You Can't Always Get What You Want...

The Rolling Stones had it right when they sang that song. You can't always get what you want. I have been bemoaning that fact for the last few weeks.

A series of interesting and unfortunate events led me to this wallow. First, my house project a.k.a. "The Money Pit" fell apart last Saturday. I went to stain my relatively newly sanded floors and made a not so lovely discovery. Seems my friend who visited the week that my floor sat raw must have had wet feet from my lawn sprinkler and walked across the floor. This dried and I was none the wiser until I went to stain the floor. Her footprints appeared in a weird ghostly revelation right before my eyes, complete with the logo from the bottom of her flip flops. I tried to fix it this weekend...it's a no go. I will be renting the drum sander again and resurfacing AND staining next weekend. The front door will be locked until further notice. :-)

The second strange occurrence was a flat tire on the way to work the other day. No big deal. The spare was flat as well; that was a bigger deal.

Number three on the list would have to be the moment I checked my checking account balance to be sure I had funds to cover two new tires (heck if I needed one I might as well do both...it's been a while) I noticed 500 dollars was missing from my account. WTH? Seems my debit card had been "compromised". Some lady somewhere was about to get a haul after spending some time clothes shopping online courtesy of me. Seriously?

Finally, through no fun at all (damn) my bed busted in the middle of the night. The rail at the bottom of the bed just gave up the ghost and landed on the floor. Scared the bejesus out of me.

So, I was heavily into a pity party, and believe me I can wallow with the best of them. My "woe is me" thoughts shifted this morning. I was on my hands and knees using a borrowed belt sander trying (in vain) to correct my floors. Good think time can be had while doing this sort of thing. Anyway, I started to ponder the bizarre things that had happened in the past week and then Oprah of all people popped into my head. Really? Oprah? Yes. All I kept thinking was that I needed to have an "attitude of gratitude". Yeah right. The moment I started to hear that in my head I could have slapped her myself. But wait. When I thought about it I discovered:

My floors had some other minor errors that I was just going to hide with a rug and the couch. Now they will be beautiful.

I learned I have great friends. Those that loaned me tools and those who helped change the tire.

If I wouldnt have had the flat, I may have missed the identity theft thing and an even bigger shopping spree could have been had on my dime.

Creditors and banks are actually nice to people who have an honest, good history with them.

Still cant figure out the bed thing, although it has provided comic relief to those who know me. You can imagine the jokes.

So basically what I've discovered is that it's ok. I need to relax. And while we might not always get what we want, "If you try sometime you find... You get what you need."

You're a wise man Mick.

Spring has sprung....

I think we are finally over the abysmal hump of winter. I hate how Mother Nature likes to rule supreme and gives us 70 degree days one minute and 32 and snow the next, but finally it looks as if the weather is improving with some consistency.

It amazes me how the weather can affect my mood. Give me a little sunshine and a warmish breeze and my entire outlook changes. Ahhhhh....

My many projects are in various stages at this point. Favorite son Conor helped me thatch/slice/seed the lawn last week. Meanwhile, his sister took a bubble bath and read a book. Um, seriously? I know I was the same way at 15. Karma is a bitch. Anyway the yard is hopefully on its way to becoming beautiful. The walls are done! Pictures will be posted soon. I have to say I hated it for several days, but as time goes on it's growing on me. I am anxious to finish the floors and start putting everything together. That's the fun part! I still need to paint baseboards, stain the floor and varnish it with several layers. Weekend here I come.

On another note, let the record show that the April Fool's Day/8th graders combo is almost more than I can take anymore. First group of youngsters today decided to relocate a teacher's desks and belongings. Of course most 8th graders are plagiarizing fools, so they took the same idea and ran with it. Throughout the day kids were called to the office and back to classrooms to undo the deeds they had done. The winner was the science teacher's room. Tables were stacked upon tables mixed with chairs and other odds and ends. This "fortress" reached the ceiling and hindered anyone from entering the room. It was actually pretty amazing - just as amazing that nobody ended up in the hospital during its construction. I doubt said teacher will ever leave his room unattended on this day in the future.