As the meme says, as long as everyone does it my way, I’m totally flexible…

Mitch brought in a sub the other day  and I said, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THAT SUB? YOU ARE HOLDING IT NEXT TO YOUR PHONE WHICH IS GOING NEXT TO YOUR FACE AND NOW YOU JUST PUT THE DIRTY PHONE IN YOUR POCKET!”  My way is arguably more complicated and includes plating it outside, cleansing containers and washing hands multiple times, you get the picture…

I have a mail station in our garage and my daughter (she and her family are living with us – more about that later) saw mail in one cardboard box and put new mail in another cardboard box because for the life of her she cannot figure out my mail quarantine system; which by the way was created without science or fact.

Our daughter and her family planned to live with us for a short period when they moved from Ohio to Buffalo. And then COVID-19 struck, and everything was put on pause, including buying homes. And if we are going with this story, daycare has also been put on pause, which means Mitch and I are Nana and Papa Daycare five days a week. Carly and Steve are fortunate enough to still have their jobs.  We realize our time with the grandchildren is a blessing and we appreciate the unique opportunity, but we are the age of grandparents and this is hard work.  My dad says, “that’s why having kids is for the young.” And we get it!

Our food shopping needs have increased because there are four adults, one fabulous 4-year-old eater and an infant in our home.  I was working with Instacart for quite some time but the amount of food we needed, and the daily additions were overwhelming to us and Instacart.  I went online to get Instacart Help and was listed as number 2,221 on their wait list to chat with a customer care agent. Are their bots also too busy to waste my time until a person can chat? I gave up and we decided to let Instacart bring whatever it would bring, which turned out to be somewhat accurate.

Once the food arrives, I go into frenzy mode of sterilizing, wiping, quarantining (as I have mentioned in a previous blog) and it was driving everyone nuts.  Now, our family has a new system.  My millennium daughter goes to the market on  Sunday while I am away from the house (driving or sitting in a car), she brings the new food and supplies into the kitchen and cleans it all before putting it  away.  I pretend that it is done completely in my obsessive way and so does she and all is good. That problem is solved at least for this week.

Another random thought: Are dogs and cats really getting Covid-19? We currently have three dogs in our house, and I hope I don’t have to start getting masks and supplies for them! Or sterilizing their paws, EEK! And is that what they mean by New York Paws?

To my readers, Covid-19 is devastating to our nation and world.  I try to instill a bit of humor to take the edge off and I hope it brings a smile to you. Wishing you all continued health, safety and sanity.