Thursday, July 24, 2008

• DAY TWO WITHOUT DADDY

  Or the morning of the first FULL day, however you want to look at it, it hasn't started well. 

  We woke up about 5:30 SWEATING.  Em came into the room telling me that she had a dream about a hamster trying to bite her (random, yes, but such are dreams).  Last night I noticed it was warm, checked the thermostat and knew something was up.  It was set at about 74 (which generally keeps the house about 70-72), but it was reading that it was almost 80 degrees in the house.  NICE.  So I naively hoped that it was just because it had been 102 yesterday, full on humidity; you know, just summer in Texas.  But this morning blew a hole in that theory. 

  I'm thinking, had our landlord replaced the air / heater back in the winter like she SAID she was, we wouldn't have this problem. 

  And today, luckily (note the sarcasm), it's only going to b e 95 outside...with about 110% humidity (okay, only 74%).  Matt's in NY, I have classes all morning, and then another one tonight.  I can't sit home all day and wait for the a/c people.  I'm the only one around with a key (*ahem*, mom, you still have my key...), and KK is the only one around here that I would even think to ask if she could let the a/c people in, and I'm sure she has to work this morning.  And she has her sono appt this afternoon, so I don't know when she'll be around at all.

  Another problem - I don't seem to have the landlord's phone number in my cell phone, Matt handles all of that.  And he's not here.  And I can't find the lease, which has the phone number on it.  I hope Matt wasn't planning on sleeping in.  Good thing NY is an hour ahead of us.  If I can't find the number soon, then I guess I'll call him.  I know he has it in his phone.  This is SO beyond annoying.  Why don't people fix things right the FIRST time??  We had SO many problems with the unit this winter and the a/c guy said it was an old unit and it needed to be replaced.  So yeah.  Let's have some "handyman" come out and install a new breaker.  Whatever.  I realize that it's not cheap to buy a new unit, but if you say that's what you are going to do, and if you have OTHER people depending on you to take care of things...especially other people who have two kids....

  UGH! 

  I'm tired.  I've been up since 5:15 and it's hot.  We've got all the fans going full blast.  Some of them seems as if they are about to spin right off of the ceiling.  So off I go to continue the hunt for the lease.  We have to leave in about an hour, so I need that number so I can call her on my way to the gym.  Fun times, fun times.

  ***EDIT***

  As if that wasn't bad enough, not 20 minutes after posting this, I get Em up, start getting her ready to go and she tells me that HER tummy hurts.  And she starts gagging.  I look at her, and you can't see her lips.  Her face is completely void of color.  Poor girl.  So I put her back in bed and give her some 7-Up and a Zofran and start calling for subs.  No one answered their phone.  Figures.  No one returned messages.  So off we go, with a trash can in the car just in case.  She's fine, has been fine ever since.  She never threw up, though.  I finally talk to my landlord after my first class, she tells me she'll call and get a tech out ASAP.  She calls back during my second class to tell me, "They'll have someone out tomorrow, not before noon."  What the?????  Are you kidding me???  Nothing I can do, though...so as we leave the gym I talk to Matt, virtually in tears because of how the day has gone thus far...not to mention the dead furry critter with his head in a trap in the garage...but I'll get into that later.  I am beyond overwhelmed and exhausted.  So he tells me that he'll handle it, and I'm wondering what he can do from NY.  Then my mom calls and I go through it all again...again close to tears.  While I'm on the phone w/ her, KK calls.  Matt called her and she offered to let us stay there as long as we needed.  Okay, so that makes it a little better.  I've still got issues going through my head.  The rat, us having to leave at 7:30 in the morning for my class, my classes tomorrow night, when is the tech actually going to be there...etc.  So KK and I decide that mexican food will make it better, so we meet at Antonio's.  Me, Em, HK, Ethan, Kamdyn, and KK.  Whoa.  It could have been rough, but the kids were great, KK and I even got to visit, which was nice.  So from there we head to her house and I'm going to put HK down for her nap...we're getting out of the car when my phone rings.  It's the A/C people!

  Dispatcher:  "Um, Yes, is this Jayme?"
  Me:  "Yes."
  Disp:  "Hi, this is ____ from Frimyer services.  I was wondering if it would be okay if we sent a technician over today."
  Me:  "Oh Praise Jesus YES!  I would love you forever if you did!"  (yes, I really said that)
  Disp:  "Okay, I'll have Toby head your way.  He'll be there within 30 minutes.

  And he was.  Still is, it's still not cooling, but he's working on it.  Which is a start.

  He just came in and told me there is a motor that went out in the unit outside...he's taking it apart to see if he has the right one to replace it.  PLEASE PRAY THAT HE DOES!!!!

  ****

  On to that dead furry critter previously mentioned.  We had some questionable (read: trashy) neighbors who recently moved.  They had good dogs, but that was about the only good things I could say about them.  The girls loved their black lab.  Well, apparently they had other "pets" besides their dogs, but the dogs were the only ones they took with them when they moved.  Since they've been gone, we've seen rats.  Icky gross beady-eyed-long-tailed rats.  Another reason is because it's so dry, and the "creek" (I always thought it was a drainage ditch, apparently I've thought wrong all this time) is dried up due to the lack of rain.  My mom also reasoned that these rats had been feasting upon the dog's food and water all this time, and now that they are gone, they have lost their quick and easy supply of food.  So they are looking any-and-everywhere they can.  Including our garage.  We don't have automatic garage doors, so there are gaping holes between the doors and the walls where they can get in.  We saw one a few weeks ago when Matt and I were in the garage.  It could be seen as comical, I suppose.  We had just gotten back from camp and we were in the garage.  Something smelled funny, I was telling him as much.  He was saying that it was the old fridge, the freezer got moldy when we put it outside b/c we didn't leave the door open.  He was telling me, "Jayme, that has to be it.  There's nothing else out here."  As if on cue, this CREATURE leaps up from behind some boxes, over some more boxes, and disappears.  All I saw was grey fur and a LONG tail.  ENOUGH FOR ME!  I was in the house FAST!  It was 8:30, but I didn't care.  I made Matt go to Home Depot to get rat traps.  None of those weinie mouse traps that don't do any good!  Bring home the big guns!  We got one within a few days, and we hadn't seen any since.  But of course, the first night he's gone, we get one....and he's still in the garage.  I ain't touching him.  Nuh-uh.  Not a chance.  So Matt also asked KK if Will could come "take care of it" when he got home.  Good thing.  Otherwise I'd have been going through the church directory trying to find someone to take care of it.  So, hopefully by the time we get home from the gym tonight, said dead furry critter will be gone. 

  ***
  It's still really hot.  I really really really hope he has the motor he needs....

  ***edit again***

  WE HAVE AIR!!!  COLD AIR!  GLORIOUS COLD AIR!!!

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