April 10 & 11, 2020

Friday was just another work day. I was infront of my computer the whole day and had back pain at the end of it.

Highlight was Instacart finally delivering my orders from Sprouts and Safeway. I didn’t want to go out, line up and be stressed out, so I just decided to order our produce needs. I had a hard time getting some delivery time but finally my orders came through! Being in the Bay Area, most everyone is savvy with using tech so I have lots of competition. It’s funny how this CoVid19 is also putting traditional roles upside down. Both of my shoppers were male! Hah!

Saturday was, just like the rest of the week, a dreary day. It was also time to do general cleaning at home…again. I try to stick to our pre-Covid19 schedule when H & A would come every two weeks to help with housekeeping. Gosh – it’s really a hard job. Took me three hours to finish the entire house. I’m happy though despite the physical effort. Now that I have our home to ourselves, I’m able to focus on really getting every corner of it cleaned according to my preference. I feel lighter as the house gets cleaner. I’m sure some of you can relate to this.

After the hard slug, I rested a little and then decided to peel the fresh pineapple I got yesterday. In the spirit of zero waste, I boiled the peel and other odds and ends over slow fire for pineapple juice. Other than juice, you can also make tea or even vinegar out of the discards. Great way to help the environment while you enjoy a boost in Vitamin C and other nutrients. Win-win!

This pandemic made me realize I need to do more to help reduce our impact to the environment. Some of the changes I’m making is to be more mindful of the green waste we generate. A friend showed me how one can keep the discards from the vegetables we prepare and turn it into vegetable broth! Simple things like these make an incremental difference. I’m more resolved to really be a steward of reduce, reuse and recycle. It’s not just paper and plastic but even produce, too. I’ve also resorted to making my own sanitizing/disinfecting solution. Out of necessity because of lack of supply. I’m never going back to commercial stuff.

Mother Nature is telling us something, we need to listen.

Speaking of which, as I was about to go to bed, we had an unexpected visitor. ‘Tis the evening before Easter, in time of quarantine. We got a wild visitor from the outside looking in. Nature’s revenge?

April 12, 2020

It’s Easter Sunday! My cat, Tara, woke me up three times! I thought I could outsmart her but when she’s hungry, she won’t let up. I just had to get up. Anyway, at least I was able to meditate and do my HIIT exercise before, of course, our traditional pancake morning.

The weather also turned out to be nice. I decided to walk down the hill to check out our neighborhood Farmer’s Market. I needed to get eggs and some herbs and fruits, all of which I forgot to order for delivery. Anyway, I wanted to support the local farmers, too. Good to know they are practicing social distancing but to this day, I don’t understand how some people are still clueless about trying to maintain 6 feet distance. And to this day, I also do not understand why some people do not wear masks in public! Ugh. At least the people selling were all wearing masks and gloves. It’s the general public that’s not too clued in.

Since it turned out to be such a beautiful day, I took the opportunity to finally plant the herb seeds I got as Christmas gift from a friend. Another thing I promised myself I will start doing is having an edible plant garden. When the shelter-in-place started, there were a lot of hoarding going on and some supplies became hard to come by. This is when I realized that maybe it’s time to get back to the basics and become a little bit more self-sufficient for certain things. An herb garden would be nice to have. I’d like to also plant some eggplant ant tomatoes and some root crops – perhaps, potatoes and beets. We’ll see. I’m even attempting to germinate the avocado seeds I have and try to have an avocado tree. That’s ambition but I’m willing give it a try.

From just planting the herbal seeds, I ended up doing yard work, too. It’s great to be outside again and doing something physical. I don’t really mind the hard work. I welcome it. Being indoors for the most part of the week, having the opportunity to enjoy some sunshine while pulling weeds is a welcomed break.

I consider this beautiful day – Easter Sunday of all days – a gift from Mother Nature. We’re still blessed despite the odds.

Here’s to rebirth and a brighter tomorrow!