Day 7 - LA County Dept. of Health MANDATES indoor masking
Errand day…
7/23/21. Friday
7:30–7:45 - My alarm goes off, but I lie in bed for another 15 minutes.
7:45-8:15 – I go downstairs to say good morning to the dog, but she’s asleep and out of it. I rub her tummy the mandatory three times and she still won’t get up. I give in and rub her tummy a fourth time, all the while coaxing her to go outside with me. Finally, she drags herself off the couch and we go outside.
The dog slowly walks around the yard, sniffing at the plants as if they’re new and haven’t been there her entire life. Whenever I’m pressed for time, she does this. Eventually, she goes No. #2, but that means we have to start this process all over again – she won’t do both at the same time. Back inside we go and then I have to say, again, as if we weren’t just outside, “Let’s go outside and go potty!” And now we’re going outside again, where she finally does go potty. Return inside and cheese for her; coffee for me. I go upstairs and jump in the shower. I’m at 100 pounds today.
8:15-9:30 – Shower. Lotion. Covid-19 uniform. I grab my lunch bag, coffee, and water and drive to my therapy appointment.
9:30-10:00 – It’s a good session. My therapist is also a life coach and we discuss how my life would change, or be impacted, by my second retirement. I’m seriously considering retiring from teaching, but I can’t do anything right now as I’m currently in the middle of obtaining my “highest 36-month salary.”
10:00-10:15 – Today is errand day. Let the games begin! Not. I drive straight to Good Will so I can drop off the boxes of books my Mom wants to get rid of and I see the strangest thing. Several cars pull up simultaneously – like a police raid or search warrant on TV – and individuals jump out of their cars and start running…yes, I mean running…to the drop-off area. Wow, these people really must have somewhere to go! I should note that everyone is masked.
I’m only holding one box of books – the other two boxes are in the car, but I don’t mind making three trips – and I saunter up to “Hard Goods”, where a fat, masked, 20-something is arranging boxes in metal containers. “Soft goods” are on the left; “Hard goods” are on the right. All around me, people are running with bags and boxes in their hands! One man runs to the left and lobs a trash bag full of clothes into the “Soft Goods” section as if it were a basketball. This is so weird!
The fat guy is in the “Hard Goods” section so I say, cheerily, “Hi, I have a few boxes of books to drop off.” He turns to me and says, “As you can see, there’s no room. I can’t accept any more items.” Shocked, I say, “What?” But I’m right here…this is a small box…” He says, “Hey, I said there’s no room!” People continue running to “Soft Goods” and throwing things in that cart, because I guess there’s more room there?
Suddenly, a middle-age woman sprints by me, wrenches the box from my hands, and screams at the employee, “You have room…she came all this way to drop it off and there’s a spot right there!” She dunks the box in the last remaining space and runs back to her car to get more “Soft Goods.” Then, she starts sprinting back to the containers. “Thank you so much”, I say to her back as she is running away. She looks over her shoulder at me, in mid-stride, and screams, “They’re lazy!!” Plot twist: Later tonight, I share this story with L. and she google’s Good Will’s hours. They opened at 10:00 – by the time I arrived at 10:08, they were full and refused to take any items. Is this the Covid-19 supply-chain problem in reverse?
I still have two boxes of books left in my trunk, but one is better than none. I’ll consider this a win.
10:15-10:30 – I drive to World Market to return the Elderberry Cordial that L. said she didn’t want. +$8.99
10:30-10:45 – L. did another charcoal sketch that I need to frame. I find the appropriate size and use my teacher discount for a cost-savings of +$1.50
10:45-11:00 – B. drinks Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey Whiskey and I’m out, so my next stop is BevMo. I see a new prosecco-in-a-can flavor and pick up two 4-packs to try. I’m a BevMo member so I save +$18
I should note that everyone is masked at these places [employees and customers], although there are virtually no customers at this early hour.
11:00-11:30 – My HOA doesn’t allow us to wash our cars in the neighborhood because the run-off might pollute the lake. I’m in desperate need of a car wash, but I’m only going to do the Express because a) it’s faster; and b) I don’t have to get out of my car. I’ll vacuum and wipe down the interior myself in the coming days. I have a coupon for a cost-savings of +$3.00.
11:30-12:00 – I drive to CVS. I have a 30% coupon, but I failed to realize that it doesn’t go into effect for three days. I broke my flip-flops in Vegas and I need a pair of barber shears because the scissors L. uses to trim my hair suck…BUT I’ll be damned if I’m going to pay full price for these items. I find a pair of flip-flops that I like and that fit, so I hide them under another pair for when I return [$8.99] and the shears are $16. I’ll be back.
12:00-12:15 – I’m en route to the Recycling Center and I pass a 2nd Good Will along the way, so I pull in. They have orange cones and caution tape in front of their door, but I’m undeterred. I start walking to the entrance, but a masked employee steps out of the store, blocking my way, like I’m a criminal or something. I ask if I can drop off a box of books, but he says, No, we’re not taking any items right now…we don’t know when the truck is coming. I get in my car and drive away.
12:15-12:30 – I go to the Recycling Center and drop off my plastics. +$4.72
12:30 – 1:15 - Now, I’m in the Food 4 Less parking lot, where my phone finally has service. I have Verizon and, several months ago, our neighborhood’s cell service suddenly ceased. I have almost no cell service in the house, unless I go to the very back of my closet, where it’s still spotty. As an experiment, I checked the entire neighborhood for a ‘hot spot’ when I was walking the dog, but there was nothing. I have no cell service in my neighborhood.
However, I have no problems, whatsoever, in the parking lots for most of the major stores. I have some calls to make and I save them for today. I eat L.’s bean salad for lunch while I’m talking. Here’s the first call:
Call #1 – Okay, true confession…my credit card payment was late. I was traveling so much this month that I lost track of time and paid it three days after the due date. As a result, they billed me for a $29.00 late fee. I call my Chase credit card and ask them to reverse it and they do. +$29.00
Call #2 – I have a Chase checking account for my teacher’s salary. In accordance with the Chase contract, I agreed that my salary would be direct deposited every month. This isn’t a problem except when I’m NOT teaching [summer and winter breaks], then nothing is deposited for those months because there is NO salary. When that happens, my bank charges me $12.00 for every month I’m not paid. This is a software glitch that they can’t fix – I have to call customer service to waive it each time, which I’ve been doing for years. It’s a pain in the ass, but today is no exception. They waive the fee. +$12.00
Call #3 – There was a shortage in my escrow account because LA County raised my property taxes AGAIN! I made up the difference [$346], but my mortgage company still billed me for a higher payment. My mortgage company is through Mr. Cooper and I HATE calling Customer Service because every time I have an issue, they don’t solve it…instead, it’s a high-pressure sales attempt to get me to refinance. I’ve been through this before. The last time I went through the rigmarole it was going to cost me $11,000 to refinance – it would have taken me at least 4 years to recoup the benefits.
Today is no exception. We run through the numbers and, although I have 12 years left on this note, the loan officer is insistent that refinancing for a 15-year mortgage at a lower interest rate will eventually result in a cost savings over the life of the loan. I get what he’s saying…I truly do…but, psychologically, I just can’t bring myself to add another 3 years to the life of my loan. I explain this over and over, but he just keeps saying, “Well, help me understand…” until I finally hang up on him. The fact that I covered the shortage in my escrow account is never resolved, although those were my parting words: I’m hanging up on you now…please correct my mortgage payment discrepancy. Click.
Call #4 – B.’s referral for staining the concrete floor in the garage never panned out so I call three vendors to try and get the ball rolling. The first two say there’s a MINIMUM bid of $3400 – they won’t do anything for less than that. Won’t this eliminate most of their customer base? The third vendor is open to the job and makes an appointment to look at my garage floor tomorrow morning between 9:00 and 10:00! I am sooo excited!!!
1:15-2:00 – I finally enter Food 4 Less. I’m planning a couple of vegan recipes this week and I’m looking for a few items that I typically don’t buy so it takes me longer than usual to navigate this store. I don’t find everything I need, unfortunately, but I’m still able to buy several things on deep discount.
There’s a used bookstore next to Food 4 Less, so I stop by to see if they’re taking any used books. No – they’re not.
2:00-2:15 – I’m on my way home and I pass a 3rd Good Will on the way. I pull into the cargo area to see if I can drop off the books, but they have cones in front of the “bay” and a big sign that says they cannot take any items because they are at “capacity.” I leave.
2:15-2:45 – Driving
2:45 – 4:00 – Home and I unload everything and put the food and alcohol away. Then, I spend some time framing L.’s latest work and trying to artfully place it on top of my cupboards with the rest of the charcoals. I have to drag the ladder into the kitchen for this task and it’s up and down the rungs, repeatedly, because I keep re-arranging her sketch.
I still need to go to Sprouts for my remaining items, but right now is peak time. People are getting off work and going straight to the grocery stores. Too crowded. I’ll wait until closing.
4:00-5:30 – I have my remaining coconut shrimp from Geoffreys and L.’s remaining lobster rigatelle from Republique, which means I am really pushing it – it’s been 5 days. There’s also a piece of bread from the loaf we ordered so I eat that, too, while I watch an episode of Bosch.
5:30-6:00 - After I’m done eating, I lie on my bed and watch the rest of the episode, but end up falling asleep.
6:00-6:30 – Kitchen duty. I clean out my insulated lunch bag, add new snacks, and ready my coffee for tomorrow.
6:30-7:00 – I take the dog for a walk.
7:00 – L. surfaces. I’m assuming she was at work.
7:30-8:45 – I drive to Sprouts and buy the remaining food items.
8:45-9:15 – I get gas for the week.
9:15-9:30 – Driving
9:30-11:00 – Home and I put away the food then do a 40-minute Insanity – Cardio and Resistance workout.
11:00-1:00 – L. and I watch episodes #3 and #4 of Catch and Kill.
1:00-2:00 – Nighttime routine. Bed. Errand day is complete. I set my alarm for 7:30.