Day 54
What an ending to an otherwise rather normal Friday! It’s Day 54 of our little Covid-19 community blog. It’s also Friday, May 15th. But honestly, it could as well have been Friday the 13th, based on how the day ended.
But from the beginning. As forecasted, the weather was a wash-out today. But it was not bad enough this morning, to keep us from doing our early morning walk with Sam. We had our breakfast and Sam went to Daycare.
I am sure it looked a lot like this (minus the sun) when Henning stopped at the curbside pick-up place of our doggie Daycare. Sam just can’t wait for them to pick him up. He has to come first, always. No idea where he got that spoiled.
Henning picked up our coffee on his way home. I then usually put it in the freezer (remember, I am having an iced coffee and am not crazy) to keep it really cool. It lasts me longer that way.
Meanwhile I got the right inspiration for the missing slides in the presentation I was working on. I spent the morning fine tuning it and sent it off to my VP for his opinion. He loved the slides and even highlighted one he liked the most. I was happy with the outcome too, so that was a good confirmation.
Since there was a break, where it did not pour down, Henning and I decided to make our steps, exercise and move goal. It was still raining but both Henning and I grew up in the North of Germany. We learned from a young age there is no bad weather, just the wrong clothes. See for yourself, we were well(ish) prepared. And of course, no Covidiots anywhere to be found.
No mascara on a Friday with no video calls. Even though looking at the picture, I wish I had put some on. I am not a huge make-up person, but mascara is the only way I am looking like I am actually having eyelids.
While I did the fine tuning of my deck, I also had Live with Kelly & Ryan running in the background. I am a multitasker. But, while by others CAN multitask, I HAVE TO. It has been like this since I went to College. I would learn for my exams and watch my favorite TV shows. And I could tell you both – the stuff I learned as well as what happened in the show. But had I focused on one thing only, I would have gotten bored and either started overthinking (learning) or get annoyed (TV show).
It’s been like that ever since. Hence I am not a huge fan of going to the movies. Multitasking in a movie theater is not really an option. But I digress, again. They had a Psychologist on their show today, that was giving “tips” or rather “strategies” on how to deal with anxiety from Covid-19.
I found some made sense, so I am sharing them with you. I am not feeling anxiety. Maybe I don’t, because I am naturally doing some of the things (or not doing) she recommended:
- Watch the news max. once a day and ideally not first thing in the morning and definitely not last thing in the night
- Don’t play the “what if” game, stick to what you know for a fact instead of running bad case scenarios in your mind
- Remind yourself of the positive things you experienced and will experience again
The New York Times has a new interesting article about countries with female leaders being much better off in this crisis, than countries led by male leaders. Interestingly enough, their interpretation is, that it is not necessarily the female leader that is driving the success due to her leadership style. It’s rather the fact, that a female country leader means, the country is accepting people of diverse backgrounds are able to win a seat at the table. And that this also means, the countries considered information from different sources to inform their Coronavirus policies. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/15/world/coronavirus-women-leaders.html
I personally think, it might be a mix of this and the fact, that women are more likely to be personally invested and care. And from a place of caring, are having the strength to release and execute tough rules. Again, my personaI opinion. Tough love is a token of caring. Check out my post about caring, if you would like to hear more. https://mykindofsuccess.net/dare-to-care/
In other news, Mr. T. might have found THE solution for our pandemic situation in the US. He said, without Coronavirus testing, “We would have very few cases”. Wow, can it really be that simple? Who knew. But of course, let’s stop testing immediately then. So at least on paper we won’t have any more cases. https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2020/05/15/trump-without-doing-covid-19-coronavirus-testing-we-would-have-very-few-cases-here-is-the-reaction/#b47ad80518c8
Is that the reason, that Florida has closed down so many testing sites in our counties lately? I would not be too surprised. Even though common sense (hahah, yes, I know!) would tell you, you should increase testing when you are also opening things back up. Should.
This afternoon, after I had finished my deck, I made a new batch of cookies for Henning. He loves these for our after dinner espresso.
And then it was already time, to leave to pick up Sam. And that’s when the day took an unexpected turn. Henning and I grabbed our masks before we left, as we wanted to stop by Publix to pick up some yoghurts. I am glad we did! Shortly after we left Publix, the car monitor showed a scary message “engine temperature hot”. Henning stopped by the side of the street, turned off the car and turned it back on again. After just a few feet, the message popped up again. So we stopped again and Henning got out of the car to check it out.
He opened the hood and there was some kind of liquid in there and hot liquid was also spattering from the hood and hit his leg. So there was that. We were ~4 miles away from Sam’s Daycare and an hour from their closing time. We called roadside assistance (oh boy, the guy could hardly speak a straight sentence, not so reassuring). The guy set up an assistance request for Henning and told us, on weekends it could take 90 minutes but he could really not tell. Well, again, 4 miles and 1 hour away from Daycare closing.
I texted a friend of ours from the dog park to see if she was available to help pick Sam up and then jumped out of the car, to start my walk to the Daycare. Google maps said it would be approx. 40 minutes walk. It was a rainy day today but I caught the only break there was. Unfortunately it also was super hot and humid. While I was walking, our friend called back and told me she had jumped right into her car and was almost there. So I ended up walking half the way before she caught up to me. I put on my mask and jumped into her car. Sam’s face when we picked him up was so cute. He was so excited to see Maria again and at the same time completely confused about the car, her being there and Daddy not.
Meanwhile the tow truck had arrived and picked up our car. They drove it to the closest dealership. Which happens to be the dealership, we are leasing the car from. Maria, Sam and I picked up Henning and she drove us home.
That much for my nice plan of trying the greek place in Davie to order and pick up pita and falafel. It ended up being pizza. Quick, easy and delicious was exactly what we needed.
The pita place will have to wait until in 2 weeks when we will order food again. The pizza was good. We ordered at Dominos mainly because there you can choose a lighter version by asking for less marinara, less cheese and a lot of veggies. I enjoyed it. I always do. Unfortunately, pizza is a “trigger food”. Back in Germany and even after we moved to the US, a pizza night always also meant an ice cream sundae night. And that would have been an entire pint of Ben & Jerry’s New York fudge ice cream. Per person, that is.
And to this day, when I am having pizza, that’s what my mind is telling me I should have afterwards. Good thing we don’t have anything like that in the house and I can stop before I am starting to make one myself. Note to self, you usually do not gain the weight from a few slices of pizza every now and then (unless now and then it’s happening every week). What you eat afterwards, is what matters.
We should find out more about the car and any potential costs tomorrow. Hopefully we will get a loaner, if this takes longer. We do have 2 cars, but Sam does not fit super well in my Mini. Keep your fingers crossed, please.
Not exactly, how I had the dinner planned. Sam did not mind. He was just a little grumpy about the late dinner. But I made it up to him, with a very special treat. He was very happy about that. It literally started pouring down again, right after we got inside. So there was no walk after dinner, but Sam was so tired, he went straight to bed anyways. He did not even show up, for his espresso treat. Typical evening after Daycare for Sam, for sure.
That is, how the little monkey is sleeping, when he is really tired. Legs crossed and his head almost hanging down from the bed. Usually I would go there and put his little head a little further up, so he does not have too much blood flow into his head and get dizzy. Yes, that’s what pup mommys do.
The forecast has another high chance of rain for tomorrow, but at least Sunday is supposed to be nice. We will make the best of it, as we always do. Just watching a TV show (multitasking, remember?) where they are featuring LA. It’s a longing place for us. So many great memories from beautiful vacations. I know the real life is not like a vacation and things would be different, would we live and have to work there. But I would still love to visit for vacation again soon. But I would want to bring Sam and that’s super difficult. If not impossible. We might have to do a road trip there. It’s a 1 day and 14 hours trip. Without puppy breaks, of course. Maybe we will still do it one day. I would prefer the car over a flight right now anyways. Once it is repaired, of course!
Time for Sam’s last round with his Daddy and then it’s bedtime. See you tomorrow? I’ll be here!
Keep your distance, wear your mask (and have one with you, in case you need it unexpectedly), stay healthy and take care!
Hugs,
Nannette
