Monday, January 18, 2010

Stuff, stuff, and even more stuff

Today we planned to get up and take the kids to the zoo. Notice I say planned. Unfortunately, we talked about it yesterday with the kids and they are all excited about it. Now being excited about going to the zoo is not a bad thing in any respect.

However, last night we get a static filled phone call on my cell and I get about every 20th word or so, enough to figure out that whomever is calling is talking about our stored goods in South Dakota. Since I generally use up my daily allotment of patience by 9 am, and that's if I get up after 7, I gave up about 45 seconds in when the guy wouldn't let me get a word in edgewise to tell him that we had a bad connection and I couldn't understand him.

I hand the phone to R, telling him that I think it's about our stored stuff, because I'm supportive and wonderful like that. He does the cell phone jig, walking around to stand in front of doors and windows - anything to get clearer reception - and the guy finally lets R say something. At the same time, S is upstairs yelling "Mooooooooommmmiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeee" and I hurry up there to see what she needs before she wakes up T, who will increase the loudness factor times two or two hundred, depending on his mood.

Now would also be a good time to mention that we were TRYING to watch the season premiere of 24, which we got completely hooked on when we could borrow DVD series from the base library in Germany. Which, just a quick side note, when we left the states DVR was just starting to show up and our attitude was 'meh - that's why we have a VCR'. Then I experienced the utter joy of DVR while visiting in 2007, and gave it the respect it rightfully deserves. When we got cable hooked up here, we never even thought to ask for DVR because we figured it would be an additional fee and really, the last thing we need to do is get re-hooked on a bunch of tv shows. But the other day when the kids were playing, my two year old (the divine Ms S, resident diva) managed to hit the record button when Dora the Explorer was on, which is how I discovered we even HAD DVR. So as 24 was coming on and we were trying to get the kids to bed, I suggested we record 24 so we wouldn't end up frustrated with the constant interruptions. I toss the remote to R, who is like, "We have DVR?!?" and I'm all, "yep, S hit the button the other day, which is how I knew". So R looks at the remote for a bit, tosses it back to me and says - "I don't know how to do it." Oh. Well, me either. So I take look at it, shrug, and push the record button. And folks, it was actually that simple. Made me feel kinda silly that I thought it would be some complicated process like programming your VCR used to be. Just sayin'...

So anyway, it turns out that the rest of our stuff is on it's way from South Dakota and will be here in the morning. Supposedly. R comes upstairs and says, "That was the company that's storing our stuff, and they are about 80 miles west of St. Louis."And because we are such brilliantly effective communicators, the following conversation takes place:

Me: "They are coming TONIGHT?!?"
R: "No, they are 80 miles away from St. Louis right now."
Me: "So......."
R: "What?"
Me: with great impatience "When are they coming?"
R: "They. Are. Outside. Of. St. Louis."
Me: "WHEN. ARE. THEY. GOING. TO. BE. HERE."
R: "OH! They said tomorrow morning about 9."
Me: "But we are taking the kids to the zoo tomorrow. And we just finished unpacking today. Crap."
R: "I know, I know, but there's nothing I can do about it. They said we have 33 boxes. "
Me: "33 more boxes"
R: "Yes, plus the piano, and washer and dryer."
Me: "Oh."
R: "yep"

So here it is, 10:30 am, no men with a truck, kids that want to go to the zoo, and me (and probably R) with a big knot of tension in the tummy area just wishing we could get it over with already. I can't decide if I want them to just put it all in the garage and let us sort it out later or if we should try to deal with it all today. The poor kids. To top it all off, it's R's birthday and I went out this morning to get the cake - which turned out to be an awesomely cool cupcake cake decorated like Spiderman - so the kids are all, if no zoo then cake! And I'm all like, no way, Jose am I pumping you up with all that sugar when we have to try and orchestrate the second coming of the boxes.

Phhbbbbttttttttttttttt.

No comments: