I left the house! (Or, the stock the hell up store)
I put on my big girl panties today. Like, multiple pairs.
So. I have essentially not left the house since March 19th, which is also the last day I worked. I did a quick ride to the mailbox back on the 25th since I had bills to pay, but I did not get out of my car, and the post office is less than a half-mile away. This...doesn't entirely count. Today, however, was the big test. Dad had a Menards rebate to send in, I'd been mailed a paycheck that needed to go to the bank, and it was my turn to go grocery shopping, my parents effectively having gone "One-two-three Not It" and touching their fingers to their noses.
Not gonna lie, I was a little nervous, more about the grocery store than anything else, in case it was busy, and in case they didn't have what we liked. I would have worn a facial covering regardless, but at least now with that being the general recommendation, people wouldn't look at me as funny. That helped. (Also, I have learned to stifle my coughs at times--it's not 100% of the time, but if I'm, say, watching TV in the dining room with my dad and I don't feel like getting up yet, I can hold it in until a commercial or the program's over. Then I can go upstairs and cough in my bathroom.) (Yes, our TV currently is in our dining room. Yay painting.)
First, post office. Drive-up lane. No big deal.
Second, bank. This was...slightly a bigger deal. Realize I *never* use the drive-thru. Honestly? I'm kind of opposed to them. I dislike that we, as a society, have made it easier for us to be lazy by not getting out of our cars for things. I am perfectly okay with walking to and from a parking lot and seeing people face to face. ...Except during a pandemic, when people are avoiding the face-to-face thing when at all possible. I did realize that shortly before leaving the house, and sure enough there were signs on the doors saying "drive-thru only," and it was certainly easy to figure out how to use the canister and what have you. I recognized the two workers through the window, the newer ladies, and I waved to the one that helped me.
Before I get to the store, it was interesting to go down Randall Road for the first time in weeks. Anywhere that sold food had notes that "WE ARE OPEN for drive-thru/curbside pickup!!!" wherever they could put them--Chuck E. Cheese had it written on their windows and on the old Sam's Club monument sign. The few stores that were open had moderate amounts of cars in them--and Team FIB BBQ, a local food truck, had set up their trailer in the Menards parking lot; dad said he'd seen them there before. Gas, at both the BP and the Shell? $1.97. Wow. And over at Mooseheart, their sign mentioned sheltering in place.
Third, grocery store. The last time I'd gone to Woodman's it was packed. This time, there definitely were cars in the lot, but it was lighter than what I'd find on a typical Saturday. Dad would've been jealous since I got his favorite parking spot, on the end of the first row, next to the cart corral. It was weird to not bring anything with, since I'm a firm believer in reusable bags, but I'd heard stores didn't want them right now as who knows how clean they are, and sure enough I did see signage in the store about that as well, as of March 28th, no reusable bags.
There were a number of changes since March 14th. Right off the bat, when I walk in, I can see the check-out lanes; they now each have two pieces of plexiglass hanging from the ceiling. Nearly all the workers had masks on, and I think gloves as well. They took something out between the regular lanes and the self-check lanes; I think maybe it was the remnants of the cigarette kiosk, which was decommissioned a while back but parts physically remained.
I'd had some stuff to do before I left the house--I showered, first time since Friday, and did a load of laundry. Super excited that the clothes I'd worn while hosing myself down with Vicks VapoRub came completely clean, though I did use a bunch of Spray 'n' Wash on them, too, plus I scraped off what I could (post-spraying and rubbing) with my fingernail. While my laundry dried, I called my boss to tell him I wasn't sure when I was coming back in (though I mentioned I might be leaving the house today...he'll find that out when the check clears), and I also combined our individual shopping lists into one. All three of us came up with things, and I wrote it up by aisle to make it easier on myself. I think we all had ground beef, heh. Doing this also helped me memorize much of what we needed, so that I only checked it every few aisles, which was good. We had some oddball stuff, which is what kept me in the store longer than usual, but it wasn't so bad--mom wanted a certain kind of nail file, I wanted Airborne or Emergen-C if they had it (they did, some oddball kind, but what the heck), and I thought of cheap shampoo and conditioner to have on hand. I'm a Pantene girl on workdays, but I'm totally fine with Suave if I just need it clean. And, *and*, since I'm not working and I don't want to use some of my fancier leave-in treatment stuff, I've been using leftover cheap conditioner as a leave-in, and it's working well enough and not turning my head into a big greaseball (bonus!) that I decided to buy an extra bottle just of cheap conditioner.
Meanwhile, there were a number of restrictions in place. Toilet paper was a given, but peanut butter, you were limited to one jar per family per day. Canned soups, specific brands/types, you were limited to four. Pasta, three boxes. Frozen bread, one package. That came up because mom asked me to buy frozen bread, so we could bake a loaf as needed. I've never done this before. Cleaning wipes, one per day; mom requested Pledge wipes. Personally, I hate cleaning wipes because they're disposable, so I was perfectly happy telling her I could only buy the one. Even butter was two per day. There were whole lists of everything posted at the checkouts, though some items were scratched off.
I was able to get most things my parents requested, which was great. They didn't have Quilted Northern brand toilet paper, and since we are doing okay, I didn't buy anything at all. Dad likes Sargento cheese, and requested muenster, but they were out of that entirely. It was the only cheese in the entire Sargento display that was completely empty, so we know what the popular cheese is. (I will say that the Vermont sharp white cheddar was also gone, with a "temporarily out of stock" sticker next to the price label, but other cheddar was hung on the hook.) Dad also requested any bargain bin candy, heh, but there wasn't any.
The lines have gotten more sophisticated than they were a few weeks back. They now have these stanchions with a caution-tape-looking thing between them, blocking off all the aisles that lead to the checkout lanes. Like on the 14th, you still have to form the line in the next cross-aisle back, and funnel into a central aisle, in this case the seasonal aisle. Dad and I enjoy checking that aisle out while shopping, so at least I still got a chance to do so. I'm kind of kicking myself, though, because for weeks there were these little hand sanitizers with candy scents, and since I know YC is big into hand sanny, part of me wanted to get one for her, except she'd recently stocked up on her own, so I didn't. ...And now here I am, with the one I keep in my purse running low...and runny, which can't be good...but there's none to be had. Oh well.
One of the things I was concerned about had to do with paying. Like, what if they won't take a check? What if it's plastic only? Woodman's only accepts debit cards and Discover cards, of which I have neither. I did grab some cash just in case, but check was fine. So, once you're in the seasonal aisle, there's a worker who directs you to go to a specific checkout lane, and there are Xs on the floor as to where to stand. A sign on the lane mentions that they will be putting your items back into the cart you'd been using. See, Woodman's does not have a conveyor belt, so they pull items right out of your cart, and usually it goes into the cart that previously was used by the customer in front of you in line. Now, they have a cart that they use to sort of stage your items, and when your cart gets emptied, it gets pulled over there and they transfer your items. Hey, whatever works.
Of the other shoppers, most were good about keeping a distance, though the pasta aisle was the one with the most people in it. Probably half used some sort of face covering. A few had bandanas like I did, some had homemade cloth face coverings (one guy's had Cubs fabric), some used winter scarves, and one lady was sort of tucking her face into the side of her shirt. And probably half went maskless. A fair amount had gloves on, but after watching a couple videos on cross-contamination, I said screw it and went without. Initially dad planned on coming with, but mom said many places just wanted one person per family there, so dad stayed home. That was fine, but--and this is kind of wild--I've not gone grocery shopping there by myself before, or at least not in years. And I wanted to buy enough to get us through for two weeks, so I bought multiples of things if I could. Ground beef, the limit was two per family, so I got two. Dad likes to joke about how cheap I am, since much of the time I spend under $100 when I buy--and I'll use a bunch of coupons, too--but I was looking to spend in the $200 range. Final total: $260 plus change. And I'd even used a couple coupons despite not bringing my coupon file, yay for them being in-store. I wasn't sure how coupons would go over so I figured I'd skip them.
I'd gone to the oddball aisles after picking up frozen/dairy items, and it took a little while since I don't go down them often enough to know where things are--where will I find the nail file?--and naturally when I finally got in line, that's when everyone else did, too. The line hadn't been too bad to that point. When I finally got home, it was imperative that I took care of the perishables first. Lucky for me, dad had set up a table in the garage where I could put the non-perishables, and we sort of triaged the stuff to get what needed to go inside, inside, and everything else could stay there until Thursday. I then set about cleaning the packaging, which all told took about as long as the actual shopping--I left the house around 11 AM, and finished everything at 1:59 PM. I also went back out to the garage to pick up the bag of toiletries, and since the various boxes of snacks could be dumped in a bowl, I did that. If you saw Dr. Jeffrey VanWingen's videos about food safety, he says you can dump out a package if there's a plastic bag inside, or the items haven't been touched by human hands in a while (like, say, if they were packaged at a factory), so since I don't store those in their boxes, those were okay to bring inside after disposing of said boxes. Honestly, I was surprised that there were no limits on granola bars. If there's one item of food I've thought about recently, it's chocolate-dipped Quaker bars. It's not like I eat them a bunch--more like hardly at all--but sometimes I just want a small treat after dinner and that's kind of the closest I come to candy anymore. Or, well, will come Sunday. Yes, this is coinciding with the end of Lent, yay, so I even got myself some cashewmilk ice cream. Because I could. I sprinkled in a few treats and surprises. Come Thursday, it'll be like Christmas in a way. I also did another load of laundry, having worn specific clothes (old jeans and my gray hoodie) that I could immediately toss in the wash along with towels, since I'm using several of my old-towel rags each day. Fairly busy day, and it got me out of helping dad, though since he was patching he didn't really need me.
So. I have essentially not left the house since March 19th, which is also the last day I worked. I did a quick ride to the mailbox back on the 25th since I had bills to pay, but I did not get out of my car, and the post office is less than a half-mile away. This...doesn't entirely count. Today, however, was the big test. Dad had a Menards rebate to send in, I'd been mailed a paycheck that needed to go to the bank, and it was my turn to go grocery shopping, my parents effectively having gone "One-two-three Not It" and touching their fingers to their noses.
Not gonna lie, I was a little nervous, more about the grocery store than anything else, in case it was busy, and in case they didn't have what we liked. I would have worn a facial covering regardless, but at least now with that being the general recommendation, people wouldn't look at me as funny. That helped. (Also, I have learned to stifle my coughs at times--it's not 100% of the time, but if I'm, say, watching TV in the dining room with my dad and I don't feel like getting up yet, I can hold it in until a commercial or the program's over. Then I can go upstairs and cough in my bathroom.) (Yes, our TV currently is in our dining room. Yay painting.)
First, post office. Drive-up lane. No big deal.
Second, bank. This was...slightly a bigger deal. Realize I *never* use the drive-thru. Honestly? I'm kind of opposed to them. I dislike that we, as a society, have made it easier for us to be lazy by not getting out of our cars for things. I am perfectly okay with walking to and from a parking lot and seeing people face to face. ...Except during a pandemic, when people are avoiding the face-to-face thing when at all possible. I did realize that shortly before leaving the house, and sure enough there were signs on the doors saying "drive-thru only," and it was certainly easy to figure out how to use the canister and what have you. I recognized the two workers through the window, the newer ladies, and I waved to the one that helped me.
Before I get to the store, it was interesting to go down Randall Road for the first time in weeks. Anywhere that sold food had notes that "WE ARE OPEN for drive-thru/curbside pickup!!!" wherever they could put them--Chuck E. Cheese had it written on their windows and on the old Sam's Club monument sign. The few stores that were open had moderate amounts of cars in them--and Team FIB BBQ, a local food truck, had set up their trailer in the Menards parking lot; dad said he'd seen them there before. Gas, at both the BP and the Shell? $1.97. Wow. And over at Mooseheart, their sign mentioned sheltering in place.
Third, grocery store. The last time I'd gone to Woodman's it was packed. This time, there definitely were cars in the lot, but it was lighter than what I'd find on a typical Saturday. Dad would've been jealous since I got his favorite parking spot, on the end of the first row, next to the cart corral. It was weird to not bring anything with, since I'm a firm believer in reusable bags, but I'd heard stores didn't want them right now as who knows how clean they are, and sure enough I did see signage in the store about that as well, as of March 28th, no reusable bags.
There were a number of changes since March 14th. Right off the bat, when I walk in, I can see the check-out lanes; they now each have two pieces of plexiglass hanging from the ceiling. Nearly all the workers had masks on, and I think gloves as well. They took something out between the regular lanes and the self-check lanes; I think maybe it was the remnants of the cigarette kiosk, which was decommissioned a while back but parts physically remained.
I'd had some stuff to do before I left the house--I showered, first time since Friday, and did a load of laundry. Super excited that the clothes I'd worn while hosing myself down with Vicks VapoRub came completely clean, though I did use a bunch of Spray 'n' Wash on them, too, plus I scraped off what I could (post-spraying and rubbing) with my fingernail. While my laundry dried, I called my boss to tell him I wasn't sure when I was coming back in (though I mentioned I might be leaving the house today...he'll find that out when the check clears), and I also combined our individual shopping lists into one. All three of us came up with things, and I wrote it up by aisle to make it easier on myself. I think we all had ground beef, heh. Doing this also helped me memorize much of what we needed, so that I only checked it every few aisles, which was good. We had some oddball stuff, which is what kept me in the store longer than usual, but it wasn't so bad--mom wanted a certain kind of nail file, I wanted Airborne or Emergen-C if they had it (they did, some oddball kind, but what the heck), and I thought of cheap shampoo and conditioner to have on hand. I'm a Pantene girl on workdays, but I'm totally fine with Suave if I just need it clean. And, *and*, since I'm not working and I don't want to use some of my fancier leave-in treatment stuff, I've been using leftover cheap conditioner as a leave-in, and it's working well enough and not turning my head into a big greaseball (bonus!) that I decided to buy an extra bottle just of cheap conditioner.
Meanwhile, there were a number of restrictions in place. Toilet paper was a given, but peanut butter, you were limited to one jar per family per day. Canned soups, specific brands/types, you were limited to four. Pasta, three boxes. Frozen bread, one package. That came up because mom asked me to buy frozen bread, so we could bake a loaf as needed. I've never done this before. Cleaning wipes, one per day; mom requested Pledge wipes. Personally, I hate cleaning wipes because they're disposable, so I was perfectly happy telling her I could only buy the one. Even butter was two per day. There were whole lists of everything posted at the checkouts, though some items were scratched off.
I was able to get most things my parents requested, which was great. They didn't have Quilted Northern brand toilet paper, and since we are doing okay, I didn't buy anything at all. Dad likes Sargento cheese, and requested muenster, but they were out of that entirely. It was the only cheese in the entire Sargento display that was completely empty, so we know what the popular cheese is. (I will say that the Vermont sharp white cheddar was also gone, with a "temporarily out of stock" sticker next to the price label, but other cheddar was hung on the hook.) Dad also requested any bargain bin candy, heh, but there wasn't any.
The lines have gotten more sophisticated than they were a few weeks back. They now have these stanchions with a caution-tape-looking thing between them, blocking off all the aisles that lead to the checkout lanes. Like on the 14th, you still have to form the line in the next cross-aisle back, and funnel into a central aisle, in this case the seasonal aisle. Dad and I enjoy checking that aisle out while shopping, so at least I still got a chance to do so. I'm kind of kicking myself, though, because for weeks there were these little hand sanitizers with candy scents, and since I know YC is big into hand sanny, part of me wanted to get one for her, except she'd recently stocked up on her own, so I didn't. ...And now here I am, with the one I keep in my purse running low...and runny, which can't be good...but there's none to be had. Oh well.
One of the things I was concerned about had to do with paying. Like, what if they won't take a check? What if it's plastic only? Woodman's only accepts debit cards and Discover cards, of which I have neither. I did grab some cash just in case, but check was fine. So, once you're in the seasonal aisle, there's a worker who directs you to go to a specific checkout lane, and there are Xs on the floor as to where to stand. A sign on the lane mentions that they will be putting your items back into the cart you'd been using. See, Woodman's does not have a conveyor belt, so they pull items right out of your cart, and usually it goes into the cart that previously was used by the customer in front of you in line. Now, they have a cart that they use to sort of stage your items, and when your cart gets emptied, it gets pulled over there and they transfer your items. Hey, whatever works.
Of the other shoppers, most were good about keeping a distance, though the pasta aisle was the one with the most people in it. Probably half used some sort of face covering. A few had bandanas like I did, some had homemade cloth face coverings (one guy's had Cubs fabric), some used winter scarves, and one lady was sort of tucking her face into the side of her shirt. And probably half went maskless. A fair amount had gloves on, but after watching a couple videos on cross-contamination, I said screw it and went without. Initially dad planned on coming with, but mom said many places just wanted one person per family there, so dad stayed home. That was fine, but--and this is kind of wild--I've not gone grocery shopping there by myself before, or at least not in years. And I wanted to buy enough to get us through for two weeks, so I bought multiples of things if I could. Ground beef, the limit was two per family, so I got two. Dad likes to joke about how cheap I am, since much of the time I spend under $100 when I buy--and I'll use a bunch of coupons, too--but I was looking to spend in the $200 range. Final total: $260 plus change. And I'd even used a couple coupons despite not bringing my coupon file, yay for them being in-store. I wasn't sure how coupons would go over so I figured I'd skip them.
I'd gone to the oddball aisles after picking up frozen/dairy items, and it took a little while since I don't go down them often enough to know where things are--where will I find the nail file?--and naturally when I finally got in line, that's when everyone else did, too. The line hadn't been too bad to that point. When I finally got home, it was imperative that I took care of the perishables first. Lucky for me, dad had set up a table in the garage where I could put the non-perishables, and we sort of triaged the stuff to get what needed to go inside, inside, and everything else could stay there until Thursday. I then set about cleaning the packaging, which all told took about as long as the actual shopping--I left the house around 11 AM, and finished everything at 1:59 PM. I also went back out to the garage to pick up the bag of toiletries, and since the various boxes of snacks could be dumped in a bowl, I did that. If you saw Dr. Jeffrey VanWingen's videos about food safety, he says you can dump out a package if there's a plastic bag inside, or the items haven't been touched by human hands in a while (like, say, if they were packaged at a factory), so since I don't store those in their boxes, those were okay to bring inside after disposing of said boxes. Honestly, I was surprised that there were no limits on granola bars. If there's one item of food I've thought about recently, it's chocolate-dipped Quaker bars. It's not like I eat them a bunch--more like hardly at all--but sometimes I just want a small treat after dinner and that's kind of the closest I come to candy anymore. Or, well, will come Sunday. Yes, this is coinciding with the end of Lent, yay, so I even got myself some cashewmilk ice cream. Because I could. I sprinkled in a few treats and surprises. Come Thursday, it'll be like Christmas in a way. I also did another load of laundry, having worn specific clothes (old jeans and my gray hoodie) that I could immediately toss in the wash along with towels, since I'm using several of my old-towel rags each day. Fairly busy day, and it got me out of helping dad, though since he was patching he didn't really need me.