I sincerely apologize for this one.

There.  Now that we've gotten that out of the way.

A little tale from my checkered past has been getting re-told lately, due to a strange conversation I had with a friend, who then passed along my story and...well, word gets around.

I hadn't thought of this in years, since it happened a couple of careers ago and pre-Tank.  My memories from pre-Tank days are foggy at best.  I blame 3 1/2 years of sleep deprivation.

Anyway, the second worst job I ever had was working for the licensing entity of the state.  Professional licenses of all types were governed by this agency and there were a handful of police officers, including myself, who investigated alleged malfeasance, wrongdoing and general butt-headedness on the part of licensed peeps.

So.  I worked on one side of things and on the other side of the fence were other licenses, like hair salons and funeral homes.  I didn't work funeral homes because I DON'T *DO* DEAD PEOPLE. 

One day, I am happily toodling around and pretending to work when I get a call on the radio.  There is an emergency that needs to be dealt with right away aaaaand it's at a funeral home.  Oh, snap.

The gist of the complaint was this:  Dude dies.   Family (which lives out of state) pays funeral home for funeral service and cremation.  Funeral goes off without a hitch but family never receives ashes.  Family calls funeral home, but gets the runaround.  Two months go by and no ashes.  Family is rightfully p-o'ed.  Family wants ashes NOW.  The radio call goes on to say that the funeral home insists the deceased's ashes are at their facility, but "we can't take their word for that."

Okay, no problem.  All I have to do is go to the funeral home and tell them to get the ashes to the guy's family and quit messing around.  And then I hit the first snag.  Turns out the funeral home was having some financial difficulties and they wrote a bad check to the crematorium, which then refused to cremate any more of their stiffs.  Instead of just telling the family this, the funeral home dodged their calls.  "So the body was never cremated?" I ask.  No, it was not.  "Where is he now?"  "In the refrigerated room in back."  "Hang on a sec," I say, "I'll be right back."

And here's where I might start to offend people.  Dead Dude is African-American.  As I was waiting to talk to the funeral director, I noticed a board with recent and upcoming funerals on it.  By my count, there are FIVE African-American male bodies on the premises, not including the one I am looking for.  I zip out to the car and call in on the radio, explain the situation.  I end with, "So how will I know that the body they show me is really him?"  The response:  We'll just have to take their word for it.  To which I replied something about oh, we can't take their word that he's even HERE, but they can show me a random body and I can take their word it's HIM?!  I am told that this is, indeed, what I must do.  I must also advise the funeral director that the State is seizing control of the deceased's remains effective immediately and they are not to do anything further without our blessing.

So, I trudge back in to the funeral home.  The funeral director leads me back through this Byzantine crumbly old mansion that has seen better days.  Room after room we pass, some with bodies laid out, others dark, cockroaches darting off here and there.  We are heading to the refrigerated room to see Dude.

Did I mention I DON'T DO DEAD PEOPLE?!  Just checking.

We finally make it back to the room, which I was expecting to be like the city morgues on TV.  "Refrigerated room" in this case actually meant "enclosed former porch with a window A/C running full bore."  Did I mention it was July and the average high temperature in July is a hot and sticky 100?

Dude was lying on his back on a table in the "refrigerated room".  He was naked.  Apparently, you can rent a coffin AND an outfit for the funeral and then those are whisked away for the next guy. 

Luckily for me (or unluckily, depending how you look at it), the family had printed a funeral program with Dude's photo on the front.  Given a blurry, black and white and not very recent photo to work with, plus a handy toe tag, I was able to identify the body to my satisfaction. (No disrespect here, but I had already decided that if I saw a body that looked like Pamela Anderson, I was going to say it was him and get the hell out of Dodge.) 

After making the official ID of the body, I took a severe tone with the funeral director and informed him that the State was, effective immediately, seizing control of the remains of Dead Dude and that he was hereby proHIBited (that's how I said it) from interfering in any way with the return of the remains to the family.

And that's when Funeral Guy looked me dead in the eye and with a straight face said, "So, are you gonna take him with you now?"

Professionalism flew out the window and I sputtered, "WHAT?!  No...HAYUL no!  Mister, I am in a Chevy MALIBU.  What am I supposed to do, strap this poor nekkid man to the top like a surf board and ride through downtown?!"

In the end, I convinced him to keep the body and not bother it until a properly outfitted van could come and remove Dude for more ethical and sympathetic treatment of his earthly remains.

And a short while later, I quit that job.

Some things just ain't worth the money.

MIA No More

It's been a while since I've dropped in with news of the Taj.  I was kidnapped by a crazed toddler who now refuses to take an afternoon nap and is slowly driving me insane.  Okay, that's not entirely true. 

He's not doing it slowly.

Anyway, as I sob with devastation at the loss of the Sacred Afternoon Nap, I thought I'd check in.

We haven't been to the Taj since my last post.  We got back to Gilligan's Island and got wrapped up in work and little home repairs we'd ignored in the last big push to move in to the Taj for Christmas.  I hadn't realized how much I'd let slide as far as work goes, so I had a lot of catching up to do there.  And here at the Gilligan, we'd both brushed aside little annoyances like burnt out lightbulbs over the sink and a dryer vent that wasn't properly sealed.  Little stuff, but now that we've tackled some of the To Do list, we both are feeling slightly less slothful.  I mean, it's not like I wasn't busy, but trying to teach Tank to say, "Holy crap!" can only fill so many hours.

But back to the Taj...
I'll tell you one funny thing I've found learned, which is that the comparison between the Taj and the Gilligan houses has gone ass over teakettle lately.  When we first bought the Taj, we looked at it as a very cheap house that we could try to renovate inexpensively.  We love our sweet little Cape Cod on the Gilligan and couldn't imagine that hulking monster in Mayberry ever being worth more than a long weekend trip here and there.  But once we started working on it, we got sucked in.  Little by little, we started making choices based on what we REALLY wanted, instead of what we could find cheap or used.  And as the balance slowly tilted, another weird thing happened:  we started seeing a LOT of projects in the Gilligan house.  Now we're ready to repaint and reimagine THIS house, too.

Thanks for nothing, Taj MaHell.


So, anyway, I'm plotting a trip to Mayberry either this weekend or next.  Tank and I will definitely go, along with Marly the Geriatric Wiener Dog.  Shawn may or may not go, depending on his work schedule.  Who knows?  I might go buck wild and start another project while I'm there.  The den needs painting and we still need a fridge...

Holy crap.

...and then we all drowned in snot

Ah, the holidays.  Twinkling lights, festive foods, songs of cheer...

...and wads of germs.

We left the Taj on December 28th, loaded down with thoughtful gifts and at least a billion microscopic disease-bearing stowaways.  Shawn and Tank had runny noses over Christmas, but nothing serious and I had managed to avoid the whole mess, so we were feeling pretty lucky.  Luck ran out, though, and I got sick by the 29th.  Figuring we were in for a pretty crappy New Year's Eve anyway, we loaded the car and drove BACK to the Taj, arriving late Friday evening.

In the wee hours Friday night, Tank awoke us with pitiful cries and when I picked him up, he was BLAZING with fever.  Welcome, Croup!  Won't you come in and render our lives a living hell for a few days?!  Oh, and throw in a cold+sinus infection+ear infection for me, while you're at it.

Sigh.

Next year, let's just mail the gifts and stay home with hand sanitizer and bleach.  Please.

Well, anyway, Tank appears to be on the mend and I am hopeful that tomorrow I will finally feel human again.

But here let me make a heartfelt plea to all of you who feel compelled to show up at work with the flu, or sneeze all over the Kroger shopping cart handle, or drag feverish kids all over creation because BYGAWDYOUDON'TWANTTOMISSYOURGOODTIME....

Keep your sick ayce at the house.

Seriously.

We'll get together for the 4th of July, or some other non-cold-and-flu-season holiday.

Sincerely,
She of the Sherbet Colored Snot

Everybody Lived

Whew.

We're back at Gilligan's Island, as of last night.  Had a fun, busy, stressful, exhausting Christmas, what with family get-togethers, Taj work and moving!

We did actually make it into the house on the 23rd and spent our first night there.  It felt pretty weird, especially since there were no window coverings in the whole house.  Kinda like sleeping in a fishbowl, but luckily there aren't any line-of-sight neighbors, so nobody got an unwelcome peep show.

We still have to move things and tweak it a bit, but most of our stuff is in and it's starting to look like something!  I've learned a few things, too:
--those bathroom light+fan+heater things are The Bomb! 
--3-year-olds do not transition easily into new homes, even after 6 months of prep work
--only crazy people move at Christmas


So, anyhow.  We survived.  We still need to move the remaining small stuff from Uncle Todd's Cabin, but we are close to being done there and that will be the end of the 3 utility bills per month!
Photos below, but first a Christmas recap:  Michael was given lots of great presents, all of which he liked and will enjoy.  Nobody went too overboard, which was wonderful.  Michael is already richly blessed with crazy family and bad parents, so we try not to overdo the gift-giving!

In addition to some other things, Shawn gave me a Keurig coffee maker, rendering me twice as caffeinated in half the time.  Obviously, nobody pointed out to him the faulty logic there.

Okay, so on to the Taj photos.  Bear in mind that it's still a work in progress!

Tank's Room:

We've got to put some blinds up in there and make better use of the space, but I thought the paint color turned out pretty nicely.  I have a vinyl tree decal to put in there, too, but ran out of time this trip.  Note the toy organizer we scored off a neighbor who was tossing it.  We won't tell Tank it's girly colors if you don't!

 

 The living room, after the tree was down.  Santa had the train running around the tree when Michael woke up on Christmas morning.

The den fireplace, which works perfectly (nice surprise there!)

 

Best pal/Gilligan next door neighbor came up on Monday and presented the boys with Big Guy and Little Guy caps.  Little Guy looks deranged...he may have been in the Keurig.

After a sizeable SNAFU on Thursday, we finally got the washer and dryer hooked up on Tuesday.  I did about 7 loads of clothes, since everything was dirty by then.  LOVE my new LGs!

 

I'll take more photos next trip, after we move things around to suit us better.

I'm just glad we made it in time to celebrate Christmas there.  Everything else will work itself out!

Hope you all had a great Christmas and that 2012 is very, very good to you!

Merry Tajmas!

Hope everyone is doing well and managing to finish up Christmas lists, etc.  The family unit is packing up here at Gilligan's Island, preparing for the ride to Mayberry for a Christmas to remember.

We'll get in sometime tonight, paint and work on floors tomorrow and tomorrow night and then...we hope...move our stuff on Friday, so that we can actually be in the Taj for Christmas!  Whew!  I'm tired just thinking about it.

Photos of Taj-y Merriness to come, but in the meantime, here's Tank with his Santa bubble beard, to wish you good tidings of the season: 

Time to get merry, fo' shizzle!

It's Not All About the Taj

While recent developments Taj-side have dominated my posts, other things do go on besides work on the house.

Last week, Tank went to see Santa Claus and performed admirably.  The only catch was that I had "coached" him for several days, talking about how he'd go see Santa, sit on his lap and say, "Cheese!"

Have I mentioned Tank's "Cheese!" face?  It's been with us for a year or so now, casting its blinding sunshine across all our family photos.  Observe the cheesiness:

I say CHEESE outside

I say CHEESE at Uncle Todd's Cabin

I say CHEESE while watching "Flushed Away"

I say CHEESE when Daddy and I get ice cream

I say CHEESE in a Santa hat

You get the idea.

Anyway....

 After the nice mall Santa photographer took extra sets of pictures for us, we gave up and selected a Cheese Face picture for this year's Christmas card.  Sometimes, you just gotta go with the flow.

And there you have it, folks. 

Your Christmas Cheese.

Why I'm Probably Under Surveillance Right Now

Actual conversation between me and the Sainted Singing Plumber:



SSP:  That sure looks nice, but you can't move in yet.

Me:  Yeah, I know.  Clint, the Christmas-Stealing Grinch at the City of Mayberry said we had some more things to do...

SSP:  *Sympathetic noise*

Me:  ...and that's why I killed him.

SSP:  ????

Me:  He's buried under that stupid pool cover he insisted we get.  So, anyway, if you smell something, it's Clint.

SSP:  Um, yeah, well...ahem...we'll just get the rest of our stuff done by Friday and you'll be good to go.  You can dig up Clint and get him to sign off on it.

Me:  Cool.

SSP:  You ought to think about being a comedian.

Me:  It's cute that you think I'm kidding.