The Upside Down

 When your luck runs out:

On Monday night, I was exposed to Covid, via a coworker who came into my office and talked for a long time and then tested positive the next day. I'm quarantining now and have to go get a Covid test before I can return to work. So that's one bit of news.

The other bit of news is that I'm leaving my job--I don't want to risk my health/life for this job--and that means that Dave and I will have to sign up for insurance through Obamacare. I was waiting to see the outcome of this election before I decided since should Trump have been able to steal this election, the way he did in 2016, we would likely have lost Obamacare and Dave and I would have been left without insurance had I quit my job. Anyway, luckily we are not in that timeline and I can't wait until January 20, when Biden and Harris take office and we can get back to business.

Of course, the mess that Trump is leaving behind is immense and Covid is not going anywhere, not for a long time, because of the lies and misinformation that he and his minions have sown in America. And Covid is getting bad. Really, really bad. 

Since March or so, Dave and I have been staying at home, only going out for grocery curbside pickup and a handful of takeout food (also curbside pickup). We've been to the Co-op three times. But otherwise, we stay home. But apparently a lot of other people have not gotten that message and now we're seeing it in terms of a surge of Covid cases. I have been saying for months that the second wave would hit hard and be much, much worse than the first one (see also the Spanish Flu, when the second wave killed many, many more people than the first wave did) and now it's starting. 

Stock up on disinfectants and groceries. Wash your hands for 20 seconds (at least) when you get home or when you handle anything from outside your home. Use hand sanitizer--the commercial stuff, don't try to make your own because it doesn't have enough alcohol to be effective against the virus--when you can't wash your hands immediately. If you have to go out, wear your mask. But don't go out. Stay the fuck home. The life you save may be your own.

In the upside down, I've been doing some sewing.

I sewed an over the cabinet door hanging glove dispenser from fabric designed by the same guy who did the designs for Book of Life, the Dia de Muertos movie from a few years back. Almost everyone thought (because of the orange) that it was Halloween-related, but nope, I only bought the yellow (a year or so ago) because they were out of the lime green.

And this is a bit of my hand sewing project (that I've had to stop working on for now because it was killing my hands!). It's paper pieces, which means that the whole thing starts with paper hexagons with 1.5 inch sides and I baste fabric around each one and then sew them together. It's hard to see the pattern, but it's double "flowers" and the green with the black and white egg fabric are the "path" through the flowers.

I've also sewn a couple of new style of masks, "3D masks" that are folding, like origami. I'm just bored with the old style and looking for something new. We're going to be wearing masks for a long, long time, so it's nice to have new ones from time to time. 

Okay, that's enough of an update. I'm tired.