The one where she turns into Bette Midler in Ruthless People

It's not exactly a huge surprise that if I can dust off my blog, I can find other ways for my laptop to keep me out of the laundry room trouble. And of course, I have. Not only am I spending way too much time following Chinese cooking vlogs on YouTube, I'm doing virtual exercise classes via FaceTime and Zoom.

FaceTime is self-explanatory, since I believe everyone other than my 97 year old mother has experienced it. But for the two or three of you who haven't experienced Zoom workouts, allow me to list their advantages:

1. You can literally roll out of bed and head to your exercise class. I'm taking part in Yoga, cardio, and stretch-and-tone classes from the doughty Woman's Athletic Club of Chicago, which is a 45 minute drive from my house. There is no way in hell I'd bother to all the way there and pay for parking to take a yoga class, but with Zoom, I'm in.

2. Also, there's no pressure to look good. Gray roots? Who can see them? Crappy workout clothes? The pressure's off to wear the latest and greatest. You can even use a virtual backdrop so that people can't see the hot mess behind you. Here I am in a convenient arm chair in my bedroom:

and here I am, happily ensconced in a toile-a-rama 18th century bedroom in Dumbarton House, in Washington, D.C.:

3. You can even turn off your video and just watch the instructor, making it feel like a personal training session.

If only I actually owned a copy of Ruthless People, I could just work out with Bette.

Meanwhile, I had a Zoom Pilates class this morning, and I'm about to do a Yoga with Adriene YouTube workout.