Friday's Rant: One of Those Weeks

Friends and neighbors, I have a lot to be thankful for, but every once in a while, you have "one of those weeks."  This last week has been...one of those weeks at the Iowa Blog Cabin.  It seems like every time I've turned around, something I own breaks.  Late last week on the drive home I start to notice a vibration on my car.  "Great," I thought...thinking of the $225 I paid last year to have a wheel bearing replaced.  The vibration got significantly worse as the week went on.

Then, last weekend, we're driving home in the Envoy...we look down at the instrument panel - and the gas gauge and oil pressure gauge aren't working.  Dead.  "Son of a *bleep*," I thought.

On Tuesday, I get home from a vibration-filled drive home, sit down on the couch and turn on the TV.  "Oh, the sound on the TV broke,"  Anne tells me. "Cheese and rice.  What else is going to break!?" (secretly, this is kind of something I've been praying for - but I didn't need it to break THIS WEEK).

But there was more.  Collin has had a simmering head cold for the last few days...after hearing the news of my precious TV, Anne tells me about the trip to the doctor.  "They prescribed an anti-biotic so it wouldn't develop in pneumonia."  Obviously concerned for his health, I was happy they were able to do something, but still, it was one more thing on the dog pile.

So Wednesday I scheduled to take my car in and get fixed on Thursday.  One more day of vibration.  I can do that.  So, I'm driving home - exhausted - and get a call from Anne.  "I think we need to take Collin to the walk-in clinic and get check out.  He's gotten a little worse."  So as soon as I got home, we turned around and went to the Doctor's office in West Des Moines, sat there for another three hours, examinations, X-rays, poking and prodding.  "Well," the doctor said, "he has a spot of pneumonia.  We're going to give him a shot, some other medicine, some steroids, blah, blah, blah...and bring him back tomorrow morning."  Poor kid.

As we leave the office, I can hear the meteorologist calling for 10" of snow on Friday.  Great. 

So it's Thursday morning.  I drive to work.  Vibration.  I drop my car of to be repaired and begin my day.  I leave a meeting and get a call from Anne.  "I just got out of the appointment and the doctor says we need to take him to the hospital."  "WHAT!"  Now I'm getting a little worried...when I had left earlier in the morning, he actually seemed like he was getting better.


"Okay, I'll meet you there..."  I hang up the phone.  Crap!  I didn't have a car!  I call Anne back to have her pick me up on the way.  We get to the hospital and are rushed right in.  Nurses in, nurses out.  Doctors coming, doctors going.  Tests here, tests there.  All the tests come back 'normal.'  The doctor comes in and gives us the news.  His breathing is fine.  No pneumonia - basically, he has a bad cold.  After an hour of panicked worry, we leave and go home - and drops me back off at work.

The end of the day comes and I pick up my car.  Vibration gone.  Check that off my list.  I took Friday off of work to give Anne a break and take a "mental health day."  Three day weekend.  Yesss.  Things are looking up.

I get home and pull into the driveway, park the car and walk towards the house.  "You have got to be kidding me!"  I look at the edge of the driveway - there's a three foot section of black-top that is basically completely ripped up.  Turns out, the propane guy stopped by to top off our propane tank and parked on the edge of the driveway - with his big rig and 50,000 lbs of propane.  One week of 60 degree temps have cause SIGNIFICANT thawing and, well, you can guess what happened.

Well, it's Friday, I'm home, Collin's doing well, we're getting snowed-in, I think the Envoy still has gas in it, my TV's broke.  I need a nap.

But things are looking up!  This is going to be a great weekend!  The Daytona 500 is Sunday, we stocked up on tons of cold medicine, I have a spare TV, Jimmie Johnson is on my Fantasy League team again this year, the Bolsheviks that run Congress are giving me a $13 "tax cut," my car is running like a champ and life is good.

Breathe in, breathe out, life goes on...this week's rant is over.