Family | Piss and Moan

Hypocritical complaints

Posted on July 13, 2021 by backuphill

Photo by Adrienne Andersen on Pexels.com

I am know I am guilty of it. I am not exempt from it. I’ll admit it. I’ve got some hypocritical complaints about family members. It’s just really rich when someone will point them out to me, but not recognize that they themselves are doing exactly the same thing.

As you can imagine, blended families are a challenge. Actually, challenge may be the wrong word. It’s actually a special kind of hell, really. It’s a love and hate relationship x100. It’s unbearable and maybe survivable. It’s an age old story, but typically you don’t treat your non-biological children the same as you do your biological ones. It’s terrible.

Anyway, the youngest (my bio kid) just moved in after her graduation from high school. The relationship between her and step-mom is strained (at best). Of course, you can imagine all the reasons why…many of the same reasons why my relationship with my non-bios is strained. She can see the obvious differences between how she gets treated and how they get treated.

So, someone last night had the gall to complain about a “missed laundry day” and what we should tell her if she wants to do laundry outside of her designated day. Mind you, two of the three locally living non-bios do laundry at our house on a fairly regular basis even though they don’t actually reside in the house. The suggestion was that she should be told to go to a laundry mat to do her laundry…you can imagine that I pointed out that she does actually live here and that if she chose to do laundry at a time no one else was using the machines and did it in a timely manner so that it didn’t interfere with anyone else, I didn’t see a problem if there was a legitimate reason for missing her designated day.

I caught hell for that.

Heaven forbid that I mention anything about the non-bios and their status of being adults and lived outside the home for more than two years.

Never mind the fact that someone is secretly paying the leftover bills of another non-bio and his family who just moved out of state.

So, hypocritical complaints? Yeah. We have them. I bite my tongue on most of them until I can’t do it any longer.

It’s just laundry. It’s not a bad financial choice that will leave her asking for help years down the road, on a continual basis.

Give it a rest and me a break…

Hey there

Posted on July 2, 2021 by backuphill

Hey there! How’s about you have a great weekend…and for those of you in the US, have a great 4th of July!

I have posted far less than normal last month, but things have slowed down now and it looks like there will some time over the summer to work on projects and get caught up on stuff.

With a long weekend coming up, I wanted to wish you all a happy and safe one.

I don’t really care. It just sounds nice. Let’s go with that.

See ya next week!

Baked ham

Posted on June 28, 2021 by backuphill

OK, it’s hot! It’s really, really hot!

These temps, up here in the Northwest corner of the United States, are not normal. If anyone asks, it rains all the time. Don’t move here. But, seriously, there are nice days here…except the the last two, and probably tomorrow too. It’s just unusually hot.

It isn’t the hottest part of the day, but the forecast is calling for a high somewhere in the neighborhood of 104 (105 depending on where you look) today. Of course, we all know those guys are rarely correct, so it will be hotter, for sure. At 12:31pm, it is currently 95 degrees outside.

Now, if you have been reading this blog for the last year and a half you will know that I have been working from home for the time of the “flu that is known by another name.” And, you will also know that my home office is in my garage. To further give details of my situation, know that my home and garage have no AC.

So, currently, at 12:31pm, the garage temp where I am working is 88 degrees and the house is 85 degrees.

I know know what a baked ham feels like, or a baked chicken. My family would probably say turkey. A baked turkey.

Anyway, stay cool out there…

Destructive behavior

Posted on June 23, 2021 by backuphill

Have you ever had a sudden urge or desire to engage in destructive behavior, either physically or mentally?

I am not sure what triggers the feelings (and I am totally in control, mostly), but two destructive behaviors I am currently contemplating:

Eat everything in sight.
Fight, either physically or verbally, everyone.

I know there are lots of other destructive behaviors out there and these are relatively minor compared to some, obviously, but today this is what I am dealing with.

Anyway, maybe it’s the fact that my “don’t give a damn” meter has reached beyond critical. Maybe it’s that I am tired, super super busy, and only marginally motivated.

I don’t know.

How do other people deal with this?

I know this is a passing feeling. It won’t last. But today, the feeling is strong. very strong.

What do you do?

Bad motivator

Posted on June 4, 2021 by backuphill

I seem to have a bad motivator. Yet, I have so much I could be doing. Anyone else having a hard time getting started today?

After a LONG, short week of work and every evening being dominated by gazebo construction (no, not done yet), I am just having a hard time focusing on what needs to be done at work today. I am already thinking about what I may be able to accomplish after work today, and yet there is a part of me that says, “You should just sit on the couch tonight.”

Perhaps another droid would like to take over and finish out the day for me.

Anyone?

Warped

Posted on June 2, 2021 by backuphill

Continuing on the projects theme from yesterday, the gazebo has been started and so far things are going fairly well.

Except…

Except that there are quite a few pieces of the wood material that is warped. Not horribly, but enough that making the gazebo square, which it needs to be for the roof, which could prove to be a major challenge.

I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything less. That’s the problem with these prefab kits you buy. Sure, all the pieces are cut to the right size, pre-drilled, and have all the components you’ll need but there is that one factor they just can’t account for – how much the wood will continue to warp once it is packaged.

Working on this kind of project also warps something else…my attitude.

I already have a warped sense of humor, so it doesn’t nothing for that.

Seriously though, warped wood sucks.

Here’s to straight boards, straight cuts, and no knots.

Projects, projects, and more projects

Posted on June 1, 2021 by backuphill

So, how do you know when you have too many irons in the fire? Is it that you just look at everything and can’t decide which is most important or where to start because they just all need to be done? Or is it that you look at everything and you just decide that you don’t know where to start and therefore just don nothing?

Currently, I have too many things going on that I can’t decide where to start, though there is a looking deadline of rain coming at the end of the week, so that dictates a little of the timeline.

Project one: I have a front yard that needs some attention. I have a hedge and a tree that need trimmed and some Sluggo (bait for slugs and snails) to put down. While these aren’t extremely time consuming and aren’t necessarily urgent, they are the final pieces to having the front yard cleaned up for the summer.

Project two: A garage sale purchase needs cleaned up and tested. The house gets exceptionally warm during hit weather, but there isn’t a heat pump to control the temp inside. So, while visiting a garage sale recently someone was selling a pretty decent portable AC unit for $25. It’s four years old and needs to be cleaned up. I had the guy run it before purchase and it appears to be operable, but it needs to be given some attention. Unfortunately, it won’t likely happen before the warmer weather this week.

Project three: The patio has been built in the back yard and a gazebo purchased. Spent most of the day yesterday working on putting wood sealant on it to further protect the wood into the future. Now the assembly of the gazebo needs to be done…a very time consuming task. Obviously, having it constructed before the weather comes in this weekend would be ideal as it would help to keep the water from hitting most of the wood. So, that seems to be the immediate winner of focus.

There are lots of other projects that needs to be done too, just none of those seem as pressing as these three.

When faced with a list of projects, how do you prioritize which ones get done first?

Don’t be

Posted on May 28, 2021 by backuphill

There’s a holiday on Monday, in the US at least. It’s Memorial Day, for those who have somehow lost track of time or are just that uninformed.

So, don’t be…don’t be that jackwagon that has a hard time remembering what the day is for.

Don’t be that person who mistakes Memorial Day for Veteran’s Day. Memorial Day is set aside to honor the people who have DIED in the service of our country – specifically the military. It isn’t a day to honor people who have served in the military – that’s Veteran’s Day.

Oh, and while you consume beer, bbq, lounge at the beach or lake, or just generally do whatever the heck you want…how about you take a second and remember that the freedoms you are enjoying is because someone sacrificed their life for you (either recently or all the way back to the founding of our country).

I know it is hard to fathom that someone gave their all, everything they had, for you but it’s the truth.

I know it is hard to fathom considering the government and people who have no business telling you what you can and can’t do in your life right now because of some pandemic, but it’s the truth.

Don’t be a the person who forgets what was given and what is going to be given up if you don’t push back against changes being forced upon us today.

Don’t be the person who lets the sacrifices of those who have gone before us be for nothing because we let the fear of a virus consume us.

Just don’t be.

What’s your take?

Posted on May 19, 2021 by backuphill

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

OK, so here’s a different question for you. What would you do if given advice by someone with questionable personal demonstration of advice given?

Let’s say for instance:

Do you take driving advice from someone who has dents and scratches all over their vehicle?
Do you take construction advice from someone who has a house that is falling apart?
Do you take weight management advice from a doctor who has a weight problem themselves?
Do you take cooking advice from someone who can’t find a job in a restaurant?
Do you take fishing suggestions from someone who can’t catch a fish?
Do you take writing advice from someone who can’t write?

I think you get the point.

What do you do with advice from someone who doesn’t seem to put said advice to practice in their own lives?

Do you dismiss the advice outright? Do you take it into account and go your own way? Do you follow it and hope you didn’t get set on the wrong path?

Is there any reason to take advice from someone who appears to not take their own advice?

Drop your thoughts in the comments. I am looking forward to a lively discussion!

Take my money

Posted on May 13, 2021 by backuphill

Every had something you really, really, really wanted to buy but couldn’t because they can’t keep it in stock? I am sure you probably have, so that is kind of a silly question.

To throw a whole twist to the situation is that it is only available online, which is more convenient than having to go into the store to check the inventory but it still causes an issue because there is no way to find out when it is back in stock. Like, there is no way to sign up for a notification when it is in fact back in stock. That’s seems weird because, ya know, technology…but it just isn’t an option for this retailer.

I do have some information that it will be restocked “at the end of May,” so there is that to go on. It was also previously not showing up on the website when it was out of stock the first time, but now it is again. That leads me to believe that it could be stocked at any time. So, now I am reduced to checking every hour to see if it pops up.

A similar item was in stock, then out of stock, then magically appeared as in stock, only to be out of stock less than 6 hours later. It wasn’t what I really wanted, but seriously debated the purchase as it was close and did I want to risk waiting for the other one I really wanted? I decided to wait. Which might pay off, but the waiting is excruciating.

I just want to give them my money. Why do they refuse to take it? Hell, I’ll even pre-order it, but they won’t even accept that either.

So, I am left to checking the website….OFTEN…in hopes that it suddenly appears in stock.

Frustrating and exciting at the same time. Know what I mean?