Friday, July 03, 2009

Awash in self pity

My camera is broken -- Owen knocked it off a table "on accident" -- and I have become totally unstrung by this. Need new glasses, need to deal with tax query from IRS, need to book hotels in Vietnam, need to discipline son, need to write content for winery web site, need to lose 15 pounds, need new sneakers, need, need, need. And now the freaking camera. 

We just incurred our biggest single chicken expense yet. Paid $120 to a neighbor boy to close them into their house at night during our vacation. Ten dollars a day. A lot, no? It's a stupidly easy job -- the birds all go inside voluntarily at dusk -- but you have to be there EVERY NIGHT to physically close and secure the door. This seemed like a big, tedious commitment for a 15-year-old boy hence the pay. I still worry that his super-nice parents filled in for him when he had other plans, were down there on our hill locking up the chickens and quietly resenting us.
 

5 comments:

  1. Sorry things are stacking up for you. This time last year I had the same feeling - two major appliances died in the same week, and on July 4 I lost a brand new expensive contact lens while hiking. Hope things settle down so you can enjoy the holiday. And even if the parents did fill in a few times, I'm sure they don't resent you for it.

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  2. Here's my new discipline tactic which I am super excited to use: have him write an essay about carelessness, or heedless breakery, or what have you, about what he did to the camera, what events led up to the incident, and how it has affected your family. He'll be thrilled!

    I recommend the Canon SD790, btw. It's a great point-and-shoot.

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  3. No pictures?! Meh. How will we loyal readers survive?!

    I remember when my husband accidently dropped my camera into a public toilet after my 2 year old went in it. It wasn't in its case either. Let's just say that the rest of the day at Disneyland was not fun for him.

    Maybe I should have taken Layne's advice and had him write, "I will not put valuables in my shirt pocket when I plan to lean over a lavatory" one hundred times.

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  4. How about cellphone snapshots in the meantime?

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  5. Oh no. I am so sorry to hear about your camera - hope you can replace it/have it fixed soon, and that all the other things you need will miraculously show up too. or happen... all the best to you...

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