Day 37: The natives are restless
So, we were kind of at each other's throats this morning.
I had kind of a lazy morning, where I didn't get out of bed until after 8. What, it's Saturday. It was weird to come downstairs and not find the couch in the living room, and to see the TV against the wall in the family room. You get used to things so quickly, heh. Dad was awake, and I talked to him about trying to finish up a few things. I said, if you touch up a few places, I'll take care of the quarter round by the back door. He said fine. I set about eating breakfast and tackling today's sudoku. And then mom came downstairs.
Mom does not often have bursts of energy, but when she does... And this morning, she did. So that upended any plans dad and I had had, and interrupted my sudoku, because she was doing things in the living and dining rooms and creating noise and I was concerned. The next thing I know, dad and I are moving the china cabinet between the windows in the living room. It previously had lived in the eating area of the kitchen, next to the family room, but mom liked where it ended up in the living room when it got moved to paint, so there you go. And my father decided he wanted to put the old TV, the one that had fit in the original configuration of the entertainment center, in the china cabinet to get it off the floor. Mom protested; dad did it anyway; mom had a fit. I was doing something else and looked up in time to see my father staggering backward while holding the TV, after pulling it back out of the cabinet, nearly hitting the small white bookcase that previously had been between the windows. There's a lot of breakables on that bookcase. Luckily he stopped in time.
I got to tackle items from the hall closet, which then got piled onto the bench from the front hall. Dad and I put the bench back. Dad suggested washing the covers for all the pillows and cushions; mom preferred to dust. It's like the one time ever where mom refused to wash something, so they got cranky over that. Meanwhile, I sorted the piles of dad's hats, various gloves and scarves, a few of my jackets and a vest. The stuff dad and I wear regularly already had been returned. A few things went back in the hall closet; some went into the laundry room closet, which mom has commandeered for her coats (she's like the Imelda Marcos of coats, basically); some went into a bag for eventual Goodwill donations. Goodwill is going to be inundated once they open back up, sheesh. We'd had a few board games that ended up in there, too. I took them upstairs, meaning to put them in the computer room closet, where other games are, but realized as I dusted them off that I had no emotional attachment to two of them, which I think were gifts from grandma. I took them downstairs and asked my parents if they had any feelings. Mom at first said no, dad said no, but then mom was all, we should have a game night! We should play these games! Maybe I'll keep them! Sigh.
Eventually dad and I got to do what we'd originally planned, and I spent about an hour and a half on the floor scraping, scraping, scraping. Dad, what the hell. This is where he annoys us--he'll do about 90-95% of a job, then stop. Like, you're not done. There's clearly paint on the floor--and tape on the wall! Good lord! I mean, I can see where the average person wouldn't have noticed some of the tape on the woodwork next to the back door, but there clearly were strips on the half-wall. Never mind the good ol' hole in the wall by one of the family room windows. Like, that should have been done days ago, before we put the furniture back. This is why I offered to do some of the work--he'd be more likely to paint if I'd help him out, you know? And my anal-retentiveness comes in handy for a job like that, since I'm so detail-oriented and I get nit-picky.
Eventually mom went upstairs, but not after putting the dining room table back where it was. I kind of liked it against the wall where the bay window is, which is where dad put it when he hooked up the TV in there. However, mom found this old smoothie maker device and put it on the kitchen counter. Um, it wasn't there to begin with, because you haven't really used it, so why did you put it there now? She said, oh, I'm not working five days a week anymore; I can take my lunch bag out of the pantry and we can put it up there! NO. FOR GOD'S SAKE, NO. I left it on the floor of the dining room when I put the pantry back together PURPOSELY. I put the USEFUL things in there (well, okay, and the household alcohol collection). If it didn't go back in, we don't need it. But still it sits on the counter. Mind you, the appliances that actually went on the counter are still on the settee in the living room because I enjoy having clutter-free counters and I'm loathe to put them back. Dad suggested perhaps we get a cart and roll them into the kitchen when we need them; I like that idea. The toaster is on the counter and used near-daily, but the popcorn popper, crock pot, stand mixer? Not that much. There's even a fourth item I can't even think of off the top of my head, which shows you how much I use it.
By afternoon we'd all retreated to our separate corners of the house and things were quiet after that. I spent some time trying to redo the one set of mask instructions, because I didn't like the way things were laid out on the PDF I'd saved, only to have the page count remain the same between that and what I did. Sigh. Better, when I went to print off a couple templates, my printer wouldn't cooperate. Looks like I'm not making a mask tonight. That's fine. I got really tired this afternoon and, while I didn't sleep, I laid down during the evening news. I really need to work on my stamina. Also, something I've noticed the past few weeks, I don't necessarily need to have done something strenuous, but sometimes if I've been busy, my heart rate goes up. I feel my heart beating faster than it should. This concerns me, and it's part of why I feel I did get sick with C-19, because other people are experiencing this as well. I've never been short of breath, at least, but climbing the stairs should not get my heart pounding, you know?
Finally, levity in the form of a mom quote this evening:
Mom: *talks about cleaning the dining room*
Dad, looking at the channel guide: Poldark is on!
Mom: Poltergeist?
Dad: No, Poldark.
Me, quoting the movie: This house is clean!
Mom: What?
Me: Well, you mentioned Poltergeist, and cleaning, so I said, this house is clean!
Mom: I didn't mention Poltergeist.
Me, looking at dad: Must have been a ghost that looked like mom!
Dad: I heard Poltergeist.
Me: See? It wasn't just me!
Mom: I must be really tired.
Yep. She literally did not remember saying something she'd said mere seconds earlier. That's the sort of day we had around here.
I had kind of a lazy morning, where I didn't get out of bed until after 8. What, it's Saturday. It was weird to come downstairs and not find the couch in the living room, and to see the TV against the wall in the family room. You get used to things so quickly, heh. Dad was awake, and I talked to him about trying to finish up a few things. I said, if you touch up a few places, I'll take care of the quarter round by the back door. He said fine. I set about eating breakfast and tackling today's sudoku. And then mom came downstairs.
Mom does not often have bursts of energy, but when she does... And this morning, she did. So that upended any plans dad and I had had, and interrupted my sudoku, because she was doing things in the living and dining rooms and creating noise and I was concerned. The next thing I know, dad and I are moving the china cabinet between the windows in the living room. It previously had lived in the eating area of the kitchen, next to the family room, but mom liked where it ended up in the living room when it got moved to paint, so there you go. And my father decided he wanted to put the old TV, the one that had fit in the original configuration of the entertainment center, in the china cabinet to get it off the floor. Mom protested; dad did it anyway; mom had a fit. I was doing something else and looked up in time to see my father staggering backward while holding the TV, after pulling it back out of the cabinet, nearly hitting the small white bookcase that previously had been between the windows. There's a lot of breakables on that bookcase. Luckily he stopped in time.
I got to tackle items from the hall closet, which then got piled onto the bench from the front hall. Dad and I put the bench back. Dad suggested washing the covers for all the pillows and cushions; mom preferred to dust. It's like the one time ever where mom refused to wash something, so they got cranky over that. Meanwhile, I sorted the piles of dad's hats, various gloves and scarves, a few of my jackets and a vest. The stuff dad and I wear regularly already had been returned. A few things went back in the hall closet; some went into the laundry room closet, which mom has commandeered for her coats (she's like the Imelda Marcos of coats, basically); some went into a bag for eventual Goodwill donations. Goodwill is going to be inundated once they open back up, sheesh. We'd had a few board games that ended up in there, too. I took them upstairs, meaning to put them in the computer room closet, where other games are, but realized as I dusted them off that I had no emotional attachment to two of them, which I think were gifts from grandma. I took them downstairs and asked my parents if they had any feelings. Mom at first said no, dad said no, but then mom was all, we should have a game night! We should play these games! Maybe I'll keep them! Sigh.
Eventually dad and I got to do what we'd originally planned, and I spent about an hour and a half on the floor scraping, scraping, scraping. Dad, what the hell. This is where he annoys us--he'll do about 90-95% of a job, then stop. Like, you're not done. There's clearly paint on the floor--and tape on the wall! Good lord! I mean, I can see where the average person wouldn't have noticed some of the tape on the woodwork next to the back door, but there clearly were strips on the half-wall. Never mind the good ol' hole in the wall by one of the family room windows. Like, that should have been done days ago, before we put the furniture back. This is why I offered to do some of the work--he'd be more likely to paint if I'd help him out, you know? And my anal-retentiveness comes in handy for a job like that, since I'm so detail-oriented and I get nit-picky.
Eventually mom went upstairs, but not after putting the dining room table back where it was. I kind of liked it against the wall where the bay window is, which is where dad put it when he hooked up the TV in there. However, mom found this old smoothie maker device and put it on the kitchen counter. Um, it wasn't there to begin with, because you haven't really used it, so why did you put it there now? She said, oh, I'm not working five days a week anymore; I can take my lunch bag out of the pantry and we can put it up there! NO. FOR GOD'S SAKE, NO. I left it on the floor of the dining room when I put the pantry back together PURPOSELY. I put the USEFUL things in there (well, okay, and the household alcohol collection). If it didn't go back in, we don't need it. But still it sits on the counter. Mind you, the appliances that actually went on the counter are still on the settee in the living room because I enjoy having clutter-free counters and I'm loathe to put them back. Dad suggested perhaps we get a cart and roll them into the kitchen when we need them; I like that idea. The toaster is on the counter and used near-daily, but the popcorn popper, crock pot, stand mixer? Not that much. There's even a fourth item I can't even think of off the top of my head, which shows you how much I use it.
By afternoon we'd all retreated to our separate corners of the house and things were quiet after that. I spent some time trying to redo the one set of mask instructions, because I didn't like the way things were laid out on the PDF I'd saved, only to have the page count remain the same between that and what I did. Sigh. Better, when I went to print off a couple templates, my printer wouldn't cooperate. Looks like I'm not making a mask tonight. That's fine. I got really tired this afternoon and, while I didn't sleep, I laid down during the evening news. I really need to work on my stamina. Also, something I've noticed the past few weeks, I don't necessarily need to have done something strenuous, but sometimes if I've been busy, my heart rate goes up. I feel my heart beating faster than it should. This concerns me, and it's part of why I feel I did get sick with C-19, because other people are experiencing this as well. I've never been short of breath, at least, but climbing the stairs should not get my heart pounding, you know?
Finally, levity in the form of a mom quote this evening:
Mom: *talks about cleaning the dining room*
Dad, looking at the channel guide: Poldark is on!
Mom: Poltergeist?
Dad: No, Poldark.
Me, quoting the movie: This house is clean!
Mom: What?
Me: Well, you mentioned Poltergeist, and cleaning, so I said, this house is clean!
Mom: I didn't mention Poltergeist.
Me, looking at dad: Must have been a ghost that looked like mom!
Dad: I heard Poltergeist.
Me: See? It wasn't just me!
Mom: I must be really tired.
Yep. She literally did not remember saying something she'd said mere seconds earlier. That's the sort of day we had around here.