Sunday, September 1, 2013

Was It Really The Worst Day Ever?

*Wrote this last night, had to proof it before I posted it...good thing I did too*

This had to be the most craziest day ever.

My oldest twin and I were saying to one another how this day was the "worst day ever"( I can think of other "worsts" but we won't go there right now).

I have yet to shower. My hair is sticking to my forehead, despite the fact I have a ponytail thing goin' on here, little strands are annoying me to no end.

My day started out with the usual....French Vanilla coffee of the Folger's variety and a few Oreos; a little bit o' Papa Pear on Facebook and some news updates on CNN and weather from the Weather Channel as there were storms all around here.    Decided I was going to clean my daughter's and sons rooms(with their help of course) and let me say it was like a tornado ripped through both the rooms.  I'm not kidding.  It was bad in there.

We begin the cleaning adventure and I noticed a line of ants along the baseboard from my daughter's room starting in her closet going to her brothers' adjoining room next door. GREAT!  SWELL! What other fun things will await me on this dismal Saturday morning? Never, ever ask that question....EVERRRRRRRR! So I realized instead of this being a one day weekend cleaning spree, it was turning into the 3 day cleaning spree/ant battle that I hadn't had since the beginning of summer. I thought we were rid of these wretched little piss ants(ha ha get it, piss ants?? Bad play on words.... huh?..yeah...). 

I wanted to just pour a whole gallon of bleach on those smarmy little bastards and light a match.  Okay not really, I'm not Bruce Willis or Denzel Washington, but I was really pissed off when I saw them.

My daughter and I began the daunting task of getting all her clothes she had stuffed in her crates and under blankets out of the closet, away from the infestation and I had laundry up to my ears by the time we were done. She had dolls with broken arms, papers upon papers strewn in piles everywhere all the way to her Ariel vanity set. She had clothes she never wore, and clothes that were too small, ripped or stained too badly for me to care to wash them.  So we tossed them. It was a good two hour ordeal, and I was glad when we finally finished up in there. 

I also had to hit the grocery store. I needed a few things, one being Gogurt for the kids lunches. Getting the kids ready for a simple ten minute trip to the store took a good twenty minutes. Then the boys started in on each other and I was roasting my ass off in this apartment .  The air never seems to run properly when people are inside the apartment.  It's nice and cool for the birds during the day when we aren't here, but for some reason, by the time the sun sets and we are all relaxing, we are all sweating our asses off around here.

We get in the van and head to the store....HALF AN HOUR LATER....I get my few items I needed and we are leaving and my boys spot the little candy/toy addicts machines and like crazed gamblers in front of a slot machine they are plunking their quarters in, then pacing in front of the machines, deciding which fares better for the eight quarters that aligned the palm of their not so little hands. Other kids are waiting and I am telling them(in a not so quiet inside voice) "Let's go already! I have frozen food in here! There are other kids waiting behind you anyway!"

I also had realized I never did get the damn Gogurts either.  I wasn't about to go back to get them.

Crap.

I finally peel them away and we get into the van and head home.

Their dad decided to purchase them a 100 count pack of Latex gloves. I don't know what the hell 9 year old boys need an entire box of latex gloves for, but that is what they brought to my apartment last night. And as tired as I was after the day I had at work yesterday, it didn't register what he bought them until they started filling them with water in my bathroom sink at 8:00 last night.

This morning, same deal, they had another meeting with the gloves, sink and my bathroom floor. My youngest twin son yells to me "Mom, come quick! Something happened!" I go strolling in there, not wanting to look, and there underneath the cabinet and all over my floor between the toilet and front/side of the cabinet was water.  Not splashes of water, but puddles of water.

I wanted to cry.

Then I called the office, this was at 12:47 and of course nobody was there.

Lunch, I am sure.

Call back at 1:02.
No answer.

Call back at 1:30....
*tries to find my happy place at this point*

By the third call my son had chased down the head maintenance guy in his little maintenance guy cart and I am chasing after my son, phone in hand, to stop him. I see the guy swerve around in the cart and heading back my way. I'm half way between the guy and my apartment and I apologize and tell him I was going to call the office for a work order, and he offers to look since he was here already.

Thank God this guy was nice. He laughed so hard when I asked the boys if they put anything in the pipes and they shrugged and looked like innocent guilty parties. He was so understanding. Thank you maintenance guy.

He leaves and I go out on my front porch.

I'm sitting there and I notice a faint propane like smell permeating my front porch. Lovely. I'm thinking okay, what the hell is that? Gas leak??

Neighbor and her ex are talking and I ask them to see if they smell(is that an oxymoron..."See" if they "smell"?? see, the fumes are getting to me, my brain is going bonkers now) a smell of any gas or propane like smell. Her hubby proceeds to tell me that he has a good nose and he didn't smell a thing.  I on the other hand, with my one nostril barely smelling anything caught a waft of what the kids smelled only they said it was REALLY STRONG MOM, and no offense to my neighbor's ex, but I'm gonna go with my kids and my gut on this one.

So I call the gas company. I tell them I didn't think it was an emergency but I wasn't sure. It didn't have that rotten egg smell but rather a propane like smell. She tells us all the safety measures: exit the building and go to a safe area,  don't light any matches, don't turn on any switches, I had already turned off the A/C, and if imminent danger arises call 911.

Did I really need to share that? Probably not, but might help someone else out should they encounter a gas leak themselves some day, *shrugs*, maybe...maybe not.

So there we were, not only did I not finish any of my housework, it is now close to 4 p.m at this point and I had only gotten half the army of ants terminated, baits placed, and trash taken out. I still had the boys room to do, my bathrooms, my bedroom and vacuum the living room. I hadn't cleaned the bird cage  yet, which was something else on the "to do list" for today.

Sorry birds, we'll clean ya out tomorrow.

We are sitting outside waiting for the gas folk to come, and it starts to sprinkle. Wonderful. My battery on my house phone is just about dead, and my cell is no better. My hair is now plastered to my forehead and my shirt and shorts follow suit.

I was looking really pretty.

Let me say to all you folks out there whose mothers told you "Be sure to wear clean underwear in case of an accident" well, let me add to that list. They should have also told you that you should make sure you pretend your superwoman when the gas guy is on his way and shove everything you own in a cabinet or closet until he leaves. I was mortified.  He asked to come in.  I didn't understand. It turned out the gas leak was from my neighbor's apartment and not mine. I was cleaning like crazy, throwing laundry in the laundry room, using those Clorox wipes to wipe down the toilet and the sink. 

I did the best I could. I kept saying out loud, "Okay dude, just flirt with my nice single neighbor a little longer, so I could fix this place up a bit."

No such luck.

He's knocking on my door and my forehead is dripping with sweat from me running around like a crazed chicken, I wipe the sweat from my brow, take a deep breath and let him in. He asks me again if he can enter my home and I say sure come on in.  He asks to enter my daughter's room and I tell him sure no problem. He kept calling me ma'am and I wanted to tell him "Look dear, I know we'll probably chat a total of 3-5 minutes here, but please don't call me ma'am."

Did I mention he was a nice lookin fella? Probably old enough to be my oldest son's best friend, say 27-32, plus or minus a few years, hard to tell these days.  He could of been older, he kind of looked it around the eyes, but I'm not sure. Plus the fact he kept calling me ma'am. Couldn't be certain he was as young as I thought he was to tell ya the truth.

Speaking of men....That's one thing that scares me about guys and  dating too. Some guys look older than they are, and some look younger.  I don't feel like getting arrested or finding a sugar daddy either.  So yet another reason why I am single and not out there in the dating pool.

Thanks gas fella for helping me bring up this topic in my blog.

Speaking of single and dating....have you all seen the new dating bracelets?  It's for the younger crowd of course, but I think it's a great idea.  Would you wear one?

So, where was I?

I got sidetracked with the dating thingy up there.

Damn gas fumes.

It is now 6:40. I managed to fill the sink with water and dishes. Only tons of cups my kids have used throughout the day and a spoon and a few bowls from some cereal they had for a snack this afternoon. We didn't even really have an actual lunch today. I'm starving and I know they are too. So I need to get off this thing and go make some dinner. It's spaghetti night; garlic bread, spaghetti, salad...yum! Top it off with some melted sprinkle cheese. Delish!


I will also probably have to make more Kool-Aid. I made a whole gallon of it and shared about 3/4 of the gallon with six other kids that are friends of my kids. Then the one little girl, was like a damn addict over here, kept coming in with my daughter, which fine, seconds are okay, I filled them half full, but after the 3rd trip in I told my daughter, "That's it, no more!" and I see that other girl trying to squeeze some out even after I said that.

I'm cracking up thinking about it now.

Kool-aid junkies....

Alrighty then...off I go to make some dinner and MAYBE relax this evening. Boys room will have to wait until tomorrow. I have not the energy nor the time to deal with that disaster. Mop my floor vacuum my living room and call it a day.


I need to go!










3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi B,
I could go for some orange Kool-Aide right now. You have the most interesting happenings around you. As well as a very clever way to write about them.

I dropped out of WT so I guess I have more free time? Maybe not?

Hang in there, you are awesome!

Ed

Barb said...

Why thank you. I'm so glad my life's adventures are entertaining to you. :) And thanks for being my one and only faithful follower. I think I should give a prize...like a pen, or perhaps a donut for those who comment the most on my blogs. *wheels start spinning in my brain here...look at all that smoke!* Hmm...how about "candy for comments?" It's catchy.
More to come on that in a future blog....have a good day Ed.

Anonymous said...

Hi B,
Candy for comments, has a ring to it.

Pillsbury dough, in the thin long tube. Deep fryer. Open tube, pull off 'donut hole' sized piece, deep fry at same temp as French fries, cool slightly, put sugar in zip lock bag, drop in a hole, shake, remove hole, while still warm eat.

Or snooker Doodles, ummmm. As an alternate for Candy.

That's a Donut Hole above, not drop the bag in a "Hole" or such. Though it would be funny I suppose.

I hope you had a good day and long weekend. Other then the obvious complications mentioned in your blog.

I now return you to "Your Normal Life" no matter how complex or insane it is.

Weird is the new Normal.

Bye,
Ed