Shopping During A Pandemic - Adventure Year Week 45

Now that I've cleared quarantine and cases are continuing to rise even in rural areas, I decided it was time for me to take over the shopping duties, rather than letting my at-risk senior mother keep doing it.  Fortunately, our local stores and grocery have expanded their shopping options to include ordering online and receiving curbside car delivery for everything from electronics to groceries!  What a wonderful world for someone like me who hates going into stores to shop anyway!

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Ten images from this week in COVID-19 life. 🎯Online ordering with the Target app and waiting for car delivery ☕️Rice Krispies treats and double filtered coffee for breakfast 🚙 Kroger grocery ordering online with car delivery to parking lot 🍗Supporting some small local take-out businesses once a week 🧁Turning the bananas that got squishy, then frozen, into muffins 🧶Sewing washcloth animals that were unfinished from the 1980s 🌱Regrowing onions in the window 🧴Making our own foamy soap with Castile soap and essential oils 🌹Tulips blooming in spite of the cold weather and occasional snow

A post shared by Anne’s Adventure Journal (@anneruthmann) on Apr 26, 2020 at 4:49am PDT

Sales of my book continue to trickle in slowly during quarantine, and for all those people making tons of masks, I really hope this helps them come out the other end feeling compensated for all of their time and efforts.  Unfortunately the shipping times are lagging quite a bit, even since the fires in Australia in January, so hopefully no one needs anything urgently.

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Supporting fellow artists, creatives, makers, musicians, and healers is why #iamasmallbusiness . When our client load is full, the days may be long and tiring, but we wouldn’t choose anything else because of how it fuels us to wake the next day and keep going. When the client list had dried up because the economy has stopped valuing things of beauty and joy, creatives don’t stop creating, they just eat less, share more, and work with cheaper or recycled materials. Creative thought and blood doesn’t stop pumping through creative minds and hearts- it just finds new ways to be creative. While it does make creatives highly resilient, it also means we rarely get recognized as sole-proprietors or business owners because of how personal and individual our work may need to be in order to exist in the world. Solopreneurs may not employ as many people, but we contribute greatly to supporting a healthy economy and bringing the joy and beauty that makes life about so much more than work and suffering. I hope that during this time you are finding ways to continue supporting the “little guys”. The makers who work from their homes or their garage, making masks and PPE when the government and corporations can’t supply the demand. The musicians, artists, actors, poets, filmmakers, and writers creating beautiful works that remind us why life is worth living, and connect us to the beauty and joy and laughter we feel we’re missing. The chefs and the gardeners who help us understand that we can make beautiful things right at home that will continue to nourish ourselves and our planet in healthier ways. The yogis and dancers who are inspiring us to move our bodies when we feel like we’re in confined spaces with no where to go. I hope you’ll celebrate all of these little one person businesses with me and share more about your solo business as well. We’re all in this together and looking for ways to make each day brighter. 🙏❤️🌟

A post shared by Anne’s Adventure Journal (@anneruthmann) on Apr 23, 2020 at 8:41am PDT

A few of the books that have kept me grounded, healthy, and in a good mindset during this are all focused on growth and embracing the past while still moving toward the future.

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These books have been my companions this week as I’ve been in and out of deeply thoughtful spaces. The Runes are a way to dig into my own insight and feelings- they help me open the space to listen within and I find this particular text and interpretation a great opening to working with symbolism for growth as well. SARK’s Succulent Wild Woman offers words and stories steeped in divine feminine wisdom and joy, resilience and perseverance that help lift me up and remind me of the beauty that is always within. Hidden on bottom is my faithful journal, where I work out my thoughts and feelings to gain more clarity about myself and what my needs and wants are in each moment to stay honest and at peace with who I am and where I am. Have you been leaning on certain books and writings more during this time?

A post shared by Anne’s Adventure Journal (@anneruthmann) on Apr 22, 2020 at 7:06am PDT

I was hoping that I would be able to catch a few meteor showers under the clear and dark skies of the rural Michigan neighborhood, but instead I simply had a chance to enjoy stargazing from my hammock at night, but only until it got too cold and I needed to go back in again.

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Will you look for clear skies and Lyrid Meteor trails tonight or tomorrow while the moon is dark? I may need to wrap myself in a few heavy blankets, or drive to some remote location to stare at the sky through the car windshield, but stargazing is one of those little treasures we have right now while the skies have less pollution and smog.

A post shared by Anne’s Adventure Journal (@anneruthmann) on Apr 21, 2020 at 10:11am PDT

Observing myself and remembering what this time feels like in all of its rawness and realities.  I definitely thought I was going to be more productive than I have been.  It's quite surreal how some people like essential workers are busier than they've ever been, while other people are facing the reality of "doing nothing" every day, and yet some feel like work is just continuing as normal, while others are needing to adjust to entirely different ways of working online from home.  This experience is quite different for everyone, and I'm really curious how the impact of this time will play out over the next decade and more.

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Quarantine self-reflections: 1. No desire for productivity podcasts but all the desire for music that touches my soul 2. No desire to watch news or TV but could definitely watch more movies 3. Motivation to be outside is dependent on the temperature exceeding 60°F 4. Craving one take-out meal a week just for a change of flavor and complexity 5. Prefer to only meet family I’m not staying with outside for a walk and only one person at a time to limit exposure 6. I max out at 3 video/calls a day and my ears are becoming increasingly sensitive to audio 7. Still have a solid morning routine and get fully dressed as if I could leave the house despite rarely actually putting shoes on 8. Pretty sure I’ve lost 8lbs and maybe a size, but all of my clothing is stretchy so I can’t tell anyway 9. Have zero desire to open my laptop unless I absolutely have to in order to place an order or deal with important email 10. Alcohol isn’t as fun when it’s not social 11. There have only been two days out of the last month that have been nice enough to lay in this hammock, so I take whatever I can get 12. I recognize what a privilege it is to be able to stay home right now, and my heart continues to hold space for all the people on the front lines, grocery lines, home with symptoms and concerns, trying to parent and help kids learn something, experiencing deep loneliness at home, in the hospital and worried about seeing tomorrow, worried about where the next meal will come from, and all the other concerns and challenges being worked through during this time. Even when I try to find a little moment of peace for myself in this hammock, I also hold all of those concerns in my heart and share them with the universe for healing. ❤️🙏

A post shared by Anne’s Adventure Journal (@anneruthmann) on Apr 20, 2020 at 5:33am PDT

This week I got to celebrate some of the first bulbs of spring popping up in the yard- so I'll take any little moment of joy that I can get.

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I find hope in these flowers, because I can’t seem to prevent the waves of sadness, disappointment, hurt, and concern... but I can keep bringing my feelings to the garden and showing them how beautiful these flowers still are. This particular batch of flowers from the yard have survived and somehow continued to grow the last several days during sleet, rain, snow, and freezing temperatures. They may be a little tattered from the battle to keep growing, but they remind me that I too can be resilient and colorful in the face of dark emotional weather.

A post shared by Anne’s Adventure Journal (@anneruthmann) on Apr 19, 2020 at 5:08am PDT