Monday Evening Blues.

At least it’s a different day of the week, thank you holiday.

So, I’m a month from turning 65, still haven’t figured out retirement, the timer on my dryer died last week, and my replacement Keurig had a spell of something weird today.

Replacement Keurig? After my (cheap, venerable) Mr. Coffee bit the dust a bit over a year ago, I bought a Keurig. I’m not a big coffee drinker and was sick of dealing with coffee grounds and cleanup, etc. when I only drink two (maybe) mugs in the morning. So there was a great sale on Keurigs I got mine for half price, it cost like a mid-level Mr. Coffee, a nifty narrow model that had three cup sizes and a descaling feature, and for about 9 months, we lived happily ever after.

Then one morning, on a weekday, at 5:30 a.m., it was dead. No warnings, no issues, one day it made coffee, and the next, it would not turn on at all. I don’t drink coffee all day, but I really, really want morning coffee. It was…unpleasant.

Keurig really does have decent customer service. I can’t complain about that, but if you buy one be sure to register your purchase, because you’ll probably need it. I contacted them, told them my sad tale of no morning coffee, and they gave me the steps to replace the machine. I had to send photos. Like, really? I registered the purchase, etc. That seemed weird, but whatever. So I posed a notepad beside the Keurig, wrote the date on the pad, drew an arrow pointing to the dead machine, and printed DEAD KEURIG in block letters. I made it look as much like a ransom note as possible. They Fedexed me a new one in two days, so yay for customer service, weird as they may be.

Now, I’m wondering how long this one’s gonna last, because it may be haunted.

Today I was in the kitchen at the other end of the room, when I heard the hissing sound of hot water. The replacement Keurig was doing something. I had not touched it in at least 6 hours, but it was activated. First, all the cup size buttons were lit, then the descale button stayed lit, and it pissed hot water on the counter. I grabbed a handy measuring cup and shoved it under the stream. It paused for a bit, then did it again. Then it turned off and it hasn’t done it again. Yet. I’ll unplug it before I go to bed, because I’m concerned that it’ll activate itself when I’m asleep.

EDIT: It did not do it when I was asleep. I went to the kitchen to get Gidget’s leash for her bedtime walkie, and the machine was lit up again. It does not have an auto-on timer feature. It just…lit up all by itself. I unplugged it.

I think I’m getting another basic coffeemaker. I really can’t deal with coffee drama in the morning. EDIT: I’ve ordered another basic coffeemaker, because fuck this shit. I will let Keurig know.

In other news, The Kid graduated from 5th grade and will be off to middle school in August. She received the President’s Award for Academic Excellence, which came with a lovely note from President Biden suitable for framing. She’s been All A Honor Roll all year, so that was a lovely end to elementary school. She did instrument tryout for middle school band and has decided to play the flute. Band camp starts the week after next, and I’ll be her Uber for that. It’s only 4 days a week for 2 weeks, so that shouldn’t be an issue; it’s about 20 minutes to drop her and fetch her, and I don’t have many meetings in my current (miserable) position. It’ll work. She’s also planning on playing volleyball.

The timer knob on my dryer is no longer timing, but the dryer is running fine, so whatever. I’ll set a separate timer, ain’t nobody got time for this petty shit.

The geniuses of the condo board had the buildings pressure washed, and they blew a hole in the stucco-ish possibly EIFS coating on my stairwell wall, and weakened other areas that are now bubbling. Pressure washing is done before a painting project. They were not planning to repaint. I took photos and sent them to the management company, and they said they’re working with the vendor to do repairs. (Do you know what EIFS stands for? “Eventually It Fails.” Old construction law joke.) This is a condo and exterior repairs are not my problem, so whatever.

So it’s the end of an era* (*except for a few days of band camp) with getting The Kid through elementary school. I’m going to miss having her around at random, but my mornings can get much more organized and my work day can start earlier.

Work remains work. Whatever.