A few weeks ago I started a pledgie for a homeless single mother and her daughter. To those of you who contributed, thank you so much, your donation was much appreciated. To those of you who didn’t, thank you as well, because had I raised the money I was hoping to, the situation would most likely have turned into something much worse than what we’re already dealing with. Confused? Let me sort it out for you.
My husband has made himself what I like to call a fair weather frenemy. I’m sure you’re all familiar with the fair weather friend, the guy (or girl) who only wants to be in your company when things are sunny, but is nowhere to be found when you need shelter from the storm. Fair weather frenemies are worse. They only want to be your friend when things are going bad for them and good for you so they can leech your time and money. When things are going good for them, regardless of what is happening with you, they can’t be found, because they don’t need your help. This particular FWF has his own business, an informal kind of handyman thing, and usually has two or three guys working with him, but doesn’t always have enough work to keep everybody busy (and paid) full time. One of those guys has some mechanic skills. We have a car with some engine trouble that we’ve been trying to sell at a reduced price, so FWF suggested to Husband that maybe he let his Grease Monkey employee help him fix it up, giving him something to do when work was slow. We’d be able to sell the car for more money once it was fixed and it would give GM a paycheck. Since GM was a decent enough worker and Husband has a ton of stuff that he’s been trying to get done around here (build a bathroom, landscaping, etc.) he told GM that he had plenty of stuff he could do if he was willing. GM seemed eager to get started and even talked a guy down the street from us that he knew into selling Husband an old car for next to nothing so that they could fix it up and sell it as well.
GM showed up at our house and worked steady on his own for about 3 days. The fourth day he brought his girlfriend with him. She seemed polite, if a little irritated at sitting in a patio chair while he worked all afternoon. I’m not a social person - I don’t do chit-chat and pleasant conversation - but I made an effort. She offered up right away that she had ADHD and several other issues and mentioned that she had two kids, a 12-year-old daughter and a 5-year-old son. She struck up a very animated conversation with my 5-year-old and I thought it was great that she was able to connect with kids so well. After picking up her daughter from a softball game, they came back to our house so that GM and Husband could finish what they’d been working on. The kids ran and played and everything seemed fine. When they came back the next day however, everything was not fine. Girlfriend didn’t want to sit outside, she wanted to come in and watch TV or listen to music. I don’t generally watch TV, I’m either on the computer working or doing some chore around the house, but I obliged, showing her the couch and handing her the remote. Once she was settled in in front of the boob tube, she asked, “Have you got any snacks?” Um, OK. “Sure, I guess…what are you in the mood for?” I opened the pantry door so she could take a look. She then helped herself to an entire bag of popcorn chips, a honey bun, a pack of peanut butter crackers, a pouch of Angry Birds fruit snacks and two cans of Coke, all of which she devoured in about five minutes while I kept a safe distance, lest she decide that she was hungry for meat. Then she opened the back door and yelled for her daughter to come in and have a snack too. After she’d eaten something the little girl when back outside to play with Avery and mom sprawled out on the couch and all but passed out. I wasn’t sure what was up. To be honest, I thought she was high.
I can see now that this is going to require more than one post, so I’ll leave you guys with this for now as I’ve got to go medicate my men - Avery and Neil are both suffering from Man Colds.
