Day #121: Josh Kicked Me Out and Then Changed His Mind
Yesterday was Josh's first day of the rest of his life, so to speak. It went okay. He had some phone conversations with recruiters and then we went for a nice walk in the forest and I made my musgo scramble for dinner (anything that must go musgo in the scramble and be cooked with eggs.) I actually got Max to sleep by 10:20 p.m. which is better than the rest of the week.
Today I must have been super cranky because he said to me at 10:30 a.m., you know, if you want to get out of the house for awhile, just let me know. So I got to do the grocery run.
For July 3 at the grocery store it wasn't bad. I mean, I used to live on an island, where (in ordinary times) July 3 at the grocery store was like the day before Thanksgiving anywhere else, so compared to that this was just your average busy day at the grocery store and it wasn't even that busy honestly. I bought a lot of food, almost like I was pretending that the holiday weekend is somewhat normal and there will be people to cook for or something. Whatever. The highlight of today at the grocery store was the guy with his super conservative T-shirt (I stand for the flag, I kneel for the cross, that sort of thing) and his mask, not complaining, keeping social distance. I firmly believe that the crazy anti-mask lunatics are a very loud but small minority of people. I'm sure they are louder and bigger in other places but I think like the anti-vaxxers there are much fewer of them than we think.
After the grocery store, okay, I'll admit it, I snuck away and bought myself some lunch and took my sweet time getting home. I thought I had kinda communicated that I was going to do that and I left the car with the car seats in it at home so that if Josh wanted to take the kids and get some lunch he could do so. Also, it wasn't like there was nothing in the fridge. But I got a frantic call from him, are you coming home, and so I guess I did kinda go AWOL for a bit there. Whatever. It's cool. He had just waited on lunch so I came home to two verrrrry hungry children. I told him I'd take them out of the house and get them lunch and library books and keep them away from him for a bit if he would unload the groceries, which has always been my LEAST favorite part by far of grocery shopping.
Here's where I confess: we don't sanitize our groceries.
Honestly, we don't sanitize much of what comes into the house except hands and when I've been out I Clorox wipe the heck out of my phone. We wash fruits and veggies extra well these days, but we always try to give them a wash before we use them. I know because I've seen it on social media that a lot of people are sanitizing their groceries before they come into the house. I think what that means depends on who you are...it can be anything from wiping down all plastic to taking everything out of plastic and repackaging it, all that stuff. I don't do that. From everything I've heard and read about this virus, that seems like overkill to me. The air we share with people is where most of the virus is spreading. It can live on surfaces and has a half life but for most people that's not a level of exposure that's going to get them sick. It would take a lot. Same with library books, stuff that comes in the mail, etc. I don't sanitize it. We clean our hands well after touching stuff that has just come into the house, but by the time things have been packaged up and are sitting outside for us to open the risk feels very very small compared to the time it would take to sanitize everything (and, more importantly to me, worry about every single thing being sanitized.) I worry about the handle to our gate that everyone who comes to our door has to touch more than I worry about what's coming in our packages. So we don't sanitize groceries, and I don't think about it until I see someone on Instagram say, well, I just got back from the store and now my spouse is sanitizing the groceries and putting them away. Sigh. I don't fault people for doing that, there's just a level of worry that I just can't get to. It will cost me more in stress to figure out how and what to sanitize and did I miss anything and where are the Clorox wipes and we need more but they're still hard to get and is Max eating them than it's worth it to me for the little bit of risk reduction. Call me crazy. It's cool I can take it.
So, yeah...that was my day. Got the books home, took pictures of them for #bookstagram, naturally, because, you know, I do that, and Josh had dinner in the oven by that time so just wrangle some kids, read them some books. Max was in bed before 10, not exactly goals to shoot for but better than it's been. Helps that he had almost no nap. Except it doesn't.
I'm off facebook for another 72+ hour hiatus. Just couldn't be over there. I'm over everyone yelling at everyone else about masks (it's like I tell James, literally the only person whose behavior you control is you,) and I'm SO DONE with the phrase "do your research." Both people on the left and the right do this to me, they will send the article or the YouTube link or whatever and be like but have you done your research. Today it was on the history of the American labor movement because someone was whining about the 40 hour workweek and how it was created because, consumerism and it's time to let it go, and I said, hey, it was better than what came before it. And what came back at me was, but...Ford...and...have you DONE THE RESEARCH? Which, yeah, I've read books on the subject, thanks. It's nuanced. Ford was a dick, he wasn't the savior of the American worker, he never did anything that wasn't in the interest of Ford and the American labor movement has a history of racism and anti-Semitism that it needs to deal with. That said, the 40 hour workweek was a blessing to a lot of working Americans and it's something corporate America has been trying to destroy ever since so before we start yelling about how awful it is maybe today's little baby socialists should do some reading on the history and on the red scare and try not to repeat mistakes of the generations before them. But that's nuance and facebook sucks at nuance so for a few days I'm getting out of there and will stick with Instagram and books. I really wish more people understood what it meant to actually do actual research and would do some of it and also be respectful of the conversation when sharing research done by others. To be a librarian in the age of social media is beyond exhausting.
Today's media consumption: I started reading Such a Fun age yesterday and I kinda don't love it...the story is interesting and I want to see how it ends but no one in that book is likable (except the toddler) and the dialogue is just horrid. Like, really bad, like milennial Mad Libs or something. So I'm halfway through and want to finish it except I don't. Also, I'm still reading Exodus and oh my Lord we have chapters and chapters left about how to animal sacrifice to consecrate this that or whatever and I'm starting to be really sorry I ever said I'd read the whole Bible except now I'm into it and want to power through.
Today I'm grateful for this place to be a smart mouth, that Max slept before 10, the 10 glorious minutes that I and both kids were looking at books all at the same time, the ingredients for BBQ potato salad, hugs, and that while I miss the traditions of this holiday what I'm missing today is relatively minor. And for good health and another day.
Today I must have been super cranky because he said to me at 10:30 a.m., you know, if you want to get out of the house for awhile, just let me know. So I got to do the grocery run.
For July 3 at the grocery store it wasn't bad. I mean, I used to live on an island, where (in ordinary times) July 3 at the grocery store was like the day before Thanksgiving anywhere else, so compared to that this was just your average busy day at the grocery store and it wasn't even that busy honestly. I bought a lot of food, almost like I was pretending that the holiday weekend is somewhat normal and there will be people to cook for or something. Whatever. The highlight of today at the grocery store was the guy with his super conservative T-shirt (I stand for the flag, I kneel for the cross, that sort of thing) and his mask, not complaining, keeping social distance. I firmly believe that the crazy anti-mask lunatics are a very loud but small minority of people. I'm sure they are louder and bigger in other places but I think like the anti-vaxxers there are much fewer of them than we think.
After the grocery store, okay, I'll admit it, I snuck away and bought myself some lunch and took my sweet time getting home. I thought I had kinda communicated that I was going to do that and I left the car with the car seats in it at home so that if Josh wanted to take the kids and get some lunch he could do so. Also, it wasn't like there was nothing in the fridge. But I got a frantic call from him, are you coming home, and so I guess I did kinda go AWOL for a bit there. Whatever. It's cool. He had just waited on lunch so I came home to two verrrrry hungry children. I told him I'd take them out of the house and get them lunch and library books and keep them away from him for a bit if he would unload the groceries, which has always been my LEAST favorite part by far of grocery shopping.
Here's where I confess: we don't sanitize our groceries.
Honestly, we don't sanitize much of what comes into the house except hands and when I've been out I Clorox wipe the heck out of my phone. We wash fruits and veggies extra well these days, but we always try to give them a wash before we use them. I know because I've seen it on social media that a lot of people are sanitizing their groceries before they come into the house. I think what that means depends on who you are...it can be anything from wiping down all plastic to taking everything out of plastic and repackaging it, all that stuff. I don't do that. From everything I've heard and read about this virus, that seems like overkill to me. The air we share with people is where most of the virus is spreading. It can live on surfaces and has a half life but for most people that's not a level of exposure that's going to get them sick. It would take a lot. Same with library books, stuff that comes in the mail, etc. I don't sanitize it. We clean our hands well after touching stuff that has just come into the house, but by the time things have been packaged up and are sitting outside for us to open the risk feels very very small compared to the time it would take to sanitize everything (and, more importantly to me, worry about every single thing being sanitized.) I worry about the handle to our gate that everyone who comes to our door has to touch more than I worry about what's coming in our packages. So we don't sanitize groceries, and I don't think about it until I see someone on Instagram say, well, I just got back from the store and now my spouse is sanitizing the groceries and putting them away. Sigh. I don't fault people for doing that, there's just a level of worry that I just can't get to. It will cost me more in stress to figure out how and what to sanitize and did I miss anything and where are the Clorox wipes and we need more but they're still hard to get and is Max eating them than it's worth it to me for the little bit of risk reduction. Call me crazy. It's cool I can take it.
So, yeah...that was my day. Got the books home, took pictures of them for #bookstagram, naturally, because, you know, I do that, and Josh had dinner in the oven by that time so just wrangle some kids, read them some books. Max was in bed before 10, not exactly goals to shoot for but better than it's been. Helps that he had almost no nap. Except it doesn't.
I'm off facebook for another 72+ hour hiatus. Just couldn't be over there. I'm over everyone yelling at everyone else about masks (it's like I tell James, literally the only person whose behavior you control is you,) and I'm SO DONE with the phrase "do your research." Both people on the left and the right do this to me, they will send the article or the YouTube link or whatever and be like but have you done your research. Today it was on the history of the American labor movement because someone was whining about the 40 hour workweek and how it was created because, consumerism and it's time to let it go, and I said, hey, it was better than what came before it. And what came back at me was, but...Ford...and...have you DONE THE RESEARCH? Which, yeah, I've read books on the subject, thanks. It's nuanced. Ford was a dick, he wasn't the savior of the American worker, he never did anything that wasn't in the interest of Ford and the American labor movement has a history of racism and anti-Semitism that it needs to deal with. That said, the 40 hour workweek was a blessing to a lot of working Americans and it's something corporate America has been trying to destroy ever since so before we start yelling about how awful it is maybe today's little baby socialists should do some reading on the history and on the red scare and try not to repeat mistakes of the generations before them. But that's nuance and facebook sucks at nuance so for a few days I'm getting out of there and will stick with Instagram and books. I really wish more people understood what it meant to actually do actual research and would do some of it and also be respectful of the conversation when sharing research done by others. To be a librarian in the age of social media is beyond exhausting.
Today's media consumption: I started reading Such a Fun age yesterday and I kinda don't love it...the story is interesting and I want to see how it ends but no one in that book is likable (except the toddler) and the dialogue is just horrid. Like, really bad, like milennial Mad Libs or something. So I'm halfway through and want to finish it except I don't. Also, I'm still reading Exodus and oh my Lord we have chapters and chapters left about how to animal sacrifice to consecrate this that or whatever and I'm starting to be really sorry I ever said I'd read the whole Bible except now I'm into it and want to power through.
Today I'm grateful for this place to be a smart mouth, that Max slept before 10, the 10 glorious minutes that I and both kids were looking at books all at the same time, the ingredients for BBQ potato salad, hugs, and that while I miss the traditions of this holiday what I'm missing today is relatively minor. And for good health and another day.
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