(It's funny... I googled "tough day" and got the above image. How ironic... don't ya think?)
It's been a very busy week here. We were in danger of losing the apartment, but thank goodness my mother helped us. Nikki just started working about two weeks ago, but she doesn't get paid until September 4th, so things are tight until then. I've been pulling the wagon back and forth to take Savannah to school (see previous blog entry).
On Tuesday evening, our air conditioning stopped working. It quickly got to over 80 degrees in the apartment. The serviceman came down, but he couldn't do anything on the roof since it was dark and rainy at the time. I ended up pulling an all-nighter because it was just too hot for me to fall asleep. I don't think I've done that since I was a teenager. I had the car on Wednesday so that I could take Skylar to a doctor appointment. I thought it would be a nice day, since I wouldn't have to drag the wagon around for six miles. Heh, not really.
I dropped Nikki off at work, dropped Savannah off at school, then went home to wait for the repairman, and for the package to come from my mother. The apartment manager has been giving us a hard time because I'm not on the lease yet. It turns out that any adult who lives in an apartment must be on the lease. On this one particular day, she decided to step it up a notch.
"I'm not allowed to give you any information because you are not on the lease."
"I don't need information, I just need the serviceman to come by and fix the air conditioning."
"We don't have clearance for the serviceman to enter the home, and only Nikki can give the clearance."
"Wait a second. She's at work and can't be readily reached, but I am here in the apartment."
"Yes, but you are not on the lease, and that's the problem here."
"The problem here is that there is a four year old in this apartment, and in a few hours, it will be over 100 degrees in here... and you won't let him fix the air conditioning."
"Sigh... it'll take him about a half hour since he's working on another repair right now."
He arrived less than ten minutes later. The problem was fixed in about five minutes. When I asked him what was wrong with it, he said that he had "gotten in trouble with the manager" for talking to me the night before, and Nikki would have to call the office to find out. (We don't care that much, as long as it's fixed.) I wonder how exactly he got in "trouble?" And why? How would he know if my name was on the lease or not?
Then I went to Sarah's school to give them some money she owes for lunches, went home and got one hour of sleep, then got up, gave Skylar lunch and took her to the doctor for a checkup. The doctor gave her a clean bill of health, and said her shots could wait until next year. I agreed to that, since I was late for picking up Savannah.
I picked up Savannah from school, then I filled the tank with gas, and went home to wait for Sarah to get home. I saw a note stuck in the door. The deliveryman had arrived while I was out running our errands, and the package was at the post office. It was made out to Nikki, since my mother still refuses to acknowledge in any way that I have a new name... yet she is intelligent enough to know that I can't sign for a package with a name that is no longer my own. Anyway, Sarah got home, and I helped her with her homework, but we couldn't finish because I had to pick Nikki back up from work.
Nikki usually gets off at 3:45. I got there early since I figured, who knows, we might get delayed in traffic and not make it back to the post office in time, 35 minutes from her employer! 4:00 PM came and went. I went inside and asked the receptionist if she was still there. She said that she believed she had left, but I was welcome to check the classroom if I wanted to. I was getting really nervous now. Did she get a ride home from someone else? Did she get hurt or sick at work, and was rushed to the hospital? Not only was I worried for her health and safety, but she was the only one who could sign for that package, and the court date was tomorrow! Then I saw her walking, and caught up with her. She asked me, "How were you coming from back there?" The kids were all crying because they were stuck in a hot car for 20 minutes, and they were thirsty and hungry. Savannah had a migraine. Unfortunately, to keep our home, we couldn't yet stop for food, water or pain relievers. We had to hightail it to the post office before the 5 PM deadline. We got there at 4:45 PM.
We went out to eat at a Chinese restaurant near us. We came home and I jumped into bed and fell asleep so fast. I much prefer the Kiddo Karavan days.
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