What A Year 2020 Has Been…

Hello World!  I hope this finds you doing okay, at least, better than I’m doing right now. This is one heck of a year so far. Yes, I mean because of the pandemic, and an absolutely horrible person in the WH, and a whole host of personal issues that I’ve had.

What a Year!

I started this post in September, and still haven’t posted this yet; and it is Christmas Day! I am alone and to make matters worse, I’ve a loose bridge that fell out of my mouth and landed on the tile in my bathroom. It chipped (a lot) and now looks awful, but there isn’t much I can do about it. I am NOT going to the dentist during the “Never ending pandemic” that we have. And to make matters worse, I can’t afford the dental work that needs to be done anyway.

I’ve put off posting about this since my year is not going well. My finances are in a shambles, and I am broke!

 

Disreputable a/c Company Added to the Mix of Crazy

Both my a/c units stopped working this summer and that isn’t funny in SE Texas. I spent more than $2,000 to get the 2 units working (since I cannot afford to replace them) and I am still not sure one is working properly. The money I spent was what I’d saved for a good chunk of my property taxes so that’s gone now. I am back to square one. And now I know I was ripped off by a con artist, and unfortunately, the majority of what I paid was by check. There is no recourse for a check. You cannot get it back.

One a/c unit is dead in the water. He even screwed up my heat on that unit; and the heat had no issues prior to him working on this a/c unit. I had to hire someone else to fix that so I have heat this winter; so that was an extra cost.  To make matters worse (and I didn’t think they could get worse), my warranty may now be voided by his shoddy work, that he refuses to stand by. If I can no longer use the warranty, it will cost, at least, double to fix.  Money I don’t have!

I’ve reported him to the BBB and the regulatory agency that handles licensing for a/c companies as he is licensed. I won’t go into all the ugly details. All I recouped from this fiasco was two smaller charges that went on a credit card, but the biggest amount, and also the amount I had to pay the second person is gone.

Lessons Learned the Hard Way

I learned a very expensive lesson from all this. Never, and I cannot

emphasize this enough,  pay with check or cash for this kind of work. You have recourse with a credit or debit card. NONE whatsoever for a check or cash!  I now have to put my property taxes on a credit card which I did not want to do, but now have no choice.  I also have not figured out how I will pay to get the a/c unit fixed or replaced before the heat sets in here.

Have you ever felt that your life was imploding, or exploding?  The pandemic does not help and I am at a loss.

 

Stimulus Checks?

I could certainly use another stimulus check (as I am sure many could), but I am not holding my breath. The turd in the WH prefers pocketing what he can rather than helping this country to survive at this time.  He is playing a dangerous sadistic game with the American people now that he lost the election.

I know I am not the only one hurting in this country. There are so many of us, and many are worse off than I am.  I wake up every day just wanting to cry because I know the day will be no different than the one before it; and maybe it will be worse. I just don’t know anymore. I feel so beaten down.  I need help and don’t know where to get it.  I hate asking for help, but I am at a loss, and at my wit’s end here.

Don’t Rain On My Parade (House)

Yesterday (this was in September when I began this post) we had a deluge that only lasted about 10 minutes, but it must have come in sideways as I

got water in my house by my front door. This is not a new occurrence. It comes from the roof and best I can tell is that there is a design flaw in this area  of the roof.

My cats alert me when this is happening as they sit and stare at the front door. Big help they are :).  I have tile at my front entrance so it is easy to see the water as it runs down my wall to the tile.

New discovery:

Due to the roof slope, I also had water come into a closet in a bedroom upstairs (right above my office which also got wet). So, I spent this morning clearing out much of the stuff in that closet. I store so much in there and there were wet boxes.

I now have stuff all over the bedroom from the closet and a fan going to dry out the floor (which is carpeted) in this closet…

Will the 2020 saga ever end??? I am so ready for it to end!  It is December and the year is ending and the saga continues…

I’ve had people try so many things in the past to prevent the water coming in, and nothing worked… It’s happened before but it’s been a while, and it never came in upstairs like it did this time.

Well, I have a ton of leaves on the roof in that area and they formed a dam so the water had no place to go but inside. I still have a fan running to dry my carpet in my office downstairs, but I worry as it is supposed to rain again soon.

We have a cool front coming through. I certainly look forward to the cooler temps, but not to the rain that will come first as the front arrives since it will come from the north. And that is not good.

Well, it turns out the front will not reach us, but there is still rain in the forecast.  We’ll see how this plays out…

Water, Water Everywhere…

When this happens, I soak up the water with towels. If I get it fast enough, I

can prevent carpet damage;  at least, it is minimal. (I have tile at my front entrance.)  Problem is I only have so many towels so I run upstairs with the wet towels so I can stick them in the dryer. When dry, if I need them, I can use again… I probably look like some sort of idiot running up and down the stairs, but there’s no one to see me, only my cats, who couldn’t care less…  at least, it is good exercise.

Up On A Ladder

I got up on a ladder this morning (which I shouldn’t really do), but I had to get some of the leaves off the roof. I used a rake that I attached to an extension pole as I only have a 4 step ladder. I got quite a few leaves off, but many are still there because my roof curves, and slopes, so I can’t reach the rest. If it doesn’t rain today and the leaves dry, I’ll get the ladder out again, and try to use the blower tomorrow. Not sure if I’ll have much success this way, but I’ll try. Easiest thing would be for someone to get up on the roof and blow the leaves off.  It is thundering now so it will probably rain soon. So much for my idea about blowing dry leaves off the roof… Geezzz!!!!  What’s next???

Rain, Rain Go Away…

It is raining, but not as hard as yesterday so no water inside, so far… Rain

has stopped for now. No more water in house… 🙂

TV is off which means satellite lost the signal due to the thunder. I also hope this means the rain is coming from the south. If so, I may luck out and not get water in house. Seems to come in when it pours and it comes from the east or northeast with wind… Normally the Satellite goes out when weather comes from the south.

I got someone to remove the leaves and it was fine for a bit, but now the leaves are falling, so, guess what? I have leaves on the roof again…

Just wish I could catch a break. I need something that makes me want to smile… They say stress takes years off one’s life. This year I have lost a few years.

Home Repairs

I have a VERY long list of repairs needed in my house, but can’t do any of them currently.  I won’t bore you with the details;  so I won’t go on about this as it is even depressing for me to read.  Someone suggested that I start a Go Fund Me page on Facebook, but I don’t think I will feel right doing so. I also don’t believe this is a good time for that. There are too many people out there hurting this year.

Social Security and Freelance Work

If social security ends, I will probably throw in the towel and give up as that

is my main source of income this year.  My freelance work has pretty much dried up since COVID began as some of it was travel related work. We all know how the travel industry is doing.

COVID-19 is Real!  Wear a Mask

COVID has isolated me even more than I was prior to this virus. And I wear a mask whenever I am out in public which is very limited these days: Mostly to the grocery store and any other errands I must run.

What’s bad is we have a current admin that totally screwed up the handling

of this crisis so there’s no relief in sight any time soon. I flat out refuse to take any vaccine that is rushed and approved only by the White House. I won’t risk my life, for whatever it is worth these days.

Also has anyone else noticed that all year the republiCons called this virus a Hoax, but who is first in line to take the vaccine??? Yup, some serious hypocrisy here…

Depression & Anxiety

I am suffering from depression and anxiety due to all this stress, and I don’t

see an end in sight. Some relief would be wonderful, but I can’t see it. They say this can take years off one’s life, so I guess my life expectancy got shorter this year. I wish I cared more.

Life Is Short so Make Lemonade

By now you’re asking yourself if this can get any more morbid than it

already is. I am asking myself the same question here. It can, but I won’t go on with my issues that only draw more negativity. Would you believe it if I told you that I used to be a positive person that never allowed anything to bother me? Seems like that was another lifetime, or maybe an alternate reality.

Asking For Help

A very big part of my problem, is that I am absolutely NO good at asking for

help. Most of my family could care less and won’t, or cannot help so I don’t ask, except for the couple of times I had to ask my son for help…  Please believe me when I tell you that makes me feel like pure crap, and a failure. I’ve always been the strong one. I pretty much raised my son on my own since he was five, so I really don’t know how to be weak, but I feel weak. Not good at all.

Hope & Prayer

Well, I can only hope, and maybe say a little prayer, that things will get

better soon. I never expected my senior years to be like this. Now I feel like crying daily. I am just not sure I know how to pull myself out of this hole that I am in. In the past, I always knew things would get better when I was down, but I am not sure anymore…  I need help!

 

 

Par For Course This Year

Well, I clicked on something and lost my entire post. Thank the heavens for

the revisions that were saved so I could go back and retrieve my work. Now, it would be so much simpler to have an undo button, but that doesn’t exist here.  I think I will wait to complete this for another day. Who knows what I will do next if I continue today…

Come to think of it, an “undo” button for the entire year 2020 would be great!

Sorry to ramble, but thanks for listening. If you are hurting too (mentally, financially, etc.) I feel for you. If you are able to help someone who needs help, please do so. It may mean the world to them…

Have a great healthy day! Hopefully, Tomorrow will be better… Let’s say a prayer that 2021 will bring back Sanity!