Snow, Ice, and Olympics

I always look forward to Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics…. Summer or Winter. Today…. not so much. To me, all the political commentary is spoiling a lot of the enjoyment and anticipation I usually have, especially for the Winter Games.

On to snow and ice…. we’ve already got plenty of ice here, and the snow is mixing in. I was supposed to work today, but I currently can’t even get into my car: the locks are frozen, let alone the doors. I was out there for half an hour just trying to get the steps cleared, and I will go back out later. The car, the front and back steps and walks… I am getting too old for this shit.

Christmas 2021

Another holiday during a pandemic. Surges in Covid again. This year, I am doing a little better than last year: my daughter is home with me, although it will be a few more months before my husband can come over again. He’s still clear and healthy, but his mother and brother need him there. The world is still going crazy.

Wearing my mask in public doesn’t bother me. When I start getting over-heated, I walk into a corner away from people and take it down for a few minutes. I am still angry with people who don’t believe they need to get vaccinated, don’t wear a mask…. or wear the mask down under their damn chin, as if that’s going to do any good. I am also aggravated by the number of people who ignore the science, who don’t bother to inform themselves about the TRUTH about the science. Someone commented to me recently that she refuses to get the vaccination because they don’t know if it causes infertility. I did one quick search…. and it pretty much disproves that one. On the other hand, Covid can be deadly to pregnant women, and apparently can cause fertility issues in men. I just wish people would use their brains… I KNOW many of these people are intelligent; they just aren’t using it.

Home is my sanctuary. The daughter (can’t call her the Kidlling anymore, since she is nearly 23) and I spent most of today in the kitchen, baking. Been re-reading Anne McCaffrey. I finish with her, and it’s on to Katherine Kurtz. Maybe Rawlings after that.

Getting Old

I thought the deal was, as long as you keep moving at a decent pace, you could keep ahead of the depreciations of age.

I’m exhausted and over-heated, and it isn’t even ten am yet! And all I”ve done was the grocery shopping and gassing up the car. Although, for two women, the amount of groceries we came home with today packed the back of the Escape.

I still need to get the lawn done at some point.

The Start of My Summer ‘Normal’

No more snow or ice. Which means it’s time to deal with the lawn and the hedge and the flowers. So, today (So far… it isn’t 10 am yet) has pretty much started my “Normal” Summer Routine.

The castle has been stormed, the steed tended, the loot stowed….and the jungle conquered.

Actually, I mowed the lawn Tuesday night, after my Darling Brother changed the spark plug in the lawnmower. Theoretically, I COULD do it…I bought the right plug. But he has the proper tools, I don’t. Today, I got the hedge and trimming done after putting away the groceries. And this tells me something: I am in MUCH better shape than I was a year ago. My legs and back don’t hurt at all, or feel any strain. My forearms are shaky, but my hands aren’t protesting the typing. I may make some changes in the flower gardens. (May wait until fall to actually do any of that, tho)

I’m Tired,Boss

A little over a year ~ 14 months. You would think that people would have gotten the message by now.

It seems quite a few of those don’t. Wilful ignorance; massive selfishness; out-right stupidity. We are still hearing complaints about mask mandates. There are still people claiming they “can’t” wear a mask, even for a half an hour to do their shopping.

You are liars. I see asthmatics wearing masks properly; people on oxygen; children as young as 3 (although I believe the mandate in New York says 5); men with full beards! My coworkers and I wear them for hours on end. Medical staff wear them even longer at a go. They are breathable cloth, not air-tight plastic. You can breath: it has been proven in countless tests. There are very few people who have legit reactions (other than discomfort) to wearing a mask, and most of them have opted to shop on-line instead of in-person, to do their part to end the pandemic. I have no problem breathing with the mask. It’s honestly no different from the mask my grandmother used to wear out in the winter, so the air was warmed slightly before entering her lungs. My problem is over-heating Since I also do that without the mask, I think it’s tied to my blood pressure. When it happens at work, I get away from the register to a quiet, empty corner, and sit. I don’t remove my mask if there is anyone within 6 feet of me, unless I am really bad. Meanwhile, we still have people coming into the store with no mask, or wearing it down under their nose. I am short, so most of these entitled twits are still breathing down at me.

Now we have vaccines available. I have both of my jabs. Most of my family have had at least one. While some people are trying to get appointments for these, others are saying they will NOT get the shot, claiming they aren’t safe; it’s a hoax; we’re being injected with microchips…ARE YOU PEOPLE LISTENING TO YOURSELVES?

I keep hearing over and over this has never happened before. Actually, it has. OVER AND OVER. Ebola. Swine Flu. AIDS. Asian flu. Spanish flu. Polio. Influenza. Yellow Fever. Russian Plague. The Great Plague of Marseille. The Great Plague of London. Smallpox.  S. paratyphi C. Black Death. Bubonic Plague. In every case, these pandemics spread like wildfire, while the medical sciences of their times tried to find ways to deal with them. These days, the science is better understood, but far too many people ignore the facts…. and don’t like hearing the facts can be fluid in nature, because a virus, like any and every other living organism is subject to evolution and mutation.

Meanwhile, we seemed to have evolved into a species of egotistical, entitled, selfish beasts.

the character of John Coffey said it best in Stephen King’s “Green Mile” : “I’m tired, boss. Tired of being on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain. I’m tired of never having me a buddy to be with to tell me where we’s going to, coming from, or why. Mostly, I’m tired of people being ugly to each other. I’m tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world…every day. There’s too much of it. It’s like pieces of glass in my head…all the time. Can you understand? …”

Dangerous Year

It’s been a strange, strained, and dangerous year. You wouldn’t think working in a grocery store would be dangerous. Strange on occasion, yes. Definitely stressful, but not really dangerous.

This past year was not like anything I have ever dealt with in dealing with the public in almost 30 years. And yes, I saw fist-fights break out over Cabbage Patch Dolls at Christmas, and drunks escorted out. But this year?

People going on shooting sprees seems to be on the increase… and they have pegged places like grocery stores as the place to cause the most damage. Maybe because all throughout the pandemic, we’ve still been open for business. We’ve seen people get threatened (and shot) over mask rules. In our store, we had a monitor on the E-Z scans broken by a customer yesterday. The SCREEN. He broke the screen. I still don’t know what he hit it with, but my guess would be his knuckles. Bad enough we have been risking our health this year having to deal with people who don’t wear the masks properly or at all. We’ve always had the occasional drunk, or those who don’t like showing ID for alcohol sales. But this is getting stupid. We don’t get paid to face off against screwed minds with lethal weapons.

A “WTF” Morning

On Sundays, I work from 6am to 10 or 11am. I usually enjoy it. There are usually three of us in at that time: two cashiers and a supervisor. The Night Cashier is usually still there, and makes sure the Sunday papers are out and ready for the 6am opening. I take care of vacuuming the two entrances.

This morning, I got there a bit early. First thing I realize: no Night Cashier. The newspapers are still in bundles in a cart. So, I punch in early so I can get the papers out. I have to sign off on some ‘reminder’ sheets, which are kept with the floor plans. I expect the supervisor to be a little late; she’s got two little ones and will be in by quarter after. No problem there.

There’s no second cashier listed. WHAT? There are also two call-outs already, one being one of the 7am cashiers. Oh joy.

I didn’t look at the second sheet. We have self-scan stations, and BB was due in for 6am for THAT. We don’t usually open them that early. So when BB came in, she opened the register assigned to the 7am girl who called out. Supervisor coomes in, we get the papers out, and I get the vacuuming done.

By 6:45am, all three of us are on register with lines. Honestly? It’s not a holiday weekend, so what the devil is going on? We’re supposed to get another cashier at 7:30, and two more at 8am. 7:30 comes and goes, and the associate who is supposed to be there hasn’t shown up… one of our other co-workers has opened another register to help deal with the lines.

It NEVER let up. We had associates who were on schedule for other jobs on register to keep the lines down. At 10:15, I snag the second Supervisor, and tell him I leave at 11, and haven’t had a break. He shut me down for my break, then I covered the the 7am who showed, and then I covered the first 8am who came in. I told the second Supervisor after that (it was 11am) that I adore him, but I was out of there, and going home to hide.

I still haven’t figured out why it was so busy so EARLY.

Second Dose

So, yesterday morning, I got my second dose of the Moderna Covid19 vaxxine. I barely felt the jab itself… (Thank you, Melissa!) It was itchy for about five minutes. Later that afternoon, the injection site was sore, and I had a low grade fever..and all I wanted to do was sleep. Today, I was groggy all day. The injection site is still sore, and was swollen most of the day. No fever, but I am bundled up with hot tea, because I am still feeling the chills. I am just as glad I took the day off work, because driving with the way I felt… not that great an idea.

We are still trying to get Mom a shot. Hopefully, with the new J&J vax, that waiting list will get seen to sooner rather than later. I see there is already some…. controversy surrounding the J&J. There are articles claiming the vaccine is based on stem cell/ stem cell research from abortions. I looked at the J&J, and realised it wouldn’t be my first choice, because it uses pre-existing sciences…using adenovirus, which is actually a dead cod virus. That is similar to most Flu shots… which I cannot tolerate. Mom does not have the problems with the flu shot that I do, so she should be fine with the J&J vax. As far as people having an issue with the stem cell research…. I don’t have a problem with it. I have problem with forced procreation, but that’s something totally different, and maybe a topic for another post another day.

Everyone who can get one of the vaccines SHOULD. It’s the only way to deal with the pandemic: to slow it, stop it, preserve life, and get us back to some semblance of ‘normal life’.

Possible Clue

So, I read an article in FIRST about the effects of vitamin C on weight loss. Seems vitamin C is a fat buster. It got me thinking, and I looked back at the periods in my life when I actually lost weight: when I was in college, when I was living in England, and now.

During all three of those periods, I was/am drinking more orange juice. (I can’t drink grapefruit juice with my meds). Yes, I was more active in college, which also obviously helped. And I wasn’t eating as much junk food/prepped (frozen) foods in England. I am trying to be more active now, and I cut out most refined sugars and prepped foods in the last year…and I am drinking more orange juice again. And while the last three months didn’t show a huge loss like the year prior…. I have lost a little more, and have NOT gained any back.

I’ll take the win, and keep drinking orange juice.

Learning the Hard Way

Figured something out today I should have known. Once you start to wean your body off foods you KNOW aren’t good for it, don’t ever go back! I can do a burger and fries at Red Robin, Applebees, and Johnny Rockets. I can NOT handle McDonalds or Burger King any more. Yeah, tasted good while I was eating. But now my stomach hurts like hell, and I have a migraine on tap.

That said…. I am officially down 50 pounds in the last year. Most of that is from cutting certain foods from my diet completely, restricting some others, walking a mile most nights, using stairs instead of elevators/escalators, and moving more at work. I’ve gone from a size 24 jeans back down to a size 18… and I have some space in those, depending on where they are made.

Everyone is scrambling to get the Covid 19 vax. Mom and I are on two seperate waiting lists; her for people over 65, and me for essential workers with under-laying conditions. The whole thing is a mess, thanks to the last administration… they had NOTHING planned. Just my opinion: it should have been done by county, then levels. Having people try to make appointments through the state is a major FU. The state is trying to send people from the Capital District to BUFFALO or SYRACUSE. Honest to all the gods, who has time or funds to drive 4 or 5 HOURS for a vaccine? Because I know, if the people who are doing this do not, driving back directly after receiving the shot is NOT a good idea. All I am going to want to do is curl up and sleep for 12 to 48 hours.