Hey, I made it as far as May 2!

Today was a long, long, rainy day. I enjoy the way my boss always throws new and interesting challenges my way, though sometimes I think he's just testing my limits, like a 7 year old with a new babysitter.  So far, I haven't fucked up any of the ridiculously out of left field things he's flung at me.  That has just led to continually upping the ante.  

And it is raining, OMG, it is raining. it is raining every damn day, and heavy, heavy rain, at that.  I have suspended the rules about Accidents in the House; I just clean them up quietly, without comment.  This morning Sophie was a brave, brave girl, and ran out into torrential rain, all the way across the road to her favorite patch of grass, where she peed and pooped at light speed, then turned around and dragged me back into the house, running all the way.  Murphy is 13. He doesn't run.  He also can't be rushed to do his business - he's an old guy.  So, yeah, I knew.

And I didn't get time to get home for lunch today and then didn't get out of the office until after 5:30 and had to make two brief stops on the way home, so of course I'd be coming home to a cleanup.  Not bad at all, considering how many hours they were stuck here, in the rain. I'm thinking tile floors again, noise be damned.

Tomorrow is another day of madness.  I'm refinancing the condo.  I don't have a mortgage now, only because I couldn't have qualified for one when I decided to move back here, so I paid cash. I never intended to tie up a huge chunk of all of my cash forever, though I did choose the property wisely and it is appreciating nicely.  So I'm doing a refinance, a small 20 year mortgage to pull out some cash to do the needed updating.  (Anything left over will go right back onto the mortgage and pay it down.)  I'm approved for the mortgage, and tomorrow is the appraisal.  I'm not worried about it; I'll be at most 60% loan to value, and I think my assessment of market value is on target.  The payment will be a breeze, and will simplify my financial world.

So I go to the office around 8:30, come back and meet the appraiser at 10 a.m., then back to the office, then leave again to meet the garage door guy at 4:30.

That's the garage door opener that broke the evening before Easter.  I got the car out with assistance from my tall daughter, and have been parking in the driveway ever since, but it's time to get it fixed.  We are having wild weather, including hail, and if I park in the driveway, I am parked under a massive oak tree.  I don't want to leave my little old Baby the Loyal Subaru vulnerable to falling branches or getting beaten to death by hail.  It's looking like this will be a wild summer, and the old girl needs shelter.

Oh, and the skylight at the house my kids rent from me started leaking in the FIRST heavy rain, and the next round of fixin' may happen tomorrow if the rain ever freaking lets up.  The roofer put a tarp over it, and so far, the tarp is doing a great job, because DAMN, this is some RAIN. Anywhere but Florida, this would be on the news - cities underwater and people wading through the streets.  Our sandy soil can cope with an amazing amount of rain - one report was 4 inches in an hour. Seriously, I can believe it.  It's not just constant rain, it's constant rain mixed with movie-special-effects torrential rain.  Blinding rain.  Wash little dogs right off their feet rain.

So anyway, if the rain ever freaking lets up, the roofer will finally be able to get up there and open up the roof to work on it.  I do like him; he calls me every morning to check on whether the tarp is holding back the water. 

Water, household expenses, more water. That's my life right now.