What a Day!

I think I may need a "do over" on yesterday. It was a bad day (insert gray clouds, thunderbolts, and other similar images here). It all started out with internet problems. I noticed the the 'net seemed a bit sluggish when I came into work yesterday (I work from home) but didn't give that much thought. Then, my phone started going out (phone service is through the cable company just like Internet service). By 2 PM, I was stranded with no Internet and no office phone. You cannot imagine how frustrating this is unless you are a remote employee who depends on these two services to keep you connected to the rest of your company. I tried to make the most of it by reviewing some documents I had on my hard drive, completing some outstanding filing, and that kind of thing.

Not only did I have these communication problems to deal with. I was also dealing with the local mall-based sporting goods store about delivery of an elliptical trainer that I purchased Saturday. The store contracts with a local delivery company to do their delivery and setups. I paid an additional $100 for this service, because the elliptical is a whopping 200 plus pounds, and I wanted burly men to carry it into the house and set it up for me. Well, after four days, I still hadn't even gotten a call from the delivery service nor could the store get a response from them. The store agreed to refund my delivery charge and let me pick up the machine myself. So....

Husband and I hopped into my Explorer and headed over to the mall last night to get the machine we weren't far from home when the "check engine" light came on, and he smelled an electrical smell in the truck. We turned around, went back home, and got his pickup truck. Did I mention it was pouring rain and cold?? We set off again to the mall, got the big honkin' box loaded and came back home. It wasn't too bad unloading the box--we've moved so many times that we have got this moving heavy items thing down pat. I plopped down on the sofa in the sun room and noticed that the box said "carton 1 of 2." That couldn't be good since we only had one box sitting there. A call to the store confirmed that yes indeed, we have another box to pick up. By now, it was almost time to pick daughter up from drama practice, so we headed back out, went to school to get her, stopped at the mall to get the box, struggled to squeeze it into the Civic (still in the pouring rain and the cold), and decided we needed to eat out. It was almost 8 PM by now. We did manage to end the night with a nice meal at Macaronni Grill (I had hardly eaten all day, so I don't think I did terribly with my WW points) and finally dragged into the house after 9 o'clock last night.

This morning, we planned to take the Explorer to that nice dealership out near the mall for repairs. I was also going to take daughter by Starbucks for a coffee on the way to school, but she decided to have a clothing related hissy fit this morning (insert images of a pouty teenager who has "nothing to wear" in spite of the jam packed closet and clothing flying all over a bedroom) because she can't find an appropriate outfit to wear to school. We got a bit later than desired start to school, so I didn't even mention Starbucks (not that a hissy fit throwing person NEEDS a treat). The Interstate was backed up because of an accident, it was pouring rain, and I was driving the Civic which I hate--too tiny, too close to the ground, and you can't see shit out of it. We did manage to get off the highway and take an alternate route to school. Daughter may possibly have gotten there on time, but I'm not sure. Meanwhile, husband was stuck on the highway trying to make it to the dealiership in the Explorer....

He and I finally met up at the dealership and dropped off the truck. They just phoned that it's going to take $1100 to fix my baby. That's cheaper than a car payment, and I do love that truck. Hopefully by noon today, the truck will be all better and back home where it belongs. It has almost 125,000 miles on it and is 8 years old, but I'm not anxious to trade it in.

I hope that the day will start looking up soon. So, how has your week been?