A Year in the Life of...

girlatplay

Thank you all, again, for your comments.

Ok.  I'm pulling myself together.  Feels like days ago I last posted, not yesterday!  
Sis's PCR was positive too.  The rest of us (including BIL & niece-y pie) are all negative.

It has been decided that I will cook anyway and on Christmas morning we will drop their share of the food off to them, leaving it on their doorstep, shouting merry Christmas through the window, probably a few tears.  We will take my niece's main presents up (one large one from Granny & Grandad and one large one from Auntie GAP and cousin LMG) so that she can open them on the day.  They will eat their dinner whenever suits them and we will have ours at my house later, when bf has finished work.  We will all do LFT's in the morning and as long as we are all negative then that's the plan we will stick to.

This is the first year since she was born that I've not spent Christmas Day with my sis (we're talking 40 odd years).  We have to keep going though and as I said to her, at least we all still have each other, we haven't lost any of us in the past almost two years.  We are going to have a small get together with nibbles next week so that we can open presents together.  It's not the same but it's the best we can do in the circumstances.  There are families far worse off than us.

Anyway, in the meantime, this place needs a complete overhaul to make it respectable for Saturday.  I have a list of jobs to be done which need done today and I thought posting them here would give me motivation.  The food is being delivered today so I have to stay in.  I'll come back later and update.  I'll catch up with other diaries over the next day or so.

Here goes:

-clear breakfast dishes and pot from last night
-clean out fridge ready for food delivery
-wipe kitchen surfaces
-clean oven (quick scrub, not full clean)
-sweep and mop kitchen floor
-fold clean washing and put away
-clean bathroom
-wipe and mop bathroom floor
-print two returns labels
-clear work equipment from dining table
-wipe over dining table and chairs
-dust tv/unit/fireplace

Best crack on then

EssexHebridean

That sounds like a nice "making the best of it" plan, and a good idea to focus on the positives - no, not that one! 

Also good that you've got lots on your to do list to keep yourself busy. I think everyone is struggling a lot with stress levels at the moment particularly with the sheer amount of positive cases there seems to be about too . I know earlier in the week I'd convinced myself that the chances of both of us getting through the week without a positive test were pretty slim - I still think it's possible that one of us will get the dreaded second line one morning or another, but I'm trying to work on the basis that what will be will be - there's nothing that we can do to change it now! 

girlatplay

EssexHebridean said:

That sounds like a nice "making the best of it" plan, and a good idea to focus on the positives - no, not that one! 

Also good that you've got lots on your to do list to keep yourself busy. I think everyone is struggling a lot with stress levels at the moment particularly with the sheer amount of positive cases there seems to be about too . I know earlier in the week I'd convinced myself that the chances of both of us getting through the week without a positive test were pretty slim - I still think it's possible that one of us will get the dreaded second line one morning or another, but I'm trying to work on the basis that what will be will be - there's nothing that we can do to change it now! 

I worry about that too.  If I test positive it's all over.  I'm cooking the food so I have to be negative to be able to hand it out.  I'm being so, so careful.  You're right, what will be will be.  Fingers crossed for us all 🤞🏻

Right, update on list:

-clear breakfast dishes and pot from last night ✅
-clean out fridge ready for food delivery ✅ (food delivered and now in sparkling fridge 🙂)
-wipe kitchen surfaces - in progress - LMG is about to cook 🙈
-clean oven (quick scrub, not full clean)
-sweep and mop kitchen floor ✅ (LMG did it - after I was grumpy)
-fold clean washing and put away ✅
-clean bathroom ✅
-wipe and mop bathroom floor ✅ (actually scrubbed it by hand instead)
-print two returns labels
-clear work equipment from dining table
-wipe over dining table and chairs
-dust tv/unit/fireplace

Added:

-wrap rest of presents
-couple of grocery bits to get
-clear out freezer (the rubbish we are just not going to eat)
-shredding
-clean inside microwave
-vacuum livingroom ✅ (LMG did it)
-pick up more lat flow tests
-plan Christmas meal prep

Tomorrow I have to drop LMG at work (5am 😱) so that I have the car as I have an appointment with a house builder at 10.30am.  I will pick up the LFT's and groceries when I'm finished there.

The other bits I should get finished tomorrow too.  I want to plan the prep and cooking of the meal so that it's a smooth operation on Friday and Saturday.  My BIL was supposed to be cooking the turkey so that's an additional job.  If I stick with my plans so far and do the list above before Friday then it will all be fine.

savingholmes

Sorry you've had to adapt all your plans. Hope your sis recovers quickly and the rest of you all stay clear.

girlatplay

savingholmes said:

Sorry you've had to adapt all your plans. Hope your sis recovers quickly and the rest of you all stay clear.

Thank you.

Today's list update:

-clear breakfast dishes and pot from last night ✅
-clean out fridge ready for food delivery ✅ (food delivered and now in sparkling fridge 🙂)
-wipe kitchen surfaces ✅ (this is a perpetual job really, as are dishes which seem to just appear from nowhere)
-clean oven (quick scrub, not full clean) ✅
-sweep and mop kitchen floor ✅ (LMG did it - after I was grumpy)
-fold clean washing and put away ✅
-clean bathroom ✅
-wipe and mop bathroom floor ✅ (actually scrubbed it by hand instead)
-print two returns labels ✅ (ended up being four)
-clear work equipment from dining table
-wipe over dining table and chairs
-dust tv/unit/fireplace
-wrap rest of presents ✅
-couple of grocery bits to get ✅
-clear out freezer (the rubbish we are just not going to eat) ✅
-shredding
-clean inside microwave
-vacuum livingroom ✅ (LMG did it)
-pick up more lat flow tests
-plan Christmas meal prep

Added:

-rubbish to go out
-parcel to be returned (drop off point)


Once I clear the work stuff from dining table I can then wipe over the table and chairs and I'll dust the tv, etc, then too.  I can shove the shredding in a bag to be done another time.  I'll clean the microwave tomorrow morning.  I'm struggling to get lat flow tests and we only have one left.  My mum has some spare so is going to give us those tomorrow.  We'll put the rubbish out tomorrow (it's down two flights of stairs and along to the end of the street).  LMG is going to drop the return off for me tomorrow.  I am currently planning the Christmas meal prep.

It has really helped putting the list up.

Strange thing, my sis is testing negative on her lat flows.  She has done two neg ones since her positive lat flows and PCR on Sunday.  We're still sticking with the new plan but it's all just a bit odd.

beanielou

That is some list!

EssexHebridean

Lateral flows are designed to pick up infection when the viral load is high - so will often show negative a few days in, depending on how far into the infection someone is when they take the test. If you catch it early with an LFT, say the first day it can possibly pick it up, there’s a good chance you’ll get to the end of isolation and still be getting a positive LFT though. If you’re on Instagram then the Epidummyology feed on there is a brilliant source of super-geeky factual information about all this stuff. With the new rules at least your Sis might be able to escape from isolation a few days early - fingers crossed! 

You’re hammering through that list - I’m with you on posting a to do list on here helping to motivate you too, it sort of feels like you’ve made it public so have to give it a good go, doesn’t it! 

savingholmes

Well done on your list

girlatplay

It is quite a list but it all has to be done (apart from shredding which can wait, it's just that it's on one of the dining chairs).

EssexHebridean said:

Lateral flows are designed to pick up infection when the viral load is high - so will often show negative a few days in, depending on how far into the infection someone is when they take the test. If you catch it early with an LFT, say the first day it can possibly pick it up, there’s a good chance you’ll get to the end of isolation and still be getting a positive LFT though. If you’re on Instagram then the Epidummyology feed on there is a brilliant source of super-geeky factual information about all this stuff. With the new rules at least your Sis might be able to escape from isolation a few days early - fingers crossed! 

You’re hammering through that list - I’m with you on posting a to do list on here helping to motivate you too, it sort of feels like you’ve made it public so have to give it a good go, doesn’t it! 

The weird thing is, she was LFT negative up to (including) the Thursday before, she didn't do one the Friday or Saturday (for whatever reason) then Sunday was three LFT positives and one PCR positive.  She didn't do one on the Monday (she was a bit peeved with the whole situation I think) then Tuesday and Wednesday were both LFT negative.  There's no way she will risk anyone else so she'll do the full iso but we just don't really understand.  Oh, plus we're in Scotland so I don't think our rules have changed so far.

Yes, that's exactly why I posted the list, to shame myself into it.  It really worked though.  I've seen you and others do it so thought I'd try.  Great plan.

astrocytic_kitten

Happy Christmas Eve GAP! Sorry about the disrupted plans, I always think how lovely it is that your family is so close, though I know it makes times like this harder. 

I’ve heard so many combinations of negative / positive LFTs and PCRs nothing surprises me any more. I guess it’s possible a LFT on Friday would have picked it up for the first time…my understanding is you then show positives on the LFT for the next week or so, but maybe if Omicron is a bit milder the highly infectious period with the high viral load is a bit shorter, so by the time of the next test on Tuesday it had dropped below the LFT pick up level? Or if you’re vaxxed that reduces the severity of the infection so the viral load doesn’t stay as high for as long (I am not a doctor and my science degree is over a decade old, this is cod science at its best 😂). I really like this chart though I haven’t been following the science so not sure if it’s still accurate https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/372/bmj.n208/F1.large.jpg