I am sad and my foot hurts and I have too many things to do but instead I keep bouncing back and forth between reading awful news articles and researching gun control legislation, so I am going to distract myself by blogging for a few minutes.
Today as I was putting away the groceries (this is the THIRD trip to the grocery store I have made this week, which is a testament to how important it is to MEAL PLAN in advance because I did not do that this week and now here we are), I came across a giant five-pound bag of sugar that I bought in 2020 during the height of the sugar/flour shortage. I remember spotting it at Costco, alongside enormous industrial sized bags of flour and snapping it up with glee and relief. It has remained in my basement lo these many years.
Well, my sugar container is looking a bit wan, so I will use the five-pound bag to refill it. My sugar container does not hold five pounds of sugar, though, so… I’m not really sure what to do with the remainder. That’s what gallon-size Ziploc storage bags are for, I suppose.
(The reason I need to refill the sugar container is because I am making cupcakes. They were supposed to do double duty: 1. They were to be dessert for an evening with friends, who were scheduled to come for dinner this weekend. 2. They were to be a special birthday surprise for our neighbor, who has become one of Carla’s favorite people on the planet; when Carla found out it was the neighbor’s birthday, she insisted that we make cupcakes. Anyway, the friends are no longer coming but the neighbor is still having a birthday, so I am still making cupcakes.)
Pulling out the five-pound bag of sugar did jolt me back, a bit, into those dark days of the early pandemic. Not that the days have gotten a whole lot brighter, in many senses, pandemic and otherwise. But things are different. We no longer buy two jars of pickles a week, for one thing. I still note that we are getting low on paper towels or toilet paper, but I don’t fret. I raised my eyebrows when I saw that cream cheese was in very low supply (and zero of the Philadelphia brand was available), but I didn’t grab more boxes than I need for the cupcake recipe. The peanut butter shelves were near-empty, but that’s because of the Jif recall, not because peanut butter is no longer available. (Our giant two-pack of Jif was in the affected batch; we’d already eaten one entire jar but the other was unopened.) I have been gradually and purposefully whittling down our supply of frozen meat, rather than rushing out to refill it.
I know things are still far from pre-pandemic “normal.” The note about “only four packages of baby formula per person” at my Target is a glaring example of that fact. But I do worry less.
On the illness front: I have given Carla a Covid test before school every day this week. She keeps waking up with a sore throat or sniffles (that do seem to magically disappear by the time we leave for school), and I just don’t want to take a chance. Plus, Covid is rampant in her grade, with four and five cases per class as of last week (except in Carla’s class, so far). We are five days out from the end of the school year, and it would be amazing if she could make it the whole way… but that seems increasingly unlikely.
My family continues to wear masks in public, indoor spaces. I am accustomed to wearing one that I don’t really notice anymore how many people are or aren’t wearing masks. I haven’t been hassled. My husband thinks that our road trip later this summer will take us through a lot of areas where masking will be non-existent, and I wonder if we’ll be hassled then; we’ll see. Carla’s school went mask-optional a long time ago, and we allowed Carla to make her own choice about whether to wear one or not. She enthusiastically chose NOT. We have been urging her, as cases at school and in her grade have crept up, to reconsider, and I think she IS wearing a mask at least some of the time. But it’s hard to know. When you are eight, it is extremely difficult to understand abstract non-immediate consequences.
We are in the very, very privileged position of not having any underlying health issues ourselves, and not having any immunocompromised people in our household or classroom/work situation to worry about so we are more relaxed than some. I don’t know much about Long Covid, so that does worry me a little. We are of course willing and happy to take stronger measures if necessary – like I am always happy to throw on a mask if a friend is wearing one, and I don’t insist on going out for coffee when it is perfectly acceptable to have coffee at my house. But I feel like we have reached a level of comfort and regularity with how we protect ourselves. More than ever, it feels like contracting Covid is inevitable. We have been so lucky not to have it (or to have had such mild cases it went through us undetected); that luck is bound to run out.
We are looking at a nice long weekend ahead of us. I finally got some flowers into the flowerpots in my front and back yard, and that makes me feel much better about things. They were looking so dejected and depressed; now they have little bright spots of color. (Except for the pot that has been designated as Carla’s. She went with me to pick out the flowers, and she fell in love with some black petunias. She would have had all our pots full of black flowers if it were up to her. Instead, I bought her a black petunia and gave her her own pot. And then filled up the other flower pots with purple and yellow and pink.)
I am very disappointed that our friends are no longer coming. We haven’t seen them since February, and they are the kind of people whose social calendars fill up months in advance so the next time they can work us in is August. (In fact, we’d originally been scheduled to have them over for dinner in April, but they accidentally double-booked us and had to back out of that; late May was the first available option way back in March when they realized the issue.) So I am disappointed and cranky about that. Especially because I already bought – literally – ten Roma tomatoes so I can make salsa and five avocados so I can make guacamole. I guess my little family will be feasting on salsa and guacamole all weekend. Perhaps I can coax our neighbor to come over for a little birthday fiesta?
In my planning for the dinner party, I totally forgot about the long weekend. So this morning I planned out our meals on the fly, mid-produce section. In addition to chips, salsa, guacamole, and strawberry cupcakes, here’s what we will be eating:
- Ground Beef Tacos: Carla squealed with delight when I told her we will be having tacos. Same, Carla. Same.
- Spinach Salad with Strawberries, Chicken, and Goat Cheese: I will be using regular strawberries this time, not pineberries. Also, I like to use a mix of spinach and arugula because I dislike spinach. Also also, I am going to make my favorite balsamic dressing instead of the raspberry vinaigrette.
- Steak Kebabs: This may end up being steaks and veggies instead because my husband has a very interesting aversion to cooking shish kebabs. Even if I am the one who threads the food onto the skewers AND grills the skewers, he is very… hesitant about it. I am choosing to see this quirk as cute.
- Crispy Slow Cooker Carnitas: This is what I planned to make for our friends. It’s fairly keto-friendly and always delicious.
- Greek Chicken Chopped Salad: Unfortunately, I could not find any fresh oregano so I will need to go to the grocery store YET AGAIN. I will use that opportunity to buy more berries; I cannot get enough strawberries right now.
Salads and tacos. Sounds pretty great to me.
What are you up to this weekend? If you live in the U.S., are you doing anything special for Memorial Day?
I have to say that “choosing to see this quirk as cute” is a great trick if you can pull it off! I will have to try that when my mother is driving me bananas.
No specific holiday plans, though I’m having lunch with friends on Saturday and thrilled to do so. And just to enjoy a long weekend in general.
I had forgotten it was Memorial Day weekend, to be honest. That’s what happens in retirement. I too am balancing the mask wearing with the social events and picking and choosing which situations I want to put myself in. (or expose myself to?) I’ve adapted to fewer outings and more open air activities–not a bad thing. Sorry your plans fell through. That’s happened to me a couple times lately and has been disappointing.
I should make the pork carnitas for us. I confess that the last time I made kebabs I almost lost my mind from the threading so I won’t be making them again anytime soon.
We’ve got a graduation party on tap for this weekend and a parade to go to on Memorial Day.
I’m sorry your friends can’t come – I would totally eat all that salsa and guac. Sounds amazing.
My son has graduation ceremonies TOMORROW!!! I can hardly believe that he actually gets a graduation! So exciting. This week has been very very full, but in a happy way.
Fingers crossed Carla makes it all the way through. I generally wear my mask in indoor spaces, mostly in solidarity with the grocery employees, that kind of thing. But I have been leaving it off here and there. My younger son wears his mask almost all the time at school, and my older son wears it…not all the time, but during class change when there are 2300 kids in the hallways.
Enjoy the cupcakes and the long weekend. Our long weekend was last weekend and I always forget that they are not the same.
Oh, if Carla can just make it for a few more days! How exciting would that be.
We’re still wearing masks at all public indoor gatherings and we are definitely the rarity most places. I had a meeting today with seven people and I was the only one wearing a mask. At this point, it’s not even just COVID avoidance, but all sickness avoidance. Ha! I really don’t want to get so much as a cold because it’s been so long that I’ve really been sick that I don’t imagine I’ll handle it well. Ha!
We have a birthday party for our niece and nephew on Sunday, but otherwise have no plans, so fingers crossed for a quiet weekend with no fireworks to freak out the doggo.
*fingers crossed that Carla makes it through the rest of the school year*
I’m still masking in public and have noted that the masked are in the minority. My husband and I do have underlying issues so there’s that. Then there’s the fact that the CDC claims our county’s community level is low – but yet, today’s positivity level was 21.8% of the reported tests. *sigh* I feel like we will never get completely past this stupid virus at this point.
I’m sorry your friends won’t be able to make it. Our plans for the weekend are pretty quiet. Man-Child and The Girlfriend are coming for dinner tomorrow – which will be lovely as we haven’t seen much of them since Christmas (first the minor back surgery, followed by COVID, followed by the flu…) but other than that…it’ll just be the two of us, hanging out and looking at each other. But the weather is supposed to be nice – after a full week of rain and gray skies that will be nice!
Oh please go instead to a garden center and buy an oregano plant to use! It grows great in pots and you could plant it to grow underneath the flowers and cascade down the side of your pots! And anything grown as a culinary herb can’t have any dangerous insecticides or fungicides on it so they’re safe to eat the second you buy them! AND they should be comparable in price to the bagged, fresh grocery store herbs… while having the benefit of growing more whenever you want!
Happy Memorial Day weekend (I’m actually in the US this year over the holiday, for the first time in my life, I think?!).
Hope Carla is feeling better soon. Those vague symptoms that come and go – living in a pandemic world at least – are so unsettling and I find the decision making around going places/not going places and trying to triage symptoms (quite frankly, I feel like someone in our house has at least one symptom of COVID each day, especially now that’s it’s summer allergy season – a headache, or extra tired or a runny nose).
What a bummer about your company. I’d be grumpy, but then I’d also eat a lot of the guacamole!
Your meals sound so delicious to me! And I can completely relate to your pandemic observations. I live in a small, uber-conservative town/county (it had the dubious honor of being the least vaxxed in the entire state of Michigan for a while there) and I’ve never had anyone bother me about wearing a mask. I haven’t had covid yet but I expect it’s just a matter of time, despite all my precautions.
I am embarrassed to admit that we went through a 5 pound bag of sugar every couple weeks when Dave was alive – we bought one during every weekly shopping trip. Can you tell he liked sweet treats? 🙂 Our pandemic sugar purchase was a 10 pound bag, and he put it somewhere and I could NOT find it for weeks after he died. I looked everywhere – and finally found it in the cupboard out in our mudroom. (Why?! We never put food items out there!)
I think it’s lovely that you made cupcakes for your neighbor. Perhaps she’d like a container of salsa as well!
I will be driving my middle child to sleep-away camp on Sunday, and will have a blissful morning all to myself in my own home on Memorial day.
I’ve always liked Memorial Day weekend, but this year it seems sad. More than the respect for the military it has morphed into a time to remember children murdered in Texas. What a week, eh? I am without words.
Good luck making it through the school year covid-free. North still has three weeks to go. They are pretty conscientious about masking at school. Often when they get home from the bus stop, which is a 10-minute walk, they’re still wearing it, as they just forget about it. Still, so many people seem to have it right now, including a close friend of theirs, so we’ll see.
We’re going strawberry picking today and we’ll have our usual backyard picnic for Memorial Day. I will make strawberry shortcake for that.
I really hope that Carla makes it through this whole school year without getting Covid. What an amazing feat that would be! Fingers crossed!
I’m sorry that your friends canceled on you. That’s such a disappointing feeling!
We’re lucky that we don’t have kids in school and that we don’t really have to leave the house if we choose not to (although I will start going back to my office one day a week starting next week… we’ll see how that goes). We’ve both avoided Covid so far and I am still masking indoors everywhere I go (and will continue to do so – stares or not!).
I hope that Carla can make it through until summer break.
Can I come and eat salsa and guac with you? That sounds amazing right now. Haven’t had either in a while. And I love kebobs… we’ll be doing them a lot this summer!
Bummer about the company canceling. Sorry about that. I bet the neighbor will be tickled by the cupcakes, and perhaps will agree to visit for some salsa and guac.
I’m going to borrow the ‘choosing to see that as cute’ mindset. Fingers crossed. With all 8 of us under one roof again, certain behaviors are sure to threaten my sanity. Um, like the exotic frog escaping it’s cage.
We had my folks over for dinner last night. It was very nice and casual. Ed had literally just returned from studying abroad. There were lots of stories and laughs. The kids are all caddying, or in Lad’s case selling cars, and I’m on a mission to prepare this house for graduation. I’ve never finished babysitting BEFORE Memorial Weekend, and I feel more relaxed and at ease than I could’ve anticipated. Busy packing up the baby toys and beds and cleaning high chairs before storing them. The weather is gorgeous. Fingers crossed that Carla manages to skate through her last few days without covid. Enjoy your weekend.
Interesting you posted about Covid since I happened to get it last week. I held out this long but I can confirm the virus is still around. :/
Tacos and Salads is perfect for summer!
I hope Carla can hold off on getting covid! I figured we would get it eventually and am surprised we made it as far as we did. But the person I least wanted to get it – Will – got it so it has been a crappy month. I was pretty sick from it – way sicker than any other cold and it has last so long. I’m finally feeling back to normal, I think. I just hope I avoid long covid, but I’m at a higher risk since I’m immune compromised. There have been several cases in our older son’s classroom lately so I am just waiting for him to get it, but if he didn’t get it from the toddler or me, maybe he won’t get it at school? Or maybe he had it and wasn’t symptomatic which is entirely possible as Will barely had any symptoms besides a low grade fever for like 1/2 a day.
If i was your neighbor, I would gladly help you eat salsa and guac!!!
We did not plan much this weekend since Will was still in his isolation period, but he tested negative late last week so I felt comfortable bringing him to the park and such. Especially since he doesn’t get very close to other kids when he’s at the park.