Beat Me, Beat Me

Christ!

Lately I feel like just living is a full-time job, and everything else is extra work.

I was notified my car was ready to be picked up today. I seriously thought about taking a bus to the body shop around 2:30 today, picking up the car and then driving home. txrad could come home when he was ready. The only thing that stopped me was uncertainty about how far the bus stop would be from the body shop. Since it's located on a freeway access road, those bus stops can be dicey and the last thing I wanted was a 3/4 mile hike in 90 degree heat while lugging a laptop.

I had the laptop because I was planning to work from home on Friday. I could also take the car we're currently driving to get the inspection done which I noticed yesterday morning is about 5 months past the expiration date. Those were my plans which have now been quickly dashed.

We did leave work at 4:00 to go pick up the car. As we pulled into the parking lot of the body shop I did notice there was a bus stop there. While I was inside getting the paperwork, txrad was outside inspecting the car. He found a problem. Although the car looked showroom new, even the tires were cleaned and polished, there was a very small but extremely obvious flaw on the trunk panel. So I decided to leave the car for them to fix the problem. After all, the car should look at least as good when we drive away as it did before we were rear-ended. However, that decision has now had a domino effect on my Friday plans. It makes no sense for me to work from home Friday morning if txrad has to take the car to work. I would not be able to go get the inspection done, nor would I be able to go get paint or supplies in the afternoon when I start working on the projects.

But how glad am I now that I did not take the bus to pick up the car?

We drove on to Home Depot to complete the carpet transaction now that they had adjusted the measurements to reflect only the living room portion of the project. While I was waiting on the sales person to become available, txrad called my attention to a poster advertising a 10% discount AND free premium padding upgrade on all special order carpets... effective TODAY.

Yes, that's correct. It was two days ago when I went to purchase the living room carpet and could not because they had included the den in the calculations which I had decided not to carpet just yet. So rather than feel like I'd wasted another trip to Home Depot, we did go ahead and place the order for the two bedrooms, six closets and hallway. It seems to me, given the fact that the sales clerk knew we were coming back in a day or two to complete the orders, she could have said, "why don't you wait and order it all at once on Thursday since we're going to be having a 10% off sale." That would have been the nice thing to do, and it would have saved us enough to perhaps cover the cost of paint I need for the rest of the house.

Whatever.

One bit of good news is that I did buy some knee pads at Home Depot for use during the remaining painting of the baseboards. Made in China of course.

I'm tired, and now I have to go in to work tomorrow, and go out at some point to get the inspection done. I guess I'll work from home on Monday instead. At this point, if I can just get to the office and then to a Quik Lube joint for the inspection before getting pulled over, I'll feel lucky for a change.

I can't help but wonder how long it's going to be before I feel like I can put some things behind me. Right now, I just feel like I'm suffocating. I have apologized to txrad for my wild mood-swings and being generally cranky lately, but shit, who wouldn't be?

Don't even get me started on my real work issues lately, and the things I am far behind in dealing with regarding my failed company and the relentless calls from creditors. I'm amazed I'm still sane. And that, my friends, is just my opinion.