I had planned to skip today’s post like I had Monday and Wednesday this week due to the election, but like writing through Covid, I decided that I wanted to put down my thoughts while I’m actually living it right now. Someday, I may want to go back and read these words and remember (HA) how I was feeling this week.

Really, the election should not be this close. But 2016 me has been traumatized, along with the past four years, so I’ll be holding my breath more or less until we have a new president sworn in on January 21st. Joe Biden has the 270 electoral college votes he needs this morning (!!), but this feels far from over. Hoping I’m wrong, but even with Biden in the White House, we have a lot of work to do. And two and a half months until then.

Oh and hey, the US hit new records of 100,000 and then 120,000 positive cases of Covid in a single day this week as well. But with this election, it’s barely even news. This winter is going to be bleak.

Friday’s Frugal Five

1. The roommate made dinner for us again on Monday. On a night where I was completely unfocused and stressing about the upcoming election, it was so good to be able to go for a walk in the woods after work while he made dinner.

Granted, I then woke up at midnight completely nauseous and then back up for the day at 5am, but at least dinner was taken care of. Someone described Monday night as anti Christmas Eve, and that sure felt like an apt description.

2. We picked up sushi on Tuesday for Election Night Takeout Tuesday. It may not have been frugal, but it was good comfort sushi while we stressed about inconclusive election results. And we tipped well and sent business to a local restaurant, so while not frugal, definitely money related. Our net worth is somehow sky high, so the least we can do is spend some of it to keep our favorite places open through this pandemic.

3. I took Wednesday off work and Thursday was my normal day home with the kiddo for homeschooling. I still took him to my parents’ on Wednesday, so I went for an almost three hour walk alone with Taylor Swift in my headphones, as she’s been an almost constant companion these days. For whatever reason, she’s my total comfort music, especially her newest album (which was recorded during quarantine, hey!)

We did a bit of homeschooling on Thursday surrounding the fact that it was National Doughnut Day (walked to get doughnuts and did mental math on the way there, as well as choosing different letters and talking about words that started with those letters). My brain wasn’t in the homeschool so much as Election Day/Night/Week dragged on, so I let the kiddo do some ABC Mouse and doomscrolled.

4. I wore dresses pretty much all week along with my “new” favorite leggings that I got from a coworker. Wet weather, a bananas election, daylight savings week, and everything else means that comfort is key. I may not have purchased clothing in more than three and a half years, but that doesn’t mean I don’t get new to me items from time to time. And I appreciate them that much more when I do.

5. We’ve had a fire in the fireplace pretty much every night this week thanks to my husband doing the chimney clean and fire caulking at the end of last month. Our heating bill should be down a little bit because of it, and there’s comfort in sitting in front of a crackling fire. Even if you’re sitting up on Twitter checking on election results and texting back and forth to other friends who are stressing just as much.

Exercise Update

Well, exercise is one thing that definitely has happened this week, and it’s been a good thing to keep me as centered as possible. Friday was a bunch of stair walking and taking work calls while on walks. Saturday was a short run with the kiddo in the morning and then a later one in the full sunshine by myself, finishing up a 5k run distance. And then we did Halloween in our neighborhood (everyone was super creative with how to hand out candy!), so did some more walking.

Sunday was another long walk and some time spent out in the yard working on chicken coop prep. Monday was more work meeting walks and a run with the kiddo. Tuesday was a hike through the woods, and Wednesday was that extra long walk by myself. Thursday was the three mile round trip walk for doughnuts.

Election Memes

And now, for some of my favorite memes of this week. And this video, which had me laughing so hard my husband wasn’t sure if I was laughing, crying, or in pain. Do yourself a favor and have some joy today.