Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Pauleen's Crazy Month of May Pandemic Meme, Part I

This week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge from Randy Seaver is all about genealogy and the Coronavirus pandemic.  I guess it's surprising we haven't done anything about the pandemic previously.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission:  Impossible! music here), is:

(1) Check out Pauleen Cass' blog post, Crazy Month of May 2020 Meme:  Pandemic Experiences.

(2) Let's do the first 10 of the prompts and save the last 11 for next week.

(3) Tell us about your own pandemic experience in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or in a post on Facebook.  Be sure to leave a link to your work as a comment to this post and also on Pauleen's post.

(4) Thank you, Pauleen!!

Okay, here's mine.

1.  What are you most grateful for during this COVID-19 crisis?

As far as I know, none of the members of my family, extended family, or family by choice have become ill during the pandemic.

2.  What have you missed most during the full or partial lockdown?

I miss my regular routine.  I miss seeing my boyfriend on a regular basis.  I miss seeing my grandchildren every week for movie night.  I miss having lunch with my stepson every week.  I miss seeing all of my friends at our weekly dinner get-togethers.  I miss going to my volunteer shift at the Gresham Family History Center (which is still closed).  I miss my genealogy society meetings (yes, even the board meetings).

3. Has your hobby sustained you during this time?

Unfortunately, not really.  Without a regular routine, I have gone adrift to a great degree and have found it hard to focus.  My blog, and Saturday Night Genealogy Fun in particular, is one of the few things for which I have been able to maintain some consistency.

4.  What changes have you seen in your life over May 2020?

Unlike Randy, I've lost weight.  I haven't had much of an appetite and often don't eat regular meals, just snack a little bit.  I'm not cooking as much as I used to.  I haven't paid as much attention to my birds.  One positive thing is that because I have been home so much, I've done a lot of cleaning, sorting, and rearranging of stuff in several rooms.

5.  Have you been exercising more or less?

Well, since I hardly exercise at all, it would be difficult to exercise less.  It's probably about the same.

6.  Has the refrigerator been your friend or foe?

It's been a friend in that I haven't been overindulging in food, but it's been a foe because the food I'm not eating sometimes goes bad while it's waiting for me.

7.  Have you been participating in virtual gatherings with friends or family?

A little.  I've had some online gatherings with genealogy friends as alternatives to meeting in person.  I've also had a couple of Zoom meetings with other friends.  I tried one phone chat with my grandchildren, but they were more interested in playing video games than talking with Bubbie.

I have been doing lots of phone calls and extended text conversations with friends.  That's been a reasonably effective way to stay in touch and caught up.

8.  Have you taken up any new hobbies during the lockdown?

Oh, hell no.  I already have enough hobbies.

9.  Are you cooking or gardening more?

Nope, doing less of both.  Since my appetite's off I'm not cooking much for myself.  I have actually managed to do some gardening, but really only the bare minimum the plants need me to.

10.  Have you shopped more or less?   Online or offline?

I've shopped much less.  I do most of my shopping offline, so I haven't really been able to do that.  I've done grocery shopping when needed, and I've been to the hardware store a couple of times, and I think that's it.

The post with the remaining eleven questions can be found here.