Saturday, September 27, 2008

A Series Of Unfortunate Events

It is important to pay attention to the little things.  If you fail to do so, you have no one to blame but yourself when consequences shower down upon your head, much like the rains that have moved into my neck of the woods lately.  

What is that?  You want examples?  Well, for heaven's sake, where do you think you are????  This is Sheepish Annie's House Of Inconsequential Observations!  Of course I have examples!  A plethora of 'em!  Sheesh.  You must be new here...

It is unfortunate that I believed myself capable of knitting a simple tam.  If my math is correct (and there is absolutely no reason to believe that it is, but what the heck...let's go with it) then I see no hope for my decreasing down to the correct number of stitches before fastening off.  It will be either more or less.  There is no in-between.  For the record, I stopped caring a very long time ago and will just continue to knit along until the Stupid Lopsided Tam is in the "Finished" category.  I will then add that particular pattern to my own personal Black List.

Side Note:  I still think it may look OK when done.  Just not so much with the symmetry is all...

It is unfortunate, for reasons which will soon become obvious, that I chose today to do three thousand errands.  I've been planning this day for a while now.  Yesterday was payday and we never know how long the financial resources will last.  As I had to go out to visit with The World's Greatest Stylist And Life Coach anyway, I figured I might as well do a mess of other stuff while I was at it.  But today really wasn't the best day for that sort of thing, I fear...

Side Note:  I actually managed to get to all the places what needed gettin' to.  I just forgot a lot of the stuff that I was supposed to be gettin' once I'd gotten there.

It is unfortunate that I decided to take the kids outside yesterday.  There was a little bit of a gap in the day's scheduled deluge and my students were having a bout of the Fridays.  They needed to expend just a bit of energy.  It was still drizzling slightly and really too chilly for my fragile constitution, but I took the chance.  

Side Note:  I realize that a cold is caused by a virus and not so much by the actual temperature.  But I still don't think my being outside helped matters.  In fact, given the timing of my cold symptoms, I can't help but wonder if my decision to go stand outside in the rain might have determined the course of events.  I could be wrong.  But last night I had a cold and I didn't have one yesterday morning.  I'm just sayin'....

It is unfortunate that I somehow managed to throw away the appointment card that told me what time I needed to be at the salon today.  Had I not done that, I would not have had to call this morning to confirm the appointment and talk to the Distracted Lady.  The Distracted Lady told me to wait just a minute while she checked on my appointment.  I had no issues with that.  This was followed by the clunk that generally signals a phone being set down,then by the unmistakable sound of a toilet flushing and a tank refilling.  Then came the tap-tap-tapping of footsteps heading, I presume, to the front desk where the Distracted Lady (now sounding much less distracted) looked up my appointment for me.  I barely registered this and had to have her repeat the information for me.  You see, I don't recall at any time hearing the sound of a sink running or anything else which might be related to hand-washing.  Ack!  Fortunately, it was not my stylist who answered the phone...

Side Note:  I realize that modern technology, having afforded us the miracle that is the cordless phone, means that I have been speaking to people for years who are doing things that I really don't want to know about.  It has just never been my misfortune to hear someone doing #1 (I hope) at a place of business.  

It is unfortunate that I chose to go right over to the Used Book Store directly after my hair appointment.  They had just opened and the Book Lady was using the computer to check her email thinking that she had a few minutes before the customers flooded in.  The slow dial-up connection made it rather hard for her to log out and ring up my order using my debit card.  

Side Note:  It is worth your time in these situations to be patient, maybe reassure the nice lady that you are in no hurry.  You could even chat with her a bit.  When the lengthy transaction is over, you will very likely be told that you made her day by being so nice about the whole thing.  That will, in turn, make your day.  Especially if you have a nasty cold and aren't feeling too great about anything in that moment.

It is unfortunate that the Dollar Store is out of Collapsible Cat Caves.  If you happen to have an Absurdly Gi-normous Kitty who loves his CCC and who is also very hard on his toys (due to his gi-normousness), you are in trouble.  Especially if his favorite game is racing into his cave, pulling it over his head and then skidding around the house blindly, peeking out only occasionally to ensure that he isn't going to crash into the coffee table. 




These sorts of activities do not bode well for the Cat Cave's longevity...


It is even more unfortunate when Mommy goes to the pet store to seek out an appropriate substitute while she has a cold.  She is, perhaps, not quite so observant under these conditions.  She might even get so excited at the sight of a cat tunnel contraption that she doesn't really read the package contents too carefully.  She will be further distracted by the fact that this is the only one in the whole store and simply grab it.  When she gets home, she will be dismayed to learn that she does not have a tunnel.  She has the connector thingie that is designed to go with the tunnels.  That is not even close to what the AGK wants.


Sad kitty.


Side Note:  I'd return it, but the AGK has been sleeping in it for a while now and I haven't the heart.  So now I don't have the toy he wants and do have a ridiculously huge thing in the middle of my living room.  The moral of the story is this:  It pays to read the packaging.


I like to think that I actually came out ahead for the most part.  The hair is trimmed, a few of the things I was supposed to purchase actually made it home with me today and nothing caught fire in the process.  Not that this really was a concern given the weather situation.  We are now in the Flood Warning stage of the festivities so I think that fire danger is the least of our problems at the moment.  Of course, I don't live in a flood prone area so that's not much of a concern either, I suppose...

At any rate, my cold and I are back at home and the minor misfortunes which befell us are all in the past.  There is nothing left to do but take a few hits of narcotic cold medication and watch the raindrops fall.

Side Note:  Narcotic Cough medicine is also kind of good when you need to stop thinking about which stylist didn't wash her hands after going to the bathroom today.  And what she might have touched...

SA

14 comments:

Knitting Linguist said...

My advice: don't even go there with the not-hand-washing-imagining thing. Too scary by far...

Mel said...

I always come home and shower after I get my hair cut. And I really the think the cold has more to do with the fact that you work with filthy, disease-ridden children. You may worry about the people at the salon, but you know for a fact that there are few things less sanitary than pre-teen boys. In fact, I'm surprised HM even lets you go in to work every weekday morning.

April said...

For a moment there, I thought you'd bought the AGK his own personal rocket ship. I think he'd like that.

I wonder if there are any AGK clones on craigslist today. I should probably check that.

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear you are "under the weather" (really, no pun intended. It's raining here too,)
AGK looks kind of happy in his connector thingy. With his girth, I'll bet he could get it to skid across the floor if he really wanted to!
Hummm, makes you wonder how many other people don't wash their hands when finished in the restroom. Oh my, that is just too gross to think about. Take another swig to the cold medicine for me.

Ronni said...

All you need is a tunnel to attach to each of the three openings on the connector and they you can lose not only all the floor space in your living room but both cats. If you get really long and flexible ones you can even make two of them connect up so there is only one entrance and exit. I am an evil pet owner...

sheep#100 said...

I was just about to comment that if you were having the weather we are having (and it sounds like you are) there wasn't much chance of the fires spontaneously erupting anywhere near you. Then I finished reading the post and my comment became redundant.

But I liked my comment (it was so witty and clever) so I am commenting it anyway.

Take advantage of your prescription insurance covering the good cough medicine (ours doesn't) and feel better soon!

Kath said...

I am going on the theory that there are plenty of other reasons why someone might flush the toilet. I'm particularly fond of the "burial at sea" method for spiders for example.

I agree with mel, you are far more likely to pick up cold germs from the kids than anywhere else!

catsmum said...

and now you know why I hate having to touch the doorknob to get out of public ... ummm ... conveniences!
and Sophie, Oakley and MissC have now put in an order for a three way tunnel connector thingy.

catsmum said...

oh and be better soon !

mehitabel said...

Please continue taking your "good" cough medicine, and I wouldn't worry too much about your neighbor building that huge boat-thing in his back yard. Nah, the forecast isn't for THAT much rain!
Stay indoors, stay dry and get better soon. If the hurry-cane gets too bad, you won't have to go to work on Monday and will get an extra day of rest!

Mia said...

i'm just headin' out to the big store myself, glad I read this post before i went, I GOTTA get one (or seven) of those cat caves.

Donna Lee said...

I'm sitting here on my bed with not one but two snoring cats by my side. I'm thinking a cat cave might be a really good thing to have.
And it looks like we are having a week of rain coming up (it's been raining since last Thursday and everything is sticky at this point) and the humidity is intense. This means no flea markets, no spinning (too humid) but no spontaneous combustion, always a good thing.

Anonymous said...

At least you were calling a hair salon, it could have been a restaurant. Ewwwww!
I hope the cold is gone quickly.

Anonymous said...

Mel is right about the "filthy, disease-ridden children"; I'm sure they are the reason for your cold. I do not even want to think about the hairstylist and the bathroom - EWWWWWWWWW!

AGK's new tunnel thingy certainly fits him better than the old one.