It’s been a bit of a crap week. For starters, our AC unit is still on the fritz, so everybody is much more irritable than usual. We have two window units, but they are in rooms in which we can’t spend too much time (the baby’s room and the attic) because we have to cook and use the bathroom and stuff, so for the most part we are slogging through the day with open windows and fans. The bright side is that it has rarely jumped higher than the mid-80s; the not-so-bright side is that the mid-80s is still pretty warm, and S is particularly affected by the heat – and not in a good way. It bothers me too, but not to the same extent. It puts her in a very bad mood (well, that and the usual lack of sleep that comes with having small children, especially since her mom left on Wednesday), and when she’s in a bad mood, she tends, on occasion, to take it out on me, which of course makes me upset, so I push back, and the next thing we know, we’re only communicating through text and only about logistical stuff -- who’s going to pick up whom, who’s going to write the check for daycare, etc. Fun times!
Our AC still being out-of-commission is a double kick-in-the-nuts because I waited for the guy to come all day yesterday – from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. He never showed. S called the company like twenty times starting at 4:00 p.m. and never got through to anybody. Then she tried to find other companies to service our unit, but the earliest anybody could come is Tuesday. (We are somewhat limited in options by our insurance company, unless we want to pay hundreds of additional dollars out of pocket.) The original company, the one that stiffed us, called us today and explained that they had a massive power outage yesterday, which shut-down all their computers and thus, in effect, their entire business as well. Now they have a massive backlog of jobs, so the earliest they can come out is… Tuesday. Ugh… S somehow bargained (pleaded? bribed? threatened?) for them to come out tomorrow, so that’s where we stand now.
But, of course, there is snag tomorrow as well. I’m going to an all-day crossword puzzle tournament, so S will be home with both kids by herself, and Lil’ S1 has a birthday party to attend, which overlaps the time window (again 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.), so I’m not sure what she’s going to do. I suggested hiring a babysitter for a few hours during the party. That way she can leave the baby with the sitter and take Lil’ S1 to the party (which would be much, much easier on her), and somebody will always be home on the off-chance the AC guy shows up earlier than 4:59 p.m. Barring another power outage, it will all work out, and it’s well worth the $40 or whatever it would cost to do this.
I gave serious thought to skipping the crossword puzzle tournament, but I would kinda be leaving a friend high and dry, whom I’m supposed to meet there, and also I really want to go. I spent the last two weekends with Lil’ S1 pretty much 24-7, and I want to do something fun for me. I think you have to prioritize your own needs sometimes. If you don’t do that it’s actually counterproductive to your parenting/spousing, because you’re stressed out and resentful all the time, and it is extremely hard to be a good parent/spouse, if you’re stressed out and resentful all the time. I think that actually happens to S quite a bit; she tries to do it all, and nobody can do it all. It causes a disconnect because I’m not trying to do it all – I don’t care if our kids don’t get baths every day; I don’t care if they don’t have planned activities every weekend; I don’t care if Lil’ S1 barely touches his dinner; etc. – so vis-à-vis S, I probably look like a slacker sometimes. (And that’s before we even get into the fact that she’s much more career-oriented than I am.) But that’s not the case. We just have different priorities, and one of mine is our own mental (and physical) health.
And speaking of physical health, that’s another thorn in my side at the moment. My shoulder is starting to get better, very slowly, but at least it’s going. So now a different annoyance has arisen out of the blue: my esophagus. For the past four days, I feel like a piece of food is stuck in the back of my throat. But I can’t get it out no matter how much water I drink, no matter how much hacking I do. I feel like Larry David on Curb Your Enthusiasm when he swallowed the pubic hair. (I’m pretty sure that’s not my issue.) I have no idea what it is, and I did the stupidest thing anybody could ever do when they have an undiagnosed malady: I Googled the symptoms. I know better than this. I told myself, “Don’t Google it… Don’t Google it… Don’t Google it… Whatever you do, don’t Google it.” But I Googled it. And of course the first link is to a woman telling a tale about how she went to the doctor because it felt like something was stuck in her throat, and now she was waiting on test results to determine whether or not she has esophageal cancer. WHY DID I DO THAT?!
After reading it I felt like I had to see the doctor right away, so I made an appointment, and the only time available was 4:30 p.m. today (Friday), which is the absolute worst time of the week to be the on road here. So basically I’m going to sit in traffic for an hour for a doctor to examine me for two minutes to refer me to an ENT, so that I can burn another afternoon, so that he or she can tell me everything is fine and it will go away in a few days. At least that’s what I think will happen, and that’s what I hope will happen. Going to the doctor is one of the few things in life, where the best case scenario is that you just wasted a few hours of your life. Anyway, I’ll keep you posted.
Well, I should get back to work. I wrote this entire thing on my lunch break. That’s some speedy typing right there. Usually it takes me five times as long for half the content. What can I say? When I need to complain the words just flow like wine – wine that will hopefully be used later to make me care less about the things about which I’m complaining.
Until next time…
Our AC still being out-of-commission is a double kick-in-the-nuts because I waited for the guy to come all day yesterday – from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. He never showed. S called the company like twenty times starting at 4:00 p.m. and never got through to anybody. Then she tried to find other companies to service our unit, but the earliest anybody could come is Tuesday. (We are somewhat limited in options by our insurance company, unless we want to pay hundreds of additional dollars out of pocket.) The original company, the one that stiffed us, called us today and explained that they had a massive power outage yesterday, which shut-down all their computers and thus, in effect, their entire business as well. Now they have a massive backlog of jobs, so the earliest they can come out is… Tuesday. Ugh… S somehow bargained (pleaded? bribed? threatened?) for them to come out tomorrow, so that’s where we stand now.
But, of course, there is snag tomorrow as well. I’m going to an all-day crossword puzzle tournament, so S will be home with both kids by herself, and Lil’ S1 has a birthday party to attend, which overlaps the time window (again 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.), so I’m not sure what she’s going to do. I suggested hiring a babysitter for a few hours during the party. That way she can leave the baby with the sitter and take Lil’ S1 to the party (which would be much, much easier on her), and somebody will always be home on the off-chance the AC guy shows up earlier than 4:59 p.m. Barring another power outage, it will all work out, and it’s well worth the $40 or whatever it would cost to do this.
I gave serious thought to skipping the crossword puzzle tournament, but I would kinda be leaving a friend high and dry, whom I’m supposed to meet there, and also I really want to go. I spent the last two weekends with Lil’ S1 pretty much 24-7, and I want to do something fun for me. I think you have to prioritize your own needs sometimes. If you don’t do that it’s actually counterproductive to your parenting/spousing, because you’re stressed out and resentful all the time, and it is extremely hard to be a good parent/spouse, if you’re stressed out and resentful all the time. I think that actually happens to S quite a bit; she tries to do it all, and nobody can do it all. It causes a disconnect because I’m not trying to do it all – I don’t care if our kids don’t get baths every day; I don’t care if they don’t have planned activities every weekend; I don’t care if Lil’ S1 barely touches his dinner; etc. – so vis-à-vis S, I probably look like a slacker sometimes. (And that’s before we even get into the fact that she’s much more career-oriented than I am.) But that’s not the case. We just have different priorities, and one of mine is our own mental (and physical) health.
And speaking of physical health, that’s another thorn in my side at the moment. My shoulder is starting to get better, very slowly, but at least it’s going. So now a different annoyance has arisen out of the blue: my esophagus. For the past four days, I feel like a piece of food is stuck in the back of my throat. But I can’t get it out no matter how much water I drink, no matter how much hacking I do. I feel like Larry David on Curb Your Enthusiasm when he swallowed the pubic hair. (I’m pretty sure that’s not my issue.) I have no idea what it is, and I did the stupidest thing anybody could ever do when they have an undiagnosed malady: I Googled the symptoms. I know better than this. I told myself, “Don’t Google it… Don’t Google it… Don’t Google it… Whatever you do, don’t Google it.” But I Googled it. And of course the first link is to a woman telling a tale about how she went to the doctor because it felt like something was stuck in her throat, and now she was waiting on test results to determine whether or not she has esophageal cancer. WHY DID I DO THAT?!
[No! No! No! No! No!]
After reading it I felt like I had to see the doctor right away, so I made an appointment, and the only time available was 4:30 p.m. today (Friday), which is the absolute worst time of the week to be the on road here. So basically I’m going to sit in traffic for an hour for a doctor to examine me for two minutes to refer me to an ENT, so that I can burn another afternoon, so that he or she can tell me everything is fine and it will go away in a few days. At least that’s what I think will happen, and that’s what I hope will happen. Going to the doctor is one of the few things in life, where the best case scenario is that you just wasted a few hours of your life. Anyway, I’ll keep you posted.
Well, I should get back to work. I wrote this entire thing on my lunch break. That’s some speedy typing right there. Usually it takes me five times as long for half the content. What can I say? When I need to complain the words just flow like wine – wine that will hopefully be used later to make me care less about the things about which I’m complaining.
Until next time…
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