Surely Alanis has a song about this

Do you just ever have those moments where even reminding yourself about all the things you have to be fortunate for doesn't even work? Where you can go through the whole 'we have our health, a nice amount of money in the bank, good jobs', etc etc doesn't even work? Um, yeah. That was Sunday afternoon.

Right after I posted pics of our new bikes all hell broke loose in our household. Brent had pulled the fridge out to drill some holes for undercabinet lights. Pushing the fridge back in the water line connector broke. Our idiot movers had damaged it, and since we JUST ran water to the kitchen for the fridge it's way too late to make a claim. And shuffling the fridge for these holes had damaged it worse, and now we couldn't fix it. At the same time, our power has been wigging out for about a week and half and progressively getting worse. Like THE POWER. As in, don't turn the dryer and the AC on or the whole house is dark. And Sunday, it all hit the fan. We couldn't run the AC for more than 5 minutes, the oven at all, and I just gave up trying to dry my laundry. It went out at least 12-15 times. And it was only 95 degrees outside, so naturally having air on a regular basis would be pleasant. So would a battery backup for all the clocks being set and reset and set and reset. And poor TiVo, I heard that startup jingle in my nightmares the last couple of weeks. The topper - the garage door also broke. As in, the sensor quit working and automatically assumed cars, small children, and 3rd world countries would be crushed if the door descended. Nice, really nice. And the strangest of them all - an expensive curvy lightbulb FELL OUT of a light fixture on our garage. How the hell does a light fixture just unscrew itself??? By Sunday evening we thought our entire house might explode, and we were kind of ok with it. To add EVEN MORE awesomeness to it a benefit concert was going on a half a mile from our house that we could "enjoy" from inside our house - since we couldn't run any electricity or generate any noise. That wouldn't have been bad at all - much cheaper than a ticket to it - if the music hadn't been TERRIBLE!

So, Monday am the repair calls started. Our fantabulous home warranty doesn't cover garages (wth??) and obviously since someone broke the fridge that's not covered by warranty either. I made calls and scheduled everyone to come Tuesday afternoon. The electrician came at 12:30, said our main breaker was bad and that's why it sounded like bacon was sizzling in our closet, so the power company had to come and unlock our box and it was 6 pm by the time that was fixed. The fridge guy jimmyrigged the fridge so we have ice and water again, and we were able to fix the garage door ourselves by cleaning the sensors and resetting it, thanks to advice I got on the net. And I called about our countertops this morning and they're "in fabrication" and due to be completed on the 28th or 29th, so I guess that's better than having no date at all, though I truly believe I will never have a functioning kitchen again. Ever. So in the end it all works out. Anyone wanna place bets on what breaks this weekend???

Ironically, yesterday I was reading This Old House magazine (yes, I read it and I LOVE it) and came across an article written by a couple who have spent the last 4 years renovating their house. This totally struck a funny bone with me "We were prepared for a few leaks and some wood rot. Maybe some crazy wiring or funky plumbing we'd have to fix. We weren't prepared when things also began to fall off the house - all within the same week. A door. A storm window. The knob in the shower. A gutter. Part of the bedroom ceiling. The house was expressing itself, and what was it saying? It wasn't going to submit to any renovation without a fight, even if that meant hurling its shingles at us from the roof." I love it and couldn't have said it better myself!

Ok, so tonight. OMG. Most frightening experience I've had in a LONG time. Brent had an art meeting and I was sort of slammed at work so I decided to skip the gym, take a short lunch so I could leave earlier and go to the gym tonight. We're about 3 miles from the downtown Y and 3 miles from the East Nashville Y. Since I would have to park a little further away at the downtown Y and I knew I'd be there after dark I decided to try out the East Y. Never again will I go there. When I walked in I knew it was different. It looks fairly new on the outside, but on the inside, it's a bit worn down. I asked the friendly people at the front desk where the women's locker room and the indoor pool were, and they gladly told me. As I made the way down the maze to the women's locker room I got glared at by quite a few teens and their parents. Ummm, ok. I was REALLY glad I had my lock with me, as it seemed one girl basically followed me in there to watch and see what I was leaving behind. I made my way up to the TINY cardio room and got one of two remaining treadmills. I quickly ran my 4 miles, and as soon as I cleaned off my machine someone else nabbed it - there was a WAIT for treadmills at 7:45 pm on a Wed night - in JUNE. I had peaked in at the indoor pool earlier and even though it's really small there had only been one person in there. I was really happy about that because I got my TI book yesterday and also watched the TI dvd that David was so sweet to drop by to me. The drills are a little odd and I'm going to feel super self conscious working on them around others. Well, the pool was now packed. PACKED. With kids. And one person swimming laps in the only lap lane now roped off. Nice. Apparently the outdoor pool was now closed for the evening. I made friends with another girl in the locker room who was headed out to do laps. Another main difference between this Y and the downtown Y - no towels. Anywhere. Downtown is overflowing with towels. You could tie one around each pinky if you wanted to. So, of course I didn't have one with me, which is a nice perk for drying off when you're working out. So, I got a crash course in learning to share a lane with two others, which really wasn't that bad. I can't swim in a straight line AT ALL, and the pool was so insanely loud and chaotic that I abandoned the drills and sort of modified them for the situation. I swam 8 total laps and then we were sitting on the edge talking. I was trying to "air dry" since I was towel-less when a fight broke out. One group of ghetto teens was about to rip into another group of ghetto teens - all girls. And there's no fight worse then a girl fight. They starting pushing and shoving, throwing cell phones, and then all their friends got involved. Naturally they were right next to where we were sitting so one of my new "friends" pulled me right in the pool as I was about to get clobbered. Seriously, it was frightening because most of these ghetto teens were dressed and these days, in this neighborhood you don't know who has a gun and I don't want to find out. the lifeguard called the security guard who basically just told one group to leave, and of course they shouted that they would be in the parking lot. The friendly girl I had met earlier said she had never seen something like that happen, while the bitchy old lady said she sees it all the time. I quickly left after the fight was broken up and went dripping to my car. Of course the fight was going on in the parking lot with my car right in the middle. The security guard was doing absolutely nothing to break it up, or make these people leave. Of course they weren't too concerned about getting out of the way of my car, because they see me as insurance money. It was all very frustrating and frightening, and I was finally able to leave. I just don't understand that mentality - don't they want to do something BETTER for themselves? There was one young guy trying to break them up who kept telling them to look around, that they were doing this in front of kids. But one voice in a crowd of 2 dozen bickering idiots gets drowned out pretty quickly. Regardless, I won't be returning to the East Y, ever.

Well, I take that back. As I was chatting with friendly girl and bitchy old lady the old lady asked me if I swim much. I said 'no', that I run marathons and stuff but I would like to learn to swim properly and I had just gotten a book and DVD was learning proper techniques. So she laughed and said "oh, are you going to bring a DVD player down here" and I said 'no, I watch it and then do the drills here." I was trying to be friendly, but everything she said was so condescending and cruel. I asked them if they live around here and she said "yes". And I said, "yes, I live at the corner of &*8&*7b and ?$^$(^(%^)." And she said "OH, you're one of THOSE people." And I said, "one of WHAT people?" And she said, "one of those rich little young people in the fancy houses. that's what my Bill and I say when we drive through." And THAT really pisses me off. Read the first half of this post and you won't think that, talk to anyone who's been here and that's not the case at all. We work hard and the only reason we're in this neighborhood is because we've scrimped and saved and got a massive fixer upper. So, you want to know something??? Give me a month, maybe two and I WILL go back to the East Y, look up that saggy, grouchy hag and I will swim around her like she's sitting still. But until then - you'll see me at the downtown Y!