I'm going to have to cut my own hair.
Someone else here mentioned they scheduled some haircuts, but I'm not ready to venture there yet. It's long overdue and my hair is longer than I like it, but gosh, the haircutter has to stand so close to you, breathing down on you as you sit there....I just can't go there yet. I'd sooner hack at my own hair and if it's crooked, so be it. It will grow out again.
I used Instacart for the first time yesterday. (See my separate post on that.) I loved how it worked, but I think it has limitations Frozen/refrigerated foods would probably melt by the time I got them, and while it would be great in a pinch, I would rule it out for any kind of routine use due solely to cost.
At a social level, being a single person who lives alone, I'm about at my breaking point. I've been working remotely (extremely p/t) since mid-March, and the only people I have seen since then, sporadically, have been my father and 2 neighbors I am friends with. My one neighbor has been trying to cajole me into doing things with him, but even when wearing a mask, I find it a little hard to justify doing so when the risk remains.
He tells me he wishes I were a risk-taker, and I tell him there's a difference between taking risks and being prudent.
One outlet for me has been the Buy Nothing Facebook group in my hometown. I joined a few months ago and it's become a form of entertainment. I've given away tons of stuff on that site, but also gotten some very nice things in return, and these are not junky items. Many people generously give away brand new, never used items of all kinds.
I urged my 2 neighbors to join but now the group has gotten too big and is closed to new members. I do love that it's just people who live here; it feels a lot less anonymous than making a Goodwill donation, and I love driving the many backroads of my town, down streets I've rarely traveled, to pick up my finds. Sometimes I chat a bit, at a distance, with the giver if they're around, but more often than not, the item is simply left in a designated place for pickup.
The biggest frustration, as someone who is giving something away, is that many people who say they will be there on such and such a day to pick up don't show up. So then a storm comes and you have to run out and bring the item(s) inside so it won't get ruined. People take their time picking stuff up, which I think is disrespectful to the person making the gift. I always state "Prompt pickup appreciated" in my posts, but that doesn't seem to have much impact.
Among my favorite items that I've gotten: a set of 6 brand new vintage linen dishtowels. A round glass tabletop I paired with a rattan luggage rack I have to make a funky table. A vintage lamp that would look at home in the Adirondacks with its handpainted shade of geese flying across a mountain backdrop. And a nearly full, 25-pound bag of organic hulled barley (!) that someone had bought to feed their dogs, but it didn't agree with them. I filled up every glass food storage container I had in the house with it and shared the rest with my sister and friends. It won't go to waste!
In turn, I have given away a very well-made rocking chair with my college insignia on it...in truth, it seems quant and old-fashioned, and my style runs more to modern. I've had it for 40 years and it was time to let it go. Kind of took up a lot of space I don't have here.
I also gifted several 35 mm cameras and some very expensive (in their time) long angle and micro lenses. There was a time I loved using these, but once I got my digital camera, and later, my iPhone, well, the quality is great and I don't see myself every going back to 35 mm. Another popular item I gave away was a full-sized extension ladder I didn't think I'd use anymore. The catch was, it was jammed in my small toolshed. I had somehow wedged it in there and remembered difficulty trying to get it out since. No worries, there. The guy who wanted it happily came over and managed to get it out of the tool shed.
Around the same time I joined the Buy Nothing group, I joined a local Facebook gardening group. It's a much smaller group, just a few hundred members. While that site isn't solely dedicated to giving and getting stuff, a bunch of us were doing so earlier in the spring, and I got a ton of vegetable and flower seedlings, as well as seeds, through that site. In fact, I only bought 1 cucumber seedlings and 2 eggplant seedlings from our local farm; everything else I have in the raised beds was gifted.
I've gotten to know a few of the other members, and several of us have been talking about the possibility of doing garden tours or even just a BYOB event at someone's patio once the pandemic settles down.
Actually, my state of Connecticut is doing very well now as far as that goes. Earlier on, of course, we were one of the hardest hit, along with New York, but since then, people have largely been taking it seriously and taking all the right precautions.
Our governor, I think, has done a very good job of steering the course, although I think I will disagree with him for the first time on 2 issues: 1. His idea to request a voluntary 2-week self-quarantine of anyone who arrives here from something like 17 different states deemed to have a high number of virus cases. My thought is that people won't voluntarily self-quarantine and we'll end up seeing a resurgence of the virus here as a result.
2) Governor has decided schools will reopen in the fall. I know this is vitally important, yet I don't see kids, especially the little ones, complying with face mask requirement and social distancing. This is really problematic, and I think a lot of parents agree with me on this.
Pondering the Pandemic
July 14th, 2020 at 09:33 am
July 14th, 2020 at 12:32 pm 1594729970
One thing I’ve learned through all this is that laws only work if most people choose to obey them. We’ve had a 14 day quarantine for out of state people for months here in Massachusetts, but for people driving from out of state to private residences, it is virtually impossible To enforce. The rule hopefully discourages some people from traveling because they aren’t rule breakers , and hotels/motels can't do short term rentals, and airlines can collect information. All that reduces the spread.
Same with masks. Most people I see in my limited outings wear them, but I don’t expect the police to enforce the rule. Stores can try, but I think it is disgusting how people treat minimum wage workers just trying to do their job without killing off themselves and their families. But when I see people walking without masks, I don’t confront them - I just think badly of them!
Schools are a horror show. But I think it makes sense for them to make plans to reopen as a way to realize how crazy it is. If enough people decide to home school, then those who can’t might be able to use the schools. If I were a parent, there is no way I would send my child - but that is easy to say when you aren’t a single parent living in a small space with a job you have to physically go to. Some schools need to open but I hope everyone who has the means to opt out does so.
Enjoy your house and garden - you make them sound very appealing.
July 14th, 2020 at 12:40 pm 1594730401
July 14th, 2020 at 01:50 pm 1594734625
July 14th, 2020 at 04:34 pm 1594744446
I got my hair cut. My salon was very careful - they took my temperature, asked the screening questions, and they were constantly cleaning everything. Everyone wore a mask, chairs were super spread out, and blowdrying on high was not allowed. I felt safe. Totally understandable if you don't though. There are lots of DIY haircutting tutorials on youtube!
July 14th, 2020 at 07:47 pm 1594756051
Our numbers are low in Massachusetts but I think we have months of isolation ahead. I’ve thought that since the beginning, and I am somehow relieved that others are realizing there is no quick fix. I found it very frustrating when people tried to cheer me up by saying it was ‘just for a few weeks’ instead of validating my fear that I would go a year or more without seeing anyone I know.
July 15th, 2020 at 03:12 am 1594782746
I too live alone but I've been going back into the office 80% of the time for about 3 weeks now. Over the summer, two staff are on part-time hours and I'm able to coordinate my schedule with the person whose desk is nearest mine (which is still 10' away) so that I don't come in to the office on the day per week that she is there (this works for another 6 weeks, anyways). The other desks are at least 20' away from mine, so I don't really worry. That bit of exposure, plus a bit of chatting with neighbors at a distance when I'm out walking, plus Zoom is really enough for me not to feel isolated at all now. I did just have a meal with a friend sitting at opposite ends of my porch. I felt isolated at first with the shut-down orders but pretty quickly came to take it in stride. It is sad that I'm not doing any visits this summer. For 20 years, my friend Donna has come down to visit every summer and we take in a show at the PA Shakespeare Festival, which was canceled. The only other year we missed out of 20 was the year my mother died. Her husband (who's at least a decade older than she is) was diagnosed with dementia and is going downhill, so it's not clear that we will return to this annual ritual in the near future either. I miss that and the couple of other people I've had a chance to visit with in recent summers--including you. And I miss the opportunity to go to a B&B and explore around by myself. But with two kitties in their senior years who each have been diagnosed with their "probable life-limiting condition," I wasn't really planning any overnight travel anyway.
I too have avoided the salon. With my curly hair, it's easy to cut and errors are not really noticeable, but I'm thinking about dying it myself, which I've never done before. There are 3 other women in my office who are all about my age (actually I'm the youngest of us), and I'm the only one who is currently *not* dying my hair, and I'm noticing it. So I'll probably dye it this week or next just so as not to be so self-conscious. I've never done it before, so I'm working up the courage.
July 16th, 2020 at 03:33 pm 1594913633
I did get my haircut yesterday. We both wore masks and there were no other customers there when I was there. They did a temperature check at the door as well as had us both use hand sanitizer.
Your buy nothing FB site sounds like a great one. I agree -- it frustrates me how so many are not conscious of time not to mention rude. I am a bit jealous on your linen towel find!
July 19th, 2020 at 09:21 pm 1595193673
I forgot to mention on your other post. Instacart, etc. shoppers have insulated bags they use for frozen/refrigerated items. If they are competent, they'll pick up those items last.
My mom lives alone too. Since I started working from home, I Facetime her almost every day at 10 a.m.That seems to have helped her some. Although she's not self isolating anymore ... even though she's in Texas, where it seems to be surging again.