Couch 247: Choose Cheese!

Dorothy Parker was one of the best snarks. I use the A-B comment with students some times.

I worry about you - and about what you carry in your pocket

Do you mean this guy?
Robert Benchley - "The Causes Of The Depression" Aka The Caves Of Depression (1930-1931) - YouTube

LOVE CONQUERS ALL by Robert C. Benchley FULL AUDIOBOOK | Best Audiobooks - YouTube

thanks, SD - those are wonderful! I subscribed. Omg that first "short story" was evil!!! Rolling on the floor laughing

I can see that. With SD as the much-put-upon Alexander Woollcott, constantly telling you that reading Freud is like lying in someone else’s dirty bath water.

That Depression clip was pure current Comedy Central. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

I'm sure it has something to do with the recording technology at the time, but I'd like to think that everyone back then spoke like they'd just inhaled some helium.

My sister called APS on us. She's claiming financial abuse because during covid, we used my dad's portion of rent for food and electricity.

Hugs, Scarlet. That just seems ridiculous, what she's claiming. He was using the electricity and, I assume, food, too? It's not like you were using it to, I don't know, buy fancy jewelry for yourself.

Oh Scarlet. Sending hugs. I agree with LT that seems just ridiculous of her to do.

I feel in such a state of limbo with the mold stuff. We had a potential remediator come out Monday, who said they'd have an estimate to us within 48 hours. I followed up with the office yesterday, the manager said they'd check into it and should be able to get us something soon, but we still haven't heard back. We had another place come out this morning, and they said they should be able to have an estimate to us by tomorrow (we'll see--not sure if he realized it would be the weekend). A third was supposed to come out today, but he called a couple hours before and asked to reschedule. He's now coming out Monday morning instead.

It's just stressful, like we at least want some idea of how much this is going to cost. And to get the work scheduled. Plus, the thought of mold and mycotoxins everywhere is really triggering to my OCD, which I cried about most of session yesterday with Dr. T (he had to cancel all his sessions for something that came up today--I suspect about his new office--so he offered to see me yesterday instead).

Also, D kicked a kid and hit a teacher at the end of the day of school today, which she hasn't done in a long time, so that's another thing going on.

And on top of all of this, D turns 13 tomorrow. We were supposed to have this family party (with my and H's sides), but H's stepmom, who was going to host, is still sick with the flu or something, so we're just having a small thing at H's Mom's. Then, my parents will watch her next weekend for her birthday, which will give us the chance to go out for our anniversary (16 years I think? Yes, 16--2008).

For those old enough to get this reference: "Calgon, take me away!"

Calgon ad from the '80s.

It seems like the main issue is underlying feelings of powerlessness and anxiety surfacing because of these various stressors.

Your reaction to the mould, might also be connected to a need for safety and security.

Is your daughter aware of the mould issue- is it disturbing her routine? Is there anything else that be triggering her behaviour? There is a link between autism and season changes because of hypersensitivity for some children.

Youtube then brought up other 70s ads. Boy, Farrah Fawcett was in a LOT of them.

That's a good point about the feeling of powerlessness, Lemon. I think that's a big part of it. And maybe also the safety and security--like I don't feel safe in my own home in some ways, when it's supposed to be a sanctuary of sorts.

Hm, plus knowing that Dr. T is moving his office in June, so I'll lose that place of safety/security and have to learn to feel safe in a new one (which we discussed again briefly Thursday).

I'm not sure she's aware of the mold issue. But she does have seasonal allergies that are acting up, so we've been giving her Zyrtec (allergy med--might have different name in the UK) most days. So that could be related.

Her birthday party was a bit rough today, too, for assorted reasons. Like she spent some of it pretty upset. Or just playing with stuff on mine or H's phone and not wanting to interact with anyone.

I also wonder about hormones playing a role...

Ready for a new couch?

Today I learned about the Pleiades poetry form. Named after the star cluster Pleiades (the seven sisters). A one-word title, one 7-line stanza with the first word of each line starting with the same letter as the title, each line limited to 6 syllables.

As of this afternoon, I've written 174 poems since January 17. I haven't shared near all of them with the challenge group because I know many of them are bad haha. But almost all of them do contain elements that I like, or ideas that I want to further pursue in re-writes. So I haven't deleted any of them from my running word doc, the ones I'm saving for rewrites I made the font red so they'd stand out.

There's a lot of red. hehehe

Yeah, *someone* put her unfinished smelly Limburger cheese sandwich down in the cushions.

The new thread is here: Couch 248: A Message from your Guardian Angel