Quarantine Diary March 31, 2020

How is your quarantine going? I'd like to say that mine is going great, but, honestly, I don't actually know what day it is. Things are just coasting along here at Maison Martin. Except that the cats are getting worried that the humans never leave. But, we do pet them a lot, so there's that.

I got groceries for me and an elderly friend on Friday. That was exciting - the first time I interacted with people outside my family in a couple of weeks!! Of course, the grocery store didn't have toilet paper. I am Warren Cavanaugh's daughter, though, so I already had enough toilet paper to get us through the apocalypse. Who knew the apocalypse would come so soon, though?

I was thinking that I needed to start drinking or put some Xanax in my diet soda, but reducing my intake of TV news and social media has had the same effect. I've been listening to audiobooks and knitting my fingers to the bone. There's been fewer catecholamines released and more serotonin.

Headaches haven't been really great, but I have been getting in some exercise between the headaches. Of course, then I have sore muscles when my head hurts. It's all a trade-off . . .

We've pretty much dropped the keto diet during quarantine, but I've gone back to at least low-carb eating and finding that my mood seems to be a little better. So, it takes a little more discipline, but back to keto it is. Besides, I've gotten used to eating all the veggies. And, of course, some meat. Just no flour or sugar.

I had Botox yesterday. The neurology group apparently has canceled all non-essential appointments, so the place was empty. They didn't do vital signs or anything. I was wearing a cloth mask out of an abundance of caution and to help protect my doctor. Botox puts our faces pretty close together. Well, my doctor walked in and I saw that he was also wearing a mask. Good for him!

A friend of mine shared some suggestions of things that writers can do during this time when writing is so hard. It was nice to hear that other people are having a hard time writing. When my goal is to write, I count emails and blog posts as writing. My brain is having a hard time wrapping itself around my memoir right now.

China didn't create this virus to attack the US; Disney did. How many new subscriptions to Disney Plus have they had in the last few weeks? Yes, we broke down and subscribed tonight because we're going to watch the Star Wars movies because Minh has never seen them. She can't go back to Vietnam without having experienced Star Wars!!! Plus, we'll have access to all the Marvel movies! We can watch all 20+ in order! We'll never get off the sofa again!!

Please stay safe. Continue social distancing. Pay attention to your media intake. Read or watch enough to be informed, but if it's making you crazy without giving you useful information, turn it off! Your mental health is more important. You can always read a book about the pandemic in ten years.

Pray. Please pray. And, if God shows you some practical thing you can do, please do it. People are not working and the $1200 from the government isn't going to stretch far, so consider how you can love your neighbor in a practical way while still social distancing. Support your local restaurants that are doing take-out to try to survive these next couple of months. Let God give you some creative ideas.

Thoughts?

Catherine