How ya doin'?

Weather is a little overcast and rainy.
Sun breaks.
It's been dry today, although a couple times some serious black clouds came to threaten me.

It was personal, I think.

They were looking right at me through the North facing windows in the momcave.
Glowering.

I didn't let them stop me. I went outside and took out the trash and the recycling. Put the returnable cans and bottles in the trunk. Noticed that more bulbs have started to send out green.

Came back inside where I am currently taking my 5th? 6th? trip through the Grimm Universe and making lentil soup. Actually making soup stock, some will go in another pan and I'll make split pea soup out of that batch. For me. I like lentils, but split pea sounds good tonight.
 The house smells yummy, smoky and hammy and garlic-y and there's bread baking.

I tried watching a couple other things, you know, a little escapism, but even the far-fetched Independence Day was too stressful for me. Seriously.
I'm fine.
Just stressed out.
I know I'm not alone.

One of my friends shared a link this week that I thought was worth passing on.
It talks about how we're all feeling and helps put it in words.
It's long but I think it's worth the read.

So on the good side of things, even the phone spammers seem to be taking a break. The only calls I've received on my phone have been personal.

But the spammers are still spreading shit on FB.

My mom, who believes that if you say ORANGE realllly slow it comes out GULLIBLE, dutifully passes on every single stupid thing she gets. Remember Jenna Tull?

She never even questions it. Now I suppose one could argue that an 80 year old woman who can operate a smart phone and spends a great deal of time on the internet isn't doing too bad, and you'd be right. But she still hasn't learned that not everything you read is true.

So I got this via messenger today.

Be careful: I got a message from you or it shown on your wall here.. Please tell all the contacts in your messenger list not to accept friendship request from Andrea Wilson. She is a hacker and has the system connected to your Facebook account. If one of your contacts accepts it, you will also be hacked, so make sure that all your friends know it. Thanks. Forwarded as received. Hold your finger down on the message. At the bottom in the middle it will say forward. Hit that then click on the names of those in your list and it will send to them THIS Is REAL
That settles it.
It says right there, 'this is real'.
Can't argue with that.

In other news, I have figured out how to get YouTube on my new TV.
This is whole new rabbit hole.
I love the 'True Facts About' series.
(link is NOT suitable for all audiences but I find this series hilarious and you should watch it... really. Go right now and watch that if you're in a place where you can listen without offending anyone with inappropriate for work language)

Thanks to effin' Microsoft's latest update which I never have a goddamn choice about, they just foist it on me,  I lost the sound on my computer.

I have tried all.the.fixes.
ALL of them. Looked at a bunch of videos on YouTube, too. Doesn't matter. Can't seem to get the sound back. It pisses me off, not that there's much I can do about it.

I didn't realize how much I missed it until I was able to access YouTube on my TV instead.

Here's the thing, though. I have an almost-new sound bar that I can't make work. I think I bought it in November? I bought the optical cable. I read the instructions. I have tried different things until I am almost screaming in frustration. I have invented four different swear word combinations that have never been known to humankind before.

I have hooked up video games and sound bars and DVD players and all kinds of things and never had an issue before.

So there has been swearing.

My latest effort took the sound I wasn't getting on the soundbar from the TV and made sure I can't get it from the DVD player, either.

I've been staying in, which is good. No one can hear the swearing.

I signed up for a take and make kit to paint a picture, I pick up the packaged supplies tomorrow and do the class on Monday online.

I'll show you the finished product if it's not too embarrassing.

I caught up with laundry today, cleaned off the kitchen table again, found a bucket for my cleaning rags.

I haven't been sleeping well. I got up with Eric this morning at 4:45. I went back to bed right away after he left for work, but I had a hard time getting back to sleep. I finally drifted off and our neighbor's chickens came and visited the yard right under my bedroom window. The rooster is starting to look more and more like a good possibility for chicken soup, that asshole never shuts up.

So that's most of the news from Casa Mental for Thursday.
You know, if everyone stayed in for a month or so, this shit would be over.