Oy. These cats. I’m up at 6:30 again, after two more interruptions, and I can’t even keep my eyes open long enough to go downstairs. I make it somehow to the kitchen and feed these precious little rats, stumble back upstairs and back into the bed. Mind you, I don’t remember any of this. I only know it happened because the hubby told me so and there’s evidence of food in the bowls downstairs. I see this evidence around noon, when I finally make myself crawl out of bed. I feel like I’ve just caught up on six days of sleep – maybe because I have.

Now that I’ve missed a significant portion of the day, I endeavor to make the most of what’s left. Since Friday is house cleaning day, but the maid service came this week, I only really need to deal with laundry and wiping down surfaces. Check.

Then we collectively make a list of groceries we need. We try to see what we can track down online for delivery, but it looks inevitable that we’ll have to walk into a grocery store this week. The ever-growing wish list turns into a shouting match at some point before I even realize it has happened. Mom-in-law, bless her heart, just doesn’t quite understand that “popping over the hill to Beverly Hills” to run some errands isn’t part of the current reality. And let me tell you - though she be tiny, she be fierce. She’s not one to back down from something she wants. Even during a pandemic. I explain as many times as I can patiently, then I simply lose my cool.

Riddled with guilt, I throw together a quick lunch of Thai Curried Lentil and Sweet Potato Soup for lunch, then head upstairs for yoga, a meditation from Iyanla Vanzant’s book, my vision board, and some tapping. Definitely some tapping.

Hours later, I reappear downstairs. We tackle some documents for a refi on the house. That turns into another argument. I retreat again to the safety upstairs and try to just focus on doing something productive to make myself feel better. Like sending out some emails to folks, and text messages to check in on friends. I read through the script for acting class once more, and upload my medical transcription demo to several submission sites. I trim the hubby’s hair and color my own. We stick a pot pie in the oven and hubby and I do a 15 minute meditation and a workout with Sadie before the buzzer goes off.

Well. That was a day. I guess quarantine can’t always be pleasant.

The Daily Deets:

Exercise – Yoga with Adrienne (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBu-pQG6sTY), Tabata Yoga Challenge with Sadie Nardini (https://www.dailyom.com)

Meditation – Chakra Dance to Change Your Life with Natalie Southgate (https://www.dailyom.com), Releasing anger (https://www.thetappingsolution.com), “Guilt” prayer from Iyanla Vanzant (https://www.iyanla.com)

Healthy Meal – Curried Thai lentil soup. And a shake!

Creative – reading script for class. Tweak and upload medical narration demo

Gratitudes:

1 – I am grateful for a sacred retreat where I can go to heal and soothe and gather myself back together. And forgive myself for whatever shortcomings I have.

2 – I am grateful for Iyanla Vanzant and her book “Get Over It!” The meditation/prayer for guilt is quite effective.

3 – I am grateful for the opportunities I’ve had in the past that may open doors for me in the future. Finding my medical narration track was as simple as finding a voiceover I did for a clinic in Redondo Beach and trimming it into a demo.

4 – I am grateful that I have cats here to comfort me.

5 – I am grateful for assignments that keep my mind focused and learning something new!

The cats have now rearranged their schedules one more notch. I guess that in their attempt to pick an hour, they are trying out several. This morning they choose 5am, again at 6am, and finally at 8am. The response at 5am was far from what they were hoping – unless a squirt bottle chasing them down the stairs was the goal, which I doubt. 6am was utterly pointless because their automatic feeders went off literally 5 minutes after they woke me up. In the hopes that positive reinforcement will help them pick the right one, they got fed at 8am.

And I’m feeling rather like a zombie.

I grab my tea and fizzy combo, and squeeze in the chakra dance meditation before getting on the computer for my first in a series of eight classes online. This course is specifically about digital marketing, with a healthy section on social media as well. I figure if I’m going to do Arbonne justice, I need to be educated on how to work in the digital realms. And right now, with time on my hands and a free class offer, I decide to jump in and make the most of it.

The course goes astonishingly fast. Of course, they want to you buy the workbook with all the notes and exercises in it, to get the optimum results from the course. Yeah, no. I’ll take my notes and save my $100 for food and essentials. The hour flies by – it’s an intro to the whole course, so I get a lot of broad strokes but not much meat. I do learn a few things though, and that tells me the course should be a good use of my time.

The hubby and I opt for a little hot brunch, and he makes cream of wheat for us. After a bowl of yummy goodness, I sit down to listen into the Daily Gathering replay, but wake up about an hour later with the headphones still on and no video running. I think I need to get up and move. Yoga. That’s the ticket. Something that will get my blood flowing without killing me in my drowsy stupor. I’m just finishing my yoga, when the hubs suggests we all go for a walk. Some fresh air will do us all some good, so we gather up mom-in-law and head outdoors.

It is beautiful today, if a little breezy and cooler than usual. Mom-in-law is bundled up like an Inuit – which is probably good because all those layers help protect her when she falls a block later. She has scraped her knee again, not too badly this time, but enough for us to shorten the walk and get her back to the house for tending. A little Bactine, some Neosporin, and a simple bandaid are all that are called for this time. We settle her in, and the hubs and I go out to finish our stroll.

When we get back, there’s time for a couple episodes of Black Sails before dinner, I’m still feeling tired, so this is a perfect time for vegging in front of a tv. We also squeeze in our Tabata Yoga workout, and I have my afternoon fizzy drink, and between those two I’m feeling refreshed a bit when we start cooking. Tonight is a cheesy chicken with mushroom sauce, baked carrots, and mashed potatoes.

We watch The Knick with mom-in-law while we eat. The hubs and I had started it a while ago, but never went back because it was a pay service. Now that everything is pretty much free, we’re revisiting it and enjoying it. But…I’m not sure a show about surgery in the 1900’s is the best option while eating meat for dinner. Just sayin’.

The Daily Deets:

Exercise – Yoga with Adrienne (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBu-pQG6sTY), walk around the neighborhood, Tabata Yoga Challenge with Sadie Nardini (https://www.dailyom.com)

Meditation – Chakra Dance to Change Your Life with Natalie Southgate (https://www.dailyom.com), Releasing sadness (https://www.thetappingsolution.com), and a dose of positivity from Natalie Ledwell and her FB group, The Daily Gathering (at least part of it before I drifted asleep!).

Healthy Meal – Cream of Wheat prepared lovingly by the hubs. And a shake, of course.

Creative – Marketing class online, scene work for acting class.

Gratitudes:

1 – I am grateful for every person who is staying home and respecting this lockdown.

2 – I am grateful for fizzy sticks that keep me awake when I just didn’t get any sleep.

3 – I am grateful that the hubby and I share so many interests. Sure does make it easier during this much time in close proximity.

4 – I am grateful for wireless headphones that allow me to dance around with music blasting without disturbing the entire house.

5 – I am grateful for sleep. Glorious sleep. Sound sleep. Please.

The cats are as thrown off by this new reality as the humans are. I’m sure of it. I’m sure of it because they are completely off their normal schedule. They usually wake me up at 7:30 or so, and that’s perfect for me. I like getting up early and having some quiet time to myself. But for the past several days, 7:30 has morphed into 6:45, then 6:30, and today 5:45. That is just a wee bit too early for my taste. Ever try to talk a cat into changing THEIR routine? Yeah. Exactly. I just can’t hang with the early wakeup, so I go back to bed for an hour, which means I oversleep and don’t wake up until almost 9. Poopy. There goes my morning.

I do get in my yoga workout before hopping on a call with my Arbonne sponsor, Julia. Today is about what’s working out there right now, and what’s not. It’s also just a great chance to see a smiling face, chat about the unique stresses outside of Arbonne these days, and be supportive of each other. When we wrap up the call, I go ahead and watch my vision board since I’m at the computer – it dawns on me that this is the first time I’ve seen it this week. Oops.

I crank up today’s Chakra Dance – the solar plexus chakra, which is all about sensuality and loosening up the body. The meditation has wave sounds integrated into the music, and it makes me miss the beach. So, I flip over to Facebook and find The Daily Gathering, and ask folks what they are doing to replace favorite haunts that are absent from life right now. People are brilliant sometimes. Someone suggests that I take a wave soundtrack out to the pool and swirl my toes around in the water to remind me just how cold the beach would be right now. It works. I feel better for being outside, and I also feel better about not freezing my butt off at the beach. Well done, Facebook. Well done.

The rest of the afternoon I get to enjoy one of my all-time favorite activities. Audionbooks and Art. I pull up Audible on my phone, let it play while the cats and I cuddle on the bed, and I pull out one of those art cards I started weeks ago. Today, I’m feeling kinda spunky, so I choose to work on the red card. Red is tricky because it changes the colors of the pencils when they uptake pigment on the page. Today is mostly shading and graduated highlights, but the dimensionality of the design really starts to pop on the red background. And I finish off another of the Will Wight books in the process. Not a bad day’s work.

I grab a shake, a fizz, some trail mix, and my water, and set up for an evening of Dungeons and Dragons. Last week we nearly got our heads bitten off in a battle with dragons. This week, we have a run in with a demi-god. Wow – this group sure does attract trouble. Of course, that’s the point, isn’t it? It wouldn’t really be a game if we only had smooth sailing and lounged by the pool all day, would it? Still, I feel rather downtrodden and exhausted when we wrap up at 11pm. It was a fun game, but I felt a bit off for some reason. I’m sure all with be back to normal next week, but a little tapping is certainly in order before ending the night on an off note.

The Daily Deets:

Exercise – Yoga with Adrienne (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBu-pQG6sTY),

Meditation – Quieting My Racing Mind (https://www.thetappingsolution.com), Chakra Dance to Change Your Life with Natalie Southgate (https://www.dailyom.com), and a live dose of positivity from Natalie Ledwell and her FB group, The Daily Gathering.

Healthy Meal – A yummy smoothie with vanilla protein powder, frozen strawberries, frozen bananas, and frozen raspberry. And some chia seeds and flax seeds thrown in for good measure.

Creative – Audio and art today, D&D online!

Gratitudes:

1 – I am grateful for people who continue to reach out to hospital staff to send them helpful items.

2 – I am grateful that California, and Los Angeles in particular, is under lockdown to try and limit exposure for everyone.

3 – I am grateful for time to spread positivity around the globe.

4 – I am grateful time to focus on art and remember how much it nurtures and soothes the soul.

5 – I am grateful for fellow geeks to play with once a week.

Is it just me or does this all feel remarkably like a science fiction novel? I mean, everyone connecting virtually. No cars on the roads. Stepping outside some days, it’s so quiet that it feels a little apocalyptic. Inside the house, it is nearly as dramatic. Mom-in-law watches news 12 hours a day, bringing periodic updates about the latest death counts and political debacles and stories of tragedy. We’ve tried to get her to limit her intake, but shy of taking her remotes away from her, haven’t had much success. The hubs and I try to find the balance between “Yay, I get to stay home with you!” and “Holy sh**, we’re gonna be bankrupt!” and every combination between. Some days are more calm and grounded than others. I imagine we aren’t unlike most homes across the country right now.

So, today I’m interacting with others. Virtually, of course.

It starts with a call to one of my Arbonne mentors, Margaret. She’s a fellow actor/writer, a fellow introvert, and a fellow consultant. I like her immensely. She also happens to be really good at this business, and I know there is so much I can learn from her, so I look forward to check in calls when they happen. We talk about how best to be there for others, about planting seeds right now and not worrying about closing any sales until folks know more about what their new normal will be. We talk about creating kits for the local hospital staff. And we talk about self care to keep ourselves positive during all of the mayhem.

Our discussion still lingering in my ears, I open up YouTube and begin my morning routine. First is yoga with Adrienne, then more chakra dancing at Daily Om, and finally a live facebook stream from Natalie Ledwell from Mind Movies. She’s put together a group called The Daily Gathering, and is doing daily live streaming with positive activities folks can do to keep good vibes and supportive words flowing. Some of it is self-promotion too, of course, but their product is particularly suited for this exact circumstance, and it really is something of great benefit, so I don’t mind that much. I also get in a couple calls and text chats with family today, and that, as much as anything else, grounds me back into feeling safe and secure. Nothing like a family who loves you to remind you all is going to be well.

All of this is happening while the maids are here to disinfect the house. We had some extensive debate about this – which is the greater risk, having them come or not? Ultimately, we decided it was the smarter step to have them come and thoroughly clean the past month of germs and neglect. After all, this time last month we weren’t under lockdown and nowhere near as vigilant as we are today. Crimeny, we had house guests staying here this time last month! It also factors in that this team is comprised of two super conscientious ladies, wearing gloves and masks to be sure there’s no chance of bringing something in, and we stay on whatever floor they aren’t working on. It ends up being only one of the partners here today, which means even less exposure, and she is incredibly respectful of distancing and boundaries. I also feel good about supporting their business right now - they’ve lost 90% of their regular clientele due to the pandemic.

As I work online, listening to training sessions and sending out messages to people, the hubs is on a mission impossible. He has gone out in search of N95 masks. Three hours later, he returns victorious! Two beautiful, bagged, pristine masks have made their way to our home, courtesy of his armorer friend. After reaching out to folks and friends, one of his reached back out with the news that he had two he could spare for our household. I love the generosity that is resurfacing in people.

On the way home, hubby finds a Honeybaked Ham that is open for takeout, so he brings some sandwiches in. It makes for a very late lunch, but we are all appreciative of the efforts, the novelty of food from outside the doors of our home, and of his victory.

In fact, lunch is so late that none of us are interested in dinner at all. I have cereal. Mom has a toasted ciabatta roll with cheese. The hubby has a shake. And we all toddle off in our respective directions. I use my evening to do a quick self-tape (just to keep my skills fresh) and search for good materials for a medical narration demo. It seems that the voiceover world is shifting to accommodate the current crisis. Commercial work is nigh nonexistent, but medical transcription and textbook narration are on the rise. Time for me to polish up and get a couple new demos out there.

The day ends with Captain Flint, Long John Silver, and lots of grubby pirates. Oh, and a tapping to let go of the day and sleep soundly through the night.

The Daily Deets:

Exercise – Yoga with Adrienne (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBu-pQG6sTY),

Meditation – Releasing Shame and Embarassment (https://www.thetappingsolution.com), Chakra Dance to Change Your Life with Natalie Southgate (https://www.dailyom.com), and a live dose of positivity from Natalie Ledwell and her FB group.

Healthy Meal – I have a jumbo shake for brunch today, filled with bananas and almond butter and yummy goodness like that.

Creative – I got a recipe cookbook in the mail today, and immediately began oogling what recipe is going to be my next video! I also recorded a self tape, and began work on my medical narration VO demo

Gratitudes:

1 – I am grateful for chats with family and friends to remind me they are safe and so am I.

2 – I am grateful for Daisy and Ana, our maid service, for their time and attention to disinfect our home today.

3 – I am grateful for friends who prefer generosity to hoarding when they see a need.

4 –I am grateful for inspiration for more videos! And more desserts.

5 – I am grateful for a brand spanking new yoga program that I’ve never tried before.

It’s a moderate start to this new week. I sleep in just a bit, getting up by 9am and making coffee for everyone. It’s the first real cup of coffee I’ve had in weeks, and I just feel the need for the taste. I chill with the kitties in my office – watching the vision board, doing a little tapping, dancing a little chakra dance - before I dive into the emails for the day. The chakra dance course is another perennial favorite through Daily Om. It takes you through a dance and meditation focused on each chakra, with a different chakra for each day of the week. Seven chakras = one week of dancing in the morning = happy Lesley. Today, we start with the Root Chakra, which – oh-so-appropriately – is associated with safety and basic needs.

Once I’ve rocked my chakra, I try out a new yoga challenge I found on YouTube. The instructor's name is Adrienne, and it's a great slow, basic first day. I like it as a complete change of pace and routine. Once yoga wraps up, I have several items to handle, some for me, some for mom-in-law, some just general housekeeping. It seems like there is constantly a load of laundry in the wash. It rankles the environmentalist in me, but I’d rather sanitize stuff at this point.

The day flies by, and I can’t even tell you all that I did to fill up the hours. I know I got a few more documents submitted to the Actors Fund, talked to my bank, and helped mom sort through some refi paperwork for the house, but aside from that, I have no idea where the day went.

By 5pm, I haven’t even worked out! Huh! How did that happen? I put my workout clothes on hours ago! The hubby is game for more Sadie Nardini, so we do a quick workout before dinner. (I think this is the most regular exercise he’s had in years!) After our workout, I still have an hour before dinner time, so I indulge in reading a one-act play in search of a good monologue for class. I settle on The People by Susan Glaspell. It’s a monologue I’ve used in years past, but haven’t ever really done much work on. Now seems a perfect opportunity.

I’m chickened out, so we opt for a simple dinner of chili…canned. It’s good. It’s easy. It’s fast. It’s perfect. We watch a Ken Burns documentary on state parks while we guzzle chili. I manage to take a modest soak in the tub after, and we still have time for more pirates before bed.

That, my friends, was a pretty darn good day.

The Daily Deets:

Exercise – Yoga with Adrienne (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBu-pQG6sTY), Tabata Yoga Challenge with Sadie Nardini (https://www.dailyom.com)

Meditation – Coronavirus: I’m stressed about the world (https://www.thetappingsolution.com), Chakra Dance to Change Your Life with Natalie Southgate (https://www.dailyom.com), and does a soak in the tub count? I think yes.

Healthy Meal –hummus and veggies for a late morning snack. Vanilla shake post-workout.

Creative – read play and work on monologue from The People

Gratitudes:

1 – I am grateful for time.

2 – I am grateful for sunshine on a cloudy day.

3 – I am grateful for a throw blanket on the futon that has not been “billa-fied”…yet.

4 – I am grateful for the opportunity to revisit an old favorite

5 – I am grateful for another week of strange and wonderful stories from the pandemic world. It’s fascinating to see how people come out of their shells and share hope during a time like this.

I’m wide awake at 5am. Why? No idea, but I’m blaming the cats. I’m not inclined to go back to bed once they’re fed, so I stay up. As it happens, my mom is awake too and texts me. I throw on some sweats and head outside so we can talk. It’s her birthday, and she’s planning to have lunch with my brother and sister in law as her one extravagance for her day. They’re grilling out and actually getting together face to face. Safely, of course. With tons of hand sanitizer and washed hands and distance and love.

As we end the call to get our respective days started, I have my Sweet & Spicy tea with a fizz stick and head upstairs. I get a little of my blogging done while everyone else is still asleep. The hubs had thought about going to the archery range today, but decided against it. That’s not essential travel, and he’s sticking with the guidelines absolutely these days. So, instead, our back yard gets converted into an ersatz English Longbow range.

While the hubby indulges in some rare hobby time, I’m working on getting a little assistance from the Actor’s Fund – a fantastic resource through SAG-AFTRA. They are overwhelmed with the number of requests right now, so I’m doing a little legwork and pulling documentation for them to make their jobs (and my approval) easier. That takes a few hours to pull together. Then the hubs and I fully embrace this homebody stuff and binge a little “Black Sails” on Amazon. I think this may be our fourth time through the series – we kinda like it – and somehow scurvy pirates is the perfect salve for global pandemics. If you like Treasure Island, I highly recommend this show.

By 4:30, I leave the pirates behind and gather my goodies for class. I like to take time I would normally have been in the car driving, and use that to do some meditating and centering work before we start with this first online class. I get the candles going and some new age music playing, and a little incense burning, and by 6pm I am revved up and ready.

It’s surprising how smoothly this whole online thing works. With class, just as with D&D, the change in environment is barely a glitch on the radar as far as interfering with the learning process and connection. We have about 50 people on the zoom call, and there’s not a single problem for the entire four hour class. We get to learn some basic story analysis techniques, three people put up monologues and get critiques, and all from the safety and comfort of home. As we wrap up class, my legs are completely numb – I’ve had two cats in attendance with me, absorbing all the wisdom of acting class through curled up paws and closed eyes.

Sigh. I could get used to this.

The Daily Deets:

Exercise – Morning walk and talk with mom.

Meditation –Body scan with Steve Hoskinson (https://youtu.be/ntW6yoJzG8A)

Healthy Meal – tuna salad with tomatoes, celery, and sunflower seeds with lemon dressing. Shake for dinner during class.

Creative –A fair amount of pirate joking, and Crash Class. (https://www.crachacting.com)

Gratitudes:

1 – I am grateful for my mom, for our relationship, and that I got to talk with her today.

2 – I am grateful that my brother and sister-in-law live so close to my mom and can have her over for a mini-celebration

3 – I am grateful for class tonight while I recline on the futon with a lap full of kitties

4 – I am thankful that we have a backyard where the hubby can practice his archery skills and indulge in a bit of fun time.

5 – I am grateful for pirates – their language, their lore, NOT their teeth, but definitely their extraordinary hats.

Here’s how the week went:

7 workouts, incuding 3 walks

6 healthy meals, 7 healthy shakes

6 meditations and 6 tapping meditations

35 Gratitudes!

My Personal Progress Report:

Job – LOL.

Acting and creativity – Relaxing into a creative flow this week. Lots of reading, a little writing, and even some guitar playing

Healthy body – Good. Great energy. Loving getting up early in the mornings. Weight has not changed, nor have measurements.

Overall sense of wellbeing – Well, hmmm. It has taken me most of the week to wrap my head around the current situation and relax into being home with no work agenda. But I think I've finally rounded that bend and embraced the luxury of it all. Oddly, I'm feeling pretty darn good.

 I wake up today feeling refreshed. Whatever corner I turned yesterday, it’s sticking so far, and I’ve managed to release my stress and anxiety about this whole quarantine and financial draught. Not that anything has changed or been fixed, but I am just not carrying it around with me today.

And that’s good because, it’s definitely cardio day with Sadie. Even thought she doesn’t really break this Tabata Yoga series up that way, anytime I have double hop burpees and donkey kicks in the same workout, you can’t tell me it isn’t cardio. I swallow my distaste and kick some butt…literally.

I take a little time to connect with clients again today, and slide in a second read of the script for class tomorrow. It’s a relaxed day, with time for a bit more reading of my own as well. It feels like the world is settling into a new normal and the freak-out factor has dialed down across the board.

By late afternoon, we all need a break from being stuck indoors and we take mom-in-law for a leisurely stroll around the neighborhood. The sky is clear, the air tastes clean, plants are sprouting buds everywhere, and most of the neighbors are in good spirits as they walk their dogs from a safe distance on the opposite side of the street. We talk about the fact that Mother Earth is enjoying a bit of a bounce back during this lack of human activity. It seems waterways around the globe have cleared, and air pollution is dropping in metro areas. If only we could learn a few new behaviors from this period of isolation and treat our planet better when we re-emerge. Conversation distracts mom-in-law from the exertion of walking, and makes the time more pleasant for everyone. There is one notable exception to the positivity of this stroll - one neighbor who seems to feel this whole “quarantine” thing is ridiculous. As we walk past his driveway, he actually walks right up to within a few feet of us, talking with disdain about this “coronavirus nonsense” and proceeds to spit on the ground. WHAT?!? In this time, when we’re washing hands about 50 times each day, and most people are wearing masks to the grocery store, you want to spit your fluids onto the ground inches away from an 85 year old woman who obviously has breathing issues? WTF? ONLY to avoid closer contact, the hubs and I bite our tongues and cross the street away from this monster. What possess someone – some adult - to be so careless, so irresponsible? I guess there really is one in every crowd.

Having showered from our walk, hubby joins me for a little restorative yoga to calm the nerves from our encounter and stretch out sore muscles. It shifts our energy immediately. Our anger dissipated and impish humor restored, we rustle up a yummy fish dinner and huddle in the living room to watch “Contagion”… because we’re just sick that way. It’s kind of spooky how accurate the film is to our current reality.

Another interesting day at home.

The Daily Deets:

Exercise – Tabata Yoga Challenge with Sadie Nardini (https://www.dailyom.com), AM/PM Yoga with Elena Brower (https://www.amazon.com/Element-AM-PM-Yoga-Beginners/dp/B001AYWY68)

Meditation – Loving Kindness (https:// www.oakmeditation.com), Coronavirus: From Fear and Worry to Peace (https://www.thetappingsolution.com)

Healthy Meal –I made a double shake today with Sunflower Seed Butter, banana, and almond milk. Wasabi baked tilapia with green beans and rice for dinner.

Creative – A little brainstorming on restructuring my Arbonne business to be more of service. Reading – The Beatles from A to Zed by Peter Asher. Reread of script for class

Gratitudes:

1 – I am grateful that the hubs joined in the yoga today

2 – I am grateful that neither the hubby nor I beat the crap out of our douche-bag neighbor today.

3 – I am grateful that everyone seems to be settling into the current reality of isolation, and finding creative ways to still connect.

4 – I am grateful that I have options out there for assistance during this weird time.

5 – I am grateful to be healthy and alive to enjoy one more day.

It has taken me until today to finally wrap my brain around this whole lock-down thing. I’ve been rushing around, trying to do all my normal checklist of items and tasks, plus making precautionary plans for family, and it’s been like swimming upstream. Finally, this morning, it has dawned on me – relax, Les. Just relax, and let go of your imaginary deadlines. No one cares how many posts you make this week on social media. No one is in the office to read your urgent email. Just take a chill. And maybe read a book.

Once I’ve let go of the agenda that has defined my life for the past four years as a freelance contractor, I immediately feel my shoulders ease. I’ve worked so hard to put a system in place, I never realized how hard it would be to let it go. I listen to a short meditation called Eliminate Stress with Sonia Ricotti. I take a breath. A nice, big, deep breath.

My workout feels really good today. I worked out in the evening last night so the hubs could join in, and I considered taking this morning off, but…nah. I’m all chipper and ready to move, so I go for it. Then it’s off to grab my morning tea and hop on a group call for Crash Acting to discuss how we operate to move forward.

It is amazing to see all those faces I’ve come to know as my tribe. The plan is to do online classes via Zoom for as long as needed. Reports we’re getting at this point say probably late June. So, we’ll do a group exercise, work a few individual monologues, and work on some technique stuff that we haven’t really focused on in a while. The idea is to be so prepared when everything springs back to life that we are instantly hirable. It’s also nice to keep that routine – we’ll be meeting every Sunday night, just like usual.

It’s after this call that the real peace hits me…I can really just relax and let go. I open up the futon, pull out a blanket and those books I’ve been putting off for months, and crack the first page.

Oh, I do love reading!! Today I’m diving into a book my oldest brother gave me for my birthday. It’s called The Beatles from A to Zed by fellow musician and Sirius XM DJ, Peter Asher. My bro knows I’m a junkie for the Beatles channel in my car. It rarely moves off of that station, if I’m being honest. And I heard the show that this book was based on. So, I’m super stoked to read this and get to go a little deeper into some of the stories and histories. It’s not a straight forward A to Z that one might expect. This delves to the periphery of Beatlemania and includes little snippets of things like the studio backup singer on this track, or the origins of the instrument played on that track. Stuff I would never have thought to ask about is all included here. Fantastic.

I also have a script to read before class on Sunday. I do, reluctantly, put the Beatles down and let myself switch focus to a screenplay. The sacrifices we make for art.

The hubs and I prep an Italian soup recipe for dinner. It’s a one pot dish, very little preparation, and really good comfort food. We opt to watch Al Pacino’s new series “Hunters” I wasn’t impressed. With the tv show…the dinner was quite scrumptuous.

The Daily Deets:

Exercise – Tabata Yoga Challenge with Sadie Nardini (https://www.dailyom.com)

Meditation – Eliminate Stress with Sonia Ricotti (https://soniaricotti.com), Coronoavirus: Feeling Safe and Secure (https://www.thetappingsolution.com)

Healthy Meal – Vanilla shake, plain. Italian wedding soup for dinner.

Creative – Reading! The Beatles from A to Zed by Peter Asher, and a script for class on Sunday.

Gratitudes:

1 – I am grateful to see all my classmates over the video today. Miss those folks.

2 – I am grateful for finding my peace with this whole situation today.

3 – I am thankful for hot soup and even for crappy television.

4 – I am grateful for books! Books! Books!!

5 – I am thankful for time to read today.

I can feel it looming from the moment I wake up…marketing day. Okay, no not really. I get it – exposure and all of that, but I just can’t buy into the fear. Be smart. Stay safe. Take precautions. Continue to live. That is the only way I see through this. So, the fact that we’re going marketing today interrupts my work flow more than any other anxiety.

And I know this is something I must work on getting beyond. This whole habit of feeling like “I don’t have time” and that everything is disrupting productivity. I understand where it comes from – all 4 of my jobs are closed down or so slowed as to be nigh nonexistent. And there are still bills to be paid and food to be bought. But this endless nagging feeling of fighting the clock is utterly ridiculous under the circumstances. Today the mayor has essentially closed down everything. So, returning emails in a timely matter seems to lose a bit of immediacy. How many posts I make each week on Social Media doesn’t quite matter so intensely. Really, almost everything on my schedule can be scrapped and time opened up for more creative endeavors. At least, in theory. But I haven’t quite made that peace yet.

I do manage to get the bed linens taken off for washing. The sheets and pillow cases get sanitized; the bed itself gets a generous dose of Lysol. Sybilla can't wait for new sheets to be put on, she hunkers dow while we head out to the grocery.

The grocery store is exceedingly organized. There are monitors at the doors – one customer comes out, one can go in on the other side of the store. This way, they minimize contact between patrons, lessen the lines at check-out, and keep every cart and basket sprayed down with a healthy dose of sanitizing cleanser. I’m kind of impressed, actually. Of course, there are a lot of empty shelves and empty aisles, but we expected that going in. We still managed to get about 60% of our items, and escape without incident.

After everything is put away, i squeeze in a quick client call, then the hubs decides he’d like to join me in my workout. This happens about once per year, so it’s an unexpected but welcome treat. Perhaps he’s feeling the need to keep his lungs and body in shape right now too. I empathize, and I don’t pull any punches. I’m on the last few days of Sadie Nardini’s program – the program that gets progressively more intense as you go. I offer suggestions to modify exercises as we go along, to make sure he doesn’t hurt anything, but it’s up to him to take it at a beginner’s pace. He does pretty well, and says he wants to join me tomorrow too.

Showers for all and then it’s time for dinner. We make a yummy pan seared chicken dish from Hello Fresh – I’m still so angry about their customer service betrayal that it may be our last week of meals from them. Dinner time is family time, albeit in front of the tv usually, and it’s nice to share some time with people within a reasonable distance. I also throw together some yummy and healthy date and cashew balls. It's a favorite for me - the sole member of our household who is not a chocoholic - and the hubs likes them too. I mainly love that they're super simple:

1 cup of pitted Medjool dates

1 cup of cashews (soaked overnight)

a pinch of sea salt

a tblsp of unsweetened shaved coconut

Throw it all in a food processor, then spoon it out and roll like meatballs. (My favorite part of this process)  I freeze them and just leave them in the freezer, but once they've set, you can move them to the fridge if you prefer.

Well, we survived marketing day. What new drama will tomorrow bring?

The Daily Deets:

Exercise – Exercise with the hubby!! Tabata Yoga Challenge with Sadie Nardini (https://www.dailyom.com)

Meditation – Law of Attraction track (https://www.subliminalguru.com), Coronavirus: Feel Safe and Grounded in your Body (https://www.thetappingsolution.com)

Healthy Meal – Pan seared chicken breasts with green beans and sweet potatoes.

Creative – Guitar and a little creative letter writing to friends and family. Remember those - handwritten letters?

Gratitudes:

1 – I am grateful that the hubs decided to join in on the exercise today!

2 – I am grateful for groceries in our pantry

3 – I am thankful that the grocery store is organized and handling this whole crazy scenario as safely as possible.

4 – I am grateful for a little time to play my much-neglected guitar!

5 – I am grateful for this nifty little cat stamp that I’ve had for months and never used – until today. 

I’m up and working out before 8 am today. I feel this unrelenting need to keep myself in shape, to keep strong so I can fend off whatever virus I might encounter. I know there’s more to it than that, but it makes me feel good to keep with my routine.

By 10 am, I’m braving the deserted Los Angeles streets – Oh, Wow! This is weird! – and headed to West Hollywood to meet my Arbonne sponsor, Julia. It’s so easy to get bogged down during all of this, and maintaining some contact, although no hugs or getting close, brightens my spirits. I know sales will be slim right now. Too many folks are in the same boat as I am, with sever loss of income and uncertainty about when it will come back. But I still want to brainstorm about ways to help people during this time. We keep at arm’s length away from each other, washing hands often and drinking our shakes. I’m only there for an hour – in truth, I’m on the road twice as long as I’m there working with her, so it isn’t a very efficient use of my time, but I needed it and I’m glad I went. It may be the last outing I have for months.

On the way home, I stop in the pharmacy to pick up a prescription, but pretty well avoid everything else. At home, the hubby and I begin the comprehensive “quarantine food list” full of crap we wouldn’t normally ever eat. Canned vegetables, dried beans, canned coconut milk, jerky meats, and stuff that has a shelf life of several years. It means preservatives, which I don’t like, but I also understand the desire to have food stores in case. We create a reasonable two page list, and I have the bright idea that maybe we can order online and just drive over and pick it up.

The Ralph’s page lets us put all these items into our cart, but, alas!, when we try to schedule the pick up date, there are none available. There’s a wasted hour. I mean, I know we have extra time on our hands right now, but I don’t want to just waste it. I guess we’ll have to brave contagion and actually walk into the grocery store tomorrow.

I have a second disappointment this evening, this time with our meal company, Hello Fresh. We’ve been subscribers for several years now, and I get the bright idea that I can let folks use my vouchers for free boxes of food now. I’ve been hoarding them and have about 7 I can dole out. So, I make some posts and reach out to friends who I know have recently lost all of their income and might really appreciate a box of food showing up on their doorstep. About the time these folks see messages and start responding to the invitation, I find that Hello Fresh has rescinded their free meal boxes until further notice. WHAT?!?! Right in the midst of a time when folks really need them? Why would you do that? So I call customer service and none-too-politely express how I feel about their decision to abandon folks when they could really be doing some good.

I’m fired up by the time I hang up, and the hubs offers to take a stroll and unwind a bit. Good thinking. I have a D&D game tonight, and as fun as it might be to vent my anger and kill everything in sight, I don’t really want to go into the evening with a poopy attitude. It’s also nice to get some fresh air.

When we get back indoors, I discover there’s another storm brewing. The hubby isn’t thrilled that I’m still going to be “out” for the evening. I’m home and in my office, because we’re all smart people and are playing online, but I’m playing, so I’m not really home, and can’t help with meal prep unless we cook really early. No one is interested in cooking early. And the grumbling continues until 7pm, when I shut my door and log onto the game via Zoom.

The game, despite some technical challenges in our first remote round, goes remarkably well! We have a giant battle to launch our evening, and the technology is forgiving enough that we stumble through without killing the momentum and fun of the exercise. I am so incredibly glad, because I know I needed this evening to be fun and relaxing. I am battling with attitude maintenance at the moment. As I suspect many are. Score one for the geeks!

The Daily Deets:

Exercise – Tabata Yoga Challenge with Sadie Nardini (https://www.dailyom.com) Walk around the ‘hood

Meditation – The Tapping Solution has a whole series of Coronavirus tapping meditations. I just started with Releasing Shock for today.(https://www.thetappingsolution.com)

Healthy Meal – Shake, shake, shake! Vanilla shake with berries and avocado. MMMMMMMM. And some wonton soup for dinner.

Creative – D&D via zoom.(https://zoom.us)

Gratitudes:

1 – I am so grateful for technology that allows us to continue connecting safely…and to play games which is essential to maintaining sanity.

2 – I am grateful for time spent in the world today, safely and respectfully, working with my Arbonne team.

3 – I am grateful for meditations aimed at the very specific freak-outs of this present environment.

4 – I am grateful I didn’t get killed or eaten by a void dragon tonight.

5 – I am grateful to mom-in-law and the hubby for bringing up soup for dinner. How thoughtful!