Day 62 - Governor Newsom imposes new restrictions

Our bikes look like these…minus the flowers…

1/16/21. Saturday.

9:30 – I’m awake but I don’t want to get up.

10:00-11:30 – Downstairs and I greet the dog.  She pooped near the front door.  I rub her tummy three times and we go outside.  She does a No. 1 and a No. 2.  Back inside for the last of the rotten chicken for her and coffee for me.

-I clean a few things out of the refrigerator and do some dishes. I empty the trash.

-The zipper is stuck on my backpack, so I use pliers to pull it apart and take the items out [a perfume roller].

-I water a few of my plants outside and break down some of the boxes that L. put in the recycling barrel.

-I pack my bike-riding items into my miniature purse in preparation for our bike ride at 12:00.

11:00-12:00 – Shower. Lotion. Blow-dry my hair. Bike-riding uniform.

12:00-1:00 – L. is not up yet so I read The Beauty and eat my yogurt, apple, walnut mixture for breakfast.

1:00 – 2:15 - L. emerges from her room, dressed and ready to go!  She puts air in her tires and we leave.  L. picks the paseo that leads to Magic Mountain. It’s a fairly long path, but great weather although at some parts we’re riding against the wind. It’s warm out so both of us are in tank tops.  When we get to the turnabout, I expect L. to take the left or the right spoke so we can continue our journey.  Instead, she makes a complete circle and heads home, back in the direction that we came.  I find this so funny!  :)  When I ask L. why she decided to turn back, she says her “body is fatigued.”  It’s been 30 minutes.

-We ride home and halfway there, L. needs to stop and rest.  I offer her water from my Hydroflask, but she refuses because the water came from the refrigerator and is not artisan.  When we get to the gate to our neighborhood, I try to convince L. that we should continue on, maybe a ride around the lake, but she says no.  She seems a little winded… All in all, I feel pretty good that I’m able to bike with my 19-year-old.  It was just three short years ago that L. was MVP on her high school’s JV tennis team and I’m actually able to keep up. L. proclaims that I’m in better shape than her – how nice!

2:15-2:45 – Home and L. starts to go inside the house, but I convince her to ‘batch task’ – we’re already dressed for outdoor exercise so we might as well take the dog for a walk right now. L. agrees!  Again, I’m in shock as L. hates movement of any kind – this is great!  I quickly get the dog ready before L. changes her mind and we proceed to walk around the neighborhood.  It’s a fun, nice day.

2:45-3:15 – I finish The Beauty. As stated earlier, this is an excellent memoir from a black female ER physician who worked in some of the most violent ERs in the country. She merges her work life with her personal life in one of the most introspective narratives I’ve ever read. I give this book a 10 and highly recommend. Thumbs up.

-L. is going to prepare a “desert cheese board” tonight and makes a list of ingredients for purchase. She decides to leave at 6:00 when there are fewer people at Trader Joes.

-3:15-5:00 – Blog posts.

5:00-6:45 - I told L. I was preparing dinner tonight, but am working around her cheese board schedule. I’ve been trying some new recipes lately and tonight is “Mushroom Linguine with Breaded Parmesan Chicken.”  There are several moving parts to this recipe, but everything turns out great.  I clean the kitchen and make ready for L. and her cheese board.  When I’m finished, you can’t tell I was ever there.

-L. leaves for Trader Joes.

7:00-9:30 -  I go through letters L through S in my filing cabinet and purge.

-L. returns from Trader Joes and deposits the mail on the counter.

-I try to log into my Mr. Cooper mortgage account for my 1099 but my password is continuously blocked and I’m unable to reset it.

-I pay my Liberty Mutual - Umbrella Policy

-I pull my 1099 from the BofA website without incident.

-L. is making a chocolate pudding to go with the cheese board and comes into the office to give me a taste.  Excellent.

-I compare and contrast the mileage on both my car and L.’s car from 2019 to 2020, then forward to my car insurance for a possible discount.

10:00–11:30 - the pudding is finally set and L. brings the cheese board upstairs so we can watch The Wilds while we eat.  The cheese board is impressive and tastes fantastic.

11:30 – 1:00 - After one episode, L. and I bring everything downstairs.  I do the dishes, fill the dog food dispenser, and take the dog out. L. moves reading material from her room to the garage – she puts the  books she’s already finished in my trunk for Goodwill.

1:00 – 2:00 – Prepare my coffee and breakfast for tomorrow and lay out my clothes. Night time routine. Bed.