Day 12 - Governor Newsom rescinds restrictions. Outdoor dining reinstated!

Mr. Cooper sucks…

2/5/21. Friday

10:00 –10:15 -  I’m up and I go downstairs to say good morning to the dog.  She’s still asleep and she won’t go out until I rub her tummy three times.  I oblige and then she grabs her toy and outside we go.  She does her business and we return: coffee for me-cheese for her.

10:15 – 11:30 – I absolutely have to cook these chicken thighs that I thawed a few days ago and if I don’t schedule this as my first task, the day gets away from me and it won’t happen. This is actually called the “Eat That Frog” approach [it’s a book about time management and efficiency]. I prep an onion and garlic, then make Chicken Mustard Bake.  I clean the kitchen and make some boiled eggs while I wait for the chicken to finish.

-The chicken is still baking so I take this time to call Mr. Cooper, my mortgage company.  I’ve been locked out of my online account, even though I used the correct username and password.  When I try to reset my password, the prompt says a passcode will be sent to my email account to complete the process, but it never arrives.  This has happened repeatedly so I call customer service.  The employee tries to fix the issue by personally sending me a passcode to my email account – this, too, never arrives. 

In the interim, he tells me that I can refinance my mortgage at 15 years with an interest rate of 2.8%  This would shave $300 off of my monthly payment.  I’m intrigued so we go through 30 more minutes of Q&A, and he pulls my credit report, etc. We’re disconnected three times on account of my terrible cell service here.  The chicken is done. 

11:30-12:30 - The employee says he will send me the paperwork I need to lock in the rate. I check the computer and read all of the paperwork.  This refinance will cost me $11,000!!  I won’t begin to recoup the $300 monthly savings for around four years.  What. a. ripoff.  I email “Anthony” and say, “$11,000 for a refi?! I don’t think so!”

This is an hour of my life that I will never get back.  BTW, I still don’t have access to my online mortgage account. I give up – I don’t actually need the online access for anything, although it’s nice to have. F—k it.

12:30-2:00 – The chicken is mehhh.  I shred it and save several pieces for the dog’s morning treat, then add it to my salad, along with boiled eggs and tomatoes. I read Inferno.

2:00-3:30 – Blog post.

-L. comes in upset.  It’s the last day of her drawing class and all students have to show their final piece and then critique each other.  The teacher had nice things to say about everyone’s work, until it was L.’s turn [alphabetically, L. was one of the last to go].  A few students commented on L.’s drawing and how great the glass vase turned out. Then, L.’s teacher said that L. intentionally leaves white space around the central objects [for you non-artists out there, try to envision a sort of halo of white space that surrounds and highlights the important items. It looks really cool] and “I don’t like it.  You need to fill that space in.”

L. is mad and, later, fills in the space like the teacher said to see if the picture improves.  It turns into a muddy mess and looks like s—t after L. altered it. L. is vindicated and basically says the teacher can go f—k herself. L got an A in the class.

3:30 – 4:00 - Wash face. Moisturizer. Dress in Covid-19 uniform.

4:00-4:30 – I drive to Bev Mo to get B.’s Jim Beam Tennessee Honey that he likes.

4:30-5:15 – Home Depot for another bag of red rock. Somehow, using my superhuman strength, I’m able to get it in the basket and then, later, into the back seat of my car.

5:15-5:30 – Home.

5:30-6:00 – I literally drag the bag of red rock from my car, around the back of the house, to my yard.  Then I open it and start filling in the bare spots.

6:00-9:00 – Time to get my Continuing Education hours.  I have a 3-hr Zoom meeting addressing “frugality in a consumer society.”  I phone in – I don’t like Zoom and phoning in is easier. After a few minutes, I leave the room.

-Outside and I finish dispersing the red rock.  I try to turn on the white lights that I have wrapped around three of my trees, but an entire strand is out on one tree.  I have to unwrap it, section by section, from around the trunk and branches of the tree – what a pain in the ass!  This takes a significant amount of time.  The lights on the two other trees are fine, thank goodness.

-I take the dog for a walk.

-Return. Now that the red rock is down, I scatter my multi-colored glass beads that I washed a few days ago on top for some ‘bling’.  Looks great.

-I check in on my CE class.  It sounds like the instructor is playing a video.  Since I’m not on Zoom, I only have the audio.  I leave the room.

-I clean out the fountain.  It wasn’t flowing as rapidly as it should and the birds like to take showers in it. Much better now.

-I sweep the patio.

-The seminar ends.

9:00-11:30 – I go through my Chapter 5 Lecture notes for Specialty Class 1A and prepare the ‘script.’  Unfortunately, this lecture is not current – so much has happened politically – that I will need to conduct research and prepare a new section addressing the Israel-Palestine conflict. Great.

11:30-12:30 – I check my DE class to see if the Anonymous Grader reviewed my submission for Module 4. Nope.

I check my personal email and emails at both Colleges. Nothing of interest.

12:30-1:30 – L. has to get up early tomorrow for work so no TV tonight.  I read Inferno.

1:30-2:30 – Blog post.  I’m behind.

2:30-3:00 – Night time routine. Bed.