I had the kitchen cleaned up before ddil arrived to pick up DGD. The dgrands' played pretty well together, and when needed, left each other alone pretty well, so the last two days have gone fairly well but I am exhausted.
DGS is here tonight. We watched AU lose, and I was watching Alabama win, when DGS came through the den and said, "Turn that to something else," just like his granddaddy would have. LOL.
DGD will come home from church with me. DDIL will take ds' to ball practice Monday and Tuesday mornings, and I will pick him up at 9 or 10 -- will have to check on time. Tuesday, if DS is home, I will take both dgrands home to him and then accompany dmom to the dentist.
DS will be home sometime in the wee hours of Tuesday morning -- he is in Wisconsin and about 11.5 hours from home, according to my maps app.
It has been hectic around here and last night, I was really getting myself into a depression. When I was tucking DGD into bed, I said, "I have just had a really hard day," and she hugged me so tight and said, "Well, just think, you have two wonderful grandchildren and a sweet, sweet son."
And that is true, but y'all -- you might also Google "Things Have Gone to Pieces Since You Left Me," by George Jones -- because that is the state of things around here since DS left town.
1. The toilet handle fell off. I need to replace it, but right now, the lid is off the toilet and we are flushing by manually lifting the little lever inside.
2. My bed is propped up on a concrete block.
-- This is my fault. I have allowed dgrands (especially dgd) to jump on the bed. What was acceptable when they were toddlers is NOT acceptable now. Two of the metal slats have jumped out of place, and possibly broken, and they do not fit into the metal bedrail any longer. Sigh. I am so stupid -- I should have stopped this LONG ago. DGD had been doing gymnastic moves on the bed and tried to teach DGS. Apparently the "death drop," from Dance Moms was the death of the bedframe. DGS and I tried and tried, but we cannot get these slats back in place. ChatGPT says to take the mattress and box springs off and see exactly what the problem is, that it may be possible to bend the slats back into place, or it might be that I need to find a welding shop to put the broken part back together. ChatGPT offers little hope of getting a furniture store to order replacement slats and rails. Sigh. I remembered that I had half a concrete block outside. (It was in place to hold the access door to the crawl space, but was failing at that job.) I went out and got it, washed it off and dried it, and it is almost exactly the size needed to lift the box spring to it's proper height. DGS and I lifted the rail and dgd pushed the block into place.
3. I am still very depressed about the state of my bank account, and dmom is making plans to sign over to me a 25 year old Corvette. She just put out a lot of money to get the starter repaired. It has not been driven much at all since ddad passed away. It has been in dmom's garage with a car cover over it for most of the last 13 years. Dmom said she would help me if it needs additional repairs, but she is tired of buying insurance and tags for a vehicle she does not drive. And I'm not really ready to sell it myself, but I also don't know if I will drive it enough to keep it in good condition, either. I guess we'll find out. DDIL especially wants us to keep it, because she imagines that dgd may need it for a parade in future years.
So... I'm almost in tears, looking a gift horse Corvette in the mouth, a looking at all these repairs that need to be done, and wondering how I'll ever build up my emergency fund again... but if I make it through September (another country song
) will have a bit of savings to withdraw and a savings bond that will mature. Of course, there is certainly a question as to how much savings to draw out to live on, and how much to keep to continue the monthly interest check that I depend on. I realize I am being a Negative Nelly tonight and I apologize.Dean Jones is on Tales of Wells Fargo. Do y'all remember him from some of the Disnney movies of the early 60s? He grew up not far from my little Tiny Town, and I was surprised to see him in a Western.
I am in the process of setting up an Excel file with my monthly expenses to try to see where I can cut back a little. I've got everything written on paper, but I want to put it in Excel so I can better separate my real necessities and the expenses that are a little more adjustable. Insisting that the dgrands eat home cooked meals at least once a week (when they are with me) is a good start, I think. I know the majority of my ATM withdrawals go to fast food meals when they are with me.
I am also still working on the NokBox.
DGD and I went outside and pulled some weeds yesterday, but there's lots more to do in that department.
Church tomorrow... I better sign off and call it a night. It's 2:00 a.m.
