Apres [moi] le deluge
The local forecast still shows a 30-40% chance of thunderstorms through tomorrow night, but the worst seems to be over. In case you haven't heard, the DC area has had torrential rain, with flooding and a mudslide that temporarily closed the beltway. This is officially the wettest June on record now, with 12 of the 13.5 inches of rain (so far) having fallen on two consecutive days. So I have wet carpet in the basement, in the corner under the point where the new porch meets the house. The gutters need to be reworked and the ground graded to correct the problem--ugh. I'm supposed to get an estimate from the builder today on the grading of the lawn; he won't charge me anything for solving the gutter problem (since he created it).
My mother has come to visit. Mike and I picked her up at National Airport at 11:14 last night. She's had phenomenally bad luck with the flights on this trip. She went to Arkansas first to visit my brother. On the first leg of the trip her plane was in a holding pattern for more than an hour due to bad weather over Cincinnati, until it ran so low on fuel it was forced to turn around and land in Kentucky. By the time she got to Cincinnati her connecting flight to Springfield, Missouri, was long gone, and she spent the night in the Cincinnati airport. Yesterday her flight out of Springfield was cancelled due to mechanical difficulties, and she sat in the airport for about seven hours before finally flying to Atlanta, then to DC. In all my years of travel I don't think I've had as miserable a time--well, not in this country, certainly.
Now I sincerely hope we can get along during her visit, perhaps well enough for her to extend her stay, which I think she'd like to do. My mother never lived alone in her life until my father died, and I think the empty house got to her. We get along very well over the phone; the problems start when we're sharing space. She can be very controlling with regard to her house, and does not like having anyone else cook in her kitchen. When I was staying with her in May I stayed out of the kitchen almost entirely, just heating water on the stove for instant coffee. Last time she stayed with me she announced that she would "do all the cooking while I'm here" and she proceeded to take over the kitchen. As always, she cooked what my father wanted to eat, and I was left out of the process entirely. I particularly hate coming home from work to a mess in the kitchen. The day she made spaghetti I came home to a multi-pan-and-stovetop mess, and I nearly lost it.
So, we'll see. I'm going to try really, really, hard. At least I have this lj on which to vent, if need be. Oh, I'm also worried about the dog. He's big (well, 86 lbs last time he was weighed) and strong and hyper and uber-friendly in a "PLAY WITH ME PLAY WITH ME PLAY WITH ME" kind of way, and he has already knocked her off her feet once. Fortunately she was standing beside the bed and she simply fell back on it.
My mother has come to visit. Mike and I picked her up at National Airport at 11:14 last night. She's had phenomenally bad luck with the flights on this trip. She went to Arkansas first to visit my brother. On the first leg of the trip her plane was in a holding pattern for more than an hour due to bad weather over Cincinnati, until it ran so low on fuel it was forced to turn around and land in Kentucky. By the time she got to Cincinnati her connecting flight to Springfield, Missouri, was long gone, and she spent the night in the Cincinnati airport. Yesterday her flight out of Springfield was cancelled due to mechanical difficulties, and she sat in the airport for about seven hours before finally flying to Atlanta, then to DC. In all my years of travel I don't think I've had as miserable a time--well, not in this country, certainly.
Now I sincerely hope we can get along during her visit, perhaps well enough for her to extend her stay, which I think she'd like to do. My mother never lived alone in her life until my father died, and I think the empty house got to her. We get along very well over the phone; the problems start when we're sharing space. She can be very controlling with regard to her house, and does not like having anyone else cook in her kitchen. When I was staying with her in May I stayed out of the kitchen almost entirely, just heating water on the stove for instant coffee. Last time she stayed with me she announced that she would "do all the cooking while I'm here" and she proceeded to take over the kitchen. As always, she cooked what my father wanted to eat, and I was left out of the process entirely. I particularly hate coming home from work to a mess in the kitchen. The day she made spaghetti I came home to a multi-pan-and-stovetop mess, and I nearly lost it.
So, we'll see. I'm going to try really, really, hard. At least I have this lj on which to vent, if need be. Oh, I'm also worried about the dog. He's big (well, 86 lbs last time he was weighed) and strong and hyper and uber-friendly in a "PLAY WITH ME PLAY WITH ME PLAY WITH ME" kind of way, and he has already knocked her off her feet once. Fortunately she was standing beside the bed and she simply fell back on it.