Stupid Stick

Today I got hit with the stupid stick. Repeatedly. And hard. Below is just part of the many things that went awry.

First, a little background: Normally, I don't work summers. Or, to be exact, I work one day a month in July and August to protect my benefits. Before you get all, Oh it must be nice!, remember that those "days off" are reflected in my paycheck. This year I am working Tuesdays and Thursdays in July and August. Nancy is sticking with the we-don't-DO-summers plan (oh sure, she says it's because of Ken... ahem... okay, it's because of Ken).

Because it's summer school, the kids are only available for a shortened day. Also, I'm down to about half of my classes. Of those, not everybody is ready yet.

I've got a buttload of jobs waiting to be done. Big jobs. Short turnaround times.

So my sense of urgency was already heightened. Add to that the employer who was giving jobs to two classes today couldn't get their stuff ready until after 10:30.

Once I had the first job and was heading out to Chino, another employer called. She was desperate. I stopped on the way.

After getting the second job from the first employer, another class called. She had paperwork ready. She wanted work. She was desperate for something to do with the kids since her class had been "grounded" by the department head.

I stopped and gave Desperate Teacher the job from Desperate Employer. Then I was on to the "second" class. Their day was almost over. They'd been looking for me for almost two hours.

At that school I had to drive my personal vehicle onto campus. Because of construction, I had to go about a quarter of a mile out of my way to get in and to get out.

This is relevant, why?

Because half a mile is about how far I was from the nearest gas station when my car display started flashing, "Pull over safely now. Pull over safely now." And then it died.

Sure, my car has a gas gauge.

And yeah, it was showing, "60 miles from E" when I left home this morning.

Mm-hmm, it is about 45 miles from my door to Grandma's.

And yeah, that first school in Chino and the one at the end of the day are roughly 28 miles apart if I go straight from one to the other.

So there I sat in my hybrid on the side of the road, calling roadside assistance through my cell phone company.

"Yes ma'am, how can I help you today?"

"I need the stupid service, please"

Clearly nervous about heading in the wrong direction: "Uh. You... you me... you mean you need yoouurrr... keys... your... uh... car... unlocked?"

Pondering the fact that there are a multitude of stupid services and wondering how long before I try them all... again: "No. I need gas. I have a hybrid and I ran out of gas anyway. And it has a display to tell you exactly how many miles until you're on E."

Not sure why I always have to make sure the person on the other end knows the depth of my idiocraty (yep, now I'm making my own stupid words, too), but I do.

Apparently I was contagious, because she contacted a service company that was about 30 miles away.

While waiting, I rolled my windows down only part way because I needed to make a bunch of calls. Some work-related. One to Mom to see if she could get Corey to his counseling appointment at 2:45.

Once the seven minutes of electric power turned off after the car died, I couldn't get the windows down any further. It was 95 degrees outside and I was stuck on a major thoroughfare in a no parking zone.

When the guy finally arrived in all the glory of his seven hairs and three teeth, he asked, "So, the gauge not working on that thing?"

"Nope. It's fine. I just got hit with the stupid stick."

"Huh?"

"Yes, exactly."

When I finally dragged myself back to my office this afternoon, I passed by a conversation in progress between my boss and someone else.

My boss said, "She has doctor's appointments! Three of them!"

I breezed by saying, "And they're all mental health, too. What do you expect? I've got a teen, a toddler, a puppy and a new house. I'm doing the best I can, people!"

Next up was the reason I even went to the office in the first place. Mileage for June had to be submitted today because it's the end of the fiscal year. Last month's mileage was my biggest ever. We can really use that money right now.

But apparently we'll have to wait, because I noticed that I didn't change my entire address on the mileage form. Everything is correct except the street name. Guh!

As I was trying to resolve the mileage problem, my cell phone kept ringing. The second time it was Mom, I answered it.

"I just got a call from Corey. He's already almost done. His appointment wasn't at 2:45, it was at 2:15."

So the good news is this: I got my car washed. I made it through the day. And I am off tomorrow! Yay hooray!

Is It Hot In Here Or Is It Just My Temper?

I cannot wait until the whole house-buying process is over. Not that it's been bad, mind ya, it's just that we can't do anything with the computer until we take care of the house. Truly, the process has been reasonably stress-free, all things considered.

Had one house sold before we put in an offer because it was too freaking awesome to wait for us.
Found an equally awesome home and got it.
Found a busted water main.
Seller fixed it (god I love our real estate agent!!).
Appraiser is requiring a stove and dishwasher be installed prior to the loan funding.
Sister has offered to loan us her dishwasher. It leaks, so we'll rent one if we have to instead.
Realtor is loaning us a range he happens to have in storage and he got us $700 toward appliances from the seller.

Dave says that for every problem there is a solution. We just have to find it. As he also says, home buying isn't stressful if everybody does their jobs. Did you hear that, TOM?!

Argh!!

We all have our jobs. One of Tom's is to deal with money from our investments. We've known for a month that we'll be signing all the docs about a week before closing. We knew a week ago that we'd have to have a cashier's check with the rest of our down payment. We knew by Wednesday that we should be ready early- to mid-next week. So please explain to me (anyone? anyone? do I hear crickets?!?) why he waited until yesterday morning to request the transfer?

So yesterday morning when I was making sure his check had hit our bank account, I was thrilled beyond belief to see that it was several thousand dollars more than he makes. I was even more thrilled to discover that our tax refund (thank you Madelyn and Corey) had come in a week sooner than we'd anticipated.

This meant that we wouldn't have to borrow a range or rent a dishwasher, we were going to buy our appliances this weekend. No worrying about credit card purchases throwing us out of escrow. Blam. Done. Resolved. Next?

What's that, Tom? As I was on the phone telling you the good news, you were on the computer transferring money? It's not going to be there until Wednesday or Thursday of next week? Even though transferring money from these accounts has always taken 3-4 business days, you thought it would be quicker this time?!? WHAT?!?

*deep breath* Ohmm.

So I got off the phone extremely quickly, cursed him with some very foul language, apologized to Nance (who was laughing... she knows the deal) and spent the next ten minutes reminding myself that it was all going to work out. Does my face seem red to you?

And while I'm on a (hopefully rare) Tom rant, I have to say one more thing. He's got a cold. Certain people should just have to go to a cabin or motel or something in times of illness to get away from those they love and who love them. It's a freaking cold, you didn't lose a limb! No fever, so all of your brain cells are in tact! So blow your freaking nose, would ya?! If you'd do that, you'd speed the healing process by ridding your body of the germy yuck and also you'd COUGH LESS. Plus, I don't want to eat with you while you're sniffle-cough-cough-sniffling. And no, I don't want you to make dinner.

*sigh* Ohmm.