Goodbye, Horrid Week

This week.  It has not been my favorite.

I have been really, really trying to put on my best Pollyanna smile and push through all the crap we've been dealing with for the past month.  I feel like I shouldn't complain.  So much about my life is SO GREAT.  I have been dreaming of living in Europe for all of my adult life.  I have wanted babies for ages, and now I have two adorable, healthy girls on their way.  Colby's current job gives us so much more quality time together, and is such a wonderful opportunity for us.  This is supposed to be the happily ever after part.  You're not supposed to ugly cry during your happily ever after.  Three times in one week.

The downhill slide started last Saturday when we got home from Ikea and started to assemble our furniture.  I was so excited because we would finally have a place to put the piles of linens, office supplies and winter gear that were looming all about the house.  I don't do so well with piles of crap and chaos, and we've been living with exactly that for almost two months now.  So, I was overjoyed to have a desk, coat closet and linen closet.  Everything went perfectly until we got to the linen closet, and realized that the system we had purchased was 100% customizable and every single piece had to be purchased separately.  We'd done so well--we had the cabinet portion, the door, the doorknobs, the wire baskets... but no shelves.  We didn't have the fucking shelves.  I know it's so stupid, and it was really about so much more, but that was just the final straw.  I broke down and sobbed over the $15 Ikea shelves that were 45 minutes and at least a few weekends away.

Once I finally calmed down, I checked my email, and we had a message from our realtor.  You see, I've been keeping a secret from you.  A secret that I was protecting because it seemed to good to be true and I was so terrified it was all going to fall apart in the end.  AND IT DID!  Pessimism rules the day!  While we had taken our South Carolina house off of the market in May and decided to rent it out, we found some great renters who fell in love with our house and decided that not only did they want to live in it, they wanted to buy it.  HUZZAH!!!  They offered our full asking price and only asked us to pay about 1/3 of the closing costs, and it was amazing.  We weren't going to have the stress of being landlords times two, and we were actually going to walk away with a nice bundle of cash in hand.

And then there was the inspection.  Where they found termites.  And an issue with the air conditioner.  And a gas leak.  And we racked up close to $2500 in repairs.

And then their loan fell through.  Even though they'd been preapproved.

And we weren't selling our house anymore.  Ugly cry #2.

The family is still planning to move in as renters, though we're still awaiting a finalized contract, but this has been hanging over our heads since May, and we were so ready for June 28th to arrive so it would finally be over.  Instead, we're renting out the house on a month to month basis while the buyers pursue other financing options, and we get to continue having it hang over our heads possibly until the end of the year.  Wonderful.

Then, yesterday I decided to break out my fabulous new steam mop and do a little cleaning since the floors are finally becoming visible.  We left most of our appliances at home, but brought over our television and DVD player to use with a transformer.  It's been working beautifully, so when I saw that the steam mop needed 1500 watts to work, and the tv and Bluray combined took less than 200 watts, I switched out the 7000 watt transformer that they were plugged into and used the 750 watt transformer instead.  I blissfully mopped the floors, then decided it was time for a Sex and the City break.  I made sure everything was plugged in properly, double checked the wattage, plugged in the transformer, switched it on and... KABOOM.  The plug exploded and there was the festive smell of burning in the air.

Ugly cry #3.

I called Colby, who immediately panicked because he thought I'd hurt myself, and I could barely choke out the words that I was pretty sure I'd just destroyed our 1 1/2 year old $1500 television.  Because he is amazing, he immediately came home to figure out what had happened because I was too scared that if I touched anything I would fry myself and our unborn children.  I spend the next 20 minutes sobbing on the couch, furious with myself, with the world for refusing to make my life easier and convert to a single voltage, the Air Base for giving us a shitty transformer... pretty much the world in general.  In the one stroke of good luck we've had all week, Colby discovered that I had only blown out the $7 surge protector, and miracle of miracles, the televison is fine.  We're still not sure what happened except that we probably had a defective transformer, and we shouldn't trust anything from the Air Force lending locker.

So, I am more than ready to see this week out the door.  I don't know for sure if next week will be any better, but it is at least starting out with the advantage that it isn't THIS week.  And at this point, that alone is good enough for me.

Comments

[To the Nth]

I'm sorry you had such a crappy week. It totally blows when everything seems to pile up at once. May next week run as smoothly as this last one didn't!

[Ashley // Our Little Apartment]

Oh, man. What an incredibly awful week!

Thank goodness you didn't ruin your TV. That thing will come in handy in a few months when you're stuck on a couch with two newborns all day long! ;)

Sending you love and happy thoughts!

[Elise]

One pregnant girl to another, I would have ugly cried WEEKS ago if I had attempted moving just down the block, much less across the world. Don't beat yourself up too much, be glad you didn't fry yourself or the tv, and look forward to next week. :)

[Annie]

Uhh, I'm not pregnant and I would've ugly cried over all of that, too! At least you will have renters for now? Family members of mine were preapproved for a loan and it fell through. A couple months later, they got a new loan and closed on their house! Fingers crossed! (Booo crappy AF stuff!)

[Becky]

So sorry to hear you had a crappy week. I can't even imagine how much y'all have piled on your plate right now. I hope the situation with the renters turns out well for y'all too. XOXO.

[Kaela]

Hey, I think that bad things happen in 3's? So, I think you are done with the bad things! Hoping and praying and crossing my fingers for your house to sell in Charleston... it will happen, just a matter of time. I know you have at LEAST 2 beautiful things to be happy about, and to see them, you just have to look down to where your toes used to be! ;)

[operation pink herring]

Tears are part of the package when you're dealing with Ikea. No one has ever assembled anything from there and not cried. Ever. Also, pregnancy equals crying. Just go with it.

[Emily Jane]

Oh goodness, this seems to have been an awful week for so many people. My roommate got dumped, my boyfriend had brain surgery, my face exploded in a horrible allergic reaction, and you too... I`m sorry it was so awful! I just want to give you a hug, and totally relate on the ugly cry front. And I`m not even pregnant, lol. Next week will be better, and just remember all the wonderful things in your life right now. When I get overwhelmed and fretty, just writing down a few of them can help :)

[Solange]

Crap. That is one awful week. :( I really hope that this coming week is a million times better for you!
I'm sorry you cried a lot this week-the tears were all for legitimate reasons and not just "hormonal" ones. I would have ugly cried too!!!
HUGS for you!!! Try to focus on the great things in your life right now and take a break. :) It'll be all good!!!

[Kate P]

Goodbye to June! This too shall pass.

Thank goodness the surge protector sacrificed itself for the sake of everything else. If you're in the mood for a "could have been worse" destruction story, one day a friend whose wife was expecting (they have a lovely baby son now) stated that his wife had a bit of a "cleaning incident" and he was on a mission to replace a $300 vacuum cleaner. Yikes.