Mister Garfield was truly honored to be the inspiration of my last entry. Aaah, we feed off our friends, do we not?
I sent the last entry to my friend Morgan, who lives far away, and he called me. "You're timing is impeccable!" he stated... absolutely thrilled that my mind would be on The Bear and other walkers in good ole Beverly.
He had just picked up a book called "Weird New Jersey," and there is a whole lot of talk in there about the weird walkers in some of the townships. And it turned his recollections back to he same time in our lives, to the Bear and others. He reminded me of two others, "Old Henry," and "Ooffy Doofy" or is it "Goofy Doofy, I can't recall. Old Henry was a guy who looked EXACTLY like the owner/dictator/ceo/maniac who ran our company, only broke, crazy and dirty. We always theorized that this was some sort of glimpse into his future, that he'd lose everything, go mental, and wander the streets of his hometown terrorizing people.
It could still happen. From what I understand, none of those things have happened... he's filthy rich after selling companies, buying companies, wheeling and dealing. But all that could come to failure. You never know. The ghost of Old Henry could be a reality for him one day yet.
And I'm crossing the street when I see him.
It was so good to talk to Morgan. He made me laugh so hard I almost fell off the couch. And it felt really good to hear his voice, the way he says "That's Awesome," should be trademarked. I adore him. Miss him. I miss a lot of people that I haven't been in touch with for a long time.
Well, I substitute taught yesterday. Fifth grade. Not too bad. The kids really behaved except for one kid who pretended to be deaf and stupid. He had piercing blue eyes that I felt the desire to poke out. At one point when I was telling him to stop doing something and he repeatedly pretended to be deaf, I walked over to the phone to call the office.
"What are you doing?!" faking-deafness kid calls out.
"Calling the office to have someone come get you and take you out. You can't be here if you are this disabled. It's disrupting class."
"I'm okay! Don't call the office."
The office had answered the phone, the girl on the other end took my news well, that he didn't need to come down, that we'd reached an 11th hour agreement.
At the almost-end of the day, I went to drop something off at the office and the boy who had given me such a damn hard time last Friday was sitting on what I call "The Group W Bench," and I eyeballed him. Yeah, whatever you did, punk, serves your ass right. I hate that kid.
I'm subbing Monday and Tuesday, then going to Florida, then... I think I'll have three days free after I get back where I'll either cater or sub, depending on who asks me first. Then. Nothing but Geoff. Until the summer.
Doug is looking kind of for a new job. He's not really looking, just wondering what's out there in his field that pays better. He's happy where he is, but the pay isn't spectacular, and we're thinking that he'll have more success in his field than I will finding another job. So he's putting out feelers. We'll see what happens.
Last night we went out to dinner, both of us were exhausted and neither wanted to deal with cooking. So we went to this TexMex place in Haverhill called Pedro Diegos. We go there about four or five times a year and wish we had more money to go more regularly. Great wings, great margaritas, great sangria, nice waitstaff, and the kids are comfortable there. It's never crowded, but they seem to be healthy compared to other places in Haverhill. Restaurants come and go in that town like you wouldn't believe. It's the kind of place I look forward to taking friends when they come visit, so when you come visit, we'll be sure to take you, okay?
So over dinner we talked about money, finances, and how we have enough to pay our taxes, and if Doug gets something good for over the summer then we won't have to worry until end of August/early September for me to have some gainful employment. It felt good to have a plan. For a minute or two. Here are some pictures of us from the restaurant.
This morning, after I slept in until noon, got up and did dishes, Doug came tearing out of the front part of the house saying "We've got a problem, go look in the front bathroom."
I was on the phone with my sister, and I opened the bathroom door.
"Aw, crap. Gotta go," I tell her.
Water was pouring out of the ceiling from our upstairs tenants' bathroom. Through our light fixture. All over the floor. I guess Doug went to go to the bathroom and when he opened the door and turned on the light... surprise!
He quickly got dressed and ran upstairs. Jen was in the shower but Pete got her out. Doug came back downstairs perplexed at best. Here we are, thinking we're set for a while, with a nice cushion of savings, our taxes covered, our next six months in the bag, and now we'll have to replace a bathroom, or possibly two.
They did some investigating and figured out that the faucet was leaking inside the wall, that there wasn't a broken pipe. Doug went to the hardware store about an hour ago. I can hear a lot of stomping around and water spigots opening right now up there. I think he may be back and they are doing the repair.
Please, let it work. Please, please, please! If it's not one thing, it's another. To quote the late, great Gilda Radner's Ms. Roseanne Rosannadanna. We'll see if it all works out here.
Doug is starting to sort of plan what he's going to do with the kids while I'm out of town. I suggested they catch "Ice Age," in the theatres. Geoff does a good job at the movies these days, so that will probably be a night out.
A friend of his from high school who lives in Boston called the other day and invited us to join her and her husband and son in going to the BSO (Boston Symphony Orchestra) for a Classical Cartoons music expo.
All the classics.
I was crestfallen as I will not be able to attend. All the culture I ever learned was from Bugs Bunny, to paraphrase Elaine Benis on Seinfeld. So that is one item. Jessica is looking forward to it, "Kill the Waaaaabbit" has been hummed by all of us several times in the past day or so. Sorry I'll be missing it.
Ok. Jessica's making cookies and Geoff is running around like a maniac. Time for me to return to my normal role, and get more coffee, and help with the oven part of things (Jessica is still not confident in putting in and taking out items at the stove). Aaron and Michelle were supposed to be with us this weekend but they stayed home so M could get some work done for school. So it's a mellow weekend. We have funny hats for St. Patrick's day, we'll be sure to sit around wearing them tomorrow. The Ides of March and St. Patty's day. All in one weekend. Oy.
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