1. The floor is stained and will be sealed tomorrow, I hope. I am tired of home improvement projects and cannot wait until we can take a break already. Also, I have learned that no project that Dave starts stays within budget. Did you know that polyurethane floor sealant costs $40 per gallon? I didn't either and by the time I picked myself up off the floor and recovered from that dead faint, Dave had already walked away and started cleaning up the rented sander to turn in tomorrow morning. Dave and his improvement projects are going to be the death of me yet. That brings me to...
2. Dave and I have been fighting today. About money. And I am sick and tired of it because it is literally the same fight we always have. I feel like I should say, "wait a minute; let me go find my script." After a lot of yelling, we are at an impasse. Until the next time, that is.
3. My friend, who I was all ready to give another chance after she about blew off our relationship, did not come to visit this weekend like she said she was going to. She did not call or email to say she was or was not coming, therefore I am guessing that she has made the choice I previously described as difficult much easier for me. I wish her the best of luck in all of her future endeavors as I wash my hands of her. Hopefully, she will eventually learn to treat people a little better.
4. I've been busy today with chores. I did the laundry, washed both dogs, cleaned and replaced the screens on all of our windows, straightened the house, and cooked dinner. For the rest of the day day I plan to do nothing more than read a book and drink some of my newly acquired Black Box wine that is both delicious and contains a convenient spout for easier dispensing. It is also vacuum sealed, so will last up to 4 weeks...though I will most likely have consumed it all by then, if my dealings with Dave continue to be as stressful as they were today.
5. I'm going to go and drink more wine now as I count down the minutes until bed time. I sure hope that next week is a lot easier on me than this one has been.
Uneasy like Sunday morning.
A man and his dog
Dave and Prue are busy working on the floor today. The sanding is almost done and that will leave staining and sealing and then it will be finished. And none too soon, since there is a major hurricane heading toward the Gulf of Mexico and, quite possibly, the panhandle of Florida where a lot of my family lives. We may need to move out of the spare bedroom sooner than we thought. I am hoping to be able to talk my mom and grandmother into coming up here if Hurricane Ike looks like it will be targeting the panhandle and we'll need all the spare room we can get.
So far, today has been busy. We went to Lowe's to rent a sander early this morning only to get it home and have it not work. Figures. So we took it back, along with about $60 worth of sandpaper. Dave actually had to explain that the sander did not work and ask for his money back to the same clerk that had rented it to him. I guess she just assumed that he had sanded his floor really really fast and that he was turning it back in. After an hour. It made me miss those little mom and pop hardware stores where you actually got to talk to someone who knew what they were talking about and also where you could count on good customer service. At Lowe's, you pretty much have to fight for your rights as a customer and service is usually mediocre at best.
So, after returning the broken sander to Lowe's, we went to a privately owned tool rental place where we got really great customer service. And the rental was not only cheaper, but we get to keep it thru Monday even though we are technically renting it for one day because this location is closed on Sundays. We will definitely be renting from there again in the future and I will make it my mission to get Dave to shop at smaller, privately owned hardware stores and not at corporate chains. If we can find any near our house, that is. They seem to be a dying breed and that makes me really sad for the future of this country.
Bummed
Today has not been a good day. Between putting out fires at work and dealing with a not-so-pleasant trek to the DMV to take - oh, no sorry, make that fail - the motorcycle driving test, this day is kicking my butt.
Actually, this whole week could use a do-over. All I can say is, thank God it's Friday. And that it's 4:36, which means I get to leave work in 9 minutes. I plan to head straight home and indulge in a good sulk and a big bowl of Oreo cookies n cream ice cream.
When the choice is unclear
I arrived at work today and was taking my time "warming up my computer" as L and I like to call it - translation: catching up on personal emails, blogs, etc. - when I came across an email from a friend that I used to be very close with. Until one day I wasn't. You see, we had planned a trip together with a couple of our mutual girlfriends and this trip was supposed to be a girls weekend away from it all. This particular friend tried to ruin the weekend by turning it into an event that focused all on her. What she wanted to so. Who she wanted to be with. Where she wanted to go, without any consideration for the rest of us. When the three of us refused to play by her rules, she turned on us, accusing us of ganging up on her. And she said hurtful things directed toward me, as her closest friend, that really hurt me and caused a very large breach in our friendship.
I actually went through a period where I grieved for her. I felt so betrayed and "left behind" almost as if she had died. And then I forgave her and the hurt she caused and I've moved on. I've heard from her on and off since then, but just superficial emails under the guise of just catching up. Until today's email. Seems she wants to come and visit. And I'm not really sure how I feel about that. Ever since that incident a year ago, I feel as if I don't really know this particular person anymore. She displayed a side of herself that, up until then, I had been unaware of. She turned into a Mr. Hyde character right in front of my eyes and it really surprised me. And I hate surprises.
Now I am faced with a decision. Do I want this person back in my life? Usually the answer would be so easy for me, and it would be NO. I have always prided myself on my ability to walk away from hurtful people; I have a great deal of practice protecting myself from being hurt. And it would be so easy to walk away this time, too. But a part of me still misses her - the her I knew before I met Mr. Hyde - and all of the fun we used to have.
So I'm going to give it another go. And hope her Mr. Hyde routine was just a momentary lapse in judgment and that we can go right back to where we left off. She wants to come and visit this weekend. We'll see how it goes.
Isn't it ironic.
We had a busy holiday weekend and alls I can say is, I'm glad we had Monday off or I may not have made it.
Friday I had to work, but Dave had the day off. Since my friend Jill and her family were driving up from Jacksonville, I asked Dave if he wouldn't mind cleaning up the house a bit before their arrival around the time I was to get home from work. He mentioned plans to work on a throwing implement for his Scottish Games Competition on Saturday, but said he'd straighten later. Guess what that translated to? When I walked in at 5, the only room that had been straightened was the garage...which, I guess according to any man, is the most important room in the house. I could have throttled Dave, but I didn't have time, since I got to speed clean after calling Jill and finding out they were 15 minutes from our house. I have never cleaned that fast in my life and I hope I never have to again. And you better believe Dave helped.
We went to dinner with Jill and her husband and 2 year-old daughter and they left to continue their trip to the north end of Atlanta to visit family. I couldn't offer them the spare room unfortunately since Dave and I were using it while finishing the floor in the master bedroom. But I did offer to keep their dog for them and Hershey is so well behaved, we barely knew she was there. Except for the times when my dog Prue kept trying to instigate a fight with Hershey.
On Saturday, Dave and I headed up to the north Georgia mountains for the Appalachian Celtic Festival and Highland Games. He competed with the more advanced group this time while I kept score for the group he used to compete with. I didn't really get to watch him, but I know he got 5th place out of 7. Not bad, considering he was competing against two of the top ranked guys in the nation. I had fun keeping score for a judge who was from Scotland. Man, those accents are sexy!
We didn't get home until late on Saturday and luckily, I did not have to call Jill and tell her my dog had killed her dog. Prue and Hershey seemed to have worked out their differences and become best friends in our absence. Weirdos. We made plans to get together with Jill and her family the next day, along with a friend of mine who is a single mother to a 2 year-old daughter. We ended up going to an art festival at Grant Park in downtown Atlanta and had a great time watching the kids wear themselves out.
On Monday I did nothing in my attempt to recover from all of the activity of the previous couple of days. I love days like that where you have no where to go and can just relax. Dave was bored and kept complaining about it, so I finally hinted to him that the lawn needed mowed so that kept him occupied for a while.
I really do not understand people who complain about being bored. I can always find something to keep me occupied, whether I am reading a book, watching tv, playing on the computer or even daydreaming. Dave drives me crazy with his constant need to be entertained and his inability to sit still for longer than a few minutes at a time.
Late Monday afternoon, Jill and her family came to pick up Hershey and they headed back to Jacksonville. I still think it's ironic that she has kept planning to visit and them putting it off for the three years we've been here, but the few weeks we decide to do major renovations to our bedroom, she finalizes her plans. Guess that's just the way things work sometimes.
Oh, and another funny irony...a car cut us off on the interstate as we were heading to dinner the other night. The vanity plate read: Godlike. The Universe sure has a warped sense of humor!
I did have to call my mom on Monday morning as hurricane Gustav was hitting the gulf coast of Louisianna. A tornado touched down 6 miles from where she lives, but she was still asleep and didn't even know about it! I woke her up and insisted she stay informed about what was going on. Geez, you'd think that a hurricane hitting near you would cause a little bit of concern, but I guess she is used to them. It's so much harder for me to watch all the action on tv now instead of riding it out with those that I love. I hate living so far away from my hometown, especially during hurricane season.
