Guests and fish smell in 3 days

So... Just a few minutes ago, actually a bit earlier than that, my
sister said one of her first snide comments so far this time.

OK, so the dumpster for throwing away the old shingles arrives, but she
still ends up piling up a bunch of crap in front of the front door. Why
couldn't those have been thrown OVER the roof towards the dumpster
instead of creating more work for someone?

OK, so just now she went downstairs to check on something. Then she
comes up to ask where the heat tape on the pipes was. I tell her I don't
know where to get it plus I don't have the money to get it. She asks me
how much I make. It's none of her business I tell her. Then she says it
is too her business, then asks how much I pay to live here. Well mom
pays the rent, I take care of (usually) the electric. She knows that.
She comes up with some stupid thing like she can't afford to subsidize a
place for me to live.

WHAT THE .... !!!?!

It's NONE of her business what I make, nor what I pay to help out. All I
know is I did work in Apt B and I have not yet been paid for that. I
don't have money to pay for things that I won't be paid back.

I need a lawyer if she's going to try make some stupid case and try to
make me move out. She's hurting mom more than me if she tries that.

YET ANOTHER REASON WHY IT'S BAD FOR MY SISTER TO OWN THE PLACE WE LIVE
IN.

Once again, nobody listened to me...

Ok, so my older sister is up from Florida to work on the house because
of a pressing issue involving my aunt and some money. (long story)

The roof needs replaced - actually, only parts of it leak, but she's
going ahead to do the whole thing. Hopefully in a week's time. Which may
turn out to be a bit longer.

So Sunday she rents a truck and buys the stuff needed for the roof.
Which includes about 58 bundles of shingles that need loaded off the
truck so it can be returned.

After Extreme Makeover Home Edition is done, I spend the next hour or so
helping do just that and we get it done.

Today, she makes some good progress getting the old stuff off, checking
the wood underneath, putting tar paper on it, then shingling it. Only
there were 3 layers of shingles, no original tar paper, and lots of
nails to remove. I don't get up on the roof because I know my limits.
She had one of her friends and they were both up there doing work on the
roof. I'd say about 1/4 of the main roof has new tar paper on it. Which
for the first time since being here, the bit of ceiling at the top of
the stairs in our part of the building doesn't leak anymore.

(I also found out while the property was appraised by the county at $48K
for tax purposes, a recent appraisal netted only $35K for the purposes
of a loan. But the figure might go up after repairs are made, since that
can be considered a capital investment in the property and thus add to
the value.)

OK, so while she's up there, a neighbor across the road from us notices
her up there and asks if she does this as a regular thing since he knows
about 2 trailers with leaking roofs...

Anywho. Around 8 pm we check the local weather outlook, and there's some
nasty weather headed our way. I make sure she knows about this, and she
continues to stay at work on the roof. She asks when it will get here
and I estimate within the hour.

Around 35 or so minutes after that, it starts to lightning and thunder
and rain. I guess she decides maybe to get off the roof now, instead of
when I told her about the storms coming. We find out about this when
there's this sickening thud and stuff falling from the ceiling in the
kitchen. Oh great. As it turns out she slipped off the ladder she had on
the kitchen roof to the other roof above Apt. A and her foot went
through the roof and ceiling in our kitchen. I see she's up and mobile,
and decides to head into Apt. C where she's been sleeping. While we're
watching Heroes, she doesn't make any appearance to see what happened
inside nor to tell us if she's OK in any way, even though she told me
when I ran outside to see what the hell happened that she was OK more or
less.

This has been a pattern of Let's Not Listen To Me as my friends have
noticed. I told her the weather was going to do something, but she just
kept right on and didn't stop when she should have.

After Heroes finishes up, I check on her. I knocked on the door but no
answer. Later I let her dogs out to do their business, and then take
them back up. Let them wake her up. I hope she's OK. At least have the
decency to let us know if she hit her head or something.

At least we know how cheap the ceiling in the kitchen is. There had been
ceiling tiles put up, then it was covered with that stupid textured crap
we hate. While there is a bit more damage to the kitchen roof and
ceiling, it was going to be worked on anyway.

I just want it done in one week.

Why sometimes I don't respect some people...

And in particular some elderly people. I never got respect from my
grandfather, so I don't give it out very often to people that age and
older. And in the job I have now, some of those elderly women, too. They
can be downright crazy. As one friend wisely put it, Those Insane Ohio
Women.

One Sunday, I'm running register. All the time while I'm on register, I
have the screen positioned so I can see what's going on. I need to - I'm
the operator of the terminal. You the customer Don't need to see what's
going on. Don't touch MY screen. At All.

This one elderly woman comes up, and I begin to ring up her purchase. In
the middle, she suddenly freaks out on me - She "needs" to see the
screen as I run her stuff through. I explain to her that if something
gets double-scanned by accident (and as it happened, one of her items
gets the infamous double scan as I explain to her), I need to know what
it is. She freaks out. "Well, stop ringing my order if you're not going
to let me see the screen!!" she screams at me. Good grief. Like we're
the Evil Store, and we're trying to Get One By you by charging something
than what you think you saw on the shelf. I let the witch see the screen
until the end and show her where I corrected a double ring. "Did you
take it off??!" Sadly, yes.

The people who act like that, as if they "need" to see the ring up
screen are people who come to the store with an irrational idea of what
their shopping experience is supposed to be like TO THEM. They will
mis-read the price sticker on the shelf, mis-interpret a message about
something that will happen when they do this, or any number of things
like that. Coupons (It is pronounced "koo pons" and NOT 'cue pons' -
read the freaking word - how is it spelled???) are often misread.
Anywho, these people see the store as Evil while instead they are
incredibly insecure and stupid.

Today was something similar in regard to crazy women. An elderly couple
comes up to the end of the checkout with a cart of stuff. I had just
returned from a break, the light was on, I had the belt on and was
cleaning the general area. The lady asks me "Are you open?" And my reply
innocently enough is "well, the light is on." and then she freaks out at
me, like she was some school teacher (or not) and there's Only One Way
to Answer A Question Like That, and screams at me "That's NOT what I
asked you!" What?? What did you hear me say?

Criminy!! Did I even stand a chance at answering that one right?! Most
(sane) people who got my answer would take that as a welcome to my
register sign and unload their cart. But no, this woman screams at me,
then goes to the next register to check out. I shoot her a really dirty
look, like she's crazy and all. OK, Fine. I didn't want to ring up your
stuff ANYWAY.

Shouldn't people who act like that be in a home? Just my opinion, of
course. I also hate paper bags because the idiots who ask for them are
really stuck up and not very nice. Thanks for helping me to decide what
I thought about paper bags. I hate them. I didn't really care before but
now I have a definite opinion.

Finally an overhead light in my room

It had been bugging me ever since we moved in that there were exposed
wires in the ceiling in 2 rooms upstairs. I somehow had found a light
fixture from somewhere here and 3 wirenuts to attach it. But the problem
was not knowing which wires did what.

The wiring was incredibly crazy but I guess that's how this place was
done when it was originally built. As the wiring went, it allowed for a
ceiling fan to be installed and have the fan and light independently
switchable. I don't need a ceiling fan - in fact, the ceiling here is
way too low to allow me to move around with one without accidentally
damaging it. I think these 2 upstairs rooms had one in each of them. The
former tenants must have been ceiling fan crazy, as the kitchen and one
other room downstairs has them. They're in the other apartments as well.

There should have been only 2 wires to connect a fixture to. There were
3 bunches. !! I had a plan and used a circuit tester to find the live
pair. This thing is basically a little light with 2 metal probes at the
end. It lights up when I find powered wires. What about the other two
bunches?

The electrical socket behind my bed doesn't work. So I'm guessing one
set is supposed to connect to the live pair. And in order to have a
switchable circuit, you have a direct connection to one wire, while you
have the other interrupted by a switch. Using my voltmeter's continuity
tester, I found which pair goes to the switch. Presto.

A little fight with the wirenuts (I needed 3) and I now have an overhead
light I can switch on and see better. I see there's 2 sets in the other
room, so figuring that out and putting in a light there should be
easier.

At some point I might connect the electrical outlet behind my bed. Or at
least put in a grounded 3 prong outlet.