For about a week now, I’ve had a robot cleaner — it both vacuums and mops — I named Dobby. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I desperately needed some kind of help, and credit is sometimes your friend. I cleared the living room floor of obstacles and took the opportunity to get up several dead cat scratch boards and throw them away. I also did the kitchen, and cleared any obstacles there — I put the floor rugs in the washer. Hopefully it will cover both areas easily, and might even stretch into the master bedroom which would be perfect.
Day 1 — set up wasn’t difficult, though the app is weird. Clearly googled into English. Easy to fill with water for the mop, and the pad is firmly velcro’d into place. Not sure how long it takes to get a full charge. I’ve read the manual twice.
Day 2 — Ran Dobby after a full charge — WOW. The thing actually works. It sweeps and mops along and has mapped the whole front area of the house. I blocked off my bedroom and the guest bathroom on the phone app, because there is a litter box in there. Stopped Dobby, cleaned out the holding tank and refilled the mop chamber, then washed the mop head and turned it loose again — it's really making a difference. There are places I will need to hit with the steamer, mostly along the edges of the counters, but this is a game changer for me so far. Takes a few hours to charge completely, cleans the space for about an hour, that includes multiple passes in each zone.
Day 3 — Ran Dobby in the morning, I think he needs a little clean up, empty and refill, but that takes about 5 minutes tops. Mum came over and noticed how much cleaner it was, and she might get one herself. I didn’t accomplish much today on my list, but I still feel so much better about my house and I’m not getting dirty feet.
Day 4 — The googly eyes came in the mail, so I applied those — they’re 2” in diameter. I considered multiple eyes around it so it would be an angel, but thought that might be a bit too esoteric. Tomorrow is the day I will spot mop, now that I’ve run Dobby for almost a week. The cats are getting used to him. The floors in the main areas of each room are clean, there’s just some edges that need work, the ones with the round pads on arms seem better for edges and corners. But overall it’s made a huge difference in how I feel and my energy levels. I’m not sleeping 16 hours a day any more. I’m doing more self care. I’m randomly cleaning more.
Day 5 — Final thoughts on Dobby as a tool for helping depression and stress: definitely worth it. Wasn’t horribly expensive (under $150 on temu, no import charges) came in a few days, not too difficult to set up, even in the throes of depression, and will work even on a very messy floor, it just has a small trash chamber. Mops as it goes, so it would mop on carpet if the mop were filled, but you don’t have to fill it if you just want a sweep up. Picks up pet hair, even with 3 cats. Also picks up kibble they drop on the floor, and dust. The fancier models will empty themselves into a bag in their base, and refill their own water from the base as well. Some will even recognize pet accidents and avoid them, so you don’t get poo spread all over the floor.
Randomly, my cats have taken to parkour in the kitchen, jumping from the table to the kitchen island and back and knocking shit off all the time. I had to move the tea pot since it’s made of glass. It’s really annoying. (and no I don’t want to hear about the cats on the counter OR the table)
In other new developments, I had my check up and was fatter again, so my doctor gave me a month’s supply (like $1200) of one of those fat drugs that is designed for people who are obese with at least one comorbidity — sleep apnea, high blood pressure, high cholesterol — and I have sleep apnea. I had to order some syringes with short needles on amazon because I had 4 vials of the stuff in the box and that was it other than some instructions. My first shot wasn’t bad at all, stung a little, but for someone who is semi needle phobic — it wasn’t difficult. I put it in my stomach. I didn’t even feel the second shot at all, and stabbed myself 3 times thinking I had missed.
It does make you feel weird though. It suppresses the receptors for appetite to the point that even when you *finally* notice you haven’t eaten all day you can tell that you’re starving, but you don’t care because you can’t really feel it. It really masks the hunger feeling and makes it hard to focus on it or notice. So I’ve been eating a lot less simply because I don’t get hungry and feel the urge to eat like normal people, much less like I used to. I haven’t had any other side effects — no nausea, no peeing out my butt, no cramping or bloating — I simply don’t feel hunger pains anymore. On day 8 I started to feel hungry again, and boy I felt it. But another shot and it’s gone again.
I’m not sure how good that is as a strategy, if I do lose a lot of weight, especially if my insurance covers more of it — will I be able to keep it off once I reach my goal and don’t have to take the shots anymore? I don’t want to gain it back. I’m not sure how much I can lose in the next 4 weeks, but I have a follow up then and will get officially weighed. I can lose 8 lbs a month on WW, that’s the average, I would like to see more like 20-30 off at the end of the medication. Maybe that’s expecting too much though. I lost 6lbs the first 3 days. On the downside, my insurance rejected my approval for it, but they are going to have my doctor appeal it.
On the vehicle front — I have a car with a brand new fuel injector — that needs front tires. Mum had promised to help me with some of the $500 I spent on getting the car legal and repaired, so went I mentioned I needed front tires to be really road safe — her reply was “get a job”. I’m disabled, and employed. Mum also says I don’t need new tires. She’s wrong.
I have a job, but it’s summer time, and kids are out of school. I'm also starting classes in August myself, and need a reliable car to get to and from campus every day. So I am taking my hurricane money and buying some used tires. I’ll have to call around to make sure someone in town has a pair but they shouldn’t be a weird size or anything. Then maybe I can do some kind of part time delivery driving or something.
I also switched from a prepaid phone account to a normal account — they lured me with a new phone for free. So I got a new iPhone 16Pro on Monday. I had ordered a cover for it, and some screen savers, and got that fitted pretty quickly.
Thoughts on the iPhone 16Pro versus the XS that I had — it’s nice. It’s just a little bit bigger, but it has twice the memory (128) and has new features. I got it set up pretty easily and the screen saver on perfectly, so it should be pretty safe. It uses a usb c cord to charge, so I don’t have a shortage of those, and too many of the old kind of iPhone cords I don’t need anymore.
So that’s all I’ve had going on this week, but I feel like it’s been somewhat productive. I have a smart trailer, I got some cleaning done, and now have a way to maintain the floors and it destressed me a lot. I have a good phone that wasn’t soaked in the rain for 2 days, and actually uses data like it’s supposed to and doesn’t crap out in the middle of things. It also holds a charge.
So — what’s you’re fucking problem?
