Today was fairly crazy. Actually, this whole week has been a little nuts. Well, it actually started last Friday- 11/11/11- the night of Bob's high school reunion.
We had rented a hotel room so that I wouldn't have to drive home from the city. While we were partying like it was 1991, I made sure I couldn't drive even if I wanted to. I'm not sure if it was 4 or 5 Cape Codders, but by the end of the night, it didn't matter. We ate (a little), drank (a LOT), and danced the night away.
The next morning, I experienced my very first ever hangover. I know some people just won't believe that I made it to 40 without ever having a hangover, but there you have it. I learned a few things from it, though, like I NEVER want to have another one as long as I live, driving hungover is a very bad idea, and the stories don't do the exquisite pain any justice at all.
Sunday was fun, too. We had decided to go out for breakfast and go get the new Harry Potter movie, as it was supposed to be on sale at KMart. Turns out, that was a 2 day sale that ended while we were nursing our respective ailments. So- not to be dissuaded, we went off to WalMart, where we found part 1 for $4 and part 2 for $16. All together, cheaper than just part 2 was at KMart (so YAY!). We then determined that we needed ice cream in the house and stopped at the market.. During all this walking around, I was wearing the new shoes I had bought for Friday night, so my heels were getting chewed up with every step :(
The plan was to get the ice cream, go home and watch our new movies. Charlie had other plans. The left rear tire decided it didn't want to be that any more and went flat as we were pulling out of the parking lot onto the street. Normally, not that big a deal, but one of the lug nuts was stripped and didn't want to come off the lug. Then the wheel didn't want to come off the axle. Wile we were taking turns fighting with it, I started counting cars- I saw a church van, 5 cars with Jesus fishes on them, 3 police officers, 1 tow truck (!!!), and 1 ambulance drive by and stare at us. One very nice guy did ask if we were okay on his way by, and told us he'd be right back. When it was my turn to cuss and attempt to break the wheel loose, WM called his brother to give us a hand. Calvary to the rescue!! We got it home with only 3 lug nuts, which made me a little nervous.
On Monday, I had PT, which totally killed me after the weekend I put myself through. I figured a good activity to get my mind off my assorted aches and pains would be to set up and print the invitations to the Boy's Eagle Court of Honor, so I went to the website for the company that made the cards and attempted to use their print wizard. After hours of cussing and crying over the useless wizard, I did an internet search for other free templates. After another hour of cussing out those sites for being useless to me (which is different than being just plain useless) I blew it. Just started yelling and almost throwing things in my frustration. WM decided he couldn't take any more of my histrionics and made up a template that worked beautifully (YAY WM!!). I was all set to go- all I needed was an ink color choice and a guest list. I'm still waiting on that...Anyway- the invites are ready to go, so THAT'S okay.
This brings us up to Tuesday... Ah yes- Tuesday. I had a 9:30 appointment to get new tires (made before the reunion, which makes Sunday all the more frustrating). When I got there, the line was out the door. People were pushing, cutting the line, and just standing around, blocking the line. It was a madhouse. When I finally got up to the counter (around 9:45), I was told it would be about an hour and a half. Fine, whatever, I'll be sitting over in the waiting area. The guy at the counter had asked if I wanted some very specific kind of alignment, for only $50. I said I didn't know if I needed it, and he assured me that he would hook it up to his machine and see what that said. He then said he wouldn't do anything until he talked to me. So I sat. And sat. And went outside for a cigarette, where I found some guy sitting on my car! The look he gave me when I told him to get off my car was.priceless. Almost as though no one had ever told him he was misbehaving. He shook his head and asked what I had said. 'Get off my car'. Repeating it earned me a very nasty reply, but he did get off it.
When I felt I had waited long enough, I went up to the counter to get an ETA, because I was flat out exhausted, and getting more tired by the minute, sitting in a cold warehouse that smelled like rubber. When I got up to the desk, my keys were already hanging on the peg-board. That got me a bit upset, too. When he grabbed my paper work, he just gave me the total, had me sign for my card, and I was good to go. It never occurred to me until I was on my way home that the total he gave me didn't match what I had been told when I handed over my keys. The stupid rat bastard did the alignment without talking to me! Great. Fan-freakin-tastic. $50 I didn't have, I now have to come up with because bonehead didn't go over my receipt with me, like they usually do. I think he didn't want to explain the alignment cost, honestly. I noticed they called the house at 10, which REALLY made me wonder what they were thinking, as I was there! Nasty email off to the company (because they weren't answering the phone at the shop.) telling them what had happened and how I felt about it. Surprise- no answer from them yet.
So tires took up my whole morning, and the nap I had to take to try to recover took up my whole afternoon. Even more pissed!!
The Girl is happy, though. She finally got a new car, so I'm assuming she got her insurance money from the kid who hit her. He has NO idea how lucky he is that she wasn't injured more badly than she was!
On to Wednesday- today.
I had an appointment with my nurse practitioner to check my meds, and to see if my migraine med was working. She was running late, and there was some sort of glitch with the thermostat, so it started blowing cold air on me while I was waiting. FUN! I got a blanket and wrapped up in it while I was sitting there. She finally came in and called facilities about it. Then we got down to business- how did it work? How often have I taken it? Any nasty little bits to report?
She then asked the scariest question ever- "Any family history of brain tumors or aneurysms?" I almost fell down. Then she said she was scheduling appointments for an MRI/A and a neurologist. She seems to think that my eyestrain, headaches, and using the wrong words might be a sign of pressure on something. GULP
While I was pondering that little bit of life altering, Angie went into labor. After many hours, and 40 minutes of pushing, Coraline Marilyn came into the world.
Life is all good again... I have no appointments till Sunday, then PT and neurology Monday, then I'm free to harass the ex for the guest list so I can mail those invites before Thanksgiving so they don't get slowed down by the Christmas card influx. I'm afraid were cutting it too close as it is, but I cannot seem to get a fire going under his ass. The Boy should be home sometime this week, so hopefully I can get him to help me nag. Only time will tell, I suppose.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
Bittersweet
Today would have been Dad's 80th birthday. 80...It doesn't fit neatly in my head. He would have been twice my age. Officially 'old'.
I'm thinking about him a lot today- how he would laugh at the stupidest jokes, watch the worst movies, and really enjoyed some of the dumbest television on television. I guess I can blame him for my taste in viewing pleasure. I can almost hear him now, laughing at Tim and Al on Home Improvement. He loved that show so much, we got him the first season on dvd so he could watch it anytime there was 'nothing good' on TV. He watched it often
I was looking through my scrapbook and found some of the things people had said about him at his funeral. I can't help but wonder if they were talking about the same person. People told me how nice he was, how friendly he was, how stiff and formal he was. It stands to reason that most of these people didn't know him very well- his best friends were gone, he didn't talk to his neighbors much, and very few people really had conversations with him.
It was fairly common knowledge that he drank coffee. That's pretty much it- just coffee. Few people know how much he liked blueberry/cranberry juice. There was so much more to him than anyone could possibly know. I'm sorry I didn't take the time to get to know him when we were both younger. I am so very grateful that I got the chance to finally meet him before he died. I learned that he wasn't nice- he was polite (almost to a fault!). He wasn't quiet if there was something he needed to say, or if there was something someone else needed to hear. He wasn't friendly- he viewed people as noisy, inconsiderate, and smelly. I also get this from him.
He never understood why people thought he was stiff and formal. I tried telling him it was because most people only saw him in his "Sunday go to meetin'" clothes, not at home in his tee shirt and slippers, doing his crossword puzzles and messing up his hair. The running joke was that I was going to bury him in his slippers with messy hair and a coffee cup. I am sorry I didn't get to do that- he would have seen the humor.
He had an incredible sense of humor. He could find the funny in almost any situation, and he was generous with his findings. Occasionally he would start laughing at a joke he heard quite a while ago. When I asked if he thought his memory was going, his response: How could my memory be going, if I can remember and repeat a joke from 50 years ago?! Lighten up!
That was pretty much his advice in any situation- lighten up. Whatever horrible thing had happened couldn't have been all bad if you walked away from it and could still tell about it. If all else failed, there was always ice cream.
He loved to go for rides in the car to look at all the pretty colors- first flowers in the spring, the green grass and summer blossoms, the leaves changing in the fall, and even the pure white of winter's first snow. (The thrill of that last one only lasted until someone walked on it, or it snowed again, He didn't care much for winter.) No matter what season we were in, he could find something colorful and beautiful in the world outside. He said he finally got the chance to see what he had been missing all those years when he was the driver, and he wanted to see it all. Watching him look out the window was very much like watching a child who is finally big enough to see- his head would swivel to follow a squirrel into the woods, he would point out flowers that had just started to bloom, he would watch a bird soaring with pure awe. At the end of every journey, he would thank god for getting him to his destination safely, and for giving him so much to see along the way.
I guess I should thank god for getting him safely to his destination, and for giving him so much to see along the way.
I'm thinking about him a lot today- how he would laugh at the stupidest jokes, watch the worst movies, and really enjoyed some of the dumbest television on television. I guess I can blame him for my taste in viewing pleasure. I can almost hear him now, laughing at Tim and Al on Home Improvement. He loved that show so much, we got him the first season on dvd so he could watch it anytime there was 'nothing good' on TV. He watched it often
I was looking through my scrapbook and found some of the things people had said about him at his funeral. I can't help but wonder if they were talking about the same person. People told me how nice he was, how friendly he was, how stiff and formal he was. It stands to reason that most of these people didn't know him very well- his best friends were gone, he didn't talk to his neighbors much, and very few people really had conversations with him.
It was fairly common knowledge that he drank coffee. That's pretty much it- just coffee. Few people know how much he liked blueberry/cranberry juice. There was so much more to him than anyone could possibly know. I'm sorry I didn't take the time to get to know him when we were both younger. I am so very grateful that I got the chance to finally meet him before he died. I learned that he wasn't nice- he was polite (almost to a fault!). He wasn't quiet if there was something he needed to say, or if there was something someone else needed to hear. He wasn't friendly- he viewed people as noisy, inconsiderate, and smelly. I also get this from him.
He never understood why people thought he was stiff and formal. I tried telling him it was because most people only saw him in his "Sunday go to meetin'" clothes, not at home in his tee shirt and slippers, doing his crossword puzzles and messing up his hair. The running joke was that I was going to bury him in his slippers with messy hair and a coffee cup. I am sorry I didn't get to do that- he would have seen the humor.
He had an incredible sense of humor. He could find the funny in almost any situation, and he was generous with his findings. Occasionally he would start laughing at a joke he heard quite a while ago. When I asked if he thought his memory was going, his response: How could my memory be going, if I can remember and repeat a joke from 50 years ago?! Lighten up!
That was pretty much his advice in any situation- lighten up. Whatever horrible thing had happened couldn't have been all bad if you walked away from it and could still tell about it. If all else failed, there was always ice cream.
He loved to go for rides in the car to look at all the pretty colors- first flowers in the spring, the green grass and summer blossoms, the leaves changing in the fall, and even the pure white of winter's first snow. (The thrill of that last one only lasted until someone walked on it, or it snowed again, He didn't care much for winter.) No matter what season we were in, he could find something colorful and beautiful in the world outside. He said he finally got the chance to see what he had been missing all those years when he was the driver, and he wanted to see it all. Watching him look out the window was very much like watching a child who is finally big enough to see- his head would swivel to follow a squirrel into the woods, he would point out flowers that had just started to bloom, he would watch a bird soaring with pure awe. At the end of every journey, he would thank god for getting him to his destination safely, and for giving him so much to see along the way.
I guess I should thank god for getting him safely to his destination, and for giving him so much to see along the way.
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