A Step Back, A Couple Steps Forward

An improved, if strange, day.

First, let me just say that I used all my new potions and things in the shower this morning and damn, I smell good. It's nearly two in the afternoon and I'm still in a nice little Burt's Bees cloud. I'm just saying. My shower took twice as long as usual, but okay. And my hair even came out in a manner acceptable to me today. So that's all cool.

Got a lot of stuff done at work this morning. Also good. And then the phone rang.

Slowly I turned ...

But it was okay, sort of. Yes, it was K, whose car would not start. But she sounded pretty good, and she said that she was feeling much better today. She would call AAA and get the battery jumped. All okay.

But then as I was sitting at my desk, my stress began to rise. She would fall apart. No wait, I would fall apart, and I would have to do it at school. Hmmm. I logged off my computer, called the main office and said I had an emergency at home but would probably be back, told the SCM, and took off. What I wanted to do was give K my car to use, since she has a week's worth of errands and things to take care of, not to mention class tonight, and I would wait for AAA and come back to school in her car.

AAA was, amazingly, already there when I got home. I could see immediately that K was not falling apart, was in very good humor, and did not look sick. Three cheers on this one, folks! Anyway, the guy could not charge the car and then noticed that the sparkplug cables have been "cut."

Now we're a little freaked out, both of us, but he said it could have been an animal. Uh, yeah. So I sent the kid into the house to get ready to go out, since I'm leaving her my car, and I followed the tow-truck to our own mechanic, who said it is absolutely animals, we're the second car this week where animals (probably squirrels) chewed the sparkplug wires. Imagine that.

Home again, I call for a rental car and waited nearly 45 minutes to get picked up. So that sucked, but listen to what I got done while I was waiting: I called the therapist's office and left a message. I am proud of me. I was also pleased to her that there are actually four women in the office, so I may not even have to see the one who has a kid in the high school. This was a big step, although I haven't even talked to someone yet; hopefully, someone will call me back this afternoon.

The other thing I did was turn off the caller ID on the Hubs' TV. Yes, since we got the cable phone and the HD cable TV, when the phone rings, the caller I.D. shows up on the TV screen. I turned mine off immediately because I didn't like it, but I had no idea that it showed up on his non-HD TV as well. He mentioned it the other day as a curiosity. Yes, well, I don't need him to be able to see who's calling and such when I'm on the phone. I will frequently not take the call waiting beep from his parents because they don't understand call waiting; you can't say to them "Hi, I'm on another call; I'll call you right back," because when you answer, they just start talking and you can't get a word in. So when I see them on the call waiting/caller I.D., I don't take it, I just finish the conversation I'm in and then call them right back. The Hubs is famously strange about his parents' phone calls in that he never really wants to talk on the phone but if they call and I don't get him right away he has one of his temper outbursts. Doesn't matter if he's eating dinner or what, I have no right not to get him for their call NOW. So, better for me if he can't see that they're calling. TMI?

So I have this giant minivan as a rental car because that's all they had, but they charged me for a compact car anyway. I was going to go to the mall this afternoon but I may pass until I have my own car back since I won't be afraid to park it. (I haven't driven a big car in a loooong time.) Ditto the supermarket. In which case I need to take a nap when I get home because I am just worn out. But I smell good.


WATCHING L/O :: ENTRY #1720