Celebrate good times, come on!

Veterans Park Lagoon, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Today I'm celebrating:

• A 3-day workweek until our vacation. Whoot!
• Taking our laundry in for the (supposedly) last time to pay by the pound, because our newly purchased washing machine and dryer will be delivered on the 31st.
• Finally meeting with my fellow school rummage sale committee chairs tonight.  I don't know why it needs a committee to plan this thing, when what it needs is one person to create and run the project plan and another to organize the volunteers to stage and sell crap. But anyhow, it practically took an act of God to get this meeting of the chairs scheduled.  You would have thought this was a major operation and not a school rummage sale.  But, it does make about $20,000 for the school, so I'm trying to keep it all in check.  That's why I did feel a tiny bit guilty that I laughed out loud when one woman sent her "project plan" via email ahead of time. It was a Microsoft Word agenda template with some crazy clipart on it.  I know we're all volunteers, but oh, ladies... please... leave the project planning to those who do this for a living!
• Sending off a really inspired email to the Village Manager on Friday.  The jerk is now playing CYA and sending emails suggesting we pull our 4" drainage pipe to re-install a 12" pipe. (Seriously, isn't that considered a culvert at that point!)  He also suggested we add some rain barrels to our property as a real solution to the drainage problems. I'm suspecting this is all coming at us now because FEMA denied Wisconsin flood recovery money, and he doesn't know how to fix what needs to be fixed with no funds.  But Beerman and I figured out the cubic footage just of the water that was in our basement, not including what was being pumped out or drained, and discovered it would take 270 rain barrels to hold that much water each time it rained.  And since it rained like that twice in 24 hours, we would have needed at least 500 barrels!  So after 2 hours of physically shaking, I was so mad, I wrote an email that got my point across.  My final line of the email made me feel a whole lot better: We are thankful the Village has finally seen the drainage issues on our block as a problem and are making strides toward resolving it.  But please do not insult us by insinuating that further damage prevention be on our time and money, because I'm quite certain we've taken on more than enough of that on your and the Village's behalf.
• Not being a Chilean miner.
• Having it only be a 3-day workweek. (Oops, did I mention that already?)