The whole world's gone mad!!!

I thought about not posting a blog this morning but then I had a panic attack. What would you read during breakfast? People would be so disappointed, so I actually wrote the blog last night so you would have something to read!

Why can't I write the blog in the morning? Because if everything goes right, I'll be on a plane at a RIDICULOUS hour of the morning, but I'm OK with that. It means I get home at a decent time and well - I can just sleep the flight away.

I checked in this morning and the flight is NOT very full at all - about 1/3 full, but that may change by the time I get to the airport. Just please do NOT cancel that flight. As much fun as it is to get away, it's always more fun to get home. And in these times, I really would like to be home.

All I say is that it's darn cold here. It's currently minus 12 but with the windchill? It feels like I'm in Siberia. I had to fill the car with gas so I wouldn't have to do it as a ridiculous hour in the morning so now that is done, I'm back in my room. Nice and toasty.

Here's where I've been vegging out for the last couple of evenings. I love it. I did have quilts in my suitcase, but I was too lazy to go downstairs to get one so I found a blanket in the closet.

My cozy spot away from home

When I travel and I have a car, I like to stop by the grocery store to pick up my dinner. It's a very inexpensive way to eat. Most grocery stores have delis and the $2.00 for a BIG BOWL of soup was much better than paying $6 for the teeny cup of soup when I went out for the lunch the day I arrived.

A teeny (half-filled) bowl of soup for $6.00

Versus

The SMALL (and filled to the top) bowl of soup from the grocery deli for $2.00

It's hard to tell from the photos, but the grocery store certainly provided much better value and the soup stayed warm until I got back to my hotel. A nice chicken sandwich, some fresh fruit, and even some chocolate and I still paid less than what I had paid for that lunch.

While I was at the grocery store, I had to see for myself if the toilet paper aisle was intact. It was NOT. Totally empty - not a single roll to be had.

Limit of two per person

Alas, there was none to be had.

NO toilet paper to be had

I noticed on the other side of the aisle that the paper napkins seem to have taken a hit as well. I guess that's the backup plan.

Paper napkins are going fast

 I took a quick walk around and noticed that things like flour and sugar had also taken a hit, but there was still stock on the shelves. Snacks like chips were getting low, cookies also. I forgot to check the pasta, but there were lots of other snacks and soup and other canned goods although you could see where they had been greatly picked over.

At least the lines were short and I was in and out in no time. The lines were a bit longer yesterday. I read somewhere that we buy (hoard) because it's something that we can control. So - if I have the toilet paper in my house, I don't have to worry about running out. I found this article which I think says a lot about why people are buying. Actually, if you do some research (if you care), there's a lot of information out there about the reasons that people are panic buying. For some reason, someone got hooked on the toilet paper and it's a hot commodity.


Now here are some other observations. The hotel that I'm staying at has a nice breakfast included in the price of the room. Cooked oatmeal, fruit, juices, muffins, waffles, eggs. Basically all of the breakfast items that you could want. Tea and coffee as well.

So this morning when I went to get the oatmeal, I noticed that the little container of walnuts that had a lid on it, as well as the lidded container of dried cranberries, were NOT beside the oatmeal. The breakfast attendant said they had been told to put those away. Hmm - and where were the hot chocolate packets? The packaged tea bags were sitting out, but no hot chocolate. I had tea and didn't think anything of it. But the attendant did get me the container of walnuts so I could add some to my oatmeal.

They have a nice little bar downstairs where tea, coffee, and hot chocolate are available pretty much all day and they had cookies. After coming back from getting gas, I thought hot chocolate would be nice. Hmm - NO single packets of hot chocolate. Individually wrapped tea bags, not no single packs of hot chocolate. I get that the cookies aren't out since they were not individually wrapped.

I asked at the front desk. Apparently, they had received a directive from their head office that certain things could NOT be put out. Like the single packets of hot chocolate. And the creamers!  Boy oh boy - I don't think someone thought that out very well. I get the walnuts and the dried cranberries, but they did have a lid on them and how does that differ from the oatmeal in a container??? It also had a lid.

The nice girl at the desk did get me a packet of hot chocolate so I'm sitting here enjoying that in my toasty space. Thank you!!!!  I don't want to get anyone into trouble so I'm not mentioning the hotel.

OH - to really gross you out, as I'm standing there making my hot chocolate, a couple (older) walks past me. They had been to the pool. The man walks by in his bare feet and a towel. Good grief - he could at least have put socks on!!!!

So it appears that all the major events on my calendar are canceled or postponed for the next couple of weeks. I'll see about the smaller events when I get home. I may just hole up and get to work on Paula's double wedding ring quilt. I'm dead serious about this - we, as quilters, could make a big dent in a UFO if we focused for the next couple of weeks. Let's do something productive with our time.

The event today was quiet as I expected it would be. That's OK. I had a couple of creative people in the class and when we got finished with the basics, they wanted to do other stuff. Which was easy to do with the Husqvarna Viking DESIGNER EPIC 2. Everything they asked to do - we made it happen. I should have taken pictures of the end results, but I was so tired by the end of the day.

I bought something very unusual at the store. It's in my suitcase which is in the car so I'll show you when I get home. I'm kind of shocked that I bought it, but I think it'll be fun to make. And did I mention that I found that SECURA thread that I had been looking for? That's the fusible button thread. Well, I got a spool and I can't wait to try it out.

I did more than 6,000 steps today. So still way under my usual, but it's too darn cold to go outside for a walk. I could go to the fitness center, but I doubt I would look too sporty on the treadmill in my jeans. So I'll just suck it up for one more day and I'll have to do more walking this week (with my found extra time) to make up for the lost miles.

Now if I were really desperate, I could get out some needle and thread and stitch up this poor cushion which I spotted in the breakfast lounge.  I'm not that desperate (yet) and I don't have hand stitching needles with me.

A cushion in the breakfast lounge that needs some work

So for the fun of it, I was trying to find some fun things for you to do while I'm flying home. I stumbled across this web site. A list of Canadian quilt bloggers.   Check out number 8. Let's get this blog more visibility. Don't forget to share the link with your friends (of my blog) that is. I do know that I need to get more followers on all Social Media to grow. Perhaps I can do some of that in these several weeks of downtime.

HEY  - what if something amazing comes out of this virus? What if we discover that we like to play board games with our family? What if we discover that we actually like to converse with them and ask our kids and spouses how their day was? What if we enjoy sitting at home and reading a book instead of rushing off to a ton of activities? What if we enjoy just being?

I truly think that we should all use this time to evaluate what we do in life and decide if we even need to be doing half of the things that we do. I know that I had spent three weeks on a wilderness camping/biking trip back in 2010. It was a time of sleeping on the side of the long, barren road in the arctic, using the washroom (oh - I mean the bush beside the road) and having grizzly bears stroll through your campsite at night. I realized then that I had no desire to ever watch TV again. I've never looked back and never had a single regret about that decision Perhaps this situation will trigger some other desire in us all.

All I can say is STOP watching the news. We have major discussions about it in our house as to who controls the world - the media or the government. My bet is on the media!

On that note, I'm going to get my stuff together for tomorrow morning.

Stay safe and healthy - wash those hands.

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!