My $405.10 Toilet Flush

Today is just one of those days... you know - the ones where nothing goes right? It's a huge bummer, too, because I actually started it off thinking it would be a productive, happy, efficient day. I mean, I got up at a decent hour, ate my breakfast, did my web-stalking, and went up to shower - all before Jack got up! And I even shaved my legs for the first time in about 5 weeks (feeling a bit guilty with every stroke of the razor that I didn't call Locks of Love before I started...) for no special reason other than I wanted to put a little extra effort (okay, a LOT... I'm not very good at reaching my legs anymore) into my getting-ready routine. I mean, I'm not going to subject the world to my white, somewhat bloated-looking legs anytime soon (unless, of course, there is a massive power-outage and someone needs a self-contained source of illumination, in which case my frighteningly white skin would be much-appreciated) but I figured I'd feel better for having smooth legs. After that, I even put lotion on my feet. And that's almost a bigger deal than the leg-shaving considering I basically have no relationship with my feet at all any longer. Really. I'd say what we have going is a sort of acquaintance-ship. I feel mild, occasional curiosity (as in: hm, feet, are you still down there?) mixed with slight distaste (oh, yes, there you are... looking... uuuugh) that never matures into enough of one or the other for me to do anything about the fact that they're perhaps more frightening than 5 weeks worth of leg fur. But anyway, I put lotion on them. After I shaved my legs. Monday was looking to be a banner day for me.

I had a whole to-do list (written in crayon on construction paper, but whatev) and I was excited about getting started on it... I worked through another chapter of school... I even got to go to the bathroom (big deal for us Preggo's)...

............and discovered that my water has been turned off.

WHAT?!

Okay it sucks that I couldn't flush. But I also chose last night to wash all of the pitchers that usually hold filtered drinking water in our fridge. They're all in the sink in soapy water, soaking. As in, NOT holding drinking water. And I'm pregnant AND I have a toddler who drinks cup after cup of water.

Again: WHAT?!

So the to-do list immediately got replaced by the pressing matter of straightening this mess out. Only thing I could do was march my be-lotioned feet into the city office and plunk down $70 to get it fixed. Well, when I discovered an outstanding bill at this address from 2007, $70 quickly turned into $380.10 because I had to clear the debt of $310.10 before I could start services again in my name.

WHAT?!

Additionally (and here's where I'm glad I shaved my legs because after enough tantrum-ing and stomping of feet, chafing does become an issue) absurd is that, in the ludicrous amount of time it took to get all of this nonsense figured out, I was issued a $25 parking ticket while I was in office because I couldn't leave to go re-up the meter and who would have thought that paying a $70 deposit would take more than 30 minutes?

So now we're up to $405.10.

It's 3:58 pm now and the water just got turned on and I basically drank a gallon of it as soon as I could, but I can assure you that I am entirely devoid of energy to devote to my to-do list right now. My anger and frustration and a fair degree of dehydration have crushed my drive, as has the realization that, smooth lower-body aside, today really is just another stupid Monday and I will make certain that in the future I refrain from espousing any kind of hope or joy on this particular day of the week. I had figured that, surely, since I don't work, there is no way that the fabled "Monday Blues" could affect me... just another day of the week, right? Well, apparently, Universe, I was wrong. And I am sorry. Next time I shave my legs, I will wait until Wednesday at the earliest.

I don't often just blog to vent about my crappy life because, really, I don't have a crappy life at all. But there are days when my frustration level gets so high that I really REALLY need to type it all out in hopes of making enough room to take a deep breath.

So I'm off to go make my chicken-noodle soup (which is a MUCH easier meal to prepare when I have water)... Tomorrow's another day.