The trials and tribulations of 2020 and lucky black-eyed peas

So, I haven’t updated this blog much lately.  Guess I’ve just been super busy being depressed and quarantined. It's not all been lounging in pajamas and sleeping late, however. I have been working with Bowdabra blog as well as Make it easy crafts blog and there just isn’t enough time in the day.  I really do not understand it, but even though I have nowhere to go and the days seem endless, I never seem to get anything done! Perhaps it is the time change where it’s dark at 5:00 P.M. Or more than likely, the real reason is that when the days all seem to blend together and I feel like it's a scene from "Groundhog Day", it is hard to rev up my ambition. I've never before asked my husband so many times, "Is today Wednesday or Thursday?" 

 

Now that Thanksgiving is over, and Christmas is on the horizon how are those decorations going?  If you are like me, it is a little bit here and even less there.  In the past I was like Clark Griswald from "Christmas vacation", going overboard with three trees and a multitude of decorations. Now, I’m more like the Grinch, just hoping the holiday would pass quickly and quietly.  Why the big change?

 

Well, the world has changed.  So many restrictions and so many fears.  Solitude while once sought after for a moment or two has become the norm.  Ok, so I’m not totally alone.  I do have my husband and even though he is the easiest man to get along with, spending this much time together is a bit challenging.  I get cranky.  He gets cranky. It can only go downhill from there.

 

And then, there is streaming.  We’ve streamed everything that is worth watching and now all that remains are some dubbed in B movies and dopey Christmas romances. I'm just not into the bad acting and hokey stories. I've suffered through the Christmas prince meets the Christmas pauper one too many times. Even the holiday music is annoying. Not in the mood for a holiday tale? Ask yourself, how many times can they make a movie out of a giant, people eating sandworm?

 

I've never been one to binge-watch, but this year I’ve binged entire seasons of old TV shows in one day. 

 

I have a new studio and I cannot get the inspiration to paint. It used to be I would relish an extra hour or so to paint and now I have endless hours and yet I can’t manage that first brush stroke.

 

And while we are talking, what’s up with the mail. I went to order a Christmas present for my husband in November and even though they charged quite a bit for shipping, it wouldn’t get there before Christmas.  Nope, no gift arriving before January, that is, unless one will fork over another $15, $20, $30 extra fees depending upon when you want it to arrive.  So Cyber-Monday is deceptive unless you want to spend $50 for that personalized “totally free and only pay shipping” coffee mug.

 

Shop local…love to, if I only didn’t have to wear a mask.  I am unlucky enough to have suffered my entire life with asthma.  Covering my mouth and nose causes an anxiety-induced asthma attack and I must leave the store within five minutes.  Ever try to leisurely shop while you are suffocating?

 

When the clock struck 12 a.m. on Jan 1, 2020, I was in bed with the flu or something similar that took me 3 weeks to get over.  So, I didn’t cook my usual lucky black-eyed peas and rice like I have done every year in the past.  I think that was the reason the year 2020 was so difficult. I jinxed it.   This January 1, 2021, come hell or high water I am getting out the black-eyed peas and cooking up a double batch.