At that time, we were working from home until August 31st, which would've brought us to 171 days.
Now?
296 days
Yes, you read that correctly. We are home until January 4, 2021.
2021- that's next year.
We are staying home into a new year.
We found out on a Friday and my immediate thought was, "No- I hate this and this is going to ruin my weekend." (It was at this point that I decided my quarantine theme song was "It's My Party" by Lesley Gore.- I'll cry if it want to!)
Shortly after we found out, a co-worker posted in Teams and said something simple that changed my perspective. She has young children and daycare is up in the air and for her, this decision made work for the next five months stable. She knows we're working from home. Period. There's no maybe we'll go back. We are working from home. So, I put on my big girl panties and decided that was the angle I would take.
I ordered a white board and markers and started to make my space a little more office-like. That coupled with my new chair has really helped.
Am I still bored with the whole quarantine thing? Yes! Do I know it's the right thing to do to stay home as much as possible for safety reasons? Yes! (And I will continue to do so.)
One of the things I've complained about the most is missing professional sports. I'm a big hockey and baseball fan and usually have a game on every night in the background, even if it doesn't get my full attention. I've missed that.
My team, the Boston Red Sox, played its first game on Friday night.
I was pretty excited for it.
But remember- this is baseball in a pandemic.
It's a bit difficult to see, but at Fenway Park, where the Red Sox play, they filled the seats above left field (known as the "Green Monster") with cardboard cutout fans.
For some reason, this really weirds me out. In some ballparks, they have them fairly close to home plate, which is even worse, in my opinion (they show up on camera more often.)
So, this coupled with the fact that there are empty seats in the rest of the ballpark as far as the eye can see, the fact that the commentators are not in the park, and the fact that fake crowd noise is piped in all make me totally underwhelmed with the comeback.
Oh and not to mention that four days in, games are already being cancelled because large numbers of players on one team (specifically the Miami Marlins) are testing positive for COVID. They just played the Phillies, so now the Phillies need to get tested and quarantined.
It's a slippery slope and people's lives are more important than America's pastime. It will survive without this weird/shortened season. ::steps down from soapbox::
I have been reading up a storm and am behind on reviews, so here are a few to help me work toward catching up:
Book #25- The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
Summary: Set in the English countryside in 1950, it features Flavia de Luce, an 11-year-old amateur sleuth who pulls herself away from her beloved chemistry lab in order to clear her father in a murder investigation.
Rating: A+. HALLELUJAH! This book was a breath of fresh air. It had that "Harriet the Spy" air to it (if you didn't read that book as a child, you should read it now.) Flavia de Luce is adorable, endearing, smart, charming, you name it. I can't wait to read the next one in the series!
Book #26- How to Set a Fire and Why by Jesse Ball
Summary: Lucia’s father is dead, her mother is in a mental hospital, and she’s living in a garage-turned-bedroom with her aunt. Making her way through the world with only a book, a zippo lighter, a pocketful of stolen licorice, a biting wit, and the striking intelligence that she tries to hide, Lucia spends her days riding the bus to visit her mother and following the only rule that makes any sense to her: Don’t do things you aren’t proud of. But when she discovers that her new school has a secret Arson Club, she’s willing to do anything to be a part of it, and her life is suddenly lit up. As Lucia’s fascination with the Arson Club grows, her story becomes one of misguided friendship and, ultimately, destruction.
Rating: B. This is an odd book. It's not a young adult book, but could be. It was a little too "dark side" for me. If you're interested in getting into the mind of a teenager who's lost her way and is willing to set fires to find it, this is your kind of book.
Book #27- Us Against You by Fredrik Backman
Summary: This is the sequel to Backman's Beartown (which I suggest you read prior to reading this.) A small community tucked deep in the forest, Beartown is home to tough, hardworking people who don’t expect life to be easy or fair. No matter how difficult times get, they’ve always been able to take pride in their local ice hockey team. So it’s a cruel blow when they hear that their town’s ice hockey club might soon be disbanded. What makes it worse is the obvious satisfaction that all the former Beartown players, who now play for a rival team in the neighboring town of Hed, take in that fact. But the arrival of a newcomer gives Beartown hockey a chance at a comeback.
Rating: A. I absolutely LOVED Beartown and I think I liked this one a bit more. As someone who grew up in a community where hockey is a big deal, I was able to relate to some of this. I was rooting for certain characters and hoping others would fall. It didn't disappoint.
