A post in which it is cold!

I woke up this morning to find that Barack Obama had been re-elected!!  I was very happy to hear it, but also surprised that the results were actually known.  Mama had told me she was staying up to watch the results, and I had told her to go on to bed.  The battle-ground states were projected to be so close that I figured it would be days or weeks before we knew anything. 

So I started the day pleasantly enough, if coolly. 

I got to work and was takin' care of business when the phone rang.  It was Dad.  Bobby was there, and he needed money.  Apparently Bobby's business has not yet progressed to the point that he can afford to buy my heating system and then let me pay him for it and the labor at the end of the job.  He needed $2800 to buy the system to put in tomorrow.  Dad obligingly offered to put it on his credit card, and then have me pay him back with a cash advance on mine (doubling the interest rate) or to just make payments on his card (Oh HELL no!!).  I got Bobby on the phone and told him I would meet him at the place and pay for the heater on my card.  I gave him explicit instructions to put NOTHING on Dad's card.  He said he would call me back and tell me where to meet him. 

I waited.

And waited.

A couple of hours later I finally called him to find out what was going on.  I interrupted his lunch.  He told me that we didn't have to pay until tomorrow, and that he would call me then. They won't actually have the heater until about noon.  Well nothing like getting things taken care of, right?  But since I didn't really have time to fool with it today anyway, I guess it's just as well.

I had other irons in the fire today.  During the course of trying to get me to go to Asheville with them this weekend, Dad and Eve had found out that Jason was coming this weekend.  Eve decided it was time they met him (Dad has been hinting around about this also) and invited him for dinner on Saturday night.  I really had no excuse to offer, so I asked him if he would go.  He agreed.  So that is on the horizon.  I am pretty stressed about it.  On the one hand, it's great that they want to meet him.  On the other hand, there are things going on right now that I"m not 100% sure about, and I hate to squander the precious time we have together going to dinner at my parents' house.  I'm also worried about their continued campaign for me to spend more time over there.  I want to do the right thing, but I'm over there about as much as I want to be (some weeks more), and Dad and I get along much better if we don't spend tons of time together.  Jason is being really sweet and agreeable about the whole thing, but then he has no idea what he's in for.  And then this puts me closer to having to meet his dad, which I am frankly kind of dreading.  Being a responsible adult sucks. 

But the incipient stress of this meeting did a good job of wiping out my frustration over the continuing ass pain of this heat situation. 

I finished out the day and went on home to get the heaters turned on.  The temperature was dropping, and I'm still feeling a little yucky.  I ate left-over cabbage and dibs and dabs out of the fridge, and reflected on my financial situation.  I think I have figured out how to pay for this heater without having to live in abject penury.  There will be a sacrifice, but I shouldn't have to stay home all the time and eat boxed macaroni and cheese. 

The house was cold tonight.  It has been mild, and the house is pretty tight, so I have been pretty comfortable up until now.  But by eight o'clock I was cold and ready to turn in.  I herded the cats over (not a huge job because Crooner's butt had been pretty much glued to the heater all evening - {see attached}), brushed my teeth, and turned in.  Although I was promised a new episode of South Park tonight, they put on a re-run instead.  You can't have everything, right?