Hey Nerds,
Is it 2121 yet?
We’re closing in on 2021, but honestly it can’t get here quickly enough.
The start of the pandemic was fine. We hung out with friends on March 15 and then our work had us start working from home that following Monday. Like most people, we thought (hoped?) this was temporary. Maybe a month or two. We can do that.
We’re closing in on eight months.
In that eight months, let’s look at the stats:
- Birthdays celebrated by phone or web: 7
- Birthday parades: 2
- Times dined out: 2 (VERY recently, outside, and socially distanced from other people)
- Flights flown: 2 (and we sweated bullets both times)
- Times we’ve seen family: 1
- Times we’ve seen friends: 1
- Homemade masks: 5
- Masks purchased: 38
- Grocery store visits: 0
- Pharmacy visits: 5
- Pest control visits: 3
- Dead mice found in house: 1
- In person Dr’s appointments: 4
- Telemed appointments: 2
- Teeth cleanings cancelled: 1
- Haircuts: 4
- Jobs left because of the pandemic: 2
- Cumulative job applications: pushing 150 (between two nerds)
- Job started: 2
As you can see, we’re staying home and trying to interact mostly with individuals who are providing us a service. And that gets super lonely.
Work, work, work, work, work
We also had some major professional changes. While I applied to 23 jobs and found a job within a month, my NP4L took a pause and started his search a few months after me. This search, in combination with the mouse situation and an unexpected urgent trip to visit a family member, we were pushed to our limit. Between the over 100 applications, the rejections, the hot and cold HR recruiters, the interviews, the case studies, the hoops, etc., we were beat. Hunting for a job is like a full time job. It’s brutal.
Fun Fact: I wrote a post about searching for a job when I first became unemployed. If you are currently looking for a job, check it out here.
I’m happy to say that my NP4L found a new job and that stress if behind us. Now we’re navigating a new work from home situation. When this all started, like I said above, we thought it was temporary. Now we’re investing in better work from home setups for our own productivity and sanity.
And then I found poop EVERYWHERE
Nerds…I cannot stress it enough that when I say EVERYWHERE, I mean it.
Let’s take a step back. One day my NP4L noticed that there were a lot of flies in the spare bedroom. Like a lot of flies. So I’m in there with a flip flop, my fly swatter of choice, just decimating flies.
We had noticed an uptick in flies this summer, so at first we were thinking this was just an extension of that. And then I moved a box. Was I grossed out? Yes. Did I think it was a dead mouse? No. I thought it was maybe like a bug nest of some kind. (I’m not an entomologist, so I apologize for my ignorance.) Then I got closer and it was furry. <insert puke emoji>
I clean up the dead mouse with a respirator, gloves, and diluted bleach. There are small holes in the floorboards near where it met it’s demise, so I think that’s where it entered our house. Never does it cross my mind this little bugger got in somewhere else and spent days pooping all over the spare bedroom until I’m in my closet several days later and notice droppings on the floor. And then I notice droppings on clothing and shoes and in purses and I lose my GD mind. <remember that puke emoji? add it again here>
Here’s my general rule: if mouse poop touched it, it’s trash. Straight in the garbage bag. Respirator-ed up, I proceeded to remove all items in my closet. Anything that wasn’t trashed was washed. I was doing laundry for DAYS. The only silver lining is I finally redid the storage in my closet. New bars, shelves, etc.
You might wonder how did I deal with the mouse poop? Spray the poop with diluted bleach and let it sit for 5 minutes. Then clean it up whilst wearing gloves and my respirator. Then another go with the diluted bleach as a precaution.
Story over? Nope! I started looking around the rest of the bedroom and just kept finding poop. Poop in the corners. Poop under the bed. To the left. To the right. So I systematically moved things around in the room to continue my poop removal process.
Several weeks later, I think I’m done. NOPE! My NP4L finds poop in the linen closet in the bathroom. <all the puke emojis> Turns out the mouse was getting in from the wall between our bathroom and my closet. Both the closet and the linen closet had very small holes–one in the floorboards and the other in the drywall. (Remember this house was built in 1926 and wasn’t taken care of well before the flipper flipped it to me.) I have since patched all the holes and I think (knock on wood) our home is mouse poop free!
Hiatus over!
So that, my dear nerds, is why we were on hiatus and would love nothing more than for 2021 to get here sooner rather than later. 2021 hopefully will bring with it new vaccines, which will lead to adventures and travel. Plus I helped crowdfund a new beignet place in Fort Worth and I’ll get free beignets every week in 2021! So knock on wood. Cross those fingers. And let’s hope 2021 is everything 2021 isn’t.
I’m so happy we’re back and I promise we’ll post again soon and with greater frequency.
Cheers,
Head Nerd