Fortuitous Absence

At 5AM yesterday, I woke myself up enough to get the iPad off my nightstand and go to our district website....then the HR department link...and then the link to our Substitute/Time Off system - and officially 'called in sick'.  Normally, I would have also phoned my boss and left a message on his office phone - but for the first time ever, I just used the system everyone uses and skipped the phone call.  If it's good enough for other staff, it's good enough for me.  I got an email from my boss at 8:02 acknowledging he saw the absence with two words 'feel better'.

Knowing the housecleaning crew was coming for the first time in four weeks (we cancelled during our trip to Playa 'cuz the logistics of getting H. to get things tidied up for them combined with the risk of having no idea what the house would look like when they arrived and not wanting to put them through that) would be enough reason for me to not want to hang out at the house on a day I feel punky - I don't really do well when other people are doing things I should be doing.  But I stayed home anyway. J. said he thought they'd be here 11ish....but 11 came and went and so did noon.  I wanted so badly to crawl into bed and sleep - but their 1PM arrival made that not doable.  So I piddled around trying to help J. get things ready for them - all the suitcases are officially unpacked; the 'Vamos a la Playa' box in the garage is restocked for the next trip - .

J. fields a lot of things with the 'boys' and I leave him to it.  Our family dynamic is one of avoiding talking to mom about 90% of things at all costs and it's worked for us.  They are 'men' and they know that my reaction might be significantly different compared to their dad's....maybe I shouldn't admit that in these missives but whatever.  I'm the mom.  I point out the illogicality of much of their stuff and they don't like that - so they go to their dad.  He's a good listener, smart, also a guy....

B. had somehow convinced himself that - because his truck needs 'another' $500 in repairs (rear brakes this time) - that it's time to buy a new truck.  He apparently had found one at a dealership...and been told they could get him into it for $150 per paycheck.  'Around 2-3% interest'.  He actually had no idea about the specific terms of the loan - interest rate, length of the loan, out the door price of the vehicle being considered.  I inserted myself into the equation pronto by requesting J. switch the call to speaker phone mode (iPhone)....and tried to gently, though firmly, but with as little bat-shit-crazy-banshee as I could point out how ridiculous it is for him to want to avoid a $500 expense by buying a $35K vehicle.

I then also proceeded to use Edmunds and Kelly Blue Book with J. - and we couldn't find any inventory within 250 miles of El Paso close to what B. was being told (over the phone only, I think) about the truck.

J. wrote a list of things for B. to consider and emailed it to him - and B. wrote back (finally) and said 'you're right, I'm stupid'.  So I hope that means he's not planning to buy a truck.  I added a FB message (not revealing that I knew he had just messaged his dad an indication he was realizing how ridiculous it was) that confirmed that if he locked himself in to $300 a month for a car payment, plus increased insurance (which he hadn't scoped out yet) combined with savings monthly for maintenance (because yes, even new cars require maintenance and if you'd been saving monthly for maintenance of your current vehicle like you were going to when you bought it a couple years ago (with us loaning him the $ for a ridiculously low interest rate and payment), you would have the $500 you need for brakes that you can't afford now thus deciding going into debt $35K is 'better'), your budget would be so tight, you would have no $ to travel home; no $ for tattoos and golf (his latest obsession); no $ for time with friends going out and enjoying food and beverages; or a movie; or anything 'extra'.  For a to-be-determined number of months - though J. and I surmised the terms of the loan must be at least an 8-10 year obligation to make the $300 a month work.

And somewhere in all that, B. also confirmed with J. that it's looking not likely on coming home at Christmas - but he hasn't told me that yet.

We quickly offered to come up with the $ for the brake job (driving an unsafe truck is unwise) but he refused to accept the loan.  Leaving me with nail biting nightmares about an accident....but J. drove the truck when he was there and said that with the front breaks fixed, it's likely far better and it should be fine until B. can make repairs.

If I hadn't called in sick, I would have missed all the 'fun' and B. might own a new truck by now - so it was worth the 8 hours charged against my sick time.  :-)

It's now 6:30ish and I need to hop in the shower to get going for a very busy day....