I'm quite sure I'm the oddity here -- my day to day life hasn't changed hardly at all over the past two or three months. I've switched from mostly working on jewelry to mostly working on masks, but that's about the only change. I'm pretty much a hermit, going out to interact with other humans only when necessary, and that's usually at the grocery store or other necessary outlet (post office, dog food, vet, etc.).

As a result of my hermitage, I tend to keep the larder well stocked, so I experienced no panic buying. And not being much of a baker anyway, I felt no urge to indulge in random acts of cookery. Except. . . . .

I stumbled upon a recipe for pork carnitas that I thought I'd try. I've never had luck making them; they always taste bland and uninteresting. But this recipe looked different, so I went out this morning and bought the necessary items. It's simmering now. We'll see what happens.

Reply to post #43 (show post):
Pork carnitas? Is there a drive-thru window at your place?

Reply to post #44 (show post):
We have to wait and see if they turn out any good. I'll let you know.

I took the foot off the pedal on daughter's amount of work and just did the barest minimum. Son was given his video game playing privileges back, with the caveat that certain games were not to be played because they cause him to tantrum. I had my first Zoom meeting with my GS Daisy troop and it went well - we all dressed in superhero costumes and learned how to be courageous and strong. Their assignment for the week was to contribute three songs to our troop's Courageous & Strong playlist, which is building over on our FB page. The girls were soooooo excited to see each other! I as troop leader dressed up in my Wonder Woman costume I keep to wear to cons. Dressing up as a superhero when you are stuck inside does a lot to improve one's mental and emotional outlook - just saying.

I wrote.

Not what I'm supposed to be writing, but I wrote. 1500 words so far.

Today is my day off. And I still got a bit of thing to do to meet some deadline on coming Monday, my day off too.

Today is also my birthday. It sucks to have all birthday plan cancelled the virus outbreak.

The social distancing thing has already made me missing some friends birthday in February and March. It is no fun, and the local government is not only useless and incompetent, it is malicious to use new enforced social distancing law to harass pro-democracy run restaurants and shops.

I'm still happy and grateful for medical workers for doing their jobs. Staying home would help to reduce change of spreading the virus so most people are doing there.

Sad to see a lot of shops closing due to the the lack of business. Bartenders are being affected as bars were closed. It is so important to be supportive to those who have served us so well and now being hit hard by the circumstances.

Stay safe everyone.

Reply to post #48 (show post):
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Reply to post #49 (show post):
Thank you!

Reply to post #48 (show post):
Happy Birthday, XOX!!! Gee, I wish we'd gotten you a nicer present than a global pandemic!

(Why yes, I have been saying that to everyone who's had a birthday since January, myself included. How did you know?)

Reply to post #51 (show post):
Thank you.

Ha ha ha. Good one.

Reply to post #48 (show post):
Happy birthday! I'm sorry you have to spend it alone and partyless, but I hope you've found small ways to celebrate, anyway. The small family owned restaurants are hard-hit here, too, and I have been trying to do my part to get takeout, whenever I leave the house for groceries or other necessaries. I hope it will be enough, but it seems likely that they will all have to start over, and with the economy wrecked I doubt people will have as much spare income to spend on eating out.

I didn't get far on my reading, although the new audiobook I started - about a pandemic sleeping sickness - is pretty interesting, despite Cassandra Campbell's bland narration.

Reply to post #53 (show post):
Thank you. You are so kind.

As tradition demand, I went to the closest Marks & Spencer and got a Red Velvet cake to treat myself a little. It was surprising it good. As it come in a paper box, I didn't expect much. So this is a nice surprise.

Reading a old favorite, Terry Pratchett's Lords and Ladies. Liking it a lot already.

Reply to post #56 (show post):
XOX - Happy belated birthday!

Char - OMG, how scary. I think you definitely DESERVED that alcohol.

When my kids were little, we used to have days where we would intentionally never get dressed. We would just watch movies or read or play games and eat junk food all day - they called them "pajama days." You need a pajama day, my friend.

oooh, Pajama Day. Or Pyjama Day, depending on your orientation. ;-)

I wrote more last night, up to about 2100 words. Then I worked out the actual complications/resolution to the mystery, more or less. There are more complications to work in, but it was getting late and I was really tired. When I woke up at 3:00 a.m., my brain was still coming up with ideas.

But today I'm working on masks. Since I've lost my income from art shows and Etsy sales are down with general uncertainty, this may be one way to pick up a little extra.

A word of caution to those of you who might be contemplating online purchases of masks: Not all sellers are quite as honest as they should be. I've already encountered two who have failed to perform as promised. Describing an item as "Ready to ship" may in fact only mean "I'm ready to print out a shipping/mailing label so it satisfies Etsy, but that doesn't mean I'm actually going to ship your product any time soon."

People can be so truly awful.

Reply to post #43 (show post):
Sound interesting.

The masks making would help lot of people who have no access to the mass product one.

Living like a hermit sounds good too. Leaving you a lot of space and time to do your own things. Pork carnitas sounds good. Tell us how it turns out.