Friday, May 04, 2007

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst was one of my kids most favorite books when they were growing up. It tells the story of a little boy who has a multitude of things go wrong in one day.

I had one of those days yesterday.

Now granted, in the scheme of things, these are all very small occurrences...and, I am trying to keep it all in perspective....but, when they happen all at once, they can seem a bit overwhelming. Here are some examples of my day :

After unsuccessfully trying on countless (and I mean countless!) combinations of skirts, tops and sundresses for an upcoming beach wedding, I finally decided to save a little money and try on an old outfit to see if it would work out. Well, there was a little stain on the front of the jacket so I decided to take on the challenge of removing it with some of my "magic" stain remover. I rubbed and scrubbed and "voila!" the stain came out...but, unfortunately, so did part of the fabric! So, now I have a hole where the stain once was...

It gets worse....

After flushing the toilet, I reached up into the "over the toilet cabinet" for a new roll of paper....but, unfortunately, a little stack of plastic bathroom cups fell out and plopped right into the toilet. I helplessly watched them go down with the water before I could retrieve them....thus stopping up my plumbing. (I know--it was "stupid, stupid, stupid" to store a stack of cups in toilet seat range!) So, $175 later, the plumber removed the whole toilet and was able to get the cups out....and things are flushing again...

Can you take one more example?

While routinely cleaning out my gutters yesterday, the young man up on my roof called me out to see something. Several of the shingles were loose and actually leaving a few bare spots in various places....exposing some water-damaged wood. I made a call to an independent roofer (who came highly recommended by my neighbor) and he arrived promptly last night to look over the situation.

The verdict? My older roof was very much in need of a total redo. The old shingles need to be completely removed...some of the wood needs to be replaced....and the total cost for all of this fun? $11,500....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After the initial shock, I started to laugh and said to the roofer, "You are kidding, right?".

Unfortunately, he wasn't.

I am trying to accept the fact that this is all part of being a "homeowner". AAACK! I called another roofing company for a second estimate sometime early next week...and have put a frantic call into my accountant this morning in hopes of doing some "creative financing"!

I could go on and on....but, suffice it to say that Alexander's "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day" had nothing on me.....

: (

3 comments:

Bert Bananas said...

Now see? If you were a Mormon, you would have simply called the Elders Quorum President to let him know about the roof problem and they would have scheduled a work project for a couple of Saturdays from now and all the majority of your Ward's Elders would have come over, along with the Missionaries in your stake and they would have stripped the old stuff off, fixed the wood and put on the new roof, using the shingles you bought for $900 at Lowes. Your only other out of pocket expense would have been the hot dogs, hamburgers, chips and soda. Just soda!

You should think about it, because this is still a viable plan: Mormons love baptizing Jews, whether dead or alive...

Moobear said...

Since I do not know your last name, if I was a betting person, with your luck, I would hafta think we were kin! Sorry about the problems, but when bad things happen, they always seem to happen in bunches. Good luck and you are in my thoughts Grammie!

L. said...

Bertsky...thanks for the suggestion, but there aren't too many Mormons here in Alabama...
There is certainly something to be said for that kind of "community" where neighbors help out neighbors.

I always thought that there should be more bartering in the world. I provide you with something that you need or a service that you can't do...and you do the same for me. I think that would be a much better idea instead of our monetary system. What do you think?

Moo...thanks for the empathy. I am hopeful that yesterday counted as my "batch" and that today will be a much better day! : )

Have a good weekend!