dual personalities

Late on Tuesday night, the university announced that all staff should telework until at least May 30, which had already been my plan. Wednesday was my first day doing so, and let me just say: teleworking is more fun when it’s a one-day reprieve during a normal workweek. When everyone is teleworking it’s sort of terrible, at least so far. Inefficient phone calls, a lot more emailing, technology issues… whew. It’s going to be a long few weeks (at least!). My lowest moment was when I realized my apartment neighbors are now my coworkers: it’s as if someone can smoke weed, play music, mow their lawns, etc. in the next office over.

But I will try to keep my chin up. Here are a few things I have accomplished at home these last few days:

Finishing two Longmire mysteries: Death Without Company and Kindness Goes Unpunished. I need more!

Taking walks outside at least every other day; observing what’s blooming. (Spring seems to be here to stay! Hopefully we can begin making real use of our balcony soon enough.)

Inventorying our pantry and making a 2-week meal plan and grocery list (super dorky, I know).

Perusing online sales: I recommend Nordstrom, Sephora (which is offering free 2-day shipping), and Aerie (40% off daytime loungewear) if you can handle the possible teen flashbacks. Chances are, your email inbox is full of many more — the coronavirus has brought about another Black Friday!

I haven’t yet gotten into an at-home workout routine, or figured out how to use rollers in my hair, or deep cleaned the bathroom… but all in good time! Let’s pace ourselves.

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day.

–Ralph Waldo Emerson

Well, starting today, I’m on the working-from-home squad. I’m not dreading it. In fact, I’m making a mental list of projects to work on, drawers to clean out, online workouts to do, and books to read. I’m going to try to take advantage of this time. Of course, I’ll have work to do, conference calls, and social media posts to write. But, I do expect some productivity of a more personal nature, as well.

I’m going to break my day up a la Hugh Grant in About a Boy. And no need to carefully  dishevel my hair as I’ll be sticking strictly to daytime loungewear for the next few weeks.

Look at all of these wonderful cross-stitch patterns to choose from–I’ve got plenty of things that I’m currently working on–but it’s fun to think about starting something new, too!

The library is closed–but they have ebooks available.

I hope people use this time constructively. Perhaps millennials will use this time to meditate on life and what it means, and what they are going to do with their wild and precious lives.

This is probably wishful thinking.

Dreams are wishful thinking. Children playing at being grown-up is wishful thinking. Interplanetary travel is wishful thinking.

Sometimes wishing is the wings the truth comes true on.

Sometimes the truth is what sets us wishing for it.

–Frederick Buechner

I am back to the east coast safe and sound after cutting my trip short by a day. I can now “self isolate” for at least 2 weeks (conveniently aligning with spring break anyway) and we will all hope things don’t get too much worse. Being in St. Louis was definitely a calmer vibe than being in a densely populated city. “Social distancing” comes naturally when the grocery stores are larger, restaurants less jam packed, and living quarters aren’t on top of each other.

Of course, it was particularly nice to be celebrating a baby shower and seeing my family one last time as “just me!”

Mom & sister time is the best treat

Childhood friends braved airports to join us

It was so lovely to open everyone’s sweet gifts and get started on a collection of soft baby clothes and swaddles. I hadn’t made a registry or declared a nursery theme or really thought much at all about all the gear, so it was funny how naturally everyone can pick out lovely things that go together — it turns out, a theme emerged on its own: bunnies! Lots of cute bunny patterns in soft colors. I am on board.

It will be just as fun to unpack everything with DN. I think we will use our social distancing time to really get started on nesting and put the house in order. In the midst of all the social media frenzy around the corona virus, the one thing that is resonating with me is: It’s a privilege to stay home! What can you accomplish while “isolated”? Can you cut down on your to-be-read pile? Cook or bake new recipes? Organize your files? Write more letters? I, for one, will be trying to make the most of this time as I am officially now in the third trimester. And I will be very  happy with the excuse to stay in stretch pants, reclined on the couch!

The DH and I hit the road yesterday to fulfill long-made plans  for spring break. Many people think we’re foolish, crazy and even irresponsible for traveling during the Coronavirus crisis, and yet here we are in State College, PA about four hours from our destination in Buckhannon, WV. I must say that the world seems to be functioning perfectly well; trucks fill the highway as usual and there are plenty of cars, too.  We stopped only twice: once to use the facilities and once to get gas. We touched almost nothing and used a lot of hand sanitizer. We ate food we brought with us. On the whole, it was a normal travel day. Although we didn’t stop to see any attractions, we did pass by a sign for “Labrador Hollow Unique Area” that piqued my interest. What, I wondered, made Labrador Hollow unique and how did it get an official sign?

It turns out that New York State actually has a bunch of designated unique areas, each unique in its own unique way, no doubt. Seriously, only NY administrators would think up something like this! Labrador Hollow offers a pretty waterfall

and boardwalk,

which, although attractive, are hardly unusual. No, what won Labrador Hollow its status was the fact that it’s a glacial bowl of a valley and that “the valley’s orientation and topography cause it to be shaded for most of the day, leading to cooler conditions and plant life more typical of mountain bogs such as those found in the Adirondacks” (Wikipedia).  Anyway, I’m intrigued and may have to visit on the way  home.

The GPS took us through areas of NY that we’ve never visited, including Cortland, home of SUNY Cortland, and the crummy outskirts of Ithaca, home of Cornell and Ithaca College. I liked Cortland, which has a bustling old downtown and a surfeit of  Queen Anne houses

and massive, ugly stone edifices like the Wickwire mansion, which is now a museum called the 1890 House.

While such houses do not reflect my architectural preferences, it’s nice to see old buildings kept-up and used.

Of Ithaca I can only say that the outskirts are run-down and depressing. Clearly the in-crowd hangs out elsewhere. I will not hurry back.

By contrast and despite its unimaginative name, State College seems like a happening place, although we have  yet to explore.

If we manage to get our act together in time, we will do so. Otherwise, it will have to wait for another trip. As for whether we’ve made a tactical error in coming on this trip, only time will tell.

Stay tuned next week for updates! In the meantime, stay healthy, don’t panic and be sensible.

*none of these photos is mine. I found them all online.

Thankfully, I did finish all of my to-dos in an abbreviated work week. On campus, we are in a bit of a doomsday-prepping mode with coronavirus shutdowns and intense debates about staff teleworking. Well, goodbye to all that (for now). I am officially “out of office” until next Wednesday.

Today, it’s time to head to home! Fingers crossed for an empty flight and minimal back pain.

It seems the world (ie the media) are trying to make us nervous. I’m not going to lie, I look around and see this destructive narrative taking hold all over and I do get nervous. I’ve got the next few months carefully planned out at work and I’m already crossing off events that have been cancelled. I’m not worried about getting sick. I’m worried about the fallout from this hysteria.

But, and this pains me to say, I heard a tidbit from Natalie Grant on the radio this weekend that actually spoke to me, rather than trigger me. She was talking about the need to focus on what is and not what if in the midst of uncertainty.

As a person who is more inclined to be like Martha than Mary, I pretty much need a constant reminder that worrying is to be avoided. As Jesus said, “You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41-42)

Thinking like this gives new meaning to the phrase make good choices.

Also, this made me chuckle.

I really did not do much this weekend. It feels like the last weekend before the spring rush hits: travel, birthdays, busy season at work, and, well, eventually giving birth. Yikes.

So I took it easy. Saturday and Sunday both included mid-day naps. We went for walks outside (the weather was beautiful!) and I baked some cookies.

DN did suggest we go out for dinner on Saturday night, so that was lovely change of pace from all the reposing.

Now, a short work week before I head home for “spring break” — let’s just hope we can all keep coronavirus panic at bay and I can make it through a couple of well-sanitized airports relatively easily.