Why was mac up at 5?!!? so grouchy.

So, I currently live on the second floor of a building. There is another apartment above mine, and a commercial space on the first floor where a restaurant/wine bar is being built.

Yesterday, the workmen came up to tell us they needed to look behind our stove to get to the chimney (the original chimney from before the building was converted to apartments -- currently out of use). Normally I'd be averse to someone cutting a giant hold in my wall, but whatever, we're moving in a month.

Turns out that the chimney is packed full of soot, which they need to clear out for some reason. The way they propose to do this is to put up a plastic tarp over the doorway between the kitchen and the rest of the apartment, and bang on the soot with a stick until it all comes crashing down into our kitchen. Where we prepare food.

And, of course, they can't wait until the end of the month when we'll be gone, because this has to be done now. (Nevermind that they were supposed to open in October, and basically left the place sitting vacant for 4 months while they did no work on it at all...no no, now it's urgent...)

They did offer us $200 and a free dinner at their other restaurant (down the street) for our inconvenience, but OY. We're hoping they can wait at least a couple more weeks so we can have the kitchen mostly packed up. Or maybe sweeten the offer with a weekend hotel stay so they can deep-clean the soot out of our kitchen.

Weekend stay elsewhere and they pay for the cleaning, yes.

GA, some parts I liked and some parts made me want to throw things at the screen. But they've all been mentioned. Mostly by brenda.

Okay, one thing, when did Addison become the most interesting character? The people I am supposed to like? I don't.

What Cass said. And play the frazzled pregnant moving-soon-and-overwhelmed (even if you aren't really) card if you possibly can. People are generally willing to be all kinds of nice and concessionary to pregnant you in ways they never will the rest of your life.

sarameg, I'm so sorry. Such a rotten way to go, and such a cruel, protracted grief for everyone left behind.

That's unbelievable, Jess, and definitely sounds like way more than $200 worth of hassle for you.

Allyson and Jessica, you guys are having the worst apartment luck ever! Liveability is kinda the point!

Can mac take my car in for inspections? Since he obviously gets up early enough!

Thanks for the thoughts, guys. I'm ok. It's something I don't think about too deeply very often and in the everyday, it's ok. He's been very lucky, all things considered. Just got pinged hard last night and got messy. It's been there for 15 years, I guess I have to haul it out now and then.

Today is not going as planned. Why can't the MVA be open later on saturday? I suspect I'm going to wait until the very last weekend to get this stupid test done, I can live with that, however, I am not getting a head cold. Nope, I'm not.

Bless you sarameg for having, and appreciated such a person in your life. It's so hard to see someone who is there not be there.

A good friend of my surrogate mom's has been slipping into an alternate universe with AD for years now. Sad part is that her devoted husband is dealing with his own blindness issues, which makes the caretaking quite difficult.

Fortune smiles on them in two ways...they are comfortable enough that they can afford decent help, and the wife's AD has manifest in incredible cheerfulness.

At a holiday party last year, I'd walk from one room to the next, out of her sight. When she spied me again, she's crow my name and rush me with a welcoming hug. It was like being a returning hero, 20 times in an hour.

It didn't bother me at all. I actually felt worse for her children who were so invested in helping her remember things correctly. "No! MOM! You just saw Beej in the other room, don't you remember?" Of course she didn't, and that was okay, but seeing their ma so 'weak' in their minds, made the affliction even worse for them.

Thank goodness for your friend's drugs sarameg, may they last as long as they need to.

I am so cranky from being woken up early that I just snapped at mac. poor noodle. so then I apologized and all seems well.

laundry, playground, and library - done, done, and done.

The only possible upside to this migraine thing is that I haven't had a hangover or any ill effects from drinking. Still, I went to bed too late last night to be considering teaching in half an hour. Yet, I must.

And then The Container Store to try and spend my Christmas gift card. That's a lot of stimulation right there.