Yesterday would have been our ninth wedding anniversary. To celebrate, I took a gift to my husband's parents. I went to the town in which I teach (just outside the town in which I live), and went to my favorite restaurant/caterer. I taught the owner, her husband, her four sisters, her daughter, her nieces, and I'll teach her son this coming school year. She serves lunch from 11:00 until 2:00, but the store opens at 9:00 to buy things from the coolers. I bought a chicken casserole, a broccoli casserole, cheddar crusted potatoes, macaroni and cheese, chicken and dressing, and a quart of vegetable soup. All of these were frozen, and just have to be heated for about thirty minutes and they're ready to eat. I also bought chicken fingers, pimento cheese, blueberry salad, apple ambrosia, and cornbread salad. They are both in their late 70s, and their health is not great. They live about twenty minutes away from me, so I thought this would be a good idea.
I spent last Wednesday and Thursday with my college roommate and her husband, and then went to my niece's house for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. My niece (age 29), nephew (age 27), and I got in line at Barnes and Noble around 11:30 p.m. Friday night to get our copies of the Harry Potter book. My niece's sweet husband (I feel silly calling him my nephew-in-law; we LOVE him) was on baby duty with my thirteen-month-old great-niece. My niece finished the book Saturday afternoon; I finished Saturday night because I took several breaks to play with the baby--I put her shoes and socks on so she could take them off, I brushed her hair, we answered her cell phone, she practiced walking...a baby is just what I need to help me heal from my losses, and God sent her at just the right time for our family.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Saturday, July 14, 2007
And So It Goes...
I called the air-conditioning people around 10:00 a.m. on Thursday to ask what time the crew would be at the house to install the new unit. The receptionist/office manager didn't know that a crew was supposed to be there; the repairman who was at the house on Wednesday was not in the shop on Thursday, and the office had not heard from him. I called my friend who had been helping me with all these arrangements, and she took over; I was upset and crying (and worried about how much it was costing me to run a small--probably old--window unit to keep the dog and me cool).
The owner of the company called me a little later and explained that the repairman was sick; in fact, he was at the doctor's office because his blood pressure was extremely high. The owner assured me that someone would be at my house on Friday morning to take care of my situation.
The two-man crew was there by 9:00 Friday morning, and worked ALL DAY. They had to make a trip to the shop to manufacture some parts (fittings) and then to the parts place to get Freon. However, there was one last wire to be hooked up, and the installer said it was supposed to have come from the factory already hooked to the proper terminal. He was afraid to hook it up because he was afraid it would damage the unit. He said he'd try to get a repairman by yesterday afternoon, but that someone would definitely be here Saturday morning to finish.
The owner called again late Friday evening to see if everything was all right. He had been on another line when the installer called him, so he didn't know about the latest snag. He also assured me that someone would be here Saturday morning...and he was right. The original repairman got here around 9:15, and had everything hooked up and running by 10:15. I have the thermostat set on 74, but I'll probably bump it up to 76 after the house cools off from being stuffy and closed up for four days.
I thank God for friends and family to help me handle stressful situations. I thank Him for the window unit that kept the dog and me comfortable; for being able to afford the television set-up in the bedroom so I could watch television while I was "stranded"; for being able to afford a laptop and wireless internet so that I was able to keep in touch with the "cyber-world"; and for able to afford to have this new unit installed. It may make things a little tight for the next three months, but if I decide to move in the next few years, it will have added to the value of the house.
My great-niece (13 1/2 months) will be in town for an hour or so this afternoon. She'll be at her Grammy's house (my sister) for a short visit, and that's just up the hill from my house. What fun...
The owner of the company called me a little later and explained that the repairman was sick; in fact, he was at the doctor's office because his blood pressure was extremely high. The owner assured me that someone would be at my house on Friday morning to take care of my situation.
The two-man crew was there by 9:00 Friday morning, and worked ALL DAY. They had to make a trip to the shop to manufacture some parts (fittings) and then to the parts place to get Freon. However, there was one last wire to be hooked up, and the installer said it was supposed to have come from the factory already hooked to the proper terminal. He was afraid to hook it up because he was afraid it would damage the unit. He said he'd try to get a repairman by yesterday afternoon, but that someone would definitely be here Saturday morning to finish.
The owner called again late Friday evening to see if everything was all right. He had been on another line when the installer called him, so he didn't know about the latest snag. He also assured me that someone would be here Saturday morning...and he was right. The original repairman got here around 9:15, and had everything hooked up and running by 10:15. I have the thermostat set on 74, but I'll probably bump it up to 76 after the house cools off from being stuffy and closed up for four days.
I thank God for friends and family to help me handle stressful situations. I thank Him for the window unit that kept the dog and me comfortable; for being able to afford the television set-up in the bedroom so I could watch television while I was "stranded"; for being able to afford a laptop and wireless internet so that I was able to keep in touch with the "cyber-world"; and for able to afford to have this new unit installed. It may make things a little tight for the next three months, but if I decide to move in the next few years, it will have added to the value of the house.
My great-niece (13 1/2 months) will be in town for an hour or so this afternoon. She'll be at her Grammy's house (my sister) for a short visit, and that's just up the hill from my house. What fun...
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
It's Not the Heat...
The rest of that expression is "...it's the humidity." Since I live in what would probably be considered the "Deep South", I am familiar with both heat and humidity. We are in the midst of a rather serious drought, but we've had rain (sometimes "locally heavy" according to the weather folks) almost every afternoon for the past five or six days.
When the lady who takes care of me ("cleaning lady" is not nearly comprehensive enough to explain what she has meant to our family over the past fifteen months) came Monday, I turned the temperature down to 72 degrees while she was working. I was gone on business for a while, and when I got home, it was pretty certain to us that the air conditioner was NOT working properly. We got the filter changed (it was awful; I hadn't thought about it during the months after DH passed), but that didn't help. She works part-time for a heating/cooling company, and she called them to arrange for a service call on Tuesday.
To make a long story short (my dear daddy and I were never very good at making any story short, but I'm trying), the service man couldn't get here until this morning. The dog and I sweated through Monday afternoon and all day yesterday, until I remembered the window unit that is in our master bedroom (and why did it take so long for me to think of that, you ask? My brain is still sometimes in a fog...). So I've spent the last thirty-six hours camped out in my bedroom...which is really more of a master suite, with a television and VCR/DVD, lovely club chairs, and access to my wireless internet. The dog doesn't like staying in here, because the unit is noisy, and she thinks it's related to her enemy, the vacuum cleaner.
The service man checked the breakers, the compressor, etc., and gave me the not-so-good news. I can spend $1200 or $2800; the $1200 will probably get me a couple of years unless something else goes wrong, and the $2800 will get me a ten-year warranty. Will I be here another ten years...I don't know, but if I spend $1200 and then something else goes wrong, I'll end up putting more money into the unit, and probably ending up having to spend the $2800 farther down the road. It was still rainy and stormy today, so he will be here in the morning to do the work.
I lived alone for more than twenty years before I married DH, but I also had my father (who lived next door) to consult before I made big decisions. DH sometimes teased me about being too independent after we married, but I broke down and cried this morning and wanted him here to help me make this decision.
A little girl in my Sunday School class once told me that she couldn't wait to be a grownup so that she could do whatever she wanted. I laughed, and told her that grownups STILL can't do what they want...we have to try to do the right thing and the best thing, and those are not usually the easy things.
On a lighter note, the shoes that I ordered from HSN came this afternoon, and they're just as cute in person as they were on the website...
When the lady who takes care of me ("cleaning lady" is not nearly comprehensive enough to explain what she has meant to our family over the past fifteen months) came Monday, I turned the temperature down to 72 degrees while she was working. I was gone on business for a while, and when I got home, it was pretty certain to us that the air conditioner was NOT working properly. We got the filter changed (it was awful; I hadn't thought about it during the months after DH passed), but that didn't help. She works part-time for a heating/cooling company, and she called them to arrange for a service call on Tuesday.
To make a long story short (my dear daddy and I were never very good at making any story short, but I'm trying), the service man couldn't get here until this morning. The dog and I sweated through Monday afternoon and all day yesterday, until I remembered the window unit that is in our master bedroom (and why did it take so long for me to think of that, you ask? My brain is still sometimes in a fog...). So I've spent the last thirty-six hours camped out in my bedroom...which is really more of a master suite, with a television and VCR/DVD, lovely club chairs, and access to my wireless internet. The dog doesn't like staying in here, because the unit is noisy, and she thinks it's related to her enemy, the vacuum cleaner.
The service man checked the breakers, the compressor, etc., and gave me the not-so-good news. I can spend $1200 or $2800; the $1200 will probably get me a couple of years unless something else goes wrong, and the $2800 will get me a ten-year warranty. Will I be here another ten years...I don't know, but if I spend $1200 and then something else goes wrong, I'll end up putting more money into the unit, and probably ending up having to spend the $2800 farther down the road. It was still rainy and stormy today, so he will be here in the morning to do the work.
I lived alone for more than twenty years before I married DH, but I also had my father (who lived next door) to consult before I made big decisions. DH sometimes teased me about being too independent after we married, but I broke down and cried this morning and wanted him here to help me make this decision.
A little girl in my Sunday School class once told me that she couldn't wait to be a grownup so that she could do whatever she wanted. I laughed, and told her that grownups STILL can't do what they want...we have to try to do the right thing and the best thing, and those are not usually the easy things.
On a lighter note, the shoes that I ordered from HSN came this afternoon, and they're just as cute in person as they were on the website...
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