Scattered Thoughts

 Happy St. Patrick's Day. Neal is cooking corned beef and cabbage for tonight's dinner. We have Guinness chilling in the fridge. I bought an Irish soda bread because the boys like it. We're not Irish. And corned beef and cabbage isn't either. The Irish adopted this food from their Jewish neighbors when they were living side by side in the lower East side generations ago. Fact! 

I got my first dose of my COVID vaccine on Saturday. It had to be one of the happiest days of this year. I was truly surprised that I was contacted to get this gift. I grabbed the chance to take it. My arm got slightly sore in the evening and I had some headaches for a day or two but I just popped Tylenol like I was told. I know after the second one that I may have a stronger reaction. I would rather have the side effects than COVID. Neal goes on Thursday. The boys do not qualify which makes me sad but maybe since things are picking up, they will be able to get vaccinated by summer. 

 

Everyone asks "What are you going to do once you are fully vaccinated and waited the two weeks after the last dose?" I don't know. Maybe have a cup of tea or a glass of wine with my friend across the street without masks on? Finally be able to visit my mother in Florida? I miss having breakfast at the diner and as the weather gets warmer and they put up a tent for outdoor dining, maybe that will happen. I have two friends who want to do that, too. I am not ready to go into a restaurant yet. I feel that it will take me a while mentally to realize that I am protected. 

 

I have been knitting and have too many projects going at once. First, in order to meet a challenge proposed by my group, KnitTalk, I am supposed to knit something blue or containing blue by March 30th. I finally started a baby sweater for my friend's second grandson who will be due in May. It's a new pattern for me using bulky yarn. I should have it done by the deadline. I joined a KAL for The Little Red Dress. I started the dress on Sunday and it's going fast. I finaly finished Ben's Spider Socks. I started the Hue Shift Afghan but will pick it up again after the baby sweater and the red dress. I promised my friend Maddy a pair of socks and picked out the yarn. I also started a surprise pair for Elijah for his new adventure in Albany. I also need to find yarn for Powder Wrap since what I had wasn't the right yarn. This is the kind of busy I like. 

I started to have issues with my sleep. I have been waking up in the morning around 4:30 for the past few night. I can attribute it to either looking at my phone before I go to bed, stres, or the little bit of coffee ice cream I had. I plan on not looking at my phone, going to bed at the same time every night, and tracking my sleep on my WW app. I tracked last night and saw that even with a 20 minute wake-up, I got over seven hours of sleep. Seeing that allayed my anxiety about the whole situation. I have always been the best sleeper. I could sleep on a rock so this is really weird for me. That's it. It felt good writing this all down.

I Think I am Back!

It has been quite a long time since I posted anything on this blog. That may be a good thing. The last few years were full of anger that is just starting to dissipate or change into more of an emotion that makes me want to act for change. I have discovered Craftivism and am just learning what I can do with my crafty ways to make a change in this world. I have unfriended people on Facebook who have insulted what I consider guaranteed rights for all citizens. The last administration has scared the shit out of me and I am still afraid of the hatred that has been unleashed by the rhetoric spewed. January 6th was the worst. I hope you are all well. It will be the one year anniversary since this pandemic started. I still remember the very first days of lockdown, sitting at my dining room table doing jigsaw puzzles, reading, knitting, and trying to hold it together. It was very frightening and I had no idea how bad it would be. I kept thinking that it would be over in May, by my birthday. I can have a good chuckle about that now. I remember how stressed I was going to the supermarket and wearing a mask for the first time and gloves because the CDC wasn't sure how the virus was spread. (As I am writing this I feel as if I am writing a science fiction story.)I wouldn't let Neal go because his immune system was compromised by medication. Elijah was still at school and we were just hoping there would be a graduation in May. There wasn't. This was the one thing that made me sob. But here we are now. Three vaccines are being utilized. The asshole is out of office. The governor who was lauded for his daily pandemic conferences is now being investigated for nursing home deaths and sexual harrassment. Most of the people we know are fine right now. We still wear masks and sometimes two masks due to the variants. We know how the virus spreads so I don't wear gloves anymore. I actually don't go anywhere anymore except to get food. We won't go into a restaurant but we'll take in. We can't wait for the warmer weather so we can meet our friends outside. Human contact has become a more of an event than ever before. And I continue to knit. And to have gratitude of all I have to keep me safe and sound. Stay well.