Five on Friday

One. Stay at Home Order - I'm writing this from my "home office" today... not the first edition of Five on Friday to come from my home office, but the first edition where I realize that I might be sitting at this home office longer than I'd imagined. Earlier this week the state of Virginia was placed under a Stay at Home order that - at present - is in place until June 10th! 

Now only one person should be going to purchase groceries... only essential employees should be out and about... apparently you can still go outside for exercise and health, but it seems that everything around us is closing: the National Park closed last week, the VA State Arboretum closed this week - something tells me soon the only outdoors I'll be enjoying the are comforts of my back yard.  

Two. I Need A Laugh - So, having shared all that... who doesn't need a little laugh? I know that I always do! Please see below a few of the memes that have made me snicker a little bit this past week!

Did anyone else feel like March lasted for a thousand years? I know I definitely did. Granted, while we were still in this weird holding pattern... I suppose at least now that April is here, every day we are a day closer to moving past this whole crazy lifestyle?

Three. Birthday Celebrations - Thursday was my Dad's birthday and so we celebrated as best we could in this time of COVID-19... My sister was meant to be in town for the week, my Dad had the day off work and we had tickets to Opening Day at Nationals Park - but obviously none of that actually happened. *sigh* 

My younger sister is stuck in Las Vegas until this all passes, living with some extended "friend family" members, my Dad did his work from home because there was no point in taking the day off and we certainly didn't head to DC for any baseball - because baseball has been postponed until further notice.

What we did do is order take-out from the restaurant my Dad chose, opening presents with my sister via FaceTime and I made my Dad a Coconut Cream Banana Trifle - per his request. I usually make my parent's birthday cakes (or treats, as it were in this case) and so I whipped this one up! I'll share that recipe next week! Birthdays in the time of Corona... it's interesting...

Four. Weekend Plans - I want to laugh at even putting this on my post.. because what exactly are my weekend plans? I don't really know that there are many places we can go (or are supposed to be going)... so I'm not sure what I might be doing. I know we discovered a nearby outdoor location that is still open to the public - we may go have a picnic there on Saturday just to get out of the house a little bit. We are still allowed to go out in our own family groups to outdoor locations, as long as we keep apart from others...

I have already cleaned out my closet. I rearranged my living room during a lull in work earlier this week... I suppose I need to get to work on my 4-D puzzle, keep up with my exercise and just.. find ways to amuse myself! We shall see what I come up with! 

Five. Remember - I saw that someone had tabulated an accounting of what life is like right now and I thought I'd share that here, so I'll always have it to come back and remember what life was like in the time of COVID-19.

Remember...

Gas price a mile from home was $1.65.

School cancelled - yes cancelled at least 3 months.

Self-distancing measures on the rise.

Tape on the floors at grocery stores; workers hold sign to remind shoppers to distance (6 feet) from each other.

Limited number of people allowed in stores, therefore, lineups outside the store doors.

Non-essential stores and businesses mandated closed.

Parks, trails, entire cities locked up.

Entire sports seasons cancelled.

Concerts, tours, festivals, entertainment events - cancelled.

Weddings, family celebrations, holiday gatherings - cancelled.

No church services or masses - churches are closed.

No gatherings of 50 or more, then 20 or more, now 10 or less. 

Don't socialize with anyone outside of your home.

Children's outdoor play parks are closed.

We are to distance from each other.

Shortage of masks, gowns, gloves for our front-line workers.

Shortage of ventilators for the critically ill.

Panic buying sets in - we have no toilet paper, no disinfecting supplies, no paper towels, no laundry soap, no hand sanitizer.

Shelves at the grocery store are bare.

Manufacturers, distilleries and other businesses switch their lines to help make visors, masks, hand sanitizer and PPE.

Government closes the border to all non-essential travel.

Fines are established for breaking the rules.

Stadiums and recreation facilities open up for the overflow of Covid-19 patients.

Press conferences daily from the President. Daily updates on new cases, recoveries, and deaths.

Government incentives to stay home.

Barely anyone on the roads.

People wearing masks and gloves to go outside, to run errands, etc.....

Essential service workers are terrified to go to work.

Medical field workers are afraid to go home to their families.

This is the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) - officially declared a pandemic on March 11th, 2020.

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Well folks - here we are! It's the first weekend of April in the year 2020 and most of us are all hanging out in our homes for what amounts to the third or fourth weekend in a row... or longer! Stay home and stay strong - we can do this guys!