Status Update

Early Saturday I received an email, a text message and voicemails informing me (and all other parents) that the school district has decided to close for the entire week. The County Executive then declared a State of Emergency. So no large public gatherings. Which means the movie theater closed. But the gym, restaurants and grocery stores are still open. My husband and I go to the store to buy a few items. The shelves are bare of produce, but only because the truck had just arrived and hadn't been fully unloaded yet. However, there's no hope of buying bleach, hand sanitizer or toilet paper. Oh jeeze. Happy Birthday to me! I turned 60 and am now officially "old."

We decide to go to Costco in Connecticut. My hubs calls this Disaster Tourism because he wants to witness for himself the empty shelves. Costco is the quietest I've ever seen it, but there are still shoppers although no more free samples of food. (HMart, on the other hand, was still offering sample bites of various products including curries and dumplings). We can now stroll leisurely through the aisles without dodging traffic. All the paper goods are gone. But we do manage to view new items we never knew existed, like dried seasoned snacking mushrooms! We also pick up a slab of vacuum-sealed sockeye salmon to cook in the next few days. Gas prices are better there too ($2.29/gal whereas our cheapest local gas is now $2.55) and there's no line!

I still plan to go to the gym on Monday, if only because I'm not one to exercise outdoors. No jogging or biking for me and my knees, my flat feet with bunion and hammertoes. I'm not doing Core out in the park with all the bugs. Bugs love me. Besides, the gym shower has great water pressure and better lighting than my own bathroom.

Not the actual car

I just hope THAT woman (who I'm now referring to as Candy Purple) won't be there. For several months now, a woman (who arrives and leaves earlier than I do) has been washing half a bar of soap down the shower (with most of it all over the shower stall) and leaving a gross greasy smear of body lotion across half the bench facing the vanity in the locker room. Last week, I saw her exit the gym as I was parking my car. The first thing she does as she walks to her vehicle, which is in the Handicapped Parking spot across from the entrance, is light up a cigarette! Her sleek candy purple late model sedan is reminiscent of muscle cars from the 70s. She probably used to be a looker as she's still tall and leggy, but now bloated in middle (?) age and her shoulder-length blondish-gray hair falls over her puffy, wrinkled face. Wow, what a winner.