Week 1.
I wondered how much weirder things could get as I rinsed my mini-peppers in the washing machine fill steam. My neighbors may wonder the same thing when they see me cooking on my camp stove on the back patio. Only time will tell I thought.
I could hear coughing in the other rooms inside the house, from my makeshift studio apartment in my garage, making me cringe but also I was feeling relieved that I chose to move out of the main house. No one was actually sick in the house, but the anxiety and stress and washing my hands after touching any of the shared things or being in the shared spaces had taken a slight toll on my nerves and my hands. Moving out to socially distance myself from my *roommate seemed like my best bet at a little relief.
After two weeks of using a cooler for my food, and using the toilet in the little RV named **June In the day, and a kitty litter bucket to pee in at night, I finally had a little fridge on the back patio and a composting toilet in the garage. I’ve never had an en-suite bathroom before. Haha The precious day, I had found out the hard way, how to tell if the black water tank in a 30+ year old RV was full since the gauges dont work. As I started to flush, I noticed some interestingly colored liquid began to seep from below up into the shower drain. Shit! I yelled, figuratively and literally. I know you aren’t thinking “TMI” - I mean at this point in our relationship you should know there is no such thing for me. ;)
Thankfully, Charlie came to the rescue. He helped me find and take the RV to a place to dump the tank and brought me the fridge and composting toilet. This was all done with Charlie masked and us 6’+ away from each other. I sat in the back of the RV on the way to the dumping station. Getting an RV pumped out at your house is $180 btw. Driving 14 miles to a rest area in Washington was free, except for the 2 gallons of gas to get there and back.
As I sat at my sewing machine making masks the last couple of weeks, I wondered what people will use to put in the pocket for added filtering material. I also pondered what friends to give what fabric to and if I had any fabric appropriate for a “man” and decided it didn’t matter. I thought if made them too slow and the virus disappeared overnight what fun gifts I’d have for ***Burning Man. Although, I did question the usefulness of these cotton masks in a whiteout dust storm on playa. Which in turn made me question the usefulness of these against the virus. If nothing else, I read, if an asymptotic person was using one it might prevent the spread. Something is better than nothing I hoped.
In the last week and a half I’ve also been obsessing about picking up groceries or getting them delivered. Checking delivery times and pickup dates at multiple stores, using multiple apps. My screen time is up that’s for sure. I now have a few dates scheduled in advance and feel pretty good about this. Mind you, I don’t actually need anything from the store. I had accidentally stockpiled almost 30 boxes of high protein pasta because I shop at grocery outlet and when they have things I use and like, I buy it while they are there. But I also want to insure that other people who are part of my close community here don’t have to go. Maybe it’s just my way of feeling like I have control over something? Or that I can provide a service to someone else in a stressful time.
I’ve been busy since my last day of work on March 11th. I was working on June the little RV, nonstop from morning til night, until I started making masks around April 3rd. This has been a very time consuming project. Washing, ironing fabric, and hours of research trying to find a pattern that seemed good, cutting and slicing wide elastic into narrow elastic. The pattern I chose is slightly complicated with many steps. I may switch to a more simple pattern. I may need to finish up the ones I have started and take a day off or two to work on other projects. BUT please if you need a mask or want a mask text me! I’m happy to give you one! Or two!
Living in the garage and using the washing machine for multiple things, from hand washing and rinsing vegetables, to a counter top and ironing board, caused me remember something I use to do. As a child and young adult when I used the bathroom, in other peoples homes, I would sit there and imagine what it would be like to have to live in said bathroom. I’m not sure why but it was always a thought. How would it be? Was it a pleasant bathroom? Spacious? Was there enough toilet paper stored in the cabinet? Would I sleep on the floor or in the tub? Were there towels in the bathroom for blankets? What if I couldn’t flush the toilet anymore would I use the sink or the tub as my toilet? I would also see what else people had in their medicine cabinets or under the sink. But dont worry, I no longer snoop in peoples bathrooms!
So now I’m curious, if you had to choose one room in your house to live in which would it be and why? I deleted my answer as I don’t want to influence yours!
*My current roommate had been going out almost every night before things started shutting down, said roomie also has shared custody of a 5.5 year old who comes to stay every other weekend and sees the roommate every Wednesday afternoon. The child had been in daycare and the other parent and housing situation was an unknown to me. So I chose social distancing from my own home in the hopes I would still be able to see my boyfriend, who is high risk with asthma or my mom who of course is slightly older. I also didn’t want to be the cause of my roommate getting sick and either spreading it to another household or not being able to see the child. Seeing my loved ones is not really an option as it turns out.
**June is a 1988 Toyota Sunrader Motorhome that Charlie bought for us in December. We were suppose to go halfsies but I didn’t have my half as I hadn’t sold my van yet. It’s parked at my house and I’m renovating it a bit!
***Burning Man 2020 has been canceled since I started writing this a few days ago.
Last but certainly not least!!! How are you holding up? What’s been your biggest challenge for you? Tell me how things are where you are in the world! Have you written things down or kept a journal of events and timelines for things? What’s been your favorite thing to cook during recent times? Mine is fried plantains!
Sending 20+ second hugs to you all!
XO,
Serena
I wondered how much weirder things could get as I rinsed my mini-peppers in the washing machine fill steam. My neighbors may wonder the same thing when they see me cooking on my camp stove on the back patio. Only time will tell I thought.
I could hear coughing in the other rooms inside the house, from my makeshift studio apartment in my garage, making me cringe but also I was feeling relieved that I chose to move out of the main house. No one was actually sick in the house, but the anxiety and stress and washing my hands after touching any of the shared things or being in the shared spaces had taken a slight toll on my nerves and my hands. Moving out to socially distance myself from my *roommate seemed like my best bet at a little relief.
After two weeks of using a cooler for my food, and using the toilet in the little RV named **June In the day, and a kitty litter bucket to pee in at night, I finally had a little fridge on the back patio and a composting toilet in the garage. I’ve never had an en-suite bathroom before. Haha The precious day, I had found out the hard way, how to tell if the black water tank in a 30+ year old RV was full since the gauges dont work. As I started to flush, I noticed some interestingly colored liquid began to seep from below up into the shower drain. Shit! I yelled, figuratively and literally. I know you aren’t thinking “TMI” - I mean at this point in our relationship you should know there is no such thing for me. ;)
Thankfully, Charlie came to the rescue. He helped me find and take the RV to a place to dump the tank and brought me the fridge and composting toilet. This was all done with Charlie masked and us 6’+ away from each other. I sat in the back of the RV on the way to the dumping station. Getting an RV pumped out at your house is $180 btw. Driving 14 miles to a rest area in Washington was free, except for the 2 gallons of gas to get there and back.
As I sat at my sewing machine making masks the last couple of weeks, I wondered what people will use to put in the pocket for added filtering material. I also pondered what friends to give what fabric to and if I had any fabric appropriate for a “man” and decided it didn’t matter. I thought if made them too slow and the virus disappeared overnight what fun gifts I’d have for ***Burning Man. Although, I did question the usefulness of these cotton masks in a whiteout dust storm on playa. Which in turn made me question the usefulness of these against the virus. If nothing else, I read, if an asymptotic person was using one it might prevent the spread. Something is better than nothing I hoped.
In the last week and a half I’ve also been obsessing about picking up groceries or getting them delivered. Checking delivery times and pickup dates at multiple stores, using multiple apps. My screen time is up that’s for sure. I now have a few dates scheduled in advance and feel pretty good about this. Mind you, I don’t actually need anything from the store. I had accidentally stockpiled almost 30 boxes of high protein pasta because I shop at grocery outlet and when they have things I use and like, I buy it while they are there. But I also want to insure that other people who are part of my close community here don’t have to go. Maybe it’s just my way of feeling like I have control over something? Or that I can provide a service to someone else in a stressful time.
I’ve been busy since my last day of work on March 11th. I was working on June the little RV, nonstop from morning til night, until I started making masks around April 3rd. This has been a very time consuming project. Washing, ironing fabric, and hours of research trying to find a pattern that seemed good, cutting and slicing wide elastic into narrow elastic. The pattern I chose is slightly complicated with many steps. I may switch to a more simple pattern. I may need to finish up the ones I have started and take a day off or two to work on other projects. BUT please if you need a mask or want a mask text me! I’m happy to give you one! Or two!
Living in the garage and using the washing machine for multiple things, from hand washing and rinsing vegetables, to a counter top and ironing board, caused me remember something I use to do. As a child and young adult when I used the bathroom, in other peoples homes, I would sit there and imagine what it would be like to have to live in said bathroom. I’m not sure why but it was always a thought. How would it be? Was it a pleasant bathroom? Spacious? Was there enough toilet paper stored in the cabinet? Would I sleep on the floor or in the tub? Were there towels in the bathroom for blankets? What if I couldn’t flush the toilet anymore would I use the sink or the tub as my toilet? I would also see what else people had in their medicine cabinets or under the sink. But dont worry, I no longer snoop in peoples bathrooms!
So now I’m curious, if you had to choose one room in your house to live in which would it be and why? I deleted my answer as I don’t want to influence yours!
*My current roommate had been going out almost every night before things started shutting down, said roomie also has shared custody of a 5.5 year old who comes to stay every other weekend and sees the roommate every Wednesday afternoon. The child had been in daycare and the other parent and housing situation was an unknown to me. So I chose social distancing from my own home in the hopes I would still be able to see my boyfriend, who is high risk with asthma or my mom who of course is slightly older. I also didn’t want to be the cause of my roommate getting sick and either spreading it to another household or not being able to see the child. Seeing my loved ones is not really an option as it turns out.
**June is a 1988 Toyota Sunrader Motorhome that Charlie bought for us in December. We were suppose to go halfsies but I didn’t have my half as I hadn’t sold my van yet. It’s parked at my house and I’m renovating it a bit!
***Burning Man 2020 has been canceled since I started writing this a few days ago.
Last but certainly not least!!! How are you holding up? What’s been your biggest challenge for you? Tell me how things are where you are in the world! Have you written things down or kept a journal of events and timelines for things? What’s been your favorite thing to cook during recent times? Mine is fried plantains!
Sending 20+ second hugs to you all!
XO,
Serena
Comments
Post a Comment