Monday, November 28, 2016

What a day! Nothing, and I mean nothing, has gone according to the plan. The plan was to mail my parcels, cut fabric for cards for tomorrow’s bee, and then work on finishing up some Christmas things I last saw at the Texada Retreat.

We were up early. Pat starts teaching at 5:30 and I slept in until six. We expected our handy man to arrive around 8:30 and then I was going to head to the Post Office right after. It was almost nine and no sign of our worker but I knew he would be along shortly so I left the door unlocked and headed out to the car; he was pulling up just as I got to the car. Bags of parcels in my hand, I tried to unlock the car using the remote; no luck but I knew we had an extra remote so I ran back inside and got it. It didn’t work either. At this point I was a bit concerned maybe there was more wrong than I thought, but Pat said I could use the “actual” key to open the door and it wouldn’t set off the alarm.

Once I’d gained entry I turned the key and – nothing. Dead silence. Not even the clicking I had the last time the battery died. So I called Roadside Assistance and waited 45 minutes for them to arrive. I picked up some handwork (a Christmas thing) so I wouldn’t waste that time doing puzzles on my iPad. The tow truck eventually got the car going so I let it run for a bit and then drove up to the mechanics. He is going to install a new battery and check to see if something else might be draining the battery. I used the car on Saturday with no trouble and it shouldn’t have run completely dead in that short a time. I had to take a cab home and I think I waited about half an hour for it to arrive.

I was watching the time because Pat had arranged for someone to pick up an old vacuum cleaner between 11 and noon. I was home shortly after eleven and waited (with my stitching) until noon but no one came by. Hopefully she didn’t come while I was out but it’s more likely she didn’t get Pat’s message about the timing. Pat drove me to the Post Office when he finished teaching; it isn’t even December and there was already a long line-up. We’re back home now waiting on a plumber who did a job for us last week but Pat noticed we still have a bit of a leak.

I had time to finish the stitching on my Christmas thing while Pat finished his class, and now I’ll try to get some office work done. I have both a Cranberry Hall meeting and a Guild meeting this week so leaving it until Wednesday probably isn’t a good idea. I don’t think I’ll have my car back today so I’ll get at my sewing again tomorrow; I won’t go to the bee as my travelling machine is in my car at the mechanics, and the work I really need to get done is best done on my home machine.

So why am I a Bad Grandma? I knew the Advent Calendars were touch and go to get to their destinations on time, but I just couldn’t pay twice as much in postage in order to guarantee their arrival. So maybe I’m not such a bad Grandma – maybe I’m just cheap!