things I am very sick of

I’m sick of house repairs. Which are apparently going to drag into, oh, the year 2045. At least. There are big holes along the back of the house and big holes on the sides of the house and weird metal things down inside the holes and there are big tubes sticking vertically out of the basement walls and piles of dirt in the floor and a third hole with nothing sticking out yet. Oddly – perhaps disturbingly – this mess isn’t really bothering me at all. What’s bothering me is that evidently it is never ever going to be DONE. 

They were here Monday and Tuesday last week, took off Wednesday for the holiday, came back Thursday, were here Friday and this Monday. They told Baker B on Monday that they wouldn’t be here Tuesday because they are switching crews. I really have no idea why. A different crew drills holes into the floor. Or something. Who knows. Whatever, they were going to be here today. Baker B stayed home until 9 because he wanted to be here when the new crew arrived. No new crew ever arrived. When they don’t work the previous day they make the two hour drive up here from Charlotte instead of getting a motel and arriving at seven, so he waited till nine to call. And they told him the new crew has been delayed in other states (more than one?? Who knows!!) so won’t be here until…. NEXT WEEK!!!!

AAAAGGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!

This will Never.Be.Over.

I am also sick of car repairs. Which will ALSO Never.Be.Over.

Let’s see. My car has been in and out of the Honda Place for, oh, three weeks. At least. They said it needed an idle control thing. They ordered the idle control thing way last week – no, week BEFORE last. They didn’t expect to get it until after the fourth. Then it arrived before the fourth, but they couldn’t actually FIX it until Monday. Two days ago. It appears the Honda place is as busy as the House Fixer Place. And about as speedy.

Well, yesterday I get a call from the Honda Place and they’ve gotten the idle thing fixed, but…. the Knock Sensor Light is coming on. So they need to replace the Knock Sensor. Don’t ask me what that is – I have no idea. It’s broken, whatever it is. And State Farm is paying, believe you me, so I don’t even really CARE what the hell it is. I just want it fixed and I want my car back.

Meanwhile in a totally different conversation with State Farm I find that I’ve never gotten the check for the Idle repair because they were sending it to the Honda Place instead of to me – even though they’ve sent all the other many checks to me so far – but the Honda Place had a problem with their tax ID number or something, so the check just never went anywhere. And they’d also sent some weird supplemental check to the place in Charleston that put the engine in to begin with, ten thousand years ago, for $128. They had no idea what that was for, and didn’t seem to really care.  But they said they’d just send me the check. No big deal.

So today I get, yes, ANOTHER call from my buddy at the Honda Place. Who now tells me that although the Knock Sensor Thing has been replaced… the light is still coming on. So there’s still something wrong. And they can’t tell what it is. So they are going to have to go through the whole… engine I guess, bit by bit, testing everything to see what is wrong NOW. He has no idea how long this will take but it certainly doesn’t sound as if I’ll get my car back in the foreseeable future. Like, EVER.

He says it looks to him like someone plugged something up wrong at some point and messed the Knock Sensor Thing up. Or messed something in the computer up. Great!!! FINE!!!!! Well, they will just have to keep it until it’s FIXED. I guess I better be grateful that, so far at least, State Farm hasn’t balked about paying for these things that sound as if they may have been caused by the shop in Charleston that put in the engine to begin with. They’re just flinging out checks right and left with nary a whimper.

AAAAGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Meanwhile Baker B and I continue to share the 16 year old car that won’t stay in gear and we’re afraid to drive farther than we can walk home.

And the Outback that my father is planning to give us is currently in Legal Limbo because the woman he is buying it from put what were supposed to be new axles on it not long ago, and then found out, just as she was about to turn it over to him, that the "new" axles she paid $600 for were in fact salvage axels and have already gone bad. So she’s hired a lawyer and is preparing to sue the repair shop. Which means we can’t get the car until… who knows when!!!! Again, I’m REALLY glad that this happened before Daddy bought it and not afterwards. But… AAAAGHHHHHH!!!!!

And of course, my biggest wail of all, is that I miss Stella and I don’t know when we’ll EVER get her back and she’s been gone for THREE WEEKS, at least TWO of which she didn’t need to be gone for, but we had no way of knowing and no transportation to haul her back and forth from Asheville in, and.….. WWAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

At least she’s with the person I’d trust most in the world to keep her. And she’s apparently quite settled in and hangs out in the livingroom with Kim and her cats and is eating well and likes to go exploring in the basement although she hasn’t figured out the cat door between the kitchen and the basement yet, never having seen one before. And she and Kim’s cats are getting along, although if she and Tig stare at each other too long the hissing starts. So she’s fine, but I MISS HER!!!! I’ve gone from two cats to no cats, and I don’t like it one bit.

I was planning to at least go visit her again this weekend when I thought I’d have the car back. And I suppose it’s not beyond the realm of possibility, but the Honda Guy didn’t sound very hopeful about a speedy fix. I’ve also not ruled out renting a car for the weekend. AGAIN. 

I’m also very very sick of my job, but…. I only have two more days!!!! This has been a grueling week, as I try to get the things that matter to me wrapped up, like licensure, while Insane Boss pushes me to do things that matter to her – like finding minutes I supposedly took for a meeting back in April but never typed up, and typing them up right now. And ordering name badges that they can get overnight from Office Depot but won’t need until August 20. And figuring out who still isn’t registered in Nightmare New Computer System From Hell. Which IS important, yes, but not as urgent as getting the licensure stuff in order so K can send it out as soon as summer degrees are conferred. Because these people’s pay will be affected if they don’t get their licenses. And student teaching isn’t my problem because I’m not the one who chased J off. And I’m not the one who STILL HAS NOT HIRED ANYONE TO REPLACE HER. And yes, she DID give them her notice … two months ago?? At least. And they interviewed I think three weeks ago for it, and had two really good candidates and two okay ones. Let alone even posted my job. Yes, in two days K will be there alone. Trying to do three people’s jobs. I have no doubt she will either have a nervous breakdown or just pick up her bags and walk out. Or kill Insane Boss and have to go to jail.

If I had known they  wouldn’t even have my job posted yet, instead of giving them a MONTH’S notice to do nothing in, I would have given three weeks and taken this one off. Of course, I’d have been without a car and would have thought until today the House Guys would be here at seven in the morning tearing the foundation apart, but STILL.

Okay, I really really have to go to bed now.