Pensacola

My head and heart have been in Pensacola the last couple of days, for obvious reasons. (Hi, Mom.) My parents are fine, safe and sound, and they have a small generator with which to keep their fridge running, and a lamp at night, for now. They've been out twice looking for ethanol-free gas to power it, and haven't had success finding that. But I think we're all hopeful the power will be restored sooner than they need to fill the gas tank. They went to Publix today (the day after) and were able to get some supplies.

Hurricanes are a part of life on the coast, of course, but they so frequently go just west, that Pensacolians are fairly complacent about them, I think it's safe to say. This one was forecast to go west up until the very day it didn't, I think -- if not all the way west to Louisiana (god love 'em), then at least Mississippi. And not that we wish any ill on other states/people, but we figured we'd be okay... I mean, they, they in Pensacola figured it would be a lot of rain and wind, but not the major flooding and destruction that they eventually got. My "we" is for my people!  

Ugh. It's tiring to think of how long it will take to clean it all up. We (Georgians) offered to go down and help - I say, to ease my own conscience here for when future-me reads this. Mom said it wasn't necessary, and we agreed that with their limited resources we'd likely be more of a drain than a help. But thank goodness for good neighbors and family members, taking care of each other. I really wish I could do more.

Anyway, our lives continue on normally (haha, well, Covid-normal) while they have to deal with aftermath, and that makes me feel weird, too. We (the kids and I) watched Survivor this evening while Shawn went out to play cornhole. [This is something he's just started, have I mentioned it? A coworker invited him - it's a whole Atlanta league and everything. It's good for him, I'm 100% behind it! One night a week.] 

One of the things we've become good at during the pandemic is ordering on apps. That sounds silly to say, but Before, I rarely used an app to order food. I was still calling up the Papa Johns on my HOME PHONE! (I have the number memorized, a fact of which I am proud.) Now I have several restaurant apps on my phone; enough that I can compare the features. The ChickFilA One app, I think, is the gold standard. It's amazing. I love how it knows when I've arrived, and how it tells me "a team member is on the way out to your car." The Moe's app is also fairly easy to use, and comes with the typical snark of the Moe's menu and brand-image. Then there's the Subway app, for which I have several saved Favorites, and used just tonight. The way theirs lets you customize your sandwich is fun -- it shows the sandwich all spread out, and you can just delete the brown mustard if you don't like it (and I don't)!

My paragraph transitions are like my entire brain right now. We just go hopping from one thing to another in zig-zag with no rhyme or reason, and so here is the next topic: Work is fine. Busy. Today I finished a project wherein I had to do some screen recordings (and record my Voice as well, talking, UGH). It took forever, but MAN, does it feel good to have it done (for now; Draft 1 is always just that, a draft). There are still many millions more projects that get assigned but not really followed up on, which makes me feel adrift and behind All The Time. But I just plug away, doing the best that I can, trying to accomplish Something every day. I try not to count the minutes/hours I've worked, and just DO my life. Do my work... but take a walk when I want to/need to. (I mean, I don't do as much cleaning or laundry as I would want to have accomplished, but that's what weekends are for!) 

I'm also trying to use the Calm app that I pay for year after year, and actually sit down with a 10-minute meditation every day. I am aiming to improve both my short-term memory, which is terrible, and my general focus. 

We ate well this week: 

- Bulgogi Pork Tenderloin, Jasmine Rice, Broccoli

- Chicken enchiladas (and as a family we agreed we need to back off a little on the Tex-Mex theme, lol)

- Meatloaf (leftover/frozen from several weeks ago), made new with homefried potatoes and a shredded cabbage/lettuce salad

- Penne pasta w/chicken and pantry parmesan cream sauce (by that I mean, cream of mushroom & chicken soup, a little milk, and grated parm)

- Subway 

That's what's up, at this moment. I have some other stories I could tell you, but another time. They include the words liver cysts, football game, as well as detention. !! Several different stories. :) 

When Will This Feel Normal?

Tuesdays are now my office days, necessary because Shan and I are handling our Education department, and with virtual classes only, we are mailing out course materials each week for the next week's participants. It's a lot of FedExing. But hey, if I have to go in, at least there is work to be done, and at least it's still only once a week. Our boss has said he still doesn't want everyone back full-time. I am so thankful for him. Not thankful that he got COVID, but it has definitely worked in favor of those who don't want to go back to the office full-time, like myself.

This feeling of the strangeness of heading to the office, though -- it's odd like everything else this year, I suppose. It feels weird to blow-dry my hair and have to choose shoes. Putting the coffee into a travel mug... I wonder if those things will ever be so mundane that I don't think about them, again. 

An aside: I bought myself a new coffee mug for home this weekend, from Publix. One of my favorites, from my college, chipped on the rim, and that is no good at all. I regretfully threw it in the trash. While shopping several weeks ago, I had seen a mug that said, "I'm not feeling very Worky today" -- and wanted it so badly! So me! Unfortunately, I am so cheap that the extra $5.00 wasn't a "necessary" spend -- this was before my college mug broke... but I have regretted it ever since because it sold out immediately (I've looked every time I've been to Target since then). The new one is bright orange and not as adorable, but makes me happy, especially because it was $1.99.

Alex goes back to in-person marching band practice today, as well. With all kinds of rules, of course, and thank goodness: Rules about where to park so the directors can come to your car to take pre-rehearsal temperatures. Rules about where to stand after you get out of the car. Rules for the brass instruments about covering their bells. Rules about promptness for pickup because they can't gather anywhere in a group to wait for latecomers. No sharing snacks during breaks. No water jugs to refill your water bottles. No parents can congregate to watch rehearsal (one of the most fun things). STILL: I am so glad they get to do this. I hope and pray everyone behaves so 1) no one gets sick, and 2) they get to keep doing it. It's just for football season, and they're only playing at home games, and not everyone will get to play at every game because there isn't room, social-distance-wise, for every band kid in the section of bleachers assigned to them. Sigh. But it's something, and they will practice together. Amen and Amen.

....annnnnd I've just been reminded that something huge is due today and I haven't yet done it. There is so much going on, all the time, at work and I dropped the ball! AgH. So today in the office is going to be a scramble. I've gotta go, but I do want to catalog three yummy dinners we're having this week!

S - Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn (haven't made meatloaf in so long. it's a classic for a reason.)

M - Creamy Parmesan one-pan chicken/rice with steamed broccoli

T - Calzones made w/Crescent rolls and chicken sausage, salad