Couch 212: The French Vanilla couch

That would be such a great "how we met" story!

Wife is on baby duty. I can hear her making the kid watch opera in the other room. Nobody in our household is spared. But the sound of them both clapping at the end of each song is pretty adorable.

I watched Fille last night - it was good but the Fille was a tad old for her role

I made the same comment last night. I also thought the modern iron as a prop was a very weird choice.

My concern is that soon it will be a choice between cloth masks or no masks.

Our hospital is asking for volunteers to sew cloth masks for use over medical masks to extend the life of the medical masks. They’ll drop off the materials on the porch and pick them up when they’re sewn. The homeless shelters too, for their residents.

Hugs, chihiro. You’re doing good work. Thanks.

Yes, it is.

On my way back from the supermarket I ran into an older neighbor out walking. I see him a lot in my local library and at my coffee shop reading. Asked if he had enough books with the library closed. Nope, he’s down to one or two after his current one. And he doesn’t go online, so ebooks are not an option.

So I’m combing my shelves for the kind of book he likes (James Patterson, Lee Child, though those aren’t authors I usually read) to drop off at his apartment.

I worry about this as well. I was just reading an article about how elective surgeries like breast augmentation, nose jobs, and tummy tucks are still being done at surgical centers (though regular hospitals have generally canceled elective surgery, like my mother-in-law's knee replacement she was due to have a week from Monday). They were discussing fears of spreading virus from intubating patients and using masks and surgeons/nurses for unnecessary surgeries. It seems like those should be closed for now, maybe kept for use as potential backups in case hospitals get full. But certainly not to be doing boob jobs (not counting like reconstruction after mastectomy or something)...

The girls and I made empanadas, help yourself, they're not going to last long. Actually it's been so many years since we made them last, my youngest doesn't remember ever helping make them. It's been even longer than that since we made tamales, although I'm not signing up for making those in this tiny kitchen.

There is a meat market down the street from my daughter's apartment, and the little parking lot was overstuffed with cars and a long line of customers winding through. I don't remember ever seeing a car there before today. It feels dystopian.

Everyone stay healthy!

Give him your copy of 50 shades of grey or twilight.

IF you have kids who like to listen to stories - audible has this offer - it is free
Audible Stories | Audible.com

I have been listening to a fascinating set of lectures on the history of food. They guy is totally male-centric in his history -but interesting otherwise

Funny tweet: “These are the times that will separate the true introverts from the mere poseurs.”

Wife has a fever and so far I have managed to yell at her and son repeatedly. I'm so stressed and not eating so that is not a great combination

Ive been watching Lilly Singh on youtube. She is freakin hilarious. Immigrant Indian and Italian families have a lot in common, even tho shes a generation or two younger than me.

We really distanced ourselves today. We drove to our favorite campground with a picnic and a Frisbee and a ball for the dog. I've never been in the spring. There were wildflowers and the creek was so full that we couldn't walk across on the rocks like we can in summer. With the sunshine and suspension of activities, the close-in outdoor spots have been swarming with people. Today we saw a couple leaving as we arrived and another family from a distance, but other than that we were completely alone. The dog was in heaven. His people! His campground! The water! Off-leash! It was a good day.

I am realizing that I get overwhelmed by lots of people-ing and I need my alone time, but I miss MY people.

Is there such a thing as a social introvert?

Sure, that’s only a 2 on the poseur scale.

Its a Push-Me-Pull-You, feline edition

Yes, as I think this applies to me as well. And some of it is just missing being out around people in general, like in a restaurant. I'm definitely an introvert who needs lots of alone/recharging time. Which actually makes this *more* challenging for me in many ways, because H and D are here nearly all the time now. Like H went out to run a couple socially distanced errands yesterday, and later he took D to get a smoothie and to pick up some chik-fil-a from the drive-thru for her, but most of the time, they're both here. I keep thinking how different this would be if it was like 16 years ago when I was single and living by myself, though I'm sure I'd be going crazy for other reasons then.


But yeah, I get it. And today is my dad's birthday, and we can't see him, even though he's only 45 minutes away. Can't risk possibly infecting him or my mom. Sigh...

I'm worried we will need to give the guinea pigs up due to D being allergic. I'm holding out a tiny bit of hope that it was in fact the hay variety--we bought different hay yesterday and cleaned out the cage thoroughly to get rid of all the old hay (timothy hay, which is apparently quite allergenic) and bedding. D insisted on being down here at the time and was coughing a bunch. I gave her some children's Zyrtec, and I think it was the first time I'd given it to her (had been using Benadryl or Claritin for seasonal allergies in the past, but Claritin didn't seem to be doing much, and was wearing off at like 12 hours instead of 24). An hour later, she had some hives on her chest and back. So I then gave her Benadryl (it's ok to do both--different types of antihistamine).


We assumed the hives were from the pigs, but then I was like, "Wait, we also just gave her a new medication..." (you know what's a challenge? Googling allergic reactions to meds used to treat allergic reactions...) Benadryl got rid of the hives. Then last night, she had a bit of a fever. A check online showed that the most common cause of hives in kids is actually viral infection. And she'd been sniffly earlier in the week, before we got the pigs. So...I have no idea what's going on. Was all of this a cold? Seasonal allergies that were made worse by the hair and/or pigs? A cold or allergic reaction, then the hives were from the Zyrtec? Covid-19? (which can present differently in kids). Guess the next few days will tell...No fever this morning.


H contacted his friend who's involved in some animal rescue, and he has a contact who should be able to find a new home for the pigs, if the need arises (we adopted them from a shelter, and there's not a requirement to return them there). But I really hope they work out, because D really likes them (she's even said she loves them) and will sit there giggling and watching them chase each other and jump in the air. Plus I like them (and H does as well). So...fingers crossed?

Went on a chilly Socially Distanced Walk this morning at a local nature reserve.

Nice pic. I thought it was a rorschach test at first because it was sideways. I still haven't figured out how to upload them facing the right way.

Me neither. Has anyone figured this out???

I just got a video on messenger from a friend. Anyway it says the way the virus works is to solidify mucus, so the way to help yourself is to drink hot liquids as often as possible, and gargle with antiseptics, as well as the wash hands, and wash clothes if gone out.

A Facebook friend sent me a video that says hot water with lemon will cure the virus. Somehow I doubt that.