only 13 days....

 Today is the 3rd day of the 35th week, the 27th day of the 8th month. the 240th day of 2024 [only 119 shopping days left before Christmas], and:

• "The Duchess" Who Wasn't Day - celebration of a 19th century Irish romance novelist who coined the phrase "Beauty is on the eye of the beholder"  
• Independence Day - Moldova from the USSR in 1991
• Just Because Day - celebrated since the late 1950's, it was started by Joseph J Goodwin of Los Gatos CA who gave his wife a radio on this day for no reason in particular 
• Kiss Me Day
• National Banana Lovers Day
• National Cinema Day
• National Peach Day
• National Petroleum Day
• National Pots de Crème Day - don't think I have ever had it, but it does sound ymmy
• Tarzan Day - no it is not Johnny Weissmuller's birthday, but the celebration of the first time "Tarzan of the Apes" swung into print via a serial published in the pulp magazine All-Story in 1912
• Touch-A-Heart Tuesday
• World Rock Paper Scissors Day 

Quote of the day:

"Sometimes if you want to see a change for the better, you have to take things into your own hands."

~  Clint Eastwood - American actor and director

Today I and the senior loan officer are sitting in the office.  I think we said maybe three things to each other throughout the day.  Other than to have a body here, I have no idea what the point really is.

Tomorrow will be what is supposedly that "all in" day in the office.  In 2024, we have managed to have everyone here only three times, due to appointments, sickness, and PTO.  I'm just grateful that I don't have to drag in here on Mondays!  And I am definitely not looking forward to the longer commuting times I will encounter when I return on Wednesday the 18th 

It was a tough weekend.  

Rather late Thursday night, IKEA confirmed the delivery for Friday, informing me that not all the items were available and giving me a 12 hour window for delivery, 8 AM to 8 PM.  Fortunately their delivery people also contacted me and tightened that up a bit.

Friday I was over the new place with a four hour window  from 3 PM to 7 pm for the delivery of my IKEA furniture that I had purchased three weeks earlier.   The good news was that I didn't have to be there at 8 AM and could actually wait until after noon to go.  Two things were worrying me.  The first was that I didn't have the freight elevator reserved, and when I got there, to make things worse, someone was in the process of moving in.  The second was despite having accepted my payment, IKEA shorted me a twin bed saying it was out of stock.  RXO, the third party vendor IKEA uses for delivery, was great.  They texted me with a heads up 30 minutes before arriving, and when they got there, made no complaint about having to go to the back of the building.  We lucked out - the moving company was literally just finishing up when they got there, so the timing was perfect.  Oddly?  IKEA had packed two extra twin mattresses, which were not delivered.  The next day we found out they packed three sets of slats for the twin beds, even though they only delivered one.  As of this writing, I am still awaiting the credit for the bed that was not delivered.  

I immediately contacted my daughter and son-in-law and let them know what what the kids had picked out as matching beds would not happen, and started searching on Amazon for a substitute.   I was perturbed, to say the least.  

Saturday was a very long day indeed.  I was there before 9 AM to meet the guy who would be assembling everything:  two twin beds with slats and mattresses; one self set; one queen bed with slats and mattresses; one eight drawer dresser; two three drawer chests; two night stands; and laying two large rugs [living room and bedroom].    Chris was great!  He worked steadily for over 12 hours, very methodically laying out the pieces and accounting for all the hardware meticulously.  He steadfastly refused any offer to treat him to a meal, only accepting four bottles of water during the day.  For me, what made the day so long was that I was responsible for removing all the packing materials, which entailed many trips carrying them down to the recycle bin in the garage.   Couple with the fact that there was no place to sit in the apartment other than the floor [a nonstarter for me because I didn't know how I would get up - I miss the days when I could just flop easily] and the toilet seat, plus I had shoes on the entire day [second day in a row because I was afraid to take them off as my feet were swelling].

My daughter texted me and let me know that even though when I had looked Thursday night, the IKEA website did indeed show the item out of stock, when she had checked Friday night, and again on Saturday morning, it was listed as in stock.  So my son-in-law drove to College Park, bought the bed frame [the slats and mattress having already been delivered] and brought it to the apartment for me.  The kids would get their matching beds after all.

When I got home around 10 PM, I was so tired that I just went to bed.  Sunday was spent just resting; Monday with trying to rest and work at the same time.

As usual, Triscuit was pretty chill about all of my bustling about.  I am worried about her adjustment to the new place and wracking my brain for ways to make it easer for her.  I already figured out that giving her a new litter box right away would not be a good idea, even though since it will be in the master bathroom, it would be nice to have something a little nicer looking.  And I ordered pheromone calming diffusers to place throughout the apartment.   

Of course, I have no idea how to calm ME down in through the next two weeks though, but I will keep plowing forward.

Stay tuned!