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Bad Karma

It's me. I have some little black cloud over my head, raining ridiculousness. Day in, day out. More bad news upon more bad luck upon just plain insanity. Let me give you just a small sample of the madness:

I get a new (used) truck and the check engine light comes on during my maiden voyage.
The hood won't shut.
I lock myself out of my office for over a half hour with no phone.
I drop a Pillsbury ready-to-make bread in Walmart and it explodes, leaving me to carry this doughy blob up to checkout.
Daycare announces a HUGE weekly price increase. I have to cut back and take the camaro and motorcycle off the road. Looking to cut back elsewhere too.
I receive the wrong t-shirt in the mail for Mike's Halloween costume.
I buy some picture frames on sale for an art wall only to discover that half of them are missing hangers – they’re desk frames only.
My new printer all of a sudden won't print.

And this is all just since Friday. Not even a week’s worth of the last 3+ months of pure poo. Sound like I'm complaining? Darn tootin. It would be one thing if it was all stoopid little stuff. I can laugh about getting locked out of the office and dropping the dough. I can’t laugh about vehicle problems. I can’t laugh about the rising cost of daycare. I can’t afford to laugh. Not anymore.

So this extreme monetary stress and automotive anxiety is being compounded by a rash of incredible bad juju. I need a cleansing or something – and fast.

To make matters somewhat worse, the last of the MG parts are on a boat from England, delaying the completion of that project. Here in New England, cold weather has finally hit and I can’t delay updates to our heating system… a baseboard currently behind the piano needs to be moved as soon as possible, or it will ruin the piano. And while we have things disconnected, we may as well complete the radiant heating system we began installing last winter. (So far, it’s only in the living room and needs to be extended into the kitchen, mudroom, hallway, and Mikey’s room.)

Cha-ching, cha-ching.

Then there’s the desperately needed new trash shed. We’ve given up even propping the door on the old broken one. The animals get in one way or another. Racoon and now possum. It’s a backyard buffet!

I’ve given up hope on the completion of the porch this year. Dam we were close. Just the rest of the trim and front steps… But I can’t do it. All the siding for the next side of the house and an octagonal window… can’t do that either and half of that stuff is already bought! And forget about much needed bathrooms. I get choked up thinking about it. I regret not tearing that thing off in the beginning. I can’t believe I’ll have to live with it indefinitely now, with no sign of economic improvement on the horizon.

Over the weekend, I did manage to hang all those frames in the hallway – now a gorgeous art wall. Except for the art. I can’t afford to fill the frames right now. (And hey, there’s that new printer that won’t work. I’ve got to look at that tonight.) I almost regret buying the frames except for the beauty and potential of the art wall.

Our neighbor has promised promised he’ll finish our kitchen drywall around the new (now kinda old) window. If I’m lucky, we’ll still have some of the right color of paint downstairs. I so want to trim out the window, but fat chance of that too.

I’m just fulla sunshine, huh? Boy are you glad I haven’t been writing as often as I should. Nobody would want to hear about it. I don’t even want to hear about it. We still have our jobs and can still squeak by living a modest but comfy lifestyle without crazy amounts of debt. At the same time, I’m not getting any younger. Life doesn’t wait for me to save money. And if there’s one thing I hate, it’s wasting time.

Again With the Grass

Upon talking to Mike, I discovered he never received my text and therefor, never ordered the new trash hut. Meanwhile we're still waiting on our canopy and swing things for Mikey's playset. Sometimes when you think you're walking forward, you're actually just standing around making weird leg movements. So hopefully we can iron that out in the coming weeks. (And I mean weeks because I have since spent the trash hut money.)

This weekend was so beautiful, we hardly did any work. And though for most it's a three day weekend, we were stuck with our normal weekend with me still working on Monday. However, we did do our fall grass seeding throughout the yard. Mike brought home the slice seeder and made quick work of the entire job. It took him longer to mow then it did to seed.

And that's all there is to report. We just can't move forward on much else right now. Finishing the MG project is both of our priorities. Parts willing, it will be all over in the next four weeks and we can return to our regularly scheduled lives.