And Then There Are OTHER Days In the Life

Hoo boy, what a morning! Yesterday was nice and calm and relaxed, and this morning I was rarin' to go, knowing what was on my plate and how it was going to happen. But I spoke (or at least thought) too soon. Car license  tabs are due, so the plan is to get Abby off to school, Lizzy to my mom's, car emissions checked, get tabs, clean out car and run it through the car wash for a date with my dad tonight, come home, hunt for a job, clean house, get ready to go. I thought I might get held up a bit at the emissions place or the tabs place because it is the last day of the month, but that was planned into the schedule. And the fact that I don't get my UI check until tomorrow (because yesterday was a holiday) can be dealt with too.

Of course the schedule assumed that my car passed the emissions test. Which it did not. Take deep breaths, Jenn... you have no money (over and above this week's pay from UI; that goes to rent) but there are always ways around this sort of thing. Maybe the nice folks at Goodyear can give you a fifty-bucks-a-week plan or something. No, actually, they can't, but my mom - being a mom - leapt to the rescue; she can put the Goodyear bill on her credit card and I can pay her back in weekly installments. Whew. Okay, so change of plans then - take failed emissions results to tabs place and get a 3-day pass, fill the car with gas and go through the drive-through car wash as planned, then do the vacuuming out of the car and head to Goodyear to have a chat.

While I was vacuuming the car it started to rain.

The car is not clean inside; that would take a carpet steam and an act of Congress (or maybe God) but it no longer contains an entire forest's worth of pine needles or a grocery aisle of the little wrappers on juice box straws. And I worked it out with Goodyear; Lizzy and I will meet Mom there tomorrow morning, mom (who is a regular customer of theirs) will leave her credit card number and authorization up to $x.xx with them, and she will drive me home; she will pick up Abby and school later and bring her to me. Excellent. See? I told you it could be worked out.

As I'm leaving Woodinville to come home for job hunting and house cleaning, I get a call on my (now almost dead, because I have been on the bloody thing all day) cell phone. It's my old credit union. Where is the money you said you would pay every Tuesday morning (it's noon, you understand)? Oh, well... the check won't come in until tomorrow because of the holiday. Tough, they said, it needs to be paid right now because that's the deal you made with us to pay a lesser amount every week instead of the full amount once a month. Sigh. Fine, I said, I'll go back to the shared branch and transfer that money right now so you don't have to wait eighteen hours (note that I kept the exasperated italics out of my voice when talking to the guy). BEE-beep (aw, man, my phone really is going dead now). I drive back to the credit union in Woodinville (there aren't any in the network in my town) and transfer the funds, call the guy and leave a message stating that they have been transferred (BEE-beep BEE-beep) and request for him to please verify by email. I turn off my phone.

I have not eaten, I'm grouchy, and nothing has gone as planned today. I stop by my storage to ditch the stuff in my trunk (mostly desk toys from my old job), come home, eat lunch, look for a job (applied four places) and write in my blog. Next I take a shower (again) get pretty, pick up kids at respective places, drop them home with hubby, and meet my dad at the ferry to take him to our dinner-and-a-play date. Just him, me, and my two siblings, like the old days (we're seeing Guys and Dolls). I suspect by 4:15 ferry pickup I'll have recovered from this morning.

A person could develop a cold with this kinda stress.