The Light at the End of the Tunnel

 

February was a tough month for me. True, February always has the potential for sadness since it marks the anniversary of the deaths of both of my parents. However, this year was probably the easiest grief-wise for me since their deaths. My biggest problem was being blind-sided by COVID fatigue. I'm an introvert, so needing to stay home doesn't bother me. Or, it didn't. It seems that, for me, not being bothered by the need to stay home ends at around eleven months. Who knew? (I was in such a funk that I didn't even realize until mid-March that I had forgotten my March blog post. *facepalm*)

Somehow, it seemed to make it worse knowing that there was a vaccine that could make things better but also knowing that it was out of reach. In February, my home state was still in phase 1A of vaccine distribution with no plans to expand to other phases. At the rate things were going, it was looking like the earliest I would be able to get a vaccine would be this Autumn. I honestly didn't know how I was going to make it that many more months with next to no human interaction.

My husband and I have been trying to go camping once a month. Camping helps in that it gets us out of the house and outside. It doesn't help in that, thanks to COVID, we don't get to eat out so camping doesn't give me a break from endless meal planning and cooking. At the time of this writing, I haven't eaten at a restaurant in over a year.

Image from Facebook

During the month of February we heard from more than one person about health clinics, etc. that had waiting lists of people interested in getting the vaccine; these lists were used when cancellations or no-shows left them with vaccines that needed to be used. My husband made it his goal to find such a waiting list in our area; his first several calls were fruitless. He finally hit pay dirt with a call to our local small town pharmacy. We actually got a call back from the pharmacy later that afternoon asking if we could come in for vaccinations. It turns out that they had had a cancellation and had been on the phone for two and a half hours trying to find someone who wanted/need the vaccine; everyone they contacted had either already had it or didn't want it. We gladly accepted. The pharmacist thanked us over and over for coming in. I was on the verge of crying tears of joy. I had never been so happy to get a shot. Fortunately, getting the first shot automatically put us on the schedule to get the second one which we did on March 29th.

My hubby keeps me laughing.

The 2nd vaccine is the one that most people have some sort of reaction to which makes sense to me; it's proof that your immune system is doing what it's supposed to do. Even though your mileage may vary, here's my experience:

* My arm was achy for about 36 hours after the first injection but it was nothing that a little Advil couldn't handle. (The second pneumonia vaccine was far more painful.)

* The pharmacy requires that vaccine recipients wait 15 minutes after their shot to make sure there are no reactions. (The 15 minute wait should be a requirement no matter where you get your shot.) It turns out, that was a good thing. I had no problems after the first shot but, about 5 minutes after the second shot I suddenly got extremely dizzy/light-headed and thought I was going to faint. I fought my way through it but it left me feeling shaky. I reported the near-fainting spell to the pharmacist when he came to check on us; he admitted later that I gave him a scare, LOL.

* The shakiness never completely went away and fatigue kicked in about 5 hours after the 2nd injection. In spite of being exhausted, I didn't sleep well that night, in part because of the extreme pain at the injection site every time I moved my arm. (The pharmacist warned us that the injection site would probably be more painful with the second injection. He was right.) When I got up the next morning, I just didn't feel good in general; the fatigue had been joined by general achiness and a low-grade fever. My husband felt much the same way. By mid-afternoon, my husband was fine; I was not. I took Tylenol every few hours which helped relieve my symptoms. By the time supper rolled around, nausea and a slight upset stomach had joined in.

* Fortunately, when I got up the next morning, I was pretty much back to normal. A little residual achiness and nausea showed up mid-day but Tylenol and Tums got everything under control.

I would have gladly dealt with worse symptoms for the knowledge that should I now contract COVID, odds are, it won't be life threatening. My anxieties should now be willing to let me leave the house without threatening to overwhelm me. 

How are you doing? How are you dealing with COVID fatigue?

 

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Expanding Creativity

The self-isolation requirements brought on by COVID-19 began wearing on me a few months ago. As an introvert, parties, etc. are not my thing but my husband and I still went out to dinner with friends, attended a weekly Bible study, went grocery shopping, etc. Now, we haven't been to a restaurant or grocery store since early March and our Bible study group has been cancelled. It didn't take long before restlessness set in with a vengeance. I decided that I needed to find a creative outlet outside of writing. As much as I love to write, it's a marathon, not a sprint, and I needed to find something sprint-worthy.

 

All I have to do is make these parts look like the picture...

 

Facebook ads to the rescue! I signed up for a monthly kit club. Each month, I'll receive a kit for a different project. The variety of projects will let me try my hand at different things without making a long-time commitment to any of them. The first kit was for a decorative birdhouse. I'm fairly handy and can use a hammer with the best of them, but most of my projects are large. Working on something so small was going to be a bit of a challenge, but that's what this is all about - trying new things.

 

Making progress!

When I'm trying something new I have a tendency to follow the directions to the letter and would have done the same this time if it weren't for my husband. He looked at the picture of the completed birdhouse and said "That's a lot of white. Why don't you change the color for some of it?" This was an excellent suggestion and we have quite a few sample-sized paints left from hubby's various projects. I decided to change the base and the trim for the roof to a light gray. Not much different from the original but I've always loved a pop of red against a gray or white.

The project is now complete and I have to say that I'm pretty pleased with it. 👍 My perfectionist tendencies mean that I see all all of the flaws but as my husband says, the flaws are what makes it unique. (He balances me well. 💕)

Ta-da!

Next month: Inspirational magnets.

What are your hobbies?

 

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LOOKING BACK-LOOKING FORWARD

I don't have a tree this year. I could blame family tragedies or the recent three minor surgeries that have got me nearly flat on my back. I could blame politics or climate change. I could blame my husband, after all, don't they often get left with the blame, whether guilty or not?

Or I could accept that this year, I will have no tree.

Actually, aside from the fact that the price of a Christmas tree has crept far beyond my budget, I'm also having trouble with the "disposable" mentality that goes with it. I mean, once a year, millions of people suddenly require the killing of trees that may not be ready to die. Then a month later, they are tossed away, forgotten. Some people recycle, and those lucky trees get to become toilet paper or paper towels. Maybe they are made into book pages. That would be nice. But fact is, there are lots of other recyclables that can be used for the purpose. The life of books does not depend on the death of Christmas trees.

I have a collection of vintage and antique ornaments, many in the shape of cats. I miss putting these on the tree, slipping them over the cool, spiky branches, then watching them shine in the colored lights for a week or two. But I put a photo on my wallpaper from back when I had a tree and am enjoying it just fine.

One thing I did participate in this year is the sending of Christmas cards. This small, non-electronic connection with friends and family gives me a great amount of pleasure. I love to see what people send back. (Those who still keep up the tradition.) As you can imagine, I receive a lot of cat-themed cards.

I like to look for interesting vintage cards on Pinterest. This year, I was especially enthralled by the 1950's black cat. Here are a few I found.

I also discovered a new artist who creates paintings in the style of that period, but with some added quirks of her own. Her name is El Gato Gomez, and she led me on a tortuous trail through social media as I tried to find out more about her. I failed. I don't even know where she's from. A Google search led me to old sites and error sites and multiple presence on Facebook. Still, I have to show you a few of her pieces.

So for all you with trees, please enjoy their loving ambiance for me. Possibly 2020 will be the year for me to put up a tree.

Happy Holidays!