Fourinarow.net

Oh, the guilt!

On Monday, I was late picking Maria up from school.  Not very late, mind you.  About 5 minutes late.  But, when you’re late, they take your child to the office until you deign to show up.

I was actually at the school early… so early, in fact, the gate to the parking lot was closed.  So, to kill time, I swung through the Starbucks drive-thru for a skinny latte (still on The Beach, you know) and chocolate chip cookies (for the kids).  Only I didn’t swing very fast.  There was a line.  A very slooooooowwww moving line.  By the time I got outta there and back over to the school, I was late.  And, late for a pretty selfish reason.

Leaving the telltale Starbucks cup behind in the car, Luke, Sam and I parked and climbed the stairs to the office.  There was my poor little Maria.  Sitting all alone in a chair waiting for me.  (The office people were there - who are wonderful - but no other kids.)  I apologized profusely to Maria and to the office staff and herded everyone out the door.  At the van I explained to Maria what had happened and offered her a chocolate chip cookie.  “That’s okay, Mommy,” she told me.  I was happy to be forgiven, but still felt bad.  She looked so small and lonely in that office chair waiting for me…

Fast forward to today.  I just picked Maria up from school.  Watched her as she walked out the doors and looked around slowly for me.  Saw the uncertain-ness in her face until she spotted me and smiled big.

As she climbed into the van she said, “Thanks for picking me up right on time today, Mommy.”

Oh, how it hurts.

After the aggravations of the morning, I loaded The Little Boys into the car to go pick up Maria. Here’s what I saw when I opened the van door:

Jack’s doggie and Maria’s bear.  I guess he buckled them in before jumping out at drop-off time.

Since this is a family-oriented blog, I hate to drop any f-bombs, but boy, am I past my limit right now.

The bathtub liner that can be installed in one day… the one that looks as good or better than a new tub?  The one that costs less than ripping out the old tub and replacing it, the floor tile and the wall tile?  That liner?  It was coming today!  The salesman came yesterday morning, took all his very precise measurements, took my money and promised installation this morning.

I couldn’t wait!!!  Yipeee!!!  One fully functional bathroom in our house!  Today!

Well.  Guess what the $%#@#! happened.  The guys came before 9 this morning to install it.  Before hauling all their supplies in, they took some more very precise measurements.  And determinined that it wouldn’t f*cking fit.  Oh, they could put it in, but then they wouldn’t be able to get back out of the bathroom because the door wouldn’t be able to open.  Lots of har-hars on their part at that and lots of hair ripping on my part.  I’m now as bald as a cueball.

Oh, and it gets even better!  We paid upfront.  All of it (I know - please, please don’t say anything.)  A check.  24 hours ago.  When I called the company to officially “cancel the order” and get my money back, they said it would take 10 BUSINESS days.  I. Don’t. Think. So.

Normally I’m very nice to strangers.  Normally I’m hesitant to demand things.  Normally I just accept what a service person tells me.  Not today.  Today, I demanded to speak to a supervisor.  I spoke to the supervisor and demanded my money back NOW and not in 10 business days.  (I did tell the woman that I knew it wasn’t her fault but that I was very mad.)  Then, I called my salesperson and explained (as politely as I could) what had transpired and told him I Could. Not. Wait. to get my money back.

Said salesperson is currently on his way to Wisconson.  Which means he can’t do anything today.  BUT he’ll be back tomorrow and he still has my check in hand.  He will bring it to me.  Thank God.  (By the way - this is a large, reputable company - not a fly-by-night or anything, so it wasn’t totally stupid of me to give them my money.  Okay.  Maybe it was.  Whatever.)

So.  We’re now back at having to rip out the old tub and replace it completly.  To the tune of $2 to $3K.

The first floor tub still isn’t working properly either - more parts are needed.  Parts not covered by our home warranty.

All of this, I must add, is happening while I’m on The Beach.  South Beach.  Not the vacation spot (don’t I wish!!!) but on the diet.  Which, of course, means NO ALCOHOL.  None.  Not a drop.

I may have to install a punching bag in the house as an alternative to alcohol.  But where oh, where could I put it?  Hmmmm.  I know!  How about the upstairs bathroom?  It’s not like it’s being used or anything.

It’s a good thing the woman who sold us this house lives far, far away.

I was just reading the bulletin from the parish down the street.  (Ours isn’t the one just down the street, but that’s a whole other story). Anyway, I thought this was worth repeating.

What Would Happen if We Treated Our
Bibles Like We Treat OurCell Phones?
What if we carried it around in our purse or pockets?
What if we flipped through it several times a day?
What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?
What if we used it to receive messages from the text?
What if we treated it like we couldn’t live without it?
What if we gave it to kids as gifts?
What if we used it when we traveled?
What if we used it in case of emergencies?
This is something to make you go…hmmmm…where is my
Bible?
Oh, and one more thing. Unlike our cell phone, we don’t
have to worry about our Bible being disconnected, because
Jesus already paid His bill. And no dropped calls!
Makes you stop and think, “Where are my priorities?”

Our neighbors might not think so, but I’ve really been trying hard to keep it under wraps that the Clampet family that has moved into Casa Amarilla here in Chicagoland.

Despite my efforts, though, I think we might be leaving too many clues.

Like all the yelling that goes on with four little kids and one big, mean mommy each time we leave the house to go somewhere.

And all the yelling that occurs between the van and the house upon our return.

Or the chasing of the dog parade that occurs occassionally several times a day when someone “mistakenly” lets Cheerio out of the house.

Or all the beer bottles in our recycle bin. (At least it’s good beer.)

Or all the screaming, crying and carrying-on that goes with a fall from the bicycle due to a sister’s meanness.  (Or not.  It was her fault. No it wasn’t. Yes, it was. No, it wasn’t.  Yes, it was…)

Or the dirty, bare-footed 2-year-old who doesn’t mind stripping off his pants and diaper for laughs.  In the yard.

Or the mad-faced 3-year-old who is always threatening (loudly) to send someone to jail (when, in fact, it looks like it may be him that faces jail time one day).

To top things off, we discovered last night that we’ve had our blinds turned the wrong way since moving in three weeks ago.  (Have I mentioned that there’s a window in the bathroom?  And that our neighbors are very, very close?)

We’re adjusting.  Slowly.  The kids, thankfully, have survived all the craziness of the past few months with barely the bat of an eye.  Makes me wish I was still a kid.  But, then, I’d have to go to school.

The guys are here again today making small repairs to the house - the things listed on the inspection report that the lovely seller refused to have fixed.  Things are… coming along.

The washer is still trying to fly away and the tub upstairs still needs to be replaced… to the tune of $2000.  OUCH.

Moving on, though.

As we’re living in an older home, there are things that we are doing now that we haven’t had to in the recent past.  Such as, showering in a tub, rather than a dedicated shower.  (Even before having children, I never had the time for a bath, so who needs ‘em?  I’d much rather have a nice, big shower.  But, I digress…)

Here at Casa Amarilla, we’re relegated to showering in a tub.  Not a big deal.  Millions of people do this, right?  So how are these millions of people keeping water from dripping all over the floor?  Please, please, answer this question!

Water as been spraying off of the person showering, onto the tile walls, dripping down the walls and onto the tub, then sliding along the grout and down onto the floor.  This creates very LARGE puddles on the floor at both ends of the tub.

Securing the shower curtain along the edge of the tub and wall doesn’t work - the water still collects from everywhere in the tub and then travels along the edge where the tub and wall meet, drips over the edge and onto the floor.  It is absolutely MADDENING.  I step out of the shower and into large, cold, slippery puddles.  We’ve been going through a bathmat per shower.

I have found splash guards, but guess what?  These won’t work for us.  The tile wall and tub don’t meet in a perfect 90 degree angle.  If we tried to use one of these, it would adhere to the tub fairly levelly, but then there would be a huge gap between it and the tile wall, defeating the intent.

I have lived in homes with shower/tubs.  As a child, in college, after college.  As a matter of fact, except for the last two houses, that’s all I’ve lived with.  I do not, for the life of me, however, remember this issue. A minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things, I guess, but still MADDENING.  There HAS to be a solution!!!

Sounds pretty, doesn’t it? Don’t forget to roll those l’s when you say it.

I figure I need a pretty label for this house. It sounds nice and warm, sunny and happy.

Something to combat the dark cloud hovering above us. Which Will. Not. Go. Away. Each time we see some blue sky peaking through, it disappears in the blink of an eye.

So. Yesterday I called the plumbing company because I hadn’t heard back yet on when to expect my new downstairs bathtub parts, new upstairs toilet and new upstairs bathtub. The woman I spoke with told me she’d look it up and call me right back. Ha.

Next thing I know, Dan is calling me to say he just got off the phone with someone from our home warranty company who informed him that bathtubs are NOT COVERED (per section such-and-such of our warranty.)

Apparently we have the nice, expensive home warranty that covers everything, including pre-exisiting conditions. Everything. Except bathtubs. And their parts. Not to mention the labor to install said tubs and parts.

It would have to be the upstairs tub that needs to be completely replaced. A new tub shouldn’t be all that expensive… it’s just the removal of the existing cast iron tub (which involves a sledge hammer) and the installation of the new tub that will keep us from retiring before we’re in our 90’s.

I think if you combined all three bathrooms together at this point we still wouldn’t have one completely functional bathroom. But who needs a functional bathroom?

Maybe the bathrooms in this house are jinxed. I’ve mentioned, haven’t I, that the upstairs laundry room is in the bathroom?

Last night, while cooking dinner, I heard what sounded like a helicopter landing on our roof. I asked Dan if he heard it. Unconcerned, he assumed it was the kids making the racket. I knew not even my kids could have produced this noise, so I went upstairs to investigate and found that the noise was coming from the washing machine. Well good. Who needs clean clothes when you can’t take a bath anyway?

Let’s see… what else is going on. Oh, yeah. Dan’s work car was ticketed last night because we forgot to get it off the street before going to bed. Now there’s a good way to spend $25!

Today our big, dark cloud opened up and it’s raining. Great weather for getting the kids to school, let me tell you. It’s a preschool day for Luke, which means that I couldn’t just drop Maria and Jack off, keeping the number of drenched family members to two. Nope. We had to park and all of us had to get out and get drenched.

Maria did have her very stylish purple leopard skin umbrella keeping her fairly dry. And, I did have a bigger umbrella, but it wasn’t very effective. The wind was constantly trying to blow it from my hand and when you’re trying to hold it with one hand, push a stroller with the other and herd three kids, an umbrella is just a big pain in the ass. I guess I need to start shopping for rain gear. One of the preschool moms that actually came prepared for the weather said we’d be needing it. A lot. Yipee. At least we have plenty of room in our new house to store a bunch of rain gear (and all we’ll need for the upcoming winter). What else would you do with the bathrooms?

Well, I’ve got to run, but please come visit when you can. Just be sure to bring money for parking, quarters for the laundromat, lots of deodorant (depending on your length of stay), a plunger and your rain gear.

The following conversation occurred between Lukie and Maria on the way home from school today.

Luke:  I got in trouble once.

Maria: What did you do?

Luke: I ate a tree.

Maria: You ate a tree?

Luke: Yeah.

Maria: You got into trouble because you ate part of a tree?

Luke:  No.  I ate the whole thing.

Maria: Really?!?

Luke:  Yeah.

Maria:  Is this some kinda joke or something?

Luke: No.

?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Today was Lukie’s first real day of preschool!  Last week, he informed me that he was to little to go to school.  “Look at me.  I’m little.  I can’t go to school,” he told me.

However, after meeting his teachers last week during orientation, he couldn’t wait to start school.  This morning he woke up, got dressed and came down for breakfast all on his own. 

After dropping off Maria and Jack (who barely waved good-bye), we walked into Lukie’s classroom, where he immediately ran into the arms of one teacher, then the other.  He found his name, hung up his backpack and sat on the carpet, ready to go.

Let’s just hope his teacher don’t do anything to make him mad…

…a post where I’m not bitching about something. Not that I couldn’t, but I think it’s time for a change of pace.

The plumber came today and all will be fixed. We have a home warranty, so we don’t have to worry about the cost. Whoohoooo!

My dear friend Troy’s comment on my last post reminded me that things could be a lot worse. Dan could be in Afghanistan for 15 months, for instance. Troy has three little ones with another on the way and is doing it ALL ALONE! FOR 15 MONTHS! I don’t even like it when Dan’s late coming home. So prayers for Troy’s family

Finally, there’s the school my children are attending. We scored BIG there. Made the right decision. It’s a wonderful school, the parents are so friendly I’ve wondered if they come from a different planet and the teachers are outstanding. All three kids LOVE their new school. Luke’s official start date isn’t until Tuesday, but he had an orientation yesterday. When we dropped Maria and Jack off this morning, he sulked for an hour because he couldn’t go to school.