Groceries!

I did it!  I had an online pick up order from Walmart on Monday. Originally the website said the soonest time slot they had was April 7 but apparently they had a cancellation. The first thing I did before going to pick up my groceries was set up a cleaning station in the garage.  I had watched a video with a family practice doctor and he showed how to clean your groceries. He recommended dividing your kitchen island in two, but I just used this table.

The video I watched was on YouTube. If you type in “How to safely grocery shop during coronavirus” by Now This News, it should come up for you. I think he explained his reasons for how he cleaned the groceries very well.  He also explained how putting things into the freezer would not kill the virus. He said coronaviruses have been proven to able to survive in freezing temperatures for two years!  One thing he recommends is to take things out of their outer packaging if possible. Things like cereal that has an inside packaging. The inside package would be virus free and throw away the outer cardboard or plastic packaging.  I did this with the Texas toast and the pop-tarts that I purchased.

 
I had never used Walmart pick up before, but it was super easy. They sent me an email telling me when it was ready to be picked up. I just parked in one of the pick up slots and texted them which space I was in and the color of my car. They brought the groceries out and loaded them and even signed for me. I didn’t have to touch anything.

I brought everything home and unloaded the car and put it all on the floor. Then I washed my hands and started cleaning. I washed my hands four times in about 20 minutes.  I think I’m getting paranoid, but our case numbers just keep going up here in Washington.  Unfortunately, I think that’s happening all over the world.

This is the stash of groceries after I disinfected everything. Yes, there are two bags of chips. My husband requested them and they will probably last us about two months. We don’t eat many chips, but I don’t want to have to go back to the store. The one thing I forgot to get was bananas. There are some fresh vegetables, bread and eggs behind that pile of frozen vegetables. And yes, those are pop-tarts in the dish in the front.  I haven’t bought pop-tarts in quite a while now, but I love them and they are comfort food to me. I need comfort food once in a while during these strange days. I offer no apologies! Ha!  I didn’t have to get very many things as I stocked up pretty well months ago. I actually started out just ordering the frozen vegetables, chicken broth, bread and eggs and everything else sort of jumped into my virtual cart.  Dennis takes the frozen burritos to work for his lunch.  He loves them.  I can’t stand them.  :-). They actually had everything I ordered and they only substituted one item. I had ordered Great Value frozen pie crust for chicken pot pies and they substituted Pillsbury crust for the same price. I consider that a win!

Now, onto the Knitting. I finished four more pair of mittens. That brings me up to the end of April for my weekly quotas. I like being ahead of schedule for a change.

I ended up having to frog these socks all the way back to the cuff.  I had set them aside for so long that when I started knitting again I messed up the lattice work on the sides. I am now about back to the same spot once again.  I’m using Dee’s Dublin Bay Socks pattern. It’s really not difficult, it was completely a user error on my part.  In the past I would have called it a blonde moment, but I have more gray than blonde these days. :-)

I’ve done just a bit more on my sock yarn blanket.

This is what I played with Saturday and Sunday. I made a whole flock of peeps! Is that what they’re called? A flock? Anyway, I posted a picture of the ones I made for Piper on Facebook and several people wrote to me asking if I could make some for their grandchildren. They certainly are fun, and addictive too.

I hope you are all weathering the storms of this plague that is sweeping around the world in relatively good spirits. We mustn’t give up. Hang in there my friends. I’m thinking of you all and keeping you in my prayers daily.  Dennis is continuing to go to work every day. They have started a mandatory taking of temperatures when they walk in the building and again at noon. There is one employee that is responsible for reporting everything to the corporate office every day.  Our governor is talking about making even stricter rules about lockdown in our state.  I have certainly found myself wishing frequently that we had retired and moved closer to family already. I really hate being here alone during this time.

Our middle child, Jamie,  lives in Montana and this was posted on our family WeChat conversation this weekend. It certainly made us laugh and it is so true!

Our church secretary has been emailing encouragement to everyone in the congregation each day. This is what she sent today.

Wishing you all safety and good health. (Oh, and the icing on the cake for me? It’s supposed to snow again tonight.) Yuck!

Blessings,

Betsy