caerula's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Never-ending Saga, part 3 Well, it's been quite a ride, and it's not over yet. I'm so behind on this never-ending story I don't know where to even jump in at anymore. When last we saw the hapless Blue family, on the evening of August 26th, they were bunking down at the parents' house along with QueenV, since the house was still not habitable according to Evil Township Inspector Man. Monday morning (this was a week ago Monday, for those of you actually keeping up with this interminable attempt to play catch-up) Blue receives word that one of his interviews has finally come through. He's been offered a job doing night audit at the Lyle Lovett hotel downtown, and after training there's a supervisor job that's his if he wants it. YAY! Monday QueenV and I helped Blue clean out the rest of the apartment and deliver the remaining contents to the house, with the exception of the feline occupants, who were delivered to the inlaws. (The canine occupant was already staying with parents.) QueenV and I went outlet shopping, although I had no money to spend beyond the few dollars in my wallet. We perused the Gap and Old Navy stores, were bemused by all the gadgety stuff at the kitchen store, and spent quite a lot of time in the publisher's overstock bookstore, where I made my only purchase (a hardcover of Robin McKinley's Spindle's End, which is a lovely lovely story. We returned to parents to change clothes for Mom's birthday dinner at the Outback. Rest of family members proved to have already left, and I was without my house key. We ended up having to knock off one of the back window screens, still loose from when the golden retriever they had two dogs ago went through it, and broke in. Replaced screen, changed clothes, found keys, locked doors and left. Attended birthday dinner, where we met up with Blue, who had retrieved YMB from the Dementors earlier in the day, Minnie and EngineerBoy, Kitty, and mom and dad. I don't know when our entire family (minus ControlFreak, who I personally did not miss) has been together like that, and it was really nice. Mom was very pleased with her presents, although not so pleased about the prospect of turning 50. QueenV, as an only child, is bemused by all the hilarity that ensues when we all go out in public together. Judging from when I've visited her and gone out to dinner with her parents, they are much better behaved in public than we are, and not so given to hysterical giggling. Monday night we get to stay in a lovely hotel room, courtesy of the modular housing company. Since we now have YMB along with QueenV, and Kitty is still staying at the parents, there would have been no room there for all of us in any case. We are in a studio-type room, with a full bed, a pull-out, a tiny little kitchen, and a bathroom. QueenV and I share the bed and the boys are stuck with the pull-out. YMB, although disappointed not to be in the house, is regarding all of this as a huge adventure. QueenV and I, sharing a bed, cannot stop giggling. We all finally get to sleep around midnight. Blue has to leave early in the morning for some reason which right now I can't even recall. We're stuck at the hotel until around noon, which is fine as we are all tired, except that it's rather a confined space to be stuck with an active 8-year-old. Luckily there's a Tim Horton's within walking distance. We have very little cash between us at this point, so breakfast consists of donuts holes and Coke. Again, YMB thinks this is great. Blue gets back from wherever he was in time to take QueenV to the airport, fortunately. We all go on this journey. Blue disappears after V checks in to pick up his last paycheck from the Evil Laying-Off Airline, and YMB accompany QueenV to her gate, where her plane is already boarding. There are teary goodbyes all around, especially on the part of YMB, who has become very attached to the Queen. We find Blue, and go off to Big Boy's for a (very late) lunch. YMB is quiet and depressed. I am depressed. Blue is annoyed with us for being depressed. Not the most pleasant of lunches. We return, eventually, to the hotel, where I crash and burn, and nap for several hours. Blue eventually takes a stir-crazy YMB off to Target. They bring home Wendy's for dinner, we play an extremely complicated Harry Potter card game, we go to bed, and after a couple of hours Blue gets up for his first night at work. After a restless night, I get up and get ready for work, and leave as Blue gets home, leaving him to deal with packing up and checking out -- for, yes, we are finally going to be allowed to stay in our own house. The expletive deleted steps aren't quite installed correctly, but Evil Township Inspector Man has deigned to give as a temporary C of O anyway. I go back to work on Wednesday to a mess I can't even begin to explain, except that all the benefits of vacation are sucked away in the first hour I'm there. Gack. But -- I go home at the end of the day. Home. Granted, home to a huge mess, dirt pits in the lawn, shaky stairs, stacks and stacks of boxes, an exhausted husband and a whiny child, but home. Work on Thursday, unpacking yet again Thursday night. I finally get to take a bath in my beautiful wonderful bathtub. Off on Friday, spend much of the day trying futilely to get some sense of organization out of the chaos. Find dishes, finally. Set YMB to stuffing all the packing materials into empty boxes, which, unlikely as it seems, is a task he enjoys. Send YMB and Blue out on errands, so I can collapse on the couch with my new J.D. Robb paperback and wallow in trashy fiction for a couple of hours, blocking out the clutter and chaos that surrounds me. When they get back I go to Target and spend entirely too much money. We go to bed early, and get up at 5 am for the drive to Traverse City and Kitty & ControlFreak's house. That's all for now, I have work to do. 9:52 a.m. - 2001-09-05 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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