Disastrous? Close at least.

Song of the day: “Puppet on a string” by Sandie Shaw. I know, it’s an oldie, but it’s still cute. Hah.

So let’s get to the good part…oh wait, there was a string of near disasters these past couple of days. Hah. Not really disastrous, it is just that once again the whole week has gone past where we had to go out every single one of them…including tomorrow when the dreaded grocery shopping day is back. Aaargh.

Nope. I’m not thinking of it, not yet.

Okay, one of the disasters: something in the Daewoo said pop and lost its power steering. Turns out one of the belts went, and we just barely had enough energy left in the battery to make it to the salesman’s garage. Of course yesterday (while we were in a hurry to get to Malaga to pick up our friend for her weekly sleepover) was a national strike holiday, meaning that the shop was closed, aaargh. We left it standing there, after managing, just barely to close the windows and lock the doors, and sped on.

Afterwards there was another visit to the bank. Yes, we’re still not getting any drafts, and as it turns out that he had put in the wrong postal code and town when he reset our accounts. Gawd, then, five past five thirty we get an sms, informing us that something is wrong with the Daewoo’s insurance and if we can call them back.

Turns out the insurance broker is closed at five thirty, so that meant that we had to go there this morning, after dealing with the garage, mind you, and see what the heck was going on. Apparently the bank withdrew the payment of our insurance for some reason, so I had to write a check instead. My first time, by the way. Never wrote a check before, if you must know. Jeez, never knew it was so friggin’ complicated. Luckily the broker did it for me (yes I checked the amount afterwards, don’t worry) she’s known us for nigh on fifteen years, I’m guessing. Hah.

What else: Mom’s sewing machine finally got fixed, so we had to pick that up as well. Almost forgot too. Didn’t actually remember until we were three miles from home and had to head on back to town once more to pick it up. Grrr.

Another bit of bad news. Djoti (little sister’s cocker spaniel) was peeing blood last night, so she and mom hurried to the vet. Turns out the cocker has a big tumor behind his spleen and at his age (12 something) it just isn’t feasible. Emotionally and physically. He’s already blind, had one eye removed, along with several tumors, so we’re hoping to battle the problem for a bit longer with an antibiotic.

Scare number three would be Ama (mom’s Viscla pointer) got her mouth around a toad last night and started acting rather peculiarly. So they headed out to the vet for the second time. There are poisonous toads in this area and according to the internet you’re supposed to get treatment within 40 minutes or else risk losing the dog. From Ama’s reaction I would say she was experiencing a slight high. Apparently the vet was unfamiliar with this particular threat (city folk, gawd), but she is going to read up on it. Ama got a couple of shots, and her heart was checked just to be on the safe side. She appears to have made it through though.

Personally I spent my afternoon using the paint sprayer to varnish my second 2nd hand rattan chair up in the old paddock and it is looking pretty darn grant, if you must know. Now all it needs is another layer and a new pillow and then it can go into my sitting room. I can just imagine how it will look once the new floor is in. If only the days were longer…or I needed less sleep. Take my distributor for instance; he gets by on one hour of sleep. *sigh* Gawd, the stuff I could do with that much time on my hands. Hah.

Tenant’s test results came in this morning as well (another part of today’s trip) her bloodworks are fine, but she still has a slight urine infection. Which is apparently caused by not drinking enough. Poor woman can’t help it that she’s never really thirsty and us reminding her of it constantly is just bound to drive her bonkers. She’s an adult after all and in the end she will have to take care of herself in at least that way. She tries, though, and more than having something to drink at her side at any time is everything we can do in the end anyway.

Bommel: I still haven’t gotten around to shaving him. I’ve been planning to for at least a week now, but I just can’t find that spare hour anywhere. Maybe this weekend, we’ll see.

Yesterday afternoon was mostly spent in the yard by the way. Watering everything, harvesting what was ready and in general just spending a few wonderful hours in the sun and fresh breeze. Beautiful, I tell ya.

Writing. Rather than trying to throw out another scene, big brother and I did some edits in the manuscript yesterday. It’s good…I think. Very different from my usual style. Short, to the point and…I don’t know, simple. I’m pretty convinced that this story will need two edits at most, which is a big change from the other projects that need at least three or even five.

Well, my chair is waiting for me. Gotta paint it still, so I’m getting outta here.

A day overdue.

Song of the day: “The men in this town” by Shakira. Awesome song, it will always remind me of writing A Taste of Life.

I know, I know, I missed a day. It wasn’t on purpose I swear, it is just hard to fit it in when I have to hurry through everything to get to work on time. Considering we had to go to the hardware store first, and also the bazaar, we left two hours early in fact. Before that I had to help tenant so she would be able to get through the day until her caregiver came home. This mad me a little late, but what the heck.

We were just about done at the hardware store too, when the main distributor called to tell me that he’d arrive after four. He did. We loaded up, chatted a bit about sales and such. He’s (supposedly) going to send me some information about prices and such, but we’ll have to see if he gets to it. I think he’s rather easy-going in that way, letting things slide a little to see where they end up. Not a bad attitude on the overall, since pushing things never helps anyone, but in this regard (with me just wanting to try it out and getting it over with before I lose my nerve) it’s a little nerve wrecking, I admit. Ah well, patience is a virtue and I’m trying to culture it, so, whatever.

The route went well. Got some funny questions. One at the Punjabi Palace, which is an Indian restaurant. The owner asked me if he got commission if I put the papers at his place. My answer was laughing at/with him and telling him that I doubted it, seeing as I would just have to find a new spot and he wouldn’t do that to me, eh?

Another woman, in a bar, asked if she could get free advertising for holding the papers inside. Wanting to stay original I informed her that even though that would certainly be a nice thing, that wasn’t up to me.

Then there was this really nice feller, who owned a fabric store, who came after me after I’d put the papers in his store. He told me I was welcome to place a stack in his other store in the big city as well. Considering that is where my route will be in the near future, I thanked him profusely. Then, seeing as I had him talking anyway I figured, what the heck, let’s give it a shot.
(real subtle like, hah) I asked if he’d be interested in advertising in the paper, and we got to talking as to how he had tried advertising, but couldn’t get any customers that way because it really was more a word of mouth kind of business. Seeing as I’ve been a patron of the place myself, I could get his reasoning.

Seriously, I’m getting better at the idle chatter. Hah. But in regard to sales, that definitely sets me back 1-0. Darn it. (I REALLY use darn it a lot, don’t I?)

Oh, in one department store I got stopped by the guard and steered towards information that informed me that I needed authorization of the manager, or something, before I could place the papers there. Considering I’d been placing them for seven or eight weeks now I was a little stunned. The woman behind information sent me off with a phone number that I could call in the morning. I did. When I explained the problem, the secretary referred me to another person, and gave me a number, which ended up with me talking to a guy who had no clue what it was all about. I’m going to have hand it over to the main distributor.

There were more chats with the bar, restaurant, store and whatnot owners along the way…there are more than a hundred spots after all, and gradually people are starting to recognize me. There’s this security office I’ve set my eye on. I am definitely going to try my first pitch over there at some point in the near future, and seeing as they’re a nice bunch of ladies, who like to chat as much as anyone, I got stuck there for a bit. I call it an investment, of course.

We got done in time, for a change. No major disasters no holdbacks, everything went smooth as you please and without a hitch. Thankfully. We were actually home before midnight, and the dogs were naturally ecstatic. They, of course, were not aware of the fact that we had to be out again eight hours later. *sigh*

I can honestly say that my foot was effing killing me when we got home. Jeez. Stupid thing just keeps complaining all the time. The plantars Faciitis wasn’t all that bad, but the calcification around my heel is the culprit in this particular case. I was more than happy to call it a day and pass out in a horizontal position for a few hours. When the alarm went off, it was still way too early to my liking.

But enough about all that. This morning the remainder of the route was dealt with. Lots of friendly folkSunday was spent gardening a bit, of course. There’re still zucchini coming, yay. I made them in a ratatouille again, of course. Tomatoes, lots of bell peppers, which are almost as sweet as candy…or at least the red ones are. Love those.

Knight II must have gotten into a fight while I was gone, because he had a hole in his skin this morning. I’ve no idea where he got it, but I think he was being his enthusiastic self when he rushed past some of the other dogs and got hurt that. Poor darling. Way too big and clumsy for his own good. He just POs the others by just being there.

Grandpa lost another tooth, meaning that he’s going to need complete dentures, darn it. Poor guy is on the way to the dentist right this moment to get worked at.

No writing since Sunday night, where I added another two pages to the story. Hit 130 or went past it already, I’m not entirely sure. Gotta check tonight.

What else. Oh yes. We’re still cutting glass for the greenhouse. We’re definitely going to need to find more, but we’ll come a long way with our supplies yet. Personally, I am impatient about getting my floor in sometime in the near future. I can’t wait to see how it looks.

Well, that’s about it for today. I’ve got Bommel’s ears to clean. That infection is still screwing around with him, and I really have to get to it. I’ll undoubtedly be back.