The law of probability, as described by my father: “Seven accidents happen over the course of the week. The probability that all of them happen on the same day is seven times higher than having them happen once a day.”
I have no idea if it’s right, because I hated probability laws in school and I fought against them the way one fights against the most terrible injustice. But I can tell you that in the last two weeks:
- garbage disposal in the island had to be replaced
- baseboards in the kitchen have to be replaced. Delilah the Doberman is the culprit. She developed a charming habit of biting the water and then spitting it out. Gordon purchased a no-spill water dish, so we solved it, but baseboard is kaput
- chimneys had to be swept
- front door needs to be replaced
- Gordon’s PC suffered catastrophic disk failure. It’s always fun when you access the BIOS settings to see your boot options and the computer looks back at you and says, “HDD? What is HDD?” We bought a new PC because we are on a deadline and we have zero time to screw around with it.
- and the coup de grace, downstairs HVAC must be replaced. It is a huge bill, over $10,000, and they’ve been trying to install the new system since yesterday and it is clearly defective. We’re having a storm tomorrow. Right now we are heating the downstairs with the fireplaces.
I decided that Oliver has the right idea. I need a basket.
Also. The book sucks. Which is actually normal at this stage, but it’s not contributing to my sense of well-being in any way at the moment.
But such is life. 🙂 It can always be worse and I am glad it isn’t. And now that I have vented, I am going to get a glass of water and kidnap my husband for a long writing session.
Consider getting an electric blanket. You’ll always have a warm bed that you may have to share with the cat.
That which does not kill us makes us stronger, but so does coffee. The book will be great, just like always. Just take care of you and yours and everything will eventually be OK.
Hang in there. We’re suffering a minor version of what you’re going through; although, we don’t have the extra pressure of fans waiting. The book will be great, everything will get fixed. Take a breath and Oliver is right – everyone needs a “basket.”
Spent the first 3 days of this week dealing with a broken HVAC so I feel your pain.
NOTE: If you buy extended warranty from a dealer, you think about the money you might save (and I did) but you have no alternatives when you get lousy service since you can’t tell them “I will just call someone else”, you are a captive audience and they know it so don’t expect priority if they are overloaded. (Wisdom acquired through a very painful week of having repairman show up hours late and staying until 11PM and saying “I need a part but will be back in the morning”, obviously we use a different language since “morning” was actually 9PM the next night and he stayed until midnight (blame company schedulers not the guy who was dead on his feet)
Oliver and my Zorro cat have the same philosophy, apparently. Judging by the snippets we’ve seen, the book will be great. I hate weeks like you just described, but luckily it’s all fixable. Sorry it all landed at once, though. Get some rest. Oliver has the right idea.
I wanna be as chill as that cat in a basket. That looks like a good life plan. I am sorry it poured on you. It’s been epic the last few weeks. It’s like the universe is conspiring against me getting a gosh dang Christmas tree. *sigh* I don’t wanna go into it bc I don’t wanna look like a one upper cuz life is not the misery olympics. But suffice it to say I feel your pain and gosh dang and wow aren’t those HVACs breath takingly expensive?? That happened to us in August. It sucked. Profoundly. Im glad you have the fireplaces at least.
That’s what credit cards are for! Sucks to go through all that extra life stuff when you are on a deadline. Hope you have time for some of the fun stuff and get to grab your husband for more fun reasons!
Your Oliver looks like a long-haired version of my Tommy.
Sorry to hear about so many things going kablooey at once. Those damn household gremlins really are nuisances. Hopefully the HVAC gets sorted without it being defective and everything else follows.
I’m seeing wine and chocolate in your near future! 🙂
Aaawww
Hugs
You got the tree & the lights are up & the cats leave it alone
So of course the dog acts out &
the house just wanted you to enjoy the tree ambience with the fireplace… ummm what to do when tree time ends. Nahh
Intruders, intruders, danger IA danger!
I wish U well, I wish peace, l wish you joy
Ain’t Life Grand☺??
When you grab Gordon to work, don’t forget your basket. Or a box.
My cats swear by both.
Life always has challenges. I don’t know anyone who sails through life without them. But my husband and I have a new way of feeling better about them.
We tell ourselves that it’s not like we’ve had a catastrophic medical emergency.
We came away unscathed from 2 giant hurricanes in one year, the last one a year ago last fall that was supposed to be a cat. 5, and would have wiped out the house we were about to put on the market as well as the one we just bought at auction, if it had not weakened before it hit central Florida. Unfortunately for Puerto Rico, It wiped out a big bit of it. Then this year, North Carolina got slammed, and we got nada. Also we aren’t living in a refugee camp or fleeing for our lives in some war-torn part of the world.
Any of the above people would trade places with us, happily in a minute.
Usually this stuff comes in threes. You must have ticked off a powerful being in the universe! Tread softly for awhile. It will pass and then many good things will come to make you forget all about the bad. Fingers crossed it is SOON.
Also, your books never ever suck. That is your creative process working the kinks out of a plotline. You and your husband always come through with wonderfully entertaining books. No matter what the series.
ya, what she said. If it sucks, it’s just the author’s spidey sense warning you that it isn’t done yet.
I always find it amazing that no matter the size of the basket, the cat will always fit in (my previous cat favored shoe boxes).
I also have heating issues, I have to purge all my radiators, which is an easy procedure except I have to scrape the coats of paint first (wished I knew the idiot who thought it was a good idea to paint the screw). I am not motivated at all. On the bright side I will pick up my wool blanket at the dry cleaner tomorrow.
Sounds like we have the same guardian angel: Nietzsche. He sucks.
Baskets FTW!
You have Oliver!! And he is a real sweetie. Life is never completely bad when you have pets
I have just four words for that: unexpected expensive dental surgery. But, you’re right. Cats always do have the best ideas! Oliver is one beautiful baby!?