Coping Strategies for Dealing with COVID-19

[TeaGrannie]

So thanks to poor leadership and people not following the health “requests” we are now on a more strict lockdown. Doctors and other professionals have been begging for a lockdown for about 6 weeks. So they eliminated indoor gatherings in your home and made it so you could only eat out with members of your household. Cancellation of all sports and moved older students back to virtual learning. Numbers have continued to rise alarmingly and we are locked down for the holidays. No indoor or outdoor gatherings but somehow you can go ice skating at rinks outdoors with strangers or go to church? No haircuts, nails, massages or tattoos despite no cases traced to those services. Stores at 15% capacity....because winter in Alberta is a great time for outdoor lines...luckily it’s been mild so far. Fines are $1,000 per person if you break the gathering restrictions. 
 

So despite my family’s diligence in following the rules we now miss our grandson’s first Christmas. Currently both disappointed and angry at the situation and our premier who waited too long to act. 
 

Any tips on making the occasion special? Obviously families have lost more but you can’t replace firsts. So far we’ve had 9 pandemic birthdays in our family, including two milestone ones. Getting frustrated and now we celebrate an anniversary and the holidays under lockdown. Could use some wisdom and words of encouragement. 

[Dandruff]

1 hour ago, TeaGrannie said:

Fines are $1,000 per person if you break the gathering restrictions.

I wish there'd institute similar fines in my area but would be amazed if it happened.  Mandates without enforcement have been convincingly not working, which only leads (so far) to stricter mandates without enforcement.  Really messed up.

1 hour ago, TeaGrannie said:

Could use some wisdom and words of encouragement.

Don't think I'd call this wisdom, but I suspect holidays together in the future will seem much more special after the time spent apart.

[TeaGrannie]

A girl I work with said her parents and another couple broke the dining together directive......$4,000 in fines. Our mandates are so messed up. You can sit at a table with friends but you can attend a large protest, block roads and break traffic laws and barely a fine issued and those weren’t for breaking the public health bylaws

[Ozlsn]

We have had all our family birthdays this year via Zoom - nothing as special as a first birthday though. We all had cake at our respective houses, the birthday person blew out candles (frequently multiple times) and we sang happy birthday (Pro tip - mute all but one household, singing via zoom is terrible but hilarious). 

If you can drop off presents and watch them being opened, even if via zoom, or drop off a birthday cake (or cake pieces) that might help. 

It really sucks not being able to get together, and more so when you've been doing the right thing and others... haven't.  I hope that by the time the nearly 1yo is 18mo you'll be able to have a 1 and a half birthday all together at a park or house. 

[Smash!]

I’m feeling helpless. We have horrible numbers (I know the US is worse tough), the 3rd wave has likely arrived on top already high numbers and it’s not even christmas yet. The head of the health department who is supposed to lead us through this crisis is absolutely ruling another lockdown out, even tough the task force has been warning for months that the measures taken are not enough. Every country around us is shutting down to various degrees but here... nothing. Chief physicians of big hospitals have warned that they already have to move all surgeries that are non essential, that the covid units are nearly full. I’m speechless, I’m angry, I don’t have much energy left because it is becoming increasingly hard to protect myself.
On top of that, my dad is denying the severity of the situation and is resisting all logical arguments. He doesn’t understand that if the government doesn’t protect us, we have to protect ourselves because he would have to limit himself even more and he doesn’t want that. If he lived alone, I could say it’s his life, he can do with it what he wants. But my mum is very high risk with a weak immune system. Whatever he does affects her, even if she doesn’t leave the house. I’m very worried.

Thanks for listening to my rant.

[CTRLZero]

I’ve mentioned before that keeping my pantry stocked is key to maintaining a sense of well being for me.  For fun, here are some items that I probably would not have had in my pantry except for a long-term pandemic situation.  
 

Spoiler

The “milk” items have worked out well since we only hit the grocery store every three weeks.  We eat way too many Twizzlers; this is probably our fourth bucket.  No idea why I needed so many green olives!  Has anyone else added interesting items to your apocalypse pantry? Maybe you’ll give me some new ideas. 

[clueliss]

I wound up with peanut butter/cheese crackers and my stash.  And as a compulsive eater, when I redound these, I needed them to leave.  So I took them and some other items to a local blessing box for people who need help.  
 

Totally get needing a stocked pantry. I’m that way in general and especially in winter.  Covid has added to that need.  But I am looking forward to that future point where I can consume some of the stash and get down to a normal level without concern of being in quarantine for two weeks.

[Dandruff]

I found/bought some condensed milk and cartons of non-condensed shelf-stable milk, as well as some oat milk.

Also put together a large-ish bin of canned fruits, vegetables, and beans, though I tended to avoid most canned foods before.

Extra rice products, cooking oil, and dried beans/peas.

[Audrey2]

I thought I was okay on my covid pantry but early on I discovered that I was almost out of rice when making rice bowls. I was able to buy more rice but 20 lb of it! That should last me for a really long time but that was the only size available.

[FiveAcres]

8 hours ago, Audrey2 said:

I thought I was okay on my covid pantry but early on I discovered that I was almost out of rice when making rice bowls. I was able to buy more rice but 20 lb of it! That should last me for a really long time but that was the only size available.

We used to buy Jasmine rice in 20 lb bags. Since we had a bit of a problem with vermin in our last house, we would store the rice in an old plastic cooler so it would be safe. I also used to keep microwave ovens that were no longer functional as vermin proof storage. 

[church_of_dog]

I'm a household of one and I buy staples such as dried beans and rolled oats in 25-lb bags.  Would include rice too but I don't really eat rice.  I do have a 4-lb bag of jasmine rice in my quarantine stash just in case.

I store this stuff in 5-gallon buckets with a twist-on gamma-seal lid that makes it airtight.  I use those for cat food as well.

[CTRLZero]

8 minutes ago, church_of_dog said:

I store this stuff in 5-gallon buckets with a twist-on gamma-seal lid that makes it airtight.  I use those for cat food as well.

This is a good idea.  I went a wee bit overboard and have a 16-pound bag of cat food, which is a little awkward to manage.  I’ll look into airtight buckets and downsize it into smaller containers.  

[church_of_dog]

1 minute ago, CTRLZero said:

This is a good idea.  I went a wee bit overboard and have a 16-pound bag of cat food, which is a little awkward to manage.  I’ll look into airtight buckets and downsize it into smaller containers.  

I buy the 16-lb bags of cat food as well.  Multiples at a time even, since I don't get to the town where I buy them all that often, especially now with covid.  Of course with three cats a bag like that might only last me a month or so.

Kibble from one 16-lb bag fits inside one 5-gallon bucket.  I only open one bag at a time.  The unopened kibble stays airtight (at least as far as I can tell) in their bags until I open them.  Even for a few months.

I buy giant bags of cat litter too and store them the same way, though that's for ease of use rather than potential spoilage.  For both kibble and litter, I keep an empty soup can in the bucket to use as a scoop so I don't have to manhandle the bucket.

Merry Christmas!

[Ozlsn]

Hope everyone's going OK. This was posted in a FB group I'm in, and it's so sweet (and amusing).

Next family zoom is totally going to include a dance off.

[Ozlsn]

Just going to say that this is a novel way of coping with lock down but it made me laugh... also they are talented.

 

[Botkinetti]

That was fantastic. I particularly loved the interpretive angst dance.

[Ozlsn]

7 hours ago, Botkinetti said:

That was fantastic. I particularly loved the interpretive angst dance.

I think I may have to adopt it at work, I laughed out loud.

[Topaz]

I don’t know how to get videos to embed, but if anyone hasn’t seen that family’s One Day More from one of the earlier lockdowns then look it up on YouTube, it’s excellent.

[NotQuiteMotY]

Am I the only one who's getting "pandemic brain"? 

I'm noticing more and more instances of worrying a lot over nothing, not registering or following up on something I should have, getting distracted easily, and so on. I'm starting to feel like I'm losing my mind! 

[CTRLZero]

3 hours ago, NotQuiteMotY said:

Am I the only one who's getting "pandemic brain"? 

Oh, no, I feel like screaming on a regular basis lately.  I am doing my best to stay upbeat,  but it's been a full year at home now with no real breaks.  My coping strategy lately is reminding myself that help (the vaccine) is on the way and normalcy will return at some point. (Ms. Optimistic,  here.) FJ really has helped along the way.  

[clueliss]

I can't comment on pandemic brain because my brain was like that BEFORE the world went sideways.

By the way - last week - sub-zero temps and snow in Missouri.

This week - I had windows open (at least a bit on both days) Tuesday and Wednesday.  However, this means I'm back to my outside walking which I discovered in pandemic world is a means of calming my brain, anxiety and stupid depression.  I'm taking advantage because winter is not over yet, this is Missouri and oh, yeah, spring rain and mud season is coming.

[Smash!]

 I recently discovered it’s okay to grieve about the plans I had that didn’t happen because of the pandemic. To grieve the old life. It has brought me some peace about 2020, a year that I considered a wasted one.

[NotQuiteMotY]

13 hours ago, CTRLZero said:

Oh, no, I feel like screaming on a regular basis lately.  I am doing my best to stay upbeat,  but it's been a full year at home now with no real breaks.  My coping strategy lately is reminding myself that help (the vaccine) is on the way and normalcy will return at some point. (Ms. Optimistic,  here.) FJ really has helped along the way.  

Good to know I'm not the only one... I thought I was doing all right for a long time and I feel like I'm losing it just on the cusp of normalcy again. (Fortunately, Mr. NQ is ready to remind me that I'm under stress right now and I've been holding it together fairly well for months. I appreciate it even if he's lying to me.) I guess a full year is just a little too long? March 1st last year I came down with a nasty cold and I felt healthy again in just enough time for my governor to order a lockdown. It's been a while.

[Mama Mia]

19 hours ago, NotQuiteMotY said:

Good to know I'm not the only one... I thought I was doing all right for a long time and I feel like I'm losing it just on the cusp of normalcy again. (Fortunately, Mr. NQ is ready to remind me that I'm under stress right now and I've been holding it together fairly well for months. I appreciate it even if he's lying to me.) I guess a full year is just a little too long? March 1st last year I came down with a nasty cold and I felt healthy again in just enough time for my governor to order a lockdown. It's been a while.

Really, really feeling this right now. It’s just been such a long time. And coming up on the second set of holidays that won’t be normal - Easter is BIG for my family - it’s just too much. Too long. I’m the primary caregiver and school wrangler for two of my grandkids while their mom works (and does on-line college - she’s losing her mind too, of course) 

Their school district will be phasing in 1.5 hours, two days a week, as an optional “bonus” to the regular distance learning and expectations, just for the littlest kids, starting in the middle of April - How is that going to work??? With masks, partitions, wellness checks etc etc etc for an hour and a half? And ONLY up through 3rd grade at this point! I’m disabled, do I Uber the kid there and leave his 6th grade sister crying at home because of all the things she’s missing (her main mode currently) When really, it sounds pretty damn isolating and awful anyway. I think it’s just to check on the littles and see how feral they’ve gotten and what nightmare they’ll be facing in the fall. answer: very! extremely fucking feral and anti-social. Ok? 

I know we need to be careful, safety, etc. blah blah blah - but it feels like any public discussion is so extreme one way or another and you can’t say you fear for kids mental stability without it being taken as you want every single restriction lifted and to go raiding supermarkets maskless. 
 

arrrggghhh . Just needed to vent. 

[clueliss]

Rachel Maddow talked about this guy last night.  He popped onto my twitter feed this morning in a retweet.  So, yes, I'm now following him. 

a bit of happy.