I had big plans to stay home all day on Wednesday sewing and watching the Project Runway Marathon.... HA! First I had to drive William (my second grader) to the bus stop. Dan (the 11th grader) usually comes too but he wan't ready so I had to turn around and come back home to fetch him after Will's bus picked him up. I picked up Dan and took him to his friend's house (Kelly who usually drives him to school.) But Kelly had overslept and was running late so I had to drive Dan all the way to school. On the way there he said he hadn't had breakfast and asked if we could stop somewhere. We had time so I agreed. (He should have had breakfast while I was waiting at Will's bus stop. Are you following this?) By the time we got to Dan's school it was late and I got caught in the dreaded "drop-off snafu." Anyone who drives their kids to school knows what I mean. I returned home to find James about ready to leave. This is the easy one - he is in 7th grade and WALKS to his bus stop. BUT he had a Science Fair Project on one of those big boards and asked if I would drive him. I drove him to school too and When I finally arrived home it was 8:45. I took a shower and sat down to sew.
After about 15 minutes - the POWER went out! Arghhhh... I decided to make the best of it and moved into the kitchen where I have a skylight and could see very well. I windexed off the counter and started to cut out a new project. The phone rang and it was Dan asking me to pick him up - he "Didn't feel well..." I explained that there was no power and I didn't think I could get the garage door open but that I would try.
I went out to the garage, disengaged the electric door opener and tried to lift the door manually. I got it up, but it wouldn't stay. I tried several things. I stood on a chair, I got a ladder, but it just wouldn't stay up. I tried to call Dan back but he didn't answer his cell phone. I returned to the task. Now here is a word of advice: If you have to lift a large and heavy garage door by yourself be certain you are lifting from the absolute CENTER of the door.
I was off to one side and I heard a horrid screeching sound. The door was now stuck. I hopped down from the ladder and saw that the door was crooked, bent and hopelessly stuck. Some of the wheels were off the track. There was no way I was getting out of there. I was officially imprisoned.
I called my husband Ken and asked if he thought he could fix this. He is an engineer and really good at these things usually but he explained how dangerous garage doors were and how the tension in the spring held tons of force etc. etc. and this was a job for a professional. So I called the first garage door repair place in the yellow pages and they said they could be there between 11:00 and 2:00. I was certain that meant 2:00. Also, there was a miniumum charge of $49.00 for the service call... $199.00 to rewind a cable... $149.00 to reset the spring. If the bent panel had to be replaced that would be more. $$$$ etc. etc. So I feared the worst.
Meanwhile the power came back on. Dan called and said he was returning to class. He now felt "better..." Arghhhh.... I'm pretty sure he just went to the clinic to poop.
Anyway, I sat down to sew again and Ken called to say that he had a call from the bank to let us know that our checking account was overdrawn and we had until 4:00 their time to make a deposit. Ordinarily this wouldn't be a big deal. I can wire funds from my account here in Scottsdale to this account in Florida. But I was still waiting for the garage door guy.
BUT THERE IS GOOD NEWS - The Project Runway Marathon started at 12:00 and I had six new blank video cassettes! I set the first one to record the first two episodes. The garage door guy arrived and fixed everything for $314.00.
I headed to the bank and transferred funds by 12:30 my time. That's 2:30 their time - plenty of room before my 2:00 deadline. Things were improving....
But of course there was more to come.
My oldest son Matthew has been planning a trip to Florida to visit my mom for Spring Break. He has had airline tickets (he and his sweetheart Kelly are traveling together) since January. Well he called to ask if he could leave Kelly's dog here with me.
Please understand that we have never in 25 years of marriage had a dog. My husband absolutely forbids it. He won't even change the dirty diaper of his own child. He does not want to clean up after a dog. Matthew knows this. He had two months to figure out what to do with the dog. But he irresponsibly waited until the last minute. This way he can blame me. I can feel guilty. I'm going to be in Los Angeles with Kaitlin over Spring Break and I won't even be here to take care of the dog. Whatever.
At about 4:00 I called the bank to make sure the money had arrived...but I still had a negative balance. The bank was closed. I left a message. At least I had four episodes of Project Runway on tape. Not everything was bad.
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2 comments:
Laura Kluvo, you are a truly a renaissance woman. Not only can you sew, you are an excellent writer, have you ever thought of getting a literary agent?
Kristina I am so impressed that someone actually read this entire post. I try to keep my entries brief - with photos - and I try to keep it sewing-related. This time I just had to tell the story. Maybe I should do more entries like this one. What do you think?
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