How I spent my President's Day (or How I spent $619 on President's Day)

President's Day used to be a floating holiday at work. A day I normally saved for summer - you know, a little beach, some yard work, etc. Our company made some changes and now, like the post office, we close to observe the holiday.

What to do, what to do? Some people took advantage of the three day weekend by going out of town. I imagine others went shopping, went to the movies, slept in, relaxed. I know some people worked anyway. That was my plan - to work from my couch. Oh, if only. If only.

Let me tell you about my President's Day.

It all started when the alarm went off at 6:05a.m. See, I made a 7 a.m. appointment with the doctor because I forgot my office would be closed on Monday. I had this great plan - see the doc and then hop across the street to work (literally, across the street) and start my day super early!

I dragged my butt out of bed and noticed that even though I cleared nearly six inches of snow off the driveway last night, my sidewalk and driveway were covered in snow like I hadn't even touched it.

No time for shoveling - had to motor over to the doctor where I did not see my primary care physician. I saw her PA. That's cool but here's the problem....if you read this blog regularly you know I get bronchitis - a lot. My doctor knows this. Her PA doesn't. And, since it appears he did not take the time to look at my chart, we had a disagreement about my lungs. In the end, I won and scored a prescription for an inhaler. After all, my half marathon is a mere 27 days and I cannot get sick.

Once home I spent nearly one hour shoveling my driveway and sidewalk. Heavy snow. It was daunting but I got it done.

That's when things really took a turn for the worse. I went to the basement to put some clothing in the laundry and found sopping wet carpeting. Upon closer examination I discovered the water was a lovely shade of brown.

Fast forward after a frantic trip to buy a Shop Vac and the arrival of the plumber.....it's my sewer line and yes, as I suspected but would not admit to myself, my basement is flooded with sewage. Raw sewage. My sewage, but sewage nonetheless.

Sewage.

Shudder. That word is right up there with phlegm.

No, it's worse.

So, here I am, plumber in my basement doing $619 worth of work to clear my blockage and clean up the mess. But the fun won't end there. After he leaves I get to rip out all the infested carpet. At least rip it out to the best of my ability.

I know it isn't the end of the world. But, I don't exactly have $619. I mean, I do, but I also have bills to pay and just spent nearly $170 a Nordstrom Rack on a new Kate Spade (she was only $70!! How could I just leave her there?), a Sweet Pea sweater and some new jeans - but all my clothes are too big, except for my skinny clothes which are still too small - I need clothing!.  Had I known raw sewage would be floating around my basement today I would never have gone to The Rack and would just keep wearing clothes that are too big. The plumbing company's web site said they take "all major" credit cards - so I assume they take American Express. If not, I will write them a check and just live on snow (since there is so much of it around) until I get paid again.