starshadow_rivaulx (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
starshadow_rivaulx) wrote2010-06-21 11:13 pm
starshadow_rivaulx) wrote2010-06-21 11:13 pm
Out of the depths
It appears that I have recovered enough from recent events to muster
the energy to put up a blog post. i think I've come up with opening
lines at least twice a week for the past month or so since our old
maid left, but never had a chance to actually put down the words until
now.
Training the new help has been an exhausting procedure. The cook
isn't all that bad - and at least she can cook and keep things tidy.
Being that she is 45 and the mother of eight children, one would hope
that she appreciates the value of a tidy work area.
The maid, on the other hand...*exhales windily*...look, I get that our
tribe of kittens are cute creatures. But when I catch you, the maid,
talking to a kitten I left sleeping peacefully in my bed when I went
down to dinner; a kitten, moreover, sleeping on the corner of the bed
that is nowhere near the trash cans that you went into my room to
empty? Do not expect me to think kindly of you in future - especially
since you have been here for a little above a month and have been
repeatedly admonished by myself and my husband that the cuteness of
kittens is no reason at all to down tools and play with them.
(insert pirate ARRRRRRRRRRR here)
The above is merely the latest in a list of things that have raised my
blood pressure and tested my stress management skills to the limit.
Ma likes the maid for her "cute" ways and soft spoken manner - Dad and
i are less benign in our outlook. Did Ramon and I not tell them to
lock the kitchen door whenever they (maid and cook) were both inside?
Certainly we did, several times over the course of the past month.
The fact that I managed to come home, enter through the front gate,
the service gate AND the unlocked kitchen door to pick up a forgotten
grocery list - and that THEY HAD NO IDEA I WAS EVEN IN THE HOUSE UNTIL
I WAS ON MY WAY OUT BECAUSE THEY WERE HAVING A GABFEST IN THEIR ROOM
shows that the instructions have gone in one ear and out the other.
What if it had been a stranger?
As it will always be a mystery of life how I can always hear the
doorbell from the back of the house and the maids never notice till
the second or third ring when they are in the front of the house...we
will gloss over this.
I don't know. The way it runs now, I'm the one that clears the table,
putting the plates, utensils, glasses, etc. into the sink - all they
have to do is wash up. I run the washing machine - they hang and fold
the clothes. (Which reminds me - that time I managed to get into the
house without their knowing? Dad's clean laundry was lying neatly
folded in the laundry basket, ready to be brought inside. Why it was
sitting on the bench for the cats to sit on, I'm sure I don't know.)
If Ramon didn't hover over the maid one day, I'm sure the dust on our
shelves would have reached epic proportions.
In any case, by dint of being the "bad cop" boot camp drill sergeant,
life has settled into a fairly acceptable routine. But those first
two weeks - my sweet Lord, is all I'm saying.
* * * * * *
There have been sparkles - ehem - of consolation in all of this, of
course. Like the new lot of Betty Neels books that just arrived at
the Cash and Carry BookSale branch, which allowed me to swell my
collection by several volumes. Ramon's eyes widened when he saw the
pile of books - he's never seen me buy more than one or two books at a
time, and then only after much agonizing. I scored about 14 or so new
titles, which is a record even for me. LOL.
The laptop needed repairs - it died and wouldn't power up. The
sparkle here is that I was able to get it fixed at the new laptop
repair shop in Cash and Carry (see, it has everything I ever could
want in a mall), and the tech recommended that I use the flexible
keyboard from CD-R King as my external keyboard, since the top row of
the laptop keyboard simply refuses to function. Followed his advice,
and am quite happy with it.
The wireless router gave up the ghost - so I made CD-R King happy and
got a new one - one with two antennas for the same price as I got the
old one, and so far it is running heaps better than the previous piece
of equipment, so that's good.
New equipment = office space spring cleaning. I found muscles i didn't
have, repurposed desks and ended up with an arrangement where
everything is close to hand. We will overlook what was possibly the
worst outbreak of heat rash that ever marred my skin, and the muscle
aches that followed. The effort was totally worth it.
Regular sessions at the blind massage center at the 3rd level of Cash
and Carry (just down the hall from the laptop repair stall) have been
keeping me sane throughout the vagaries of househelp training and PMS
hormonal conniptions.
Last but not least, there have been kittens - who will soon be cats of
intelligent and mischievous and adorable dispositions. :)
* * * * * *
The reorganization of the video library is stalled for the moment.
Don't even try to imagine the backlog of receipts and billing
statements that I've been meaning to sort out since March 2010 *dies*
These days, by the time I get online, my brains are futzed and refuse
to function. As a result, I don't do the social networking thing as
much...too easy to get confused when half-asleep. I still miss my
writing too.
But life goes on, and I live in the hope that things will be better.
*passes around cookies and cold drinks to anyone who has got this far*
the energy to put up a blog post. i think I've come up with opening
lines at least twice a week for the past month or so since our old
maid left, but never had a chance to actually put down the words until
now.
Training the new help has been an exhausting procedure. The cook
isn't all that bad - and at least she can cook and keep things tidy.
Being that she is 45 and the mother of eight children, one would hope
that she appreciates the value of a tidy work area.
The maid, on the other hand...*exhales windily*...look, I get that our
tribe of kittens are cute creatures. But when I catch you, the maid,
talking to a kitten I left sleeping peacefully in my bed when I went
down to dinner; a kitten, moreover, sleeping on the corner of the bed
that is nowhere near the trash cans that you went into my room to
empty? Do not expect me to think kindly of you in future - especially
since you have been here for a little above a month and have been
repeatedly admonished by myself and my husband that the cuteness of
kittens is no reason at all to down tools and play with them.
(insert pirate ARRRRRRRRRRR here)
The above is merely the latest in a list of things that have raised my
blood pressure and tested my stress management skills to the limit.
Ma likes the maid for her "cute" ways and soft spoken manner - Dad and
i are less benign in our outlook. Did Ramon and I not tell them to
lock the kitchen door whenever they (maid and cook) were both inside?
Certainly we did, several times over the course of the past month.
The fact that I managed to come home, enter through the front gate,
the service gate AND the unlocked kitchen door to pick up a forgotten
grocery list - and that THEY HAD NO IDEA I WAS EVEN IN THE HOUSE UNTIL
I WAS ON MY WAY OUT BECAUSE THEY WERE HAVING A GABFEST IN THEIR ROOM
shows that the instructions have gone in one ear and out the other.
What if it had been a stranger?
As it will always be a mystery of life how I can always hear the
doorbell from the back of the house and the maids never notice till
the second or third ring when they are in the front of the house...we
will gloss over this.
I don't know. The way it runs now, I'm the one that clears the table,
putting the plates, utensils, glasses, etc. into the sink - all they
have to do is wash up. I run the washing machine - they hang and fold
the clothes. (Which reminds me - that time I managed to get into the
house without their knowing? Dad's clean laundry was lying neatly
folded in the laundry basket, ready to be brought inside. Why it was
sitting on the bench for the cats to sit on, I'm sure I don't know.)
If Ramon didn't hover over the maid one day, I'm sure the dust on our
shelves would have reached epic proportions.
In any case, by dint of being the "bad cop" boot camp drill sergeant,
life has settled into a fairly acceptable routine. But those first
two weeks - my sweet Lord, is all I'm saying.
* * * * * *
There have been sparkles - ehem - of consolation in all of this, of
course. Like the new lot of Betty Neels books that just arrived at
the Cash and Carry BookSale branch, which allowed me to swell my
collection by several volumes. Ramon's eyes widened when he saw the
pile of books - he's never seen me buy more than one or two books at a
time, and then only after much agonizing. I scored about 14 or so new
titles, which is a record even for me. LOL.
The laptop needed repairs - it died and wouldn't power up. The
sparkle here is that I was able to get it fixed at the new laptop
repair shop in Cash and Carry (see, it has everything I ever could
want in a mall), and the tech recommended that I use the flexible
keyboard from CD-R King as my external keyboard, since the top row of
the laptop keyboard simply refuses to function. Followed his advice,
and am quite happy with it.
The wireless router gave up the ghost - so I made CD-R King happy and
got a new one - one with two antennas for the same price as I got the
old one, and so far it is running heaps better than the previous piece
of equipment, so that's good.
New equipment = office space spring cleaning. I found muscles i didn't
have, repurposed desks and ended up with an arrangement where
everything is close to hand. We will overlook what was possibly the
worst outbreak of heat rash that ever marred my skin, and the muscle
aches that followed. The effort was totally worth it.
Regular sessions at the blind massage center at the 3rd level of Cash
and Carry (just down the hall from the laptop repair stall) have been
keeping me sane throughout the vagaries of househelp training and PMS
hormonal conniptions.
Last but not least, there have been kittens - who will soon be cats of
intelligent and mischievous and adorable dispositions. :)
* * * * * *
The reorganization of the video library is stalled for the moment.
Don't even try to imagine the backlog of receipts and billing
statements that I've been meaning to sort out since March 2010 *dies*
These days, by the time I get online, my brains are futzed and refuse
to function. As a result, I don't do the social networking thing as
much...too easy to get confused when half-asleep. I still miss my
writing too.
But life goes on, and I live in the hope that things will be better.
*passes around cookies and cold drinks to anyone who has got this far*