still raining

It's still raining every day here in North Carolina. A lot of the mulch has washed away from the back yard. I knew we would be tired of this wet weather when I saw the storm map and the 10-day forecast last week but I also know we will miss some of this rain by the time everything is dried out in the Summer months. Nothing ever feels completely dry now and clear, sunny days seem distant.
I had a nice long conversation with Cindi, who called to check in about my condo in Atlanta. She's an old friend, former neighbor, and my real estate agent in charge of my condo now. So we talked about my renter and whether I would be willing to let his girlfriend and her dog move in with him and how much I should add to the rent to cover possible damage created by pets if that happens. I don't want to lose the tenant I have so if we can keep everyone happy while not sacrificing the space that still feels like home to me, I'll be happy.

She has a new cat now that an old cat does not seem to be adjusting to very well - or he could just be showing signs of his advanced years now because he is a 17-year-old cat. Their new cat is a young tortoiseshell who has a lot more energy than the old guy.
Her husband, like mine, is out of work now but he's quite tech-savvy so both of us believe he will find more work soon that he can do remotely.
Both of our households have been doing a lot of gardening while we are sheltering in place during this time of quarantine but while that's not much an option this week while the rain is coming down every day. I had purchased a new additional raised bed planter, a 4'x4' two-part stacking kit, but the Amazon seller only sent half of my order and refunded me for half the price. Now MonsterMustDie needs to make it work somehow. This, I swear, was the last thing I will spend my rapidly-disappearing money on for the yard.

MonsterMustDie went out grocery-shopping and treasure-hunting earlier today. He's been out treasure-hunting several times a week now that all the antique malls are open. He's even had a couple of small sales at the antique mall here, where he has a booth. Most of his sales are still online only. The antiques market is a very strange thing to me. So much of it seems to be like gambling on what collectors might want. It's all unnecessary spending for consumers so there is no judging things by necessity or usability. It's all trends. On top of that, a lot of it is dealers buying things from each other to resell. Total folly in my mind, hoping to score a wild prize. Still, he's now supporting our household with it.

I had a telephone job interview this afternoon for a position selling insurance, which feels like something I am completely unsuited for because I do not have a salesman personality. I might still try it if I can talk myself into it but the very thought of it is filling me with anxiety. It would be something I believe I would only have to do remotely, by phone, but there are classes to get licensed for it which I am totally unwilling to pay for if they expect me to do that and the job is commission-only with no benefits. It's just a step better than no prospects whatsoever, which is what I have now.

The Wettening

There is a tropical storm running up the east coast this week. It rained hard last night. Forecast is for rain all week, including harder rain and thunderstorms tonight. Power went out here for a few hours but everything in the fridge looks fine. Here's hoping we have no long power failures here. The thing about continuing wet weather and power outages combined means there are no alternative cooking methods like backyard grilling here at Casa WereMonster. So far, I am thankful that my food-making ability is still intact. Gotta cook that chicken and duck breast I have in the freezer before anything bad happens.
I got up and walked around the house to check things just long enough to poke myself in the left eye with a wood dowel propped up in the back mud room. Checking the damage when I got up this morning, I am pleased to say it's just a tiny scratch on the side of my nose and a slight bruising in the corner of that eye. I'm very glad I didn't do more damage to myself.
MonsterMustDie is about to go out on what has been daily errands to the antique mall and store. I suspect he does it for a bit of privacy and alone time that I can't blame him for. I nag him to wear a mask and please wash his hands coming back into the house every time. He has nearly abandoned wearing gloves at this point. It really bothered me yesterday when we ran to the grocery store together and the first thing he did outside the car, without gloves, was grab a shopping cart that had not yet been wiped down and brought it into the store to shop with. He's acting out his frustration a bit these days. I also have to beg him to place things on the floor as he brings them into the house rather than putting them up on the kitchen countertop - my food prep area - as soon as he walks in. I wipe the countertops down often but it's still a bad habit.

Last night, in prep for the power or internet possibly going out, I downloaded the 1st season of What We Do In The Darkness and some favorite old StarTrek episodes to my laptop just so we'd have some entertainment if either or both went out. I've still got a lot of iTunes  credit that transfers to purchases on Apple music, TV, and iBooks - another thing to be grateful for. Now, I just need to find a good rechargeable battery to add extra life to the laptop for long periods between charges. I am trying to find any "juice box" we might have laying around to charge. We don't have any good batteries but we have a few swag gifts laying around here.

Halloween 2019

Horrible weather this year essentially shut down all of our Halloween activities.  There were severe thunderstorms all night. We only had six trick-or-treaters at Casa WereMonster this year. Two people we invited over came by to hang out for a little while. I'm still giving away leftover candy to co-workers. I'll save the party for next year and hope the rubber whoopie cushions survive the time in storage.

We had plenty of treats.

New skeleton in my grandmother's old dress

Charcuterie spread 

Bar cart 

The interesting weekend

Still cleaning the ruins. Bedroom is done. Main bath is done. Kitchen is mostly done. Lots of laundry going on - clothes, cleaning cloths, and sheets used to cover the big things.

Then morning a new leak over the couch appeared and the power went out due to the enormous tree that fell across our street this morning. Phoned the roofer, who had a man at the house to make a temporary patch within the hour. He was a ginger-bearded character who, when I peeked outside, was surfing on top of an SUV another person was driving to get to the lowest point of the roof, rather than just using a ladder. He was fast, polite, and seemed to have it capped when he left. Still, the SUV surfing had me amused.

As I left the house today, I saw the Power Company crew had the street closed off entirely and many large trucks and with bright flashing blinky lights were working on breaking down the fallen tree and putting up new power lines. The ginger-bearded roofer had already alerted me to the alternate route out of the neighborhood, past the school, so no problems there.

I hope the power is back on and the living room is dry by the time I get home.

The latest news is that I must go to Alabama the day after Christmas with Monstermustdie so he can help his mother buy a car that she probably has no business driving.

Seems like we just can't get ahead.

Woke up at an hour ago, around 3:45 a.m. with water dripping on me in bed. Water was dripping squarely in the middle of the bed, which is now shoved as far over as possible to one side of the bedroom. Water is also dripping in my closet, so all of my clothes are also shoved as far over as possible. Water is also dripping in my office on the side of the room I've already moved everything away from to avoid leaks that have been off and on since we moved here.

There is also roach poop from the ceiling everywhere upstairs.

There are also large centipedes that show up downstairs and, for the first time tonight, upstairs in the hallway - they are no doubt trying to avoid drowning.

We should not have signed a lease for another year, but moving takes a lot time and money and labor. It also involves finding what would be a better, even if much smaller, affordable space that does not increase our commutes to work significantly - especially with MonsterMustDie's car ready to die at any day now.

raining again

Yesterday was clear, sunny and warm. We went to a New Orleans themed potluck at Allison and Hap's home in Grant Park before heading home to get together with Lisa and David to watch Doctor Who on DVD.

Visited mother today and worked on her computer, cleaning out the hard drive and updating software. Still need to defrag the but ran out of time today.

Got home before dark to cut the top off some water containers and place them over some of the new plants in the garden before monday and tuesday night's freeze or near-freezing temperatures.

And now, the rain comes again.