The no good, very bad day

You know, I'm really tired of bitching about everything. Just once I'd like someone to give me an excuse to write something lovely and nice. Well, today's not the day. Just to give a little idea of how bad it was, imagine receiving a phone call at 8 AM from a very stressed-sounding husband to let you know that your 4-day free vacation is effectively cancelled, no thanks to his worthless assistant.

Last August, we were scheduled to go to a luxury resort with my family - a place that I have wanted to go forever but have never had the opportunity to go. The occasion was my dad's birthday. The day before we left was the day that he ended up in the hospital, so the trip was cancelled. I was disappointed, but ended up being so preoccupied with Builder Daddy's illness that I didn't think much more about it.

Fast forward to a month ago, when Joey's partner announced that the annual convention for general contractors was meeting at the same resort. He was unable to go due to a prior commitment, so we were given the green flag to go ourselves. I was totally stoked - really, the only thing we would've had to pay for ourselves was any spa treatments, so this was going to be a four-star weekend and to add to the good part we had plans to do dinner and other things with some of our friends that were going to be there at the same time.

About two weeks ago, I noticed that everyone at my company who was going was getting confirmations. I asked Joey - did you get one? Well, he wasn't sure. But his trusty (bah!) assistant was supposed to be handling everything. Then I asked him again this weekend and he wasn't sure.

As it turns out, she filled out the paperwork to register us. And then never sent it in.

The hotel is undergoing renovations, so they were running short on rooms anyway. But the hotel is 100% booked and we were unable to cajole our way in the door. I called everyone I knew, pulled all the favors I could, and still no luck. So we're not going. And Trusty Assistant (bah!) better be sure not to darken my path for the next few weeks or I will totally rip her a new one. Oh, and by the way, Joey shouldn't get off since he really shouldn't have left something important like this up to one of his underlings. But I can't kill him, so I guess I have to get over it.

I'm starting to think that this resort must be cursed if now we've had two freakish things happen that have prevented us from going.

So now we've planned a different trip. We're taking Monkey Man and heading to Baltimore to do the aquarium and all that cool stuff, and hopefully hook up with some of the PIM's while we're there. I've been wanting to go up there for a few years and just hadn't made the time to go, so we'll kill two birds with one stone. Not to mention we'll get the hell out of town for a few days, which is never a bad thing.

My sister, in her infinite wisdom, told me tonight that it was probably a good thing that we didn't go to the resort for the weekend. Like her husband, the pediatrician, who always ends up seated in restaurants next to the screaming kid, it would be par for the course to end up in a room next to the renovations with a jackhammer running all night. Good point.

*****

And in another shitty moment, poor Monkey Man has had a wee bit of an upset stomach due to being on antibiotics for the umpteen gazillionth time. Tonight before getting in the tub, he announced that he had to poop and ascended to the throne with great pomp and circumstance.

He sat there for a while. Ploop, ploop, ploop was all that I heard. Meanwhile, he's talking, singing, swinging his feet, and having a generally great time while I am getting impatient because it's past bedtime and I really hate bathtime.

"Are you done yet?" I asked. "Nope, not yet!" he crowed.

Ploop, ploop, ploop. It kept on going.

"How about now - are you done?"

"Nope."

Ploop, ploop, ploop.

"Hey Mommy...I think we're going to have to clean the potty when I'm done."

Ye gods. Seriously, it has been a shitty day.