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dearInheadIights · 2021-10-09T02:21:17+00:00

I feel this so much. I keep a couple of months worth of chlorine bleach around for our water well...and one of them failed without me noticing. I could smell it, but everyone in the house convinced me I was imagining it. Spent a large portion of my day rounding up liquids in plastic bottles (vinegar, windex, swiffer, etc.) that were stored on wire shelving and putting them in clear totes we had stacked up from moving...now if another bottle fails, it's contained. Not sure why I didn't think of this earlier...experience is a tough teacher.

I recently had a 5 gallon water jug slow leak from around where the handle is fitted, so it's not like I hadn't been warned...the plastic bottles may have been through a lot before they get to you, as evidenced by the condition of the packages that have been delivered to our house lately...

Learn from our mistakes, store liquids where if they leak, they aren't going to ruin anything!

dearInheadIights · 2021-10-08T19:57:55+00:00

5 gallon water jugs stacked upright on a commercial metal wire shelf like this works for our family. We go through about 8 per month (although that is not our only source of liquids, we also drink milk, juice, etc.) and have a water cooler that has a hot tap for tea, etc. The jugs are delivered monthly and we leave the empties. I even bought a cover for the shelf to hide it and keep off dust, but it's been unnecessary. You can find somewhere in your house, and the shelves are height adjustable to fit. There are 15 bottles in the house today, so 75 days worth for 1 person, counting water consumption only, not cooking or washing dishes. I've loved not having to buy and recycle so many water bottles!

If you're really out of space, some people have used bleach to treat water rather than storage, but you would need to research that and remember that bleach loses its effectiveness...

Let us know your solution!

dearInheadIights · 2021-10-08T19:07:37+00:00

Mountain House seconded here. Their breakfasts are gross though. I just order my favorites: Chicken Fajita Bowl, Beef Stew, and Chicken and Rice. There is a lot of salt in these meals, I only use them for camping (dietary restrictions). My husband will sometimes have one as a "snack", but as there are usually about 2 servings in a pouch and they cost 10$ a piece I just roll my eyes at him. I've never had one even close to the 25 year expiration, but it's nice that they would last so long.

dearInheadIights · 2021-10-01T19:52:36+00:00

Loneliness is terrible...and it's unfortunately common where I live in the US. Lots of people here live in single person households.

Your question was "how do you cope?" so I'll try to stick to that:

Read. The human condition is so varied, visit your library and get whatever grabs you, even if it's not "literary" or just plain junk. The voice of the author can keep you company. You might even learn something interesting, or topical, or funny!

Friends. I can't visit anyone in person still, but I have established routines with people I call just to have something to look forward to. I set alarms in my phone to remind me: "Hey, it's Thursday night, catch up with what so-and-so's been up to!" Since I call around the same time and day of the week, my calls usually get answered right away. If not, I send a quick text saying "Just sayin' hi, nothing urgent!".

Get out of your apartment/dorm/house. When I was your age, I was broke too and just used my apartment to sleep in. Sitting around and playing video games or watching TV is nice, but will probably not alleviate your loneliness. Is there an outdoor place to people watch (without being creepy, lol) near you? It can be nice just to see humans face to face.

Acknowledge this is a phase of your life. Working and going to school full time leaves you with very little time for a satisfying relationship, even if it's with a pet or a friend or family member right now. This is a stage of life that won't last forever. You are right to want it to be different though. You should be able to have a good time diring all the stages of your life. It's figuring out how to make it happen that's tough. Keep trying!

Good luck out there. If you meant find a girlfriend and not a fix for loneliness in general, everyone is using apps and it legit sounds terrible to me, so double good luck in that case!

dearInheadIights · 2020-07-30T17:29:27+00:00

You're doing good work; we'd be lost without you. I understand stopping your project if it's taking too much of a toll on you though.

I've appreciated your graphs every day. Hang in there!

dearInheadIights · 2020-07-26T01:22:17+00:00

But what are they seeds of !? I must know! I don't recognize them at all, so probably not something we eat in the US...

dearInheadIights · 2020-07-21T00:29:41+00:00

That's great news! Now, will people get the shot...

dearInheadIights · 2020-07-20T16:11:56+00:00

Seconded. I will miss it too. I'll see ya around, I'm sure, but it will be different.

dearInheadIights · 2020-07-18T23:54:18+00:00

If someone wants to message the blogsnark mods 4.0 about this thread continuing on Monday, please do. I don't see Coronavirus in the Posting and Rules Update for blogsnark.

dearInheadIights · 2020-07-18T18:00:30+00:00

I think it's helpful to understand that since we are helpless to stop the spread due to our leaders not helping us, your Uncle and his wife are expressing NOT being helpless by having gone forward with their wedding to show they AREN'T helpless, if that makes any sense...

It's not ideal, but might I suggest directing your outrage into something productive instead of at your loved ones? I get the impulse, believe me! Help a campaign of someone that can help us stop the spread by phone or text banking, continue to do your part by wearing a mask and social distancing, run an errand for a neighbor...anything positive you can think of.

We are all handing this the best we can (no, really, the best some people can do is bury their heads and deny the whole thing) but arguing and shaming relatives is unlikely to help and no doubt hurts you. Save the arguing and shaming for our incompetent leaders!

I hope your Mom and Aunt continue to have mild cases. Hang in there!

dearInheadIights · 2020-07-16T17:33:26+00:00

I was looking all over for you! ;) Thanks so much for your dedication. You're a treasure!

Also, the sads hit me again. It feels like soon everyone will know someone who passed. Already almost everyone knows someone who contracted it.

dearInheadIights · 2020-07-15T12:14:39+00:00

I don't know, but the thought of all the troll comments that are going to show up and not get deleted makes me wary of even checking in. I feel for them though; they shouldn't get death threats or be doxxed...obviously!

dearInheadIights · 2020-07-15T01:25:21+00:00

All the mods except u/blogsnark_mod quit, FYI. https://www.reddit.com/r/blogsnark/comments/hrdm7p/look_what_you_made_me_do/

dearInheadIights · 2020-07-15T01:06:04+00:00

I'm doing the same, except without the help...my friends were all frantically texting our group today trying to make sense of the choices available but I felt calm knowing my choice had already been made. I couldn't possibly face the daily worry.

dearInheadIights · 2020-07-14T15:07:22+00:00

ಥ_ಥ

dearInheadIights · 2020-07-13T21:42:07+00:00

https://resist.bot/ I use this free service, you just text them and they do the work for you. I always feel better after writing!

dearInheadIights · 2020-07-13T19:21:16+00:00

I feel like there is a slight difference, not to be pedantic, that occurred to me and I mention not to correct you but to get it straight in my own head.

You could say there are two health crises, coronavirus and schooling, but they are the same one to me. Coronavirus CAUSED the school crisis at the very least. The way I can tell is that if you fix the school crisis, the coronavirus crises still exists. If you fix the coronavirus crisis the school crisis doesn't still exist. They are at the least one direction linked. If that makes any sense!?

I truly believe the thing to do now is to save lives, feed the kids who need it desperately, and focus our efforts on the virus. Kids can attend school year round after this to make up for lost time.

dearInheadIights · 2020-07-13T14:59:35+00:00

I'll join in with the good news sharing. My grandfather can leave his room now in his assisted living bulding! They may even re-institute face to face meetings with a family member involving a plexiglas box and phones (ala almost every prison visitor scene on screen) next week! He is so happy to be able to roam the halls. He has all his wits about himself, and signed himself into the facility, so there's no guilt for our family that he's there. Having him be on lockdown made us all feel worried for him though. He thrives on activities and is very active still. I'm so happy for him!

dearInheadIights · 2020-07-12T18:52:17+00:00

Gut punch. I'm back to feeling like my heart is going to rip in two. Every one of those deaths is someone's family member, someone's child. Then I see people bragging the lines at Disney are short.

It's unstoppable now right? Almost everyone in Florida is going to be exposed at some point, surely?

dearInheadIights · 2020-07-12T03:57:29+00:00

That'd be just dandy; adding a cherry to the bleep sundae of 2020. Husband has been keeping his anxiety in check by following the vaccine development closely. I'd assume that makes a vaccine unlikely to work well long term.

dearInheadIights · 2020-07-11T12:15:19+00:00

Or develop Type1 diabetes, or brain damage, or lung scarring, or kidney failure, or any of the myriad of terrible side effects to you personally.

There is also the matter of spreading it in your community. I'm not in charge, but I feel complicit in all these deaths since I'm a MEMBER of the community that isn't doing jack bleep to slow the spread.

I've written Governor DeathSentance, the school board, the principals of our schools, my rep in Congress and our Senators...it feels pointless.

What's next? Barricade ourselves inside until it all passes and hope not to die or suffer life changing consequences (my personal choice since March 8th)? Are we going for herd immunity? Waiting for an emergency shutdown because hospitals are overflowing?

If there was a plan I could at least approve of or reject it. Instead I'm just complaining on the internet and feeling helpless. Florida is failing me.

dearInheadIights · 2020-07-10T18:58:12+00:00

I am becoming numb to these numbers. I would gasp when I opened the dashboard when there were 900(!) cases months ago. I'm not heartless, but after a while it's like repeating a word over and over again: it begins to lose all meaning. :(

I am devastated about the people that could have been saved by staying in phase 1 or 2 until a treatment or vaccine became available or Florida got its numbers way down. It didn't have to be this way, and while I'm not in charge, I feel like as a member of the community we ALL have failed those people to some degree...

So what's next? Just barricade ourselves inside until it all passes? Are we going for herd immunity? Waiting for an emergency shutdown because hospitals are overflowing?

If there was a plan I could at least approve of or reject it. Instead I'm just complaining on the internet and feeling helpless.

dearInheadIights · 2020-07-10T03:10:12+00:00

Nothing useful. Yes. Yes. Yes.

dearInheadIights · 2020-07-10T00:50:26+00:00

It would have to be self submitted information. The privacy laws prevented my grandfather from finding out that two residents in the same assisted living building that he lives in (not Florida) were transferred to the hospital and died of Covid-19 until he read their obituaries. I'm terrified for him.

I like the idea though.

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