Beauty

[just bee]

I'm trying to think of a clever April Fools', but I think that's us.

[just bee]

Oh, here's something funny.  We don't eat out and we haven't had the pizza we used to order on occasion.  Well, I'd mentioned we had some delivered the first night in the house.

Found out that in the middle of the night, BH barfed it all up.

If that kid hadn't been singing Sinatra all day, we probably would've cracked open a can of that SPAM that we'll never use.

Yesterday, the kid was singing again.

I don't want to set the world on fie-rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....

The Ink Spots?  Surreal.

Today we'll be over at the rental, cleaning and saying our goodbyes to the house and neighborhood. 

[just bee]

This dog is out.  I just ate the last piece of pizza and he wasn't staring at me.  Slept through the whole thing.

I need to throw on some clothes and get him out for a walk before we head to the rental house.  Just one more mug of tea and I'll go reacquaint myself with our old neighborhood.

@Brisky 

Wasn't it you who waxed poetic about globe willows?  BH and I stood outside yesterday, taking in our view of the Sandias.

And then he asked: What's missing?

Oh, no!  Our neighbor across the street took out their beautiful globe willow! 

I loved that tree.  One of the first signs of spring.

[just bee]

Well!

After almost a year of exploring Albuquerque parks, the dog and I walked down to our "old" neighborhood park.  Before the fire, several trees in our park had died.

Today we saw that several new ones had been planted.  A real variety -- and lots with beautiful blossoms.

Our tax dollars at work! 

I don't mind paying for trees.  We need them.  I just wish that they'd include plaques to identify trees and shrubs in city parks.  Some do, and I appreciate that.

[geezerette]

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@rnmom wrote:

I am not gonna lie, I am grumpy and do not feel like Adapting at all. Everyone is stuck at home, the kids will likely be off school for the whole rest of the year, and we are already sick to death of being inside the house, all together 24/7. If the virus doesn't get us, it will be a miracle if we don't kill each other.

I'm tired of hearing that we need to enjoy this time being home with our families. No, it's too much togetherness and we're driving each other crazy. Being apart is good, it makes you appreciate being together. This is all too much, and we're just getting started. God help us. If you don't hear from me it's because I flipped out and am now a patient at @just bee 's hospital. 

The ONLY good thing that happened last month is that I am still doing well with HEP. I am still trying to make better food choices and have lost a total of 23 lbs since I started in January. I would like to lose about 15 more, but I am over halfway there and feel SO much better. My clothes are not tight anymore, some of them are downright loose, and I'm able to wear some pants that I haven't worn in a year or two because they were just too small. So that is making me feel better anyway, more like my old self.

I was pleased to go Aldi last week and see that all of the food shelves were full. They have set limits on everything and nothing was gone except toilet paper and cleaning supplies. What is up with that? Are you going to start eating the toilet paper? I still don't understand that at all. We have 4 people in our house and don't go thru that much. 

We did stockpile some extra items over these last few weeks too, but I think that we don't have to do that anymore. Looks like getting food isn't going to be a problem. I wasn't sure at first, seeing all of the completely wiped out shelves 3 weeks ago kind of freaked me out. But it does seem that part is getting back to a tiny bit of normal at least so I can but back on some grocery shopping a little. We have plenty to get thru right now. 

I haven't been stockpiling any beauty items per se, but I did buy a few more toiletries than usual, mostly liquid hand soap refills, bar soap, body wash, etc. I was afraid that people would buy all the hand soap too and I wouldn't even be able to wash my hands. I saw a lot of those shelves completely empty too. But I think we're okay for a while and I've always been able to find bar soap, so that's fine. Soap is soap.

Glad to hear that everyone is still doing okay, even if we are all at home. Here's to Awful, I mean Atrocious, er Apocolyptic, okay, Adaptable April!

P.S. Thanks for letting me vent here, you guys are the best

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@rnmom 

Well then, I guess I won't try to cheer you up! 🤣

Seriously though, it's okay to feel that way.  Rant, rave, kick, scream, vent, whatever.  'Cause you're stuck with this for a while and gotta get up tomorrow and do it all over again!  It's not fair, it s*cks, and there's nothing you can do to change things right now. A whole lotta people feel the same way.

But even if this goes on for a while, which is seems it will, keep in mind it still is only temporary.  And soon the weather will be getting nicer, even in your neck of the woods, and your kids can get outside which will help.  I assume you have some acreage so that you can still be in compliance with your stay at home orders and still get out of the house.

Apparently going bonkers agrees with you, though.  Losing 23 pounds and keeping it off?!?!   That is huge!  Or really the opposite, since you're a smaller 'you' now.😊  You must have found what works for you and you're sticking with it.  That is an accomplishment to be proud of!💪👏🏆  

And yeah, we are a great bunch here, aren't we?  Because you are part of the pack and help make us so great.   Hang in there--it could be worse--you could be driving back and forth to a hospital worrying about your husband or one of your kids on a ventilator.❤️

[geezerette]

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@just bee wrote:

I'm trying to think of a clever April Fools', but I think that's us.

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@just bee 

Ain't that the truth?

[geezerette]

It just dawned on me...

With the amount of misinformation that people believed even before this 'crisis', why do I continue to be so surprised at what they're believing now?🤨

[just bee]

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@geezerette wrote:

It just dawned on me...

With the amount of misinformation that people believed even before this 'crisis', why do I continue to be so surprised at what they're believing now?🤨

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@geezerette 

Someone was on cable news yesterday saying:

STAY SKEPTICAL!

Kinda like QUESTION AUTHORITY but with a somewhat nicer ring to it.

This whole mess has pulled the curtain back on an awful lot at one time.  Not only do we have to look at what's happened but we have to look at how we let it happen and how we have to prevent it from happening again.

But we're going to address it the way we address every other problem.  Throw money at it.  We just have to print some first.

[just bee]

We plan to finish cleaning the rental tomorrow, but everything -- except our cleaning supplies -- has been moved out.  Including my jewelry armoires.  And one didn't make it back to the house in one piece.  The base/legs snapped off the armoire.  I'd hoped BH was doing the April Fools' thing, but no.  Its legs were amputated.

I don't clean often, but when I do... I'm ******.  That place will be cleaner than we found it.

Timing was good because I had my eye on the lilac in the yard and hoped we wouldn't move out before the first blossoms opened.  Today I was rewarded with a snout full of lilac scent.  Just buried my nose in there and inhaled.

Happily, my lilac here has survived so I have something to look forward to now that we're back in our yard.  And even though they pulled out all my roses and shrubs from the front of the house and covered the ground with a thick layer of substrate, I can see my hummingbird bush coming up through it.  I'm determined to save it because it attracted so many bees and hummers.  It's invasive and spreads.  I just have to move it and keep it contained somehow.

And I need to hide the Roundup from BH.

ETA: The mods modified a word.

[just bee]

And here is the new brick above the fireplace.  These dogs were on the mantel when the brick was red.  I thought they'd look better against the new brick.

I saved these dogs after the fire and we unboxed them yesterday and put them back where they were.  I was determined to save a little bit of whimsy.

Meet Schatzi and Spike.