11 Things I Couldn’t Live Without During the 2020 Pandemic
The state of Michigan is lifting most of its pandemic restrictions Tuesday, June 22. This means face masks will no longer be required (unless individual businesses require them), capacity restrictions will be lifted on restaurants/bars, etc.
As for me, I’ll still be masking up in public indoor spaces for quite a while – just because I like how doing so helped me avoid getting even ONE SINGLE COLD! That must mean something.
That being said, though – now is as good of a time is any to actually reflect upon the events of the past year and a half – and present you all with:
ELEVEN things I couldn’t live without during the 2020 Pandemic
1. HAND SANITIZER
Any old bottles like this I found around the house got refilled countless times! I’ve always been a bit germophobic, the pandemic just ramped it up – and gave it legitimacy.
2. FACE MASKS
I started out using the washable cloth masks, but when the “variants” started to become a threat in my state, I upgraded to the disposable K-95 masks. Love or hate masks, I can’t even imagine going into work in a public place without wearing one. Or going into grocery stores, my friendly neighborhood brothel, etc.
3. RED PANDAS AND OTHER SUPER CUTE ANIMALS
There was a time I was attempting to find videos of red pandas and other cute animals DAILY during the plague as a means of counteracting all of the news about darkness and death that was dealt to us multiple times a day. Sometimes I would even watch longer videos of 20 minutes or more of zookeepers just doing mundane things with these animals! The Potter Park Zoo in Lansing, MI recently announced that one of its red pandas is preggers! 🙂
4. SPOTIFY
I started subscribing to Spotify right around when the plague started. And I haven’t regretted it! I’ve made a few playlists, and am thinking of doing a “Cheesy Easy Listening” playlist next! I already have a couple of ’80s music lists, a “Douche” playlist, a “Zombie Killing Games” playlist and “Favorite Songs from Movies” playlist.
5. HULU
We started subscribing to Hulu around Thanksgiving, 2020. We’ve watched too many awesome complete series in its offerings to count – most recently, “Burn Notice,” and less recently “Letterkenny” and “Murdoch Mysteries.”
6. CURBSIDE PICKUP
I used to think this kind of service was lazy and frivolous, but changed my thinking during the pandemic – especially when the UK variant started becoming a real threat – and I hadn’t been vaccinated yet.
7. VIRTUAL TRIVIA
Am I in this photo someplace? 🙂 Oh yeah, I’m with the V for Vendetta guy! I honestly don’t know what I would’ve done without the virtual trivia games during the plague! In addition to helping satisfy my “itch” for trivia games, they were a great way to “see” friends – even if they lived out of state.
8. ARBOR BREWING COMPANY MICROBREWERY
ABC Microbrewery in Ypsilanti, MI was pretty essential to us during the pandemic! They delivered beer and food when everything was shut down, put up heated igloos for the winter months, and even put in a couple of fire pits. They still continue offering curbside pickup, too. Honorable mention goes to Original Gravity Brewing Co. in Milan, which became a second favorite place for us to go – they put in electric heaters in their awning, which made sitting outside during the winter pretty damn nice!
9. SLIPPERS AND FUZZY SOCKS
Cozy slippers and fuzzy socks – what would I have done without you guys in the winter? 🙂
10. ART SUPPLIES
We were invited to a couple of “drive by” birthday parties for our friends’ children during the pandemic. My husband and I teamed up with this art piece – he took all of five minutes or so to sketch out this unicorn in pencil – and I colored it in and did the lettering. Does this make me an “inker” in comic book parlance?
11. ZOMBICIDE
Like many other folks, board games were a great way to pass the time while holed up in our homes. We used a lot of our own scenarios while playing Zombicide, including this Easter-themed scenario involving killer robots – with bunny ears!
hebspeaks 