In other news, State Department issued a global health advisory, it's highest level, telling Americans not to travel abroad. The first NFL case came to light today: Sean Payton. And, a Tampa Bay Lightning player tested positive as well (maybe the first NHL player?) Either way, they both said they were doing fine and jsut feeling a little under weather, and I'm over here like, wait... then how did they get a test? Money, you know?
Here in Florida the debate over closing the beaches rages on. The Governor has refused to close them statewide, even though he went on Fox and Friends this mornign and said "Spring Break is over" and "they won't be able to congregate on our beaches. This is not entirely true. He said this without putting out any new regulations. A couple of days ago he said you can't be in groups of more than ten and you have to keep a safe distance from the groups around you. That's it. That's his verison of "the party is over, you can't congregate here." Clearwater City Council last night took things into their own hands, like a couple of places in South Florida have, saying ok, we're closing Clearwater Beach, but announced they wouldn't do it until Monday at 6AM. So you'd still have beach access ALL WEEKEND LONG! Today, the Pinellas County Commissoner stepped in and announced that Saturday at 12 am, all beaches in Pinellas County will close to the public (that means Clearwater Beach, and Country trumps City, so they will be closing Friday).
But is all of this too little too late? Bars are closed, but we still have plenty of resturants running here (they've been told dine in as fine as long as they reduce capacity by 50%). And then today news stations started reporting that some guy was at Disney and Universal, started showing signs of the virus, flew home, tested positive two days later and died today. I've seen quite a few cases have come from people who were just in Florida.
Our cases in Florida are just over 400. But, there are still SO MANY STORIES about people who cannot get tests. Last night they said the virus has been found in 17 nursing homes. SEVEN.TEEN. I just feel like we're doing nothing, and I think it's going to be really, really bad for Florida.
As far as we go, I did make a grocery shopping trip today to Publix. We decided we would designate one person in the house to go, and we'd just do it once a week. I said if I got sick, at least I wouldn't need to take any time off work, and it would be less of a financial strain. Plus, everyone agreed if Asa or Calib came back with the wrong stuff then we'd be stuck without some crutial ingredient for a week. I did also ask the neighbors what I could get for them. (I then left groceries on my neighbors doorstep, rang the bell (with a lysol wipe) and then quickly ran away! Next week, I plan to go to Costco, but we'll see how things change in the next week, a week ago today I almost went to Disney!
Anyway, my mom had told me if you do go, take some lysol wipes with you. We're out of small ziplock bags, so I made do with a little plastic pouch in my pocket and some wipes. It was a good idea. I know Publix is doing the best they can, but my store was out of wipes for wiping down carts. Instead a guy stood there asking if I'd like my cart disinfected (to which, I of course said yes), but he put like half a spray on a towel and barely grazed the top of my cart handle. No under neith the handle, where your hands inevitabley have to go around. So I was glad I brought wipes with me. Plus, one of my neighbors has to be really careful about germs right now, so I wiped the top cart seat down really good and put their stuff up there. Then I used the wipe to open freezer and fridge doors.
So hwo stocked was my publix? Well, I would have taken more pictures, but I didn't want to take my phone out in store. I did once to check on the picture of the coffee k cups the neighbor needed, but I used my wipe to do it. I snapped a picture too, it's real hit or miss. Some things have lots, some are nearly empty. You could get sugar, but not flour. Ramen and rice are long gone. But there were still lots of canned beans, and tons of couscous! You guys buy couscous. It's delicious and lighter than rice!
You don't alwayss have a choice on buying a certain brand, or whats on sale (which is hard for this couponer who almost exclusively shops sales!), but you won't go hungry either. If you're insteed of frozen veggies you can still get lima beans, and if you're desperate for frozen potatoes the alexia brand was well stocked (it's delicious but expensive- I usually only buy them on sale). I'm sure this is all ever changing though. They were SO BUSY stocking while I was there.
The produce guys were doing an awesome job, tons of stuff that's good long term- apples, squash, onions (I didn't check on potatoes, I buy those at Costco and still have plenty). I took ten bananas though, and some lady accused me of hoarding. Like three of us in this house eat at least one banana on a daily basis. I'm actually buying less bananas than normal for a whole week!
Ground beef was abundant, they were wrapping and packaging it as fast as they could, even packaged differently than usual for speed, I suppose. I didn't need any, which was good, because there was a two packages per person limit, and it was on my neighbors list. I was also able to nab her the last package of napkins that didn't just have like 20, but the paper products and toilet paper aisle were empty. A guy in the parking lot even stopped me to ask if they had any. He said he had been to 8 different stores.
I came away pleased with what I was able to get on my list. I have berries again (Yay!) Luckily I didn't need milk, or eggs. And I was able to get Asa a cheesecake for his birthday next week. The guy who checked me out said he wanted to come to my house, and I said "well, it's my husband's birthday next week, not the best time to have a birthday, though." and he said "I'm supposed to get married next month." Poor guy.
When I got home I wiped everything down, washed my hands about a million times, and changed my clothes. I don't care if it's overkill. It just felt like such an ordeal to go to the store, and I felt so exposed. I'm glad I'm not going for another week.
In other news, it's the first day of Spring. A couple of months ago we decided we had too many coffee mugs and decided to box them up and have a certain set for Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. So today we put away the winter mugs and got out the Spring mugs! Goodbye Linus mug... hello.... Linus mug?
Also first day of Spring tradition: I make the boys "dirt" for dessert. I was so proud of myself for remembering like 10 days ago to get all the stuff for it, before all this craziness ensued (fun fact, I have also already gotten a bunch of stuff for their Easter baskets, because I was worried about that 10 days ago too).
Anyway, happy Spring everyone! Asa asked how many years I've been doing this. I'm not entirely sure, but I know when I first started we were so poor I made it with pudding, cool whip, and no gummy worms. But look, I get all the ingredients now. We've moved up in the world.
Asa only worked till noon today, so he had a lot of time on his hands after that. He did some yard work, went for a run and played VIRUS (instead of HORSE) with Hayden. Everyone just went out for a second round, too.
Calib meanwhile, keeps working on his math with grandma. Today Gwen joined in on math "just for fun" because she's crazy like that.
And lets go ahead and do a garden check.. tomorrow is probably time to thin out those radishes!
We've got ourselves some green cherry tomatoes.
And our greens are coming along. This isn't the set we just planted, but in the round before that.
Today we got to pick stuff to eat too. We picked enough arugula to bolster our salads so I only have to use one thing of Romaine for all of us, instead of one and a half. Plus we got a tomato, and we roasted some of our snap beans- which were delicious!
Ten minutes of cleaning here (that we do most/some nights) has turned into 10 minutes of disinfecting.
Lets check in on Coronavirs Bingo. Only added Library closes today. Previously all the programs were cancelled, but they decided to shut it down completely now.
It's been a long time since we did "favorite part of the day" at dinner, so I did reinstate that tonight. And at least for now everyone seems ok staying home, playing some basketball and some video games, and getting their school work done.
Most popular "hurricane snacks": Dirt!
Toilet paper supply: Still Plenty!
Current binge watching obession: Asa and I watched the second episode of Little Fires Everywhere last night. I'm interested.
Most popular game: Civ 4, Stardew Valley. But, tomorrow Animal Crossing arrives.
Boredness scale 1 to 10: 2. However, Asa front loads his work weeks. Which means it feels like he has a four day weekend every single week. Usually that's awesome- because we can go a ton of places. But, that's not going to work out these days.
Frozen II Watchthroughs: Still at 5, We didn't watch it today --- But we did watch Frozen I!
Trips to the store: 1
Days Down: 6
Days Remianing: Undetermined.
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