Try Harder

At the risk of repeating myself, I want to remind (or tell - if this is your first visit) everyone that as of Jan 3, I spend my days reading letters from and about people who have pretty shitty lives. It's my job to determine if they are needy and deserving enough to get an ultimate domestic renovation. And let me tell you straight up - these people are in full on Mark Knopflers. They are in DIRE STRAITS. Poverty, sickness, malady, tragedy, and that's on a good day. So, for me to sit here and complain about anything seems kind of King Georgian. My friend Tennessee Jed has a motto "trying hard not to make matters worse." I've always liked that - since the first time LA-B came home and told me about Jed's blog. It seemed like something I might adopt as my own motto. Lately, though, it seems I haven't been trying hard enough.

Now, 2005 was not the best year for this Valley Grrrl. I lost my Mommy in April, sat on the couch unemployed for 6 months, watched my big brubber go through a stinky divorce, said goodbye to my sister as she danced down south, and learned that my favorite job of all time was gone for good. I was pretty effen pumped for ought six, I kid you not. This year, the year of the Dog, was gonna take a bite outta grime. I was sure I would say "adios" to misfortune and "hola" to all sorts of good things.

Um, where's my golden ticket? Yes, I started a new job and it's pretty good. But on the day I was to receive my first paycheck our hot water heater burst, sending its entire contents through the floor, soaking the ceiling of the garage and landing in a puddle around the washer and dryer. Oh sure, the home owners' warranty covered the cost of the new water heater. However, the old unit seems to have been less than code-worthy. So, the kindly waterheater repair man thanked us for our $300+ check to cover the cost of the new drip pan and hoses. Another kindly contractor will be faxing us an estimate for the cost of drying out and patching the garage ceiling. While we pay our home owners' insurance each month, the cost of this repair will just amount of our deductible which means it's all out of pocket. Ok ok, it's cool. We have a home and we love it and if it means we have to shell out some dough now and then, well, it's worth it to have a roof over our heads. (Just keep telling yourself that , Kelvis).

So, tonight, after a very productive day of installing a shelf in the bathroom, doing laundry and watching Peyton Manning's SuperBowl dreams burst for another year, I decided to run out to the store to get some vitals. LA-B was in the garage cleaning up some of the remains of the waterheater incident, so the car was parked out in the driveway. Now without going into an entire land plot of the complex, just know that it's a straight away from where the car was parked, to where I had to back into a neighbor's spot to turn around and drive out of the complex. Back out straight. That's all I had to do. Did I do it? Nope. While I was looking out on the passenger side of the car and singing to myself a song that has now, thankfully, left my memory, the left side of the car was barreling toward a tree that lines the North side of the driveway. Bam. Just like that, I seared off the driver's side mirror of LA-B's car.

Sure, I can stick it back on with Duct Tape and it will serve it's purpose for now. But, COME ON. What the EFF is going on? Can we have nothing nice? Must everything be busted? Must I always EFF things up? UG. As hard as I try not to make things worse, I guess I just need to try harder.