Clusters of Bad Luck

You know how "they" always say that bad things happen in groups of three? Don't believe it. In fact, I have proof positive that in our house bad luck can happen in clusters of five or six. If it's a really bad week, they can happen in even higher numbers. Consider the following instances of bad luck that have befallen us within the past several weeks:

1. I thought my computer monitor was bad so we bought a new computer. When we received the new computer, and husband set it all up, he determined that it was the (old) computer and not the monitor that was dying.

2. As he was trying to retrieve and transfer everything from my old computer to the new, he somehow was unable to transfer one of the large hard drives to the new computer. It just didn't want to work. During this transferring process, he lost the ability to retrieve ALL our stored pictures from the past six years or so. He gave the drive to our SIL who is a computer genius to see if he can retrieve the pictures.

3. On Monday of this week I went to feed my Beta fish that lives in a large vase on my kitchen table and discovered that he had gone to fishy heaven. Husband was kind enough to clean out the vase and give Beta a proper burial.

4. Our beautiful, relatively new, stainless steel dishwasher discovered that it could spell! And, it was trying to communicate with us by sending us a coded message that kept flashing "C-1" over and over. Since we couldn't find the book for the dishwasher and didn't know was "C-1" meant, I finally gave in and called for the repairman. He will be here at noon today. I hope it's something simple to fix, but who's kidding who here.

5. Yesterday morning, husband and I were standing out on the deck enjoying the morning when I saw a hose spewing a lot of water. I told husband and he insisted that he had turned off the spigot already. Upon checking, we discovered that the spigot was defective and the water could not be turned off. I finally gave in and called for the plumber. It is now Friday morning and no sign of the plumber. If he doesn't show up today, it's off to Home Depot for us so husband can get the parts and fix it himself. The bad news is the waterline under the house is located in a very low area of the crawl space so husband will have a terrible time wriggling in to get the work done. I hope the plumber shows up today, but who's kidding who here.

5. Husband and I were invited for lunch at our friends' house yesterday. It was a very pleasant outing and we spent several hours at their beautiful log cabin located in the woods. Very nice visit. I chatted with wifey who explained the intricacies of Swedish weaving while husband "fixed" their computer. I finally got tired and achy and we headed on home. After we pulled into the driveway, and I was hobbling to the front door, husband noticed a LOT of antifreeze pouring out of my van. I told husband to take it directly to our local friendly car guy and I went in to call him. Since I still am not able to drive, husband got a ride home from someone at the car shop. I hope it's nothing more than a broken hose or some other inexpensive fix, but who's kidding who here.

As I was pondering all our bad luck yesterday afternoon, I had a conversation with darling daughter who brought me up to date on their broken air conditioner situation. She said that in addition to having to buy a new air conditioner unit because the old one burned up, they must rewire their entire house. We were laughing at all the bad things that were happening in our house. What else could happen, I thought naively!

6. When we were out shopping in our nearest Wally-World superstore on Wednesday, I happened to scoot down the small appliance aisle and looked at new microwaves. I found a lovely stainless steel microwave/convection oven at a reasonable price and we decided that if we ever needed one, that's the kind I would get. Last evening, as I was reheating the leftover Chinese from Wednesday, I happened to look at the little card I always keep on the top of my microwave. This little card is a safety sensor to let you know if your microwave is emitting evil rays or something. I think I was a little shocked to discover that the sensor showed a skull and crossbones. Everyone knows that a skull and crossbones means poison and danger. In this case, the instructions on the card say if you see the skull and crossbones, don't think about using your microwave again ever. Can you see the tears streaming down my face?

7. Are you ready for the last item? Last Tuesday husband awoke feeling terribly sick. As he described his symptoms, I said you absolutely MUST get to the doctor today for some medication, otherwise you will be in sorry shape. He was lucky that I was able to get him an early appointment with the doctor on call that day. This was our regular family physician's surgery day and he isn't in the office seeing patients on Tuesdays. Anyway, my diagnosis was correct and husband was given a nice shot in the rear and a prescription. By afternoon, he was feeling much better. After all was said and done, husband said that this was the first UTI he had ever had in his life. I said, WHAT ELSE COULD HAPPEN? I had not reckoned on numbers 4, 5, and 6 yet.

So, my dear faithful readers, here it is Friday morning, and instead of getting up and showering just in case the plumber decides to show up and fix the leaking spigot, I'm sitting here blogging. Gads, I haven't even had a cuppa tea yet this morning. I'm afraid to walk into the kitchen and turn on the stove. Something bad might happen to it. Maybe I'll go for a bottle of water instead.