keep calm
Thanks to our little flood – and a host of other problems – this past week bordered on ridiculous.
And yet I must pat myself on the back because I actually managed to act like a functioning adult. Translation: I kept my whining to a minimum as I dealt with plumbers, contractors, insurance agents, and water restoration specialists.
I was even calm with Maya! With the exception of a drilling/screaming session during her Mad Minute practice. But it was worth it…she got 28/30!
I even remained calm:
- when our dishwasher broke on Monday morning,
- when our ice maker froze up (how ironic?),
- when, a few minutes later, our fridge light went out,
- when my husband informed me on Monday morning that he was going on a “business” trip and wouldn’t be back until Thursday,
- when my husband asked if I could pack his bag.
One packed suitcase, a visit from the dishwasher repairman / fridge guy / far too many contractors, and one eye infection later, however, I was about to lose my sh@#.
(As an aside, I realize now that I should have gone into the more lucrative field of plumbing and/or construction instead of finance. I’m an idiot.)
Dinner with my cousin at Nordstrom Cafe: Salmon Nicoise and Chocolate Toffee Cake
By some miracle, everyone wrapped up for the day on Thursday, at 1:35 pm. Which is when I sat down to enjoy a few minutes of peace and quiet. And exactly 7 minutes later? My husband waltzed through the door, back from his trip.
Can you guess what the first thing he asked me was?
Hint: his question wasn’t related to a kitchen appliance or the fact that my bathroom has no walls and only half of its ceiling.
A rare Sunday night dinner with friends (and no husband or child) at Monsieur Marcel: Beet Salad, Crispy Skin Salmon, Brussels Sprouts, and an Apple Tartin
No, his question was: “What’s cooking?”
And now my perpetual whining makes more sense….
face value
Last week I did a very dumb thing: I asked my husband to transfer clothes from the washing machine to the dryer. What I neglected to tell him was to turn the dryer on.
It was only after the clothes sat in a wet heap for most of the day that I realized something: my husband taking things at face value really isn’t an act.
Me and Nadia at a lunch on Saturday…a far better day.
In addition to the above, I also did two other very dumb things: I decided to have our place repainted and then I tempted fate by blogging that nothing interesting was going on. This meant that on Sunday morning I awoke to a leak coming from my newly painted bathroom ceiling. Which, as time passed, quickly became Niagara Falls.
By the end of Sunday I concluded that it’s because I can’t keep my big mouth shut – or my typing fingers still – that I spent the entire day dodging rusty water and placing buckets and towels just so.
Incidentally, I also spent the majority of the day writing check after check to people who happily reminded me of the fact that we were subject to a Sunday time-and-a-half rate. Because obviously I can control the timing of leaks in my ceiling.
At the lunch on Saturday: Maya indulging in the Tango Mango Italian Ice Truck, a pretty flower arrangement, the most amazing dessert station, the gorgeous pool.
Despite all of this, there was still no hot water when the plumbers and water restoration specialists left – victorious and wealthy – after 10 hours. And neither Ali nor I could figure out why.
But two icy cold showers and a visit from our building engineer later, here’s what I learned: My husband followed the plumber’s instructions on how to work the water heater perfectly. But the plumber failed to mention that Ali actually needed to flip on the POWER switch.
This face value thing? It’s no joke.
nothing interesting
Aside from taking a couple of stabs at making something edible for dinner, fighting with Maya about just about everything, and having our entire condo repainted, very little has happened since my last post.
With nothing interesting to blog about, I had no choice but to hit up Ali for topics.
One interesting thing that happened? My mom, brother, and I went to The Peninsula for lunch.
Me: “Did you do anything random this week that I can write about?”
Ali: “I can’t think of anything.”
Me: “Not sure how that’s possible? You must have said something offensive?”
Ali: “I doubt it – I was in Phoenix half the week.”
Me: “Oh. True. Well that explains it.”
It’s not like we didn’t talk while Ali was in Phoenix. Quite the opposite actually. He called us on Face Time and Skype. He sent us emails, texts, and Lync messages.
Other interesting things I ate / saw: creme brulee and trout at The Peninsula Rooftop Garden, a caravan of exotic cars from above, a pretty pink orchid at my friend Nadia’s.
Despite the barrage of communication, however, we actually managed to converse like normal people. Translation: we discussed mundane things like how our day went with no sarcasm (me), no passive-aggressive dry cleaning messages (Ali), and no whining (Maya) in sight.
So this particular post is about absolutely nothing due to the fact that Ali was traveling. And then we were all too nice to each other.
Here’s hoping that my next post is a little more interesting.
While I'm not going to win Mother/Wife of the Year Award anytime soon, I haven't killed anyone yet or shot myself in the head. And that, my friends, is how I calculate success these days. 
FANCY THAT FANCY THIS 