Continue to Name Each Thing

                    

                                     April 12, 2020 - April 25, 2020

                              Week 5 and Week 6

• Easter comes and goes. It's not the same.
• At least this enemy has a name or ... we think it does.
• The world continues to hold its breath.
• Tears are close to the surface.  It is the tender moments and acts of kindness that burst through the protective dam.
• Day confusion is a real thing.
• PA liquor stores have been declared essential businesses and are reopened upon reconsideration of the governor.
• Stores begin to limit the number of customers at any one time.
• Being a bit of a recluse by nature is working for me.
• ? Will life ever get back to normal?
• More and more masks are becoming mandatory and people hoard them like disinfectant wipes.
• Everyone seems to be in need of a haircut. 
• Nancy Pelosi shows off her subzero freezer stocked with expensive ice cream ($15/pint) while food boxes are being handed out across the county. She also invites the world to come to China Town in San Francisco. Tone deaf takes on new meaning.
• Covid Checks (Economic Income Payment) are on the way if not already cashed or deposited in fear of potential job loss.
• Local schools are letting students inside to clean out their lockers.
• New and complicated procedures are now in place for emergency visits to a Veterinarian. People consult doctors over the phone or online.
• The PA governor has extended the shelter-at-home mandate.
• April has seemed like a very long month.
• Kim Jong-Un survives heart surgery.
• As a world we are becoming more aware of each other.
• Wedding plans continue to be reevaluated and postponed.
• People continue to crave fresh air and sunshine.
• Children continue to be deprived of an education.
• Socially distancing hiking is a real thing.
• Is it Corona Virus or Covid?

My new mantra is ... "I will try again today."

The importance of lists...

There are times when I need to work though a bit of a writer's block and one way I have of doing this is to make lists of things.   Yesterday I was feeling the pressure of not having enough posts waiting in line to "go live" on my blog, and so the list making began.  Before I tell you what I came up with though, I have to confess that I am a list maker by nature.  I make lists every single day of my life -- or almost every single day.  I make these To Do lists so that I don't forget things, so that I feel productive, and... simply because I love to check items off after they have been accomplished.  I do so love those check-marks. There is little that makes me feel like I have utilized my time well more than a fully x'd out list at day's end.  What can I say?  I know there are many out there who do the same thing -- with their own personal touches. I have asked around. (I even know someone who crosses out the entire line in various colors of magic marker.  She is totally "normal" is all other aspects of her life -- as far as I can tell.)

Anyway -- back to the writer's block list making thing. For some reason I began to focus on peeves yesterday. I worked diligently on making a list of things that annoy me beginning with my compulsion to fold fitted sheets neatly and ending with Kim Jong-un's haircut.  (Oh come on -- you know who I mean. Seriously....)  Have you seen pictures of his wife, by the way?  Ri Sol-ju is really quite cute.  Suddenly I find myself wondering what they talk about at the dinner table. (Talk about walking on egg shells.)   

So -- to refocus and to move away from scary stuff --  here is my list of things that annoy me:

• folding fitted sheets
• everything about the metric system
• that I can never remember how to pronounce nuclear or how to spell prescription 
• that I always have to look up the difference between affect and effect 
• that there is no "x" in espresso
• the way President Obama skips as he deplanes and that he doesn't even hold on to the railings. (Show-off)
• Hillary Clinton's clothing -- style and colors
• Kim Jong-un's haircut.

Please feel free to add some of your favorite annoyances in the comment area or share with me the next time I run into you.  I would love to know....  I would also like to know if you will confess to being one of "us" as far as the actual list making is concerned. It's not a bad thing.  Lists are important.