Random Thoughts From Marybeth

Whining

I bought a new car yesterday. The enjoyment of having a new car doesn't really start until the memory of the tedium of the sales process fades. I may take my time deciding what to buy, but once I do, I want things to move quickly. Spending three hours or more with three different people - the salesman, the sales manager, and the finance manager - isn't my idea of speedy.

I probably could have picked a better day than yesterday. The kids were off from school and had been since Thursday of last week so my patience for anything/everything was wearing a bit thin. (If you have two or more children, you will understand this. It's the bickering among themselves that's tiring to me.)

This morning our furnace quit working. I think it was jealous and wanted attention. Machines are like kids. You bring home a new one and an older one acts up.

I have a pain in my back - a different one from the normal torn disk pain. I think I have another kidney stone.

I tried telling myself, it could be worse. That wasn't much comfort because it reminded me that while things weren't as bad as they could be, there was still the potential for more things to go wrong. Considering how this week's starting, I'm not ruling out that possiblity.

I need a vacation. Considering that I'll probably only have about 75 cents left in my checking account after I pay the furnace repair bill, I guess I'll have to settle for taking a nap instead.

Naps are good.

Update: I was making steak fries to go with dinner. I've been frying french fries for about 30 years now and tonight, for the first time ever, some oil spilled and caught fire. On the positive side, I found that baking soda really does work well at putting out oil/grease fires.

Because the house was full of smoke, we opened some windows. The kids complained about the cold so I let them take a ceramic heater into the living room. That, along with every light in the room and the TV and video game console, caused a breaker to throw. When I went out to reset it I found a wild rose bush had grown next to the breaker box. Finding it in the daytime wouldn't have been so bad, finding it at night was like walking into the middle of a cat fight.