January 13 through 15

[chochiyo_sama]

Thursday, January 13

Today, I worked on laundry and called in my grocery order.  UPS delivered two packages to my door.  When I opened the screen door, I hollered thanks to the delivery man who had already hotfooted it back to his truck.  Then I had a terrible issue.  I could not get the door to shut solidly again.  It was as if the door frame was warped.  I knew I had to find a way to get it shut as the snowstorm was on the way, and the wind would slam the door back and forth and probably rip it off the side of the house like it did a few summers ago during a severe thunderstorm.  No matter what I did, I could not make it shut.

Finally, I decided I would call my brother and see if he could stop on his way home from work.  I also asked, if he was willing to stop, to pick up my mail.  I had not gotten it for over a week.  I got a text from him later saying that he would stop. 

When he stopped, he brought a huge bunch of mail.  90% of it was junk mail.  We chatted a bit while he was here.  He was able to get the door shut tightly.  He also took a bag of recycling out to the bin for me and pushed the garbage and recycling bins up tight to the breezeway where they belong so that I can take out my own garbage and recycling without having to go down the steps.

 

Friday, January 14

Today was a moderately productive day.  It began with a narrow miss.  Early in the morning, I staggered drowsily to the bathroom and narrowly missed stepping in a moderately large puddle of cat puke.  Ugh.  I was still in my pajamas, barefoot, and not wearing my glasses, but I went into the living room and sorted through the huge pile of mail, throwing all the junk mail into a bag of recycling.  I folded the laundry in the dryer and threw my pink fuzzy blanket in the washer.  It had been a long time since it was washed and it was full of cat hair. 

Nola called while I was doing my morning routine and getting dressed to tell me my grocery order’s cost.  After talking to her, I called my mortgage company.  I had several issues I wanted to talk to them about.

·        Did my January check arrive?  I mailed in around Christmas and it still wasn’t showing up on my bank statement.

·        Ask about the refund check from the escrow money.  Neither of Lily’s banks would cash it.

·        Set up auto pay so that I never have to write another check for the house or to worry if it gets there on time.

Naturally, they were suffering “higher than normal calls,” and my “wait time” was approximately 45 minutes.  So, I wrote out checks for my groceries and for the Sequoia’s December snow removal.  I always put the check for Lerberg’s on my little pop fridge in the kitchen.  Then I went into the breezeway, opened the door, and cleaned the litterboxes. 

I had done those things just in time.  I was cleaning the last litterbox when Ross arrived to deliver my groceries.  He knew right where the check was and collected that. We chatted briefly.  I had just gone into the kitchen to put away my groceries when the mortgage company representative finally picked up the phone.  I had to go back into the living room where all my correspondence relating to this business was.

·        Did my January check arrive?  Yes.  It was deposited on January 13.  Why it would take that long is beyond me.  I’m blaming that asshole DeJoy.  He was probably rubbing my check on his butthole or something.

·        They couldn’t (wouldn’t) do anything about the check.  I asked if I could mail them back the check and have them direct deposit it into my checking account.  No.  I asked if I could mail back the voided check and have them apply that money to my next house payment.  No.  She explained why they couldn’t do either of those things.  It sounded like bullshit to me, but oh, well.  I’m not going to waste my time writing it all out here.

·        Autopay is set up.  This will make things a lot easier for me and I will not have to worry about getting the check sent out on time.  I love autopay.

As long as I was dealing with phone calls, I called the bank in Ellendale and told them my dilemma about the escrow refund check.  We talked a very long time, and they told me several options.  The option I decided upon was that I am going to deposit the $823 into a savings account at the Ellendale bank.  Then I will be able to cash any checks that come my way locally.  I will never have to ask Mom or Lily to cash my checks again.  And I will have a little emergency fund here in town.  They were very helpful, and they know me, my mother, my brother, and my aunt, so they completely understood the situation.

After that, I put away my groceries.  I threw caution to the wind and did NOT wipe them down.  I felt uneasy about this, but oh well.  I also restocked the kitchen pop fridge.  I didn’t wipe down the pop bottles either.  I’m living dangerously, baby!

Back in the living room, I went through my handful of Christmas cards and checked to see if I had everyone’s addresses correctly in my cell phone directory.  My friend Mickey sent me the address of one of our old college friends, Babs (Becker), so I added her to my directory.  I also added Mickey’s husband Jim to Mickey’s entry.  I have never met Jim, but I wanted to be able to mention him by name when I communicate with Mickey.  After all, Jim is now his husband and true love.  They’ve been together for nearly 30 years.  They make such an adorable couple—both tall, broad, “furry,” balding men with dark framed glasses.  They could almost pass for twins.  LOL.  Mickey and I have been friends since the 1970s, and before I found out he was gay, I thought he might be the future father of my unborn children.  Instead, he and Jim are the parents of two very spoiled little doggies.

I opened the two packages that came yesterday.  One held the three valances that I am going to put up in my kitchen and a jigsaw puzzle of playful kittens.  The curtains are very pretty.  I took them into the kitchen and will put them up in the next few days. I will be so glad to get rid of those ugly, faded bird curtains.  The other package contained the bag of small anime looking panda bears and some small plastic stalks of “bamboo.”  My plan is to make a panda themed bedroom for my two brunette American Girl dolls (got them second hand last summer) whom I have named Miranda and Amanda.  The small panda figurines are about half the size of my thumb and will make darling toys for the girls to play with. 

And, before I forget to mention it, YES!  The snowstorm did occur.  It snowed all day.  I have not heard an official total, but I think it snowed at least 7”—possibly more.  All the schools in the area closed. 

I bought a loaf of thick artesian bread from the store—it is thick, like “Texas Toast” but just plain white bread.  Last night, I turned three pieces of it into French toast.  It was delicious.  I haven’t had French toast in YEARS, and I have been hungry for it.  It was even better because I had some half and half left over from something, and I used that instead of milk.  It was probably 10,000 calories a bite, but it was so worth it!

 

Saturday, January 15

I had the strangest dream last night.  It started off with me in a big open building—sort of like a church fellowship hall, a big open space with long tables and folding chairs.  I was there with my friend DeAnn.  My sister Kim was there.  She was at a table with a computer and printer, printing off pictures of our family. There was a little curly-haired blonde toddler romping around. 

DeAnn and I were sitting at a table talking.  Then she got up and went into the bathroom.  After a minute, two men walked into the bathroom. At first, the inappropriateness of that didn’t register on my brain. Then I heard a young girl yell, “Leave her alone!” 

Then I heard DeAnn yell, “No!  No!”

And the girl yell, “Stop it!”

Then I heard a ruckus and the men laughing.

This all happened very quickly.  I remember feeling afraid and angry.  Muttering, “Oh, shit,” I jumped up and headed for the bathroom, wondering how the heck I was going to handle this.  There was no question that I had to do something.  DeAnn is one of the two people that are my very best friends in the world. 

I threw open the bathroom door and roared in my best outraged teacher voice, “What the hell is going on in here?”

DeAnn was on her back on the floor, kicking out at one of the men.  That man was standing there with no pants on.  The other was blocking a young girl—she looked eleven or twelve years old.  He was laughing as she struggled to get around him.  She was swinging a long stick (pool cue?) trying to hit him or his buddy.  

The whole situation enraged me.  How dare they assault my friend?  How dare they terrify that child?

“Give me that thing,” I said, snatching the pool cue.  (Why should there be a pool cue in a public bathroom?  No clue.  Dreams are weird.)  By  this time, the pantless man had crouched over DeAnn, obviously trying to violate her. 

I swung that pool cue as hard as I could and hit him right across the back of his neck and head. He didn’t even seem to notice it.  So I swung it again, and this time smacked him across the front of his skull.  That time he noticed. 

I remember thinking, “Well, this is not going to be pretty.”

At that point, the scene flipped.  Suddenly it was the next morning, and I was waking up feeling dopey and grumpy.  I decided my black pajama pants with the cats on them were good enough to wear to school.  Even though I had just slept in them.  I put on a sweat shirt, socks, and shoes, brushed my teeth and took my pills.  Then I decided I did not need a coat to walk the two or three blocks to school. 

When I went out the door, it was very cold. I was shocked to see the curly haired toddler from earlier waddling up to me.  She was dressed only in a diaper.  Her little feet were bare. I picked her up and took her back into the house and told her I had to go to school to teach the kids and she had to stay here with her mom. 

I tried to leave, but she cried and clung to me.  Finally, I (stupidly) decided to take her with me.  Even in a dream I should have been smart enough to put some warm clothes and at least socks on that baby!  But I didn’t even wrap her in a blanket.  My dream self is obviously stupid.

When I got closer to the school, I was approached by the principal—who turned out to be Mariska Haggerty (Officer Benson on SVU:  Special Victims).  She told me I looked like a bum and to go home and put on something more professional.  She didn’t seem bothered by the fact that I had a nearly naked toddler out in the freezing cold. 

When I got into the building, one of the others approached me and said, “Nice eye.”  There was a mirror nearby and I saw I had a very huge black eye and other facial bruises.  So I guess the battle in the bathroom got pretty serious.  Apparently, I won, though, since I was alive.  LOL. 

The dream went on.  I did not go home and change clothes.  I did turn the baby over to the ladies in the office who were finding stuff in the lost and found to put on her.  I had a classroom full of seventh graders whom I was teaching to use apostrophes correctly.  The rest is all murky. 

The rage I felt when seeing DeAnn on the floor with that half naked man leering at her was intense.  I know I was inarticulately screaming as I swung that pool cue.  If it was reality, he would have had a smashed skull.

Comments

[the_godiva]

Autopay is the best. I've been using it ever since my credit union offered it. I rarely write checks any more.

I think the savings account in Ellendale is the best solution. It will earn interest. Don't open a checking account because often you have to pay a fee unless you keep a minimum balance or have direct deposit. Savings is best as you are more likely to deposit money and less likely to withdraw it. You can build it up little by little and then suddenly, you'll have enough to remodel the bathroom or put in the stairchair to the basement. Having them know you and your family is also great. The used to know my at the Credit Union until they moved from the teacher's union building to a location in a centrally located mall. That was when all of the old staff were replaced and there seemed to be a churning turnover so that I never learned anyone's name and they never recognized me. Now they have moved to La Mesa and I avoid them like the plague. It's the only location. So when I have to deposit those $100 bills my Dad just loves to give for birthdays and Christmas, I can go to a cooperative credit union closer.

Don't worry about not wiping down stuff unless it's obviously dusty or dirty. Covid doesn't spread that way.

Interesting dream. Especially the pool cue. I don't remember you being so actively violent before. I think it is a positive step.