It's already Saturday!

Another week down. Where do they go?

On Wednesday we went to playgroup in the morning and then to a friend's house in the afternoon. The ride there was terrible. She lives in Brookfield. The rain was just awful that day and it's a 50 minute drive to her home. However, we had a good time. We met her two adopted daughters. She adopted from the State of Mass. Her girls are wonderful. One is 7 and I think her other one is 8, but I am blanking on this right now. I met their mom while I worked at WPI. She is a professor there. We actually met online as she was researching Chinese adoption and found the same board I was on. Before we knew it, we were chatting and we found out we came from the same state and worked at the same place. Talk about small world stuff! She decided not to adopt from China and to go forth with the adoption from Mass. She couldn't be happier.

While the three girls were playing, we stayed upstairs and chatted. Well embarrassingly, I started having those stomach issues I have been battling. They think it's an ulcer. All I know is I could have died. I was starting to sweat profusely, I could barely hear what she was saying, I couldn't even twist in the direction in which she was speaking. I finally had to confide that I was dying inside. I jumped up and grabbed Ping's goldfish snack and downed them. It helped a little. Here is the first time I am visiting her and I am falling apart. I was so mortified. I am also a little ways from home and the pain was unbearable for a little while there. I have never had this issue while out!!!!!

I didn't feel great for the rest of the evening and then again the next day. It wasn't just my stomach. I just felt icky. I was achy all over. I have been achy a lot lately and have no idea why. It's unsettling and aggravating. I am sure it will go away!

Thursday we headed to the nursery to pick out plants and scrubs. We have a huge landscaping project going on. So I met one of the guys from the company over there and the three of us, one being Ping, proceeded to pick and pluck. Then we got poured on. This had to be done though. So we were an absolute mess. Ping was so dirty, I was embarrassed. She was so fed up with her dirty flip flops, she took them off and threw them on top of the cart she was pulling. She insisted on pulling the cart, except it got too heavy after awhile with the plants!!! lol. So there she is walking in dirt/mud/water with bare feet!!!!! I was beside myself! She was such a mess. Poor thing. I felt bad, but I was a terrible mess too!

We left there and picked up Bill so that we could fly to the Registry of Motor Vehicles! Bill tried to start the car that morning and it wouldn't start. I called AAA, but they wouldn't come get it because I was not the card holder. Um, I pay the bill, I should be allowed to call you moron!!!! Anyhoo, I have Bill calls. My dearest sweetie puss tells them the car is unregistered. Somehow "it came up!!!!" Grrrr. So now they won't tow it. So I just got Power of Attorney on it the night before, so I grabbed the info, headed to the nursery and then grabbed Bill so we could register the car. Then we left, had terrible Chinese food way too early in the night and then headed to Bill's place of work so he could get his car. In the meantime, I called the landscaper back as he had called me while we were out and I didn't get the phone in time. Well he is in a "bind" and wants me to meet him at his bank before 7, so I can give him a check! Excuse me? What? I have been poured on, I have Equal all over me from trying to blow into the packet so the sugar would come out more easily and it exploded all over me, I have been to the Registry, dropped Bill off and now I am trudging home to get AAA to come pick up the car and all this is going on while I have a screaming Ping in the background "I want DADDY" and you want a flucking check now? Are you really telling me this NOW???? Sorry for the run on sentence! I was not pleased at all. After politely saying no several times, he wouldn't let it go. So being the nice person I am, I met him and was nice, but I was steamed!!!!

So Bill called AAA when we got home. They came and got the car, but we had to push it out of the driveway because it's front wheel drive. This was no small task. The driveway is very long. Ping had to help. So there is Bill, Ping and a very overweight tow truck driver in the humidity at 9pm with me steering in the dark!!!! I offered to push the car and the tow truck dude could steer it. I felt bad for him. He was literally killing himself! I am not making fun of him. Far from it. I just felt awful. Bill said to not move, so I didn't. Ping helping wasn't all that fun, but I love that she tries to do everything!!!!! So Bill and the tow truck driver went and dropped off the car. It was a long and tiring night!

Yesterday I had to meet the landscaper at 9am outside. A little early for my taste. Ping's too:) Well he wasn't there, so I met with the foreman and we went over some stuff and then the owner did show and we went over MORE stuff. I then headed to the bank and Walmart. When I got home, I dragged the stuff in, quickly fed Ping and then had to deal with more landscaping issues. It just never stopped yesterday. The phones were ringing off the hook, the door was constantly being knocked on. It was just a long and very tiring day!!!!! I was supposed to meet the owner to get more plants, but we put it off till Monday because other stuff came up. I was grateful. However, he then showed up to the house. He wanted more money. It was incredulous to me. Less then 24 hours ago, I gave him a check at his bank and he is hitting me up for more cash so he can "pay his guys????" I told him that I wasn't happy and that it's customary to do a 1/3, 1/3 and 1/3. This guy has a big business. He is not a Joe Smow. I get the song and dance about having too many materials. Whatever. I gave him 1/2 of the 1/3 and told him that I was very against doing it and I wasn't happy and that I felt I didn't have a lot of leverage here. What can you do? He is so high pressure when it comes to this. He is a nice guy and does fabulous work, but I don't like his hustler style when it comes to this. He is not getting one more damn dime until everything is done and perfect. I will tell you that much. I would have liked to stick to my guns, but it's truly a tough position to be in. You don't want to build up animosity. You don't want someone to think you don't trust them. However, you don't want to get screwed either! UGH. After he left, Ping went outside with Daddy since he had come home. I was thrilled. I was at my end on the physical scale. I could not deal with one more thing. I collapsed on my chair and ottoman and passed out for 20 minutes. I woke up to hearing Bill talking to someone. It was my neighbor. She came over to see all the landscaping. She was in awe. She thought it was beautiful. She said it looks like an estate. I thought that was so very kind of her. We hardly have an estate here!!!! The yard has always been an eye sore, it needed a major overhaul. This is something we have wanted to do for years. This is something I discussed with my mom regularly because she lived her and we both hated the property. When we added her in law onto the house, the trucks did a lot of damage to the property and then afterwards, we didn't do anything. The grass was crab grass. So it was much needed. I will post pictures eventually of the whole thing. I forgot to get before pictures which has me so damn mad. I always forget to do that. Back to what I was saying! I chatted with my neighbor, my nosy neighbor walked over and only grumbled that she liked it after my other neighbor went on and on. She proceeded to say "this is the best house on the hill!" I am sure that pissed off my other neighbor! She wasn't very happy for some reason. The nice neighbor thinks she's jealous! Of what? Her property is gorgeous! She didn't say anything until she was forced to and all she basically said was "it's nice." The mosquitoes were awful, so we came inside. We had bad Chinese food from a box. I took 2 bites and gave it to Bill. ICKY!!!!!

Today was a decent day. I ordered an invitation sample for Ping's party and have done a lot of cleaning up around here. Bill has been catching up on laundry and watering plants. We didn't have plans. I didn't want to make any. We truly have a lot of stuff to do around here. Before you know it, it will be school for Ping and cold out! I have so many projects I want to do before all that comes about.

Well off to do some party stuff. I will post pictures soon. Hope all is well.

XO