I would lose my head if it wasn’t attached..

Friday, May. 21, 2004 – 4:27 p.m.

2004-05-21 4:27

Ok, lately the roses have been having to “fend for themselves”. I have not been in the garden since Monday (and I really should try to get out there every other day, at a minimum). Oh, the hoses are hooked up so anything that is one the watering system is getting watered… but I have done NO weeding in a while, no dead-heading, and no spraying either. Well, I guess that’s what a weekend is for.

What I have been doing is trying to get ready for the installation of the new carpet. Because of the water issue several weeks ago, I am getting new carpet in the upstairs hall and stairwell. Because I want it all to match, I am getting new carpet in the bedrooms as well. That means that all the furniture needs to be able to be moved so the guys can lay the new carpet. Bookcases just are not moveable when filled with books. Neither are dressers and other things, when they are covered with crap. So, all the books had to come off the shelves and all the :crap” had get packed up too. I have spend the evenings this week packing up stuff….and throwing stuff away… and dusting.

I figure that any furniture the carpet workers can move so I just needed to get everything cleared off. I did manage to do that and I ended up with a laundry basket FULL of papers to be file, threw away several trashbags of stuff and got stuff out of the way. The computer got taken down last night.

Not losing the cats…

It dawned on me that I had not made provisions for the cats. The upstairs bedrooms are the usual safety zones for the boys and that would definitely be out with what was happening. Add to that the fact that when one is doing carpet, the door to the outside often has to stay open for a significant amount of time so that carpet and padding can be carried in and out. Given the amount of chaos and confusion the house is in because of this project, I figure that Galahad is fairly stressed as it is. Adding unknown people hawling stuff in and out and leaving the door open, I could see G. going for walk about outside or peeing all over EVERYTHING. So, at 7:30 this morning, I was on the phone to the vet to see if I could board them for the day. Ok, going to the vet is not what one might consider as a non-stress event but at least I wouldn’t have to worry about either of them getting adventurous outside. I needed to get more meds for G. from the vet and some food as well so I needed to go to the vet anyway. I am fortunate that I don’t have flea problems with the guys. Since they don’t go outside, the only source of fleas would be … me. However, being boarded, I would hate for them to come home with an infestation (it’s been known to happen…). They are getting baths and Advantage treatment while at the vet…Oh, I mean “Kitty Spa” [wink].

Going downhill from there…

So, I noticed, when I walked out of the vet, that I had forgotten my checkbook this morning. Not a problem, it is on the bookcase in the living room when I put it when I was unloading my pockets last night. I swung by the house on the way to the office and picked it up. However, when I got to the office, I discovered that I didn’t have my keys. No problem, I thought, I must have left them in the truck (the truck key is separate from the rest of my keys). Heading back to the parking lot down the street, I failed to find them in the truck or in the parking lot. [Sigh] I thought “hmmm… must of dropped them in the grass at home…” so it was back in the vehicle to drive home and check. Driving around the corner and parking by the building, I went in and talk with Roy to tell him I needed to run home for my keys. I was supposed to meet with him this morning but we rescheduled for Monday.

The trip back to the house yielded no results and it dawned on me that I might have put them in my briefcase when I got out of the truck the first time. The briefcase was back at the office… back to the office I went. Nope. Not in the briefcase…..

In the end, I search the truck at least 4 times, the yard at home twice, the parking lot 3 times, and STILL no keys. I talked with the folk in the front office and called the campus police to see if anyone had turned them in (or reported finding them). I was stressing pretty badly at this point. Verna, one of the people in the department office, suggested that I try checking at the shops along the street from parking lot to the building… Thank you, Verna! The third shop I went to, the coffee shop, had them! I was SO relieved.

At this point, it was about 1pm and my stomach, with had been filled with acit from having lost my keys, was telling me that it wanted something to eat. I walked down the street to the chinese place and had my General Tso’s Chicken and read my book for a little bit. About 40 minutes into eating, my cell phone rang. It was Roy, my boss, calling to ask if I had my badge. Last year they installed key-card entry to the computer room and to the building’s external doors. Up until yesterday, I could have used my keys to get into the building but they just changed the locks so that wasn’t an option anymore. I remembered having my badge earlier but when I looked down, my badge was NOT on my shirt when it should have been. That’s right, I lost it along the way and someone turned it in.

I guess I should consider myself lucky that they did, in fact, turn up. Looking at the clock, it is time for me to go get the cats.

Later….

Leave a Reply