I drove a bit over an hour, leaving Armstrong County and entering Allegheny.
My mother-in-law passed away this morning. My husband was on his way down to be with her. She had woken up the day before yesterday and was lucid enough to ask for him. He went alone, leaving me and the girl up here while he rushed to see her. He, unfortunately didn’t make it in time.
I know this is how the world works. People live and people die. Sometimes you get a chance to tell your loved ones you love them before they go, and sometimes you don’t. I’m just really incredibly sad right now. I’m sad for my husband. I’m sad for me. I sad for my father-in-law. I don’t want to be at work right now. I honestly don’t know why I’m still here.
One last thing from this rambly rant. Fuck cancer. She was a vibrant, energetic woman. It stripped that all away until all she felt was pain. And then took her before my husband could hold her hand. Fuck cancer so fucking hard.
{{{{ all of you }}}}
Fucking insomnia. Two nights in a row I’ve woken up at 3 and haven’t been able go back to sleep. I’m blaming the Benadryl. Great for allergies, terrible for quality of life.
I read an article about the cooling down of the Venice (CA) housing market (1940s Craftsman-style bungalows somewhat near the beach are now selling for only $3 million instead of $3.5 million). They interviewed one couple who own one of these terribly downvalued homes, who also expressed angst about the quality of shopping on one renowned Venice thoroughfare, dismissing it as “too bougey”.
That’s a portmanteau word meaning “bourgeois” and “fancy”.
How utterly precious.
Just this morning I told Mrs. J. I don’t feel right about picking up groceries at the Kroger down on the bypass. It’s so dreadfully bougey. 
I pulled a muscle in my shoulder a couple of months ago and went to see my PCP. Anti inflammatories and muscle relaxers. Worked fine on the symptoms but no relief on the underlying issue. Back to PCP and this time it was x-rays and steroids and an extension on muscle relaxers. X-rays showed nothing out of the ordinary or concerning for someone my age.
Come to a week ago. Pain has diminished to a dull ache that alternates from between my shoulder blade and spine to where my deltoid attaches to my upper arm. And now my forearm and thumb are tingling.
May have to loop in a chiropractor this time. I don’t have time for this crap.
If I have some time on my hands I try to string them along as much as possible. I figure if they’re talking to me they’re not talking to someone who might actually fall for their bullshit and a good deed goes around the world.
On March 3rd I got a call from the “Your social security number has been suspended” people. I kept him on the phone for 21 and a half minutes before he finally sussed out that I was fucking with him. He actually tried to make me feel bad about wasting his time. He was all “Does it make you feel good to waste people’s time like this?” Hey, you called me.
Why yes, yes it does. (Although I generally just don’t bother answering, because I’m like that.)
Meantime, I’m getting annoyed at some of the organizations I support with monthly donations. At least two have called recently trying to get me to increase my donation by “just a couple of extra dollars a month, it would really help.” I tell them I’ve budgeted a certain amount of money each month to donate and that increasing their donation means decreasing someone else’s and I’m not willing to do that. One gentleman was very persistent about it. I think I told him ‘no’ about 10 times before he finally went away.
I’m at the point that if someone else calls to do the same, I’m going to tell them that they’re getting as much as I can give and if they keep trying to get me to give them more, not only won’t they get more, I’ll stop donating to them and find another organization to give to.
So, this time last year, I started a mystery needlework project which turned out to be a very nice sampler that will look great in our bedroom. I started the last “square” and after a few stitches realized that I didn’t have enough of the watercolors to finish. Well, crap.
Knowing that the threads all complimented each other, I went through the left over threads and picked out other threads that looked like they worked well together.
Yes, they do look nice but today I learned that I am short about 18 inches of the Neon Rays I need. CRAP!!!
I’m going to get this year’s mystery project before I finish last years. CRAPCRAPCRAP!!!
(This designer usually supplies ample amounts of the required floss, I must have just been really loose and sloppy this time.)
Goddamn blue jays squawking outside my house every fucking day from sunup to sundown. 
I may need to invest in a slingshot.
A slingshot would be both fun and practical.
Blue jays suck.
I had to move into a shared house back in January- had to move urgently for work, over Christmas, during a national lockdown (legal to move, not to visit beforehand) in a slightly crazy housing market- I didn’t have many options. I’d had my own little flat for over 3 years before then, but, for the next 4 months, I’m stuck here.
There’s 5 (or possibly 6- one appears to have vanished and is in the process of being evicted anyway, I think he’s dealing, from the sound of it) other people in there. We share a bathroom, one per floor, meaning I’m sharing with a couple. Plus the MIA guy, if he reappears before getting chucked out.
For some unknown reason, they dry their clothes in the bathroom. No clue why. There’s no dryer here (common for a cheap place in the UK) but plenty of radiators, which are permanently turned up full, so it’s boiling hot in the corridors- there’s space to put an airer, which wouldn’t be in anyone’s way. But no, every single bit of space in the bathroom- the heated towel rail, the hooks on the wall, over the door, every bit of space they can find- has their bloody washing draped over it. And do they move it when it’s dry (which takes a few hours- it’s roasting in there too)?
Do they hell.
Half the time they just leave it there until they want to wear it, which may be over a week, leaving me stuck between having to rearrange their crap so I have somewhere to put my towel while having a shower and starting an argument with a couple who are supposedly moving ‘soon’ because she’s pregnant.
Oh, and the few places it’s not practical to hang washing on- the back of the sink, say- are filled up with their other stuff. Is it hygienic to leave a couple of toothbrushes and a tongue scraper lying flat on the back of a sink so small that all items are touching the taps? In a bathroom shared with a near-total stranger? Somehow, I don’t think so.
I literally have to move their toothbrushes to turn the water on half the time. There’s not enough space to put my own toothpaste down when I’m actually brushing my teeth. And I know if I say a damn word, I’ll be the ‘bad guy’, because they were there first…
I really really miss my flat.
I’ve never been in a situation like that Filbert, but are you paying rent to the couple or someone else. Because if they don’t own the place, they must live under the same rules as you which means you have equal rights to the bathroom. Can you get a bin and toss their stuff into it when its dry? That way you have room to hang up your towel (which I am assuming you take back to your room when you are done) and they don’t need to bother picking up their clothes until they want to wear them.
Must feel like university life. I’d check and see if there’s an RA or housemother to complain at.
re: scammers
I find it unimaginable that they can still find people to fall for it. I read an article earlier about a recent significant increase in auto warranty calls and can anecdotally confirm that myself. Is there anyone who hasn’t gotten scores, if not hundreds of calls about their about to expire warranty?
Where are they finding victims to make this a profitable operation?
Err, no, it’s simply a shortening of the word “bourgeoisie” and it’s been around at least 10 years.
I pit wasps. The flying kind, not the white kind.
Late Friday night, during a windstorm, our power flickered. No problem, was out just a tad. The Saturday morning we woke with our power out. I assumed the whole neighborhood was out, but a quick check of the PE&G outage board showed it was just us.
I called, and before the truck could arrive the power came back on. Cool. My breakers were fine, the smart meter was getting power, but it was showing some weird numbers.
Then at 6 pm it went off again. It turns out that PG&E could reset it. They did - and it went out again. They decided I needed a new smart meter.
The guy rolled up in not too long and replaced it - and showed me the problem. The old one was full of wasp nests and crap. Why? It had a big hole on the bottom.
Everyone in PG&E but this guy was cool. I’m not sure why he thought I was responsible for them making a meter wasps could get into. It’s not like they’d want me to take the meter off to clean it out.
Going out with some wasp spray and metal netting to tape on the bottom. He said to tape it up, but I figure the whole was there for airflow. Stupid wasps. Stupid smart meter designer.
Back when meter readers actually came out in person to read meters, a swarm of bees took residence in our water meter cover. (The box that goes over the meter.) The water meter guy came pounding on our door, blaming us for the bees and insisting that we do something about it.
We did do something about it. We called the water company and told them that their meter had a bee hive in it and that they needed to send someone out to maintain their equipment.
We thought it would have been funny if the meter reader guy had to come out and deal with it, but I doubt that happened.
Today I drove past the “Bad and Boujee Beauty Bar”.