2022-07-21 - 9:41 p.m.

I REALLY Need to take care of stripping and painting my porch.
It is a health hazard at this point as black mold is growing there. Where the wood was stripped but NOT painted a few years ago, it allowed surfaces for moisture and debris to get in and it has grown.

We had some fierce rainstorms on these hot sultry days. The sky would open up and it was welcome relief-
except when it was 100% heavy humidity and the rain did less to lift the heat and humidity than make if feel like we were in a sauna.

One of those days the fan had been on in my bedroom window. The fan pulled in some moisture before I had shut it off.

Last night I had the worst allergies -
worse than typical. I also couldn't find allergy medicine in the medicine cabinet downstairs or my bedroom. My youngest has some and the older two do as well but frankly everyone is taking something different.
The Dr. wants them all to avoid antihistimines being used long term- but the youngest still takes one. The older one has been put on a different allergy med.
(and there are only the free samples from the Dr. A dwindling supply).
The youngest also told me she has about 5 pills left

so there is that- I need to go get allergy meds for us all again. I was pretty miserable last night without any. I also happened to have a flare of poison ivy ( again.It happens every week or so then settles and then flares again. So I am obviously still being re-exposed- likely on clothing. Sheesh.. that hot water fused line that was shut off going to the washing machine is stuck. It was a good idea for my bills to run only cold water laundry! It worked fine FOR YEAR...

BUT... when washing poison ivy you really need hot water to remove the oils.

So today I looked at the fan in my room and realized it has BLACK MOLD in and on it!! DAMN- from the day it got wet from the rain and obviously also picked up mold spores FROM OUTSIDE.
I can see the black mold issue we have had in this house comes right from the exterior enviroment of this neighborhood
well , my house abuts a farm. The woods are right in my backyard essentially

OR rather I have a SMALL backyard then a fence and walking path behind the row of townhouses but on the other side the woods of the Orchard.

I have a fan that I got from my oldest as she doesn't need it.(Central air in her apt).
When I brought it I had cleaned it pretty good- just with those lysol wipes we wiped EVERTHING from the storage unit down with.
I Thought I would have to clean it more thorougly- but it was really only dusty.

When I pulled it out of the car I realized it is in WAY better shape than the one I have in my room. So I swapped it out and tomorrow when I can find the phillips screw driver will FINISH the task of cleaning the other fan. I started but of course whenever I need the screwdriver it is not where I expect it to be in the toolbox. NO
I even have TWO of them!
I don't want to go in the basement where I know I will find at least one- as there are two folks sleeping down there. One of whom was up ridiculous hours last night ( along with me actually- I think we both awoke around 2am. I could not fall back asleep so got up to do the dishes that were not yet done from the late meal the night before. Its so hot we have been waiting until sunset when it cools to cook! Then I was tired and went to bed- to leave dishes for morning. I figure if I leave them MAYBE one of the kids will do them? NO such luck. I ask and they still don't do them. I then do them in the morning and guess I don't really mind as for some reason its a chore I LIKE to do.
I realized that at some point. Heck I have a super fond memory of my college friend and I doing the dishes at a service camp we all went to over Spring break. I mean we had fun doing them! (for real) I think for some reason that experience made washing dishes by hand invoke positive feeling for me. Washing dishes by hand is not something I did not do growing up- we had a dishwasher and frankly I don't recall doing dishes then as my Dad always quietly just got them done!
Oh for like the past two months we have been out of dish detergent for the machine! So I have been washing them by hand.

I need to buy some as frankly water is expensive here so it is more cost effective to run the dishwasher.... but I was using what I have in the house.

(Penny wise , pound foolish as the saying goes.... cause I didn't want to spend money on the machine dish soap since we have the liquid for hand washing! Sheesh...I should have thought of the water bill sooner.)

Today was a nice day . We had a Dr appt and pharmacy run ( two different pharmacies one heck out in the middle of nowhere - but it turns out it is primarily a mail order pharmacy but the one specialist said to go there as they are much cheaper for the one medication. I was skeptical but it ended up being true and helpful! It was in an office park and seriously out in the middle of nowhere quite a drive. )
At least they also had a manufacturers coupon as of couse the crappy insurance would not cover this medication! It was $50 rather than $120.

Shoot I just realized I picked up two our of THREE meds-- I meant to go to a THIRD pharmacy to at least see how much the one that was sent there is. But the kid with me had not yet eaten and it was after 1pm so I came home with her so she could eat. She overslept while I was working this morning.

I did have a little bit of work today at least- just a smidge! (HA That was my grandmother's phrase for a slice of cake. But honeslty that feels like the right description of how much work I am being flipped to do just now.)

So tomorrow's to do:
BUSINESS CARDS with work ( actual work; and finalized the marketing campaign for the volunteer work and sent out the communication on that today) I DID NOT get to the business cards today!! THOSE HAVE TO BE PRIORITY TOMORROW!!

* Remember to send my boss the task list of items worked on ( albeit a short list!Two little things all week!)

* Oh and after working a bit and running errands I took a nap! That was needed. I was after all up at 2 or 3 am and did try go back to sleep but was too darn itchy and uncomfortable with allergies- so gave up and did some job hunting. At 6am I was applying to jobs. I actually found a GREAT job in another really interesting space.

OH YEAH
for the TO DO
Tomorrow the lengthy KSA - to get that fed app done by deadline.

OH and I did have one other work request not yet filled. I should do that as well. It is pretty important and I did not finish it cause I want a better template and MEANT to go look for an example on my WORK computer before I returned it today- but then I was busy with the other thing that came in...and the marketing thing... and I think I just kinda forgot to see if there was a good example saved on my computer files to read and copy formatting of.

I can create the document needed- I actually did yesterday but I don't like it. I should just get it done and not be a pefectionist-
but I want to find a better example.
* This is one of those things where I KNOW exactly what I want but can't find the source- there is exact language I want to add and I have a sense of it but as it is based on a specific regulation I am trying to find the SOURCE of why this language is added to every quote-
to get it EXACT rather than parahrase it. It was on the tip of my tongue kind of thing...
And I never take templates with me. I honor folks intellectual property so as I create my own templates for stuff-
for quotes
service agrements
request for quotes; request for proposals,Purchase Order, Invoice.... statement of work, subcontract agreement, NDAs,,,etc,,,

all those docs...
I will create my OWN template. I did knock of a coule basic templates already. (Of course I did! Of couse when not finding what I was looking for and WANTED to find yesteday I found OTHER good examples to create a template from.) I want to have them created BEFORE I need them. This is not a heavy lift at all for me. Just takes time...

So yeah - three items flipped to me this week. The third I held off at first as had some clarifying questions but those have been answered so ripe to complete!

In fact that is FIRST priority!
1. The task in queue for my client
2. Business CARD ORDER I did decide just to go with Vista Print after doing my research.
3. GO to library to log into the virginia unemployment commission site. There are messages for me there and things I need to provide them- statements of circumstance of work separation I am sure-
but the recapta thing is not working. Likely a pop up blocked as I have super security on my laptop that disables sites from working !
So I have to log in from the library computer and see if I can access that site fully there to get it done. IF not I will have to call them again.
4. Apply for the fed job while at the library. Good place to work on the crazy long application.
5. Pharmacy for the one kid's med-and over the counter allergy stuff for me. My eyes and throat are itchy again now!! ( Going to go visit my teen and swipe one of her allergy meds! She acts like it is HER bottle but hell I bought it and I need some too!! My kids so kill me with their lack of willingness to help me out... I just don't get it...)

AH my kid was nice at least- just ran into her room and dang there were only TWO pills left.
Hope someone has allergy meds on sale!

If I fall asleep now and get a good night of sleep maybe I will run in the morning. So after my nap I really enjoyed going to the pool today. It was a bit crowded when I first scoped it out so I sat with Bellatrix in a grassy spot and read for a while until the kids all cleared out going home for dinner. There is a quiet time where it is not crowded around 6:15 or so- and that is when I like to swim.
It felt so good to be swimming on this hot day!
Came home and relaxed on my porch reading until it cooled down enough to open up the house and cool it down a bit and THEN cook!

Last night I cooked up some black beans and we had tacos. ( Saute an onion and then add your beans, cumin and a touch of red pepper and my fav ingredient a bit of red wine- leftover if you have any, but cooking wine if you don't have recent opened bottle!)
The kids pulled out the stuff for the tacos to be made which I apprechiated. Even though they did not want to do the cooking it still made it easier for me to see everytihng out and see their plan! HA HA. There was also some ground beef taken out of the freezer but it was still frozen last night. So tonight it was thawed and once again we had tacos.
Last night corn tortilla; tonight the Taco Bell brand kit with six cruchy corn and six flour tortillas.They were so good actually! Nothing fancy but quick and delicious.

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