I Hate August

August -
Every year August gets worse.
In the morning, I get in my car, drop Alex at the bus stop, then I plug in my iPod to the car speakers. 10 minutes later I enter the massive American Express parking lot through the guard station where I swipe my security badge which is on a beautiful lanyard around my neck. A friend made it for me out of turquoise & purple glass beads. My favorite colors. I don’t like using those plain string lanyards. They're ugly. I find a parking space, unplug my iPod from the car & put the earbuds in my ears, walk the 2 miles in 110 degree heat to the building, say good morning to the very nice guard, Bill, & proceed to the other part of the building, swipe my security card again, take the elevator to my office & get ready to begin my day. I go to my desk & take off my sunglasses, pull out the earbuds, & take the lanyard off (because I don’t like wearing it if I don’t have to because the picture makes me look old. Oh wait! I AM old.) That’s my regular morning. This morning, I am wearing a purple necklace with spikey stone pieces all around it. It sort of itches & sometimes gets caught in my hair, but it’s pretty & goes with this outfit perfectly so I will continue to put up with the downside. Once I got to my desk, I pulled my Maui Jims off. They didn’t come off. Sort of got caught on something in the back of my neck. So I put them back on & took the lanyard off first. Wouldn’t come off. Got caught on something. I tried taking the earbuds out. Great. They came out, but the cord was tangled in the cord on my sunglasses. I tried to untangle it. Finally got it. Now the lanyard & the cord on my sunglasses are tangled in my spikey necklace. Why am I always getting things twisted or tangled? Do other people do this? I had to ask a co-worker for assistance. It took her a good 2 minutes to get me untangled.

Last night I was taking clothes out of the drier – a load that Lewis started - & noticed a pair of my pants that are supposed to be dry-cleaned. Oops. They are lined. And what do you think I saw? The lining of 1 leg was outside the pant leg. I didn’t even want to deal with it, so I just put it on top of the drier & left. Am I having trouble dealing with life lately or does everyone get things tangled on a daily basis? I think I have a solution to my white & pink layered tank top being twisted inside out. It came out of the washer like that when I put it in correctly. So I’m going to put it back in the washer in its present twisted state & see if it comes out right. What are my chances? Lori, I need you now more than ever.

Aug 22 (Fri) - - This has not been a good day – so far. I’m hoping it will get better.

A very nice person at my office has to put his 14 yr old dog down today (bone cancer). He’s done everything he can do for her. He refers to her as his best friend. He is having a very rough time of it. He sent me a thank-you email for my concern with a couple pictures of his pretty little dog attached. It was a 4 Kleenex email. Horrible thing to have to go through.

This morning I found out my manager is leaving Amex after 15 yrs. I’m very sorry about that. She is a kind, fair person who I consider to be the voice of reason around here.

I just mailed 3 sympathy cards this morning & 1 on Mon.
My Aunt Marie (in PA) died. Our old friend from IN died a few days ago, & another family friend’s mother died a couple of wks ago. You know you’re getting old when you have to start buying sympathy cards in packs. I will stop at the drug store tonight & buy another card for the loss of a pet & send it to my co-worker this wk-end.

Sevilan had her knee surgery today. She was originally scheduled to have it the day after she fell & got a concussion a few wks ago, so they had to put it off. Surgery went well. She’ll be in the hospital for a few days. In Sun City West. We’ll go over on Sat to visit her. Can’t do it on Sun because that’s the day of Alex’s fantasy football draft picks. Last year he was the big winner ($200.00).

Today Alex will have completed his 2nd wk of high school. I’ve seen a change in him that surprised me. He seems to be more involved in his homework, more focused. He’s also trying to keep his binders more organized than he ever has before. Yesterday he told us he signed up for some organization that helps disabled children a couple times a month. He didn’t have details yet, but he said he would get more info this wk or next wk.

I have been bad again. I ate a 100 Grand candy bar yesterday. It’s that yummy crisped rice thing over caramel covered with milk chocolate. I had one a few days before that. I had one last wk too. The inside of the wrapper tells you if you are an instant winner of something. When I look at the inside of the wrapper it usually says something like, “Sorry. You are not an instant winner, but go to whatever website & play again” or simply, “Sorry. You are not a winner this time.” I don’t even know what the prize is. I never win anything so I don’t bother concerning myself with any elusive prizes. I’m pretty sure the next candy wrapper I read will say “Sorry. Not only did you NOT win this time, but you have lost so many times, that we are no longer allowing you to play our contest anymore. Move on. Start snacking on carrots.”

This is the wk-end that I will dust off the treadmill & get serious. Buying so many sympathy cards in such a short period, has gotten me thinking about things I would rather not think about. And I am finished with 100 Grand candy bars. Anyone remember “the olden days” when they were called 100 Thousand Dollar Candy Bar ? I even remember the song that went with that.

Aug 27 (Weds) Last night Lewis & I went to a parents’ open house night at Alex’s high school. We met all of his teachers & saw where his classrooms are. Ran into a few parents we’ve known for a while. Got home late & we were starving. I cut up some zucchini, fried it in butter, then sprinkled grated Romano cheese on it. That was so delicious. I was thinking about having that tonight too, but I’m taking Alex to Sylvan because Lewis has poker. We will not be home until around 7:20pm. Lewis made us dinner to just re-heat when we get home. Maybe I’ll make the zucchini when we get back. I was thinking of making fudge tonight. Just depends on how hungry I am.

Terri had to have Sophie put to sleep today. Poor thing. She’d lost so much weight. There was nothing else they could do for her. She’s gone through so much the last few yrs. She was not going to get better this time. I hate this. Sophie was a sweet, gentle dog.
August ! I hate August! Only a couple more days until August is over. My dad passed away on Sept 2nd, four yrs ago. That’s close enough to August to be considered (in my warped opinion) as August.

Natalie’s 13th birthday is Sept 1. Don’t know what the family is doing yet. The next day, Sept 2, is the election. I’m going over to Cathy’s house after work for the party – to watch election results & then to celebrate Cathy’s victory (of course). Can’t wait. I think this will be a landslide. Her opponent’s views are the same as hers, he has no charisma & no experience. And strangely, the public company he has worked for for the past 15 yrs is supporting Cathy.

I got a new chair at work today. Pretty darn exciting. It has all kinds of levers that I don’t know how to work. Can’t find an instruction book. It doesn’t feel good right now, but I know if I can figure out how to adjust everything I’ll like it much better. I was playing with one of the levers & it did something to the seat & now I feel like I'm going to slide off. Better find that instruction book soon.

My new glasses are ready. Won’t have time to pick them up until tomorrow.

We’ve been checking Alex’s assignments & grades online since he started school 3 wks ago. He is getting straight A+’s in everything. He’s in honors biology & he loves it. They do this weird dissecting thing called virtual dissection. They dissect some creature online rather than in the lab. No formaldehyde smell, no blood or guts or grossness. Pretty strange, huh? The teacher said you can hear the sound of the slice being made. Eewww.

Alex has lots of homework tonight & a Spanish test tomorrow. He should be okay in Spanish. He’s taken it in 7th & 8th grade (plus kindergarten, 1st & 2nd grade, but I guess those early years don’t count, because I don’t think he remembers that). This class he’s in now is beginning Spanish. With a couple of yrs of Spanish under his belt, he is expected to get A’s in this class.

Okay, hopefully, that’s it for August. Not a good month. We’ll move into the fall with better news from now on. I will be happy to get through the next couple of days of August with no bad news.

Hugs,
Candace