I'm pretty sure they are drinking, so I've always been too scared too. I honestly think if they would just put the speakers on foam or turn down the bass it would help immensely. And getting that message through to them is going to be difficult.

Our house is parallel to the road, so if I am facing the road they are behind me to the left. And the sound is coming in our yard and hitting the whole length of the house. I really appreciate all the suggestions. You're giving me things to look into. I have been reading about this, and it's complicated to solve. The music is loud, but I think because it's coming out of a concrete garage and then hitting (who knows what, ledge?) and the thumping seems louder in our house than it should be. And I can't exactly go over there at 10 pm when they are drunk and tell them to come listen to it in my house! Which is why they don't believe me. I did download a decibel thing on my phone but it's having a hard time picking up the thumping. And I was thinking of trying to tape it, but I have to be like, in a frame of mind to do it. I've been researching this whole brown noise thing. I didn't realize what a frustrating thing bass can be to try to block out. I am also tentatively hoping that maybe, because things have been shut down, but are starting to reopen, that the world will get louder and drown them out more? I may have to go talk to them about it again, and be more organized and firm about it. I guess I was just hoping I could meditate and rise above it 😜!

Thanks. It really is a silly problem in the grand scheme of things, but driving me bananas anyway.

Yeah. I have a small house though. I'm also wondering if there is something that sounds like an a/c I could use in the winter. We have an air purifier but it's just not loud enough anymore. Bass is really hard to drown out, apparently.

I have several ear related issues with earplugs. They don't work for me. I can't use earbuds either. But not a dumb question!

I don't have any noise cancelling headphones. Do you have any rec's? Not sure I can sleep in them though. I am really hoping they will tone down the frequency of this once the bars open up....clearly they have been going somewhere else most nights all these years.

There is, but it's 2 different people have to complain and no one else is bothered by it.

Absolutely 100% them. No doubt about it.

I've this fantasy of doing that with dueling banjos, but Santa Baby would also be good 🤣. They would probably LOVE IT. And my other neighbors would HATE ME. Unfortunately it seems to be some sort of acoustical problem with our house + their garage.

It won't run when it's too cold out, which until late June it often is.

I know there is a lot else going on in the world, but my neighbors are driving me crazy. They blare loud music, out of their garage and have gatherings in their yard. Some sort of sound system set up in their garage and blaring so they can hear it in their yard. And the bass is incredibly annoying, particularly the later at night it gets. There is nowhere in my house I can get away from it. I can hear the loud music clearly in my yard, and the THUMP THUMP THUMP in my house. When I am trying to sleep it feels like a jackhammer. In the past, and we've been putting up with this for years, we've been able to run the a/c AND a box fan to drown it out, because it was generally in the heat of summer. And really not more than 1x a week. A few times a year would be super annoying and too cold to run the a/c, but we would live. But, since the pandemic it's been 3-4 times a week, starting at 3 pm and ending at late as 1 am. In their defense sometimes it is 9 or 10. And they started doing this in March this year! Which I know they have never done before. I had never met them because they live on the next street and they are behind us diagonally. We have a shed in the back corner and both other neighbors have fences. So after Memorial day weekend, (it was blaring 3 nights in a row) I went to talk to them. I was very nice, but they simply didn't believe me. They were just basically like, we've been doing this for years, and there's no way you can hear it in your yard let alone your house, and we go to bed early and work 7 days a week and what are you talking about. I mean, you can't even reason with people who are just flat out lying. I don't think they are total jerks, but I think they are frustrated extroverts who want to party and can't leave the house. And I get it, but OH MY GOODNESS! I've tried several white noise machines and soundproof curtains and it's just really frustrating. FWIW I am sound sensitive, but even DH who can sleep through anything, says this is really annoying. So what I am looking for is mental coping skills, if anyone has them. Because I am really out of other options here. I can't call the police, or soundproof my house, or move. It starts in at 3 pm and I find myself getting more and more wound up, KNOWING that I won't be able to sleep. I have tried to tell myself, "You are just being annoyed, you are not being hurt!" and "This isn't cancer!" but I can't seem to convince myself 🤣. I feel like one thing I could control would be, not getting all wound up about it. If anyone has any thoughts, I would appreciate them.

Thanks for all the thoughts!

for a 16 year old, me and DH. I'm lost. It was easier when I could pick out kid lit. I am trying to pick out something interesting for all of us, but not too inappropriate or graphic. FWIW we have been watching "This is Us" as a family. We have been enjoying it, but it's at the edge of the type of content DH is comfortable with watching with DD. Any genre. Any suggestions?

I started a thread a few weeks ago about why I couldn't get boxed brownies to come out right. And basically, I need to use a glass pan. This knowledge has, revolutionized my life. I've made the Ghiradelli brownies probably 3 times since then and they have come out PERFECTLY. Every single unfrosted brownie is deliciousness! MIddle, edges....Kum-bay-ya! My only complaint is that it's pretty hard to hide them from people who are in this house 24/7 with me. If say, for example, someone went to work all day or to college classes, you could, say, open all the window and light a bunch of candles, HIDE the cooled brownies before they came home and then explain that there were so many candles lit because you were having some "me" time. But you can't do this when everyone is stuck at home. Brownies from scratch and boxed brownies are 2 different animals. Sometimes you just NEED that gross yet delicious fake boxed brownie. And I will admit here that sometimes I make peppermint brownies. Scratch brownies (made with unsweetened chocolate), peppermint frosting, and chocolate glaze. Chilled and cut into perfect little squares. But other than that special Christmastime exception, icing is an abomination.

You people who don't love all brownies equally, and then have the audacity to defile them with icing should be ashamed of yourselves. 🤣

I had to go last week. I broke the back corner, down to my gum, of my molar off. 6 weeks ago and this was the earliest I could get in. My state has had a rough time defining when dentists could be open for anything. Wait in the car, mask, temp, etc. They were a little disorganized and I was given a lot of conflicting information. It was frustrating. They did an xray, told me I am going to probably need a crown, and because I am not currently in pain am not "enough" of an emergency. I couldn't get over that phrase, "enough of an emergency". I have to go back in 6 weeks when they have their new filtration system fully up and running. I know people have bigger problems than this, but I have huge dental anxiety to begin with, so worrying for 12 weeks over the whole situation is exhausting. I never would have believed 6 months ago that beyond my inability to afford it, or my huge anxiety, I simply wouldn't be able to get essential dental care done. It's mind blowing for sure.

I honestly don't regret the choices I made. I wish the circumstances had been different, but they weren't. I made the best decisions I could given my options. I feel very fortunate. I don't have a college degree and I have no recent work history. And I couldn't finish college at the time, it was a literal and emotional luxury for me. I had to just survive in my 20's. And I did survive. And I even feel like a thrived. I do wish I could go back and reassure myself. It took me a long time to understand the dysfunction I came out of, and how much that colored things. And that pulling yourself out of that, and breaking the cycle is an unsupported uphill battle that many people just can't get through. I can't really speak for the rest of you, but I do think kindness is in order. Be kind to yourselves. I really think overall most of us did the best we could at the time.

I am so much more likely to abandon a book now than when I was younger. We just have so much more access to books now, which makes it easier to abandon them. When I was a kid we had to walk a mile and a half to the publc library and carry everything home...uphill 🤣 We had a tiny school library and at some point early on I had read every single book. We couldn't afford to buy many books. I think my 10 year old self would die from the amount of books I have access to now. Also at my age I have read and heard everything. Nothing is new. It's harder to get through a book with the same old story. And I think there is some truth to the lack of attention span that we've all developed because of the internet. Having half your mind on raising kids or a pandemic doesn't help either.

A local radio personality just did that and got fired. Now she's suing, but that's going to be a long battle I assume. Bottom line, I can't think of a single thing you can do to protect yourself at the office. I don't think there is any magic thing you aren't thinking of hygiene wise.

I believe the state order is something like, you must wear a face mask in spaces where physical distancing is hard to maintain. Which may be hard to define on purpose.

I believe we have the oldest population in the country, and half of our 70ish deaths have literally been from nursing homes. But, we are also a huge summer tourism state, particularly people from New York and Massachusetts. Which is unlike other more isolated states.

First it was hand sanitizer, then flour, now it will be Doc Martens!

If I were in your situation I wouldn't feel any better if he were wearing a cloth mask. I'm just not convinced they are that much protection, particularly in a situation where you are with the same person all day. It seems like short of an N95 or haz mat suit you are going to share germs with each other. I am not a scientist, so do whatever you want with my very humble opinion! I think this is one of these gray area, very situational specific problems. If I were you, I would really think about how much I needed the job vs how scared I was of catching Covid19. Only you can decide that. You also said he was the boss, but is he the owner? Is there someone higher up you can talk to? If I decided it wasn't worth leaving, I would just try hard to stay away from him, and not touch my face, and shower when I got home and all those things like that. It's the best you can do in a situation like that.

I didn't know I was going to enjoy this thread so much. Thank you for starting it and thank you everyone for chiming in. I think I can speak for a lot of people, but this is why you "deny" yourself in normal times. Usually, I don't completely give into these "silly little treats", (I am not a paragon of virtue or anything!) but I think a lot of us aren't exactly "indulgers". Now I am glad I haven't in the past because it seems so much NICER and almost sanity saving right now. I like what MEmama said about it being the proverbial rainy day. That is exactly how I am feeling, but wasn't able to put it so concisely. I don't mean to sound dramatic about baking a cake or whatever, but it feels a little bit dramatic at times.

I think this is an important concept right now. Little things to look forward to, just to get you through the day. Partly I have been giving into certain things more. I always wanted to dye my hair a radical color, and I never have before because it just seemed like a silly thing to do. And then I thought, now is the time! I dyed my hair an insane pink color. It was really cool looking and fun and made me far happier than I expected! DH & DD & I have also been watching "This Is Us" and the entire Avengers movie series every night while we eat dinner. Which is not something I thought I would ever do. But it gives us something to look forward to every day. I just feel like right now if I can avoid going crazy, or smoking crack....then I deserve a gold star 🤣 ! (No judgment to anyone who dyes their hair awesome colors or watches tv with dinner on a regular basis! These are just examples of things we don't do normally.)