Well that's $50 down the drain...

Chalk up another expense to exhaustion...


We had to board my cat for two days, to let the pest control chemicals evaporate for a bit. (I seem to be the only one amused by instructions begging you to keep your pet away for two days, but you can come on back after three hours. I swear PETA writes these things.)


When it was time to pick her up, I was so addled with exhaustion, I couldn't remember where her carrier was. So I just drove slowly/carefully for the mile and a half back to the apartment. And was rewarded with a big ole crap in the backseat.


I removed the actual offenders, but was too fatigued to actually organize a cleaning effort. My malaise continued until Sunday night, at which point I had to clean it up because I was picking Tim up the next day. So I opened up the back door, doused it in cleaning stuff and left it, as the instructions demanded.


The problem? I'm about 99 percent sure I didn't lock the door.


First thing we noticed was the remote was gone. It was a $25 deposit. But we thought perhaps I had just brought it in the apartment with me by accident. Then we went to get the office chair out of the trunk. The one that had been there for, like, a week and we just hadn't remembered to bring in. Except now, it wasn't there anymore.


I think someone noticed the door was unlocked and that the back seat pulls down. That exposed the office chair (still in box) and they helped themselves. It explains why no one took the small bag of miscellaneous office supplies up front: Accessing the trunk from the back seat, the bag wouldn't have been visible.


I'm pissed, too, because we waited for a good mesh chair to go on sale. (In case Tim needs to do phone work from home, the mesh will keep air circulating and prevent his skin from breaking out unduly.) I guess it's back to watching Staples sales.


Meanwhile, two $25 items are gone. Irretrievable. All because I just don't have the stamina of a normal person.


Don't get me wrong, my fatigue costs us in tons of ways that I've accepted and dealt with. I don't hit as many sales as I would like, because I have to apportion my energy to be sure other things get done. I sometimes pay a little bit in library fees because I'm too tired to get a book back on the due date. Little stuff.


But this one is new -- and pricey, at that. Especially considering that I'm normally a door-locking zealot.


I'm off to go stare at the empty spot in the office where a chair should be.