Waving 'bye to last week

What did I do all week? I waited. There was someone at the house almost every day for one thing or another, and everyone did everything they could to drag their processes out to maximum length.

Not so good stuff (starting with this to get it off my chest):
- The kitchen is finally done. It took 10 1/2 weeks. They were supposed to template the rest of my window sills while they were here installing the last little piece of counter, but the guy said they'd only been allotted 90 minutes, and it was at least a 2 hour job. That was Monday. On Thursday, the templater came out and got it all done in a little over an hour. Supposedly they'll be installed on the 8th. We'll see.
- Wednesday was furniture delivery day. They came on time, but they the driver didn't see that I had two living room chairs until I told him. He read the list twice before he saw them. They also didn't bring the hardware to put my table together. The driver called customer service and assured me that Liz would call me before close of business. She didn't. I called our local store, who said they would get me an answer and call right back. I still haven't heard from them. I did call Liz directly the next morning, and she had no idea she was supposed to be doing something about it. She answered the driver's question and thought she was done. The soonest she could get someone out to put the table together was Monday. Yeah, the day after we're having kids here for Easter Dinner. I finally drove to St. Louis, picked up the hardware and instructions, and Eric put the table together in about 45 minutes. They did refund part of our delivery fee.
- My dryer is on the blink. Again. The little computer control thingy is going out again. Luckily, I have a folding drying rack in the garage. I have 2 loads of laundry air drying in my laundry room because our stupid HOA doesn't allow clothes lines.
- I had to go get my military dependent ID renewed. We waited three hours. By that point I was ready to find the flight commander and make him hire me to manage the office. They had three people working, and they weren't working very hard based on the fact that it took two minutes to make my new card, but they were averaging six minutes per customer. Oh, and there were only three people working because the fourth had gone to lunch. During the rush. Which is why wait times increased from two hours to three. I don't even want to think about how much money it cost the government to have all those people sitting around waiting.
- It seems like this whole year so far has been one frustration after another. We've had good things happen. That's evident--my blessing jar is filling up. It dawned on me the other day that maybe the reason is so I can write my current hero more effectively when his job doesn't go as planned. It's going to be a bad year for Tim.

Okay, now that I've vented, here's the Good Stuff:
- Stanley Steamer came and cleaned my downstairs carpets and stairs. They came on time, did their job, and left.
- I decided not to do the bi-monthly Merry Maids thing. I did a little research and discovered there are a lot of ladies in my area that clean houses for a lot less than Merry Maids charges. I might look into hiring one of them, but that's going on the back burner until late spring.
- Got some writing done. Not enough, if my dreams are any indication. They've been very vivid and strange, and usually they're only like that when I'm in a dry spell.
- I bought Les Mis on DVD.
- My second judo practice wasn't as scary as the first. Eventually my life will settle down and I'll be able to get two practices a week. That will give me two judo and one fencing most weeks.
- Made some progress with my two new warrior queens. Got costuming done and packed, although I might pull it all back out and put them on to make sure I can switch quickly. Do a dress rehearsal of sorts. We won't have a chance to rehearse, so I should probably do that.
- Everyone is healthy.
- Eric still loves me. He even helped with the house while he was off, and he cooked dinner twice.

This week:
- Easter dinner tomorrow with Vicky and Justin. Send left-over brownies home with them.
- Perfect the queens. My performance is next Saturday. (Note to self: Find the video camera and tripod.)
- Write.
- Lots of meetings this week, including two on consecutive nights in St Louis.
- Follow up with the dryer repairman. Maybe price new dryers? Why not? We've paid down the Lowes card, might as well buy something else. :-P
- Work on my attitude. It's not helping matters.
- Eat healthy and see if that helps the attitude. Get some exercise, too.
- Have fun at Tartan Day. I'll be late checking in next week.

Here's to a great week for all of us, and Scotch and chocolate if we don't!