Stress is spelled with a BIG FU
At least it was yesterday (Monday).
Sunday night, our boiler died. To my American friends, that is like a hot water heater that also supplies heat that goes into our radiators that keep us warm. (It happens to be -1C right now...) We woke up Monday morning to ice crystals on the inside of our windows. Not a great start to a Monday morning.
Then I realized there was ice (not frost, ice) on my windscreen. So I made the necessary arrangements to leave early and let the car warm up before we left (taking the boys to school then to work myself).
Once I got into the car, I noticed that the pip that a rock had caused, had grown into a crack that went nearly all the way across the bottom of the entire windscreen.
Deep breath.
At work, I got a wee bit overwhelmed at the sheer amount of stuff that I'd missed over the week I'd been off (details and photos still to come).
We keep the radio (right next to my desk) on BBC Radio 2. Around 10ish, there was a report that there had been a shooting, leaving two dead, at a college in Arkansas. But they didn't say what college in Arkansas!!! My chest siezed up and I immediately had trouble breathing. I got online and found out that it wasn't my daugther's school but a school in Conway called University of Central Arkansas (or UCA). Some of you may know that's the school that Scotty Pippen (of Chicago Bulls fame) went to.
Two boys, same age as my daughter, were shot dead at the school in an apparent drug deal gone bad. It doesn't really matter what happened - its the fact that it happened at all. Two mothers sent their sons to college and they're never coming home again. I can tell you I never felt so far away from my daughter than when I found this out.
While I was online looking up the news about this, I found out that a local Arkansas newscaster had also been beaten to death in her home over the weekend. Twenty-six years old. I didn't know her personally but you get to recognise people when you see them on the news (especially the local news in the USA). The station she worked for did a tribute with sad music, beautiful pictures of her, and a familiar voice over from the president of the news station.
Deep breath.
Once I got home, the repairman was waiting on me to look at the boiler. He couldn't fix it so he called in a plumber. Yay. Heat for the night. Wrong. Plumber couldn't fix it either. We spent another very cold night last night.
Now that I'm home today (I spent all day in Edinburgh doing visitations of hotels in the area that we use), the engineer is here to fix the boiler. I pray we don't have to spend another cold night in this house!
I did have a brilliant day today, though. One of the stops we made (Dalhousie Castle just outside Edinburgh) we decided we had plenty of time and we were going to stop there for lunch. Well, the sales manager bought our lunch!!! We (a collegue and myself) also had coffee/tea provided to us from another hotel later in the day! Yay for travel perks! Its about time I got some pampering!
Having said that, I must say I do have the best husband on the earth! He took great care of me and my boys last night. We only had the one heater (electric) and we had it in the livingroom until the boys went to bed last night. He took it into the twins room, let it get nice and warm in there and then moved it into T's room and did the same. Then we put it in our room before we went to bed. This morning, he heated the room up nice and toasty before he woke me up this morning. He's amazing! He's bringing home Chinese tonight so I don't have to fight the repairman for room in the kitchen to cook dinner.
The guy that was here last night was a jerk. He acted as if I was interfering with him when I was trying to get into my oven to cook dinner for my family! You don't mess with a Moma in her kitchen!
Deep breath.
Okay - anyway - P should be home soon and I guess I could eat. The cold house is affecting my appetite I think. I didn't eat much last night but then again, I'd literally had the day from you-know-where and ended up having to use my inhaler twice yesterday. (I have another appointment at the Doctor's tomorrow afternoon.)
More later - promise!!
Edit Repairman came out tonight - no go - still no heat and they won't be able to fix it until tomorrow (Wednesday). Not happy. Its cold. Very cold. At least we have a couple of portable heaters. We woke up this morning with ice crystals on the inside of the window in the kitchen. Grr.
Sunday night, our boiler died. To my American friends, that is like a hot water heater that also supplies heat that goes into our radiators that keep us warm. (It happens to be -1C right now...) We woke up Monday morning to ice crystals on the inside of our windows. Not a great start to a Monday morning.
Then I realized there was ice (not frost, ice) on my windscreen. So I made the necessary arrangements to leave early and let the car warm up before we left (taking the boys to school then to work myself).
Once I got into the car, I noticed that the pip that a rock had caused, had grown into a crack that went nearly all the way across the bottom of the entire windscreen.
Deep breath.
At work, I got a wee bit overwhelmed at the sheer amount of stuff that I'd missed over the week I'd been off (details and photos still to come).
We keep the radio (right next to my desk) on BBC Radio 2. Around 10ish, there was a report that there had been a shooting, leaving two dead, at a college in Arkansas. But they didn't say what college in Arkansas!!! My chest siezed up and I immediately had trouble breathing. I got online and found out that it wasn't my daugther's school but a school in Conway called University of Central Arkansas (or UCA). Some of you may know that's the school that Scotty Pippen (of Chicago Bulls fame) went to.
Two boys, same age as my daughter, were shot dead at the school in an apparent drug deal gone bad. It doesn't really matter what happened - its the fact that it happened at all. Two mothers sent their sons to college and they're never coming home again. I can tell you I never felt so far away from my daughter than when I found this out.
While I was online looking up the news about this, I found out that a local Arkansas newscaster had also been beaten to death in her home over the weekend. Twenty-six years old. I didn't know her personally but you get to recognise people when you see them on the news (especially the local news in the USA). The station she worked for did a tribute with sad music, beautiful pictures of her, and a familiar voice over from the president of the news station.
Deep breath.
Once I got home, the repairman was waiting on me to look at the boiler. He couldn't fix it so he called in a plumber. Yay. Heat for the night. Wrong. Plumber couldn't fix it either. We spent another very cold night last night.
Now that I'm home today (I spent all day in Edinburgh doing visitations of hotels in the area that we use), the engineer is here to fix the boiler. I pray we don't have to spend another cold night in this house!
I did have a brilliant day today, though. One of the stops we made (Dalhousie Castle just outside Edinburgh) we decided we had plenty of time and we were going to stop there for lunch. Well, the sales manager bought our lunch!!! We (a collegue and myself) also had coffee/tea provided to us from another hotel later in the day! Yay for travel perks! Its about time I got some pampering!
Having said that, I must say I do have the best husband on the earth! He took great care of me and my boys last night. We only had the one heater (electric) and we had it in the livingroom until the boys went to bed last night. He took it into the twins room, let it get nice and warm in there and then moved it into T's room and did the same. Then we put it in our room before we went to bed. This morning, he heated the room up nice and toasty before he woke me up this morning. He's amazing! He's bringing home Chinese tonight so I don't have to fight the repairman for room in the kitchen to cook dinner.
The guy that was here last night was a jerk. He acted as if I was interfering with him when I was trying to get into my oven to cook dinner for my family! You don't mess with a Moma in her kitchen!
Deep breath.
Okay - anyway - P should be home soon and I guess I could eat. The cold house is affecting my appetite I think. I didn't eat much last night but then again, I'd literally had the day from you-know-where and ended up having to use my inhaler twice yesterday. (I have another appointment at the Doctor's tomorrow afternoon.)
More later - promise!!
Edit Repairman came out tonight - no go - still no heat and they won't be able to fix it until tomorrow (Wednesday). Not happy. Its cold. Very cold. At least we have a couple of portable heaters. We woke up this morning with ice crystals on the inside of the window in the kitchen. Grr.