Quarantine Top Fives

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By Liz, still locked away in Connecticut

I love lists. I especially love to read other people’s lists. I’ll buy any magazine that promises me the top five or top 10 anything. Since we’re all still in quarantine and probably trying to come up with new ways to cope, I thought I’d share a few of my top fives for how I’ve been surviving. Hopefully you’ll find something fun or useful to pass your abundance of time!

Shows:

  • Ozark (if you want dark)
  • The Stranger (Harlan Coben)
  • Gilmore Girls (even though I’ve seen every episode a hundred times, this one is great to feel like you’ve got fun friends over)
  • Grace & Frankie (just funny)
  • Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist (quirky, fun, and Lauren Graham)

Books:

  • Untamed – Glennon Doyle
  • Where to Begin – Cleo Wade
  • Hid From Our Eyes – Julia Spencer Fleming
  • Everything is Figureoutable – Marie Forleo
  • We Were the Mulvaneys – Joyce Carol Oates

Snacks: (and yes, this one is pretty random)

  • So Delicious oat milk chocolate salted caramel ice cream
  • Boulder Canyon avocado oil potato chips – sea salt flavor
  • Clementines
  • Tootsie Rolls
  • Hummus and gluten-free flatbread crackers

Apps:

  • Insight Timer – for meditation, music and all around calming
  • Writerly – to get your creative juices flowing
  • Daylio Journal – a good way to set goals and keep track of your mood
  • Spirit Junkie – affirmations to get you through the day
  • Brain Sparker – another way to prompt a writing session

Crystals:

  • Lepidolite – balances mood swings and helps with meditation
  • Peach selenite – promotes gentle healing
  • Howlite – for sleep
  • Amethyst – relives stress, balances mood swings, dissolves negativity, alleviates sadness and grief
  • Polychrome Jasper – grounding 
  • Bonus: Petrified wood – for anyone feeling stuck or frozen in time (sound familiar, anyone??)

Movies:

  • Back to the Future (what can I say, I love the 80s)
  • The Outsiders (my all-time favorite)
  • Shawshank Redemption (no explanation needed)
  • Se7en (dark but Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt!)
  • Arlington Road (also dark but awesome)
  • Bonus – Groundhog Day (LOL)

Instagram TV:

  • Glennon Doyle’s Morning Meetings (@glennondoyle)
  • Elizabeth Gilbert (@elizabeth_gilbert_writer)
  • Gabby Bernstein (@gabbybernstein)
  • Kris Carr (@crazysexykris)
  • The Daily Show – Trevor Noah (@thedailyshow)

Readers, what are some of your top five (anythings) during this crazy time? Leave a comment below!

Published by Cate Conte / Liz Mugavero

Cate Conte writes the Cat Cafe Mysteries and the Full Moon Mysteries. As Liz Mugavero, she writes the Pawsitively Organic Mysteries, the first of which was an Agatha Award nominee for Best First Novel. She lives in the Boston area with her rescue pals.

16 Thoughts

  1. Liz, I love these lists!

    TV shows
    Cardinal (Ontario police procedural based on Giles Blunt’s excellent mystery series)
    Killing Eve (Sandra Oh, an Ottawa-born gal, is sooo good)
    Star Trek Picard (I am a Star Trek nerd since the beginning)
    Big Bang Theory (Also I am a science nerd)
    The Avengers (on DVD – campy 1960s spy show but Diana RIgg rocks!)

    Books (recent reads)
    Hidden Victims, LynDee Walker (Nichelle book #8 is the best one so far)
    Hid From Our Eyes, Julia Spencer-Fleming (A long way, but so worth the read)
    Bleak Harbor, Bryan Gruley (Book #1 of another great trilogy)
    The Ninja Daughter, Tori Eldridge (great debut with a modern-day female ninja based in LA)
    Rick Mercer Final Report (Canada’s top satiric commA

    Homemade snacks
    Pantry brownies
    Tortilla Chips and guacamole
    Almond butter with slices of apple (or banana)
    Teff banana bars
    Oatmeal-raisin-chocolate chip cookies

    1. Nancy J. Parra said she watches “Cardinal” so unless she’s close to the border (she moves a lot, I never know where she’s living) an American network/streaming service must be showing it.

      1. Yes, some others have mentioned they can watch Cardinal in the US. It is either on Hulu or Showtime down there.

    2. Hmmm, not sure what happened to truncate one item on my list…you probably can figure it out but it should have read:

      Rick Mercer Final Report (Canada’s top satiric commentator)

  2. Instagram TV? Have I been left in the dust again?
    Snacks:
    Cinnamon graham crackers
    Dove dark minis
    Goldfish
    Cape Cod chips
    Clemantines

    1. Not to worry, Edith. I can’t remember my Instagram password so haven’t been on it in a long time (and have never watched Instagram TV). Yet I keep getting followers.

    2. I am the same, Edith…never heard of Instagram TV. I have an Instagram account but hardly ever use it.

  3. TV:

    Cardinal (2 more episodes left in the final season)
    Prodigal Son (last night was the season finale – what a twist!)
    How to Get Away with Murder (only 3 more episodes)
    One Day at a Time (both the original and the new one)
    lots more

    Streaming:

    I got the free trial of Crave (Canadian streaming service) and have watched:

    Ballers (final season)
    Star Trek Picard
    Bosch (season 6 – the latest one)
    Homeland (just started the final season)

    Planning to do the free trials of more streaming services

    Facebook Live/StreetJelly/other sites that have live/recorded events:

    Melissa Etheridge – Facebook – Concerts from Home – every day at 6 pm est. I’ve watched most. Sunday is piano night. She’s done theme nights (Joplin, Springsteen)
    Suzie Vinnick – Streetjelly.com – Wednesdays @7 pm est – blues/roots/originals/covers
    I want to watch Frankenstein when the version w/Jonny Lee Miller as the monster is shown. I’ve seen the version with Benedict Cumberbatch as the monster.

    Books:

    It’s taking me longer to read books these days. Granted, I don’t have a commute to and from work where I read a lot but no commute means I’m “home” from work earlier. These are my April reads; should have read at least twice as many.

    Mary Feliz – Cliff Hanger (#5 in the series)
    Amanda Flower – Marshmallow Malice (also #5 in the series) (ARC)
    Mitchell Nathanson – Bouton: The LIfe of a Baseball Original (ARC)
    Kate Young: Southern Sass and a Crispy Corpse (#2 in the series) (ARC)
    Kaye George: Deadly Sweet Tooth (also #2 in the series) (ARC)

    Snacks:

    Chocolate – is there anything else? 🙂

  4. I don’t have a top five of anything, but my spirit booster is John Krazinski’s SGN broadcasts that he posts late Sunday Nights on Facebook.. SGN is Some Good News and the episodes (there are 5 so far) are heartwarming and so sweet. Also, every weekday at 5pm, I watch Michael Buble’s facebook live post, He and his wife cook, workout, play games, sing, and just talk for a half an hour and they are so funny. Sometimes their kids get in on the action, and they are absolutely adorable.Other than coloring and reading, those are my go-tos during this time.

  5. Because photography is one of the things that has kept us busy during our stay at home, I give you – five things I love to photograph.
    Birds (now we even have those migrating through)
    Landscapes (Limited on that one but isn’t photos of anything with dirt considered landscape? If so, taking photos of the garden and its progress works for me)
    Flowers
    Insects
    Wildlife – squirrels, raccoons, fox, bobcat, rabbits, ground hog and deer

    Five things I’ve enjoyed about staying at home:
    Slowing down
    Eating better home cooked meals instead of what we can grab on the go and trying new things while using what’s on hand
    Getting to read more of the books on my TBR list
    Sitting on the porch taking photographs
    Enjoying conversations with hubby about anything and everything – remembering the past and dreaming towards the future.
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

  6. I’ll go with five things I’ve enjoyed about being home:

    My Instant Pot. Dinner is so much more creative now.
    Listening to birds in the morning (I swear they are louder).
    Having a fire – just because.
    Breaks with my Koda (dog).
    Looking out the window at my desk (although today’s gray view isn’t the most welcoming)

  7. Hmmmm, you and Julie bought me an amethyst crystal when we were in New Orleans. It sits on my desk and I use it like a worry stone. As for treats my daughter learned to make scones because I asked her too. I’m reading lots — dark and light. I’m thinking of re-watching Shitts Creek for laughs. Walks with Lily. Keeping in touch with friends!

  8. I’m rewatching season 4 of Murder, She Wrote and season 1 of The Mary Tyler Moore Show right now. Plus some friends started a virtual rewatch of Once Upon a Time.

  9. survival assistants:
    1. meals on wheels
    2. weekly call-checks from senior centers
    3. friends who periodically call me
    4. Informed Delivery from USPS (which sends a daily email to let me know whether there will be anything in the mailbox a half-mile from home)
    5. the window right next to my laptop so I know what is going on outside while I am inside

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