Many people dread and fear Friday the 13th. They swear it's an unlucky and cursed day. I typically find the opposite to be true for me. Granted, it's not so lucky that I go out, buy a lottery ticket and *bam* instant millionaire kind of lucky, but more like the kind of day where even Murphy himself doesn't seem to make an appearance. Except for yesterday.
I didn't even realize until later yesterday morning it was even Friday the 13th; I had more pressing things on my mind. Shortly before I fell asleep Thursday night, I noticed the furnace (which is just on the other side of my bedroom wall in its own little closet/room) was making an odd noise. It sounded like we were running low on oil, so I blew it off and dozed off, but a tiny little voice in the back of my mind piped up seconds before I fell asleep reminding me that we had an oil delivery not too long ago, with exception of the past week it has been pretty warm, so we shouldn't be that low yet, but I dismissed it. I knew I had to get up early the next morning, but had no idea how early since my nephew was staying over. The latest would be my usual 8am to take my medication and get ready to pick my mom up. If he got up earlier, I'd be up earlier; it was just that simple. Not to mention it was going to be a bit of a busy morning: I had to put gas in my car, he was looking forward to his iced decaf coffee from Dunkin Donuts, I had to stop at the pharmacy for children's cold medicine and cough drops, make a deposit at the bank, and mom & I promised the fuzzlemutt a trip to her favorite place--Petsmart.
At 4:11 Friday morning, I was jolted out of bed by what sounded like an explosion. I didn't sleep too well and it took me a few seconds to realize what I had heard: the furnace. It was running, but something was seriously off about it. Next I heard the shower upstairs running, which is normal since mom goes in that early on her dialysis days, but something was still off. Then it hit me. I was hearing what sounded like an angry waterfall coming from the other side of my bedroom wall--coming from the furnace. I ran out of bed, jumped over the doggie gate keeping her out of my office to see water pouring through the slats of the door hiding the furnace. Definitely not a good sign. I have no idea I could run up my basement stairs as fast as I did, but I hit the emergency shut off switch on my way up to warn my mom to either get out of the shower, or not to get in the shower because the furnace had just blown up and we had no hot water. I was praying for the latter because our well water is about 34 degrees and at 4am, that's one helluva shock. I had a vision of having to find her somewhere in the backyard because the minute the cold water hit her, she'd have jumped out the tiny bathroom window in shock. What I didn't realize was that even though I had shut the furnace down was that there was still water pouring all over the place downstairs, but my dad rushed down to see what happened.
I don't deal with that beast. At all. Very few things scare me, but when it comes to the furnace, I'm the kind of person who, when I have to, tries to push the reset button using an unwound coat hanger while hiding around the corner of a wall in the unlikely event it explodes in my face or something. It's completely irrational, but there it is. Turns out it was the water pressure relief valve (or something like that) that blew. A cheap part, 10 minute fix, but definitely not a way to start the day. It also meant that he needed the card I was supposed to use to fill my gas tank and make the deposit. 2 things off my list for the day.
Since there wasn't a chance in hell I was going to fall back to sleep after that rude awakening, I poured some coffee and took 1/2 a Xanax to try to calm down. Being afraid of the furnace that's on the other side of my bedroom wall blowing up and in a sense having it actually happen (at 4am, no less) would set anyone on edge. I finished most of my cup and when I went to fill it back up, naturally the pot was empty. It's a new coffee maker and I have no clue how to use it. It's one of those higher tech ass backwards deals and I was not about to screw with it at 5 in the morning, so I saw my dad had left 1/2 a cup behind and just added it to mine. Toss in the microwave for 30 seconds and presto! a full hot cup of coffee! Except for the one thing I didn't think about: he adds a flavorless glucosamine/chondroitin powder to his coffee in the morning for his arthritis. And it's derived from shellfish--something I'm deathly allergic to. Dumbass. Lucky for me, it was his 3rd or 4th cup, so there were only traces left, which meant instead of stabbing myself with my epi pen, dragging my nephew out of bed and rushing to the ER, I could pop a few benadryl and hope that it would be enough. If I felt any signs of anaphylaxis, I was screwed. I only had an annoying rash for a few hours. Emphasis on annoying.
I just laid on the couch trying to relax when the boy woke up, promptly stole the remote and turned on his cartoons. Even though he'd slept through the chaos that morning, somehow he seemed to know it had been a pretty tough morning. But it was still far from over... it was barely 8am. Fuzzlemutt decided she had to go out, so I asked him if he could please let her out. I'm not quite sure what/how it happened, but he forgot she's not like my last dog who was trained to stay in our yard. This one has to be let out on the runner/leash every time or she just takes off. Unfortunately, she's part husky, which means she can't find her way home. He opened the door and just let her out, completely forgetting to clip the runner to her. As he's apologizing and trying not to cry, I just asked him to run down to my room and grab my car keys, it's no big deal, but he has to hurry. Gracie's fast and smart, but also very, very stupid. We can't catch her by running after her no matter how healthy we are even if we tried, but all I have to do is get in my car and drive up the street. She never goes more than 4 houses up, but the second she hears my car, she comes running to me. Every time. If I happen to pass the yard she's in, she runs to the end of their driveway and waits for me to drive back. It's like a game to her or something, but one I could've done without yesterday.
Then came the time to actually leave. Have you ever tried to put an excited puppy and an 8 year old in the back seat of a Beetle? Have fun with that one, because I'll never do it again if I can avoid it. Not to mention my dog is 3 breeds of dogs known for their barking. And she barks. At everything. The second we got out of the car at Petsmart she started barking and pretty much barked her way through the entire store. It did make it easy for my mom and my nephew to find us, though. Only twice did she stop: once was in the aisle with all the bones and rawhide chews.... there were so many different choices, sizes, colors, flavors, she didn't know what to chose, or what to make of it. I picked up a bag of her favorite small rawhide sticks and one of those big rawhide bones that have bacon wrapped throughout it (I wish I could've taken a picture of the look on her face.. the second I picked it up she sat down instantly and just gave me this look like "really? for me? please?") and again when we reached an end cap that had a huge display of BoBo dog toys (those wiener dog toys that come in all sizes, colors, and fabrics with the squeakers in them?) She absolutely loves those. She looked like she had just died and went to heaven. There were Bobos in every size and color, so I picked up 2 little ones... it takes her 5 minutes to tear apart the big ones. By the time I finally got home nothing was going to get me out of the house. You could find me either in bed or in the recliner in the living room. It was a pretty high pain day, so all the extra stress didn't help anything.
Today, I think I'm just going to relax and read. If I get a bit of energy here and there, I might do some small cleaning jobs, but nothing major. And on that note, I hear the coffee pot beeping, so that means it's done brewing. (no, I didn't make it... forgot to ask mom how to use the damn thing. I'll remember to ask her eventually)
No comments:
Post a Comment