Yesterday afternoon and evening I had a bit of a slump, feeling exhausted and listless. I feel better after some dinner and some sleep and some coffee in that order, but this whole thing is bound to be a moody rollercoaster for awhile and that seems entirely situationally appropriate.
I know from previous discussions that a lot of us have that hobby where we fill an online shopping cart and then never check out. It’s not like we go into it thinking that’s the end-goal; we think we’re likely to buy. It wouldn’t be fun if we didn’t think we might actually buy. But then we don’t buy. Anyway, last night I filled a cart with See’s, because they sent me an email that they’re doing a free/flat-rate shipping deal way later into spring than I remember them doing it before. I don’t know if I will actually buy a giant box of candy, but it felt therapeutic to browse and choose as if everything isn’t like jumping on a waterbed floating on the ocean. Ooo, a Rocky Road egg, that sounds good! Ooo, non-pareil jellybeans—would those be delicious or terrible?
This morning I put cream in my coffee mug before the coffee was ready, and I left the mug on the counter like a cat-owning newbie, and a cat tried to drink the cream and in doing so knocked the mug off the counter and broke it. It was a favorite, and I have way too many mugs so I should be grateful for this culling of the herd but instead I spent some happy distracted time browsing the Roy Kirkham site hoping to be able to buy replacement (no luck).
What I found is that (1) I have several Roy Kirkham mugs already (one of his bird mugs made it into my favorite mugs post) and (2) there are a lot more I have seen and NEARLY bought but then thought “I have way too many mugs.” I particularly like two of his shapes: this shape and this shape. Oh, and this shape.
This morning’s other “perhaps browsing candy/mugs is a better way to spend the time than endlessly refreshing Twitter to see which senators knew Covid-19 would be serious and so sold their stock while failing to make any preparations for their constituents” task is dessert spoons. I have six small 5.75-inch rainbow spoons shown in this post; I tend to give them to the children with yogurt. Especially if I give them those little Activia cups, which tip with a bigger spoon; they don’t tip with the smaller spoon. Anyway, I have six little spoons (plus these teensy 5-inch flower spoons, which are delightful to look at but less pleasing to eat yogurt with), and they are always in the dishwasher (especially with five children now at home), and so I am browsing more. Maybe these:
(image from Amazon.com)
But this has turned into a bit of a dead end for recreational shopping, because it turns out (1) I am very picky about little spoons and (2) I like the treasure-hunt feeling of maybe finding them again any time I go to Marshalls/TJMaxx/HomeGoods where I found my first set. Not that we will be going that kind of shopping for awhile.
I sent a note to our next door neighbor, giving her our contact information in case she needed the kids to run over and leave a cup of sugar / couple of eggs / fresh book on her stoop. This is not my usual thing. I don’t really like to know my neighbors. I like to wave from a distance AT MOST. But I’ve seen enough things about how neighbors can help each other right now, and I’m game if everyone else is.
I haven’t been doing Postcrossing for awhile, but have put it on my list of ideas of possible things to do in These Odd Times; it seems like it might be comforting to do the “This is surreal, right??” thing in a global way. But apparently mail is starting to get dicey, so I am braced for that not working out much longer.
We’re doing the same thing with our nanny for the time being–at my parents’ currently so don’t need her services, but paying (albeit at a slightly reduced rate) for the time being. Thanks for the reminder for the cleaners.
Guess I’m not the full on stoic that I present bc ‘on her stoop’ has me all teary eyed !
I’m going to rain on your spoon parade and say that I am always slightly disappointed by multicolored sets of anything, because I find that much of the fun is in looking at them all together. Just the gold spoon is never as pretty/fun to me. But I might feel differently after a few more days at home with my 5 and 2 year old daughters, who are VERY PARTICULAR about their spoons.
Yes, always have to specify with my 2yo son whether he wants a “big boy spoon” (regular silverware) or a “baby spoon” (plastic toddler utensil). AND if he chooses a baby spoon, whether it needs to match his plate or his bowl or which one specifically he requires.
This is why I had to do away with colored anything. I have four kids, three of whom are older now and should be better, but who knows – anyway, when they were little they would fight about everything – dish color, cup color, etc. Now we have white everything, which is so boring, but I couldn’t take it if I got the fiestaware that I really want and then they all started fighting about having a certain color plate!
I do this all the time! I’m trying to limit my facebooking to once per day because of all the reasons you mentioned. My friends list falls into two categories: trying to reassure people that everything will be fine/find the good parts of being locked down, and those trying to ramp up the panic and scare/shame everyone into not leaving their houses. I don’t find either of those things very helpful. The former makes me want to cry because I legit am HATING having my insane elementary boys at home with my toddler and baby (8/5/2/10 months–there is nothing good about being cooped up with them!! Which makes me feel like a bad mom!) and the latter because it makes me panicky and angry and blameful of those people who are trying to help but are instead fueling everyone’s panic! My husband is a pharmacist so he is NOT at home but is at risk which also doesn’t help my mood, and food scarcity is one of my major stressors after a few years of being on WIC and foodstamps when my oldest was a baby. Ok, sorry to unload all that on here…it’s not like I have anyone to talk to about it right now. :(
But online window shopping is definitely very soothing for me! I already have enough quilting fabric but I love to make wishlists on http://www.fatquartershop.com of hypothetical quilts I might make out of all the coordinating fabric packs. Vera Bradley is also fun for shopping for coordinating luggage and accessory sets, pretending I’m getting ready for a fun trip. Something about the coordinating matchiness of everything is just very satisfying.
I also bought some expensive nail polish as a stress-coping mechanism. Picking one out was fun, waiting for it gives me something to look forward to, and when it gets here I can paint mine and my daughter’s nails with it as an activity.
I am making a Quarantine Quilt! It’s one I wanted to make anyway for my daughter, but this seemed like the perfect opportunity. Have fun with your manicures, that’s such a fun idea!
I bought nail polish too!!!
My theraputic shopping has consisted of looking the Amazon wishlists of folks i know from Twitter and Facebook who have the COVID, and I buy them $20-$30 of stuff I think would be useful to them RIGHT NOW. It makes me feel less panicky.
Postcrossing-I’ve been a member for 12 years. So far for us, we are still having mail service. What I love about Postcrossing is that it reinforces how much we have in common. Russian, Iranian, German, English…the list goes on…we all love our families, pets, books, movies. We all want the world to be a better place. I love the profiles where you see where people’s interests are-Harry Potter, trains, coffee shops, anime, it reminds me the world is a big old place, and we all have our part in it. It is not us against them, it is all of us together.
I hadn’t heard that mail is getting dicey yet? My carrier is still showing up with mail and packages. Unless it’s a Saturday, and then sometimes the Saturday driver doesn’t bother to drive down the cul-de-sac.
I totally did place a See’s order this week because of the flat rate shipping special. Contemplated the nonpareil jelly beans but passed on them in favor of two bags of the Sour Bunnies. See’s sour gummy candy is the best. And I got a custom one pound box, and was pleased to see that the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Hearts AND the white chocolate strawberry truffle hearts were still available.
I placed a long considered See’s order several days before reading this. I mean, if not now, when? I’ve also been online shopping for my 72 Year old Mom. It’s not enough, but it’s something and I worry shipping will get harder before it gets easier. I haven’t found a new cleaning person since moving last year, but I plan to find a person to pay well when this all lets up! I admire you always!
I therapeutically bought 5 baby chicks, 2 tadpoles, and supplies to chalkboard paint three doors.
I thinking I’m coping very well.
A brewery from my hometown has been listing local small businesses that could use help and it’s been fun for me to order stuff from based on their recommendations. Sadly, I haven’t bought anything for myself b/c most places won’t ship to military overseas, but that’s been kind of fun too b/c while I don’t have a dog, I do know friends who have dogs so sending them hand-made dog biscuits seems like a great way to help a local economy AS WELL AS a fun, unexpected gift for them. Same with coffee roasters: money for a small business in my home state but a fun, unexpected small treat for my family who lives in another state. I highly recommend this if you want to support local business and cheer up friends and family but don’t actually need anything (and yet like to shop).
Also, we noticed that somehow all the small spoons from our silverware set (soup spoon, dessert spoon) are missing. I’m guessing one of my kids packed them in a lunch box for school (remember school? sigh, it’s been a month so I barely do) and then absentmindedly threw them out. So now my kids are eating yogurt with giant soup spoons.