TPC update and Saying the "L" Word
Friday night. Things today have gone extraordinarily well. Food on program - check. Walking on treadmill - check. One hundred ounces of water - check. Positive thoughts about myself - several checks. Making plans to take Alcott, his brother, and the other CASA to the county fair - check. You know, it always amazes me how easy it can all be sometimes, especially given how hard it can be at others. Still, I'm happy, I feel good, and it's the weekend.
For my positive thing to share today, I'm going to confess to something shameful: I'm a girly girl. Now, I can see some of you scratching your head and wondering why that's something I think you don't know, but there's a dimension to my girliness that I've never talked about here and it's really awful. I am completely useless when it comes to household repairs. Really and completely useless. I am, however, very capable of picking up the phone and calling someone to come and fix those things that I can't, but I haven't even done that for at least five years, so I've got tons of niggling things wrong with my little abode. A few weeks ago, I called and made an appointment with a contractor to come out and do about five things, including installing a new security screen on the front door. I took half a day off of work on Thursday only to find that the contractor took four hours (and $355) just to do the security door portion of the list and even that's not right now. (It's not that it wasn't installed properly, it's just that the way it sits doesn't work with my door so there's a gap of 3/4" vertically from the bottom of the door to my doorsill and 1/2" horizontally - big enough that a mouse or even rat could easily get in.) I was so frustrated afterwards that I didn't know what to do with myself. All of that money and time away from work and only one thing got finished and even that wasn't right!
I called my parents to give them an update on the fixing and had Daddy so concerned that he offered to write a check to cover the expenses ("no, Daddy, that's OK") but I still didn't feel any better afterwards. I called the contracting company to leave a message about having the guy come back out to remove the door and do the other things on the list, but then started freaking out thinking that it's going to cost me another $355 and I still might not get everything done. I was nearly crying by now and just couldn't see a way out. At this point, I would ordinarily have just picked up the phone to call whoever I might happen to be dating and tell them my tale of woe to get their advice on next steps but, as you all know, TCB and I don't chat on the phone out of the blue for no good reason - that's just not the way that it works. I sat next to the phone for at least half an hour, wishing I could call but not sure what my reception would be, until I started to cry from the sheer frustration of it (and because it's nearly TTOM). Scared and hoping it wasn't a huge mistake, I picked up the phone and dialed with my hands shaking and my heart pounding.
"Hey," he said (isn't he profound?)
"Um, are you handy around the house? Like, um, can you hang curtain rods?"
"Yeah."
"Oh, um, because, um, I, um...(starting to choke up)...I just paid someone a bunch of money to fix stuff around my house and all that I got out of it was a security door that doesn't work and nothing else is fixed and I feel so stupid. (Pinching myself - hard! - so that I won't cry.)
"How much did you pay him?"
"Um, a lot."
"How much is a lot?"
"I'm too embarrassed to tell you."
"Denise, how much did you pay him???"
"A couple hundred bucks." (Yes, I lied, but I couldn't tell him how much I'd really paid or he'd think I was a total idiot.)
*choking noise on other end of phone*
"And he couldn't even do the other stuff I needed done...so I'm just sitting here mad and frustrated and feeling stupid."
"Uh, huh." (Well, what did you expect him to say? LOL)
"So, um, maybe, if you didn't mind and if you had some extra time, you could come down and do a couple of the other things on the list. I'll pay you!" (Before you yell at me for making him feel badly with the money, what else could I do? I didn't want him feeling like I was taking advantage of him.)
"Don't worry about the money, Denise, I'll take care of it."
"You will? Really?"
Then ensued a brief discussion of the other items to be done (new sink for kitchen, two curtain rods to be hung in living and dining rooms, fire alarm reattached, and door knob reattached) after which he said none of those were a problem.
I said, "OK, so then I'll just get the contractor back out to uninstall the security door and put up a regular screen door and it will all be good."
"Let me look at the door before you do anything else. I might be able to fix it and I don't want you spending that money to have him out again if I can take care of it for you."
*tears rolling down my face by now*
"Thank you so much! I feel really badly because I can't repay you for any of this because I'm not good at anything...what can i do for you???"
"Don't worry about it, Denise, I'll take care of it."
And that's when I said those pivotal words in any relationship. "I'm such a Lucky girl!"
What? You were expecting some other "L" Word???
For my positive thing to share today, I'm going to confess to something shameful: I'm a girly girl. Now, I can see some of you scratching your head and wondering why that's something I think you don't know, but there's a dimension to my girliness that I've never talked about here and it's really awful. I am completely useless when it comes to household repairs. Really and completely useless. I am, however, very capable of picking up the phone and calling someone to come and fix those things that I can't, but I haven't even done that for at least five years, so I've got tons of niggling things wrong with my little abode. A few weeks ago, I called and made an appointment with a contractor to come out and do about five things, including installing a new security screen on the front door. I took half a day off of work on Thursday only to find that the contractor took four hours (and $355) just to do the security door portion of the list and even that's not right now. (It's not that it wasn't installed properly, it's just that the way it sits doesn't work with my door so there's a gap of 3/4" vertically from the bottom of the door to my doorsill and 1/2" horizontally - big enough that a mouse or even rat could easily get in.) I was so frustrated afterwards that I didn't know what to do with myself. All of that money and time away from work and only one thing got finished and even that wasn't right!
I called my parents to give them an update on the fixing and had Daddy so concerned that he offered to write a check to cover the expenses ("no, Daddy, that's OK") but I still didn't feel any better afterwards. I called the contracting company to leave a message about having the guy come back out to remove the door and do the other things on the list, but then started freaking out thinking that it's going to cost me another $355 and I still might not get everything done. I was nearly crying by now and just couldn't see a way out. At this point, I would ordinarily have just picked up the phone to call whoever I might happen to be dating and tell them my tale of woe to get their advice on next steps but, as you all know, TCB and I don't chat on the phone out of the blue for no good reason - that's just not the way that it works. I sat next to the phone for at least half an hour, wishing I could call but not sure what my reception would be, until I started to cry from the sheer frustration of it (and because it's nearly TTOM). Scared and hoping it wasn't a huge mistake, I picked up the phone and dialed with my hands shaking and my heart pounding.
"Hey," he said (isn't he profound?)
"Um, are you handy around the house? Like, um, can you hang curtain rods?"
"Yeah."
"Oh, um, because, um, I, um...(starting to choke up)...I just paid someone a bunch of money to fix stuff around my house and all that I got out of it was a security door that doesn't work and nothing else is fixed and I feel so stupid. (Pinching myself - hard! - so that I won't cry.)
"How much did you pay him?"
"Um, a lot."
"How much is a lot?"
"I'm too embarrassed to tell you."
"Denise, how much did you pay him???"
"A couple hundred bucks." (Yes, I lied, but I couldn't tell him how much I'd really paid or he'd think I was a total idiot.)
*choking noise on other end of phone*
"And he couldn't even do the other stuff I needed done...so I'm just sitting here mad and frustrated and feeling stupid."
"Uh, huh." (Well, what did you expect him to say? LOL)
"So, um, maybe, if you didn't mind and if you had some extra time, you could come down and do a couple of the other things on the list. I'll pay you!" (Before you yell at me for making him feel badly with the money, what else could I do? I didn't want him feeling like I was taking advantage of him.)
"Don't worry about the money, Denise, I'll take care of it."
"You will? Really?"
Then ensued a brief discussion of the other items to be done (new sink for kitchen, two curtain rods to be hung in living and dining rooms, fire alarm reattached, and door knob reattached) after which he said none of those were a problem.
I said, "OK, so then I'll just get the contractor back out to uninstall the security door and put up a regular screen door and it will all be good."
"Let me look at the door before you do anything else. I might be able to fix it and I don't want you spending that money to have him out again if I can take care of it for you."
*tears rolling down my face by now*
"Thank you so much! I feel really badly because I can't repay you for any of this because I'm not good at anything...what can i do for you???"
"Don't worry about it, Denise, I'll take care of it."
And that's when I said those pivotal words in any relationship. "I'm such a Lucky girl!"
What? You were expecting some other "L" Word???
Comments
Still, you are lucky! I am also not handy around the house. I am really just not domestic in any way, actually. So don't feel too badly about it :). Thankfully, my husband's pretty handy with his tools (wait, that sounds dirty - I didn't mean it to).
I gotta know what a CASA is... sorry, but I'm new to your blog ;). I like it, though... figure TCB is "the current boyfriend". But CASA? Not a clue!