Another week has gone by with very little stitching being done. And I really could have used the blood pressure lowering benefits of said stitching since this week has been quite the wild ride.
...Monday, Labor Day, was deceptively relaxing. If I'd had even an inkling of what was to come, I'd have left town.
...Tuesday started with one near death experience brought on by an impatient teen age girl driving like a bat out of hell in the southbound lane, while chatting on a cell. It seems she didn't want to wait for the person in front of her to turn into the driveway of the H... H... Hospital so she swung, at high speed, into my northbound lane, missing me by approximately 3 inches as I swerved to my right, ending up with the two passenger side wheels on the sidewalk ... which was free of pedestrians else I wouldn't have had anywhere to go [happily for me, most suburbanites have forgotten how to walk]. Luckily the curb is rather low at the point directly across from the hospital: so no bent rims or exploding tires. I pulled over into a bus stop a few hundred yards down the road and the guy behind me pulled in as well to see how I was doing. He apologized that he hadn't been able to get the kid's license plate # but it all happened so quickly. At the rate she was going, she had probably gotten to her high school class 4 miles away by the time we pulled over ... okay that's a bit of an exaggeration but not by much. The day did not improve as it went on.
... Wednesday I had to drive down to the local bulk mailing post office where I dealt with the usual bureacratic rigamarole [PO employee: you've got an outdated form ... Me: when did you change the form ... PO employee: we change the form at least four times a year ... Me: why ... PO employee: because we like to mess with our customers, that's why - okay he didn't really say that, but that's what he meant ... Me: Where can I get a copy of the new form ... PO employee: online ... Me: Gee, I don't happen to have my pc with me, could you perhaps print one out ... PO employee: We are not required to do that ... the conversation got ugly at that point]. To make my day truly perfect, I arrived home from work to discover my kitchen floor under about an inch of water ... the filter leading to the refrigerator [with automatic ice-maker] had split at some point during the day. It took me a wretched fifteen minutes to access the valve and get everything turned off and another two hours to mop up and clean up ... just what I wanted to do after a long day at work. I then stripped to the skin ... do you know how difficult it is to pull off a sopping wet slim line denim jumper over your head? It fits loosely and modestly enough when dry but, when wet, it becomes a straight jacket.
... Thursday: daylight revealed that my one year old laminate kitchen floor was coming up at two seams after the flood and that the dining room rug was damp. I had to leave work to meet the plumber back at the house just as a volunteer was arriving to help with textbook inventory. Had to send the volunteer home and didn't have time to do the inventory myself when I returned from seeing the plumber. Also got some bad health news about a family member ... all fixable but tedious and requiring major life style shifts in eating and food planning in my household. Also received a phone call from a catechist I thought was going to be teaching a second grade indicating that she couldn't teach after all ... this was only just balanced out by the fact that I was able to recruit my sixth and last 8th grade catechist. So I am still two catechists short [a 2nd and a 5th grade] and classes start a week from Monday.
... Friday: God took pity on me and sent one of my long time catechists and three students to the rescue ... they did the textbook inventory and a few other office tasks while I continued to work on catechist handbooks. The inventory revealed that the textbook company had failed to send 11 catechist manuals between grades 1-6. Apparently, they sent only the complimentary manuals [1 free with every 30 texts ordered] but ignored the additional manuals I ordered and was prepared to pay for. I called them and asked for one-day delivery only to be informed that this is their busy season and they don't offer rapid delivery service at this time of year. I pointed out that it was their error that put me in a bind. That didn't seem to make a difference to the charming customer service rep on the other end of the phone line. The only other cloud on the horizon was that I still have some 50 families not yet registered [registration packets went out last April and were due by June 30]. Late registration closes Monday 9/13. I am betting that most of these characters show up to register at 4:30pm Monday.
... Saturday: Tried to call the installers of the laminate flooring to set up an appointment to have the floor repaired ... all I got was the answering machine. Continued to air dry [with fans and open windows] the dining room carpet ... no doubt there will be mold issues ... but I don't know what else to do at this point. I can't afford to replace the carpeting. Did two weeks worth of laundry that had accumulated while I dealt with all the other issues plaguing me at this very busy time of my professional year. To put this all in perspective and remind myself that there is a world beyond my petty concerns, I spent some time following the news of the 9/11 observances and controversies here in the metro NYC area.
... Sunday: dear God, tomorrow is Monday and I have to start all over again!
3 comments:
Oh my goodness, what a horrible week. I hope things get better. There has to be a silver lining somewhere.
Sending positive thoughts that your week will be better this one!
What an awful week! Hope things are better this week.
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