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Day 1137: When it Rains
Sep. 28th, 2014 01:02 pmDay 1137: When it Rains
It pours.
Or rather, it floods the window well of the basement window, spills over into the room, floods along the floor to the adjoining bathroom and office, and results in me, Cody, and Angela mopping and vacuuming and sweeping when Angela and I should have been sitting on the couch watching Women's Conference and basking the company of well-behaved puppy footwarmers.
All things being equal, this week was pretty light at work. Only one day of real court. The rest of it was me hiding in places reading an epic piece of SPN fanfic, reading Unmade by Sarah Rees Brennan, and wanting to cry. Cody and I spent evenings either ripping carpet out of the basement or being overwhelmed by the disaster that is our basement at the moment.
I ended up making a four-hour roundtrip to check on one of my kids after she sounded so bad on the phone. As a courtesy to my coworkers, since it is such a long drive, I offered to check on some of their kids as well. Their kids seemed to be doing well. My kid greeted me with a hug. She was so happy to see me. I wonder how many people in her life have promised to come see her and then...don't. Most of the girls I went to visit have relatives who come see them, but my kid had none. When I was doing Constitution Day with those kids, they asked me if orphanages were as scary in real life as they were on TV, and I told them I didn't know because I'd never been to an orphanage.
To my kid who's an orphan, that group home is her orphanage.
I took some of the girls out for soda, because it's one of the privileges of being a guardian (although me showing up in jeans and Chucks and a casual top convinced most of the girls at the home that I was a caseworker). On the way back, one of them found my iPod and asked if I had rap on it. I played them the Flobots (they looked kinda horrified at violins in rap). Next time, I'll play them some Dessa.
On Friday, Cody and I went to the dollar theatre and saw Edge of Tomorrow, and then we went to the Nickelcade. I liked the experience a whole lot more than the usual dinner and movie we do for our date nights. I also miss playing DDR and Guitar Hero. (One of my kids was recommended Guitar Hero as a training game on a neuropsych eval, so the next time I visit, I think Guitar Hero is going to happen.)
On Saturday, we woke up, ran errands - Ivy needed booster shots - and then came home and commenced ripping out carpet, since it wasn't ever going to dry and tile is easier to clean up. (We had two nasty dog messes on the carpet this week, and that pretty much sealed the deal on no carpet for us.) Angela and I were planning on watching Women's Conference together. I had it streaming on my phone in my pocket while we worked, but due to the vacuuming and other loud noise we really didn't hear a lot of it. (Dingo made a daring escape in the rain yesterday, resulting in me being damp and cold the rest of the night after we chased him down). Angela's mop broke from all the mopping up we had to do, which was absolutely no bueno. Then, since the power to the garage and laundry room went out, we had to head to Home Depot and spend an hour getting supplies so my brother-in-law could help Cody fix the problem.
The lights in the laundry room are out, which isn't a super big deal, since I'm used to doing laundry by flashlight at this point. The dryer still works...but the washer does not. So now we are rationing clean clothes. I may have to do some emergency washing by hand. The crew at Home Depot were super patient about the fact that we arrived at nine and when they were closing at ten we had bought half of the electrical supplies aisle. A nice elderly gentleman helped Cody find supplies, so Angela and I wandered around and looked at the lights, the kitchens, and the "Wall pops" (Angela opined that my taste in home decor is very like my mother's, except when it isn't). (Angela and I also agreed that while the fairy wall pops were cute, the glow-in-the-dark outlines on the fairies were scary.)
After Home Depot, we were all tired and hungry, so we decided to go to El Taco Burrito. We got there half an hour before closing and it looked like they were closing up, but then the cook (the same man who'd caught us in the parking lot and lured us in the first time we went) popped his head out of the kitchen and waved us in, said they had lots of food. And they did. It was so worth it. Lots of food for a seriously good price, and then we split a fried ice cream (Angela actually liked it; apparently her previous experiences with fried ice cream were not so good)
And then we dropped Angela back at her car (with a replacement mop) and collapsed in bed. Cody is outside right now with Wayne fixing things. I prepped my Sunday school lesson, have been keeping an eye on Dingo, and am contemplating my fate for the rest of the day. I reckon I will attempt to listen to lady conference again and maybe work on some Christmas presents.
The worst part of this week? Was getting a call from my mom that some crazy dude had sent her a threatening letter attached to a defamatory blog post about my dad that demands he be deported post-haste, or a swarm of special forces agents will descend on my mother's house and kidnap my dad, possibly do him violence, and then deport him. Of course, this is problematic, because my mom lives alone and this dude has her address and if they show up and my dad isn't there, I'm worried about my mom. Also, my dad is an American citizen, so he can't get deported. And everything in the online article was crap. I brainstormed with many of my lawyer friends to see what the best course of action is. Good thing I know many lawyers.
Urgh. My life. Here's to hoping next week is better.
Except it probably won't be, because one of my coworkers is taking time off in the middle of a 3-day trial, leaving the rest of us to cover it. Three lawyers for three days off trial. It's going to be the worst round-robin story ever.
It pours.
Or rather, it floods the window well of the basement window, spills over into the room, floods along the floor to the adjoining bathroom and office, and results in me, Cody, and Angela mopping and vacuuming and sweeping when Angela and I should have been sitting on the couch watching Women's Conference and basking the company of well-behaved puppy footwarmers.
All things being equal, this week was pretty light at work. Only one day of real court. The rest of it was me hiding in places reading an epic piece of SPN fanfic, reading Unmade by Sarah Rees Brennan, and wanting to cry. Cody and I spent evenings either ripping carpet out of the basement or being overwhelmed by the disaster that is our basement at the moment.
I ended up making a four-hour roundtrip to check on one of my kids after she sounded so bad on the phone. As a courtesy to my coworkers, since it is such a long drive, I offered to check on some of their kids as well. Their kids seemed to be doing well. My kid greeted me with a hug. She was so happy to see me. I wonder how many people in her life have promised to come see her and then...don't. Most of the girls I went to visit have relatives who come see them, but my kid had none. When I was doing Constitution Day with those kids, they asked me if orphanages were as scary in real life as they were on TV, and I told them I didn't know because I'd never been to an orphanage.
To my kid who's an orphan, that group home is her orphanage.
I took some of the girls out for soda, because it's one of the privileges of being a guardian (although me showing up in jeans and Chucks and a casual top convinced most of the girls at the home that I was a caseworker). On the way back, one of them found my iPod and asked if I had rap on it. I played them the Flobots (they looked kinda horrified at violins in rap). Next time, I'll play them some Dessa.
On Friday, Cody and I went to the dollar theatre and saw Edge of Tomorrow, and then we went to the Nickelcade. I liked the experience a whole lot more than the usual dinner and movie we do for our date nights. I also miss playing DDR and Guitar Hero. (One of my kids was recommended Guitar Hero as a training game on a neuropsych eval, so the next time I visit, I think Guitar Hero is going to happen.)
On Saturday, we woke up, ran errands - Ivy needed booster shots - and then came home and commenced ripping out carpet, since it wasn't ever going to dry and tile is easier to clean up. (We had two nasty dog messes on the carpet this week, and that pretty much sealed the deal on no carpet for us.) Angela and I were planning on watching Women's Conference together. I had it streaming on my phone in my pocket while we worked, but due to the vacuuming and other loud noise we really didn't hear a lot of it. (Dingo made a daring escape in the rain yesterday, resulting in me being damp and cold the rest of the night after we chased him down). Angela's mop broke from all the mopping up we had to do, which was absolutely no bueno. Then, since the power to the garage and laundry room went out, we had to head to Home Depot and spend an hour getting supplies so my brother-in-law could help Cody fix the problem.
The lights in the laundry room are out, which isn't a super big deal, since I'm used to doing laundry by flashlight at this point. The dryer still works...but the washer does not. So now we are rationing clean clothes. I may have to do some emergency washing by hand. The crew at Home Depot were super patient about the fact that we arrived at nine and when they were closing at ten we had bought half of the electrical supplies aisle. A nice elderly gentleman helped Cody find supplies, so Angela and I wandered around and looked at the lights, the kitchens, and the "Wall pops" (Angela opined that my taste in home decor is very like my mother's, except when it isn't). (Angela and I also agreed that while the fairy wall pops were cute, the glow-in-the-dark outlines on the fairies were scary.)
After Home Depot, we were all tired and hungry, so we decided to go to El Taco Burrito. We got there half an hour before closing and it looked like they were closing up, but then the cook (the same man who'd caught us in the parking lot and lured us in the first time we went) popped his head out of the kitchen and waved us in, said they had lots of food. And they did. It was so worth it. Lots of food for a seriously good price, and then we split a fried ice cream (Angela actually liked it; apparently her previous experiences with fried ice cream were not so good)
And then we dropped Angela back at her car (with a replacement mop) and collapsed in bed. Cody is outside right now with Wayne fixing things. I prepped my Sunday school lesson, have been keeping an eye on Dingo, and am contemplating my fate for the rest of the day. I reckon I will attempt to listen to lady conference again and maybe work on some Christmas presents.
The worst part of this week? Was getting a call from my mom that some crazy dude had sent her a threatening letter attached to a defamatory blog post about my dad that demands he be deported post-haste, or a swarm of special forces agents will descend on my mother's house and kidnap my dad, possibly do him violence, and then deport him. Of course, this is problematic, because my mom lives alone and this dude has her address and if they show up and my dad isn't there, I'm worried about my mom. Also, my dad is an American citizen, so he can't get deported. And everything in the online article was crap. I brainstormed with many of my lawyer friends to see what the best course of action is. Good thing I know many lawyers.
Urgh. My life. Here's to hoping next week is better.
Except it probably won't be, because one of my coworkers is taking time off in the middle of a 3-day trial, leaving the rest of us to cover it. Three lawyers for three days off trial. It's going to be the worst round-robin story ever.
