Family | Piss and Moan

Windy

Posted on February 24, 2020 by backuphill

Photo by Iurii Ivashchenko on Pexels.com

Roaring like a lion.

Two nights in a row I have been awakened in the middle of the night with wind that sounded like a freight train running through the house.

Two nights of laying in bed wondering if a tree will fall on the house, or the tarp covering the leak in the roof will blow off and end up somewhere else in the county.

Two nights of hearing the whistling of the wind as it flies past the corner of the house in swirling chaos.

Two nights of hearing pine cones and branches bouncing off the room. Two nights of listening to the rain. Two nights of staring at the ceiling as I listen to things go crash and bump in the night.

Two nights of not as much sleep as I would like.

My only solace?

Two more wake ups and I’ll be enjoying the sun in AZ and the popping of balls in gloves and the cracking of bats.

But for now, the stormy PNW will continue to keep me awake for portions of the night.

Walk-in

Posted on February 19, 2020 by backuphill

Photo by Negative Space on Pexels.com

Wish me luck. I’ll probably need it.

I am headed to the walk-in clinic early this afternoon to see if there is anything they can do about the sinuses and deep lung coughing. Sleep last night was tough to come by and with a vacation coming in less than a week I am looking to kick this thing rather quickly.

Why do I need luck? Have you been to a walk-in? LOL

It takes a demonstration of extreme patience and tolerance.

It takes forever (typically) to get seen by a doc and, when you actually do see a doc it typically isn’t even a doc but a PA (physician’s assistant). I have found that care is a little suspect at that point. Plus, add in that a walk-in generally tries to rush you out once you’re in (it seems to take forever to see anyone and then once you do, you wonder why it took so long based on how long you actually got to see someone).

So, I am going to be brave and endure with the hope of some relief.

Group texts

Posted on February 18, 2020 by backuphill

photo of man in white dress shirt holding phone near window

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

I bet you cringed when you read the headline. I know I do. Or, maybe your eyes rolled violently to the back of your head. I know mine do.

I think it is safe to say group texts are the bane of texting. A necessary evil, if you will.

I am sure you can see where this is heading…I hate group texts! I really really really do.

So much so, that my family knows not to include me in a group texts unless it is absolutely necessary – like getting bad news to a large group of people quickly necessary.

The problem is, I keep getting included in groups I really don’t need to be a part of. Actually, I probably do need to be a part of them but the group then gets abused by people talking about other things I don’t need or want to know about. Suddenly the conversation goes from necessary to drivel and my phone is exploding for no good reason other than people like to hear themselves talk.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a good way to remove yourself from the group text (like an actual text conversation) unless it is through some kind of social media app. You are stuck…listening to your text alert go off endlessly…as people have a conversation about nothing….until finally you BEG the person who added you to the conversation to please remove you from it.

Not to be rude or anything, but would you please delete my contact info from your phone…forever?

Other than scolding everyone to stop using the group text message for side conversations and everyone finally agreeing to stop, how do you curb this extreme annoyance?

What do other people think? Should group texts be outlawed? When are they acceptable?

Surprising

Posted on February 17, 2020 by backuphill

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

I have managed to get eight hours of sleep each of the last two nights. Surprising, to say the least.

Why?

Because I am still sick.

It appears that it may have gotten worse over the weekend. I am not really sure. What I do know is that my rib cage is worn out from coughing and my body aches. My cough is now one that would cause my toes to come up from my lungs, if that were physically possible. It’s deep. It rattles. Nothing happens except a bright white light vision and head spinning.

If there are no more posts after this, it’s because I died gasping for air while coughing up a lung or some other body part.

Father Time

Posted on February 14, 2020 by backuphill

Photo by Negative Space on Pexels.com

Another trip around the sun.

Another drop in the bucket.

One foot farther into the grave.

Picking up speed on the other side of the hill.

It doesn’t matter how you put it, birthdays just aren’t really all that much fun. Maybe it’s just me.

Sure, I get the celebration part and I am not really a fatalist, so it isn’t that big a deal.

BUT, I can tell you another year older and being sick at the same time is kinda beating me up today. I really just wanna sit in a dark room, watch movies or play video games, and not interact with anyone unless I have given prior approval.

No such luck.

People are everywhere. There is too much light. I am coughing up a storm (I am not contagious any longer), and work is much too busy.

Yes, OK, I get it Father Time. You win.

But, I might just take a nap in my car and you can’t stop me…

Robot vacuum

Posted on February 13, 2020 by backuphill

My vacuum is not this one. It is from a different company and this photo is just for demonstration purposes. Photo by Jens Mahnke on Pexels.com

The house has a robot vacuum.

It’s kinda new. It has been roaming the house at a pre-planned time for about three months now. Honestly, it’s nice to not have to sweep as often. It also cleans up some of the rugs that are by the entry points of the house, there there is that too.

But, it is also a lot like having a freaking toddler in the house.

Anything that is on the ground gets moved around and sometimes you have to go hunting for stuff. Example: shoes. It will push slippers and shoes under the furniture. Thus, I find myself on the floor trying to fish stuff out from under the bed or night stand. It will also sometimes grab shoe laces and drag the shoe around for a while.

It closes doors and gets stuck on the inside of a room. It keeps working, unlike a toddler, but then you have to open the door and direct it out of the room. So, now doors have to be closed when it starts so it doesn’t get stuck in room, just like you do when you have a toddler in the house and you don’t want them getting into stuff.

It gets stuck under things and doesn’t finish what it was doing. The TV stand. The coffee table. The night stand. If it gets caught on something, it just stops.

It unplugs stuff and then you wonder why it isn’t working. I have had the phone charging cable not power up my phone when I plug it in at night. The robot unplugged it from under the night stand. The subwoofer for the sound system wasn’t working and movies/tv sounded funny. The robot unplugged the subwoofer from the powerstrip under the TV stand. It once drug a phone cord all over the house.

It picks up stuff you really don’t want it to…like screws you accidentally drop or didn’t know came out of something. Fridge magnets. Hair ties. Batteries. It’s like a toddler that puts everything in its mouth and you’re running around saying, “What do you have in your mouth? Lemme see!”

Why does it treat somethings, like the wall and furniture, like it is glass and eases into cleaning the edges while at other times it just bashes it’s way around the same furniture, like it has no eyes and doesn’t have a clue that it is getting close to something? Same for a toddler and cats…you tell it to be careful and nice, gentle, and it does for a while and then all of the sudden it grabs a big handful of fur and pulls, sending the animal scurrying away.

I tell you, I don’t have time to babysit the robot.

Seriously.

Sick and tired

Posted on February 12, 2020 by backuphill

tissue paper on container near glass window

Photo by Julian Paolo Dayag on Pexels.com

Family was over last weekend.

They knowingly came over with colds and the little ones openly hacked, snorted, and touched everything in sight.

Now I am sick.

And tired.

It’s irritating. Really.

Why do people feel the need to expose others to their illness? Just stay home. I don’t care if you’re a relative or not. I don’t want you around.

I’ll take care to do the same.

I am going to go rest. Because typing is exhausting. Reading hurts my eyes.

I am just generally irritable…but then that isn’t all that unusual. I am that way most of the time. It is just to a higher degree today.

Not in the mood

Posted on February 7, 2020 by backuphill

Photo by Lamar Belina on Pexels.com

Before your brain goes there, let me just say that is not what I am talking about.

I just simply not in the mood to deal today.

Honestly, I’d just like to insulate myself from the world and do nothing.

I don’t want people around. I don’t want interaction of any kind.

I only want to do what I want to do, and it has to be something that is mindless and relaxing. It has to be fun (by my standards).

I am not in the mood to adult. I don’t want any responsibilities today. None.

Can I just sit here and sulk while I am at work, while I have to do everything that is exactly opposite of what I just said I wanted?

Whack-a-mole car

Posted on February 6, 2020 by backuphill

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels.com

Whack-a-mole can be kind of a fun game. But, after a while it gets rather tiring and you just wanna give up and rip the whacker off the game and just whack anything that moves.

I have gotten to that point with my teen daughter’s car. I am tired of playing whack-a-mole on maintenance issues that never seem to stop. I swear this car has become a “money pit” for repairs. Just when you think you have it fixed and it should be good for a while…not so much.

UGH!!

Anyone have a couple thousand dollars they wanna donate to just buy a different used car for her? Didn’t think so. I don’t either.

After having the alternator and battery replaced in the last two weeks, now we have an apparent coolant leak. It’s not running out onto the ground. It doesn’t appear that any hoses are busted. So, that leads me to believe it is probably going into places in the engine it doesn’t belong.

UGH!!

Did I already say that? Sorry. I am just not sure what else to say.

Uninvited

Posted on February 4, 2020 by backuphill

Photo by Evelyn Chong on Pexels.com

OK, am I crazy here? Am I being unreasonable?

If you have guests staying in your home, do you think it is inappropriate for them to invite guests over to your house? Essentially, guests are inviting guests into your home.

Furthermore, what if all the guests are family?

So, some family is now living in my home for an undetermined amount of time. It’s been less than a week since this change. One of the conditions of moving in was that they were not allowed to have guests over, because having people in your space is one thing but then to have those people inviting strangers into your home because they are their friends, is just a whole other problem. This condition seemed to be understood.

Anyway, last night I overheard a conversation where the newly homed family members (in my home) were making plans with other family members who don’t exactly live nearby, but are within driving distance of their own home, to stay at the house. I believe the conversation went something like, “Well, you can come and hang out for the evening and we can probably find a place for you to crash. Driving home that late doesn’t make sense. I am sure we can find room. It’ll be fun. You can just go home the next day.”

Excuse me? Fun for whom? Have you checked with me yet? Is this OK with me? You are making plans for me and my home without checking with me first. How is that OK? I mean, I have already altered my life to allow some family to stay in the house, do I really need to rearrange my life just so more family can stay in my house? Really?

Does it make a difference in this situation if the family members involved are your adult children and grandkids? One adult child has moved in with her 11 year old daughter. They are inviting our middle son and his family (wife, 3 boys under 7) to stay at the house too. Mind you, there is barely enough room for the people already staying in the house…

Am I crazy here? Am I being selfish?

I liked my nest empty. I want it back that way. That’s not to say I don’t love the kids and grandkids, but come on…it’s kind of the principle of the thing, isn’t it?