Crazy Day

My blood pressure is sky high today. I don't have many days like this. My heart is racing and I am agitated; completely agitated. It all started when I walked downstairs this morning and saw this...

The workers that are putting up our siding stomped on our flowers. This rubbed me the wrong way (and I must say I'm not yet over it). Last spring Andy, with the help of Lilly, moved all of our daffodils and tulips to one location so that when they bloomed there would be a bunch of flowers together. I love that they did it together and that Lilly felt like a big helper. We've loved watching them come up through the ground. I love that Lilly is excited to see them and has really enjoyed watching them grow. And I personally love daffodils and tulips. It burns me up that these men saw flowers and stepped on them. I cannot understand this.


After I saw the tulips and daffodils lying flat I saw this...
Yes, that would be flattened hyacinths. You know, the very fragrant flowers that look like adorable little bells that we've planted over the years? Yep, they're the ones. Flat. That's when I got rage. I was fuming. As I was looking at them I saw siding with nails sticking out flying off the house and down onto these flowers. The workers were standing on our roof and chucking siding down to the ground to land on top of all of our flowers. The huge dumpster is sitting 10 ft to the right of our flowers. If they put in a little right hook when they tossed the pieces they would land where they belong.

I am not one to confront people. Sure, I have tons of irritated thoughts, I can phrase a complaint ten different ways in my head, but I can rarely get a word out to someone's face. I walked outside and called up, "Excuse me!" It also ticked me off that if I took a step off my front porch I would be speared to death by the flying siding with nails. The guy stopped and leaned over, "Yeah?" I nicely said (with a stutter), "Um, uh, well, uh, are all of our flowers going to die?" and he said, "Well if they're in the way of where we need to work then..." and I said, "Well do you have to throw the siding down on top of them?" and he said, "When I'm done I'll be sure to pick up all the pieces" and I said, "Ok" and walked inside. Rage. See, I didn't end up saying what I was thinking which left me even more enraged. So I picked up the phone and called the contractor.

By this time I was crying. I don't know why. I guess because I was picturing Andy on his hands and knees last spring replanting all those bulbs and Lilly next to him totally getting in the way calling, "Mommy! I helping Daddy!" and it left me in tears. I left the contractor, Rick, a voice mail and within 2 minutes he called me back. I explained to him that the flowers were all stomped on and flattened and that Andy and Lilly had planted them together. He apologized and told me he'd repay me for the damaged flowers. I'll believe that when I see it but it was a nice gesture. It doesn't change the fact that we won't have any blooms this year.

Needless to say this set me off for the whole day. Ella is having sleep trouble and cannot nap in a house where they are pounding on the walls so she's irritable and crying frequently. So at her 2nd potential nap time I went ouside and asked them what their plan of action was for the next two hours. He told me they were going to finish the one side so I put Ella to sleep in my bed in the front of the house.
Ten minutes later I hear them in the front. I went outside and the contractor was there and they told him and me that they were going to finish the side and move to the front. So I went inside and moved a sleeping Ella to the back bedroom. I decided Lilly could skip her nap. All was well.
*Keep in mind here the contractor told us when we met with him that they'd be glad to work around the kids' nap time. He said I could just let them know and they'd work on the opposite side of the house.*

Thirty minutes later don't I see the guys leave???? They didn't even finish the one wall and never started in the front. And it was 2:00 and they left! Lilly could have napped and Ella could have stayed where she was. Not to mention their work day is supposed to be 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and it's the second time they've left by 2 p.m.

Again, rage. This can't be good for my blood pressure. What does a crazy lady do when she has two tired kids, is tired herself, has flattened flowers, and has high blood pressure? She calls the contractor back. I told him they left and that as he knows I had moved Ella and Lilly skipped her nap - all unnecessarily and that they are not working full work days. He was, once again, apologetic but told me that the wind was causing problems. That's such crap. They haven't worked until 4 p.m. yet and they are slow as molasses. I guess I've been spoiled by having my husband do all the work around here. Andy works around the clock until the project is done. Andy would work circles around these two clowns.

Here's how our house looks right now.

This is what the guys got done today - in 5 hours.

Poor Lilly - no nap and I've been pacing around her fuming all day and trying to clean. She said, "Mommy, you done cleaning yet? Do we have stomped flowers? You ok Mommy?"

I'm sure the contractor thinks I'm insane. Hell, I feel totally insane today! I'm just tired of workers that don't want to work. And tired babies. Hopefully tomorrow I'll wake up on the right side of the bed.