My Boxing Day gift came in the mail...

... but when I opened it, I found the doll shoes I collect and this pair in particular, had two left shoes.

It reminded me of the line from Adventure Time.

Jake: I keep finding baby shoes...what the heck, man? And they're all lefties...

So, I waited two days and I am slighted by this oversight.

Some troll taunted me when I was on Twitter. He tried to make it look like I was an Andrew Tate fan. I blocked the troll and deleted my comment, which pointed out he used to play chess before MMA fighting.

(IRL, I absolutely hate him with every fiber of my being and heart and soul because of his misogyny, anti-anime comments, toxic masculinity and his crimes against humanity involving both him and his brother.)

Argh, what a miserable time to be alive in this era of the Internet! You can't expose a fraud without getting caught up in a crossfire of childish commentary.

Getting up for an over-the-web meeting for work, and slowly realizing it's probably the wrong day.

I hate when they say things like "meeting the first Thursday from now" or "the coming Thursday" or something like that, when it's Monday, and they don't even care to put a date anywhere. I mean, on a Monday this could mean the Thursday that same week or the Thursday the next week. I need an actual date to know!

I was actually ready for that meeting today! Next week I'll probably oversleep or struggle with the login or something

What ruined my dad is the constant pounding my neighbors do. Almost every day I keep hearing this pounding from them as if they are hanging something up and it gives me a headache. If I knew who was doing it I would complain to the landlord about it but i'm not sure who's doing it. Plus our maintenance man quit leaving tons of projects unfinished including my closet there hardly opens. I wish we could get someone in my apartment complex that actually does there job it's so annoying.

Slight nausea all day. Not the kind that makes me not want food at all, or makes me throw up, just either something I ate last night that disagrees just enough to put my system off, or very low-grade stomach pain. I don't think my body is entirely sure which. Maybe both.

Also, one person at work who keeps going "and then do this" five seconds before I do it (I know, I'm at it!), or over-explains everything when nothing needs to be explained (I know how to do my job, thank you very much - I don't need a running commentary on everything I do). Really didn't need that today...

And surprise meeting I wasn't prepared for whatsoever (but at least that one went well).

Plus certain people who keeps you going forth and back and forth and back. When you think you're finally done, they're all "but I needed to do that!" (which they could've said five minutes earlier and it would've been a LOT quicker/easier at the time, but oh, no!)

Woke up from a nap to a false charge on my Amazon account. Had to fight with the bank. The only information I gave was my real first and last name. (Considering changing my real name legally and I know it would be like resetting every copy of the Pokémon games: hours of work. Especially when it came to banking, health and shopping.)

To clarify: my first AND last name are actually common in my area. There were a few people who share my real name.

Not today spesifically, but it's just a constant buzzing annoyance I can't get rid of. A while back I was shopping, and heard this really great song over the speakers (probably radio). Trouble is - I can't remember any of it, just the general theme and tone, and I have absolutely no idea who the artist was (other than it being a male voice and in English, which comes at least 100 on the dozen), or even a single line of the song, so I'm kinda stuck in the searching process. I'm reasonably sure I would've recognized the song if I heard it again, but so far I haven't, and I think I've cruised Youtube far and wide just to maybe snap up a hint of the artist or the general singing style, or just... something.

It's so frustrating, because recently I've listened a a bit to the radio (work, cars, bus - people leave radios on a lot) and seems nobody plays that song. Like... ever. I mean, any other songs from pre-60s through 2023? Sure. A lot of them on repepat (some a LOT on repeat!). That particular song? Nope, not a chance.

Was about to go to bed (very late/early in the morning) when I heard screaming. Turns out mom had fallen and broken her wrist on a quick trip outside (wasn't even icy on the road).

So called the emergency number, were told to wait until the doctor's office opened (3 hours later ) to get an appointment for her. Met up for that one, then were sent to the hospital (thankfully, a family member drove us there - it's some distance away), waited some more, she got the arm partially set (waiting for surgery at a later point, too), and then some more waiting and finding various places (that hospital is one giant labyrinth of completely identical doors), yadda yadda, the whole ordeal. Finally got home almost 12 hours after the accident.

She's in pain, and I've slept maybe 1,5 hours the past 30 or so hours (brain is over-tired, and barely stringing together anything right now, so the day has been quite miserable - I'd planned to sleep in today...)

And of course, WIndows says "hello" with an update/restart cycle (I need to have that one on a monthly basis, or it checking for new updates every hour or whatever it is freaks out the harddrive. Knew it was today, but really didn't need that one on top. Plus the AV also wants to restart for updates. And for F's sake, Windows 11, I don't want you, at least not now - GO AWAY! )

Realizing the next 5-6 or so weeks probably will be mom backseat-driving on household tasks. Oh, the fun

Person: "How single are you?"
Me: "Well... my elderly aunt won't even text me back, so..."

Wekend/week from hell (and it's barely even started).
'Nuff said.

One time, somewhere in 2019 (summer) i accidentaly spilled tea on my laptop. Then it started glitching out. Then it absolutely broke, i couldnt turn it on or off. But then sometime a couple of days after that, i had this really weird dream. In the last seconds of the dream i heard something "Wake up, and turn on your laptop." Somehow, the laptop started WORKING again! But only for 15 minutes, then it actually turned off and stopped working completely again. Then i got it repaired. Lesson: Never drink any liquids near your computer or laptop.

So, apparently, every time power is cut in the house, our wifi just "up and leaves". Has happened at least 3 times now, when we've had various electric work done, and they've momentarily cut power. Everything else comes back on fine, but the wifi goes "NOPE!"

Last time it reset on its own (or perhaps after a bit of fiddling with the settings and some waiting time), but this time it needed a full reset on a different box (had to call support, would've never figured out what was wrong otherwise, cause that particular reset button just looked like a tiny hole with no markings, and I'd never even known it was there). It also messes with the TV - which worked fine after the reset, until it suddenly went "nope!" after several hours and demanded the password (can't remember that happened the last time).

I swear, this is getting more and more annoying the more times it happens... One would think the wifi would come back on its own when everything is all fine and dandy after a controlled power cut, but oh, no, it just HAS to be extra difficult.

Anyway, if it ain't broke but still ain't working, turn it off and do a complete restart before panicking. 9 out of 10 cases that works (and the last one is a neighbor doing yardwork where they're not supposed to, but that's a different story).

We've got fairly new lines, and the box/equipment is also fairly new, but I think the new equipment is more sensitive to changes. The old boxes/wifi survived pretty much anything, but our past TV/internet company joined another one and we got new equipment, and since then there's been issues all over.

I miss our old boxes - they had lots of useful functions (the forward button that let me see an hour long subtitled episode in about 10 minutes... yeah, don't have that any longer).

Falling asleep for 6 hours after lunch.

I was at a doctor's appointment today and I had been prescribed antibiotics.

"Lord, give me HM04 to deal with what I can't change on my own..."
-a wise Pokémon fan

My gastroenterologist office called and said I need an endoscopy and a colonoscopy. In other words, they'll knock me out and stick a camera in both ends, to be blunt. 😱

I am pretty scared. 😱

Not gonna lie, I worry about it. What if I have stomach cancer? 😱

I had stomach issues since I was in my early 20s, with my gallbladder removed when I was 22. (In my father's family, it is almost customary to have your gallbladder removed to be a full fledged member of the family.) 🤣

^ At least they knock you out. Ever tried doing those awake? Not fun... 😖

Pretty much only nagging at work today, and phones ringing all the time. Even when I was about to leave (was already closing in on overtime) the phone rang twice (on the "wrong" phone, a stationary phone in an office space that people may or may not be in - and not the smart choice of the cell phone the person in charge carries with them).

Then there's extra work because people have had a week to do it but probably haven't started it last week like they should've, and also not checked what's been done, so nobody bothered starting until yesterday, and only managed to do a little bit, leaving most of the work for us.

Plus a lot of other very annoying things.

My phone screen died (touchscreen unresponsive, probably due to physical damage that it encountered from my total clumsiness sometimes.) and roughly two weeks ago my headphones stopped working.And i used my phone as computer speakers, so essentially now i cant hear any sound from my computer. Hey on the bright side, 12 extra trait points for project zomboid, because i cannot hear any audio anyway (Context: there is a deaf trait in project zomboid that you can pick which fully removes in game sounds, except the soundtrack. 12 extra trait points for positive traits is a bonus, but the problem with this trait is that you literally dont hear any sound. So if you accidentally cause an alarm to go off, a zombie horde will be coming towards you and you literally wont know it, coz you cant hear said alarm). I think i have an old smartphone somewhere though, so maybe not all is lost and i can still use another phone as speakers. And hey, while it is certaintly going to bug me sometimes, i can still play the sims without any audio, since its a game that doesnt very heavily rely on audio.

update: I found the phone! The sim card cannot fit into it sadly, but i can use it as speakers now, which means i can actually hear stuff from my computer. Yay!

I just completed a group project for my textual analysis class. Group projects in and of themselves are something I hate. You'd think that, in college, you'd have evolved past the need to do things like that, but no. But this one was especially bad because we were four people working on the project, I was the one doing the most and one person didn't even respond to any of the messages sent in the Messenger group for the project I don't even know what they look like because they never came to class, and I usually have a very good memory for faces. It's that bad.

I am obligated to write their name on the document, which means I'm basically giving someone credit for something that they didn't contribute to in any way. I really wish we were just given individual assignments ; I wouldn't have to deal with things like this.

Not sure if it's the full moon, but work today was all over the place. People screaming, phone calling what seemed like every ten minutes, I came very close to getting puked on (but fortunately no puke actually happened), and my brain is already quite done from working the weekend.

Also, whomever sets up meeting dates and doctor appointments and whatnots - I want a word with them, cause they somehow keep finding the worst days possible (always the one day off I have in between very heavy work days - I NEED those days to recharge!).

To sum up, unfortunately,

yes, apparently.

People who clearly has too much to talk about when there isn't much to talk about, and when other people just want to get home. How is it possible to spend over half an hour with all the talkietalking when several other people can easily spend 10-15 minutes (maybe veering into 20 minutes if there actually is something going on) saying exactly the same? I swear, someone needs to calm down their storytelling time around each and every thing that happens around work, and just pass on the important information. Sheesh... I've got stuff to do (groceries), places to be (home). I don't want to do overtime just hanging around at work waiting for someone to get done blabbering!


Edited to add:

Snow, snow, and even MORE #@#%& SNOW!
It's mid-March - I want spring! 😫🥶

My only pair of eyeglasses fell out of my sweat jacket pocket...and into my empty toilet.

It wasn't so much the fact I would have to wash them eventually and I have to deal with nearsightedness until then, but fishing out my glasses was a nightmare.

Either way, I wasn't having a good week. My mother is now threatening to dock $100 from my allowance for EVERY EMPTY DRINK CONTAINER I leave out after a certain point. Well, it got into a shouting match and my father, unfortunately, had to be a referee. Now, I'm too scared to leave a drink unattended for that reason.

Also, I accidentally shut the water closet door a little loud and woke my father up.

This night wasn't my night.

$100 per container adds up fast as I have about $500 left over after paying dues. The whole blow-up happened while I was upstairs folding 2 loads of laundry that was clean, but needed my attendance. I forgot I left an empty can when it happened.

Spent today nearsighted. After fishing out my glasses from the toilet, I put them in the sink and soaked them in hot water. Eventually, I took them to the sink downstairs in the kitchen and washed them with hot soapy water.

I called my "cyborg" physician (if I told you what was actually wrong specifically, I would be uncomfortable living with it) and said that the pill therapy wasn't working with my implant and was asked if I could come to surgery the Tuesday after Spring starts. I told her to check insurance before going forward and I also got blood work done and my kidneys aren't doing well.

Not my day. I was so happy, but bad news put me down.

Got my pre-op instructions...and the results of my recent blood test. The results were about 5-7 pages long and it lead to the "Oh SHIT!" moment I dread most: going to my specialist for accurate insight.

This ruined an otherwise pleasant achievement in breaking a walking record of 10,000 steps before 10:30AM.

Ugh my homeless prevention meeting. The officer was so rude. My problem right now is I've applied to every house in the area and had mostly no response or I'm told that the house isn't suitable for pets/children, I don't earn enough etc etc. My other problem is I have a dog and I've been trying for weeks to find somewhere that would take him in on a short term basis seeing as it seems I'll be placed in emergency accommodation but seeing as I don't know how long I'd be in there for, (could be weeks, could be months) nowhere has been willing. The woman was lecturing me that I "need to take this seriously" and "start making arrangements" as if I've literally just been dicking about for the past few months. I explained my situation and all she could say was "yeah there's some barriers". The whole meeting she looked down her nose at me and gave short answers as if I was just trying to make this difficult for her. It's not my fault my landlord is going through a divorce and decided shes going to live in my house right when my husband lost his job. This wasn't exactly my life goal

@Bigsimsfan12 Did you get an eviction notice? Check that your Landlady did everything correctly, and gave you the correct notice. If she issued a section 173 then it's six months; for section 21 it's two months (but then they have to take you to court). There are also requirements for section 21!
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/w...on-21-notice-w/
https://www.gov.wales/renting-homes...landlords#92291
Also, as you have a baby, a child and are unemployed, you should score pretty high for local authority housing- so register with your local area council and apply for properties, if the system in Wales is like England then you have to bid on a property (not a money bid, but a points based bid), and priority is given to those with higher points (more need).

Also, have youapplied for Universal Credit, etc?

@simsample I did all that, I got the 2 months notice, she took me to court, the possession order was granted (crazy that I had to pay £355 to become homeless but Shelter covered the cost luckily) I have to give up possession on the 31st, otherwise a bailiff will be called (but they have to give 2 weeks notice). I'm on the council house list but I'm actually not high priority, I'll be further up when I'm homeless but I was told it could still be a year waiting for a property. Which means a whole year in a hotel room with 2 adults, 2 kids and possibly a dog. Woo.

I'm with universal credit and have been for a while because I only work part time, I just had to change my claim today because husband has moved back in so now that's gonna throw everything off.

@Bigsimsfan12 That sounds like you have it all covered then, not much you can do apart from wait. I wish I could help in some way, I hope the council find you something quickly. Sending you best wishes, please let me know if there's something I can do. I sent you a friend request over on Discord, in case you want to talk, or feel free to PM me here.

Thank you @Simsample

I'm just annoyed, for months its been "you're on your own, we can't help you until you're homeless" and now it's suddenly "why aren't you prepared!". Turns out I was suppose to be moved into emergency accommodation in 2 days time. I hadn't been made aware of that until today when my landlord informed me she had been contacted about it and asked when she can get the keys. I was originally told I would have to wait until the bailiff before they'd place me somewhere so my stuff isn't due to go into storage until next week which means they've had to cancel those plans, so I'll definitely be in the property past the 31st and they're blaming me for it as if I was suppose to just... put all my belongings in storage and live in an empty house for 2+ weeks in the off chance they moved me sooner despite them saying they won't move me sooner...

Ahh, that sucks so badly. The system is definitely not good for situations like this.

Missed the bus by about 10 seconds or so, and had to stand waiting for the next one for 25 minutes in freezing cold snow. The bench in the bus shelter was taken up by a couple and a pissed-off toddler (but the toddler was in a stroller and the man stood most of the time, so idk why they needed the whole bench... ) I was really tired from work, had a somewhat heavy bag in my hand, and could've really needed a sit-down.

Also SNOW! FOR THE LOVE OF SANITY, WHY??!!???
I really hope this is the last of the snow.

That's it! I am getting rid of my red drink tumblers and going with clear.

Earlier in the evening, my father asked me if I drank some of his milk, which I did and he said it was his... considered that in most households, milk is communally shared. (Since I drank half a gallon, I will purchase that along with the $21.07 I owe...

...according to the unspoken room and board agreements laid out upon moving in.

Then I made a matcha latte boba tea with one of my heat-resistant tumbler, which are red. It erupted into argument and I had to explain that it was an instant boba tea mix I use.

The red ones are getting donated tomorrow. I already bought a clear set with leftover money.

😡 Thanks for such sour persimmons, papa!

My throat hurts, so probably have a cold.
(and no, I don't think it comes from waiting outside in the cold, but rather from being coughed at by at least 4-6 different people at work, at least some of them sick, and THEN being outside in the cold freezing my buttocks off).

Yeah... 🤧🥶😷

Still can't find someone to take the dog in. I called my Dad 2 days ago, I explained in detail that by this point its either he takes him in or he gets put down. He called me earlier to say no. Which is fine, he can say no. I understand my dog is a handful and he isn't use to him.

What irritated me was that his girlfriend was saying in the background "tell her we don't have a yard". They have 2 houses, both of which have yards suitable for dogs then he starts asking if I've asked around at rescues etc. No Dad, I obviously sat around for months knowing that my dog would be hard to rehome and then decided to call you 3 days before I lose my house

ARGGH! My appointment for my surgery won't be until noon! If I get up in the middle of the night, that's half a day of no food, medicine or even water and I have been waking up in the middle of the night with dry mouth.

Apparently, I didn't get a memo on operation schedule. I hope my parents can handle me as a hangry bitchy woman going through withdrawal until noon.

I can be nasty when deprived of my needs.

The cold is still raging, and I've got work tomorrow. So unless it lets go within the next few hours or so, tomorrow is not going to be fun... I hate having the sniffles (and achoos) at work... 😷

I had a mental breakdown in work and bit myself in front of my boss....

...at least I got the afternoon off work

Being plagued by mania, writing everything that comes to mind down.

I feel like a burnt out news reporter on his last cigarette of the carton and waiting for either my pay or a fellow coworker who smokes the same brand (Menthols make me BLEED!) <---old joke from my father's experience.

I wrote a ton of stuff in my journal apps, so it's private, natch. Either way, I will crash!

Edit
Cat kept yowling all night when we locked her out of our rooms.

Still writing in journals and I only got about 4 hours of sleep.

I am sooo going to crash hard when all is said and done!

Having to go forth and back between the kitchen and a patient room I don't know how many times because everything and then some was wrong with their evening meal. Every time I came back, something different was wrong. Goodness only knows - it IS possible to give multiple messages at once, so people don't have to spend 20+ minutes going forth and back (getting more and more frustrated) doing a bunch of tiny errands, because we do have other things to do than being personal waiters...

My weekly pill box tray broke and now I got to put rubber bands around the Saturday box as it broke.

I screamed like Shan-Yu in Mulan when he realized he was on a losing edge.

All I was trying to do was look for my hair growth supplements. I eventually will replace them with ones that will help the whole hair, skin, and nails treatment.

My mother dumped meatballs and contaminated the red sauce for dinner. It's the same excuse of fishing it out like pulling pepperoni off pizza. It's still not kosher!

I always hated that whole "pull it off" excuse.

Have to increase meds again, instead of reducing them (hate the side effects...) 😒

Had to call the police on my landlord lol. I mean I could've let it go that she entered the property and took my keys without asking, I was suppose to give the keys back in 3 days anyway, but I didn't like that she was in the house without my permission, and that she might purposely break something and try to blame me for it.

Serves her right!

Nag, nag, nag, nag, nag, nag, naggity-nag, nag, and.... oh yeah! More nag. Some people... ☹

She is SERIOUSLY claiming that I'm just making trouble for her because she evicted me. I had been trying to move out of that house for as long as she has been harassing and intimidating me! I'm not going to reply to her, but also I should because she has asked for the crime number... but also surely if they want to contact her they will... but also maybe I should tell her not to contact me again now I've given in my keys?

My parents are always telling me that there is a first time for everything. Today is one of those days.

I wanted to move our emergency fund so that it would earn a little interest instead of the pennies on the dollar which we've been dealing with for almost 2 years. I found a bank that was offering 2.25%. Yippee! A bank that actually encourages saving rather than treating savers like dirt.

The bank in question has a chat thing on their website; I decided to make use of it. The person that I chatted with was helpful.

They didn't care if I used their Visa card as a debit. No fees for doing so and there was no transaction limit.

There was no problem electronically transferring our funds to the new account as long as it wasn't in a CD. Our funds are cash, so no problem there. Then the person asked if I wanted more details, I said sure. I thought it was better to know what I was getting into rather than walking into this new bank 'blind'.

Within less than a minute it was figured out that I can't open a account with this bank. The reason isn't nefarious, I simply don't live in the town the bank is in, nor do I ( or Dingus) work in that town, so no savings account for us. It is literally the next town over.

I then proceeded to look for another bank. Of course there was all the usual BS like Chase bank offering their .01%, Bank of America...more of the same BS. I poked around on the websites of all the local banks, still more of the same garbage. Since I didn't have any luck with banks close to us, I went a town over in the opposite direction from the one that gave me the paw because I didn't live 10 minutes closer. I found a possible new bank until I saw this:





If a account goes to $9,999.00, the interest earned goes from 3.50 to 0.02. Granted, this drop doesn't happen because a balance is short a dollar for a day, but still, that's a steep drop.

I don't know if banks in other places around this globe pull this crap or not, but I'm over it at this point. With all the stories lately about banks crashing and burning because of bogus books, and the even bigger, looming problem with commercial real estate (companies owe over $1.7 trillion dollars; nobody knows how those bills are going to be paid) and banks are still doing shit like this. One would think banks would welcome a injection of cash regardless of the amount; guess not.

I guess I'm keeping my goblin dollars where they've been because I'm not playing games with these arsehole banks.

I opened my first account in 2016. Back in the day, passive interest on current accounts (the interest you get paid for having positive balance) was 0.01 %. The saving accounts' interest rates were as high as 2 to 3 %, but that sort of rate I could never achieve as a teenager (because the only way to get such rates is to put in a big sum of money for a looong time, something like 6 years).

Looking back, I definitely should have put whatever I had in those savings accounts, because now even the savings accounts have a 0.01 % interest rate – regardless of the deposit, regardless of how long you want to save for. A vista accounts now offer an exclusive 0 % interest rate as well – why the F do they even offer a vista savings account if I'm about to earn more in interest by having money in my current account that only gives 0.01 %? Clowns...

Here in the US we do have banks that will pay a higher rate on savings accounts, but they are online- only banks which means a person has to trust that when funds are needed said banks will release them. I've seen rates go as high as 5%, but that changes depending on what the Federal Reserve does.

Capitol One is typically known for their credit cards is one of the more popular ones as they have what are called "buckets". These buckets are their version of the envelope / budgeting system. People take X amount of dollars, then break up the pile by category. X amount goes towards groceries for the week or month. X amount goes towards household bills, ect... People use them to save for various things and so on.

Ally bank is another popular one, then there are companies like Discover. Discover is another credit card company that now has a full line of banking products.

The reason these banks offer higher savings rates is because they don't have the overhead like a brick and mortar bank. Most of these banks do not require a large sum of money until specific accounts are wanted. A regular savings account often don't have a minimum, but if a person wants a money market account, there may be a minimum. Then of course there are things like IRA accounts and CDs ( certificate of deposit) or shares which are the same thing but for whatever reason banks and credit unions call these things something different. Bank= CD Credit Union= Share They both serve the same purpose. If a person buys a CD or share, they [bank or credit union] lend that money out in the form of a loan to other people. As a 'reward' for keeping that money in the bank, they give the account owner a higher rate of return. A CD or share can have a maturity time of anywhere from 30 days up to 7 years.

My experience with online-only banks has been piss poor at best. Once upon a time we had a Discover credit card. That account was closed when I figured out that when I'd make a payment, they would sometimes take more than a week to apply my payment to my card which resulted in being forced to pay interest. The only thing I pay interest on these days is our mortgage, otherwise paying interest is a big "NOPE!" for me. This is unfortunate as there are things I like about Discover. They give a card holder the option to shut their card off which prevents fraud. They use the same technology on their debit cards, but again, what good does it do if they screw people over in other ways.

Since I have things I want to do and need money to get those things done, I'm just going to work with our regular bank and be strategic about it.

Instead of leaving our bill pay account in a regular savings account that earns a crappy .10%, we'll move it over to a money market account that earns .50%. Not a huge difference, but it is better than .10%. Once we get past paying the mountain of medical bills that have been piling up since the end of March, we can build what is called a CD ladder. Our bank requires a minimum of $500.00 to purchase a CD. We'll start with one that is good for 30 days, buy another that is good for 90 days, ect... so there is always a CD that is about to reach it's maturity date. I can't go too far up the later as once the CD level reaches around the 3 year mark, the amount of return tanks back down to the same amount as a 1 year CD. Why? Who knows.

As our savings accounts grow, the amount we get back will grow. I'll still continue to look for better options, but unless something falls in my lap in the next few weeks, moving cash to a money market account is the best option for the time being. I'm not playing around with CDs until all the medical crap is dealt with. I have no clue when that will be as from what I've been told, there has been arguing between doctors and our insurance company. Whatever bills trickle in, I pay them. That's a whole other rant in and of itself.

At the end of the day, a lot of it is BS. Banks like Chase, Bank of America and others make billions per fiscal quarter and yet their offer .01% on their "platinum' savings accounts. Chase bank and their ilk know what they can do with their .01%...

FTFY
Cards of US banks have always been enigmatic to me. On the one hand, in terms of finance and economy, it's one of the biggest countries in the world. Yet, there's still a need to ask if someone takes Something-Pay; meanwhile, all of cards issued in my country are contactless, and a lot of them support Apple Pay/Google Pay. A card toggle has been present in three out of four banking apps I have. The one that doesn't have that switch has some other quirks, such as asking me for my full credit card number via email when I need support (while every other bank is like, OMG! NEVER TELL THAT TO ANYONE). Yet... their support is always great, so the occasional 16-digit number being sent unencrypted doesn't bother me that much since they'll always be on the case if something happens...

What I also find weird is that in the US, there's no Diners Club card? I own one, and the payment processor (i.e. Visa, Mastercard, American Express) is Diners Club itself. When googling about the business and how it's doing in the States, I saw that the Diners Club offers their "Mastercard Diners Club card", which I found weird, because that card is accepted in stores that take Mastercard, while my DC card is accepted in stores that take DC...

Banking is so different in the States!

I haven't heard about a Diners Club credit card and what feels like forever. The following is from Dec 2022....



https://www.forbes.com/advisor/cred...ners-club-card/

I have no idea why consumers can't apply for a Diners Club card.

Monetary policy in the US is...loose-y, goose-y at best. Finance isn't taught in school so what we've ended up with is a majority of the population that don't understand fiance, at all. If you tell a person to read the fine print whether it is for a credit card, student loan, car loan, mortgage, ect... they're more likely to give a attitude and a speech about not telling them what to do instead of seeing it as a means of somebody watching their back. The devil is always in the details and those details in the US always come in the fine print that is always almost impossible to read.

Example of how loose monetary policy is: A person that makes $30,000.00 a year can get a loan for a $40,000.00 car. For those that know better, it is well known that things with wheels and motors lose 10% of their value when driven off the sales lot. They also know that total living expenses ( fixed expenses and variable expenses such as groceries) should never be more than 50% of a person's income.

That same person that makes $30,000.00 and purchases that $40,000.00 car typically are taking out a car loan for over 5 years to get the payments down. They're also paying anywhere from 20-30% interest. What a deal, NOT! They're under water even before they drive said car off of the sales lot.

I had somebody try to pull the wool over my eyes yesterday.

One of the things I need money for is to replace windows. I refuse to take out a loan or put the windows on a credit card. This simple point will come up later. I want to replace windows of each room over time for a total of 13 windows. Most of my windows won't stay open, while they they do have double panes, the windows in my office are foggy because the seal for the 2 panes has been broken with time, and so on.

When I called to make the appointment to have somebody come out to give me some numbers, I told them I would not take out a loan to have their work done. It is a pay as we go project. I called on Friday, my appointment was yesterday.

The sales person showed up on time. The conversation started with being told "I don't care if you buy windows or not." This set the tone for the conversation that followed. I won't get into the details except to say that for 2 windows that are not large by any means, they wanted almost $6,500.00. In order to get $400.00 off, I would have had to sign a contract for at least 4 windows. $400.00 off of roughly $13,000 doesn't mean much. The story gets worse from here.

By this point I told the sales person no and she left. Because I was left with the feeling that this person wasn't being upfront with me, I decided to look into things a bit further after sales person left. Whether this failure to mention the following details was intentional or not, I don't know.

I found out later that in order to get the "$400.00 special" I would have had to finance the replacement windows through said window company. If I didn't pay the balance in full after a year, they would start charging me interest. This window company uses a company called GreenSky to do their financing. GreenSky gives kickbacks to companies that use their product. Depending on a buyers credit "worthiness", GreenSky charges 6.99- 24.99 % interest. I said above that the devil is in the details. I had to hunt for these details and they were written in very small text.


Later in the day, my plumber showed up. We're having issues with the new toilet he installed about a month or so ago. Anyway. I told him what happened with the replacement window people. He then gave me the name and number of a contractor that did the windows at his house for a fraction of the cost and twice the work. According to my plumber, he lives in a old house with big windows with fancy trim to go around the windows. They not only replaced the windows, they also did all the finish work for roughly the same amount of money as the window company wanted for 2 of their windows with no trim work.

I don't mean to write a novel for replies, but this is the BS that goes on. All of this should be taught in at least high school. If schools can't figure it out, parents can teach their kids about money at home. All they need to do is keep the conversation age appropriate. Nobody is going to try to explain how credit card interest works to a 3-year old. A 3-year old can certainly start learning about simple things like how much is a penny worth.

One thing I'm still struggling with is trying to understand the tax law and terminology (not the fine print – the whole darn thing!). I get around other financial and economy stuff just fine, but this simply feels like it's mumbo jumbo on purpose. So I definitely agree with having to educate this topic from the early ages.

Yuck, I think I messed up something important because I misunderstood like one sentence. Whoops. I've contacted the person, I'll see what they say in the coming days and find out if its fixable. Big lame for sure but that's Mondays for you.

Ex-landlord has emailed me asking for my new address, apparently it was part of my tenancy agreement to give her my new address. Seems dodgy. Not sure what to do. Apparently she might not have to give my deposit back if I don't give her the address, but* honestly I feel like she won't give it back anyway.

Barnes & Noble audiobook subscription: $14.99 a month

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/h/bn-audiobooks



$8.99 for a paperback of Jurassic Park

$44.00 for the audiobook version



This does not math. I cancelled my audiobook subscription.

It's officially spider season, and the creepy crawlies are at it again, coming out of their hidey-holes and/or creeping inside from wherever they can sneak in.

At least five spiders just this weekend, most of them in either my room or in the hallway outside.

OVer the years I've developed spider-sense. I can see those those creepy crawlies out of the corner of my eye if they as much as move a tiny little leg into my field of vision, even if I'm busy doing something else. Probably a lingering side effect from spider phobia when I was a kid (I still don't like them, and don't want them in my room, but I'm not afraid of them any longer - unless we're talking venomous/dangerous/bitey ones, or way too big to handle)...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAArgh. Too much nag at work, my legs hurt all the way from soles to hips, my shoulders hurt from dragging two giant shopping bags home. And a slight headache coming on (barely slept last night).

Tired, brain isn't braining, these feet aren't made for walking, and all I want to do is to relax for a week, but I've got one day of relaxing and then it's a little bit nag, a bit more nag, and an entire weekend of nag

Hard drive failure.. sucks when the data is gone.

Had to walk home in some of the worst shoes for walking long distances. They're fine for shorter distances (and can handle bad weather, which is most of the reason I wore them today), but are absolute crap for one an a half hour on alphalt... My legs hurt al the way from the soles of my feet to my hips, plus my back wasn't too happy when i started walking, and was in an even worse mood when I got home. As if that wasn't enough, I've already been on my feet for quite a lot of 8 hours today before this. Doesn't help that I'm somewhat sleep-deprived (too few hours between shifts).

Don't think I'll be walking home tomorrow (certainly not in those shoes...)

This is for those that use Amazon's Ring or Alexa. I've taken a lot of crap over the years for not having this junk around my house and here's why...



https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoni...d-on-customers/

Since the Federal Trade Commission is based in the US, I don't know if there are similar lawsuits happening in other places around the world.

Just after I woke up, I saw something small and dark scuttle over my bed and down to the floor. Lost sight of it in the darkness, and by the time I managed to turn on the light, that little ninja was *poof* gone.

So now I'm 99% sure there's a mid-sized spider somewhere in my room, and I don't know where, which means I'm going to be a little bit on the edge until I catch that little bastard.

@simmer22 This means that it's time to burn down your house and move somewhere else.

The washing machine now vibrates violently enough that it moves across the room. Supposedly it does that cos we didn't place it on the box thing properly when we moved in. Except that was nearly 4 years ago and this only really started like 6 months ago and has only gotten worse. It had better not be dying

^ Still haven't seen the little critter, so either I imagined it, or that thing is still in hiding.
(at least I don't live in Australia or anywhere else where spiders are actually dangerous - here they're mainly just icky).

Day of meetings today, and even more tomorrow. *Sigh*.

A misprint in a check's routing number led to mass confusion and I was like "This can't be happening!"

Too many meetings and work courses this week, and apparently there's more next week (my head is full now, please stop!!!)

(Only positive today was cake, but I think I ate too much....)

This is a rant, but a rant that has a happy ending.

There is something to be said about animal shelters that make it impossible to adopt from. I understand why they have the processes they do, but at the same time, when they refuse to do their job, it's really annoying. I'll circle back to this later.

Backstory: I've been wanting to get another critter. All the animals we have are fine, but I've missed having a guinea pig in the house since we lost the last of ours a couple of years ago. At first I thought about getting a mouse, a rat or even a gerbil, but I wasn't feeling it. My issue with getting a rat wasn't the fact that rats come with a stigma. When somebody says rat, most people think of sewer rats which are not the same thing. It was more about trying to find a appropriate cage for one which I wasn't able to find locally. I would have had to order one which I wasn't willing to do.

This afternoon Dingus and I went to get Sterling some more blankets. I spent the past week looking high and low for decently priced, small, fleece blankets. I couldn't find any and the only place that had what I was looking for was Amazon. I'm not giving them any money, then the idea came to me to go to the fabric store. There is plenty of fabric to pick from there, I wouldn't have to worry about whether my order would show up or not, ect... so I bought 6 yards of fabric which I had cut into 1 yard pieces. That way I can swap out her blankets every other day and she'll always have clean ones.

Since there is a PetSmart next to the fabric store, we decided to go walk around. Trying to find chinchilla toys has been a issue as of late, but we've been looking anyway. Trying to find the dog food we buy has been another problem. Anyway...

Upon going into the store, we saw that they had animals for adoption. Initially I thought they were cats; nope... they had 4 guinea pigs for adoption. I figured the process would be similar to how I've gotten animals from PetSmart in the past. I totally wrong about that. There was a $30.00 adoption fee which I was fine with, but it was the other stuff that I wasn't okay with starting with the fact that the pigs they had for adoption have been at the store ready for adoption since Feb / March. People have been inquiring about these animals for months, but the shelter that PetSmart uses in my area refuses to return phone calls. WTF!

As I was talking to the store manager about these little darlings, I tried from every angle to get him to allow us to adopt one and he wasn't having it. It wasn't the manager that was the problem, it is the shelter and their rules which don't make sense. If they have people that pass their 'test' as it were and are willing to give these pigs a good home, there is no reason not to return a phone call. I could go off about this, but I'm not going to. People can be real a-holes. From what I could tell, these guinea pigs are being well taken care, but they'd be much happier in a loving home.

Since we couldn't adopt a pig because assholes, we bought one. We've named him Cole; a play on coal to go with Sterling as she was named Sterling because of the color of her coat. Cole is roughly 2 months old and is mostly black. He has a tan spot with a hint of white. He's really cute and since he is so young, I'm hoping that I won't have a issue with bladder stones which is a serious problem for guinea pigs, chinchillas, rats, ect... By keeping things like alfalfa out his diet, we should be okay. Unless something happens, Cole will be going to the vet next week for a physical and to be checked out. Aside from being nervous, he's been fine.

The cage we got him is huge for a 2 month old guinea pig. It is 4 feet long, almost 2 feet deep. Lengthwise it can extended to 7 feet long. The cage is really meant for a rabbit, but I can't think of a reason to ever have the cage extended the full 7 feet. It isn't hard or difficult to 'exercise' a guinea pig. They don't bounce around like a chinchilla, ferret and other kinds of critters. Their backs are not meant for that and they're not as nimble. They're perfectly happy to run around on a large blanket with stuff to chew on.

Covid 19. Having it at summer time really sucks. I guess I could say having it at any time really sucks. Haven't felt like shit in a long time and this is new level.

I hope you feel better soon, @Nemiga ! I had it last summer- ugh!

Thank you I really hope so it will clear up soon

Ughhhh. This house has a flea problem ever since we moved in. It's been over a month and every time we think they're finally gone... nope! The dog has been prescribed all kinds of things, we have spray for the house - including one from the vet that "stops flea infestation for upto a year" etc. I hate to imagine what the previous owners dogs looked like, because our poor old boy is so irritated he's lost most of the fur on his legs/butt and has seriously scratched up his stomach really bad that he's been leaving smears of blood everywhere he lies down. We only sprayed the house yesterday, and today I find one in my bed jumping round and mocking me.

We could spend even more money on getting the whole house fumigated, but (1) no money and (2) nowhere to go while the house is being treated.

This house is just a black hole for money it seems


Oh and also the nearly-deaf woman next door who has her TV on full volume has recently discovered opera. She also seems to have the sleeping patterns of a fruit bat.

Annoyed at this lady that I recently met. She's been breathing down my neck about applying for jobs faster and more regularly. Which makes sense normally, but I already told her I have several responsibilities right now that I need to be prioriting over the job search. Like if I didnt really have to be doing these things I totally would be spending more time carefully researching and preparing applications, but I like 6 more weeks of this stuff to get through first. So like chill lady. Anyway, I'm like her kids age so I guess she's just worried or whatever. But still, she needs to chill and sound less like a disappointed parent becasue even my parents arent that disappointed in me because we all know I made the right choice in quitting.

Ugh, it happened to me when I still had cats, it turns out that fleas have become resistant to a lot of the treatments that are widely available. I had already stopped using Frontline many years before as it became useless, so I was using Stronghold spot-on, but the fleas evolved and we had a summer from hell. Eventially cleared up when we started using Advocate (might be called Advantage now?), the cattery recommended it as they were seeing an increase in boarders with infestations! Took a few weeks I remember for the whole house to be clear, as the spot-ons work by rendering each flea that bites the animal sterile. So you might still have fleas living and dying on furniture, and biting your pet, but as soon as they feed that's it for them, so wait it out!

I went to this other town that used to have a massive (by this country's standards) shopping centre. Well, I mean it's still there but its basically a ghost town now. Like there's still a bunch of people there but there's like only 2 streets worth of shops left and even then they're all the usual chains and anything that was local or specialist or whatever is gone now. I havent been there in a few years since it's kind of out of my way for day to day stuff, but like it's really a let down to see something like that considering it's in a busy and popular area thats easy to access and also isn't in the middle of nowhere. Supposedly its going to be redevloped into a bunch of tall flats with the shops on the ground floor though clearly its taking awhile since the project got the go ahead like back in 2015? They should get to it, dragging it out isn't doing anyone any favours.

Dear Internet,

It could be just me, but could you not pretend that you care about issues surrounding sweat shops while continuing to order from Temu, Wish, and Shein. All of the same crap can be just as easily found on Amazon, AliExpress and so on. The only reason people are clinging to Temu is to get free shizz from the very places these people claim to be against. I'm kind of tired of listening to the BS and having this stuff show up in my recommend feed.

Tuesday Night Temu Haul - WHAT WAS I THINKING?!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3NSg4_h4Ao

What was she thinking? She was doing it for views, that's what she was thinking.

Ugh...all of you with a uterus and reproductive disorders that really does fuck around with your body and make you find out, a show of hands...

This time around, I feel like I got my ass kicked and then left for dead, waiting for a good Samaritan to help me get cleaned up, comforted and fed. My cramps are leaving me in quite a state.

I have a OBGYN annual appointment on Monday and I may have to just ask about how they can ease my periods from "She-Hulk Strong" to "Mild Reminder I Am Alive". I may have to adjust the itinerary to just leave out the exam or reschedule because one of my parents' cars is having trouble and my mom has a stress test about an hour earlier than me.

Argh...what a miserable time to be alive. Everything seems to be good and then, I get dumped on by rats with wings.

Elon, you PITA of a man-child.

Are you serious? I have to have a account just to lurk? If I don't post anything because lurking in peace is not allowed, my account will be closed from lack use.

Cool! I'll post sims pics so the trolls can yap about my puddings. Meh!

EDIT: Less than 24 hours later...



Anybody want to take a guess what has been happening? I've logged into Twitter for maybe a couple of hours since I started my account yesterday. I spend all of my time muting or blocking. When the mute button doesn't work, I block. Is there a hidden "Leave me alone. I don't give a fug!" button somewhere? I know there isn't such a thing, but I do wish there was one. Give me sims related content I want to see, pics of cute and perhaps not so cute animals, book reviews and some food porn. That is all this basic bish needs, everybody else... scram.

Well there goes an information source used at my old job

https://www.usnews.com/news/busines...-reading-tweets

People can end up wasting the 600 tweet limit just by removing all the garbage from their feeds, but the man-child isn't concerned about that. The article goes on to talk about how advertisers have pulled back from Twitter, but again, there is no removal of the trash that is all over the place.

I'm not paying $8.00 to sort through Twitter garbage. If this temporary thing turns out to less and than temporary, then I guess I'll close my account and call it a day.

Been waiting all week for a beautiful Canvas of my son to arrive in the post. Checked today what was taking so long... it was delivered on the 22nd... to my cardboard recycling bin........ on bin day. No text or slip through the post. They just concluded that I wasn't in and it couldn't fit through the postbox, and of all the places in the garden they could've put it that wouldn't be noticeable to anyone walking past.... they choose to throw it in my bin!!!!

I'm really upset. I've tried contacting Photobox and Evri but I don't think I'm going to get very far because I'm sure I'll be told it was somehow my fault. What a waste of money.

What on earth made them think that hiding it in the bin would be a good idea? Without leaving you a note as well! Tut, tut. Common sense says packages are supposed to chill with a neighbour or go to a pickup point if they miss you.

I was on a super busy tram today and the person next to me was the world's loudest breather. Like how is your breathing (relaxed cos he hadn't been running) louder than my thoughts bouncing in my brain? Why is your breathing louder than my music, the chatter, and the rattling of this tram?? We were stuck next to each other until he got out which unfortunately was a stop before mine.

How the frick do companies screw up dog shampoo and conditioner?

I've been telling Chica that she needs a bath for the past couple of weeks. Since the last thing of dog shampoo I had went weird on me ( it turned into literal slime) I ordered new stuff.

The new stuff is made by a company called Groomer's Goop. I got the 'unscented' dog shampoo and conditioner. Both products smell like plastic which is nasty and even more nasty than that, the conditioner has white bits or chunks in it. What are those bits or chunks? I have no idea. I've read the bottle three times. There is no mention of shaking the bottle before use. Blech!

If Chica breaks out in a rash or something I'll update this post. Do not buy these products, buy something else. I'm off to order from a website called Groomers Choice which carries stuff that professional dog and cat groomers use. I can't blame Chewy for whatever is going on, but I'm not interested in going through this kind of situation again. It is a total waste of time and money. I should be able to bathe my dog without drama...

I'm trying not to grumpy. 2023 keeps proverbially punching me in the head. I'm too stupid and stubborn to stay down apparently.

The few days ago I posted about how I ordered a book ( My Best Friend's Exorcism) and thought it was funny that the power went out when I was done ordering. Little did I know there was damage done when that power outage happened.

This afternoon I tried to boot up my sims rig as I wanted sim pics from my recent saves. I kept getting a error that there wasn't a connection to my monitor. I tried a new HDMI cable; same error. I plugged the Nintendo Switch into the monitor, that worked. I tried plugging the sims rig into the monitor for this computer or the one I use for the internet. I got the same error. Then I noticed something else. That thing being the keyboard for the sims rig wasn't working either. I unplugged it and tried it on this computer, it worked.

I bought the computer out the kitchen thinking perhaps it was the outlet was having issues. After a half hour of swearing, plugging and unplugging, I've come to the conclusion that my sims rig is fried. The only thing that will come on is the fan. I wasn't playing my game when that outage happened, that computer wasn't even on. That computer along with all the other computers in the house was on surge protectors. We also have a surge protector on the electrical panel that was installed after lightening struck a window air conditioner a number of years ago. I haven't checked the panel, but considering nothing else in the house is having issues, I'm gathering it was just my sims rig that took the hit for whatever frickin' reason.

Sometimes it is like the universe is trying to tell a person something. I'm not sure what that would be other than perhaps it is time to quit sims and move on. It couldn't be that easy, could it? I don't know what I'm going to do. I do have backups of fairly recent saves and such. I haven't been in the mood to play because Maxis which is stupid as their BS has nothing to do with my puddings but meh.

The other thing that pisses me off about this is that this isn't the first time the electric company has cost me money. I've had to replace fish tank filters a number of times as surges kill those as well. If it were something like a air pump that needed to be replaced, I'd still be annoyed but it wouldn't be that big of a deal, but no. I use 2 Aqua Clear 70's which go for $50.00, each. I've had to purchase replacements 3 times and always keep a spare because it is always just a matter of time before one is busted.

This hasn't ruined my day, it's just a thing.



https://www.marketwatch.com/story/b...7?mod=home-page

For all the 'double-dipping' they've been doing, one would think they would at least start paying people more than pennies on a savings account. They pay out a penny on anything under $2,500.00 per month, 4 cents per month on their "Platinum Honors Tier"savings accounts.

Big banks...

Tell me about it...when Wells Fargo sends me money, it's like a lover giving you roses for fucking up big time.

"We apologize for any backroom dealings involving your account, so have some free money as our apologies."

Besides, I really can't switch horses midstream with what goes on in my life. I have chores to do, packages to bring in, news to read and simplify. I also would have to deal with red tape if I must change banks.

Fuck my life, my duties and the fact that I am no closer to writing a comedy that would reignite passion for the genre.

I've been up since 4:00 AM. I didn't cook dinner last night because I couldn't stand feeling like I was suffocating from all the humidity anymore. I know it is lame to talk about the weather, but I find this kind of weather draining to say the least which brings me to my point.

The reason I'm up is so Dingus will have lunch to bring to work. Despite having dehumidifiers running all night, it is still 70% humidity in the house. There is no breeze outside, at all. It is still and stifling. The Instant Pot is once again coming to my rescue, but I'm not doing much of anything today. I'm only doing what I have to and calling it; I'm frickin' exhausted. I don't know how people in Florida, Texas, Louisiana, ect... do it. I don't want piles of snow. I want fresh air, to go outside and enjoy watching the baby bunnies and hummingbirds. The backyard has been like a airport. All the hosta are in bloom, hummingbirds love the flowers.

^that's cursed weather yo


I got dragged to a garden party by my friend and I never want to experience that ever again. Or maybe just with other people instead?

To begin with, my friend and I were already at the beach getting sandblasted cos we forgotten our common sense on the tram: windy days = even windier at the beach. But then her grandma called asking where she was and how being late is unacceptable. Clearly my friend forgot about it since we planned the beach day like the other day. Whatever the case, I dont think that was enough of a reason to drag me in to this, but I guess she wanted me to keep her company in her misery? We passed by my place to get cleaned up cos its on the way to the garden party of doom and then went and got a present (an attempt at buying grandma's love). We were late, obviously

I hated it, it was so awkward. Maybe not for them or my friend but for me it definitely was.

Like first of all I've never been to her parent's place before, it felt weird just showing up. While I was expecting like 20ish people, their backgarden was weirdly small for the house and area and super cramped for that many people. Just no. Wrong. It got worse: you know when you arrive late to a thing an people just stare? That happened. Like ok I've greeted you, shaken hands blah blah either talk to me or dont. But that feeling didnt go away. I thought that because we're from different countries the culture/party vibe was unfamiliar to me so maybe that was why I felt off because I was the only total rando there. At one point though, I was sitting alone and realised that everyone looked like each other, that even the non relations looked like the family. And that every so often I felt like I was being stared at and would turn to find that I really was being stared at??! So of course in my mind I'm like omg did I offend someone, is my hair a mess, was I just not supposed to be there etc. Look, the vibes were wrong, the stars weren't aligned for this event, and I was just really creeped out. I needed to go and go I did - I left about an hour after I'd arrived.

A bounced check. This is not the first time. But I hope it is the last as my mother is reordering a new set after numerous mistakes were made in the printed batches.

Nearly had to look up what checks are; you guys still use them?

Well, if I am unable to go to the bank, I can remotely deposit the check.

Oops. I am the worst. It was "bring a toy to school" day. I remembered all week, I was even talking to Ivy about it last night and she ended up falling asleep while picking a toy. This morning, she's met at the school gates by her friend who asks "what toy did you bring?" and she turned to me excitedly "What toy did I bring, Mummy?". The look of utter heartbreak when I told her I forgot I felt so bad, I was going to my friends after dropping her off, so I retold the story to him and I was so upset. He felt so bad he bought a toy and dropped it off at her school. Where would we be without Uncle Tim

My mother is the only person I know who still uses cheques (as we call them) in my country.


You still use them?
(Most of the branches in the region where I live are being closed , so when my mother paid my husband some money she owed him by cheque, he had to open a new account. None of the banks we used had branches near to us, nor did they allow paying in of cheques by app. So we had so find a bank that did have an app to pay it in with... )

@Bigsimsfan12 Ahh, sad but you can't remember everything! Don't feel too bad, you got her to school on time and fed, clean, rested, clothed and loved too, which is more that quite a high percentage of parents manage.

I'm Gen X born in Germany, and I only ever saw a cheque until I moved to Canada in the late 1990s. Very odd experience.

They are being phased out but there are still instances where they are used. I need one maybe once a year and I can still order them from my bank if I wanted to.

Never saw a cheque in real life until 2021, legit thought they were just a US thing. The lady paying wasn't even that old so like ??? Just use cash like a normal person? That was an ugh moment cos the supermarket was crazy busy (lunch rush) and all the lines were super long and then this lady took aaaallll her time finding the right cheque book, finding a pen that works, misunderstanding whatever the cashier told them- it just took a lot longer that it should have for a basket of things. I had more stuff and I was done faster.

The current ugh news is that my cousin is coming over tomorrow and they'll probably drag along their kids. We saw the guy last year, do we really have to see him again this year? Once every 5ish years was more than enough. Ok maybe that's a bit mean but I hate it when these things happen last minute? Like its 2023 man just let us know in 3-5 business days like literally any other relative would.

My bank card got hijacked! Now I have to wait up to a week before I get the chance to go shopping again. I had to destroy my bank card for the new one and I only have $1.28 in coin.

I am no stranger to fraudulent charges. Still, I was trying to sign up for Dollar Tree. What a crappy app if the design leads to a problem like this.

I already filed an objection on the grounds of impersonation of an entity.

"There's always money in the Banana Stand..."

Expectations: Relax before having my therapy session tomorrow afternoon.

Reality: Carpenter ant was on my bed. I screamed and now, another fucking laundry day.

Seems all I do is laundry, bed sheets and all. Then again, there's a kitschy sign hung up in mud rooms in America: "Do laundry today or go naked tomorrow" and at this point, I don't care about the sign's truth. I have to tear off everything from the bed and run it through the machines.

I thought my card getting hijacked was bad, but thankless chores are going to be my grave if I let it.

For some reason, I'm obsessed with doing only these two chores: laundry and dishes. And (caveats): only if there's a washing machine and a dishwasher; and only if I'm doing it at someone else's.

Last summer I went my friends from college to a beach house my friend has; his family is better-off so the beach house has got more than just the basics, like a bed and a fridge; they also have the dish and laundry washers. I remember my friends wanting to take over my cleaning sessions and I simply didn't allow them - it was fun?!?!?! Same thing with my boyfriend's appliances - but at least the uncalled obsession over the appliances benefits us both. But for the love of me, I can't seem to get myself to clean my own room of dirty laundry, or do the dishes over in my own kitchen at home. Anywhere else though? - I'm the first one in line and the line closes after me.

I had to make sure the kids woke up early today so that they slept early tonight. My alarm went off at 6:50, meaning I get a quick shower and wake the kids sometime after 7. Nope. I turned the alarm off and thought "I'll just close my eyes for a second". Next thing I know it's 10am!!!!!! Way way later than I ever let them sleep in. So now they'll be up all night long. Like literally my 4 year old has such low sleep needs, if she wakes up at 9 - she'll be awake until past midnight and grumpy. I'm hoping the weather clears up and maybe they can burn off some of their energy at the park. But not too much because we also have shopping later and I don't want them cranky the whole time. Ugh.

I fell on the stairs trying not to step on our cat, Gemini.

I tripped going upstairs because she parked herself in a dangerous spot, but I was able to get a grip on the rail upstairs.

But where I fell, I am extremely sore. Waiting for the Tylenol to kick in.

Edit: August 2, 2023

I got my period, so on top of hurting my left side of the body, I am craving salt, menstruating, having a backache AND fatigued.

It feels like "Everything hurts and I'm dying..."

Edit: August 3, 2023

I don't hurt as much. Just my upper back and my left thigh still hurt. I limp when going up the stairs.

I ate pretty much garbage today. I should probably have cucumbers for dinner. Technically, as members of the same family as watermelon and pumpkin, it may provide fiber.

Ugh...I still feel like I got backed over.