Changes at Home
Posted on January 8, 2021 by Ching under Home Ownership, Life.
We rearranged some furniture over Christmas break. Brian has been trying to talk me into doing this forever but I’ve always refused because it leaves the rest of our main floor living room quite barren. We used to have just the one chair here with the ottoman. We always either fight over who gets to sit in the chair (it’s a coveted spot in the winter because it’s right in front of the fireplace and literally the warmest spot in our entire house) or both uncomfortably squeeze in it.
I’d thought about buying a chair and a half specifically for this spot so we wouldn’t have to use our loveseat but our furniture is so old that they don’t make it anymore. And, I didn’t want to buy something that didn’t match because we all know how that goes — you end up replacing everything to match that one thing that you just got and it ends up costing you a fortune.
Brian and I are getting too fat to squeeze in the chair together so I finally caved and agreed to relocate the loveseat to the hearth and the chair to the living room. That’s all we swapped. We did have to reorient the furniture, though. Instead of placing the loveseat at an angle like the chair was before, we placed it parallel to the fireplace. We’ve spent so much time in this part of the house since we rearranged and it’s been so much nice that we both wondered why we waited so long to do this.
Brian, the girls, and I are totally loving it. I think we will keep the house this way until the day we move, remodel, or replace all of our furniture — whichever comes first. Until next time. GNG.
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Christmas Break
Posted on January 6, 2021 by Ching under Hobbies, Things to Do.
I took time off work after Christmas and didn’t resume working again until the Monday after New Year’s Day. I was still checking emails and working on stuff, of course, but at least I wasn’t tethered to my desk like on a normal workday. Christmas break was a nice respite from my normal routine and I took advantage of the time off to play daytime pickleball, a luxury I don’t usually have.
The day after Christmas, I played mixed doubles with Steve Vetter, Jon Maugans and Karen Fox. I had originally asked Tom Pham and Jimmy Cho but Tom was quarantining due to being exposed to COVID and Jimmy didn’t want to accept my invitation because he was holding out for the guys’ normal Saturday morning play at Chicken N Pickle. I should have told him not to get his hopes up because the girls couldn’t get courts and that’s actually why I arranged for a mixed game. That, and I prefer to play mixed anyway, so no having any courts available at CNP actually worked in my favor.
Jimmy eventually found out there was no King of Courts that weekend and I got a text from him late on Christmas Day asking if I’d found players. Shortly after he declined my original invite, I started working on locking in Steve and Jon and so at that point we already had our group set. I’m glad Steve and Jon were available to play that day. They are so fun and I had a great time.
Karen, Brian and I had lunch at Carrabba’s after and while at lunch I had the foresight to check Playtime Scheduler. I actually got in to the Brunch & Bingo open play at Chicken N Pickle for once. All the spots usually fill up less than five minutes after the play time is posted. It is very hard to get in because you have to time it just right. I think I experienced a Christmas miracle.
After open play on Sunday morning, a bunch of us hung around for Brunch & Bingo. I never really win but it’s a fun way to pass the time.
The week following Christmas, I had the opportunity to play pickleball with lots of people. Karen set up several play times for us to practice women’s doubles. On Monday we played with Chandi Bongers and Lori Belew. On Thursday, we played with Chandi and Kristen Conrad. On Friday, we played with Brooke Ayala and Krista Crawford. We were trying to set up games with Chandi and Kristen because they were originally going to play in our division in the Arizona tournament in February. However, now that the tournament has been extended, Chandi is playing with Krista in the 50+ division instead.
We also had some mixed games. On Tuesday, I arranged for us to play with Tony Swantek and Logan Schrag. That was another Christmas miracle. I’d only ever played four games in total with Tony – ever. I fully expected him say no and I was ready to on move down the list but he accepted. Getting two hours of play with Tony was definitely one of the highlights of the week. On Wednesday, Karen set up a game for her friend Lucas who was in town from Utah. I’m never one to turn down games so, even though I was already playing later that day with Debbie and Dave Fanning and Tom, I couldn’t decline. So on Wednesday, I played with Karen, Lucas and Andy Bloyer from about 11 in the morning to shortly after 1 in the afternoon, and then with Deb, Dave, and Tom from 2-4 pm. And then since our court was still open Tom talked me into a partial game of full court singles. And, despite my feet killing me from playing all day, I couldn’t say no.
Besides the games that Karen set up, I also had other games set up. On Tuesday evening, I played with Janelle Lindeman’s group. And on Thursday morning (New Year’s Eve), I played with Brooke and Monty Ayala and Kim Knotts first thing in the morning before my play time with Karen, Chandi, and Kristen.
Coincidentally, we all had our Chicken N Pickle skyline shirts that day. Naturally, we had to get a group pic.
Here’s our group pic from New Year’s Day. (From left: Karen, Krista, Ching and Brooke.) I couldn’t believe how many people were CNP that morning despite the weather. The roads were so bad that I was amazed I made it to CNP without getting stuck. When I arrived, I expected the four of us to be the only ones there but no – all the courts were actually full.
After pickleball, Brooke, Karen and I stayed for the special New Year’s Day bingo event. Brooke and Karen both won stuff but I did not, which is probably how this entire year is going to go. I went home briefly after bingo and then came back to CNP again later that afternoon for my 5-7 pm game with Debbie’s group. We relocated our normal Friday night mixed to CNP because Nahola was closed for the holiday, and in doing so we also moved the time up a couple of hours.
No pickleball for me on Saturday morning because I committed to helping with the VASA group exercise sampler event at the Harry location. Did that, and then went to lunch and run errands with Brian and completely forgot about the Saturday afternoon play with Janelle’s group that I had agreed to over holiday break. Had she not texted me, I would have missed it altogether.
On Sunday, I started my Aqua Zumba class at VASA (Harry), played pickleball at the open play at Nahola, and had a pickleball lesson with Chris Heck. In the evening, I attended the pickleball farewell party for Jimmy at CNP (more on this later). And then it was back to work on Monday.
I got to do lots of pickleball and also some Zumba (my normal classes and the New Year event – more on this later too) during my time off work. It was wonderful! The only thing that would have made it even better is if I didn’t have to work at all.
I guess that’s all for now. Until next time. GNG.
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Christmas Day 2020
Posted on December 30, 2020 by Ching under Family.
We had a really simple Christmas again this year, much like last year. Except, unlike last year when we didn’t even pull out our Christmas decorations, we actually decorated this year. And, David and Donna came up from Oklahoma and spent a couple of days with us. It was a simple, quiet, relaxing Christmas.
Here are some of my favorite photos from Christmas day.
Grandma loves her chocolates and her cookies.
This is by far my favorite picture of Brian because he never smiles in photos and I caught him in such a genuine moment of joy in this pic.
Our basement is always too cold so we got David and Donna each their own Comfys. Brian and I got these for each other last year and thought mom and dad might like them too. Specially for cold winter nights or even that time they were without power for two weeks.
We also got Donna a baby Yoda (really “the Child” but everyone else calls it baby Yoda) throw because she is obsessed with it.
Grandma always asks for a jumbo print calendar on her Christmas list so it’s always our job to get her one each year.
In keeping with the cold wintry theme, we also go Donna some comfy, knit slipper socks.
At 98 years old, grandma still has a great sense of humor.
She also loves her Christmas day mimosas.
Grandma also always asks for popcorn. David and Donna got them for her this year.
We got David mostly gun stuff because that’s what he’s into.
Part of the fun of Christmas day is trying on your presents. Here he is trying on his new cardigan from Donna.
I’m so glad that Brian and I recovered in time. I’m not sure what Christmas would have been like if we were still sick with COVID. It was a really nice, leisurely day with family. I hope everyone had a wonderful, relaxing Christmas day!
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COVID Ruins Everything
Posted on December 24, 2020 by Ching under Hobbies.
This last league session was the most challenging ever. My normal mixed league partner Tom decided to take a break and so I talked my friend Steve into playing with me. I so wanted to play in league with Steve that I even agreed to his demands – no matching outfits and only one league picture posted on social media.
Besides having a new mixed league partner, I also had a new women’s league partner. Having new partners is nothing new for me because I switch partners all the time. But this is the first league session ever that I actually missed league nights, which really tore me apart because I do not ever like missing pickleball if I can help it. The worst part is this was a short league session (only five weeks instead of seven) so I really only got play half of the league.
My mixed league was on Sunday nights so I couldn’t play on December 6 because my COVID symptoms started on Thursday, December 3, and, not only was I feeling very sick that weekend but we were also waiting for our COVID test results so we had to be in quarantine. Luckily, my friend Kim (Knotts) was available to take my place and it was a good league night because she and Steve won both matches that night. Since the two of them played really well together, we planned to have Kim play in my place again the following weekend for our league tournament. Michael approved it and everything. December 13 would have been the 10 day since my symptoms started and, while I technically would have been free to be out of quarantine, I didn’t think I would feel up to playing in a pickleball tournament (even if it is just a silly league one).
Anyway, fast forward to the following weekend and then Steve now has some COVID symptoms and is waiting on test results so he has to isolate. So then if neither of us can play our mixed team has to forfeit. I hated the idea of forfeiting. I actually thought about playing long and hard. I even asked my friend Chris (Wilson) to play with me but he couldn’t because it was on a Sunday evening. It’s a good thing he couldn’t play because I really shouldn’t have been playing anyway. Even though it was day ten and my quarantine was technically over I was not in any shape to play. When the doctor told us we would be free from COVID jail in ten days, I really hoped with all of my heart that all of my symptoms would be gone by day ten because what would be the point of being free if you’re not well enough to be upright? On Sunday I still had some body aches so, even though I told myself that our team would forfeit “over my dead body,” we really had to forfeit because if I insisted on playing it would have been literally over my dead body.
I heard that we weren’t the only team to forfeit on league tournament night. Only five out of the nine teams actually played on tournament night so three other teams besides us forfeited. So that’s pretty much how this last session of mixed ended.
The women’s doubles league was even worse. My partner and I only got to play together twice. And almost not even that. On the very first night of league, less than a couple of hours before our league match, my partner Anna texted me and told me that she tested positive for COVID. Thankfully, she was asymptomatic but she still had to quarantine. That meant she had to miss the first two Wednesdays. I managed to get great subs for those two weeks but I was so excited for this league session (as I am for every session, I suppose) that I even got special league uniforms for me and my partner which I couldn’t even wear for the first two weeks because she was sidelined. We finally got to play together on the third week of league, December 2, which is the day before my symptoms started.
But, hey! At least we got to take these fun pics.
Aren’t our uniforms cool? Even though we did only get to wear them twice.
Dawn filled in for me the following week because I was sick with COVID. We planned to have a sub lined up for me the following week because we weren’t sure how I would feel but thankfully by Wednesday, December 16, I felt up to playing. It was the thirteenth day since the onset of my symptoms so I was officially done with my quarantine and, unlike on Sunday when I didn’t feel well enough, I was actually feeling pretty strong on Wednesday.
On Monday (day eleven) I was feeling pretty good but I knew not to get too excited because I felt pretty good the first Sunday after my symptoms began (on December 6) and then the symptoms were back with a vengeance the very next day. I pretty much rode this crazy roller coaster where I was sick, felt better, and then felt sick again over the course of two weeks. I was very cautious on Monday because I wasn’t sure if my body aches (which were the worst of my symptoms) would return. My friend Ramona subbed my Zumba class that night and then I also had Sydney sub my 5:30 AM class on Wednesday. On Tuesday, I woke up and still felt fine. I felt better than Monday and so I thought, hey, I can probably play in the tournament on Wednesday night and so I did.
We didn’t win but it was great be reunited with my partner and we took a few more fun pics. Anna even took one for the team and wore the matching shorts I got for us which she didn’t like because she said it made her feel like she had a wedgie. The shorts don’t feel like that to me but, after looking at this pic, it does kind of look like I have a wedgie. I must just be numb to it. LOL.
My favorite part of our league uniforms is that it has our names on the back.
It was really fun playing with Anna. I wish we could have played together more than twice. Oh, well. That’s what happens when COVID ruins everything.
It was pretty much the same story on tournament night. Only seven out of the thirteen women’s doubles teams played. The rest of the teams had to forfeit for one reason or another. It was the same with the men’s doubles league too. It was so weird. Chicken N Pickle is usually abuzz with all of the pickleball players milling about and that night it was almost like tomb. There was hardly anyone there.
I promised Brian I wouldn’t overdo it but with hardly anyone there I actually got to play a little bit extra. Anna and I even played singles against each other while we were waiting for our first match. That was my first day back to playing pickleball and, with the exception of Monday when I taught my Zumba class, I’ve played everyday since.
On Thursday, Michael Harris put together a mixed group and we played for three hours. On Friday, I had a pickleball lesson with Chis (Heck) and then played in the 5:00 PM open play at Nahola before my 7:00 PM mixed play group.
On Saturday, my friend Chris (Wilson) and I played in the ugly sweater pickleball tournament at Chicken N Pickle. There were only five teams in the competitive pool (compared to twelve in the social pool later that day) and we only came in third but I had a lot of fun playing. Anyway, the top two teams were men’s doubles teams so I didn’t feel too bad. Chris actually got COVID right before I did and the day he returned to our Friday night play group was my first night off. We decided to call our team for the Saturday tournament COVID Survivors. LOL.
I finally managed to get into the much coveted Chicken N Pickle brunch and bingo open play so I played from 8:00 AM to 11:00 AM on Sunday, followed by a few rounds of bingo, and then I hightailed it to Nahola for the 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM open play. I didn’t plan to play bingo and was just going to grab a quick bite before going to Nahola but Michael and Jeff talked me into it.
I figured instead of eating elsewhere I could just eat at Chicken N Pickle over bingo. I told Michael I would stay for one game. Michael walks by four rounds later and goes, “So much for only staying for one game. You might as well stay for blackout so you can win that Electrum Pro paddle.”
Part of the reason I stayed so long is I got to hang out with these two kool kats — Bill Schantz and Lonnie Lollar.
I stayed way longer than I should have and was actually 15 minutes late for the Nahola Open play but I’m so glad I went because we had exactly eight players and, not only that, this past Sunday was the very last open play at Nahola. They canceled open play indefinitely because of the rise in COVID cases.
I took a break from pickleball on Monday but I did resume teaching my Monday night Zumba class. On Tuesday, I signed up for “newbie night” which turned into the most awesome open play ever. They extended the “newbie night” deal to everyone so for $5 we got to play pickleball and have a free appetizer.
Yesterday Janelle invited me to play with her and Mel and Melissa at Nahola — except I misread my text message and went to Chicken N Pickle instead. I have never gotten from CNP to Nahola so fast!
And that brings us to today, Christmas Eve. I’m pretty much back to normal. Just in time for Christmas! And, while COVID ruined several plans this month (our poker tournament and my friend Lauren’s visit for starters), I’m really glad that we’ve gotten it out of the way and have immunity for at least 90 days.
Until next time. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
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We Both Got COVID and Survived
Posted on December 23, 2020 by Ching under Health, Life.
Besides the mandatory stay at home order earlier this year which I strictly followed, I pretty much continued to play pickleball with my normal play groups and teach my Zumba classes (once the gyms reopened). We weren’t going to parties or anything like that but I continued to pursue all of my favorite activities, including playing bingo at Chicken N Pickle on Sundays. Anyway, I was just thinking to myself, “Wow! I can’t believe I got through the whole year without getting COVID.” Well, the universe responded, “Not so fast, Chingy!”
I was feeling pretty lucky for not having contracted the virus but also wondered if I was one of those lucky people who had already had it but just didn’t have any symptoms. I’ve known a few people like that. One of them being Brian’s grandmother. She got COVID around the end of October and didn’t have any noticeable symptoms at all. Also, I’ve had some friends who were positive for the antibodies which meant they’d had COVID already and just didn’t realize it. I always thought I would be one of these lucky people until the day I started exhibiting symptoms and was proven completely wrong.
I play in a couple of pickleball leagues at Chicken N Pickle and, much to my friend Steve’s displeasure, everyone is pretty casual about the whole COVID thing. Naturally, we don’t wear masks while we are playing and sometimes we are pretty casual about putting our masks back on because we’re usually eating or drinking. And, throughout all of this, there’s a lot of socializing that happens. I mean, we’re not hugging on each other but we are chatting and visiting like normal.
Anyway, on Wednesday, December 2, my friend Brooke had another friend fill in for her for our competitive women’s doubles league because she wasn’t feeling well. I texted her the next day to see how she was feeling and that’s when I found out that she tested positive for COVID. Then I’m thinking, I’m not feeling great either and started to wonder if I had it too because we were together at bingo the Sunday prior. Anyway, I was due at the doctor’s office the next day on Friday morning so they could draw my blood and complete my lab work before my annual physical the following Friday, December 11. Brian reminded me that the doctor’s office couldn’t see if I have any symptoms or if I’ve been exposed to someone positive for COVID. I’m like, “Let’s see what they say. Also, if there’s a chance I have COVID then they really need to see me because I want to be tested.”
Sure enough they couldn’t draw my blood because the area where they do the lab work is kind of an open area and they can’t risk me infecting other patients. The nurse did say that our doctor could see us later in the in the afternoon for COVID tests. My symptoms were pretty mild at this point — just fever and body aches — and Brian didn’t have any symptoms yet but I insisted they test him as well because I was pretty sure if I had it then I’d given it to him already.
My symptoms started out pretty mild on Thursday and then getting a bit worse on Friday. They were so mild at first that I actually contemplated still playing pickleball with my normal Friday night play group and then having a poker tournament at our house on Saturday night. However, I didn’t want to responsible for infecting other people so on Thursday I pulled the trigger and let my pickleball friends know that I wouldn’t be able to play for the next two Fridays. One of my friends in the group, Chris, immediately replied with “Where are you playing instead?” Assuming that I was playing elsewhere and that’s why I wasn’t playing with them. I explained that I was exposed to another friend who tested positive for COVID and could potentially have it so I’m quarantining. And then my other friend Kimberly started freaking out because we sat together while we ate dinner after league on Wednesday night and she was worried that I might have given it to her. That’s the scary thing with this virus. You don’t know when you have it because sometimes the symptoms are so mild or they start much later so, unless you’re completely isolated, there is a huge risk of contracting it from someone.
Besides pulling the plug on the poker game, I had to let my friend Quinton know about the situation because he was originally going to stay with us on Saturday night. He was coming into town to play in the inaugural pickleball invitational tournament at Chicken N Pickle, staying for the poker tournament, and then spending the night at our house before heading back home. Anyway, since we canceled the poker tournament due to potential COVID exposure, I figured he probably wouldn’t want to stay with us that Saturday night. That was the other bummer about the COVID thing. I was going to spend Saturday at Chicken N Pickle, watching the pickleball tournament and livestreaming for those at home but I couldn’t do that because (a) I had to quarantine and not expose anyone else to the virus I potentially had, and (b) I was feeling really sick by Saturday and could barely function so I really couldn’t even if I wanted to.
Speaking of foiled plans, I also notified my friend Lauren right away about our situation because she was visiting and was going to stay with us Wednesday, December 9, through Sunday, December 13. If we had COVID then she couldn’t be around us. And, even if we did test negative, we would still be in the middle of our 14-day quarantine period because the symptoms sometimes do not manifest right away. Anyway, we had pickleball and dinner plans and all of that stuff that now had to be scrapped because, not only was I not feeling well, but I was potentially sick with a virus that could be fatal to some people.
So Friday afternoon we get tested by our family physician. Check out the video above of Dr. Hane doing the test on me and also on Brian, who was a big baby about it. Brian, because he doesn’t really have any of the symptoms yet, is convinced he doesn’t have it so we social distance at home by sleeping in two different rooms and also, whenever we watched movies, we sat on opposite ends of the couch. This goes on from Friday night to Sunday night when we finally get a phone call about our test results.
This is how far apart we were watching Mulan on Friday night.
Normally when I’m sick, Brian exiles me to the guest bedroom on the other side of the house but this time, since my germs were already all over the master bedroom, I got to stay in the master and Brian slept in our upstairs guestroom. Interestingly enough, this would have been the room that Lauren would have slept in during her visit. Anyway, Brian rigged up one of our video cameras to still keep an eye on me even though we’re sleeping apart.
Here’s a picture of us still social distancing on Saturday. Of course, by now I am super sick and Brian is still somewhat okay. We don’t have energy to do much of anything and we can’t really go anywhere because we are quarantining so we just watch movies all day. We watched Peppermint, which was actually pretty good, and The Prom, which Brian immediately regretted agreeing to watch once he realized it was a musical. To be fair, neither of us knew it was a musical. We just saw a short clip (one of the funnier moments in the movie – that’s how they bait you into watching) that was hilarious and we thought we needed something light after Peppermint. Anyway, Brian would rather not have watched that second movie (he’s not really into musicals with a few exceptions) but we survived.
When we finally get our results on Sunday night, I am so relieved. I mean, I felt bad that Brian was sick with COVID too but I was tired of sleeping apart and I was ready to be done with the whole social distancing inside our own house nonsense. Also, I was kind of glad that we were both sick at the same time because then we completed our quarantine in half the time. Had I been sick first and then Brian been sick after me then we would have had to quarantine twice as long. At least when we were done with our quarantine, we were done, and didn’t have to wait for the second round of quarantine to finish. Also, it meant we were in it together.
Oh, another interesting bit I learned during this time is that, when you’re positive, you only have to quarantine for ten days. Our doctor told us that ten days after the onset of our symptoms we were free to resume normal activities because by then we would no longer be shedding the virus and there was no more risk of infecting others. Of course, I’m thinking to myself, I better feel good in ten days because if I’m still feeling achy all over and can’t sustain an upright position for extended period then what’s the point of being free?
On Sunday, December 6, after spending most of the weekend horizontal, I actually feel pretty good and I was like, “Wow! That was it?” I thought I was done — but I was wrong. I woke up Monday and all my symptoms were back with a vengeance. The nice thing is, I’m working from home so I’m not exposing anyone to the virus, and I was in training that week so it wasn’t a tough week. There’s never a good week to be sick but there were worse weeks to be sick. As much as working remotely is a blessing because I didn’t have to quit working, the downside is I think it made my recovery longer. Most of my week was spent sitting at my desk, participating in training, when I really could have benefited from being in bed and resting — which is pretty much what I did every break and every lunch. Most days I didn’t even eat lunch because, not only did I not have the strength or appetite to eat, but it was quite pointless because I couldn’t taste things anyway (unless it was sweet). I lived on pineapple chunks and grapes the week I was sick because that was pretty much all I could taste. I could also taste Pepsi but I did my best to resist because soda isn’t good for you when you’re well and much less when you’re sick.
After the whole Sunday-Monday debacle whenever I had bouts of feeling well I knew not to get too excited because often I would feel better and then I would feel bad again. I was pretty much on this crazy roller coaster of symptoms all week. It wasn’t until Monday, December 14, that I really started to feel better. I didn’t know how I would be so I had subs lined up to teach my Monday and Wednesday Zumba classes that week but I actually starting to feel somewhat normal. Although, on my Monday, day 11, I knew not to get too excited because I had been on this roller coaster and I wasn’t sure if it was just another one of those brief moments of reprieve. I woke up on Tuesday and still felt fine and I was like, “Maybe it is really over?” On Wednesday, I still felt pretty good and so I made the decision to play in the pickleball tournament for my women’s league. That’s another blog on its own though which I will write about next.
Until then, I hope everyone is staying healthy and safe. GNG.
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