Day 17-LA County Dept. of Health MANDATES indoor masking

Pressure-washing the concrete in the garage today…Step 1 in the 4-step staining process…

8/9/21 - Monday

6:45-8:15 –This week is “contractor week” and I’ll be home-bound most of the time. It’s 6:45 and so hard to wake up. My alarm goes off, so I get out of bed and go downstairs to greet the animal. She has no idea what’s going on.  I sit down next to her, rub her tummy, and coax her outside.  What a spoiled little thing! She finally rolls over, jumps off the couch, and outside we go where I watch her sniff bushes.  She goes potty and we return inside: cheese for her; coffee for me.  I go upstairs and jump in the shower, then sit down, lean my head against the tiles, and drink my coffee. Shower. Lotion. Covid-19 uniform. Light make-up. I weigh 100.5 pounds today. I listen to The Daily.

I eat my leftover omelet from La Boheme – it tastes great.

8:15-9:00 – The welder arrives and looks at my patio. He’s also shocked that it’s still standing and quotes me $450 for the repairs. I tell him I’m a single mother and ask him to work with me – I also tell him I’ll pay cash –  so he drops the price to $400. He’ll start tomorrow, at 8:00 a.m. – this project will take 1 day.

9:00 – 1:00 – The garage contractor(s) arrive - they don’t mask - and spend the next three hours pressure washing the concrete. I have to stay downstairs in case they have questions or need to speak with me, so I work on my classes. I publish course content and print out all of the Extra Credit essays I received from my Summer class at College No. 2.  There are more than expected and they all have to be graded (sigh). 

I email my Dean that I still haven’t received the $600 stipend for the Distance Education course I attended at College No. 2, then eat a few dark chocolate kisses.

I’m functioning on only 3 hours sleep and am completely wiped out.

L. leaves for work.

The contractors finish and say they’ll be back on Wednesday to lay the base.

1:00-2:30 – B. arrives to drop off the leftover beans from last night’s dinner that I forgot to take home and the earring he repaired for me. We talk for awhile and he leaves to run errands.

2:30-3:00 – I also leave because I need to speak to a BofA employee about my missing July HOA payment. It is almost impossible to reach someone by phone and this needs to be resolved ASAP – I can’t re-submit the payment until the money is returned to my account.

I enter the bank and it is packed!  The line is almost out the door, but everyone is social distancing – not that this matters [debunked] - and masking. I started double masking again so I’m protected, but I’m dismayed after 20 minutes goes by and the line has barely moved.  I listen to Today Explained while I’m waiting. There are only two tellers on duty and one just slid his window shut. OMG! I’m concerned about catching Delta, but desperately need to resolve this HOA issue.  Here is where the little voice in my head says, “Your health should come first”, but not making my monthly HOA payment can result in fees and fines concerning my home, and that’s important, too.

After 40 minutes, I’m in front of a teller and he informs me that NONE of the employees in the bank handle customer service complaints. He says the only way to resolve my issue is to call the 1800 number on the back of my card, which is what I’ve been doing, but I can’t seem to get through. I demand a contact number and he gives me one, but will it work?  I doubt it. After almost an hour of waiting, in a bank filled with Delta-infected customers, I’ve just exposed myself for nothing.

3:30-5:00 – I drive to the Home Goods parking lot and call the number on the slip of paper the teller gave me.  An automated message says “this is an internal line and you do not have access”, before re-routing me to another number, but it’s different from the number on the back of the card, so maybe I’ll have success finding someone to speak with?  Another automated message comes on the line and says the wait time is 20 minutes.  I put my phone on speaker and wait in my car the requisite 20 minutes, with the air conditioner running – it’s 110 degrees today. I listen to This American Life while I wait. Eventually, a customer service rep comes on the line and says the HOA check was never cashed.  He issues a stop payment and returns the money to my account.

Since this task was completed, I decide to go for it and contact Chase regarding 6 fraudulent “Google charges” that were pulled out of my account - $4.99 each for 6 individuals whom I don’t know. I call the 1800 number on the back of the card and wait 20 minutes to speak with a customer service rep who promptly tells me she can’t do anything about fraudulent charges because it’s not her department. I’m re-routed and the automated message says the wait time is 40 minutes.

I’ve come this far so I listen to Crime Junkie and wait the requisite 40 minutes, still in my car, still with the air conditioner running full blast. I eat apple slices and almond butter in the parking lot, then switch to some corn that I previously packed in my lunch bag.

The customer service rep finally picks up and I explain the situation. She says I have to cancel the card if I want to be reimbursed for the fraudulent charges. 10 days have already gone by and there has been nothing unusual on my account – I’m confident these charges are an anomaly and I don’t want to cancel my card because I have automatic payments for Netflix and other things tied to this account - it’s going to be a mess to straighten this out. She insists that this is the only way.

When I push back, she disconnects the call while I am in mid-sentence and I’m suddenly talking to a man, who must be a manager of some sort. He knows nothing about my situation and when I start to explain, the call drops. Devastated, I give up.

5:00-6:00- I’m right outside Home Goods so I go inside and purchase gourmet coffee K-cups and a picture frame. Everybody is masking – I’m still double-masked.

6:00-6:30 – Home and I straighten the kitchen and prepare my coffee for tomorrow. I eat the beans B. dropped off earlier - I add grated cheese - while I do the dishes.

6:30 – 7:30 – Blog post

7:30-8:00 – I read All You Can Ever Know and eat a few dill potato chips.

8:00 – 11:00 – I am absolutely exhausted and lie down. I started my period and I have cramps.

-8:45 – l. returns from work, enters my room, and says “Hello Sleeping Beauty”.  I tell her how I’m functioning on just 3 hours sleep.  She says, “I’ll leave you to it” and shuts the door.

11:00 –12:45 -  Finally awake and I take the dog out and lock up. L. hears that I’m awake and comes into my room to talk about her taxing day at the Art Studio.  It’s hard work being an art teacher – I feel sorry for L.  The kids are so disrespectful.

12:45 – 2:30 – More blog posts.

2:30-3:30 – Nighttime routine. Bed.  I set my alarm for 6:45 because the welder is coming at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow.