It has been POURING here all day, and will turn to snow at some point. I have not left the house. I have done some puzzle with my mother and started a couple of baking projects, but have mostly sat around.

Jesse, it turned to snow here at 8:30 AM and was pouring before that.

Just checked and it has turned to sloppy snow here, though not much of it. Good howling wind, though.

It's been snowing where I am (about 12-15 miles north of Somerville) for a couple of hours now. I was starting to think the rain was never going to turn.

I never got dressed today. I'm rationalizing it thusly: I fell asleep on the couch last night, and put on my PJs when I woke up and went to bed at 4:00am, therefore, these jammies are really just my stormy Saturday clothes.

Laura, I am so sorry for your loss.

sj, I'm sorry to hear about your uncle.

ND, I didn't even register that as a rant, just a valid critique. I hope things get better. Your employees are so lucky to work for you.

msbelle, I just decided against posting my "you're not alone in that particular crappyass dark tunnel" story, but you're not alone in that particular crappyass dark tunnel. We've been there/kind of still are with J. Covid has made it worse now, because we're not comfortable with her getting the kind of job she could get right now, since C is on immunosuppressants.

JFC, I was OK with my mother inviting family over at Christmas one household at a time, but she was planning on feeding them all! I said no, we cannot have people over for meals. WTAF? Everyone is either high-risk and/or has a fair amount of exposure already (my cousin's in hybrid school, my mother sees other people!). Just, no.

Nope, Jesse's mom. Nope. Just nope.

My mother said today we won't be doing Christmas together, which really means she's staying home alone (we always host it here). It was so hard to tell her not to come for Thanksgiving, that I really appreciate that she made the decision for herself. I'm tired of being the Covid brain for six people.

My oldest son, B, wants to make his quarantine time shorter (more like 10 days instead of 14, because the CDC has somewhat modified its recommendations, but I don't trust them). He can do 14 days, with a test on day 10 or so, or not come for Christmas. My husband and other kids agree with me, so at least I don't have to fight them, too.

The reason I'm being stompy-footed is that I found out B is being a little asshat when he's not here. I knew he was seeing his nurse-girlfriend and her family, and I understood that. They're in love. I think she could be the one he'll marry. They were apart from March to June. Seeing her isn't why I called him a little asshat.

No. He and a few close friends go for rides IN THE CAR together. "It's how we social distance." Now, by that, B means driving around is how they hang out now that the weather has turned, since they're staying out of bars and restaurants, but that's not social distancing at all. Sharing a car is really risky. I told him they could each drive to our yard, mask up, and use our fire pit instead, but they haven't.

I found out about his asshattery, because last weekend after Thanksgiving, he was leaving here (he'd quarantined completely for 14 days and tested negative) he mentioned he, S, and T were driving down to Plymouth. We'd had a nice holiday, and I didn't want to fight, but did try to gently talk him out of it. It didn't work. At the end of the discussion. I said, "You'll all be wearing masks at least, right? Wear one of the KN95s we gave you, open the windows and crank the heat."

He had had NO INTENTION OF WEARING A MASK. "We'll end up taking them off to eat, later." It took everything I had not to go ballistic on him. He did agree to wear one, and make S & T mask up too, but now my mind keeps wondering how often he's this stupid with these boys.

S and T both still live with their families each of which have various people working. B's bubble is not a bubble. I think I swear about him to myself, a minimum of three times a day. I'd like to smack him. (I wouldn't. And he's a 24 year old man. I'd just like to.)

So today the orders were really slow at work and I started processing and David (my current manager) comes in and asked me to pick a list after I was done and I said , ok. And then not even 5 mins later he was back "so.. sorry to do this to you but if you could shift gears and go help BOPIS (buy online pick up in store) they are getting backed up" and then he explained there are issues with people not picking at a leisurely pace "I want you to show them how it can be done" So I went up and busted the queue down and spent the rest of the day getting orders , my best time was 3 items in 3 mins (which was kind of a cheat bc they were right together) .

At the end of the day I was told at least twice by David how much the other BOPIS people love me up there ("you get things done and done right") and the store manager was merchandising near the elevators and he would occasionally ask me if everything was ok and I would just say I was on a new list.

Anyway at the end of the day the manager started to say that when things slow down in fulfillment or in Jan he would move me to BOPIS (I think for good, it sounded like for good) and then changed his mind and said "all your shifts are in BOPIS from now on"

So yay! The other nice thing is that there are fewer people in BOPIS and I spend most of the time running around the store so less of the social awkwardness.

I feel like I've found my niche here at this store. Plus because I can do all the aspects of fulfillment there will always be something to do.

Jesse that sounds like a nightmare.

M's Mom asked "are you going to go over with us to D's (his brother's) house on Christmas?" No I'm not because it's going to be too many people and they shouldn't either. She also asked if I was going to see my mom and I want to on Christmas Day but I don't want to possibly spread covid.

That's awesome, askye!

askye, that sounds great! It's so satisfying to find your niche, work-wise.

I did my part to use up the FSA and got glasses (regular and sunglasses) today. The frames are basically the same as my current ones, because I dislike change. The ophthalmologist told me that my prescription (for nearsightedness) actually improved, because apparently that happens a lot for people who are nearsighted when they get older.

And even after Tim and I both got glasses and prescription sunglasses, we still have a shit-ton on the FSA. So looks like it's time to stock up on other shit.

I checked my bank account and --my paycheck was way bigger than I thought it was going to be. I got holiday pay for Thanksgiving, premium pay for working Thanksgiving and 6.5 hours of overtime for the 2 weeks.

On the down side of things I've tried tracking my tax refund (since I mailed it in the absolute last day of the extension period) and I can't get any info on the website. So I need to call the IRS which.. I am dreading.. but I have 2 days off next week so I can devote some time to that.

I also need to find a GP, urologist, and allergist here and that will also be on my list of things to call on my days off. I'm not looking forward to any of that bc the appointments will all be in Jan , but hey I guess it means I'll hit my deductible early next year.