What have I done to deserve this?

Ever have one those days when you wish you could have just stayed in a comatose state instead of waking up? Saturday Nov. 18th was that day for me. I cannot imagine what I have done to have karma bite me in the ass like this…but something really went out of its way to remind me that life can suck. This is very discouraging since I have been really trying to be a more optimistic person these days – to which fate is thumbing its nose at me, apparently.

It started out with an epic battle between parent and two unruly children. I have managed to pick up a nasty cough from my son and was trying to sleep-in, but when kids start screaming and running up to their rooms, it’s hard to pretend not to notice. I reluctantly got up and played referee. I try to stick by my husbands in cases like this – but I didn’t feel like he was being entirely fair in this case. I wandered downstairs to discuss this with him and ended up getting into a big fight with him myself. Lovely! We ended up in a marathon family meeting. I think it ended ok…the jury is still out on whether the kids actually will do as they said they would to prevent future drama moments.

No sooner had that ended than the phone rang – our good car (the Ford) would need to be in the shop all weekend long. We couldn’t pick it up until Monday sometime. Considering that Brian missed work the day before because the check engine light was blinking & the engine was acting strangely, this was not good news. Luckily we had the “new $300 special” (the Chevy) to back us up. Great plan until the weird clunking noise I heard the evening before coming from the Chevy turned into smoke coming from beneath the hood this particular afternoon. Sooooo….no cars at all until Monday! No one to borrow one from either and our insurance coverage didn’t provide a free rental. Life is wonderful!

As we scrambled to figure out how we would be able to go to the grocery store and do several critical errands over the weekend without a vehicle, I noticed Brian flinching and sort of doubling over. I asked him about it and after much nagging he told me he felt like someone had kicked him in the nuts. Well, that can’t be good. It took even more nagging for him to drop the trousers and let me take a peek…swelling in areas one would not like to have swelling. Looked like a trip to the ER was in our future…oh, but that pesky car situation!!

It was an hour before the big OSU/Michigan game so no one would likely come to our rescue – but we did manage to get Brian’s mom to come over so we could go to the hospital. I swore that woman would never set foot in my house ( a long story ) but I had no choice. Brian’s health was more important. We actually lucked out in the ER – hardly a soul there thanks to the game. They took an ultra sound and thought he had a twisted chord relating to his vasectomy. 3 ½ hours and $50 later it turns out he just had an inflammation/infection. They gave him some pain pills and antibiotics and he was relieved. OSU even won! So it looked like our troubles were over (they come in threes you know).

Not so fast sister! Let’s check the mail…what do we have here? A court summons! Seems a collection company wants me to pay over a thousand dollars to them (and now court costs). Now I felt like I had been kicked in the nuts! The really shitty thing is that I honestly do not feel I owe this money. It is for a Bank One credit card – I’ve never had one. I supposedly opened it years ago, but I didn’t live at the address that they had for me back then. I had already moved to a new one at that time. Plus I had just gotten a credit report a month before they started calling me and it wasn’t on there either. I called Bank One with the account number they gave me and they said it didn’t exist. I have told these people this is not my debt, and they refuse to believe me. How can you prove something that never happened??? They want me to fill out a police report. How? They won’t even tell me the type of credit card it is for - just the bank and the account number.

I can’t afford a lawyer. I barely know how we will get to the next check! It cost me $200 to get my Ford partially fixed. Lord knows how much the Chevy will cost, and it will need to be towed. I can’t seem to afford all the medicines Brandon & I require these days. Co-pays are killing me! My daughter’s b-day is in two weeks and then two weeks after that is Christmas…and kids don’t get that “Santa” is broke. I am at my wits end. I feel like I am going to just fall apart. I need this collection crap like a shot gun blast to the head. I know a couple of lawyers through my work with SpeakOUT – and I am hoping (praying) they can help me.

I hate that I am just a whinny loser in this entry…so here is some better news. Brian couldn’t go to work Monday, so we were home all day without kids! We got so much accomplished. We rearranged the kid’s rooms and cleaned them. We finally put up the new curtains we bought a month back. We moved all those boxes into the basement. We worked hard – and the house looks great! I did mountain of laundry and stripped the beds. It feels great to look back on that day and see the improvements. Today I tackled the piles of laundry that needed to be ironed. It’s all done & hanging up in the closets. :o) Yea me!

Also, how freakin’ great was Heroes last night?? I love that show…it really is like watching my role-playing game on television. It was a nice stress reliever to sit down and watch it. I also liked How I Met Your Mother, but I rue the day I let my kids watch last night’s episode. Barney and Marshal were having slap fights – and of course my wiz kids thought it was hilarious. It took maybe an hour for them to start their own. Grr – dumb ass TV writers!

Well that’s enough about my shitty life…hope yours is going better.

Song of the moment: Misery by Soul Asylum