NST March 2020 Merriment

dolly84

f0xh0les said:

Part of me is like, !!!!!!?? the other half is rolling around on the floor dying from laughter.  There are an awful lot of people who have entirely lost the plot.  It is utterly bizarre, and there is no emoji to convey this amount of w-t-f'edness.  When I tell my fellow volunteers on Monday (they are all well over 60 and some into their 70's) they are going to find all this utterly hilarious.

The response to this is mind boggling.  I could understand it if healthy people caught it and died or needed hospitalisation, we wouldn't be able to cope with that but this is not like that at all, I am mostly worried about the economic effect which will take many years to recover from, peoples livelihoods are all ready being threatend over a cold.  I'm always saying we wouldn't be able to cope if another WWII situation rolled around, too many people have had it way too easy their whole lives, the governments are too weak and wouldn't be able to make tough decisions, too many people are unbelievably selfish and everyone is scared to death in this world of blame.

We are going out today to visit our favourite town, it flooded recently, the media have conveniently forgotton that so many people were already struggling with that situation.

f0xh0les

The 2 smallest foxcubs have woken up with horrid coughs, so that is 3 out of 4 with coughs that start in their boots - no temperatures though.  Will ring the school for advice before taking them in (or not) on Monday.  They are understandably delighted  (10 and 12 year old boys - what can I say).  It is no hardship to keep them at home as they are my 'job' and dh is home anyway as the uni  cancelled all lectures and seminars late on Friday, and he is getting over his own cough (3 weeks and counting).  DS3 has just come down to make DS4  'a nice cup of tea to make him feel better' and they are playing some beepy game happily together upstairs and laughing like drains. 

Looks like I will be the designated person leaving the house! 

Aldi have put out a bookface post saying most stores have run out of loo roll, but as there are deliveries every day, panic-ye-not, they will have more tomorrow.   Good job toilet roll does not have a use by date.

mothernerd

Day 15

Never accept criticism from someone you wouldn't go to for advice

Happiness is always knocking on your door, you just have to let it in

Use your voice for kindness, your ears for compassion, your hands for charity, your mind for truth and your heart for love

You are going to carry this illness for the rest of your life. So you can either wallow in the weight of that or you can fight for your only life and make it a good story

Life isn't fair.

No matter what life throws your way, no matter how unfair it may seem, refuse to play the victim. refuse to be rules by fear, pessimism and negativity. Refuse to quit

Be a warrior and work through your life with courage, love and positivity and continually push forward

Because you are a survivor or the unfairness of life.You are stronger than you think and you are capable of achieving  far more than you believe

What's my type? Someone who's supportive. Someone who's warm. Someone I can just curl up and relax with. Wait, I'm describing my bed again.

Day 15 Mental Wellness

Take a social media break for the day and focus on what is around you.

greent

Been AWOL Thank you for my bday greetings - and belated ones to dolly (and mothernerd's DS?)

Have been invigilating Y13's this week - lots of (as per usual) snotty students. What will be will be, I guess - but agree that this is economically a nightmare - so many people will end up with jobs lost/ businesses lost/ reduced incomes (eg: pension funds) ANd the impact it will have on mental health (from lack of money/ anxiety/ solitude etc) will be huge - and (sadly, I suspect) possibly not recognised. 

Can't believe how much has changed in a week - was my bday only 9 days ago, when I got tickets to NY for Easter - well that's not happening (and I'm not sure our Summer plans will be) but that is why we take travel insurance, right? (although ours won't cover everything for the Summer - 7 people means the total limit of payout for the plan is easily exceeded very quickly...) I'm more concerned for my 2 at uni - DS1's uni have cancelled face to face lectures and seminars wef Mon 23rd (why not now...?) and DD has had work cancelled (too quiet) so we may have to top her money up (not an issue) but she is freaked about the possibility of her lectures being cancelled - tomorrow is the start of week 8 - she hasn't had a lecture since week 3 because of the strikes and that has affected her mental state enough before anything else


All seems to be BAU at both schools I work at - other than the occasional tub of hand sanitiser about (and I mean occasional - none in the exam rooms where we were contained for more than 4 hours at a time..... but there was one at the teachers' coffee station in the entrance hall) I feel for Y11/ Y13 students - this uncertainty is doing some of them no favours from a MH pov

Anyway, aside from that, I've had several NSDs this week (work tends to have that effect!) and another today. I'm not panic buying, but I have taken my food levels back up to where they usually are just before the panic hit (I had been intentionally running things right down) and this weekend made sure we have sufficient in for DS2 for main meals ( ARFID tendencies after a lot of illnesses when small when he'd then cut out foods he'd been enjoying before he was ill, so has a self imposed restricted diet, which can cause issues - we seriously celebrate every tiny new 'victory' of him trying a food, let alone then finding one he'll eat again) DS3 is easier - assuming we have pasta around - although we had the equivalent of less than a 500g pack, so I did buy 2 x cheap packs from Tesc0 yesterday (not a fan, but needs must) - but as I usually buy 2 x 3kg bags at a time...I did not feel guilt at buying 1kg in total! Other than that, I don't think we have sought anything out. I wouldn't know where to find the hand sanitiser in my local Tesc0/ Sainz, even if they had any!

Grateful for: travel insurance, any financial hit we end up with not meaning we will be on the breadline, my family (and friends) being well, some extra hours at work last week and this coming week, Spring flowers, fruit tree blossom (so pretty and fragile). I'm even glad in a way that my Nan died back in Jan - the home where she lived is shut to visitors (totally understandably - they need to protect the residents and staff) and she would hate not having visitors plus if she'd had her fall and hip fracture now the hospital is shut to visitors - no chance for people to say their goodbyes and the funeral would have been a very quiet affair. As it is, the plans to scatter her ashes this month for what would have been her 90th bday have been shelved - that can happen when this is over

I think we will all be affected in some way - these are 'interesting' times... xx

abundant1972

Good afternoon/evening... (when does it become evening haha?)

Had a nice weekend with the folks and was business as usual. I'm having a quiet night in for the rest of today. 

Today I am grateful for:

1) The laughs I have had with my Mum and Dad
2) Coming home to my little flat
3) The people who feature in  our lives each weekend... the people in the pub, the coffee shop, in the supermarket... we don't know them by name but they make up our day out and I am grateful for their kindness

Nighty night folks! Catch you tomorrow... x

crazy_cat_lady

Hello  
Apologies I've been gone for so long - my mental health took a real nosedive a couple of weeks ago and I'm struggling to keep going with just day to day life at the moment. I haven't been online much at all. I finally managed to get a phone appointment with my doctor to go back onto my medication and I started back with that on Friday night. All anxiety related, but the knock on effects of no sleep and my finances being absolutely dire mean that I seem to be in a bit of a downward spiral at the moment.
I am not a panicker about Covid 19 by any stretch but the whole media frenzy and resulting human behaviour is making me feel very bad mentally. I am a scientist and therefore completely ok with the idea of getting sick - I'm fortunate that me and the kids are normally healthy. I'm ok with taking extra precautions to protect the elderly and vulnerable. I'm not ok with the massive levels of uncertainty that are going on and this mad panic of clearing out toilet roll from every place that it's sold. I mean why? I did my shopping as normal last Monday, and then today needed cereal and milk. I hope I never have to see the mad panic that I saw at the shops today ever again. It was worse than Christmas, and a far cry from the whole 'Be Kind' thing a couple of weeks ago. People fighting over car park spaces, emptying loads of stuff into trolleys, the toilet roll aisles being sectioned off. I ended up in a very small shop watching people queueing out of the door for stuff. Got my cereal and milk but it was a mighty unpleasant experience. I know I'm not in a great place mentally anyway, but this really isn't helping.
Work goes on so far for me, and I know that if (when) schools close I am lucky in that I will get paid and my kids will be looked after. However, I am fretting about longer term impact on exams for kids, businesses and the economy and even as far away as going on holiday in the summer.
Anyway, on the plus side - I am as prepared as I need to be for whatever is coming in terms of being able to feed and care for me, the kids and the cats. I also popped round to my neighbours this morning to let them know that they just needed to ring me if they needed anything at all - they are in their 80's and I am already worried about them.

BadBookkeeper

It all feels so unreal at the moment.  My DH did our normal food shop this morning he had to go to 3 seperate shops to get what we needed and overspent by £15 but we have what we need until next week.  We haven’t over bought ( I hope we don’t regret this).
He also went to local retail park to buy new school shoes for DS (£40)!! as his had a broken bit that was digging in to the back of his foot.  Instead of us all going DH went and bought exactly the same shoes 1/2 size bigger to try to last!!  He said it was like a ghost town.
My job will suffer I work for a travel company and most of our clients are 70+.
DH knocked next door, we have an elderly neighbour and he wanted to offer to get shopping but she wouldn’t open the door.  
Today was a weird day a bit like a snow day without the fun bit.  I’ve noticed within my group of friends how different our opinions and situations are so there isn’t a ‘1 thing suits all’ solution.  

I did the pepper in water experiment with DS to show the importance of using soap and washing his hands he thought it was great and now understands why he needs to use soap!!
We just feel a bit in limbo!! 
NSD - still 6/15
Gratitudes - Just glad we are ok, a nice roast dinner, left over wine.
Exercise - I just can’t be bothered tonight.  

Keep well all x

f0xh0les

Today was NSD 9

I was going to go out, but after the reports of the coronapocalyse out there, I decided I was fine until tomorrow when they all go back to work, the aisles are restocked, and a bit of sanity returns. 

apple_muncher

Today I am grateful for a good night's sleep, for a fully functioning washing machine, for seeing 2 parakeets picking away at the cherry blossom near the house, for a really good gym session, for dd enjoying the extra dance rehearsal, for a catch-up with some friends, for a pair of scissors helping my needlefelted dinosaur to look more dinosaur-y and less sausage-dog-y!

mothernerd

Internet cut out and my post got lost. Not done a lot except make lists of what I need to take to mum's in preparation for over 70s and those with 'pre-existing' conditions being sent into self-isolation before the end of the week. It's mostly 'small' stuff but sewing alone is 3 -4 bags for life and need approx 40 books for starters.

Today I am grateful for a logical mind, having had such an up and down life that I can deal with any crisis calmly and food - hm mostly.