Musings of a marginally sane feline-appreciating female.

Or TGIF, depending on what you celebrate. :)

Got little bro’s presents wrapped and all that is left is printing out screenshots of the covers of the kindle books he’s getting and popping them into little gift bags. It’s a bit more festive than just “hey, go look at your email” LOL. (I am fully prepared to have to run up to Staples for an ink cartridge halfway through…) But on the whole, I am getting the Christmas Eve I want, which is a day of very little to do.

One of the stockings went MIA since last year, so Lily doesn’t have a stocking – but trust me, it’s OK – she has a big assed Santa Sack instead. It’s not actually full to the top, the top 1/2 is tissue paper for her to play with. And I like to think it’s not “excessive holiday buying for a cat” but “buying food she will eat in advance and saving myself some time down the road.”

She’s been the bestest furry pandemic buddy, so yeah, she gets ALL THE TEMPTATIONS AND TISSUE PAPER!

These bags are great, tho – when I realized I couldn’t find her stocking and that we didn’t have any big gift bags, I ran up to the market yesterday on the off chance they had some left and found these – half off for $2.50 each to boot – and three different patterns, so I snagged one of each. They’re cloth and reusable, so they will get many years of use.

Between these bags and the Amazon cloth gift bags we’ve accumulated over the years, we’ve inadvertently created a somewhat environmentally friendly holiday around here. (Who knew those years I told Amazon, “please for the love of god, wrap this” would bear fruit later?)

I hope your holidays are safe and calm and filled with love.

Our county case chart is just a straight line up. And we’re at a new all time high on our 7 day rolling average. I don’t know why the screenshot is so damn fuzzy here – but the blue line is 2020, red is 2021, and purple is the goal for “moderate” community transmission.

Our hospitalization rates are still low, but I know that’s a lagging indicator, and even if the rate of hospitalizations to cases stays low – when the cases are so high, that can turn into a lot of overwhelmed ICU’s really fast. I truly hope it is as mild as it may seem right now, and we don’t see a ton of long Covid to go with it.

If you’re thinking “why are you torturing yourself with these numbers?” – well, it makes me feel like I have a handle on things. I can’t control it, but I know where things stand. Of course, the county health department website says “Data should not be used to determine your individual level of risk or to self-diagnose” – no, I’m not gonna use a chart to self diagnose, but I am sure as shit gonna use it as part of my risk assessment. (Granted, my risk assessment has pretty much been FUCK, NO since March 2020, with a brief relaxation for 2 months this summer.)

Tried my KN95’s again this morning for the Starbucks pickup and they’re still a no-go. :( They literally flap at the sides when I exhale (which is legit hilarious), but if I throw a cloth mask over it to secure it, it’s too much and I can’t breathe. So, guess I’ll stick with my ASTM3 disposables + cloth mask for the time being – I did double up the ASTM3’s this morning when I ran into the market and while it wasn’t super awesome, I could breathe.

I have N95’s but they’re way too big for my face – I did find some small 3M ones and they’re on order, and we’ll give those a whirl. Yeah, shoulda done that 2 weeks ago. (Non-sketchy N95’s were out of stock for so long, I guess I just unconsciously gave up on finding them.)

I’ve also got 4 quick tests arriving today and damn if I don’t feel like I’m sitting on a gold mine with those. Walmart is updating stock in real time, so if they’re out of stock when you check – look back again in a few hours.

I called the Honey Baked Ham shop and switched my pickup from in store to curbside. Thank you, Annie at HBH. I also gave them a container of cookies as a thank you for being flexible in the middle of a hard week. The “Wait what?” look as I handed them over made me wonder just how bad this week has been for them. But, I have safely acquired a 1/4 bone in ham! And sent a “your crew was flexible and awesome and I appreciate it” email to corporate.

And I tried the KN95 again while I was in the car waiting for the ham – and the sides didn’t flap around this time? WTF? Then I realized, I had the straps clipped in the back and I didn’t this morning… Well, looks like I’ll just have a fuckton of masks, LOL.

You stay safe.

After I ran my errands yesterday and felt like I’d been hit by a steamroller, I took a long hot shower, and a nap, and then we got takeout from Outback, and today I am no longer on the verge of “crying from all the tired.”

Don’t underestimate the power of a safely acquired big ol’ steak & baked potato and a margarita to make things a little better. (I don’t think the novelty of a takeaway cocktail will ever wear off.) Plus, I still have half of that steak for lunch today. And – if you like fried shrimp and you like blooming onions, try the blooming shrimp – it’s that great seasoned batter and the same sauce and it’s so good!

And I have just sent a “y’all did great” email to the store, cause they really did.

The only Christmas tasks left are picking up the ham tomorrow, and wrapping presents. I’m shooting for having everything wrapped *before* Christmas Eve, so I’ll have to do on Friday is sit around and eat and drink and stare at the sparkle lights on my tree.

And work has given us an extra half day off this pay period (woohoo, 4 extra hours for 2022!) and since our regular “half day Friday” is a holiday next week, they said we can just take a half day whenever next week.

The tl-dr is, if you’re feeling crappy, take a nap and have a snack.

I know what you’re thinking, “What a controversial, yet brave statement!”

I mean, I want it to be over because I’d like for people to stop getting sick and dying, and I’d like to do things again, but also – I am just so damn tired.

Our county’s 7 day case total today is higher than it was this time last year – when vaccinations had only just gotten started for very small, specific groups.

I’m vaccinated and boosted and I mask up whenever I’m out and about – but I’m back to zero lingering in shops, everything is get in and out asap, mail order whenever possible, and I’m basically back in hyper-vigilance mode cause whatever we’re doing as a county/state/country – it’s obviously not working.

I’ve managed to outmaneuver this fucking virus for 21 months and it’s down to 3 things:

– White collar work at home privilege
– Seemingly good decisions & risk assessments
– Sheer fucking luck

Number One is easy. Number Two has been draining as hell. And Number Three – well, I’m just wondering when my luck is going to run out.

Can you tell I had to run errands today and I am utterly knackered for it?

But at least this time I find it fucking hilarious, and easy to deal with until fixed.

Plumber came out yesterday, did a lovely job, when he finished, we flushed toilets, and opened spigots and went, “oooh, ahhh, yay!”

And last night I discovered that the hot and cold are reversed in the upstairs bathroom faucet.

It’s not the faucet install. The pipes behind the walls are BACKWARDS.

When I told my brother, he paused and said, “Wait, now I remember that there was one bathroom where the hot & cold was backwards.” When he said it out loud, I vaguely remembered it, but it certainly never sprang to mind when the plumber was here.

And there is no way the plumber would have realized this unless he’d been specifically looking for it. The old faucet was a single-handle and at some point something got flipped so hot was left & cold was right, but it had to be inside the handle mechanism itself – because the old supply lines were rigid metal and definitely not crossed under the sink.

When he put the new flexible supply lines in, he wouldn’t have been able to tell that the “cold” side was warm, because the water was turned off while he did it. And I’m pretty sure one of the ten commandments of plumbing is “hot on the left, cold on the right” – what shitty assed psycho 70s era builder roughs in the pipes BACKWARDS?

I had briefly thought about calling them today to see when they could come flip the supply lines (so glad I had him put in flexible ones and looking this morning, they’re long enough to easily undo & switch) – but it’s Christmas week, I’m having them back out in a month to do the shower and supply stops and they can handle it then.

In the meantime, I can just remember to use the opposite faucet handles. And I will make sure we know 110% for sure which pipes are on which side for the new shower handle when they come back around.

Two new faucets, a new drain pipe (old one was on the verge of failure and legit broke into pieces when he went to take it out to replace it) and a non-leaky toilet valve and new guts!

The shower is going to have to wait a wee bit, as they will need to access the valve via the closet wall behind it. (It’s that or knock out tile, so, closet wall it is!) So, my new year project is getting that closet cleared out. It may have an access panel which would be nice, but if not, they can cut an opening and I could easily make an access panel when they’re done. I’ve never noticed an access panel in there, but I’ve also never gone looking for one either.

But seriously, I couldn’t be more tickled with these new faucets.

Are back in stock at Walmart – $14 a box.

If you need some, move quickly – not sure how long this will last. (They were showing as sold out just a couple hours ago.)

ETA: Well, shit, looks like they’re already gone – it let me buy some and I got an order confirmation, but now I’m not even sure if I’ll get those or if it was a hiccup that I was able to add any to my cart.

Though I do wish my ability to schedule the appointment hadn’t coincided with the newest variant, but there is a leak, so…

I feel a bit guilty about having them do cosmetic stuff with it, but as long as they’re going to be here, might as well get it all knocked out.

The fix for the leaking toilet valve is very necessary. The shower handle/valve is solving a near future problem, as you have to turn it off exactly right to keep it from dripping, so it’s on its last legs. The upstairs bathroom faucet…well, it squirts water sideways and the aerator is so old and corroded that I can’t even get it off – not really a huge problem, but a new one would be good given the old one is 30+ years old. The powder room faucet is totally cosmetic and so Lily doesn’t have to scrunch down so much to get a drink. (But it is also 30+ years old…)

While I’ve looked at the instructions and theoretically I could replace the faucets, 35 years ago my Dad thought the same thing and one of the water supply pipes shattered in his hand. (We’ll be getting braided flexible supply lines today for that exact reason.)

But, we’ll all be masked up, the upstairs bath window is open for extra ventilation, and I’ll only be near the plumber for a few minutes to show them what needs to be done, so it should be reasonably safe.

Still gonna be doing some quick tests starting in 36 hours, tho. (We have 4 kits…and no way to replace them at the moment…great job Abbott labs.)

I would like my government to get its shit together and do good things for people. I am tired of trying to fight off a future Republican authoritarian regime while watching centrist/moderate Dems do absolutely fucking nothing – Biden included – because they’re rich and white and they’ll be just fine whatever happens.

I’m tired of watching half the country not give a shit about Covid, even as our numbers are spiking again. I willingly mask up when I go out, but I’ll be honest, it tends to make me a bit claustrophobic, which makes errands even more tiring.

I’m tired of having little to nothing to look forward to, because, see above.

I’m tired of governments on every level pushing Covid response & prevention as a personal/individual responsibility – I’ve done every damn thing I can and I can’t make other people care or force them to get vaccinated or not travel or wear a fucking mask. Folks can only do so much on an individual level.

I realize a Warren/Castro administration would have had its own issues and challenges, but at least we would have had an administration that was fighting for us instead of this milquetoast corporate Dem bullshit, where everyone stands around and goes, “Gosh this is terrible” and fucking nothing else happens.

I don’t know how I’m supposed to have any faith in this country anymore, and that sucks cause I’d like to have faith in this country.

Radio just announced that he won’t vote for Build Back Better at all. Because he “can’t explain it to West Virginians” – WTF? You think they’re too dumb to understand that this bill would help them?

Honestly, I don’t know what’s wrong with this asshole other than he’s a Republican. We sure as shit don’t need Democrats like him and Sinema and every other centrist/moderate hiding behind them.

I am just livid.

I hope Biden’s team is figuring out what they can do via EO and what pieces of BBB they can get into other legislation.

People turned themselves inside out to get Biden in office and 50+ the VP in the Senate and this is what we’ve got.

Fucking useless, the lot of them.