The Po Show

What.A.Week.

Just coming off a week from hell:

Monday: MLK Day, which gave me the opportunity to take the car in for its routine check up. I can only do this on holidays, since Ross is home to stay with the kids. Having only one car sucks, and I have to take it to a dealership way on the other side of the Hudson (since that's the only place that has a courtesy service that will drive me to the mall to hang out for the many hours it takes to service the car). So I hang out, wait two hours (bought coffee and a scone and *a book* and *read* woohoo!), and finally call to see what was up. The car needs several new parts, to the tune of EIGHTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS. Okay, well, what the fuck, it's that or buy a new car. They promise it would be done by the end of the day, so I hunker down for the day and go to the movies (I have never gone to the movies by myself in my entire life!). Middle of the movie, get a call that the car would not, in fact, be done that day. Well now, that's a problem since we only have one car and I'm on the other side of the Hudson. They'd get me a loaner. Fine. I go back into the movie. Another call, no loaners. They'd split the cost of a rental car with me. Fine, have the driver come get me please. He's out to lunch; they'll send him in 45 minutes. Fine, I watch the rest of the movie. This is about 1:00. I finally get picked up by said driver at 2:45. We go to the dealership where I wait for the Enterprise Rent a Car dude. I get picked up and drive away with my piece of shit rental at 4:30. I finally get home around 5, having left at 8AM.

Tuesday: Tessa wakes up and says her ear hurts. Shit. I don't take these pronouncements lightly from Tessa, with her orthrolarynal history. Make an appointment with the doctor, no school for her. Yes, indeed another ear infection, number three since school started (added to the three sinus infections; got the ENT referral). Yet another scrip for yet another antibiotic (she just finished two weeks of Augmentin two weeks ago!). Call the service department to see what was up with the car at 11. Almost done! Just have to finish up and road test it! We'll call you! Tessa and I hang out, then I remember that at 1:00 I have an appointment to register her for kindergarten. I'm supposed to bring a bunch of documents to prove we live in White Plains. No problem, I have all that stuff, still in the folder I left it in when I registered her for Pre-K last Sept. Except of course I can't find the folder. I tear up the house a few times, to no avail (realizing that among the missing items is her birth certificate!). I find some other documents that I hope will suffice as substitutes. But I need a utility bill to prove we live here, and I don't have one. I try to go online and get a copy of our account info, but I need our account number. I call to get it. The nice woman needs Ross' SS#, which I've had memorized for 17 years, literally, but now am blanking out on. I frantically look for something that has the number, like last year's tax forms. I can't find anything. I remember the last 4 digits and she lets me have the account number. I bring up our account, bring up the page with our info, and the printer won't print. I fix the printer, print it, dash out of the house with Tessa, who's now out of it and feeling miserable. I realize I need copies of all these documents, so we rush to the library to make copies. I don't have a copy card. I buy one and make the copies. We rush to the school district office, only 10 minutes late. Tessa is asleep. I don't have the stroller because it's in my car on the other side of the Hudson. I lug her heavy self into the building and fill out forms one handed. Miraculously, they accept my substitute documentation and we complete the registration. I go home, load up my packages and get the jogger stroller out of the basement (and have a hell of a time loading it into the car) and go to the post office to ship my ebay stuff (19 packages!). We then go pick up Matthew at school and drive to return the rental car, which needs to be back by 3:32. At 3:31 we get there and wait for them to drive us to the dealership. I've been calling, still trying to figure out if the car is done, but I am repeatedly told the woman will call me back, which she does not. She finally calls as we're driving to the dealership, where I find the car is being road tested and will be back "soon." We wait in the waiting room, where the children are placated with Skittles and Juicy Fruit. At 4:30 we finally drive away, EIGHTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS added to my credit card charges.

Wednesday: We wake to howling winds, gusts up to 50 miles a hour! Man it was blowing! Took Matthew to school just before it started to pour rain. I decided Tessa should stay home one more day, so we hunkered down. I did want to go to Costco, but after the rain ended. Soon I realize that the wind is just too crazy, and I don't want to drive on the freeway, so we go to Trader Joe's in the afternoon instead. I regret going out, since there are downed trees and blocked streets and traffic lights out of service. We shop and get home, go to pick up Matthew and find that we can't get onto the street we usually take to pick up. It's almost comical how which ever way I drove, we kept coming up against a police cordon due to yet another huge fallen tree or downed power lines. When I pick up Ross in the evening from the train station, there are downed trees everywhere and whole neighborhoods with no power! We're so thankful that we are not among the powerless.

Thursday: Tessa actually goes to school in the morning (her whole two and a half hours of school for the week), though we have to take several detours to get there. Pre-K is cancelled, however, since the building has no power. On Friday, it still has no power, so no school. We have an uneventful visit to the allergist, so she doesn't go to school in the morning either.

Today was lovely. We went to the city for the first time since November (!), had pho in Chinatown, walked through Soho, went to Washington Square. It was 60 degrees! In January! People were out everywhere and it was so nice. A good end to a crappy week.