Louise!

Sometimes, I just get overwhelmed due to external stimuli.  That was me this morning.  I was on a work call, that I was struggling with to start, and then I heard an alarm going off.  Like on a phone or computer, or tablet.  

Then, outside the house, lawnmowing, leaf-blowing.    Then the dog started barking.  And I was sitting there, tethered by my headset and my attention span, to the work call.

It was a lot.

As it turns out, I like, as Mary-Chapin Carpenter once said, "Cool quiet and time to think".

This is not the only development to come from too much of something.  I ordered some sleep masks the other day because I like to sleep in complete darkness.  My ideal room is cold, quiet, and dark.  I can sleep in other conditions, but given a choice, those are my preferences.

I don't mind having the dog next to me, or Matt - but I do like some darkness.  And our house is light polluted.  Our neighbors in back, understandably, have lights over their garage for security, and they come on with motion.  And there's motion in our alley.  People, possums, pets.  

So, anyway, I ponied up and bought some masks.  They were cheap, and and I like them OK.  Paired with my sleep apnea mask, there's one little gap that lets light in, but that's not bad, compared to everything else.

I am also known to forcibly rip tags out of clothing if they're irritating me.  I've more than once taken a nail file to a hard or sharp seam on clothing to sand it down to a manageable softness.  

Certain smells make me angry - the biggest culprit is this:

Fabuloso is so strong I can TASTE IT - and it's a cleaner of choice in a lot of restaurants.  Give me PineSol, or Murphy's Oil.  The other one that makes me irrationally annoyed is:

I had a roommate who hosed down our room in this stuff.  Again, I could taste it, and it felt like being punched in the throat.

The final one that gets me is when someone uses bleach, and lets the water sit too long, then you have this mildewy wet dog smell.  Come on, people.

I'm a delicate little tulip, is what I'm telling you. DELICATE, I say!

Except when I'm not.

This past weekend, I was home and had the full weekend here - so I was able to get some food in the house, get a ton of cleaning and organizing done.  Not enough.  No, never enough.  The good news, I suppose, about work from home is that I could pop in some laundry whenever I want.  I hate doing laundry - not the wash or dry part.  The fold and put away part.

Tomorrow is election day, and everyone everywhere is warning against expecting an outcome tomorrow night.  Hell, I expect it.  If we can stream footage from Mars, they can count ELECTRONIC ballots.  And, frankly, the ones that came in on paper should already be scanned in.  Like, get it together.

I'm already feeling nervous, but I've done my part, I took Mom to the polls in Georgia, I voted, I made sure Matt voted.  That's all I can do, right?

Well, if my vast number of texts can be believed, giving them just FIVE dollars could be the difference in winning and losing.

Bless their hearts.  I live in Tennessee.  We're already done.

Anyway.  I feel kind of anxious, kind of hopeful.  We'll see. 

My mother's boyfriend has returned from his family trip to Germany.  I am glad he went - that was important.

And Mom did great without him, so hopefully he is more relaxed about her care, and she's just more relaxed, full-stop.  Better living through big pharma.

Anyway.

I'm going to pop on some white noise, see if I can dredge up some cool quiet.  And pens that don't run out of ink.

Shouldn't I have this?

ae