The Randomness

• New sandals. Pretty pedicure (well, at least my toes aren’t mangled anymore since I gave up playing soccer in April 2006). A new skirt. My little shopping trip on Saturday was very fruitful, thank you very much. And I’ll just ignore the fact that Mr. Hot suggested using landscape instead of profile to shoot a picture of my size-10 foot. Dickhead.

• Drove on the new driveway for the first time last night. To park the VERY filthy car (when you park on a dirt road, you get a dirt car) in the garage. Shortman got the honors of actually making the first (did I mention dirty?) tracks on that beautiful expanse of asphalt. The basketball hoop went back in place, too. Yay. Garage parking. Clean car.

• I love my Samsung YPZ-5 mp3 player. I love Yahoo Jukebox plus. Together they are magic for plane rides and train rides and crappy cab rides during Chicago rush hour.
• My flowers are blooming like crazy.

The Moaning

• Remember this? The one where I rhapsodize over the wonderful weekend with Mr. Hot’s kids? The one where I said we really felt like a family? Once again, I am a fucking fool. Neither of them thought to call or write to him for Father’s Day. I really believed that after the TYO pledged that he wanted a relationship and was going to try to make it work, that the least he would do is email or call. On Father’s Day. I guess my faith was misplaced.
• Back to Chicago tomorrow. After I packed up my office last month, waiting for them to find me someplace new to sit, I got a call saying that my phone would be hooked up for tomorrow’s visit. In the “visitor’s office”. Which is a closet - in the hallway. Ooooh, wheeee.

—- Well, packing would be my last moaning. I guess thinking about the empty promises of 2 young adults has overshadowed any other things I’m facing today. But I really, really hate packing. —-

For the past 4 days, I’ve sat looking out this window at the beautiful sunshine, knowing that Summer ! In ! Michigan !! is finally here. From 7:30 until 5:30, I’ve sat here. Then, I got to go home - and here’s what the last 4 evenings have meant:

• Monday: Went home, changed clothes, drove to Momanddad’s house (these people, as you will learn in a future post are inseparable….therefore, they get only one name), played with one niece and four nephews visiting from Virginia, helped Momanddad get cover off of pool, crammed spaghetti and salad into mouth, drove home, watered flowers and newly planted grass, sat on porch for 20 minutes, went to bed.

• Tuesday: Went home, found out that nephew (see Monday) was coming to spend the night, changed clothes, waited for nephew to come, admired newly poured asphalt driveway, helped Mr. Hot move large piles of dirt that the men with heavy equipment left, greeted nephew, went to pick up pizza for nephew and Shortman, went to store to get drinks and snacks for nephew and Shortman, watered plants and newly planted grass, sat on porch for 20 minutes, went to bed.
• Wednesday: Went home, changed clothes, opened bill for new computer, took Shortman to baseball game, found no one at baseball field, realized coach’s phone number NOT in phone, drove home, got coach’s phone number, called coach, found out there is no game (but there’s practice in 20 minutes), drove back to baseball field, dropped off Shortman, drove home, ate a sandwich, watered plants, drove to pick up Shortman, drove home, watered newly planted grass, sat on porch for 20 minutes, went to bed.
• Thursday: Will go home, change clothes, go to the grocery store, go to the pet store, water plants and newly planted grass, go to bed.

So, at Noon today, I decided that on Friday, I will:

• Stay at home. Like all Day. Like not show my face in the office. And Enjoy. Summer. In. Michigan.
• Find a ‘Beach book’, even though the only sand around will be the sand that Mr. Hot is using to level the pavers on the “Put grill here” part of the patio.
• Drink some nice summery drink that I will buy the ingredients for at the grocery store tonight.
• Give myself a new pedicure, so I can wear some new sandals that I plan on buying tonight at the shoe store next to the pet store.

—- It only lasts about 8 weeks y’all….then the doom that is Fall and Winter appear on the horizon. I am SO not a Winter Wonderland type of person. But sometimes, there are perks to being in charge. —-

It was beautiful today. About 77, with more sun than you can imagine. Went to the Farmer’s Market for some fresh spinach and then walked Poopy the Puppy around the park. This dog gets soooo excited to go find new places to explore. Amazingly enough (because I absolutely LOVE to sleep, and find it very difficult to get out of bed before 9 on Saturdays), this was done by 10:30.

Then, after 2 trips to Home Depot for pavers and sand and 2X4s (so, we can’t measure for shit) - Mr. Hot and I laid out the 4 ft. by 5 ft. area for the grill to sit. While we were playing around with the bricks (we actually like to do this stuff - go figure), the contractor we hired to asphalt our driveway came by. This is the first time we’ve ever contracted out work (we always rented before this house….repair came by way of phone call with NO checks involved), so we’ve been understandably nervous about the whole deal. Especially when we got that “I’ll call you early next week to set up a time”. Early? That, to me, means sometime BEFORE Friday, dude. After 3 or 4 weeks of this, it’s pretty clear…these guys don’t care about a $2500 job - they obviously have much more lucrative stuff going on.

Anyway…. the guy shows up today to drop off… get this, a “paver” and a “roller”. Cool. It’s sitting in my yard - I figure I can always hold it ransom if he doesn’t ever show his face here again. I specifically picked this guy because he doesn’t expect payment until the work is completed. (I’ve heard horror stories).

So, this is the “before picture:

I only hope I can show you the “after” picture on Monday or Tuesday. (or the Better Business Bureau will be getting a call).

Now, I’m going to go get another glass of Pinot Grigo and sit on the deck until Mr. Hot finished grilling that chicken. The Pinot? Yum. Y’know that junk mail for wine clubs? The one that’s kinda like the CD clubs or the Coffee of the Month club. They send you a case of wine for next-to-nothing, AND a free gift of a corkscrew that actually works!. Yum. Good stuff.

—- But, after you get that free gift and go through the 12 bottles in 4 days - you really should remember to cancel that membership, because this shit is expensive. Honestly. A bottle for $12.00? I can get an entire freakin’ box for less than that! —-