Track 5

"I need to apologize" I told the blue-shirted maintenance guy.  "I was a cranky bitch, and I'm sorry." 

He gaped at me.  "What?" 

"Saturday, with the freezer?   I was pretty rude, and I'm sorry" (I snapped at him a couple times over something that was "totally" not his fault).  I regretted it. 

"Oh, that's OK."  He said graciously.  "I'm just glad it's working again." 

"Well," I told him "I want to make it up to you."  I gave him a bag of fun size Snickers.  He was sure happy to get them!   I felt much better, knowing I'd acted as a civilized human being. 

Last night, I lay in bed, bug-eyed from caffeinated headache pills (they're the only ones that work), thinking I have to get up at 2 am.  

It was hideous.  Then I heard #6 come home.

Now, I'm not going to tell you "My neighbor's on vacation".  They could get robbed and it would be my fault.  I can say, they were. 

A little backstory: several years ago he used to park his truck in the driveway, truck bed loaded with tools (he works some kind of construction).  I always thought that was a Bad Idea. 

But, MYOB, so I kept my opinions to myself. 

For over 10 years, I have heard their garbage can thump EVERY time they did a diaper change on their 6 children.  Sometimes they had a couple in diapers at the same time, and they always took it straight out of the house and threw it in the can, propped against the fence right next to my bedroom wall, THUMP - all hours of the night, waking me up every time. 

[They have finally stopped this with the latest baby.  I have to assume they bought, or were gifted, a diaper genie.  If I'd known that's what it would take I would have bought them one myself!]

Anyway, one night, sure enough, a loud thump by my bedroom wall, waking me up.  I rolled over in bed, Unhappy Thoughts.  I heard a couple more thumps, wondered "What the HELL are they doing?" and went back to sleep. 

The next day, as we're leaving for work, the Mr comes by, all pissed.  "Someone stole the generator out of my truck!" 

You left it out, like a big freaking carrot.  I told you when my garage was robbed a couple years ago, and you still left it out.  Not only that, you didn't even secure it. 

I kept my mouth shut and tried to look properly outraged, instead of saying "What did you expect?"  He asked me if I had "heard anything". 

"I heard some banging in the middle of the night, but I figured you were taking out the trash."  
"You didn't notice the time?"
"No, I didn't.  I just thought 'It's awfully late to take out the trash.'"
He got all pissy and basically blamed me.  He kept asking me WHEN it happened, I kept telling him I don't know - you always take the trash out late at night (and clearly it is waking me up, but unsaid, that), I didn't think it was unusual, I went back to sleep.  Yelling at me is not going to get your generator back. 

It's your own damned fault!  Didn't say it, but thought "What an asshole". 

I also felt sorry for his wife, and VERY glad I married Ron.   He did smarten up, eventually, and bought a truck with built in, locking, toolboxes.

So, imagine what I thought when I saw a very expensive stroller tied to the top of the Mrs' SUV, very early Friday morning.  They must have left it there all night. 
1.  Didn't he learn his lesson? 
2.  Oh, thank God, they are going on vacation.  They were gone by the time we got home Friday.

I wish I could have enjoyed it, but I have had horrific anxiety lately.  So bad I will be cutting back on the aspartame.  I'm not consuming enough caffeine to explain this. 

I was Not Happy Sunday night to hear the [censored] trash can again.  They kept taking stuff out for hours.  Why didn't they throw away their trash at their destination, or one of the pit stops?  The baby doesn't crap that much. 

I was glad, in a resigned sort of way, that I was already awake.  I would have been a lot more annoyed if they had kept waking me up. 

I had secretly hoped they'd be gone a week, like they were last time (several years ago).  Oh, well. 

This morning came far too soon.  As I rolled over in bed, it made a strange noise.  Something has broken, on the right side of the bed. 

For my nap, I slept on the left side, but now I have to contact the seller, try to fix this if I can, etc.  Aggravation. 

I just want to lie down and sleep on a reliable bed every night.  I haven't had one in the last 9 years! 

Here's where I could go to the poor pitiful me why does this always I just wanna... but I won't. 

I will fix this. 

I got up, took my shower, made sure to apply the deodorant everywhere.  Once or twice I have had a failure and they're terrible. 

Our ride was almost an hour late.  I hate it when they're that late, know it, and then ask "When do you have to be at work?" 

"An hour ago, [censored]"  I let Ron answer that one, and he was very polite. 

We got our deliveries.  We went up a little on the sandwich order, some more variety.  They should be very popular with the customers. 

We got all our deliveries, stocked everything, got it all done. 

The other vendor had an experience on a road trip, she had been ripped off at a gas station, she felt.  She was ranting about it and saying she would never "do that to my customers".  It is funny how God uses things to keep us accountable. 

My machines were behaving, save the dead one.  Ron called our "gal" and she said once the repairman certifies it dead, she can have a used snack machine shipped from the warehouse to us.  Good. 

We had to go to the bank after work.  We did that, Ron paid me.  Yay.  I like getting paid on odd days, so we don't have a long line at the bank. 

Paratransit would have left us there an hour and 40 minutes after we were done, so Ron called one of "our" cab drivers.  We made arrangements, cancelled the trip (got a bad mark but he is allowed 5 per month), and took the cab home. 

Worth it.  An extra hour plus on our lives. 

I pretty much went straight to bed.  I think Ron stayed up a little, then took a nap himself.  He's still asleep, but he usually is this time of day.  His circadian rhythm is all messed up.  He is not interested in drugs. 

I approve. 

Besides, I need some time to myself.  I can't always be "on" in caregiver mode.  I'd burn out rapidly. 

When I got up, I drank some water, cleaned the toilet, did my God time with Biscuit.  Then I booted the computer. 

One last tale: A guy at work gave me a gospel rap CD done by his "Crew".  I like it a lot, and copied it to my hard drive. 

I saw him today.  Now, he lives in a notorious ghetto, and is pretty tough, but he lit up when he saw me.  I was heading out to a waiting deliveryman and he was going the other direction, on his own business. 

I grinned and gave him a thumbs up. 
"You liked it?" 
"It's great!  I copied it to my computer!" 
"You really liked it?" 
I rapped a couple lines from Track 5.  He grinned ear to ear as he headed off.