It's not that I lack things to say, or the will to say them, or the energy to do all this typing. It's just that my time has been focused, lately on 'family matters'.
Specifically, SWMBO is moving.
She recently started a new job here in Corvallis. Rather than commute from her present home in Salem (about 45 miles each way . . . very expensive in time and also in money with the current cost of gasoline) she chose to relocate. The new employer didn't offer to pay relocation expenses, so we have to move her household the least expensive way.
She spent two weeks packing up everything that she could in the evenings after work. That was awkward. The first week of packing, she was trying to wrap up as much at work as she could, and since her replacement was not available she had to document procedures at here job.
The second week (last week) she started her new job. Now she not only had to continue packing at night, but learn a new job and put in a commute before she could even get to packing. And you know how hard it is to pack a household when you're still living there.
By last weekend, the very worst of the packing was done. We worked together Saturday packing the china cupboard, most of the dishes, renting a truck, etc. Sunday we had two helpers for about two hours each, which was just enough to get the truck loaded with everything that had been packed plus all of the furniture. At 3pm we were ready to drive to Corvallis, but we didn't have anyone to help us unload the truck.
Waterbed, armoire, 3-piece corner sectional, console television, china cabinet & hutch, antique dining-room table, eight chairs, bookcase & books, desk, computer cabinet, weight bench, gun safe . . . we moved it all using only an appliance hand-truck and a piano dolly. Fortunately, there were only two steps up the porch. Unfortunately, the front door blocks the master bedroom door when open, so moving furniture into the bedroom (including especially the waterbed frame and the armoire, was frustrating and back-breaking work.
We worked until the the furniture was unloaded and the light failed at 7pm, then broke for dinner. SWMBO offered to pay for dinner, but we were to tired and dirty and sweaty to do more than stop by the closest Dairy Queen for chicken strips. Then back to work carrying in the boxed items. Three computers with printer, books, glassware, family antiques, and we were so tired by the time we got done we forgot what we had packed and didn't have the energy or initiative to actually read the labelling on the boxes. We just piled them where-ever we could find room.
There was no way we could put her apartment together, and we didn't finish until 10pm, when we dropped the rental truck off at the local U-Haul lot. Then we drove back to Salem to recover my jeep and pick up a few changes of clothing and toiletries; SWMBO will be staying at my apartment until we complete the move.
We both left for work at 7:30, got off at 5pm and drove back to Salem. We hung all of her clothes on a cross-bar in the Jeep, then packed the rest of the room with boxes from the kitchen and front room, the weight set, a large plant basket and odds and ends.
Back to Corvallis to unload and discover that the water heater was draining from the overflow valve into the catch basin. We had found it doing that Sunday when we first entered the place, so we shut off the power to the water heater and turned off the water intake valve. A morning call to the landlord resulted in a promise to get it fixed, but whomever fixed it clearly didn't know what he was doing. We didn't bother shutting it off this time, as there didn't seem to be any danger of overheating or flooding. Just one more irritation, but nothing serious as we still are nowhere close to being able to start unpacking, let alone providing a place were SWMBO could actually live. We'll call the landlord again tomorrow morning.
This night we finished by 9pm. Again, we are both tired and dirty. Again, we settled for fast food; this time it was sandwiches at ARBY's, which in conjunction with our vast assortment of muscular aches and pains must surely be the purest example of adding insult to injury.
SWMBO had asked last night how she could ever repay me for helping her. Money, I told her. You can repay me by paying me. How much? Should she pay me the same rate she payed the two Sunday helpers? No, I just want two dollars. I may be cheap, but I don't work for free.
Tonite we had a running bet about who irritated whom the most when we got tired and frustrated and cranky. As a result, SWMBO ended up paying me a five dollar bonus. I was feeling flush, so tonight I bought dinner. SWMBO checked her pocket book, and announced that she had seven dollars left.
Perfect, I said. Just enough to hire me for another day and aggrevation pay. I think she's getting the best of this deal. She can afford to get a day's work out of me, and still has enough left over to pay the penalties.
The aggrevation isn't anything serious, it's just that she has her own way of packing, and loading, and unloading, and stacking boxes and moving them on a hand truck. Those ways aren't necessarily my ways, but it's her furniture and her move so she's the boss. We do it her way MOST of the time.
The aggrevating thing is that she's almost invariably right. I could forgive almost anything else, but I insist that she pay for being right.
I've got to go now. It's almost midnight, I have to get up at 6:30 and put in another day at the office, then again spend half the night packing and moving.
Here's the good thing: I think she's running low on cash. By the time we get the last load into her new home and the old one cleaned out, I figure she won't be able to afford the aggrevation penalty. When we start actually arranging furniture (which I hate even more than moving), I figure she will have to concede at least a few minor points to me.
I'm looking forward to that.
UPDATE: Comment-Spammer Alert!
Femme is up to her old tricks. This website does not accept comments from commercial website. I've visited her website, looked at her photo, and I can see that it is the product of a PhotoShop Make-over. In fact, I researched it on the World Wide Web and here is the proof:
3 comments:
You should pay her the agrevation bonus EVERY day!
Well,you know us both pretty well, so there may be something in what you say.
On the other hand, I think my 'aggrevation bonus' would necessarily be much higher than hers.
I'm just that much more aggrevating.
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