Monday, August 12

[gottawonder]

Today I am grateful for:

Good weather.

I got a good night's sleep, which does mean that the eaves trough people did not come.

My husband texted them...no reply, and he tried calling them too, and they did not respond. It would be understandable if something came up and they couldn't come today, but why wouldn't they let us know?

Know we don't know what to expect. Are they just going to show up unannounced? Will it be this week, or next week, or never?

I went to town, and decided to make the effort to try to do something in the pottery studio. I haven't been going for a while, summer is often kind of a no-man's land for pottery as other things become more important, like the garden or mowing or other activities.

It wasn't a stellar day in the studio. The clay was recycled clay (all the trimmings or things that don't work out go in a pail and get reconstituted) and it had bits of sponge (people use sponges in the process of throwing and cleaning up, and if they are careless, bits of the sponge get into the recycled clay) and something was just wrong in the consistency of the clay itself, like unevenly moist or something.

I couldn't get it to throw for shit.

I managed, to get ONE thing (the main body of a teapot), after about three hours of effort. Then I had about forty minutes of cleaning up, which always feels obnoxious to me. That's just how long it takes to wash all the tools, the surfaces, the wheel and the tray underneath that collects the water and clay from throwing, and everything else you might have touched.

Then I went to get groceries, and I am always grateful to be able to do so.

That wasn't too big a trip, more of an average one, so not too big a deal.

Then I came home and my Sweetie had started supper for me, helped me put everything away, we chatted for a while, and he went to bed.

There's no real update on Trainwreck, other that she's still in the hospital, and her sons came to see her again over the weekend.

Kind of a weird day. I barely feel like I even had a day since pottery took up such a large portion of it.

Comments

[ratunderpaper]

It was a strange and slightly unsettling day here as well. I wound up buying a beautiful and beautifully overpriced t-shirt at Winners.

[gottawonder]

Sometimes it's totally worth it.

I kind of go by what level of joy it brings to own something, as well as what seems reasonable to pay per wearing.

If you wear that shirt more than ten times this summer, it's probably a good investment.

[ratunderpaper]

I've retired three t-shirts to rag status, and got fed up with inflated thrift shop prices. This t-shirt is a looser fit than my older ones - tells you that fashion has changed over the years and I didn't notice.

[gottawonder]

Yes, I noticed that thrift stores are charging a lot for used and often fairly worn items. The more rare find of a quality item is often noted by the store and priced higher.

Winners is starting to...win. The clothes are new and I can still use a change room, and the prices are actually comparable on the items on clearance. Very nice new items are rarely over 40 dollars, clearance items are often between 15 and 30 dollars, and thrift store shirts and pants are now often over ten dollars for something used that you can't try on first. Nicer jeans at a thrift store are now about 20 dollars. Nicer things set aside in the "boutique" area are even more $. A fitted type shirt with buttons can be 12-15 dollars in a thrift store, but the fit is important. Yes I have to fight through mountains of polyester crap to find something nice, but I already do that at thrift stores.

I will still get old t shirts and sweat pants for yard work at a thrift store, and maybe some things if I can try them on over my clothes first, but I am less inclined to buy anything where there is doubt if it will fit. Like jeans. I still find nice silk scarves for dirt cheap at the thrift store.

I am frustrated that I can no longer even try on thrift store clothes as they no longer have change rooms, allegedly because of drug addicts misusing them. I think they just don't want to bother having to watch for theft, they need fewer employees, and they magically get more floor space. I've wasted a fair amount of money buying clothes that I don't like that much when I get home and try them on, jeans are especially important to try on. I'm less inclined now to bother, since I am too unmotivated to return the clothes. I hope they notice the drop in sales, as their service now sucks.

One thing I have noticed, is in the few small, independent thrift stores, the ones that actually serve the community, their prices are better. Salvation Army is pricy now, Good will and other "fake" charities are pricier, but the one like the local shop supporting the women's shelter and another one in the city that supports an addiction center, are more reasonable.

So, maybe look for a "not a chain" store that doesn't have some national headquarters demanding a certain level of profit.

[ratunderpaper]

What I really need is a couple of new ballet leotards, and those things are never available at thrift shops. Buying them at dancewear centres is a shocking experience, dollarwise.

I bought housewares and pottery at Value Village/Salvation Army, but I have enough of it. I go looking for the pleasure of window-shopping.

[gottawonder]

A good pair of leotards is like my riding pants. A very expensive piece of athletic wear that is still pretty much necessary for the job.

You might be able to find them on Facebook marketplace.

I try not to buy knick knacks anymore as well. Our house is full of nifty little dust collectors.

[ratunderpaper]

Some dancers wear t shirts and tights or yoga pants. but I prefer the leotard, skirt and either tights or yoga pants.
A leotard runs about $100, and I find that a bit pricey.

[gottawonder]

It seems ridiculous for what is basically a large pair of underpants.

It's about $150 or more for a pair of good riding pants, but those things PERFORM. I can usually get two or three seasons (I have a summer pair and a winter pair, so six months at an average of four rides per week for three years).

I could ride with just tights, but the riding pants have a clingy material in the seat, the waist sits properly so I don't get plumber's crack, and nothing bunches up in my crotch. There are no seams in the inner leg so they don't ruin my saddle or ruin my leg. They breathe so I don't get swamp ss.

They're worth it.

If you wear a leotard 100 times before it's worn out, it's worth it.

[ratunderpaper]

Leotards are much like bathing suits, but there's sometimes a decorative element to them. Mine are plain black.

[gottawonder]

I think a good swimsuit is important too, but they are crazy expensive, while being absolutely worth it over cheap ones.

I lean towards plain black on things like swim suits or yoga pants, my riding pants.

You can dress your leotard up all you want with colorful skirts.

[cf2princessawnw]

It definitely doesn't sound like a normal day for you, but it sounds like a pleasant enough one still. :) you took time to enjoy pottery and felt gratitude while getting groceries. You made both of those meaningful actions in your day and likely got more out of it for that reason. Good for you!

My mother deals with not knowing if workman will show up here either and not even calling if they don't. My home care aids are often like that as well. I don't get it. Didn't nobody grow up with basic manners for society and respect for one another? That said, as I have posted, I need to remember not to lose my own which I may be noticing I am.

[gottawonder]

It was something about how Time went, like it went too fast for it to seem like an actual day.

I did enjoy being in the studio, even with the frustration of the clay being weird. Clean up always sucks, and feels like a waste of time. Forty minutes is a LOT of cleaning, because the standards of the studio are very high. You have to wipe down everything so clean you could eat off the floor, and that's hard to do when it's clay. It's meticulous.

I have been shocked at the lack of professionalism in some of the contractors we've tried to work with; I don't know how they run a business. You call them, they come out and look at the work, and they say "we can absolutely do this for you", they give you an estimate and then you NEVER HEAR FROM THEM AGAIN. Like, they won't even take your calls.

The one guy we had come do a lot of work, he was reasonably professional, but he was such a sensitive prima donna. He took everything personally, prided himself on being the best of the best (though my husband had to go back and fix some of his electrical work), and he won't answer any of our calls anymore, likely because I offended him in some way, or he found my sleep schedule to weird to work around (even though I told him to just go ahead and work and I'll sleep through it if he can let himself in).

I'm so tired of contractors just yanking us around and outright lying to us about coming to do the work. Why lie? Just say you're too busy.

Are people just embarrassed to be honest?

[cf2princessawnw]

I know, right? There's this new wave of people that seem embarrassed to be honest or like they can't be bothered with it. They're just lazy. And they consider themselves A Cut Above the Rest because they're actually going to work at all. When I'm around them it's easy to start picking up their habits and not following through. Especially since I have the valid excuse of all the health issues coming in. But still I don't want to be like that as a person!

With what you said I can see how that adds just another multi-layered levels of stress to your house project. I thought it was just me that longs for a life of complete Independence for the simple reason of not having to wait. On. Any. One. Else!!!!!!!!! And deal with their life complications complicating mine further. Surely it couldn't have been like this back in the day? I mean I'm sure there were moments and circumstances where people were, but it couldn't have been like this all around??

[gottawonder]

I don't understand how they aren't getting fired, except, as you say, there is a great demand for healthcare aides. Where you live, maybe it's hard to find anyone at all who doesn't have a criminal record who can work with vulnerable people.

I'm sure there have always been people who didn't follow through on things or lied, or were lazy. There's nothing new under the sun.

I feel that at one time, if people lived in small enough communities, you lived by your reputation. Yet, if you were the only blacksmith, even if you were a cheat, people probably still went to them to get their horses shod.

I do know that in other times, being a cheat in business probably got you hung or sent to the colonies.

[cf2princessawnw]

I don't either. Really I don't. And I don't understand how the economy is working at all but that kind of Workforce. How is anything actually getting done? Isn't that just going to break all of it down eventually? I know it's doing that for me.

My situations are so unique that I feel that unfortunately there's a certain small amount that my reputation still matters. But only as much as I matter and to most people it doesn't feel like I do.

I just had T come yesterday, and besides a lot of language, and my mom getting really upset because she didn't clean the bathroom like she had said she did, and so much else, it's just exhausting. Dealing with incompetent people it's just exhausting. And yeah, I wonder why all these agencies take back these caregivers, and it's because they can't find work at all. So their philosophy becomes well at least if we can provide care for a few weeks before they quit at least we did that. But then the whole Workforce of caregivers in this area know that they can just jump from agency to agency, give it time, and they'll always be taken back. So they don't really care about the behavior. They work when they want to work, and they all say the same thing. We want more hours. RC pointed out, do they really say that they want more hours? But what are they just going to do the same amount of work in that time frame or just sit there? He asked how many of them did I think would just sit there all day and do nothing if I let them, and I said the majority.