Irony. I Love It.

I posted on Rav yesterday about my bad day. That satisfied my need to whine, so I really wasn't going to bring it up here. New developments have forced my hand, though, and I do love a good bit of irony, so here goes:

Yesterday sucked. My kids woke up really cranky and pissed and moaned all the way out the door. The KH is in the middle of a complex trial and is a crazy person, so he can be excused for yelling at the kids while they were whining at me, but it didn't make for a pleasant morning. I finally got them all where they needed to be and started cleaning the house…and I got a call from Younger Son, from the nurse’s office, “I have a stomach ache, can you pick me up?” Meaning, of course, “I don’t want to be here today, can you pick me up?”

After stalling him for half an hour, I finally went and got him (I think my chances for winning the Mother of the Year award went out the window when I announced to the school secretary: "My kid claims he's sick. I'm here to pick him up"), brought him home, and fed him. Discovered Koz had peed on the side of the sofa (he has a marking issue--we’re dealing with it). Threw the sofa slipcover in the wash. Younger Son’s stomach ache magically went away, so (to his dismay) I took him back to school. Ran out of gas on the way. Managed to roll to the gas station and fill up. $65 later, got home and found the washing machine was done, but the slipcover still looked dirty. Turned on the water to wash my hands…nothing.

Called the water department to report a pressure issue. “It's not a pressure issue. We haven’t received your payment, so your water has been disconnected.” WTF?! I mailed the check! “We don’t have it in the system. You have to pay at the payment agency.” Where is that? "There isn’t one near you. You’ll have to drive downtown (45 minutes away) and pay in person." Discovered the water department recently went online. Spent 45 minutes trying to get signed up. Developed a severe case of Tourette's. Finally managed to pay online, called them back with a confirmation number: “Thank you very much; your water will be back on within 24 hours.” 24 HOURS?! Excuse me, but I have kids coming home in FOUR hours! Kids who are going to want dinner, and working toilets!

Called the bank to stop payment on the missing check. That will be $27. In addition to the late fee, the disconnect fee, and the reconnect fee from the water department. Oh, yeah. And the water bill payment. And I still don’t have water. Or clean laundry. And how much do you want to bet the check makes it into the water department's system and gets paid during the 24 hour period before the stop check request goes through? (Hint: there is not enough money in the account to cover both the online payment and the check. It was a really big water bill.)

Got a call from the pharmacy. My doctor only authorized 30 days of my prescription, instead of the 90 I usually get. They have tried to contact her twice, but she won’t respond. Do I still want the prescription? How much is it? Twice as much as the 90 day prescription. Aaargh!

So today, I was looking forward to a better day. You know, one without a meteorite hitting the house. Instead, I got water raining down from the living room ceiling. The boys' bathroom is directly above the living room. Directly above the antique dining room table my mother gave me. The table upon which is displayed the hand-made, leather-bound book my husband wrote and gave to me as a wedding present 15 years ago. The ceiling, walls, trim, carpet, table, and book are all severely water damaged.

Drought to flood. Do you think the KG has a brother? The Water God? Because clearly I pissed somebody off.

Life Does

Life is just doing its thing around here. Younger Son goes back to school tomorrow, Older Son is deeply involved in Civil Air Patrol activities, Oldest Son got a new apartment, the KH got some good news that is easing a little bit of stress we've been experiencing, and I am engaged in my first job hunt in more than 15 years.

I have an almost pathological aversion to looking for work. It's not that I'm not qualified for anything, or that I dread interviews, or that I don't know how to talk to people. Quite the opposite, in fact. It just seems like such a mountain to climb, trying to communicate who you are and what you can do in a couple of pages of resume, a brief chat on the phone, or a morning sitting across a desk from a total stranger. It's usually exhausting, often irritating, and sometimes depressing. And that's before the rejections start rolling in. It also has not escaped my notice that the last time I looked for work, in 1991, the nation was in the midst of a nasty recession that left 75% of my Harvard graduating class still out of work a year after graduation, and now, in 2010...well.

But it's time. Fourteen years ago, I resigned from my last "outside" job when I got married. I was a diplomat for the U.S. Government, and my then-fiance was an aerospace engineer in San Diego. I was posted to Moscow (the one in Russia), and scheduled to be reassigned to the far ends of Siberia with no phone service, internet, or international airport. This seemed a less than ideal locale from which to conduct a marriage, so I made the decision to leave that career behind, get married, and then figure out where to go from there. I moved (back) to San Diego two weeks before the wedding and I've been here ever since.

In the meantime, I had two babies and became a lawyer, the aerospace engineer moved to the computer industry and then became a lawyer, and we started a law practice. Since becoming a lawyer seven years ago, I've been working mostly part-time in our practice and working mostly full-time raising kids.

Now I want to do something different. Something that comes with a steady salary and full benefits to help balance out some of the disadvantages of the KH being self-employed. When I started law school, it was with the idea of eventually becoming a criminal prosecutor. By the time I graduated, with a toddler and a preschooler in tow, this sort of demanding, full-time career was no longer a viable option for our family. But now the kids are older and somewhat self-sufficient, the KH works mostly from home, and I am finally in a position to consider what I want to do instead of what I can do. So I've put in applications to the various government institutions that prosecute the bad guys and some of the private companies that help them do it, and we'll see what comes of it.

For now, though, I'm clinging to my yarn and needles and my favorite mantra: "Keep calm and knit on."

Bad Dog!

It turns out Heidi likes to play with yarn as much as I do.

Doggy Style

I think I've finally identified my decorating style:

Whaddayathink?