We’ve reached Phase F of the pandemic.
What is Phase F you ask?
It’s the part of the pandemic where my daughter and I make a pot of tea, and at 10pm we turn on Nickelodeon for reruns of Friends…
One episode, Ross is on a leave of absence from his job and is living with Joey and Chandler. Ross complains to Joey that he did all his errands, and now he’s bored. Joey scoffs at him: He tells Ross that you need to spread out the errands. Bank on Monday, post office on Tuesday, drug store on Wednesday etc. In essence, you do one errand a day…
I used to be a Ross. I used to run all my errands on Mondays.
Good Times…
Sixth Avenue in Chelsea is one of my go to blocks. They have a Trader Joe’s (food), Container Store (containers), Harmon Drug. Michaels Art Supplies, a Bed Bath and Beyond, Staples (office supplies), and a Fairway Market. With a block of this are two Home Depot (hardware), Whole Foods, Barnes and Noble(books), and a Sephora (make up). The bank, post office and thrift stores are within a block of my house and I need to pass them to get to the other stores. – I would leave the house with three or four reusable bags, a long list and a spring in my step…I could go store to store and get whatever I needed/wanted. Returning home would be with a sense of accomplishment as I unpacked and put away all the things I need to get through a week…A smile would light up my face as I placed the reusable bags back onto the magnet hooks behind my front door…
Fast forward to this week:
Monday I went to Fairway (really large market).
Tuesday I went to Harmon (drug store with no prescriptions but wide array of beauty products)
Wednesday I went to Bed Bath and Beyond (I needed a new pan, but I’m going to talk about that on October 1 when I have a post scheduled about it)
Today I am going to Target.
Tomorrow I am dropping stuff off at Salvation Army (thrift store)
Saturday- one thing…
Sunday….
…
Just call me Joey.
Some would say the luxury of time is a blessing.
I am not one of those people.
I liked having a day where I got everything done, leaving the rest of the week open to possibilities…
And even if the possibility was working four hours a day on my book, it was wonderful…
But now I take my to do list and rip it into seven pieces…one for each day of the week…
And yes- I totally long for the days when my planner was filled with more than just stickers…
But to be fair, I might need to buy a larger planner because I’m really loving the stickers and I can’t see them going away any time soon…
And I really look forward to getting back to being a little bit like Ross, and a whole lot like Monica…
Waking up on the Wrong Side of 50 
In my life, Phase F is when I step out of the house.😂 I haven’t gone beyond the gate for the past four months. I am still sane… or I would like to think so.😉
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I think you are still sane. I, on the other hand, have been going out and am not even close to sane
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So, to conclude… sanity does not depend on whether is one locked in. 😉
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😉
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I totally get it. It’s a sense of accomplishment to have a list and get it all done. Doing one thing a day seems like a chore because you know you’re not done with your chores.
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Exactly
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Oh gee, this is me, too! aarggh!
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😉
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This is the way I feel about laundry. Do it all every Tuesday. But lately I’ve had to change it up a little to fit other things into my life. I don’t like it. I also like to group my outside errands because it just seems more efficient. And I love those days with no chores in my planner!!
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😊
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LOL – I want to be by your house with all those great places so close together. The only store I’ve been to since March is the grocery store. I miss Michaels and Barnes and Noble SO bad!
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My salvation is walking those aisles
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That’s funny. Pandemic life has had the opposite effect in my life. I used to just run errands as they came up. Now I schedule them all for one day, if possible.
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I need to spread out my joy…
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😆And for me, it’s a pain!
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😉
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Lol. When I read the title of this post, I was expecting something much different, as in WTF! 😏 Now that I see you had something else in mind entirely. 😊
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Have to keep you guessing!
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😁
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Sounds like fun
Watching Friends!! Monday is my run day! This Monday did not go well for me though. We had what they are calling an inland hurricane go through Iowa and I happened to be stuck in the back room of Target during it with 200 of my new best friends. It is still a mess in this state! Trees down, roofs off, etc. My daughter is still without electricity. But, nonetheless, I did eventually finish my Monday errand day because that’s why I do On Monday’s!
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That’s sounds horrible! Though, when asked “where do you go in a zombie apocalypse”, I always say target….
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It was! Still is for a lot of people with trees down and roofs damaged! But I actually felt safe in Target!! I would’ve been freaking out at home watching all of our patio furniture fly around the backyard!!
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That’s is totally something to freak about!
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PHASE “F?” Call me surprised, this post didn’t go the way I thought it would with a title like that..HAHAHA!! 😂
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I need to keep you on your toes….
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👍
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Bedbath and beyond? Now I am intrigued.
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They sell stuff for beds, baths and the fifth dimension
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Ok. Many years ago 😉 a nurse gave me a bed-bath in hospital………… I thought you meant those!
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😉
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“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” This is the season of Covid Phase F?–I love it! Let’s do some more. Mix it up!🙃😀🎉
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😉trying to have a little fun…
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I’m a little ADD and tend to do things halfway, jump to another task, run to the store, back to the chore, fold something, steam out a wrinkle on the curtain, maybe I should clean the sink, shower, sweep the steps, and plop on the unmade bed to read. It’s only getting worse…loved that you watch reruns of Friends with your daughter! C
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I can be like that too. I keep a notebook with me and if I’m amidst something I jot down the thing I thought about. Then at the end of the day I add it to my to do list
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I love how we have all of these places in Florida also. I don’t remember this happening years ago in New York. I remember Azuma’s, Chock Full of Nuts, etc, so many original places. I just heard on a talk show that NYC is like a ghost town. I don’t want to believe this. Say it is not true but if so, it sounds like a good time to visit and miss the crowds.
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It is a ghost town. But it all depends on what you want out of your visit. No museums or theater or concerts or anything indoors except stores.
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Interesting. I seem to remember in August it was always quiet as many went to the Hamptons if they were lucky or some vacation to get away from the city. It would be a little eerie. I hope things improve. Enjoy your weekend away!
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August is always dead. But as there’s still a pandemic, it will remain quiet. I do think things will pick up a little post labor day
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I’m definitely Chandler
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I’m not funny or smart enough to be chandler
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That’s funny. Errands are special occasions, now. I get excited and dressed up to go to the grocery store. You can tell the great divide of public opinion on this issue by who’s wearing L’oreal and who is barely awake enough to put on pants.
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I skimmed my way through March and early April in sweats with no make up…now I’m making an effort to get dressed every day
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You and me both! If this is the new normal, count me out.
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😉
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That was very entertaining. I still prefer to get all my errands done on one day, but I was out 3 days this week and that was too much…..one was a 6 hour errand day with multiple stops as I had let things pile up……and then I started to worry about Covid circulating and being out too much.
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I definitely prefer all in one day…now it’s just to break up the monotony
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