My Covid Bucket List

There are certain activities that were fairly universal this year as we all adjusted the way we live in reaction to the pandemic. This is my list of what we accomplished: 

Work @ home or do school at home – I already worked at home, but was soon joined by my husband. Although it was an adjustment, it was kind of nice since it can be lonely working at home by yourself with only a kitty to keep you company. My sister and her husband who are teachers also switched to online lessons and lots of emails to students. Although there were technological challenges and adjustments to make, I think my sister was quite happy with the arrangement. Her two teenage sons seem to have made the adjustment well (especially the younger one who already spent lots of time on his computer). 

Participate in a Zoom call. Though I had done Skype a couple times, Zoom was new to me, but quickly became the industry standard as families and companies were encouraged to utilize this app to communicate to others via a camera on your computer. So far I’ve only used it three times – twice for family phone calls and once for the Haiku class I took earlier this autumn. 

Make a mask. Before the market was flooded with them, we had to make our own. My husband actually got the ball rolling on this. A joint effort over a weekend produced masks we were proud to wear outside the house (until my company sent us some, so we set our homemade masks aside favoring the more comfortable ones from H-). 

Make banana bread. Not quite sure why the pandemic caused people to neglect their bananas, or maybe it’s the fact that banana bread is considered a comfort food. Either way, we joined in this tradition and enjoyed it for months to come (we always divide it up and freeze some). 

Stream a church service. I streamed the Easter service at St. Brendan’s. My uncle told me churches in California are still closed and having services online only. Whereas in Ohio we’ve been doing a hybrid (in person and also streamable services) of sorts since May with adjustments being made due to the pandemic. 

Have an e-appointment with your doctor. I had one back in the spring which was quick, though not stress-free as I had trouble downloading the app since the browsers on my computer didn’t want to accept that newcomer, so I was forced to use my phone. Then I had to wait about 20 minutes as apparently the previous appointment my doctor was on ran late, so I had a quick 10 minutes before I had to go back to work. It worked out though as my doctor gave me the prescription I needed. I’m just glad I was able to go into her office for my annual physical as I certainly didn’t fancy pricking myself for the required blood test (not sure my husband fancied doing that to me either : ) 

Assemble a puzzle. We actually did a couple. One had been sitting around gathering dust for a few years, the other was a newer purchase. My sister-in-law told me they did several, but kept missing a piece after one of their dogs absconded with it. My parents put together a puzzle we bought them back when I was still a child (so you know that was a long time ago). My mom recently commented, "We finally finished! Sorry it took a pandemic to get it done."

Stream a concert online. As more and more of our usual entertainment went online this year, we streamed several concerts by one of our favorite folk artists, Lucy Wainwright Roche. Just a few weeks ago we had the privilege of seeing her perform side-by-side with her mom (who is also a performer; their whole family are musicians). 

Cut / Color your hair at home. My husband and I started the process by gathering supplies via a trip to our local Sally’s Beauty Supply. Among other things, we purchased special scissors, hair clippers, and a cape (they were out of hair dye, so I later bought that at Target).

My husband pretty much did his hair himself, though I assisted with his neck area. Unlike the clippers my parents have, these are lightweight and not at all scary, so I had no problem running it up and down my husband’s neck and did a pretty good job at doing it evenly.

 

I confidently handed over the scissors to my husband and left him in charge of giving me a trim. Though I loved my long locks, I know you have to cut your hair occasionally to keep it growing healthy. Even though my husband took off a couple inches more than requested, I’ve never been vain, and I knew it would grow back (and I had to stay in his good graces since I needed him to later dye my hair). We did the haircut over Memorial Day weekend, and my husband dyed my hair over Labor Day. He did a fantastic job with both, so hopefully he won’t mind assisting me again next year until we all get our vaccinations. 

Learn a new skill or hobby. Though it wasn’t planned, after I bought a Mr. Coffee espresso machine (with the refund I received from the wonky Keurig I bought last Christmas), my husband and I needed to learn a few basic barista skills.

We started out with lattes and cappuccinos. I’m less of a fan of those, so I went to You Tube to learn how to make a mocha, which actually isn’t that difficult. I’ve had fun tweaking it and haven’t looked back since. Now when I go to a coffee shop I try to order something that isn’t a run-of-the-mill drink since we can do those ourselves. I still like the Cinnamon Toast latte or Jumpin’ Monkey (latte) coffees they do at my local, Colin’s Coffee.