Now that we have all been in this pandemic with quarantining and CDC guidelines for months and months, I added on to my new 'norm.' I try not to use that word 'norm' often. Because, in reality, what does that look like? It changes all the time and will continue to change the way that we live our day to day lives.
For my husband and myself, we have made special efforts to try to do all of our shopping on line. We wore our masks and went out when we thought it would not be so crowded, alas, other people apparently do not have to follow the rules. We wear our masks to protect others, as well as ourselves. Are they comfortable? Hell no. Many people say they have a medical condition that prohibits them from wearing a mask. My question then is then do you really need to be out among the public with your condition and the virus is all around? If your condition is that you are claustrophobic and not comfortable then we just have to get over that. Maybe I should have more empathy, but I find it hard to feel it for you if that is the case.
Our shopping early on was going from store to store trying to find essentials such as toilet paper, paper towels, hand sanitizer, hand soap, Lysol, bleach. Stuff that we were hearing about people hoarding and we just wanted enough to get us through a week or two. People were not abiding by guidelines whatsoever.
Then, we got a brilliant idea. We started ordering on Amazon whatever we could not get at Kroger due to high demand. Even at Kroger, we did the ClickList, where you order on line and tell them what time you will pick up. You never knew what they would have in stock and what they would not. A guessing game! So instead of waiting them out and ordering again in a few days, we simply looked for it on Amazon and it worked.
I have learned that I can even order birthday cards for our family when I need to. No need to go to a card shop. Or inside the local pharmacy to pick out a card. We can do drive by prescription pick up and never go inside. 
Yes, there are times that our front door looks like this. Luckily, we are home usually and can get them in before anything happens to them. And I love it when the delivery people actually take the time to see and read our door mat with Maggie Mae's and Davis' pictures on it. They do NOT need to ring the doorbell and cause a huge ruckus. The dogs already know they are on our front porch.
In many ways, I miss picking out our own foods and items that we need to keep our house running smoothly. Something happened this past week that I never in a million years thought that I would do.
We spend a lot of time in the downstairs study. It overlooks the front of our home. We live in a cove and when at my desk writing, painting or reading, I can see the comings and goings of neighbors, as well as wildlife. My husband put out special songbird seed and hummingbird feeders and I love seeing all of the birds right outside the double windows. As, well as the silly squirrel who comes to try to jump over on the feeders, and usually falls. The dogs seem quite entertained also.
In the evening, my husband and I have taken up watching movies on our big screen wall mounted Smart TV. There is a love seat there and it certainly gets used an awful lot. It is time for it to go. Some furniture stores are open and people do still go in them, some with masks and others? Oh well. Do we dare purchase a love seat on line? Especially one that is custom made and nonrefundable? Well, the important thing is to choose a reliable source. I thought that I had found one, but something just did not seem right. Even though I spoke to a very professional customer support person on the phone who answered all of my questions. As I went back to the web page and continued to read and browse, I saw that I was misinformed. The only assembly, so I was told, was to put the feet on the bottom. That is not a problem. But when I read questions from other customers, it turns out you need a lot of tools or a handyman to assemble it. We did not want to go to an IKEA type store. I want it to be delivered to us in one piece. I love IKEA for certain things. Furniture is not one of them.
Back to the drawing board looking for real furniture stores who would deliver. Steve actually found a Chesterfield love seat that fit our size, and actually gave us more sitting room, took up less space than the one we would have to assemble and is much higher quality and therefore much more expensive. The old saying that you get what you pay for is right. We need this love seat to be a long term investment in the quality of our lives. As with many things, this will be made for us so it will take time before we have it.
Unfortunately, they do not haul away the old one. Not to worry. A very dear friend gave me the phone number of a store that is related to Habitat for Humanity and they will come and get the old when we are ready.
Shopping in a pandemic safely can be done. The landscape of how we shop is changing. It will continue to evolve. Just go with the flow.................
No comments:
Post a Comment