Hillbilly No More

No, it's not the chi-chi borrowed apartment in SF's Museum District that we are staying in. It's not the purchase of Bittersweet's tiny $4 cup of spicy hot chocolate that tells me so. It's the $615 repair of the two black teeth. They are now shiny pearls and we only have the finances of hillbillies, if not the appearance.

Though, I have to say, when I walk around this area pushing Olivia in her stroller with Sadie in tow, people seem to think I am the nanny rather than the family's heart. Maybe it's the serviceable jeans and pony-tailed hair that makes me seem like not of this 'hood, I don't know.

I haven't been able to explore much as Sadie, the ADD High Anxiety dog, still cannot be left alone in the apartment. I have quickly learned all the downtown areas that are off-limits to dogs. (Anywhere with grass.) Nor can I leave her tied up to a parking meter -- as I used to be able to do -- to dash into a store. She barks her fool head off the whole time I am out of sight. "Nooooo! Don't leave me!"

We have to park our car in a garage that is 4 long midtown-length blocks away from the apartment. So if I go grocery shopping, as I did today, it's a schlep. I also had Olivia, her diaper bag and Sadie with me and the 3 bags of groceries. As I struggled out of the elevator garage, the very nice building doorman offered to help by sitting with Sadie while I dropped off Olivia and some bags with Aaron and trekked back for the second load. I arrived home with sore muscles and heel blisters. And, when I really looked at what I bought, not much for dinner.

Olivia is back to her wiggly, waving, giggly, exploring self. The fever has passed and I expect we will see some new teeth sprouted soon. Today I took her and Sadie to Ft Funston, a place that is very special to me, to let Sadie romp off-leash and sniff the salt air. It was sunny and 60 degrees, a nice change from the days of rain.

We are still feeling pulled in too many directions. We have a mondo To-Do list and little of it has been checked off. Yesterday was trashed after Aaron and I both spent a good part of the day trying to sort out our health/dental insurance once and for all. Hah, good one! It's still as messed up as ever. As a former HR person, I haven't the slightest clue why this has been so difficult to make right. There's nothing about it that is rocket science.

Most of current events news has passed me right by lately. I hear murmurs about the latest stimulus package but not enough to know if it will eventually help me land a decent job. It seems that it will halt the bleeding but won't bear any fruit for a long time. We don't have much time to find a safe port for our little ship.