Not Much Has Changed

I can’t believe it has been over two months since the last time I blogged.  Not much has changed, really. 

North Carolina was supposed to have a phased reopening, but that was wishful thinking.  As soon as things started reopening, people started acting like the pandemic was over.  We also have a mask mandate, but it’s largely a joke.  So many places are blatantly refusing to enforce it.  My job is requiring masks.  Nick’s job isn’t.  We’re still staying home as much as possible, but when we do go out, most people aren’t wearing masks. 

So it comes as no surprise that NC is consistently on the list of places with quickly rising numbers.  I keep wondering what the number of deaths has to be for people to take it seriously and follow the rules.  It makes me nervous to think how high that number may have to be.

I’m still working from home, which Duke is very happy about.  He spends most of the day on a blanket next to my desk.  I did get to go into the office for a total of three days in June.  It was nice to see some of my coworkers again.  It was so strange, though, with everyone walking around in masks and standing so far apart from each other.  I don’t know if that will ever feel normal.  There are a few things going on at the office this month, but we’ve been told not to go in unless we’re directly involved them, or told by our supervisor to go in.  I’m not working on those things, so there aren’t any office days on the horizon for me.

So that’s pretty much it in pandemic news for us. Moving on to other things.  

Our gardenia bush bloomed!  It’s still very small, but the blooms were pretty. 

I have crocheted a lot of mask adapters!  A few people at work needed some for family members.  A few people Nick sees through work needed some.  I thought that was probably going to be the end of making mask adapters, but then the lab my sister works in started doing COVID-19 testing.  She asked me for mask adapters after one of the things she was using left bloody sores behind her ears.  The other option left her face bruised by the end of the day.  On a side note, that probably contributes to my total intolerance of people who refuse to wear a cloth mask for 45 minutes in the grocery store.  When the tests are coming in so fast that the folks working in the labs running the tests are wearing masks for so long that their faces are bruised and bloodied, the rest of us can suck it up a little.  Anyway, I quickly crocheted these two, and mailed them to her.  We wanted to test out the size before I made a lot of them.

They worked for her, and two of her coworkers asked about getting some.  So I  crocheted this batch and mailed them to her.

Then more of her coworkers saw them, and asked about getting some.  People were offering to pay for them.  I refuse to sell them, though.  It’s the one thing I can do to help during all of this, and it makes me feel better to do it.  So I got another small batch mailed.

By that time, more and more people were asking about getting one, so spent a day making them, and got this batch mailed.  So far this appears to be enough, but they’re going to let me know if they need more.  They sent me a very nice thank you letter, which was awesome. 

I made a sourdough bread starter.  For the bread machine, so I’m not sure how much that counts.  It took a little longer than the recipe said, so I gave it a few extra days.  The bread was delicious.  I made bread with it twice, and then totally forgot about feeding it for over two weeks.  We weren’t sure if it was alright to use after that, so I threw it out.  It has been so hot lately, we’re not really making much bread anyway, so I think I’m going to wait until it cools down some before I start another starter. 

So what have you been up to over the past few months?