Mrs. Murphy Returns

 

Mrs. Murphy visited several times while Horatio was deployed.   (For those of you who don’t remember, Mrs. Murphy’s Law is the corollary to Murphy’s Law.  Murphy’s Law is: “If it can go wrong, it will go wrong.”  Mrs. Murphy’s Law says, “if it can go wrong, it will go wrong, and it will happen when Mr. Murphy is out of town.”  I learned that from my mom.  My dad traveled a lot when I was growing up, so she had a lot of experience with it.)  Horatio hasn’t traveled much at all since he returned 11 months ago, so Mrs. Murphy has not had opportunity to visit.

Now, though, Horatio is on a 10 day trip to China.  In my mind, a 10 day trip is nothing.  It’s all in the perspective you take.  After single parenting for a 593 day deployment, 10 days truly is no big deal.  I had this very conversation yesterday with a friend at our neighborhood pool.  She was feeling like she was struggling to get through her husband’s 5 day trip while I was anticipating a breeze through the next 10 days.

I should not have opened my mouth.  Now I feel like speaking about the trip seeming like no big deal was like an open invitation for disaster (using the term lightly, of course.)  It’s like I hand delivered a beautifully embossed invitation to Mrs. Murphy to visit our home in Horatio’s absence. 

Harold, being Harold, clogged the toilet this afternoon.  No big deal, get the plunger…  except the plunger that we keep right outside the door to the garage is MIA.  Seriously?  Where can a plunger disappear to on its own?  While I hunted down the plunger, Bob decided to use the effected toilet in a similar manner, adding a mountain to a molehill… Oy.

Found another plunger.  Plunged.  Plunged. Plunged.  Nothing.

Ok, so it seems like a good night for a simple dinner and the boys requested popcorn from the movie theater popper.  Hurray for me!  We chose an On-Demand movie, I ordered it up, pressed play and…  oops, I ordered it in Spanish.  Really???  Yes, really.  So, I ordered the correct language, pressed play and got on the phone with Verizon to get credited for the wrong purchase.  No problem.  Meanwhile, the movie is playing and there is no sound coming from the TV.  What???  Come on Mrs. Murphy.  What’s the deal?

Luckily, I was still on the phone with Verizon, so they are sending a new DVR box as it seems that ours is broken.  Good news is we get the new one, bad news is that we will lose all of our recordings.  I have a lot of tv to watch in the next few days, I guess.  It’s a lofty goal.  I’m not sure I can meet it.

More good news-  when the Verizon rep informed me that our contract is about to expire and asked if I’d like to renew, I asked if she could offer me a special deal of some sort.  We are getting $5 off per month, plus a $120 prepaid Visa card.  So, there’s a positive side to the evening.

Every so often, I go back to the bathroom and attempt to clear the toilet, to no avail.  I followed my Dad’s advice to pour a bucket of hot water into it but that didn’t work either.  My next step is to follow the sage advice of Satellite Sisters Matriarch Edna Dolan, Of Blessed Memory.  She always advised her daughters (who passed on the advice to their many listeners and followers) to let appliances rest and then try them again.  I’m counting on dear Edna’s advice to chase away Mrs. Murphy while I sleep tonight.  Here’s hoping..