Who brought the frog?

Tuesday September 15th
Over the course of the last week Janet and Patrick moved us from the Ponte Vedra office back to the Atlantic Beach office. As its Tuesday I thought I’d go to the office meeting…

Also as the world has changed again and Gina called and confirmed the job & I thought I’d do a dry run for the next couple weeks..just to get back into the swing of getting up early, getting the chores done, dressing in something other than shorts and whatever top is near to hand…
So at 530 I popped from the bed rattled around made coffee. peeked out the door – dawn looked to be incredible so I grabbed 2 cameras and headed out the door to the beach, all other good intentions down the drain.

It was worth the time spent on the quiet dark beach, the sunrise was indeed phenomenal. Home again I fed cats, did litter boxes, bottle fed the kittens, found and ironed something to wear, dressed and hit the office a full 20 minutes before the meeting. It was a homecoming. I got hugs from everyone, smiles & warm welcomes. Janet already there heard the laughter and came to get me. she had computer issues already so I spent the moments before the meeting trying to open a .zip file that should have just opened and didn’t. As it was a Contract and time is of the essence… The meeting was a long one with speakers and breakfast provided. At this point I had thought to nip off home and get on with the day. Nope. Janet’s .zip problems in the computer room, & our files hadn’t transferred from the old office, the laptop in her office wasn’t working, so I spent a few hours on the phone with Watsons tech support made a run to the dollar store and then Radio Shack got the laptop up and running while she went home to open the file bout the time she got back they fixed the problem in the common room, I got tackled by Janet Boone, her son had fallen on hard times and moved home from NY with 2 Maine Coons that need re-homing. Yada yada and I didn’t leave the office till 130.

I got home to find the gardeners were there chopping the yard to pieces with no supervision – this massacre arranged by big john. Finally in the house after pointing, directing and admonishing I hadn’t put down my purse before Boone and her son were at the door to look at my kids and talk about his. An hour later when they went out the door I went to check my mail and discovered I had no internet and no phone so I called Comcast and spent the next hour on the phone with them trying everything under the sun as nothing should be wrong. About the time they were scheduling someone to come fix my unknown problem the tiny voice of doom took on the sound of the hedge trimmer and a light went on ….marching out to the side of the house I found the mangled remains of my bushes and the cable line cut in half and cleverly shoved through the fence to look as though nothing were wrong. Yea right. Marching the gardeners to the scene of the crime… I then went in search of parts for repair; I know they are in the garage somewhere so I dismantle a pile of giant containers, tossing them out the back door into the garden because of course the one I want is not on Top. No luck and I ran Back to Radio shack. Once the cable had been repaired I thought to sit and do some work – finally – as the clock to CattyShack is ticking and so far today I haven’t touched a thing.

Not going to happen now either as Big John shows up wants my opinion of the work done by the Yard Monsters and then wants help figuring out how to answer his email. His kids (all 7 of them) got him one of those new itty bitty laptop type things. The idea was a kind one but the thought process was lacking. Hes a big man, got big fingers, is totally computer illiterate, the damn thing has a 9 inch screen and hes 80 years old with eyes like mine but he Doesn’t wear glasses. Help with the email has now escalated to something totally different.

By the time I finally got into the house it was about 5pm. I’d eaten nothing since breakfast munchies at the office and couldn’t Think much less figure out what of the million and one undone things I might have the energy to attempt at this point including finding something easy to put in my mouth. Don’t know how long I had been standing stuporously in the kitchen but was shaken awake by the rumble of thunder… too late. I ran to the side yard cranking shut the windows and moving the Motor home back into place – I’d moved it for the yard monsters, ran in the garage and started throwing things back in the back door that I’d thrown out into the garden while searching for Cable parts, dashed to my car on the other side of the house, jumped in it sat in a puddle or made one, I don’t know which, rolled the windows up and dragged my wet sorry ass into the house.

It took the rest of the night to feed, change, clean, do dishes, laundry and finally eat. Bout the time I was staggering gratefully towards the blissful oblivion of the bed ….someone brought in a frog. Pandelarium!! Well Hell I'd almost made it... Everything with fur was joyfully hopping, jumping and occasionally growling over ‘the Prize’….it made it under the TV console..and all I could see were rows of butts and twitching tails…like the magnets you sent me!....I said 'screw it. to late', and then on my way to the bedroom …a large palmetto bug – new focus! Wah Hooo…I didn’t know what to run from – the charging cats or the damn bug……..Crap. So I couldn’t go to bed without sucking up the bug lest someone ‘gift’ me with it at some point in the night and the poor frog..well when they were done with it but before someone ate it..it went in the trash.