America is Watching

 Wow! Tuesday!  The beginning of a four day stretch for me.  Don't worry, as far as hours go, I'll be paying for this time off over the next 2 weeks.  Next week I'm scheduled for almost 26 hours and the following week 22 hours.  Of course, the hours don't really bother me since they pay me well.

I had breakfast with my brother this morning.  He's been offered a position as a part-time minister at a Lutheran Church.  He's seriously thinking about it.  His one issue is that he believes Lutherans to be liberal (can you hear me laughing?). 

There is silence from the house next door.  The drywaller loaded up his equipment in his Mercedes this morning.  That's right, he drives an old Mercedes which he uses as a truck.  There's a large trash truck out front and they're hauling old door frames, doors, windows.  New doors and windows have been installed; perhaps not the best, probably the ones they could get on sale at Home Depot.  I took this picture of the front window they installed, which is too small for the opening.  American Craftsman windows are considered a low quality window that are good for low budget projects.  Oh, and it appears as though the front porch roof leaks;.

My apologies for posting a video of Harry Styles that CBS ended up blocking because of copyright infringement.  

An amusing thing I'd read about the current miniscule Republican party majority running the House of Representatives was advice to the Democrats.  Under McCarthy's leadership, they are already hard a work like an army of gnats attempting to orchestrate a number of outrageous investigations.  Their stunted political philosophy adheres to their belief that they do much better when they are in attack mode, even if they are just gnats.  With this in mind, now is the time for the Democrats to make Hay because the sun is going to shine on them.  America is watching.  Americans do no care about Hunter Biden's laptop, and his dick pics.

The Return of Nick

Yesterday was Good Friday - I don't know how good it actually was, I can tell you we were busy at the Flooring Desk - sales going through, measures being scheduled, and the return of Nick, one of the twins I've been working with as he and his brother rehab a house.  Oh, and I got to meet their mother.  She's making the color decisions for this rehab.  She thinks she's color savvy.  She isn't.
On Thursday Max had come into the store, changed the color of the carpet to something a bit lighter and paid for the installation.  Mom evidently didn't like the color even though it was more neutral than the color Nick had chosen previously.  You see she didn't like the way it looked with the color paint she'd chosen which was what you might call a muddy, steel grey, brown which has the potential for looking very dark.  Standing there in the glaring fluorescent lighting, she chose a color just as muddy, just as steel grey, and darker than the painted sample she was using to make her decision.
Now, as part of the measurement process we have pictures taken of the rooms that are to get new flooring; often we see potential problems homeowners do not.  That room is an upstairs bedroom in a Cape Cod, and has one small window at each end, and after that carpet goes in, and with that color paint on the walls, it's going to look like a cave.  That's not the way you entice potential buyers.
Anyway, I Googled Nick and got a pic - he's below, and he is, unfortunately, his Mom's favorite.

At one point I mentioned that the brother, Max, had taken a pic of the carpet color he'd chosen and sent to both his brother and his Mom for approval and had received no response from either.  He then called Nick on the phone and talked over the change of color and got his 'okay.'  Their Mom said, "well, it just doesn't go with the color of the paint," at which point Nick said that Max was "an idiot."  She said nothing.  And I just kind of smiled as I saw failure written all over this project.  Why is  it that some parents are the worst thing that can happen to their children?  

Sophie & Megan goes to rehab

My sister called last night.  She doesn't call often, maybe once a month, and when she does she never talks for longer than 10 minutes.  And it's never to just talk.  Her phone calls are always because she's feeling... distraught.
The first thing she said to me was "Sophie died."  Sophie was their Westie.  She hasn't been well for quite some time.  She'd lost most of her body hair because of a skin disease which made her look a lot like a dog troll.  She was nice, but there are times when you need to bite that expensive Vet bullet.
And without pausing she continued "and we took Megan down to rehab yesterday."
My sister and brother-in-law have 2 children, Little Joe (yeah, really) and Megan.  A number of years ago Megan was in an automobile accident and, as a result, became addicted to prescription meds.  So, I responded by saying "Oh, prescription meds?"  And my sister says "no, the really bad stuff.  The stuff with needles."

Sophie

Now, I'd like to say I was shocked, but I wasn't.  My sister and brother-in-law have never shied away from the use of recreational drugs.  This is what happens when you don't really think about the example you're setting for your kids.  Now Megan's going to spend 28 days in rehab, and she's going to go through some serious shit.  

Anyway, I did make some sort of dark joke about it and laughed.  My sister didn't like that.  She said, "it isn't funny."  But it is.  Their complacency created the atmosphere.  There's a price to pay for everything.  I was actually more sad to hear that Sophie had died.  I really liked that ugly, little dog.