Family and Life Updates

[Seraphim]

Awww I am sorry. 

[boltnrun]

So I think I have a problem solved and then I get a very clear reminder I'm not in charge at all.

I had to be up at 4:15 this morning to go into work. I took some Z-Quil and fell asleep at around 10 pm. All good, right? Of course not! I woke up at midnight with excruciating arthritis pain in my right foot despite not doing a thing to aggravate it. The pain was so bad it woke me up and kept me awake until after 3 am. So I got three hours of sleep on a day when I have to drive 2 1/2 hours round trip and have to take inventory for 9 hours.

Yeah, I got it figured out. I am just never going to get any sleep.

[boltnrun]

Well, that was brutal.

They kept us there for nearly 11 hours taking inventory. Of course I was exhausted and in pain. Bonus was the two cuts on my fingers, the best one happened when a washer wedged under my index fingernail. That one bled a lot. The shop area was filthy (not surprising) and soon so was I. What was most laughable was the electronic monitor reminding us to "socially distance". That's hysterical. We were packed in there like the proverbial sardines. Impossible to distance. I started off with a mask on and then gave up. It was so stuffy and dusty in there. So I figured, nothing I can do about it anyway. Oh, and the communal lunch with communal serving spoons and knives and everyone reaching in with their hands to grab a sandwich out of the box. Yummy. I mean, it was a Covid germ's dream lol. I just threw up my (bleeding) hands and said, whatever!!! No reason to get all upset when there's nothing I can do about it.

I did start whining midway through hour nine. I know the GM heard me but I was about at the end. So, so tired. Lifting and counting for 11 hours, yeah, I'm gonna get moody.

Sincerely hoping I am permitted to sleep tonight. Gotta go back for another 11 hours tomorrow.

[boltnrun]

The brutality of yesterday paid off. I fortunately slept quite well. When I got in this morning I had a few more counts to do but three very nice ladies were helping me. The entire thing was done at 8:30 am (at least our part was), so them working us for 11 hours yesterday was at least worth it as we are now done.

I am going to drive home at lunch time and finish out my workday there.

I am seriously considering coming into the office one day a week. It was nice to see people and finally meet all those I've been working "with" for the past 20 months. I wouldn't mind one day a week. My boss will OK it.

[itsallgrand]

Oh that's great!! Sleep and a short day today, I mean. 

I'm surprised they had regular staff do it. I've seen a lot of places bring in cheap labour for the couple of days so they don't have to pay even minimum wage. So a positive I guess of having to go in?? Lol

[boltnrun]

4 minutes ago, itsallgrand said:

Oh that's great!! Sleep and a short day today, I mean. 

I'm surprised they had regular staff do it. I've seen a lot of places bring in cheap labour for the couple of days so they don't have to pay even minimum wage. So a positive I guess of having to go in?? Lol

We do a lot of confidential government stuff so they can't have outside people come in. I had to pass a VERY extensive background check even when I was a contract worker before they'd even let me step foot inside the building.  

I am just working on my usual stuff now. Which is slow because everyone who normally sends me work was doing inventory so they're behind. Tomorrow will likely be pretty busy.

[boltnrun]

Today is the first time in literally months I needed to put on a sweater while working at home. It feels amazing.

 

[Seraphim]

We are getting snow next week. 😒

[boltnrun]

18 hours ago, Seraphim said:

We are getting snow next week. 😒

That's one thing we never get here! We would call it "going to the snow" because we had to drive two hours to even find a dusting of snow.

It's 66 degrees (18.9 c) and my neighbors have their AC going. Ok... it's their electric bill, right? 😆

I was falling asleep at 9:30 pm last night so I turned out the light. Woke up a couple of times for a bit but got a good solid night's sleep. No medication either. These blessed cooler temps are helping.

[boltnrun]

I spent the weekend packing.  I have a LOT of stuff but I actually only have about 1/3 of what I used to own.  I had to really downsize when I moved from a 1350 square foot townhouse to a 450 square foot studio apartment.  My new apartment is about the same size.  But I still have a lot of stuff, mostly kitchen stuff, clothes and books.

Movers are coming Friday.  Utilities are getting hooked up Thursday afternoon.  I'm taking half of Thursday and all of Friday off.  I expect to have to make about three trips back to the old place to pick up odds and ends.  I'm not going to make much effort to clean the old place because I've found from a lot of previous experience the type of managers at my current building seldom give back your deposit.  They come up with nitpicky excuses to keep all of it.  So it'll be cleared out but certainly not spotless.

I'm looking forward to living on the ground floor.  Only three steps entering the complex and three up to my unit.  The entire place is single story except for one unit that's above the single family house all the way in the back.  But that one's not mine. Neighborhood is also much, much quieter than where I am now.  Hopefully that will translate to better sleep.

[boltnrun]

I woke up with symptoms yesterday and they are worse today. I Covid tested myself and it was negative so it seems my coworkers just shared a run of the mill cold with me. Thanks 🙄

Although I'm glad it's not Covid I am still annoyed. Reason to keep avoiding the office, although I do plan to start going in one day per week next week.

[boltnrun]

I'm frazzled today because I know from past experience no matter how much I think I have packed for my move it's NEVER as much as I think it is. I ALWAYS end up with 4-5 full car loads AFTER the movers have come and gone.

It's those "little things" that I think will only take up maybe half my hatchback that end up being several car loads with me muttering and cursing myself because I didn't bother packing this "little stuff". And no matter how much I vow not to do that...I ALWAYS do.

The only good thing is I'm only moving two miles away instead of 70. Or from another state. I can go back and forth until the end of the month. And good thing because I'll put money on this happening again. 

[boltnrun]

Moving day is tomorrow!

I am really trying not to leave too many "little things" unpacked but I can see them even when I try to pretend everything is packed. I am forcing myself to pack these "little things" even though I'm trying to be in denial.

[boltnrun]

Today is moving day. I think I have most everything ready to go but I guarantee there at least two to three full car loads of things I forgot to pack. 

Today is also a full year since my adorable, sweet cuddly silly kitty went to Kitty Heaven. I can't believe it's been a year already. She's on that beach with my mom and the others who've gone, waiting for me. 

[boltnrun]

The worst, all the things I couldn't pack or wrap until this morning because I was still using them (bed, couch, TV, microwave). So now I have to do it all today. Try getting a queen mattress set into  protective bags all by yourself. 

Also almost impossible to move around my current apartment. It's a studio so everything is in the way.

Yes, I'm whining. 

 

[boltnrun]

Move is 90% complete. Now I'm in the unpacking stage. Complicated by my weird excessive aversion to dirt and of course Covid fears.

My kitchen and breakfast area floor has been walked on with dirty shoes. So has my walk in closet floor. So I "have" to switch from my bedroom slippers to shoes or another pair of slippers when I walk in those areas and remember to switch back and forth. Talk about a pain in the butt. I've forgotten a couple of times which resulted in meltdowns and berating myself for being forgetful. I'm also washing my hands a zillion times because every time I touch something the movers touched (everything) I "have" to wash. It's exhausting. Everything takes three times as long as it should because of this. I also still have some things in my car and at my old apartment, but not too much.

Also can't get the Internet connected. The cable coming into the apartment doesn't have the proper connectors so I'll have to have them come in to install it. Which means I have to lay down carpet protector again and then remove it. Also forgot to setup trash pickup and order trash barrels so I'll have to do that tomorrow.

I also got attacked by some kind of spider or bug. I have HUGE bites on my right hand. They're red and swollen and both itch and burn. They're healing a bit but they were really bad all day yesterday. Of course I'm right handed 🙄

But this neighborhood is so quiet! I actually struggled to sleep Friday night because I kept waking up listening for traffic, loud voices and sirens. Don't have that here. Slept fine last night. And it was actually cold! I will have to add a blanket. And I found a terrific specialty grocer that has a deli counter just three blocks away. I walked there and got a sandwich yesterday as I have no food. It was pretty good and not at all expensive. I'll probably eat from there again today.

I need to get almost everything unpacked today.

[boltnrun]

Welp, I didn't get "almost everything" unpacked Sunday. Not even close.

I did pull up most of the plastic and cleaned the kitchen and "office" floor. Then I had to buy another roll of plastic to lay on the carpet for when the internet installer came. Welp again, he only came in a few feet because I told him I'd just had the carpet shampooed. But I'd rather do it and not need it than need it and not have it done.

Still washing my hands 872 times a day. The skin on my hands is scaly and peeling from all the washing. But I am a compulsive hand washer and Covid just made it even worse. So my skin is destroyed.

I didn't sleep enough last night. When I get into bed I'm too hot, then I wake up in the middle of the night freezing because the temperature has gone down 15 degrees.

But it's still quiet here. I like that.

Lots more to record but I'm too tired right now.

[boltnrun]

Everything isn't perfect here. The layout is different so I will need to try to figure out where everything is going to go. I may need to store more things at my son's condo.

And I just got my arm stuck between the couch and the wall. I was trying to unplug an adapter from the wall outlet. Arm went down just fine but when I tried to pull it back out it got stuck. I had no way to move the couch as I was trapped so I had to forcefully yank. My arm got scraped up and my shoulder got pulled. 

I hope the one neighbor I share a wall with can't hear my explicit cursing. Because there's been a lot of it going on.

I'm not unhappy. I just want all this crap over with. Still got to make at least two trips to the old apartment. And I'm tired of thinking my belongings are contaminated. It's literally interfering with getting this all done. 

Oh, and my work laptop doesn't like the internet service. It drops me literally every 45 seconds or so when I'm actively working. All my other electronics work fine so there's something in my work laptop's security settings that sees a threat. It's not possible to work this way. Need a solution.

[boltnrun]

Apartment is FULL of daddy long legs spiders. Huge ones and little ones. Every morning I go into the kitchen and am greeted by a family of at least five spiders. My closet also has five or six huge spiders. I had my suitcases and duffel bags in my closet and I took one out and set it on my bed to get some clothes. A huge daddy long legs crawled off of the bag and onto my bed. Luckily I saw it. I just went into my closet to pick out my clothes for tomorrow and two giant spiders are on the wall behind the hangers full of my clothes. I told them to stay the hell off my clothes or they're getting squished.

Normally I don't mind them too much and I just let them live, but when they're on my clothes and in my suitcases and in my dressers and ON MY BED I have a problem with that. I'm shaking everything out before I put it on. Oh, and a dead spider fell off of my head yesterday. Apparently he'd been chilling on top of my head all day.

I won't use a toxic spray. I guess I could buy traps.

[boltnrun]

Yeah, I just committed double murder. I killed the two closet spiders who were behind my hangers full of clothes. Sorry guys, but I didn't want them inside my pants or shirts.

[boltnrun]

I'm a serial killer. Or a spree killer. One spider was running across my kitchen floor when I got up this morning and he got stepped on. I guess I'm tired of being afraid of them getting into my things. I'm not AFRAID of them because I know this particular spider doesn't bite humans for whatever reason. But it's creepy thinking they could be crawling all over me. 

[boltnrun]

My car died. 

Or rather, went unconscious. I went out at lunch time to go to my old apartment to get my food out of the fridge and freezer since the power was turned off today. And the car wouldn't start.

After two different guys came out (one to give me a jump which didn't work and another to tow my car) the mechanic told me it's the battery. OK, no big deal. But I already went home and showered after being in the tow truck with the driver (side note, I got in the truck with a mask on, opened the window, driver closed it, I reopened it...come on, really??) and the mechanic called to say it'll be ready today. I am NOT showering and shampooing again! I'll wipe down the inside (steering wheel, seat adjuster, parking brake, etc.) and wear a mask while inside the office. But I am not showering again. Jeez.

I wish I knew where I got the absolutely ridiculous idea that showering would prevent catching Covid because it's not true AND it's stupid. But I can't scrub that thought from my brain. I still fear touching things that others have touched. And I won't sit down on my furniture if I think my clothes are contaminated. After all this time I still can't shake those beliefs. 

[Seraphim]

Maybe need to revisit the psychiatrist? 

[boltnrun]

1 hour ago, Seraphim said:

Maybe need to revisit the psychiatrist? 

He didn't do anything other than prescribe medication.

I am better.  I couldn't leave home before and now I'm dining in restaurants, shopping and going to events.  I think if it was preventing me from doing things I want to do I would need more help.  But I am steadily getting better.  It's just this one thing where I think I'm contaminated when I go to a restaurant or grocery shopping and I "need" to shower afterward.  Also the hand washing thing, but I've been doing that for years.  It didn't start with the pandemic.

[boltnrun]

Got my car back.  He started right up!  I wiped him down inside wherever I figured the mechanics (FOUR of them!) touched and then sprayed the driver's side with Lysol spray.  He's currently sitting waiting for the spray to dry because I have to go to my old apartment and finish clearing it out.  I don't want to get wet Lysol spray all over myself because I'm wearing shorts and my skin doesn't react well to direct contact with disinfectant spray.