Welcome to 2020 and Social Distancing (days 1 and 2)

Hi there.

It's been a while. Almost two years in fact. Thought I'd pop in here, dust things off and get some thughts out of brain.

Given the current state of affairs and the new normal of social distancing, I've decided to resurrect my blog and use it as a means of self care during these uncertain times.

To bring eveyrone up to speed, I'm still in Ottawa. Still gainfully employed. Still single and have been limping since September. I tore my meniscus disk in my right knee on September 14th. Yes, it hurt, yes it still hurts, just not as badly. I was supposed to be having surgery in three days to fix it, but my surgery was cancelled (postponed really) until things with the Covid 19 are cleared up and it's safe to resume non-emergency surgery. Yes, I'm bummbed. I was looking forward to getting back to normal. But what really hurts is that I don't get to see my parents. They were coming up to help me but aren't now that my surgery is cancelled. It's safer for them to stay at home too.

So yesterday was the first real day of the ramped up social distancing thing. We received an email late Sunday night saying that we are to work from home where ever possible. My team and I still went into the office Monday morning, just to get a few things sorted out and to check things out with our Director. I stayed until the early afternoon and then headed home, stopping for some last minute supplies along the way, before logging back into my work accround from home. So yesterday was an alright day. Public Transit was deserted and that seemed really weird as was my office building. Other than that, nothing strange.

I tried to sleep in this morning but my internal clock had me up around my usual time. I guess that will take some getting used to. Logged into work and spent the day working remotely. Again, nothing too out of the ordinary, I've worked from home before.

My parents called this morning to say hi. I got a song played on a local radio stations "Old School Lunch" and I danced around my living room like an idiot. It was great. It was the break I needed at that moment.

(Click here to see what I was dancing to)

I've been deliberately limited my access to the news. It helps keep my anxiety at bay and doesn't overhwhelm me. I'm fortunate too that I have work to focus on and keep me going. LIke i said, today seemed pretty normal.

The surreal part of all of this didn't hitmy until about an hour ago. I was sitting on my couch, watching tv and it dawned on me that I didn't need to go to work tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the next day.....I turned on the national news. They were showing video from countries around the world, showing just how empty popular tourist spots are. The shot of Trafalgar Square in London hit me as I've been there somewhat recently and I remember how packed it was with people and just life in general.

I still can't quite wrap my head around it all. I'm old enough to remember the SARS outbreak and the H1N1 flu and neither were anything like this. Granted, social media wasn't as prolific during SARS so the information wasn't spearding quite as much, but this time around, it's very different.

I sit here wondering how many days it's going to take before the gravity of the situation finally sets in. How many days before this becomes my "normal"?  How long is this going to last? Will the virus spread stop? Will the disease drop off? Will they have a vaccine for us soon?

I really don't know.

All I can do is sit here and hope. Keep the belief that the Universe will look after us. That maybe this is what the world needs to make us start focusing on the really important things again.

Until then, I'm going to read my book(s), spend time on my balcony and dance arond my living room like an idiot several times a day.

Two days down.....

Oh, and Happy St. Patrick's Day! "May you live as long as you want, and never want as long as you live".

3 for 3!

Karma made an appearance in our household a little after 6 this morning. That's when I was woken up to the sound of my father throwing up. Yes indeed. Mr. "I feel fine" caught the stomach flu that my mom and I had earlier in the week. By all accounts, he's had the most mild case. He was like "I wonder why I didn't get it sooner?". I know why. Because he's a man. His immune system was just waiting for mom and I to be feeling better so that we could take care of him when he got sick. Figures. Men are such babies when they're sick.

Take this evening for instance. Our neighbours keep bees, and as a result, always have lots and lots of yummy honey on hand. Mom ran out of honey. One of my favourite things to eat when I'm sick is toast with honey. When I was sick, no one would walk down the block and get honey for me, but when dad is sick....he pouted at me until I got my boots on and stomped down the street to get the damn honey.

I'm feeling much better today. I was a little on the queasy side this morning and didn't feel the best while out grocery shopping with mom, but by the time we got home, I was starting to perk up. I cooked a decent dinner for myself (mom and dad both had toast with honey for dinner) and I've eaten 3 of the Truffles that my buddy Cam sent me, so that's a good sign. I still have some queasy moments, but I think that's mostly just gas. LOL.

We were fortunate here this evening. The skies cleared and I was able to see the beautiful full moon. The last full moon of 2012 to be exact. As 2012 draws to a close, I do find myself thinking back upon the year and looking at what I have and have not accomplished. I'm trying to decide what resolutions to make for the new year as well. I've got a couple more days to think about it and reflect before I need to make any decisions.

I'm hoping everyone, myself included, are feeling back to normal tomorrow. I really would like to get out and about for a while and do a little shopping.

But for now, it's bedtime.

Good Night!

Sarah

Solid Foods and Turkey Farts

Well this is a new one. Usually your parents tell you get to bed. My mother told me that I'm not allowed to go to bed until I've blogged, so that she has something to read in the morning. Easy for her to say. She's the one that had the 2+ hour nap this afternoon.

Yes, that means that we're both feeling better and by some bizarre miracle, my dad didn't catch the flu. I guess that's a good thing seeing as he's a big baby when he's sick. I guess most men are really.

Today was a better day. I've eaten solids today and even some gummy candies so I'm doing much better. I also disinfected the bathroom and scrubbed the toilet while mom and dad shovelled. We got 13cms of snow overnight so it actually looks like winter now. I was too sore to shovel so I opted to scrub the toilet instead, seeing as I helped in it's violation. It was the least I could do. I'm still on the sore side. It really hurts to sneeze, blow my nose or laugh though. Seeing as I'm allergic to half this house, it's been a painful day. My parents keep laughing at me when I sneeze.

Oh dear. My dad has turkey farts. My mom is in for a smelly night. LOL. Better her than me! And thank god dad's in another room right now.

Mom and I watched the movie "Brave" tonight. It's a very cute movie. I quite liked it, except when I laughed, which just plain hurt, and that made my mom laugh so she deserves to be stuck in a bed with a man who has turkey farts. I suppose that's the one upside to having had the flu - no turkey farts.

I think I'm actually going to attempt getting up and going outside tomorrow. It's grocery shopping day for my parents and I know my mom hates doing it. I don't mind it so I'll gladly tag along and help her out. I'm sure the fresh air will do me good as well.

Oh! And my brother is even more shit. Not only did he give us the flu, but he stole my mom's lighter on the way out of the house on boxing day. He's pretty high on mom's shit list right now. LOL.

Alright, I think it's time to log off. I didn't have a nap today so I'm on the tired side. Here's hoping tomorrow is less painful than today.

Good Night,

Sarah

Dad making things go "Boom"

Christmas Day and Why My Brother Is In Big Trouble

Merry Christmas everyone! As you may have noticed, this blog is a day late. That's because I was too busy throwing up last night to blog. But more on that later.

I had a very wonderful Christmas with my family. After we opened our stockings,  my dad made us cinnamon buns, which really, really sucked but Mom and I ate them anyways. They were frozen ones that you bake yourself. Not good. So much so that dad threw out the 2nd package of them. LOL.

After that, we moved on the gifts. My parents did something very mean to me. Last Christmas I asked my dad for an Ottawa Senator's Heritage hockey jersey. He being a Leaf's fan told me where to shove that idea.  Needless to say, I didn't get one for Christmas. So I asked for it again for my birthday. Same response, no jersey. So around Thanksgiving, I started to harass my dad for the damn jersey again. This time I got somewhere as he asked me what size and what the Heritage one looked like. I'd pretty much forgotten about it after than. So on Christmas morning, my parents gave me a beautifully wrapped box that clearly contained clothing. I opened the lid and the contents were lovingly wrapped up in pink tissue paper. As the excitement mounted, I slowly pulled back the tissue paper to reveal....a fucking Toronto Maple Leaf's jersey. Apparently the look on my face was priceless. Mom and dad were killing themselves laughing. My exact words where "This isn't even remotely funny". They got me to hold up the jersey and took a picture. My father then handed me a gift bag. Inside, in a plastic bag, was my Ottawa Senator's Hockey jersey. I was much happier to see that :) The Leaf's jersey was my dad's. They thought it would be funny to wrap it up and give it to me. I am not amused. Well, actually I am. That was pretty damn sneaky of those two. I did get some revenge though. My dad had put his jersey on their bed. When he wasn't around, I threw it in their garbage can....twice.

I also got a beautiful pair of sterling silver hoop earrings that I've been looking for for over a year. Mom did a great job on finding those. Mom was the one who got the bling this Christmas. It's a very lovely sterling silver and blue diamond pendant on a silver chain. I helped dad out with that one and he came through with flying colours, which was awesome.

We spent part of the afternoon at my Grandparents' house where we visited with them as well as both sets of  aunts and uncles and I got to see 2 cousins that I haven't seen since last Christmas. After than we came home. Mom and dad visited the neighbours while I prepped the potatoes and broccoli for dinner. We then sat down and relaxed. My tummy was starting to feel a bit "off" at that point. I thought it might have just been left over anxiety from being at my grandparents and all the noise and hoopla that went on their. It was a wonderful dinner and it tasted great. I was pretty full after dinner but didn't feel too bad. We called my Aunt in New Brunswick at 8pm and talked to her for awhile. I was feeling ok then.

At 9 I went upstairs to change into my jammies and shortly there after, I started to feel not so good. My tummy was rolling. It felt like I wanted to burp, but couldn't. Around 10pm the pain started. I knew I was in trouble.

You see, my brother and family were here on Christmas Eve. My brother was sick. He had a stomach virus that had been through everyone in his family and now him. Instead of staying home, he came here and violated our bathroom and slept in my parent's bed.

I fought it for as long as I could last night. I kept willing myself: "You're not going to throw up." But I lost the battle around 10:45. Sadly, it did not make me feel better. In fact, I felt worse. I texted my brother and told him that he's dead meat. He laughed and told me to "walk it off". Jerk. By the time I threw up the second time, I had to find a bucket because I now had stuff coming out both ends. I have to admit that I've got pretty good aim. Puking in a bucket while sitting on the can takes talent. Problem was, I was so incredibly tired and so friggin' cold! All in all, by 1:30am I had thrown up 5 times. The last time was mostly dry heaves which are the worst! I finally fell asleep and slept until 4:30am when I had to use the bathroom again. I was able to get back to sleep and slept until 8am when jerkface called and woke us up. He was calling because he was supposed to bring my nephew over to open his gifts (he was at his dad's place on Christmas Eve).  Dad told them to come over at 10. It was at this point that I learnt that my mom had been up at 6:30am, throwing up as well. I went back to bed and didn't wake up again until 9:30 when typhoid Mary (aka my brother) came into my room to see me. I had some choice words for him. Turns out, he'd also given the flu to his in-laws. His mother in law was sick yesterday (like me) and his father in law got sick overnight.

I know that my parents taught us to share, but this is a bit insane. My brother and sister-in-law left all 3 kids here and went off Boxing Day shopping. Thankfully, my dad hasn't caught it (yet) and he was able to mostly manage all 3 kids. Mom gave up and went back to bed around 11. I stayed up until everyone left at 12:30 and then I left my dad to his own devices and went back to bed. Mom and I finally got up at 4:30.  I've had a good deal of water and some flat diet ginger ale. At 5:30 I ate 8 un-salted soda crackers. I'm happy to report that they've stayed down and nothing new has come out. Mom seems to be doing better too. My brother is still in major shit with us, especially if my dad comes down with it.

I need to log off and do some laundry. My aim might not have been 100% off the get go and I think my sleep pants bore the ill effects of that. Oh well.

I hope everyone had a less eventful night than we did.

Good Evening,

Sarah

A photo of my brother *grin*

Let's Talk About: Flu Shots!

I managed to make it through my 2nd last french class (of this session) today with only minimal confusion, so that was a nice change of pace. Just 1 more class to go. I think I'm going to have to re-read my notes and such every week or so to ensure that I don't forget anything along the way.

This afternoon I went and got my flu shot. Other than my arm being a little on the sore side when I move around a lot, I feel perfectly fine. As I knew I would seeing as this is the 12th year now that I've got the shot.

I am definitely a big supporter of the flu shot. I think everyone should get it. When I lived in Calgary, I was volunteering with seniors and getting the shot was mandatory in order to keep working with them. The flu is very dangerous to the elderly as well as babies and anyone with a weak immune system. I hear a lot of people say that they don't need the flu shot because they don't get sick. Good for you. It doesn't mean that you don't have the virus. You can carry the virus and in turn pass it along to others without actually getting sick. You can feel fine but end up giving the flu to the nice old lady you sit next to on the bus.

And for the love of god, you CANNOT GET THE FLU FROM THE FLU SHOT!!! The vaccine does not contain the live virus. It's dead. It can't make you sick. You can have a reaction to the vaccine that presents with similar flu-like symptoms, but it's not the flu. And if you're already sick and just haven't developed a full blown flu or cold yet, the shot isn't going to stop that from happening.

In this day and age, with so much medical research being done and such wonderful advancements being made, it's hard to believe that the flu still exists and that there is still a need for the flu shot. Or the flu nasal spray if you really hate needles. But when you stop to think about how many billions of dollars the drug companies make every year from the sale of cold and flu remedies, you can see why it's not quite so surprises that science hasn't been able to eliminate the flu (or the common cold yet).

Other than not wanting to pass the virus onto anyone else, why would I want to get the shot? Well...back in my first year of University, I got the flu. The Sydney flu to be exact since that was the name of the strain going around that year. My god was I sick. For an entire week, that damn flu knocked me on my ass. Never again do I want to get that sick. So the next year, I got a flu shot. And the year after and so forth and I've never been that sick since. In fact, I've never had the flu again. I've had colds, sinusitis and a broncular infection once, but no flu. If the world health people predicted the flu strain correctly, the vaccine is 70-90% effective. I like those odds. And seriously, who actually likes being sick? I certainly don't.

Here's a link to the Government of Ontario's Health site on the flu:  http://health.gov.on.ca/en/public/programs/publichealth/flu/about_flu.aspx
And here is a link to Health Canada's website with info on vaccine safety (all, not just the flu): http://www.healthycanadians.gc.ca/health-sante/medicine-medicament/misconception-eng.php

Ok, that's it for me and my soapbox tonight. My book awaits :)

Good Night!

Sarah

Photo my parents took in Alaska