by Janis Patterson
How are you surviving the Covid lockdown, which – thankfully – is finally fading away?
While my office is in my home and I don’t go out too much in normal times (which, please Heaven, are finally coming back!) just the idea of not being able to go out or have any place to go to have driven me crazy. Crazier.
For the first time in many years I am not face-up against a deadline, usually multiple deadlines, which come racing at me like an express train. Well, I do have one, but it isn’t until October, and the way this year has been going who of us is positive there is even going to be an October this year?
And that’s why this post is so frightfully late. I forgot until last night, when the lights were out, our goodnights said and The Husband had drifted off to sleep. Suddenly I remembered and sat bolt upright, gasping at my unprofessionalism. Dragged from sleep he wanted to know what was wrong, but when I told him he merely snorted and said to go back to sleep. The sad thing is I did, which is very unlike me. This lockdown has activated my inner sloth – I chose the sloth as my spirit animal a few years ago when a prolonged bed rest was dictated while recuperating from a surgery, and the wee little beastie has played havoc with my work ethic ever since.
One good thing about this lockdown is that The Husband is only working half weeks – 2 ½ days – and this makes a perfect rehearsal for when he retires in the not-too-distant future. One thing I’ve learned – he is ignorant of the writing process, as I do 95% of it when he’s not here. Plus, he’s a science person, not a word person. I’ve been writing in our den for years, and not too long ago made the decision to turn the guest room into my office, a task about which I have been distressingly dilatory. I need to get on it NOW, so when he does retire fully I can retreat in there. I’m working on it every day, and trying to decide whether or not I can install a moat.
Plus, during this time of plague I have been slowly morphing from a writer who works at home into a housewife, a strange and alien creature I have never been before. I’ve been excavating the dining room (verb chosen deliberately) and for the last three days sorting through ancient tax papers that go back to 2007. So far The Husband has taken two enormous tubs of old papers to his office to shred in their commercial shredder.
I won’t bore you with tales of the strange wonders I’ve found during this time of excavation, but I did find my iron which I lost several years ago. It’s a fine example of cleaning making more work for you, because now I’m going to have to go to the trouble of losing it again, and do you know how hard it is to lose an iron?
Well, the clock is ticking (yes, we still have one that ticks, a Seth-Thomas kitchen clock that was a wedding present to my father’s parents in 1899) and I need to get this posted. I hope you all – assuming you have read this far – are safe and well and all in your world is good. Please take care of yourselves and believe we will get through this. At least, I hope so, because housework is making me crazy! Crazier.
Ladies of Mystery 
I can fully understand the frustration of rearranging your life. I had to do that some years ago, when my husband decided to work from home and I feared I’d never write again. So far in the lockdown we have had it pretty easy. We’re both retired and take a lot of walks (we have a dog), but I’m a day person and he’s a night person so I have the house to myself when I want it and the same is true for him. This would be harder in winter, but with the lovely weather in New England I’ve been gardening (but some parts of the yard are a disaster) and puttering around and writing. I miss my volunteer activities and friends, but I’ve come to enjoy Zoom. Because of health issues, I’m not eager to go back to normal until there’s a vaccine, so I’ll wait.
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I had my first haircut and professional root touchup in 3 months. Heaven! Tomorrow I’m going for a facial which is quasi-illegal in our state’s Dear Leader’s view, but the esthetician is giving up and retiring Saturday. I told my husband that can be my the April birthday present he didn’t gave me.
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It’s interesting hearing how everyone is dealing with the lockdown. For me in our rural area, the only thing that has changed are the ways our stores are doing things and I’ve had events cancelled. Otherwise the hay needs irrigated and cut and the animals need tended. I’m actually ahead of schedule and thankful. Because the last two years I’ve always been a book behind my deadlines. Take care Janis and everyone!
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Believe it or not, I’m enjoying the shut-down. I’ve had more time to write, to work on advertising my book, and spending time doing activities I enjoy such as hiking. I’d given up hiking after I broke my knee cap and femur snowshoeing. Now, I’ve had time to do five hikes in areas where I rarely run into anyone. Side comment – the wildflowers have been beautiful. I haven’t spent time sorting files. It never works anyway. It seems I always find a reason I might need something I should dispose of in the future.
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At the start, my energy levels were through the roof. Complete house deep clean, curtains washed, door knockers, handles all disinfected and loads more. As the weeks have sped by, I’ve become less energetic, extremely laid back, unable to concentrate on reading or getting on with writing my novella. Tomorrow will do attitude. I get up much later. Every day is Ground Hog Day. My husband is shielding due to many health issues… you get the picture.
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I’m usually prompt, but I think the change in routine has really affected a lot of us. Normally, I have three or four places to go on any given day, and now my appointment calendar is basically empty. And we get so used to not having anywhere to go or anything to do, that things start sneaking up on us. I’m not quite ready for things to return to the way things were BC (Before Covid), but I’m trying to put a little more structure in my days.
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I find myself fighting depression since this business has so long continued. I find it difficult to work on new writing projects because I feel incarcerated.
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Oh how I relate to this. My DH is working at home full-time, and now it looks like he’ll be able to do that until he retires. I would get so much done because he wasn’t home except in the evenings. When he traveled I would do big projects. There is a learning curve. what’s the fact that we moved my hoarders office and everything in it to the basement. It is a world of discovery. Good luck to you, too.
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What is driving me crazy is not being able to have in-person events, and all the ones I planned to go to have been cancelled. Otherwise life is pretty much the same as always here in Springville. I am happy many of our restaurants are now open for dining. Been to three different ones so far.
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