Gas is cheaper but not that much, specially given my level of consumption. We’re talking about one shower per afternoon, which will be unheated in the summer, and lighting up the range maybe three times per week. No a/c, no heating (if the heater was part of a heating circuit I wouldn’t be removing it, but there’s no such circuit); I’d like to eventually maybe perhaps get a heat pump, and those are electrical. The fixed part of my gas bill and of my electric bill are both bigger than the respective variable parts; removing the gas removes that fixed cost without raising the electric bill by a large amount. Last year’s house was all electric and I paid less.
And Mom can’t hear (deaf) or see (cataracts, not yet operable) the gas fires. She can see the pilot lights on electric ranges, and see the big red lit circle. She’s also been using electric ranges for the last 40 years. When faced with a gas range, she’s likely to switch it off when trying to lower it, lower it when trying to switch it off (at least once she’s done that with the pot left on top, another two times with no pot) or douse it while still leaving the gas open, or open the wrong one and wonder why it isn’t lighting up.
I’ve been known to crush pencils and water bottles, but I suspect neither is recommended. If there are graven images, maybe you can imagine the saints naked, or glare at them. Or, better than naked, what kind of underwear might they have on. Those Immaculates with the white robe and blue shawl standing on the horns of the moon, maybe she’d be wearing a lacy number with glittery stars. And Saint Francis of Assisi would wear Spiderman boxers, because c’mon, who doesn’t like Spiderman boxers, but Augustine would have on something very serious and with no images (he wasn’t into the whole graven images thing). For Augustine, it’s tightie blacks all the way.
So I’ve got a sick kid home today while I work. Which isn’t actually my rant. My rant is really about the ups and downs of said sick kid.
For 20 minutes, he’s wandering around, groaning about how bored he is, how he wants to go to camp because I won’t let him play video games and watch TV all day. Then he’s unloading the mother of all shits. Then his stomach feels better, so cue the wandering around being ticked that I’m not letting him do anything. Then the shits resume. He’s 11, so perfectly old enough to be entertaining himself, but holy mother of god, I wish he would actually do it.
And yes, I’m “that” parent, the one who makes their “sick” kids stay in bed or laying down on the couch or otherwise walking around bored out of their skulls. I once made the mistake of letting him watch TV all day when he was sent home with a low fever and caught him faking being sick the next week, thinking he’d get a play day.
Weird thought. I know, I know. Stereotypes are bad. People everywhere are the same mix of good and bad. Etc. Still, I think we all have mental associations for various countries, as in, hearing that a new haute couture line was launched by a Frenchman would not surprise me. Hearing that the unruly Soccer fans who tore up a town after a match were Canadian would. So…
You’re watching the news and a story about some huge heist that was carried out with precision, ruthlessness, and the use of lots of technological devices/information comes on. The newsie says, “The police say they are making progress in their investigation. They are sure a(n) XXXXX gang was behind it.”
Where XXXX was the name of a country. Which country would you find least and most surprising?
Sigh. We’re supposed to have over 100 degree F highs all this week. Wednesday and Thursday are supposed to be 110 and 112. I’m not going to enjoy my PG&E bill for this month.
What’s even worse is the local TV stations have taken to putting the current temperature in the corner of the TV screen next to their logo. I really don’t need to be reminded, thankyouverymuch
Schools ended last week; teachers are still going today & tomorrow. The local campus is a couple of schools & a bunch of athletic fields. Today was the first day of a one-week baseball camp/academy on the fields.
So when did they decide to do the one day road construction project that prevents people from driving from the main entrance to the elementary school & athletic fields because of about 75 yards worth of road closure? Today! :smack:
They couldn’t wait just two days when there’d be much less traffic & less confusion of the parents not knowing exactly where to go because it’s the first day? Instead, make them drive an extra 2 miles, in morning rush hour traffic. - That is if parents of the younger kids &/or of kids in non-public schools even know about the rear entrance as it’s more of a driveway than a road.
After a series of romantic catastrophes and my 40th birthday, I resigned myself to being solitary. And life’s good. I have plenty to keep me busy and no debts, dependents, or diseases.
I’ll be driving through Ohio next week, and on a whim, I contacted an old friend in Columbus. She and I might have been an item once, if I’d said the right thing at the right time.
After I sent the email, I searched for her online. Still single! I began to consider the possibilities…
…And that’s when my blood froze and my chest started to tighten. I began to see my solitary existence as craven, pathetic, and terribly wrong. Why didn’t I contact her years ago? How could I spend so many years alone?
It’s been over 24 hours since I sent the email, and though I’ve checked my inbox obsessively, I haven’t received a response. I think it’s safe to assume that it’s not coming. In a couple days, I’ll be fine. But right now, it’s tough.
For the second time my downstairs neighbor has come knocking on my door at 11:15 at night to complain that every time he falls asleep I wake him up by making noise.
I’ve always had a poor view of Los Angeles. Partly because I hate crowds and cars (and crowds of cars).
Just flew from lush, green, cool Wisconsin… to LAX. Where it was 98º with no shade and crowds of cars. Went from creeping along the constipated freeways to marvelling at how beige the scrub can be this early in the summer, to having to walk almost a mile between each presentation I had to give (in the relentless noonday sun… remember that 98º?).
I was sweating that heat when I started singing in a bad Randy Newman voice “I hate L.A…”
I’m not that far from you, and hating commuting by public transit, with an annoying amount of waiting at stops between vehicles. Nope, can’t afford Lyft/Uber that often.
Could be worse. My DH is installing solar panels on shopping center roofs in this.
It was near 80 when I got up at 0630 this morning.
I console myself by reminders that it could be worse. I talked to callers from Arizona today who reported temps 10 degrees higher than here. I also check out Death Valley on my weather app.
Speaking of weather apps, starting to think I need a new one. Not sure how accurate the current one is. It seems to report low.
If I want to hear, say, the Blue Danube and I select “radio for this song”, I’d like to hear other pieces from the same period. I don’t want 250 different recordings of the same song.
Android has **Authentic Weather **. It’s not detailed enough for my specific needs & I don’t know how accurate it is as I hardly use it because of that, but for the average user I think it’s good enough, & for comedic value, it’s far & away the best.
He’s not an engineer, though I know a buttload of engineers and can confirm this is pretty endemic to their personalities.
My husband is a clinical psychologist with a research background so he is quite adept at statistical analysis and making Excel spreadsheets. He is also extremely calm in a crisis, which is good because I’m not. What he is, that I also am not, is cheap. Er, frugal, that’s the PC word. To be fair, I’m a little on the spendy side, so we balance each other out. But probably one of the better decisions we made was for me to take over management of the household finances, and by extension, most of the purchasing decisions. This forces me to be more accountable, since I am staring our budget in the face every day, and over time, he has learned to accept that Egyptian cotton sheets really are better and that a $100 pair of pants by far outlasts a $20 pair of pants. He can be reasoned with.
But it’s accurate to say that inevitably, anytime the cost of anything comes up, he will be shocked by how much it costs. It doesn’t matter how small it is or how much it actually cost, he is just shocked. I bought a toilet plunger/brush set. ''Wow, $15 for that? Wow." And when it comes to buying something for himself, it usually takes weeks for him to decide for all the aforementioned cost/benefit analysis reasons. He usually ends up with something cheap and (IMO) of less quality than I would get.
He is not the handyperson of the house. Sometimes I let him help, but it usually ends up making the task longer as a result. His main task when I’m assembling or fixing something is to stand next to me and entertain me with dazzling conversation. Then, at the end, after I fix the thing, he announces, ‘‘I contributed!’’
And yes, ilke you, I do benefit from his compulsively responsible behavior, it’s probably the reason we aren’t homeless.
To be fair, I’m a little on the spendy side, so we balance each other out. But probably one of the better decisions we made was for me to take over management of the household finances, and by extension, most of the purchasing decisions. This forces me to be more accountable, since I am staring our budget in the face every day, and over time, he has learned to accept that Egyptian cotton sheets really are better and that a $100 pair of pants by far outlasts a $20 pair of pants. He can be reasoned with.