Dreamer's World September 6 2016 - Holidays and Friends, The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

It seems like every holiday weekend is shorter than the last one for some strange reason. The Labor Day Weekend began with great promise, fell apart, and then rebounded nicely. All in all, it was a good weekend but it proved the futility of planning anything around the schedule of friends, because that simply never works out for me.

Friday afternoon was an early exit from work. That was quickly followed by coordination with friends about their impending visit on Sunday. Everything was taken care of after a trip to the grocery store to stock up on supplies, the schedule for cleaning the apartment within an inch of its life had been established, and I would still have time to rest without over-exerting myself. At the time, I remember inwardly congratulating myself on such a complete and successful plan for the weekend and I was looking forward to everything.

Friday night Hal and I spent time together with The Stooges. It was an early evening because Hal still had to work Saturday and Sunday. It was for this reason that I planned things out so meticulously. I didn’t want him stressing about any cleaning and taking care of the apartment with company arriving on Sunday to spend the night. Since everyone would have Monday off due to Labor Day, the plan was to eat, drink, and catch up on old times through Sunday night and then our friends would stay here and leave on Monday.

Saturday went according to plan. I got most of the heavy cleaning done while Hal was at work. I spoke to our friends and they confirmed their arrival on Sunday afternoon. After Hal got home from work, we did go out for a little while and had a nice dinner. Once again we were home early so Hal could rest and get to work on Sunday morning.

After Hal left on Sunday morning, I began the last phase of apartment cleaning. I started right after Hal left for work, I vacuumed all over including the furniture because of The Stooges and their shedding. Emptying the vacuum was a challenge to prevent all the cat hair and dust from exploding all over the place once again. I successfully managed this task outside on the balcony, and covered with dust and hair, I proceeded to get into the shower. As soon as I was all lathered up, the phone rang. It was our friends calling to say that they were on the way as planned so I jumped out of the shower and grabbed the phone.

Then things went awry. It was our friends that called, but I was treated to a long story about how one of their kids got sick. Things like this happen, but as the story went on and on, I was less inclined to believe them. My parents always taught me that you can tell the truth in just seconds, whereas a lie needs to be embellished immediately. I have zero proof that the story was false, but every bone in my wet and soap-covered body told me so. I told them that taking care of their child and that we hoped that they would be able to visit some other time.

I went back into the shower to wash off the soap, and now I felt like I needed to wash all over again to get the lies off as well. The disappointment finally got scrubbed off and I decided to try to relax until Hal got home from work. The Stooges seemed to know that something had gone wrong. As I laid down to take a nap, each of them made an appearance and showed affection as if to say that things were going to be alright and that I shouldn’t have worried. I decided that I was going to move ahead with the weekend and holiday.

Hal got home, and naturally, he had brought in a few last-minute items that he thought we would need with company arriving. He was surprised that I was alone, the company should have been there when he arrived. When I told him about the phone call, he agreed that we were not going to worry anymore about this and would instead have a great time on our own.

We enjoyed a great dinner together and ended up spending the night at home. On Monday, we decided that we would do some apartment hunting since we weren’t tied down with company. While most apartment offices were closed, we did find one that was open and got a look at the apartments available. They were absolutely beautiful and within our price range. Our plan is to move to another apartment next spring regardless if we get that one or not. The rent has increased and now the water bill has ballooned out of control throughout this apartment complex. Sadly this happened right after we signed our current lease.

So, what began as a weekend and holiday with such great promise and planning fell apart but it ended up being a good time after all. The apartment is sparkling clean and we now have a real lead on where we would like to move to. As for the friends, I have said before that you can always depend on friends to let you down, and this once again proved true. Hal and I firmly believe that between us and The Stooges that we can do anything we set our minds to.

The week will be a short one, and I am hoping that things will remain quiet with no outside distractions. There really isn’t much more to write about at this time. I will try to get something together for the rest of the week as time rolls along.