No water, blood work, and Bolt…oh my!
So much for my new years resolution to blog every day, huh? No matter, I’m still going to keep trying. Besides, the past couple of days have been pretty much a whirlwind of events, so I feel the excuse is reasonable enough.
We’ll start with yesterday morning. It began hectic enough. Got up and started getting Alex ready for school, and the other kids ready to go out because Aidan had a doctors appointment at 9am. When Alex was heading out the door at 8:30am he handed me a bag with an envelope in it that was hanging on the knob. I quickly looked at the envelope and basically said “Oh crap, this can’t be good.” I ripped it open and sure enough, it wasn’t good AT ALL. It was a shut off notice for our water. They were shutting it off THAT DAY. I quickly made a phone call to Joe (at work) to find out whether or not he had sent in the water bill recently hoping that maybe they just didn’t get it yet, but he didn’t answer. Now let me make this perfectly clear. This is not a money issue. We have the money to pay our water bill. This is a husband just forgot to pay the bill issue. Yes, my husband really is that absent minded not to pay a bill even when, if I recall correctly, they send a bill which basically reads “pay it now or we will shut off your water.” *sigh* Anyway, then I did the only thing any normal person would do, I rushed upstairs to brush my teeth before the water was shut off. Figures that Joe would call me back in the middle of that.
Me: “So, honey, I need to know like right now if you sent in a water bill recently because yeah there was a notice on our door this morning saying our water was getting shut off.”
Him: “I knew I hadn’t paid it in awhile so I grabbed the last bill they sent and my checkbook, I was going to pay it today.”
Me: “Well, that doesn’t help. Because our water is getting shut off today and the paper says you have to go down there and pay it.”
So him and I go over what the paper says about how we need to pay it by noon in order for it to be restored by 4pm today, otherwise it wouldn’t be restored till tomorrow, and that they don’t accept personal checks; only cash, money order, or certified check. And even though I could get there before noon, since I don’t have any cash he needs to be the one to do it.
Then I finish brushing my teeth, which the water gets shut off in the middle of, and pack Aidan and Zoe up to take them to the doctors. I get there 10 minutes late, they aren’t happy about that, but it isn’t like I wouldn’t have waited for those 10 minutes anyway. At least this way they rush through the paperwork and get us back into the office quickly without the kids going insane in the waiting room. The appointment was just for a wellness check, and Aidan is doing good, so no big deal. He seemed concerned when the doctor mentioned shots, but I don’t think he realized the doctor was saying he was NOT getting any shots today. Aidan was due for some blood work, which I expected. In fact, Zoe was due for some blood work in November but I was expecting Aidan’s, so I put Zoe’s off until yesterday. While the receptionist printed out Aidan’s form, I had her print out Zoe’s too, and away we were off to Quest (which is basically across the street).
Then the kids went horribly insane while waiting. The office was pretty crowded, which I should have expected because lots of people need to fast for tests. But nobody in the office seemed to mind, or at least said anything about them, so I let them wear themselves out a bit not wanting them to be all wound up for the blood work. They crawled under chairs, talked to a few people, and played hide and seek by a potted plant in the corner. Then Joe called me about the water being shut off, he wanted me to go over how much and where he needs to go again, and while talking the kids decided to run back to the lab stations. So I had to abruptly tell him that now was not a good time for me to talk and I would call him back when I got home. I scrambled to get the kids fairly calmed down at that point, and they seemed ok after that. Zoe hung out in my arms and Aidan sat beside me. They both talked to a lady about their ages and what shows they liked to watch. The plan of letting them unwind a little before their blood work worked, and by the time we went back there they were pretty much perfect angels.
Since I was already holding Zoe, we did her first. Which was a huge mistake because Aidan sat there and saw everything. Zoe was good though, she just sat their quietly, held out her arm, and watched…until they put the needle in, and then she cried. I then put Zoe down in the chair next to me and told Aidan to get on my lap. “No!” was his cry. I picked him up and basically had to hold him down the minute he was on my lap. The technicians were all “Lets just do this, he is freaking out.” So the put aside the paper work, and then prepared to stick him. He cried, but didn’t really fight it, and as soon as they gave him a sticker he was all “No big deal.” I signed the papers, and then took Aidan to the bathroom, with Zoe in tow, for his first urine sample. After he pulled down his pants, I held the cup to him. Aidan seemed confused an even exclaimed “Why you hold cup to my penis?” But I explained that the cup needed to catch his pee and he had to pee for me. And pee he did. After a second I was all “Stop! Stop!” because it was about to overflow on my hand. And he did stop for a second, enough for me to pull the cup away without getting my hand all covered in pee. Thanks Aidan, appreciate that more than words describe. Aidan finished up, then Aidan and I washed our hands, and all three of us were on our way home.
When we got home I called Joe. It was after 11 at this point, and Joe was just leaving work. I relayed to him again where he needed to go. It was getting pretty close to noon when he called me back, and I relayed to him again the address on the paper. He said he was near where the place was, so I hoped he would make it in time. So does this prove my point at how absent minded he is? I reminded him of the location, what, 4 times? And I should note that most of the time he called me to ask me where he needed to go. I’m just not a nagger, but it is times like these I think I should start. Anyway, he called me back after noon, and said he had just made it in time so the water will be back on by 4pm. I made it perfectly clear that next time he forgets to pay a bill, could it please be the cable bill, cause I can live without hdtv just fine. Water, not so much.
We agree to get the kids out of the house because of lack of water, and after a quick look at the movie times we decide to take them to see Bolt. The theater only had two other people there, a man and another young child, so it was a pretty perfect thing to take two toddlers too. Also, it turns out the movie was in 3D. Aidan liked the glasses and the movie held his attention really well. Zoe would not leave on the glasses to save her life, but she did keep her attention to the movie pretty well for a 2 year old, even when she went down the row and stood on the steps to watch it. As for me? I liked it. It was really cute, and I even giggled at some parts.
When we came back home around 2:30, the water was back on. Hooray! And that, my blog public, is one morning and a little bit of an afternoon in my life. Whew!
More posts like this:
- Joe is the lucky one. – May 3, 2006
- A says A – June 9, 2004
- Christmas Day – December 25, 2003
- Celebrating Joe’s birthday. – January 15, 2009
- Shit happens. – July 12, 2006
C
January 13th, 2009 @ 1:45 pm
That sounds like a rough day…I am glad you got your water back on quickly though. We just took the kids to see Bolt in 3D as well. My 4 and 5 year old liked it, but I ended up taking the 19 month old to the car 1/2 way through it(the other 2 stayed with daddy). What I did see was cute.~C
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cube
January 14th, 2009 @ 2:00 pm
Gosh, it sounds like a day in the life of our family. Luckily it doesn’t happen every day, but , once in a while, we have crazy days when everything seems to conspire against us. That’s why I look forward to the quiet days.
cube’s last blog post: News Flash