The Insanity Continues

I forgot to mention something that happened last week.

Back in 2023, I had to move out of my old apartment quickly. The old apartment wanted to raise my rent ~$300. I felt this wasn't right since I had lived there since 2015 and my unit was not updated and roach invested.

Because I refused to pay for even one more month there, I had to move on 2/25. I work in accounting so we are not allowed to take off the first ten days and the last day of each month. I have lived in a total of three apartments since I left my ex and this is the first one that doesn't take section 8.

As a result, I am used to my lease running through the end of the month regardless of when I actually moved in. For example, I moved into my old apartment in the middle of March 2015 but my lease ended on the last day of February.

I expected that here but I guess it doesn't? I honestly don't remember what the dates of my lease were when I signed it last year. I did notice it this year, that's why I'm mentioning it.

Anyway, Thursday, I received a note on my door. I always get nervous when the office leaves a note on my door. This time it wasn't anything bad; it was the notice about my lease renewal. It said that my lease ends on 5/24. I fully expected it to end on 5/31.

I cannot remember when I received it last year, I'm guessing in late December because when I moved in I signed a twelve month lease. And they require a 60 day notice to vacate.

The lease options are for one month up to fifteen months. I will never understand why someone would rent an apartment for less than six months. I get that some people do it while they're having their house renovated but I would rent a furnished apartment for that so I don't have to unpack and then pack again so soon. But that's just me.

Anyway, I chose the fifteen month option because it only increased my rent $6. The new option list shows the same amount for the fifteen month lease. So naturally I chose that one. I'm just waiting for the office to approve it.

As y'all know I was on vacation last week. And per usual, I did fuck all. With the exception of a haircut on Tuesday and a doctor's appointment Thursday.

After my haircut, I spent the day with my parents and finally got some Chinese food. It was good enough that I'm still craving it. The place was a dive (can a restaurant be called a dive?) but the food was good.

Mom said it was dirty. The floors need to be swept and moped but other than that, I think it was fine. I mean, I didn't see any evidence of bugs, so. But Mom said the lady that helped us was wearing rumpled and stained clothes. I didn't actually see her clothes but I did see that she was wearing orthotic flip-flops which I'm sure is a health code violation.

Thursday, I had a follow up visit with my doctor. She set the appointment for six weeks after my last one because she had put me on a diuretic and wanted to check how it was helping with my blood pressure. She also resubmitted the request for Eliquis and this time my insurance is covering it 100%!

I finally got myself a sleep bonnet. I haven't been able to wear it much because I have this thing about things touching my face. It's why it was so difficult for me to get used to wearing a mask during the early days of the pandemic.

When I put it on, my face just starts twitching which has it moving and before long, it has slipped off the back of my head and I have to either retie it or take it off. The reason I got it is because I'm tired of the hair on the back of my head being dry, brittle, and massively tangled from rubbing against the back of the couch.

So, I've decided that I will only wear it when I'm sitting with my feet up because that is when my head rubs against the head rest on the couch. I did try to sleep in the bed with it last night, but it slipped off as soon as I laid down. I might not have had it tied tight enough but it doesn't matter. I don't think I'll try that again. Mostly because I like to play with my hair while I fall asleep. And, yes, it is a security thing as in my version of a stuffie or blanket.

I had planned to spend one day working on one of my stories but just couldn't find the motivation. I also planned to clean over the weekend because I went to the store Thursday.

Friday, I wasn't feeling it so I said I'd do it Saturday. But I wasn't feeling it then either. I did end up doing the laundry. Everything has been washed and other than the sheets and the shirts I don't put in the dryer, everything has also been folded and put away.

I know one of my goals was to clean on a regular basis but I find it difficult to do so. Although, I do take the trash out every Friday, so at least I've developed a routine for something. Right?

I went to bed planning on walking, getting dressed, and making my bed. But I didn't. It started with realizing my scale needed batteries as I was getting ready for bed and ended with leg cramps this morning.

I did take a shower and wash my hair this morning. I plan to make my bed in a bit and fold the last of the laundry.

I finished the original Daredevil series yesterday and am now caught up on the new one. Let me just say that the writers are EVIL. I won't spoil it for anyone but something happens in the first episode that had me so shocked, I forgot to breathe. And then I became irrationally angry at Kevin Feige (although he probably had very little to do with what happened).

I also started watching Jessica Jones on my phone. I can't remember how much of that series I watched because I remember very little of it. I don't really like it so it will be a chore to finish it. And, yes, that is why I didn't finish it before. This has nothing to do with Krysten Ritter because I have enjoyed her in other things. I think it's because I know next to nothing about the character.

And it's the same for Luke Cage. I don't know the actor but I don't think I was impressed with the series.

I never watched Iron Fist, The Punisher, or The Defenders so I might do a review of them.

I just saw a TikTok that I agree with.

If you don't know (if you don't, do you live under a rock?), Beyonce won Album of the Year and Best Country Album for 'Cowboy Carter'. There is a lot of outrage over this (which I agree with) and Chris Stapleton has filed an official objection to her win. I will stop watching any video that uses 'Texas Hold 'Em' as well as turn the channel on the radio whenever it comes on.

I do think Beyonce is that good of a singer and her voice is not right for country. I know I'm probably going to get a lot of flack for this but it is my opinion.

Can someone explain to me what it is about her that everyone seems to love?

I managed to stay in bed for almost four hours last night.

My parents gave me a wall clock for my birthday last year (I asked for one) and when it is silent in my apartment, like after I've fallen asleep with the TV on and it has shut itself off, I can hear it ticking. Only thing is, it does not have a second hand or pendulum. So, how is it ticking? Yes, it's analog and runs on a battery.

I sat for five minutes this morning instead of twenty before taking my blood pressure.

The strangest thing happened last night.

I have had issues with leaking in this apartment.

Just months after I first moved in, the ceiling over the shower started leaking. The first time it was just for a few minutes and was difficult to see where it was coming from. The second time, there is a crack on the ceiling where the water was coming from. Both times, maintenance did nothing about it despite my having video of the second leak.

Then, in late October/early November of 2023 a leak started in the laundry closet over my BRAND NEW washer/dryer. It took me calling daily for three weeks, and threatening to call the health department, before maintenance was able to get the tenant in the third floor apartment to let them in to locate the leak. There was not a tenant in the second floor unit at the time so they were able to quickly determine the leak was from the third floor unit.

I am now super triggered by the sound of dripping water which makes freezing temperatures a nightmare for me because I leave the faucets I don't use often dripping all the time when it's below 40* outside.

Because of this, I am super aware of dripping and will go and look for the source if I even THINK I heard water dripping.

So, last night as I was getting ready for bed, I heard water dripping in the shower. I immediately looked up at the ceiling but couldn't see anything. As I was lowering my gaze, I saw water dripping from the shower head. Now, as y'all might recall, I did not take a full shower yesterday. Not to mention, I had been in the bathroom several times during the day. There was no reason for the shower to be dripping at 9:30 at night. I made sure the tap was off but it was still dripping. I swiped the water drop off the shower head and that was that.

I'm still confused as to how/why that happened.

Another weird thing that happened was that my Discovery+ app on my FireStick upgraded last night and now I have to manually turn off the closed captioning every time I watch a show. I do not watch my Discover+ shows with CC on because those shows are reality TV (more or less) and the CC tends to lag.

Also, under 'continue watching' are a bunch of shows I have never watched. Now, my mother and I share this app and it used to not allow you to make more than one profile, so it is possible that some of these shows were watched by her.

I only managed to sleep in the bed for about two and a half hours because I was unable to find a comfortable position to sleep in.

Almost forgot. While we were at the bank, my parents closed out their safe deposit box. And in that box was my divorce decree! So happy I don't have to go to Denton to get a copy. I'm one step closer to getting my name changed.

Update to this post.

I think I was watching Daredevil on Disney+. Because while it will play the next episode automatically, if you let it auto play long enough, it will ask if you're still watching and if, after a few minutes, you don't respond it will kick you out.

The reason I think I was watching Daredevil Monday night is because I know I started watching season 1 episode 7 and when I go to my Disney+ app, it shows that the next episode is season 1 episode 10.

Yesterday I was taking a break and looking at my personal email when I saw an email from PayPal saying that $156.95 was paid to Norton360. I freaked the fuck out because I canceled my subscription when my laptop died last year. So, I went to the Norton website and made sure to turn off auto renewal, then began the process of contesting the charge.

PayPal told me to call Norton and they were helpful in getting the charge reversed. However, the man I spoke to kept trying to get me to not cancel. I told him no less than three times that I no longer had a device to use their product on. I mean, I do have a Surface tablet but if it dies I won't be as sad as when my laptop dies. Yes, I would be very bored after that but it won't be the end of the world.

The call center agent said the refund had been issued. Because I use PayPal to pay for it, I thought the money wouldn't be taken from my account at all. But I got a text telling me I only had $8.59 in my account. I freaked out (this is part of why I wasn't able to go back to sleep (see below for explanation)). I spent a few minutes trying to figure out how to contact PayPal to ask why this happened then decided to wait until the sun was up. A couple of hours later I received a text that $156.95 had been deposited into my account. Crisis averted.

I still wasn't feeling well all day and when it came time for bed, I just let myself fall asleep on the couch.

I fell asleep watching Kids Baking Championship and now have to go rewatch it, although I did go back and watch the end so I know who won. Then I put on House Hunters because I thought I was awake enough to watch it all.

Spoiler: I was not.

I'm fairly sure that a leg cramp woke me around 1am, but I'm not positive. This cramp was very painful. I mean, they all are but this one was bad enough that I couldn't sit and wait it out. I had to walk it off.

This time I was awake enough to watch House Hunters (she did not buy the house I would have bought) and one episode of Neighborhood Wars along with part of another. I caught myself falling asleep, that's why I only watched part of the second episode of Neighborhood Wars.

The wind was gusting really strongly all evening and I could feel it coming in the gaps around my front door. I have some weather stripping that I got off TikTok shop. I think I might put it up this weekend.

When I came into my room to get started on my day, I checked on my car, like I always do. When I turned on the standing lamp that's next to my desk, I discovered that the frost guard had blown off. I went out to see if it was on the ground nearby and luckily it had gotten caught on the passenger side rear tire. I put it back on. Hopefully it doesn't get blown off again.

For the first time in a while, I actually thought about calling off work. Two things kept me from doing so. 1) We have been given permission to work two hours of OT and I really need the extra pay and 2) it is month end and I still have tank loss to review.

My plans for this weekend were to collect all the trash between 3 and 3:30 Friday so that when I clocked out I could just take it right out, come back and watch one of my shows, go clean the bathroom counter, watch one of my shows, clean the mirrors, the toilet, and the cabinet I have next to it, watch another of my shows, clean the tub and shower, watch another show, then finish with vacuuming/mopping the floor and washing the mats.

But that didn't happen. The reason why is very detailed.

Back in November, I told my doctor that there was a day where my heart was beating really hard. It wasn't racing but it was pounding like it was struggling to pump. She ordered an EKG and diagnosed me with A Fib and ordered a referral to a cardiologist.

When they hadn't called a week later, I called her office and they said it looked like the order didn't go through, so they did it again. My doctor had set up a televisit in December to discuss the results. When I told her they hadn't ever called me, she gave me their number and I decided I'd call after the New Year. But I kept forgetting.

At my appointment in March, she ordered the referral again. They still didn't call.

Wednesday, I received an email telling me about the referral. Then Friday during my lunch, they called. I didn't answer because it was a number I don't know, and I don't answer numbers I don't know. I figure if it's important, they'll leave a voicemail. They did leave one, and I decided I'd call back once I got back to work.

Just a few minutes after I clocked in, they called back. I answered and they said, "Hi, Melissa. This is So and So from Dr. So and So’s office."

I have no explanation for the way I crashed out, but I went OFF on the poor woman. I have NEVER received a call and had the person just ASSUME they were talking to me. They ALWAYS ask to speak to me. I was so hot that it was nearly two hours before I stopped shaking.

Because of that, I decided to just take out the trash, mostly because I needed to get the mail (the registration sticker for my car was delivered) and the mailbox is right next to the dumpster, so I didn't see any reason not to take out the trash. I figured I could clean the bathroom Saturday night/Sunday day since I have no other plans.

Saturday, I went to Walmart. I had a budget of $50 because for the first time in several months I'm worried I won't have enough to pay rent and cover any bills that'll hit before I get paid again Thursday.

My list was: chicken, green bean, potatoes, onion soup mix, milk, and cereal. I managed to get all that for less than $40.

When I got home, I cooked the chicken, green beans, and potatoes. I bought two packages of chicken to make sure I had seven chicken breasts so I could have meals for the whole week. I picked a pack that looked like it had five breasts and another one that looked like it had two.

I paid less than $10 for a pack that had five HUGE chicken breasts and one decent sized chicken breast. And when I say HUGE, I mean they had to be about two inches think. The other one ended up having three decent sized chicken breasts. When I say decent I mean they were about an inch thick.

I had found a recipe for sheet pan chicken with potatoes and green beans. I think I need a bigger sheet pan because there was barely enough room for everything.

Because of how thick the chicken is, I was afraid it wouldn't get cooked all the way through. For Christmas, my mom gave everyone a meat thermometer (that wasn't all she gave us, FYI). I was able to finally use it to make sure my chicken was done. Every piece had a temp of around 170 (chicken needs to have a temp of at least 165).

I really wanted to clean the bathroom Saturday night/Sunday day but just couldn't get my act together and get off my ass. Then my mom asked if she could come over Sunday after church to help her buy somethings off Amazon. And I still couldn't get up and do the bathroom. But I did empty, load, and run the dishwasher, so there's that.

My mom did come over and stayed for a couple of hours. We watched this super cute movie on Hallmark+ called The Royal We. It was slow getting started and the ending left us wanting more but we enjoyed it.

Despite all this, I still planned to walk on the treadmill, shower, get dressed, and make my bed. But I got up after just under four hours in bed and decided I didn't feel up to it.