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Monday, September 06, 2010

When life hands you lemons...

It's a good thing I love lemonade!

This is not a pity party but more of just stating where life is at the moment. And it seems when one not so fun thing happens we are on the door steps of another not fun thing.

The house we are renting isn't a slum but some days it feels like it. Since moving in one month ago we have had the exterminator out three times, a plumber and "handy man" visit three or four times, actually had the work done earlier this week to the tune of $1400 dollars (thank god the landlord foots that bill), a new refrigerator put in, and we are waiting for the delivery of the new washer/dryer.

Our twenty-something hood rat neighbors are moving out as I type. And thank god for that.

We frequently hear them coming in at 3 and 4 a.m., banging, clanging, slamming doors and my favorite, a litany of insults and expletives "f-this, f-that, f-you" at any given time of the day. I hope the girlfriend got the hint and has left that relationship. The problem with them coming and going at all hours of the night is that their bedrooms must be directly under ours and they often wake Sophie up. As if it wasn't easy enough for me to get her to sleep! Luckily, she will go back to sleep but it is such a disruption to her sleep schedule and I'm less than thrilled at what she can hear through the floor boards.

Last night she was wide awake because of them and so we let her in our bed. Two grown adults, one with an expanding belly, a beagle that takes up as much room as a great dane and a toddler...not quality sleep for most of us except the dog I imagine. This morning when we got up Sophie's hair was one helluva mess. Knots, tangles, the works. If she wants dreadlocks at any point she's well on her way. So I convinced her that if she sat still and let me comb the rat's nest she would get a treat from the "treat bag." (Ahh, bribery.) Well upon combing there was a small black bug in her hair. I thought it was a tick but is quickly moved and we couldn't find it again. Today's "ah shit" moment? Lice.

So off to CVS Phillip went. Thank god the lice treatment is a Flex Spending item because we barely have enough cash to make it to the next payday. The instructions say to wash the hair with the medicated shampoo and leave it on for 10 minutes! And the person being shampooed needs to tightly close their eyes and put a towel over the eyes to protect them from the shampoo. Are you kidding me? She's two and a half! This was like torture. So off came my pants and into the tub I went holding the towel to her eyes and singing any song I could to distract her. 10 minutes is a long...........time with a toddler.

A lice treatment is a three step process and has to be repeated in 7-10 days. The good thing is that I don't actually thing she has lice. We didn't see any more bugs or nits when cleaning and combing. Wheww...

Phillip is currently at the laundromat. Did you know one load of laundry take 5 DOLLARS to do? I don't think we had that much in quarters so a little more money siphoned off the diminishing checking account. I'm glad my Mom suggested that we bill the landlord for the laundry since we are currently with out a washer and dryer.

So that's been our past few weeks. I am glad that we have a roof over our heads, food on the table, bills paid, and clothing on our backs but damn it's hard sometimes. And right now I can only have lemonade, no vodka and lemonade!

1 comment:

Erica said...

I love this treat bag idea.