In other words, if the AARP has been bugging you to join, go get that second booster!

Fucking hell. I get a text this morning at 8:15 saying "We're here."

I don't recognize the number. Turns out it's the window guys at the new house.

Except: there's been a total breakdown in communication and the tenants haven't been alerted that the window guys need to be in their units, I had no idea it was happening this morning and they don't have the primer they need.

Just a mad scramble FUBAR before I've had Second Coffee.

Not going into the office. I did make myself avocado toast with bacon and feta for breakfast.

Shiny!

Good grief, Hec. Not the way to start the day.

Good grief, Hec. Not the way to start the day.

I need more coffee if there's going to be a crisis! It's only fair. Crises need to wait in line outside the door until the light flashes "Second Coffee" and then they may enter and commence.

Well done, Dana!

Not so well done window guys. To be fair, if crises were mannerly and waited until you were ready for them they would hardly be being true to their essential natures.

I am in the office despite REALLY not wanting to get out of bed this morning. I don't have a charging cable for my phone, though, so that's suboptimal. And my granola bar breakfast didn't take so I had a second breakfast of a turkey sandwich out of the vending machine and those are never as tasty as I expect them to be. Filling, though, so it's doing its job, I suppose.

Definitely not a great way to start your day, Hec. I hope you were able to get it all worked out.

Definitely not a great way to start your day, Hec. I hope you were able to get it all worked out.

It continued to remain FUBAR for several more hours and I just told Matilda to present me with no new problems until I've had a shower.

I ran to the local hardware store to get oil based grey exterior primer. Simple enough, right? They're out. He can tint the white primer grey. Okay. Oops, his machine malfunctioned and dumped too much colorant into the paint ruining the only gallon of oil-based primer he had. (Thanks, supply chain issues.)

He said he could try to get some of the colorant out and see how light he could make it. I said I was going to the cafe next door to get a breakfast sandwich and would be back in a few. When I came back he was gone. Nowhere in sight.

So I left to the next nearest hardware store. The clerk looks perplexed. "Is this contractor from out of state? Because you can't sell oil based primer in gallons in California."

I shrug. I don't fucking know. I'm just doing what he said. I don't understand why he didn't buy the fucking primer and charge me like any sensible contractor.

"Well, says the clerk," still very perplexed, "I have four quarts of oil based primer I could tint grey."

Okay! "And I can pour them into an empty gallon bucket."

"Then, let's do that, shall we?"

Get to the new house where I've had to roust the tenants without prior warning, and my contractor is leaning out the top window removing trim. He tells me to take the primer to the backyard where they are painting.

Okay, but now I'm going to pin him down on the next time I need to be there. I won't be ambushed again! So, Tennessee Dave, when will you be back?

"Oh, I don't know. Whenever they tell me the frames are ready."

Great.

David - my Dad was a contractor and, trust me, it's never the contractor's fault. It's the subcontractor. And then it is the supplier. And then it is the laborers. Or one particular laborer who is essential before anyone else can do anything.

[edited] and don't forget the inspector and ... . I'm afraid all you can do is let yourself go with the flow.

[edited again] or the weather.

Uhhhhh welcome to home-ownership and be ready for about a thousand more occurrences just like it! Seriously, renovating, repairing, and maintaining a home unless you’re doing all of the work yourself? Is an ongoing pain that never really subsides entirely.

I'm afraid all you can do is let yourself go with the flow.

I shall attempt to find my zen. But it helps to know when the flow is beginning instead of being swept downstream before you've woken up.