24 Hour Crazy

I feel like I just got over a case of 24 hour crazy. Ever have those days? It started last night when I got home from OKC. I left the house at 6:30 yesterday morning to get to a vendor meeting with some other store managers. We met until a little after 5, then went for dinner and drinks. With the drive home, I got in just before 11 o'clock. I came in the house needing to do one load of laundry, shower and go to bed. Turns out I forgot to pay my water bill and my water was shut off when I got home. Are you kidding me? How old am I? That is sophomoric at least, not to mention embarrassing. So, no laundry and no shower, just straight to bed. I was closing the store today, so I did not have to be in to work until 10:00. I left a note for my landlord yesterday, along with my rent check, letting him know my dishwasher was not getting things clean. He left me a note, which I found when I got home last night letting me know my water was off and that might be the problem. Uh, that's not the problem. Or, at least not the main problem. He called me at 7:45 this morning to see if I had everything "taken care of." The utilities office does not open till 8:00 and he knows it. I went downtown, took care of the bill and had my water back on by 10 this morning. I was 5 minutes from walking out the door when he pulled up and came in through my garage door. I finished getting ready, but could not leave because he was blocking me in. I helped him unload the new dishwasher and then I moved his car to my neighbors driveway next door. Before you freak out, I told him I did it! I live in a duplex, so the next driveway is literally two feet away.

I finally got to work at 10:45. I had a meeting at 11:00, so I slid in with just enough time to check email and grab an iced tea. As luck would have it, my meeting was canceled because someone in the office across the way triple booked my client for meetings. No problem! We ended up having a lunch meeting at 12:30 which killed two birds with one stone.

After lunch, I headed back to my apartment to see how things were progressing with the dishwasher saga. I am not allowed to have pets where I live, which seems weird considering that my landlord's dog was laying in the floor of my apartment. He usually lets the dog roam around outside while he is working in any of the units. I guess he lets Buddy in when the tenants are not home. To tell you the truth, I do not mind, but I am allergic to dogs, so being asked before the dog was invited in would have been nice. I went back outside and the dog followed. I'm glad I was paying attention because he lifted his leg to pee on an upholstered chair I have against the wall in the garage. I hollered and Buddy put his leg down. The chair got sprayed a little, but not as bad as it could have been. Normally something like this might make me mad, but I got this chair from my uncle's garage because I was "sure I could use it." I guess my college days of hand-me-down furniture are not over. It has sat in my garage since Christmas. I should have let Buddy go to town and I would really have a reason to get rid of it.

I headed back to the store. Worked for a few hours and then had to step out and run to the store to get some supplies for our cash office. Again, I stopped by the house to see if Jim was still there working on the dishwasher. He was. This was a six hour install, which he freely admitted "any idiot could probably do in about 15 minutes." I know I couldn't, so I was glad he was there doing it. Buddy was back inside and laying on the floor against the couch. However, something was off. My house smelled like a smoky bar, minus the booze. My landlord had been smoking in my house! I know he owns the joint, but when I signed off on my lease he pointed out three things. No pets, no smoking and no painting. He left shortly after I got there, probably due to my incessant sniffing of the smoggy air in my apartment. Thank goodness I had the bedroom doors closed. They would have been smoky and peed on when I got home!

I got home from work for the day at 6:15 and the house still wreaked. I have been burning my ice storm candles ever since. Now it has a smoky "after the rain" scent. Oh well, it will fade. In the meantime, I was thinking I might recreate the Sistine Chapel on my ceiling just to prove a point. On second thought, I'm feeling kind of lazy. I should probably just go over and pee on the floor in his living room. It might send a stronger message.