?”

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/03/politics/trump-biden-coronavirus-mask/index.html

Biden tore him a new asshole by responding it was Trump’s duty as President to wear a mask, what with 180,000 Americans dead and everything.

Okay, I’ve done my civic duty for the day, maybe Action News will hire me so that EVERYONE will know what the fuck that madman does and says, and why he should be removed immediately.

Cool?  Cool!

In other news, Go Flyers!

If we win Saturday night, we’re in the semifinals.

We won in double overtime last night and it was beyond exciting.

Like I always say, it’s the little things during quarantine.

Like pizza from Manco’s today.

I told Gary we’re getting three pizzas so I can eat leftovers all weekend and his response?

“Cool, let’s get four.  I want a white spinach.”

It’s nice we’re usually on the same page.

I just don’t know how we’re going to fit four pizzas in our refrigerator.

“Well, we’re gonna eat at least two before tonight,” Gary said.

Works for me.

Okay, I’m getting nervous because it’s after 6:30 a.m.and I brought Gary coffee over a half hour ago and I don’t hear any movement upstairs.

I better go check.

Happy Friday!

Day 173

Day 173, self quarantine:

Thursday, September 3, 2020

I shut off the news yesterday.

I got tired of screaming “PLEASE DIE, YOU STUPID  FUCK” at the television every five minutes.

We’re going to have a safe vaccine by November 1, 2020 really?

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/02/health/cdc-covid-19-vaccine-distribution/index.html

And who is going to trust this rushed through, untested vaccine and take it?

Trump’s idiot antivaxxer supporters?

Educated liberals like me?

Anyone with a brain?

Yeah, good luck with that, PotusVirus.  Best to go with Plan B, tampering with the election.

Oyyyyyyyy.

Vacation continues to rush by and I can’t even begin to tell you how much I appreciate being able to do nothing but hang with Gary and Jake and the birds.

And with each passing day I realize it’s how I want to live every day until I can do things like travel again.

It’s really not bad.

In fact, it’s pretty great.

As long as I stay away from the news.

And don’t eat everything not nailed down.

I’m so doing it.

Okay, guys, it’s another abbreviated post today but it’s vacation and I’m trying to keep a clear head and think as little as possible.

We’re going to Dog Beach tomorrow, where I will break the news to Gary that we just bought a fabulous new piece of art.

We only have to drive to Princeton, NJ to pick it up.

Hahaha we have nothing but time and there’s an incredible record store in Princeton so Gary will be fine.

If they’re still in business...sigh.

Hmmm, looks like they are.  

https://scottisrecordshops.com/welcome/

Actually, that’s one of Gary’s finer points.  He always goes willingly to museums/art shows and money is never an object when it comes to supporting art.

Even if he does want me to buy furniture at Target 😂.

More on the art after we pick it up and it’s installed at Casa Slick.

I’m really excited.

So that’s it for today.  I did in fact have nothing but a smoothie and a salad yesterday and I plan on doing the same today but tomorrow at the beach, I’m celebrating the end of summer in style.

Donuts, chocolate, ice cream and pizza.

Yes I am ten years old.

And I’m never growing up.

Happy Thursday!

Day 172

Day 172, self quarantine:

Wednesday, September 2, 2020

Woo, how is it Wednesday and how is my vacation half over already?

Time fries.

Especially in quarantine land.

Man, we were slugs yesterday and if we’re lucky, we’re slugging it again today.

All I can tell you is, we’re not going out.

We’re terrified of the roving gangs of anarchists because President Trump is warning they’re armed with cans of soup.

https://youtu.be/mJLXFWSuoCQ

I mean, who among us has not been threatened by minestrone?

It’s horrifying.  But hey, you can’t say our stable genius PotusVirus didn’t give us the heads up.

We don’t have any cans of soup at with which to defend ourselves at Casa Slick because Gary is a celebrity chef who cooks soup from scratch, but I went into our pantry and found cans of coconut milk and olives so I think we’re good.

Sigh...I’ve been watching our local news for the past hour and there’s zero mention about soup or that our President is insane.

Check out his high heels.  Omg, how tiny is his dick?

Please watch the video and let me know your verdict.

So this is a kinda crappy week in quarantine land, there’s clouds and rain in the forecast almost every day, but it feels really awesome to not be tethered to my computer and even better not to have to talk work so again, yep, all is well and yep... 😜

I just wish I could stop eating. We better have salad for dinner tonight.  I haven’t been on the scale for a few days but I can feel extra flesh gathering around the elastic waistband of my pajama bottoms.

That Gary...

Okay, I clearly don’t have much to share today so in the words of my late mother, if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say it.

Peace out.