More of the same - well, except for Gary

More of the same - well, except for Gary

John’s been working hard and hasn’t had any time off lately. Usually he’s up and gone by 6am or so, and back home by 9pm - but that’s mostly just because he’s working pretty close to home, and because Gary is his hand. He isn’t required to travel to the city and back to pick anybody up, or he could tack another two hours travel onto his day.

Work itself is still a circus. One of the new employees blew up one of the tanks the other day, and as of yesterday hasn’t shown back up for work. Another new guy, that John put a good word in for, has been doing well, though – John worked with him when he was guiding last fall (he’s the boss’s son). He and his girlfriend just moved up here, not too far from our place. If John can just populate the company with more respectable employees, he might not feel like quitting anymore. He’s getting a little tired of cleaning up after all the retards around there. It’s shades of the last hellish winter that he put in.

And John’s last raise, on his mileage, wasn’t exactly a raise because they’ve eliminated his truck’s day rate. He’ll probably make up for it regardless, but he was a tad disappointed about that. He thought he was really rich there, for a moment.

In case you haven’t guessed, either - if I’m not commenting on my sex life it means I’m not getting any, obviously. Bummer, that; but it’s due to work and all, so I’m not bitter. Much.

Myself – I’ve just been staying around home, cooking, cleaning, and mothering; and also, anticipating the mid-month check so I can get a better idea of where we’ll be at financially. I’m thinking I can get several bills cleaned up, but until I see it I won’t know for sure. I also have to consider the gas card John’s been using blindly. Since it’s the company card and his receipts don’t have dollar amounts on them, we have no idea how much he’s used of it until the boss lets us know, and if I have to wait for Busy John to find out, I’ll be waiting a long time. I think I might just phone Boss myself.

We haven’t gotten out of the house a whole lot, wee boy and I, but it’s been so damn cold we don’t much feel like leaving the house. We took the gift certificates the other day and went grocery shopping – which, if you’ve ever had the opportunity to just go and spend wildly on food, you might agree is a lot of fun. Well, I think it’s fun, anyhow. Still, after all was said and done, I went way over budget. But, I won’t have to do any major grocery shopping for quite some time. I’ve got my pantry stocked right up again, like it used to be.

Wee boy wasn’t too happy about a two hour long shopping trip, but he was so patient and accepting of it, as he usually is. He sat quietly in the cart and ‘Oh, Wow’ed over all the displays and foods he recognized, in between his book and his car and the odd bite of banana, and when he got tired of that and his repeated suggestions of ‘all done’ elicited no results, he made as if to nap in the cart on his coat even if he never actually fell asleep. He entertained himself mostly by flirting with all of the ladies that passed by, the little charmer. How many two year olds do you know that would endure a like excursion with such great aplomb? It’s not an unusual thing for him to do, and I just love him for that.

Gary has been working hard too, right alongside John. Although, since Jr. has been here he’s decided he prefers to sleep on the cot in the front room, which is easier on his back than Jr.’s waterbed. I don’t mind so much, but I’d really rather that he slept in a bedroom. With the cot and his suitcase and all his clothes about, it makes the room terribly cluttered and also makes me feel anxious and more disorganized than usual, which is a lot; not to mention that I have to tiptoe around at night, and that John and I don’t have any privacy outside the bedroom. Not that it makes a difference, I suppose. The cot doesn’t fit in the bedroom with the waterbed or I would just move him back in there.

Yesterday, though, Gary had to go to the hospital. The day before he’d been complaining of some massive pain in his belly, and I was all prepared to run him in to outpatients the night before last, thinking that perhaps he had a kidney stone or something. Unlike John, he doesn’t complain unless something is really wrong. But, the pain was off and on, and after supper was finished, it was off again, so he thought it might be gastritis or something, decided not to go, and just went to bed. The next morning it was worse again, and was putting his pale ass on the verge of passing out, so John forced him to go in and arranged for a replacement.

Wouldn’t you know, they rushed Gary right into surgery and took his appendix out yesterday, so we’re all quite pleased that he got his stubborn self in there – one more day and it probably would have ruptured, they said. When we hadn’t heard from him all day we kind of wondered what was up. He’s probably going to be off work for a few weeks, unless Boss can find him some easy and likely unnecessary work that he’s willing to let Gary collect a check for. Either way, he’s unemployed for a while, and the thought of taking the time off isn’t sitting well with him.

I went and picked him up today, and he’s been taking it real easy. I would be quite happy to wait on him more, but he’s the type that doesn’t like to be a bother. I’m not sure if he’ll be heading home for a while – which I would expect, only he’d have to take the bus and it’s an extra long trip – or if he’s just going to hang out here. If that’s the case, I imagine his girlfriend will be coming up to dote on him, so I’ll have two more guests with their young son along. Wee boy would be thrilled, of course, as they’re close in age, but I don’t really relish the thought of more company when all I want to do is be alone with my husband. She and I get along great, though, so it sure could be worse.

The guys were both supposed to be heading out to camp for six weeks, apparently, but they were also supposed to be leaving today. Gary won’t be going now, obviously, since he can’t handle any lifting or repetitive stress for about the same length of time, but John will go regardless if it materializes. As it is, John just knows that he’s staying where he’s at until Thursday. After that, who the hell knows. He’ll find out the night before he leaves (upon such time I will be insistent that he look after his duties as my husband before he is allowed to leave the house).

I imagine that he’ll have a few days off here and there, but neither of us is looking forward to it too much. I think John’s more upset that he won’t see the kids, frankly, but I know he will miss me too. He just doesn’t seem to think I need to hear that.

I’m thinking I should hit the love shop on payday and buy that new phallic friend I’ve been meaning to get.