Another Monday...

The weekends really do fly by these days. I have to spend a good portion of Monday morning trying to recall what happened during the previous three days....

I'm especially grateful for the blog on Monday mornings. I know that I only put myself through the mental exercise of reliving the weekends so that I can update here. And I also know that if I didn't record what I manage to remember here -- I would soon forget it all and find myself living with huge gaps in my memory. I wonder now if my lack of blogging on the weekends somehow is responsible for the mind-numbingly fast passage of time. Forcing myself to stop and reflect and think seems to slow the pace for me at least.

Maybe it would be a good idea to set aside some blogging time for the weekends as well... A little homemade remedy for some post-traumatic stress induced short-term memory loss.

Ah but we'll get to that this weekend. Now I should probably return to this weekend past before I forget it all again....

Friday, March 17th: (Cue 'Mission Impossible' theme) Dave and I ventured out in search of cable and stakes to restake our crooked (and as yet still unidentified) tree in the side yard. We reached Lowe's Home Improvement store at a decent hour of the morning - got the babies out of the car and into the store.. and were immediately distracted by a display of blackberry bushes at the door. Blackberry bush in hand - I decided we should go check for blueberry bushes in the garden section... So I ended up checking out garden fountain pumps to replace those we lost to the salt water while Dave insisted that we NEEDED tiki torches. I wasn't interested in the tiki torches at all. I didn't bother telling Dave why they didn't thrill me -- but I was thinking about the bamboo tiki torches I had at a house in Gulfport once... and how the slightest wind would topple them all and it was so horribly irritating to me because I wanted them to be straight... although I think the whole point of tiki torches is that they're a little roughshod... But I could never arrange them convincingly enough. Which of course reminded me about the tree in our side yard that was leaning precariously over the sidewalk... which, in turn, reminded me that we were supposed to be finding cable and stakes to straighten said tree.

We found cable on the 'rope/chain' aisle.. and not far from that we found some heavy-duty plastic stakes. However, the cable package illustration showed that we would need some particular hardware to finish the ends of the cable. Just then, I noticed that there were mailboxes on the other side of the aisle -- and remembered that the last time we tried to replace our mailbox we had bought a model that was too small for our post. I wandered off to look for a mailbox and left Dave to find the hardware.

A little while later, we met again on the rope/chain aisle. I couldn't find a mailbox on my own and needed his input... and he said he had found the hardware but the instructions stated that we would need a special tool for crimping the cable. We played with every power tool in the tool section -- but we never found the special cable-crimping tool. I was getting a little tired when we returned to the mailbox/rope/chain aisle. We grabbed a mailbox before deciding to conquer our cable problems once and for all... (Although there were no white mailboxes... we decided any mailbox is better than no mailbox - even if it doesn't match.) Turning back toward the cables and pulleys - we immediately spotted something we hadn't noticed on our previous trip: Right there next to the cable was an empty spot on the shelf. According to the little plastic card on the shelf beneath the spot -- the empty spot once housed the special cable-crimping tool we were looking for. That's when we threw all the cable and hardware back where they belonged and grabbed a 10 ft dog tie out and a rachet tie-down and headed for the door.

But then.. I remembered that I wanted to get the counters for the laundry room ordered. And hey - we were in Lowe's... why not? It would save Dave another trip out... and it takes so long for stuff like that to get done with waiting lists and all of that... the sooner the better as far as getting on the list.

We waited a long time in the kitchen department. We waited like invisible people. It was eerie. Lowe's staff looked right through us as if we weren't even there. We smiled and waited.. and chatted idly about countertops and blackberry bushes. I looked at all the Formica samples and Yvonne touched all the Formica samples. Some more time passed and we realized we were alone. There was no one at all in the department anymore. No one was waiting with us... and there was not a red Lowe's vest to be seen for miles. It was quiet. Very quiet. We had resisted the urge for so long -- but I couldn't stand it anymore: "Yvonne, honey? You see that red button over there? Yes the one that says "NEED HELP?" in big yellow letters? Could you go press that button for us, sweetie?"

With that done... We waited some more. Although I winced every time the automated voice would blare out "Assistance needed in the kitchen department" - I felt that we had done the right thing.

Suddenly, there appeared an oldish looking man in a bright red Lowe's vest. He was out of breath and looking irritated about something. He ran to the big red button and worked some sort of magic until the automated announcement ended. Then he looked at me and said breathlessly, "She's very busy. Very very busy. You don't need to press the button."

For some reason that really irked me. But I was nice.

"Okay - all we wanted to do was order some countertops."

"Yeah well I don't work in this department you'll have to discuss that with her but she's very busy."

"So she does countertops?"

"She does kitchens."

"That's great - but this is for my laundry room... Who does just countertops?"

"I don't know I don't work in this department. She's busy."

Apparently he knew who did countertops.

Finally a woman who had been near us when we waited the first 45 minutes arrived in her red Lowe's vest. She walked past us as if we were ghost people. I looked at the breathless man and queried "Is that her? The busy one?"

"Yes," he said, "There are at least 5 or 6 people ahead of you."

At that she looked up from her desk... a little startled and said "I'm the only one here. I don't know when I can get to you."

The breathless man left.. and the busy woman never looked at us again... although her customers were apparently even more invisible than we were as we appeared to be the only people there.

I wasn't quite sure what to do... So I stood there helplessly until a visible lady approached. She appeared to be a customer - like me. Immediately the really busy woman looked up at her and said 'I'll be with you in just a moment.. I'm the only one here today...'

Sigh. Needless to say - we didn't order any countertops on Friday.

When we got home, Dave started sawing limbs off the leaning tree to lighten it up while Yvonne and I went out to replace the old mailbox.

It took months for the hinges to completely crumble off the mailbox after being submerged in the Gulf of Mexico for a while... but it finally happened.

We made great progress after a few bumps and starts with alignment and predrilling holes... and then I realized that the box was missing its hardware. Not a lot of hardware came with the thing - mind you.. just some special cams and screws for attaching the 'flag' to the side of the mailbox. But you see - those are very important. I found the number to call for missing parts in the instruction booklet in a little outlined box that read: "Missing Parts? Our customer service department will be able to help more quickly than store personnel." No kidding.

The mailbox parts should arrive within 4 to 5 business days. OH - and we did manage to get the tree staked.

Saturday, March 18th: Today we celebrated William's First Reconciliation. He was excited and didn't seem nervous at all. Mostly - he liked wearing the tie. Being William (who does not keep secrets no matter how hard he tries) he told us his penance was to say one 'Our Father'. It seemed a little light... but of course it's none of my business... It was just that I remember having 100 'Hail Marys' or having to give up candy for a month. I was thinking that times had surely changed when George, who I hadn't realized had been paying attention, blurted out "Hey - wait a minute.. One 'Our Father'? What'd you do - forget to tell him anything?"

He got something out of it though.. as he's been happier -- more content -- than I have seen him in a long time.

Sunday, March 19th: After wracking my brain for way too long today trying to remember what happened yesterday -- I have finally accepted that I am unable to remember anything because there is nothing to remember. Some of the dreary morning was spent spreading some more straw around the flowerbeds.... but I'm drawing a blank about the rest of the day.

That's not meant to diminish the importance of some fresh straw. I'll leave you with some before and after pictures to prove it (Yes - these are recycled before pictures... posted here for your viewing convenience...)

Before: Weeds and no straw.

After: Straw and no weeds.

Before: Augh!

After: Not exactly pretty yet -- but at least it's neat.