A Little Bit of This and That to Catch Up Today

DH spent a miserable day at the shop yesterday, and came home dragging. He barely had energy to sit at the kitchen table and have some soup, then forced himself down to the computer to do a few things before allowing himself to go to bed and to sleep. I suspect he finally got a full night's sleep, since I haven't heard "peep" from him yet, and I'm running late. 

I offered to switch days with DH, but he didn't want 
to work three days in a row. He normally would be 
off on Saturday, but Chickie has this coming 
Saturday off for a vacation day. 

I had offered to switch days with him - I'd work his Thursday and he could work my Friday. He decided he didn't want to do that because he "didn't want to work three days in a row". A rather silly reason, all told, but that was his excuse. Chickie has this Saturday and next Saturday off (a very rare occurrence since I usually don't allow Saturday vacation time at all). She'll still end up about three days short for her allowed vacation days, but that's the way the schedules worked this year. At least we managed to get almost all of her vacation time allocated. 

I think I'll try to get the Moderna booster shot since I got 
the J&J standard vaccination in March. I'm able to get 
anything I want since it's been more than six months
since my initial vaccination. 

Covid booster shots are now available and I guess I'd better make an appointment to get mine. I want to get the Moderna vaccine, since I had the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in early March. Apparently the Moderna gives a slightly increased resistance for J&J people, and I'll take all of the extra voodoo I can get. 

It will be fun to be involved in a writing challenge 
again. I got my toes wet earlier this year with a 
small group on Dreamwidth, but Idol is a bit larger 
and has been held more regularly. Usually it operates 
more on a "Survivor" format with people voted 
off and lots of behind the scenes politics (something 
I abhor). This is Idol Light - nobody gets voted 
off the "island". Much more my style. 

I spent some time yesterday cleaning up and editing my contribution for LJ Idol Light. I still need to refine what I wrote - I do much better with drabbles than with longer texts - and I'm still unsure about my choice of theme. I want to submit it on Saturday, so I'll try and finish the deep edit today and try to do a fresh read-over tomorrow. It is nice to be writing more consistently again, even if it is not in the Tolkien universe. 

Both "Dune" and "No Time to Die" have 
an 84 rating on Rotten Tomatoes. (Candyman 
also has an 84 rating, but I have no interest 
in seeing that film). I might be able to talk 
DH into seeing "No Time to Die", but doubt 
I'll have any luck talking him into seeing 
"Dune". I think I should see it on the big 
screen at least once. Sand Worms, baby!!! 

I want to see Dune. I know it's just part one of two, and that the real meat (sand worms) don't really come into play until Part 2, but I still want to see it. I don't have time to see a movie this week, but maybe next week or the week after I can catch the first showing of the morning on one of my days off. I have my photo shoot with Rodney scheduled next Wednesday, so that trashes that "free" time, but I'll try to work it in. I'm almost 100% sure DH won't want to see the movie, but I'll double-check with him over the weekend. 

That's all the news and gossip for today. I'm running a bit late, so I need to get this up and catch up on DW and LJ. Have an excellent Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow before I head out for my swim. 

Are You Still Wearing Your Mask? You SHOULD Be!

I love the Google Doodle for today reminding all of us that masks are still important. And they most certainly are. Even though vaccination against Covid is progressing nicely, there are still people who refuse to be vaccinated, or who can't get a vaccine, or who simply don't want one. There are people who object on religious grounds, people who object because of a lack of faith in the science or in the government, and people who are just stupid. The world is populated with all types of people, and not all will get vaccinated - EVER. 

I don't see us giving up masks anytime soon. I'm also 
getting so used to wearing one, it's not really a big 
deal to me to wear one or not. Realistically, we'll 
be wearing masks for a long time, so we might as 
well become accustomed to it. 

Where taking temperatures doesn't work very effectively, masks have been proven to help control the spread of the virus from person to person. I require masks from everyone entering my store and my staff is always masked when working with a customer. I think it's common sense. I shop businesses who also enforce a mask mandate. If I'm in a business where they sluff off on masks, they also sluff off on my business - I can buy my goods elsewhere.  

It's important to wear your masks correctly. I'd say 
15% of the customers in my store are actually 
wearing their masks correctly, and some people I 
have to remind constantly to pull their mask over 
their nose. 

Yesterday a customer mentioned to me that she doesn't think we'll ever be free of Covid. My response was that it may become more like the flu - something that is around all the time, but that people can get a vaccination from every year so that they will be more protected. Admittedly, I don't get a flu shot - long history there. But I would get a Covid shot (hopefully a single-dose vaccination). I'm quite sure that the various drug companies are working out plans for long-term world-wide vaccination options, they would be silly to not think ahead. 

There are some people who legitimately can't wear a mask 
easily - autistic and severely asthmatic come to mine 
immediately, along with some sufferers of PTSD. It's 
hard for them to work around the "must wear a mask" 
restrictions that so many of our stores have now. The last 
medically limited person I had in the store who couldn't 
wear a mask wore a face shield instead and also limited 
her time in-store to a minimal amount. 

Meanwhile, I'll continue being a "fashionista" and wear my masks. I love them - they are colorful, funny, and fun. I have my Minions mask in my car so that's worn at the grocery store and other shopping stops. I have my Dinosaurs Roamed the Earth mask in my apron pocket at work, so I can't be caught unaware if I'm not close to my desk and my pile of masks. And my preference at work is my "Original Six Ice Hockey Teams" mask that my customer Mikaela made for me. All different, all fun, and always worn. I'm quite used to masks by now, so no. I'm not putting them aside yet. 

Have a wonderful Tuesday. As always please be kind, stay safe and as I said above, wear your mask. It's for safety, courtesy, and common sense. I'll be back tomorrow. 

It's All About Choices

I'm running late today, so this will be short and sweet. DH offered a truce yesterday, which I accepted. I stay on program for the full 13 weeks, and I can stay on program for 6 of the 7 days afterward, with Sunday being passed over to DH for food and beverage choices. I can live with that. It will cause some backsliding, but won't be too bad in the long run. 

I think I probably can manage one day a week, but that 
won't come into play until I'm through with the program in 
another 7 weeks. It's been great so far, but I still have a 
lot to learn and a lot to accomplish. 

During these next two weeks, our bodies are supposed to shift over from burning sugar as fuel to burning fat as fuel, and I have hopes that will help get rid of some of the extra belly fat I've been carrying around for far too long. I'll have to be patient - it took years to get this extra body fat onto my body, it's not going away overnight. But I can get a really good start through nutrition, and I want to know more about what I'm putting into my body anyway. That's what I'm learning about - how to make good food choices and what is involved with those choices that may not be quite as good. 

The key to anything in life is to make good choices. It's 
a relief to have DH back to human once again. I know it's 
temporary, but I'll take it while I can get it. I'm almost 
always open to compromise. 

On the Covid front, today is the first day in my state where vaccinations are opened up to every adult over the age of 16. This is a huge step, and without all three vaccines and the many places where vaccinations are taking place, it wouldn't be possible at all. I'm so proud of the Frozen Northlands. We've done a really good job dealing with the virus, although we certainly had our casualties, like every other state. 

The state has opened more central vaccination centers, as 
well as more drive-through vaccination areas. It is also 
expanding supplies of the vaccine to more individual 
pharmacies, to be able to vaccinate more people. I think 
it's great that more people from a wider range of ages will 
now be able to get vaccinated. 

I'm cold, even though it's above freezing, and as I recall, today will be windy and barely top out at 40F - still pretty crisp. Where I could get away with a sweatshirt yesterday, I'll be wearing my coat today. We may not have much standing snow left, and winter is almost over, but we've had April snows before, in fact we've had April blizzards that dumped almost a foot of snow on us before. I'm hoping this year won't be one of those. On that note, I'm out of here. Have a fabulous day and please, be kind, stay safe, and wear your mask. I'll be back tomorrow.