And Another Thing . . .
And Another Thing . . .
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Tuesday, January 20, 2004 A few days ago I inserted the last tape of The Secret Life of Bees into the car tape player. Nothing. I had to stop at Michael's on my way home so I stuck the tape in my pocket to warm it up. Maybe it was just cold. Nothing. I tried it again on a slightly warmer day. Nothing. I took the tape inside where I could see it in good light - busted. I removed the tiny screws and considered splicing it with good old duct tape. Just kidding but I did consider using a teeny, tiny piece of "Scotch" tape. It was the last tape - the climax of the book! Today I did the right thing and took it back to the library, told them what happened and said of course I'd pay for the damage. It must not happen often because the librarian had to call someone on the phone to find out the procedure. She had asked me if I found it that way or did the break happen in my possession. It wasn't until I was driving home that it dawned on me I could have said I found it that way. But I'm sure something happened during those severely cold days of last week. I had no idea how much I would be charged but I figured at whatever price, it was a worthwhile donation to a library I use regularly. $5.00 was all! She said they don't repair them, they'll have to get a replacement tape. It's fairly new and I had to wait a while for it so I know there must be people on the hold list waiting for it. Oh well. Accidents happen. The funny thing is when I realized the tape wasn't going to work, I put a hold on the book version, which arrived at my library today, according to their website. But it took 2 of them to find the book on the hold shelf because they had had 35 cartons of books delivered today. For a while there I thought I was destined to never find out how it ends. (In which case, I would have asked you, Marcia or Von or Jeannie or Gretchen.) I glanced at the end of the book as I walked out to my car. I literally had 10 pages to read! I could have sat in the library and finished it. Except all that happy ending blubbering would have been a tad embarrassing. So I finished it the moment I got home. It ended how I wanted it to! I enjoyed the book very much.
When I came home after work and saw how clean our house was, I wanted to weep with joy! When I talked to Simon on the phone when he got home from school, even he noticed how clean it was. I figured I'd ask him how things looked and he'd say, "I dunno." But instead he said, "It's so clean and smells all citrusy! This is so worth it, Mom." Pat said if she went over 2 hours she would not charge us for any extra time spent. I expected that to mean 20-30 minutes over, which I still felt badly about. She worked 90 minutes more than we paid her for! (I'm sure the first time through always takes longer, don't you think?) She left a note that she had to leave for another appointment. We'll make it right with her. She did a good job. It reminds me how nice the house looks just with a good vacuuming. (Our vacuum had been in the shop for 10 days, I picked it up yesterday. Not that I would have used it in those 10 days, mind you.) She used that thing on the bathroom floors, starts with an "m" - - oh yeah, a mop! Leaving our bathroom tonight I actually slipped a little in my socks. That hasn't happened before. And the weirdest thing is I've caught Reggi smelling the floor in the kids bathroom at least 3 times! I told Steve she doesn't know what to make of "clean". When Pat was here last week for me to show her around she asked if I wanted her to put out fresh bath mats or wash those and put them down again. I hope I had my poker face straight. Like we have extra bath mats?? I never heard of such a thing. I told her I'd take care of them. I'm wondering if a weird thing is going to happen, in that I might actually get inspired by all this cleanliness and do a little something myself. What? It could happen! Like I told her not to clean under the kitchen sink - because it's where our garbage can is and it's just messy and there are mouse turds there from who knows when. I've been meaning to get to it. Maybe I will. What? It could happen!
I mailed the New Year's cards yesterday! As I stuffed the last of the envelopes, I realized I never tested one of these through the mail. Oh well, it's the thought that counts. Just know if it arrives crushed and broken that it used to look good.
I'll close with the card I mailed to Mom the other day. She said she had the purple one I posted here as her computer wallpaper. So I decided she needs a real card, so I made this one in her favorite colors. Those clear "rhinestones" just take on the color of the paper surrounding them. I know that doesn't show here. I'd never mailed one of those cards either and Mom said one of the stones fell off. I offered to fix it but she displays all my cards up on a high shelf in her office so honestly, no one would notice. Reading: Live Simply in the City, by Jonathan Allan & Lynne Cantwell Listening to in the car: ...And Never Let Her Go, by Ann Rule. In looking up this Amazon link I read the synopsis. I remember following this story in the news! When I reserved this on the library website, I didn't really read what it was about because I pretty much like all Ann Rule books. (And I'm keeping the tapes in the house except for the one or two I'm listening to, which I will take into work with me so I don't have the problem with the ultra cold weather again.)
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