Blue-Footed Musings

• Parent/teacher conferences were today. The teachers had nothing but good things to say, and I’m so proud of both children.
• I noticed that a couple of things were missing from my top desk drawer. I was certain that I’d put them there, so I took the drawers out to see if the things had fallen behind. Not only did I find what I was looking for, but there was a whole bunch of other stuff lurking in that dark, dusty place. I found a $10 bill, a Target receipt from 2017, a picture of my son from 2012, a walker pass for the kids (who knows which year), a magnifying lens, a packet of stickers, a camera case, a small notebook, a whole pad of Post-It notes, and at least a dozen tickets for previous years’ Advent calendars. Quite a stash!
• Speaking of the Advent calendar, I already printed enough tickets to get us through the 24th. That’s the benefit of having done this so many times before. The designs are all there on my computer. All I have to do is pick which ones I want to use, tweak them if necessary, and print. At least that’s one less thing to stress over at this time of year!

My PCR test came back negative. We had hoped it would, and mostly expected it to, but it’s a relief to have a definitive answer. As a family, we share our germs whether we want to or not, so a negative test result for me is like a negative result for the whole family. Now we can all go about our business without having to worry that we are (or recently were) contagious.

I still don’t know how a non-Covid virus was able to rob me so completely of my sense of smell. It wasn’t just the diminishment of senses that comes with being stuffy. It was a sudden, total loss. I went from being able to taste and smell normally one minute to being completely unable to the next. I guess I’ll have to go with my husband’s theory that I have permanent or semi-permanent damage from my previous Covid infection. So, if this ever happens again, I probably shouldn’t worry too much that I have Covid. Of course, then it will be Covid, because Murphy’s Law. 😉

Fortunately, my sense of smell has started to return, and one minor good thing to come out of this is that I now know where to get a PCR test. Ever since the state testing sites shut down, we haven’t had a reliable source for testing. I don’t want to go to the doctor’s office, because I don’t trust their billing policies. Though the test itself would be covered by my insurance, I’d probably get a bill with a $60 charge for “handling the swab,” or something ridiculous like that. I also don’t want to use CVS, because their scheduling system is evil, asking intrusive questions and expecting that I’ll upload an image of my health insurance card (fat chance!). Ultimately I used Walgreens, and though the testing process itself was slow, as were the results, at least the experience was simple and not infuriating.

I had a cold last week. It was mild, and I wasn’t coughing or sneezing much. But, after getting negative results from two rapid Covid tests and subsequently spending time with friends and family for Thanksgiving, I totally lost my sense of smell and taste. It was very upsetting, because that’s such a classic Covid symptom. I wouldn’t have left the house at all if I’d thought I had Covid.

I still don’t know if I had Covid. The belief is that the rapid tests will show if you’re super contagious, and it’s possible that I had Covid but wasn’t likely to spread it. In that case, the risk would have been minimal. Or maybe I had Covid and was contagious and breathed it all over everyone in the world. Geez, I hope not. Or maybe I didn’t have Covid, and it was just permanent or semi-permanent damage from my previous case of Covid that made it possible for an ordinary cold to wipe out my sense of smell (that’s my husband’s theory, anyway).

I went for a PCR test today, though, because I would like to be certain at least of whether or not I had Covid, and presumably I’d still test positive on a PCR test at this point if I did have Covid. The thing is, all four of us ultimately got the cold, and we did a total of four rapid tests among us. If the rapid tests can’t detect Covid in 4 out of 4 tries, then I need to know that. I’m a “Got Covid, Stay Home!” kind of girl.

My husband and I stopped at Target on Tuesday to return a few things. While we were there, I checked to see if they had any discounted Halloween candy, because I had a hankering for candy corn. Whoever was responsible for ordering the Halloween candy at Target had totally overdone it on the Brach’s Autumn Mix this year. There were boxes and boxes of it left over. We arrived just in time to snag a bag of it. A Target employee was removing the product from the shelves even as I debated over whether to get the traditional candy corn or the Autumn Mix. I don’t know what they were planning to do with the excess candy (the woman said they were “getting rid of it”). It’s sad, but there’s no room in the world for leftover Halloween candy anymore. Everyone’s obsessed with Christmas now. Considering that some stores start putting Christmas stuff on the shelves in October, skipping Halloween and Thanksgiving both, I guess I should be grateful that Target at least still lets us have Halloween.

In related news, I am irritated that Hallmark and other streaming services have pretty much skipped autumn and moved straight into winter/Christmas romance movies. Don’t they know that autumn is awesome? There ought to be oodles of autumn-themed movies, and that’s what I want to watch right now. If I were to start watching Christmas movies now, not only would they be totally out of season, but there wouldn’t be any new ones left by the time December rolled around. Save Christmas for December. Meanwhile, give me more romances featuring Halloween, fall foliage, hayrides, pumpkins, apples, and other fun, fall-related things!

Today I found out that my former friend ran for State Representative in the election on Tuesday. I feel a little proud of her, because running for office is a big deal, and I feel a little sorry for her, because she lost. But she deserved to lose, because she was running as a Republican. On the bright side, I feel better about our friendship having ended, because I see now that it was probably inevitable.

• I got my flu and Covid vaccines Monday before last. I had anticipated feeling like crap for at least 24 hours afterward, but in reality it wasn’t that bad. I got one shot per arm. The flu-shot arm hurt for a few days, as expected, but the pain from the Covid shot dissipated quickly. My joints were a little achier than usual for a while, and maybe I felt more fatigued (hard to say–I’m always fatigued), but that’s all. That is to say, the side-effects were minor. I’m glad to have gotten that done and over with. It’s going to be a long winter.
• I have a new cell phone. It’s so ridiculously complicated that it’s driving me nuts, but it works better than my old phone, and it has a camera in it that’s better than my actual camera. I’ll probably be getting a monthly phone plan soon, too. Wouldn’t that be something.
• My book-buying obsession has escalated, because now I’m buying books in French as well as in English. But, most of the French books are cute, little things that don’t take up a lot of space (so I tell myself, anyway).
• My French lessons aren’t going as well as I’d like. The most recent block of lessons covered both le conditionnel and le gérontif. Both are relatively simple, but because they both involve tacking endings onto verbs, they’re kind of mixed up in my head now, and that’s not good. I miss my high-school French teacher. She would have made sure that I got all it down right (again). Teachers are so much better than apps.