Looking Into April

I am now going to be watching out for available vaccines in my area now that it is opening up to ages 50+ in California starting April 1. Tomorrow. I'm eager to get this done. My peer mentor job didn't count as an essential worker, according to the pharmacist at Safeway since it's not a licensed job. Two cousins who have restaurant jobs and my mom have already gotten their first doses. I'm now ready to get mine when I can. They all got the Pfizer, which people claim has the fewest side effects. If I can get it, I want this one too. Who has has the Moderna one? I'm not too sure about that one. My boss is trying to see if the mentors can get vaccinated at the public health, which only has the Moderna one. No word on this as of yet.  Getting anxiety over all this. 

I have begun drafting my first A to Z post for tomorrow. I'm eager to see how this goes for me and to see what others come up with as well, and to see how many comments I get. I will give as many as I can to others participating, which is a lot! Trying to decide how many blogs to view each day. Don't know how much extra blogging I will be doing on Sundays when the A to Z is on break Except my monthly reading bingo post. I'll still be doing all that stuff and have been looking for books for the prompts I have for April.

And one last thing coming up next month. We will be doing the art project I had planned for work more than year ago before we were forced to shut down for two months. Details here and here. It'll be fun to see what others computer up with for this.

Still More A to Z Prep

Today I signed up on the master list for Blogging A to Z. I also finished jotting down ideas for each letter. Though I have a feeling some choices will change. What I'm now wondering is when to start each post each day, since my getting up time seems to vary. On work days (Monday and Wednesday), I may just have to wake up super early. But I know I will get  them done. The length of each post is up to each blogger. Saw that one or two are writing poems as their themes.

FYI, we get Sundays off since there are 30 days in April but 26 letters in the alphabet. 

Even if you aren't participating, those who regularly read my blog are still welcome to comment on my posts. 

Three more days now.

A to Z Preparations

Now that I will be taking on Blogging A to Z next month, I have begun jotting down ideas for each letter in a notebook. I have not gotten through all the letters yet and I have a feeling some of my choices will be subject to change. I've tried doing it all in my head, but that does not always work for me. I cannot seem to narrow each letter down to one word or subject, so I will have more than one word under each letter. Though there will some that are tricky. X is by far the trickiest one, though I do have an idea or two for that one. 

And as far as how my A to Z reading challenge is going this year, well today on a trip to Barnes and Noble, I came across this book. I'd never heard of it until now and it looked like a good. I was having trouble finding a J book, and now I have one. The cover was enough to make me want to pick it up. I have already started reading it today. Still got N, V, X, and Y to fill.

Paint Brush Art

I'd been waiting to do something like that in the photos above. There were no specific instructions given as I found this on Pinterest. 

My original idea was to make bread clay, but I ended up using modeling clay bought at Michaels, below:

I then took photos of different steps of the project:

And here it is painted:

I am now planning to try different techniques for paint brush art.

Blogging A to Z--My First Time and My Theme Reveal

I have made a big decision here. For years, I have been seeing posts made by many different blogs each April as part of "Blogging A to Z" and all this time I have pondered if I will ever join this group of bloggers. I have been in a writing slump and think this will be a way to do more of it. 

One reason I have been hesitant about joining is having time to do a post everyday in the same month. I did used to do the Halloween countdown each October, but after a few years, my posts got repetitive. So I backed out of that one, but I still make some Halloween posts each October. Another reason for my hesitancy is trying to come up with a theme, though themes are not necessary. One year, I was mistaken to be doing A to Z, as on my post on April 6 one year began with the letter F.  After commenting on another person's writing blog (of someone who was doing the A to Z), that blogger left a comment on my blog wanting to catch up with my A-E posts. I replied that I was not doing the A to Z, that my post just happened to begin with the letter F and it coincidentally landed on that day. And trying to visit as many participants's blogs as possible and leave them a comment will take a lot of time, though, granted, no one will have time to visit every single blog (a lot of bloggers have already signed up). And there there is the task of having to find something for each letter of the alphabet, some of which can be tricky, particularly Q, X, and Z. Every year I have been doing the A to Z Reading Challenge (which does not have to be done in alphabetical order). I always dread the letters above, particularly X, which I have yet to fill this year. Q and Z have already been done, and finding something beginning with J has been hardest on me this year. 

But it has now occurred to me how much I have been recapping last year's events on the one-year anniversary, so I though that could be a theme to write about. I asked, and saw that there is no required post length.  Again, some letters can be tricky and I can name lots of things for this theme that fall under the same letter. But in the past, I have seen some bloggers use more than one word for each letter. I have been jotting down ideas. So without further ado, I present my theme reveal:

My Life in 2020

Click here for more details and to see others participating.

I feel this will keep me busy for a month. I will be making my posts as long as I choose. I will be home most of the time, so I should still have time for reading and other stuff. 

Daylight Saving Time

I always have different feelings as Daylight Saving Time begins each year. I like more daylight, but get off put by the change in the beginning. I wish I could tell the cats about DSL.

Store Shelves: Then and Now

 Remember this from a year ago? No doubt you all do.

It wasn't just toilet paper that was out. I remember being unable to find pasta. The lack of toilet paper in stores didn't hurt my house at all. I had gotten a 12-pack at Safeway the Saturday before the pandemic was declared. And at the end of March, a nurse friend arrived with some items including food and two packs of toilet paper. So there was enough for the time being. 

I recall being at Safeway the night of the 13th last year, seeing empty shelves for one of the first times, and seeing long lines. And it was Friday the 13th, which not too many people seemed to emphasize. I guess what it says below was true.

A client at the center who works for another grocery store in town pointed out that they were out of everything.  And a return trip to Safeway the following Monday was basically the same as three nights earlier. 

And then in November, toilet-paper hoarding began again. 

But now it seems easier to find TP, and just when I don't need to get any,I seems to notice how much is on the store shelves as I pass through the store. Needing to go to the store is a never-ending cycle, but there is no need to get TP every time. And pasta got easier to find as the months went on last year. I have no idea what that was so popular, though some say pasta is a comfort food.

Last Photos Before Pandemic

I tuned into NBC Nightly News last night at the very end, and just barely saw the closing segment, titled "The Last Photo." Viewers had been asked to send in the last photos on their cameras before the pandemic was declared--a year ago today.  

Though this photo was at the end of February 2020, it's the closest I could find:

This was the last art project at work before we were forced to shut down for two months (we gradually reopened starting the last week of May). Details about the project here. 

I didn't take a lot of photos, but still remember what I was doing a year ago today. We were still on our old schedule at the center, including cooking class (the last one we have had). Not many people showed up that day, and many suspect it was fear over the Coronavirus. And then on the news that night came the WHO's declaration of the virus as a pandemic. I still went to the center on that Friday and the following Monday, which ended up being the last day before the shutdown. The youth group that used the same building had already stopped their activities (they currently meet over Zoom), and it wasn't till the following Tuesday that the mental health group's activities were stopped as well. On the last Friday before the closing (which strangely, was Friday the 13th) I had started to prepare for the next art project I was planning to lead that never happened as a result of the closing. Click here for details on this one. In the first weeks of the lockdown, I did more of these at home.

I have two others that I did but have not taken any photos.

 

Now that we are back and able to do projects, I many just do this one soon.

One-Year Wall

 This new parody video from the Holderness Family sums up the current state of our lives:

And most of us will agree with this one:

March Bookish Bingo

 Here is the card for March.

My books:

1. My Man Jeeves--P.G. Wodehouse (4 squares): Ebook, In a Series, Luck--Good or Bad, Passion/Temper
2. The History of Theatre--David Timson (2 squares): Audiobook, Mask on the Cover
3. Sophie's Choice--William Styron (7 squares): Free Book, Shelf Love, Physical Book, Not in a Series, Book Club Read, Not Set in the Present, Siblings
4. Fairy Tales of Ireland--W.B. Yeats (4 squares): Irish/Ireland, Fae/Fairies, Green on the Cover, SF/SFF
5. A Killer in the Rye--Delia Rosen (1 square): Trope
6. Chain of Gold--Cassandra Clare (4 squares): Library Book, Gold, Empowered Female, Destroyed City
7. Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Murder--Joanne Fluke (3 squares): Detective, New Release, Free Space

25 squares completed on March 14

Two Days into March

 

Almost a Year Now...

 Saw this today on Facebook:

It's been almost a year now. And of course the lockdown lasted beyond two weeks.

One thing has changed from a year ago is finding toilet paper at the stores. I still wonder what the hoarding was all about. But now the shelves are stocked. It won't be hard to find toilet paper the next time I need to get some. The last time I went to the store, I had flashbacks to the empty shelves at the stores a year ago. Pasta was also out during the first weeks of the pandemic. It's now easy to find.

And to think that Friday the 13th occurred during this time. Yet not much was noted of that fact. The following Monday, March 16, was the last regular day of work before gradually reopening, starting in June.