Back to the Real World

We’re home. We had such a great vacation. I really have no complaints. I didn’t even mind the rain the last few days. We knew it was going to rain so we saved our shopping for Thursday and Friday. Good thinking, huh?

In addition to the lighthouses, dunes, and parks, we also drove my dad’s four wheel drive SUV out on to the beach. That was SO MUCH FUN! My dad was absolutely flying down the beach because a lot of it was soft sand so to go slow would mean getting stuck even with four wheel drive. The kids loved every minute of it too. It was definitely an adrenaline rush even if it means their SUV probably could use new shocks, hehehe.

We also had some pretty mag food on our vacation. We ate at Fishbone’s Sunset Grille which is the place I mentioned in my other post but couldn’t remember the name. We ate there twice and the Mister and I tried steamed oysters for the first time. I liked them but the Mister wasn’t won over. Our house came with a complimentary dozen bagels from Lighthouse Bagels in Duck, NC. I highly recommend their french toast bagels. Then, we went on the North Carolina Barbeque Quest. You would think that North Carolina BBQ would be easy to find in North Carolina, right? Well, this time of year, most of the Outer Banks is closed for the season. The Mister and I drove almost 30 miles and hit FIVE bbq places before we found one that was open. It was Pigman’s Bar-B-Que and it was good! Yum, YUM! They ship anywhere in the U.S. so if you want some, click on their link. On the way out, we stopped at Stack ‘Em High which is a breakfast place for a fantastic breakfast. I could have filled up on half of what they gave me and it was very reasonably priced.

Being able to visit with my family was the best part. I taught my dad how to blog while we were there, lol. I hope I wasn’t too confusing because when I talk about blogging, I get excited and talk fast. I wrote down a lot of stuff for him though so I think he’ll have enough to at least get started.

My nephew, who is three, was a lot of fun. He is too smart and has an answer for everything but he’s funny about it. The Mister put him in our car top carrier this morning when we were getting ready to load up the luggage and my nephew said, “I do not need to be in here.” He also says, “I need to put rocks,” when he has to go to the bathroom. I know, TMI, but it is so funny to hear him say that. He also had fun playing with the girls’ Polly Pockets, lol. He actually got mad this morning when I told him that the dolls needed to be packed.

Oh. And the dogs had a good time too. We let them on the furniture which is something they’re not allowed to do at home but it was their vacation too. They were generally well-behaved and enjoyed romping in the sand. One totally gross thing though…We had a red fox that lives in the neighborhood and frequently visited our yard (Okay. There’s no grass and it’s all sand but what else are you supposed to call it??). It must’ve come by last night because this morning, Hannah broke her fast on its poo. EEEWWW!!

Anyway, I have more pictures but they are still on my camera and the Mister stole the batteries for his keyboard. I will post them when I get them uploaded to my comp.

Long, Fun Day

I guess I’m out of the running for NaBloPoMo. Our vacation house is three stories and the computer is on the ground floor whereas our bedroom is on the third floor. I was too lazy to go all the way downstairs last night to blog so there ya go. Oh well. I’m only mildly disappointed.

So, let’s see.

Yesterday, the Mister, the girls, and I drove out to the Currituck Beach Lighthouse. We didn’t climb it because I was wearing sandals and the Mister could still barely walk from the marathon. I did take some pictures though:

 

Standing at the base, looking straight up.

This picture I took from the ground zoomed in on the top. Is my camera the bomb or what? That’s not even the strongest zoom it has.

After the lighthouse, we headed into town (Nag’s Head) for lunch. We got some pretty great pizza at Stone Oven Pizza. Yum. Then we went back to the house because my family had finally arrived from Ohio. We spent some time catching up then we went to dinner at a fabulous seafood place, the name of which is escaping me at the moment. The oldest child out-ate us all again having a 1/2 pound of crab legs, clams, and french fries. Our waitress was pretty impressed, lol.

Today was FILLED! To begin, we went to the Wright Brothers Memorial. We went there last year but our family had never been. Even so, it’s a really great experience. Here are some pictures:

This is a reenactment of what the flight would have looked like.

A view of the memorial dune from the bottom. Climbing that hill is tiring.

The memorial.

The view from the top looking towards the ocean. Being there and the view make the climb worth it.

After the memorial, we went to Jockey Ridge State Park. It’s the home of the tallest sand dunes on the east coast. They range in height from 90 to 100 feet depending on the winds.

View of the dunes.

A view of the Roanoke Sound from the top of the dunes.

This gives a little better perspective of just how tall the dunes are. You can’t really appreciate it from the pictures, but they were TALL and climbing them was a workout.

After the dunes we went to the Bodie Island Lighthouse which is located on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. This lighthouse isn’t open for climbing but the keepers house was pretty neat to tour.

Bodie Lighthouse

Bodie Lighthouse again.

After the lighthouse, we hit Mako Mike’s for dinner. It was okay but nothing special. Would I go back? Um, probably not because you can get that kind of seafood anywhere.

Now, we’re back at the house. I’ll be lucky if I can walk tomorrow with all the hill climbing I did today but it was a fantastic day and it’s a good kind of tired.

I’m apologizing now for not reading blog posts. I hadn’t checked my reader since we got here and I had over 600 posts to sift through. Some I read, most I didn’t. It makes me miss my bloggy friends though not to be able to read their posts on a daily basis. I also want to tell you all how much I appreciate the comments I’ve been getting even though I haven’t been commenting on anyone else’s blogs. I promise I’ll make up for it once things get back to normal.

Anyway, for your viewing pleasure, I have a very short video of the Mister at the dunes. It’s pretty funny and shows the character that he is to a “t”.

Bull

Direct copy and paste of the e-mail I recieved from our tenants last night:

We are sorry it had to come to this but we can't continue to be worried about when you are going to toss us out when we have never been more than a couple of weeks late with rent and have always cleared it with you first. We have just started the process of packing and will be moving out within the month.

They have a really funny memory.

We're Here!!

Day 8: NaBloPoMo

We made it to our beach house. It's really quite nice and it's probably twice as big as what we actually need. We also had fantastic weather today with highs in the mid 70's and only a bit of sprinkles here and there but it was mostly sunny otherwise.

You know how people always say that they don't understand how people live on the coast when they'll inevitably be wiped out by a hurricane? Well, after seeing Duck, N.C. and Corolla, N.C. I can understand why now. A place like this is more than just what may or may not happen.

Anyway, I'm pretty tired and trying to blog from the slowest computer on the face of the earth. I brought my CPU but I'm too tired to hook it up tonight. Yes. I had to bring it for work and school. This vacation is a working vacation but it's all good.

I'll be back tomorrow.

Getting Ready to Go

Day 7:  NaBloPoMo

Both the girls and the Mister only had a half a day of work and school today. On the one hand, they were able to help get the packing and cleaning done for our trip. On the other hand, they were in the way of me getting us packed and ready for our trip,lol. It’s been a hectic, nonstop day to say the least.

We put the car top carrier on the Rav tonight. That involved a lot of cussing and hand smashing. It’s very nice to have but it’s a PIA to put on the car. Major pain. Bailey has been all depressed because she saw us packing suitcases. Usually when she sees suitcases, one or more of us leaves and she doesn’t get to go. She misses her people when they leave and she doesn’t understand that she and Hannah get to go this time.

I enlisted one of the neighborhood kids to take care of our trashcans for us while we’re gone. The HOA frowns on leaving your cans where they can be seen from the street and I don’t want our business being put on the Internet which is what would happen if our cans sat on the street for that long. Anal retentive, nosy, busy bodies. You can’t call it anything else.

Wanna hear a funny story? The Mister forgot his running shoes at work. You know, the very things he needs for this trip and the whole reason why we’re going in the first place. So, we went to the base tonight to get them. We have a method for being able to get into his office after hours. Anyway, we get there and realize that we forgot our “method” at home. LMAO!! All was not lost since we stopped at the Dunkin Doughnuts and bought a dozen for breakfast tomorrow. I guess we’ll just have to stop at the base on the way out of town in the morning even though I don’t really think it’s on the way. Oh well.

At this point in the evening, we’re mostly packed, mostly cleaned, and mostly tired. I can’t wait to get on the road in the morning and to the beach house. I’m very, very excited. WOOT!

Oh. And our tenants never sent their rent money and today is the deadline. Anyone surprised?

1 day until we leave on our vacation!!

Oops

Day 6:  NaBloPoMo

I’ve been working at my job since May and so far, it’s been a very positive experience. The extra money has been great but even more so, the experience that I’ve gained and the contacts that I’ve made have been awesome. The people that I work for are always changing and adding projects for me to do which keeps me on my toes, it helps me to learn new skills, and it keeps the work from getting old. I like what I do and the people I work with and for and they seem to like me and the work that I’m doing. Today, however, I had my first work f-up and wow! Was it a doozy.

I received a call from the CEO today to discuss what happened. He took the blame on himself as I was only doing what I was supposed to be doing and what happened would never have happened had they reviewed my proposed plan of action closer. Even so, I took partial blame because knowing what I know, I should’ve known better. I’ve never been so embarrassed in my life. The “injured party” took it upon himself to CC his entire board as well as our entire board (which was a major overreaction) so EVERYbody and their brother knew what happened. Our CEO called the “injured party” several names, lol, and told me not to worry about it but with this being my first major work faux pas, I’m having a hard time letting it go. I think if I weren’t so stressed with the VT house issues (tomorrow is their payment deadline), school work, and getting us ready to go on vacation, it probably wouldn’t bother me so much. It was bad timing all around I suppose.

Taking a deep breath and letting it go.

2 days until we leave on our vacation.

Day 5

Day 5:  NaBloPoMo

I’m almost 100% today. I must’ve had some sort of flu though because tonight, the oldest child is feeling the same way I did. Oh well. I survived and so will she, lol.

Pam asked to see the picture of Nicholas Sparks’ new house that I took the other day. I’ll post it but the picture doesn’t do the house justice in the least. The sun was shining through the windshield and the house is too big to fit into one frame. Yeah. It must be nice to be a successful author, lol. I also have pictures of his kids because they went to the same elementary school that my kids used to go to. But don’t even ask. I’m not putting them on the Internet. Nope. No way, no how. But you can rest assured, they’re cute kids. Anyway, here’s the pic:

What you can’t see is the humongous three car garage to the left, the two story deck in the rear, the docks for their boat and jet skis, the river that runs behind their house and the fact that it more closely resembles a castle than an actual house. It takes three heat pumps to heat and cool the place. My house takes one. Maybe someday I’ll go back and try to get a better picture. I like the house because it’s gorgeous not just because it belongs to someone famous but I feel very stalker-ish going out to it because it’s on a dead end drive so you really can’t pretend that you were just driving by. Heheheh.

Three days until we leave on our vacation.

A Bookish Meme

Day 4:  NaBloPoMo

I didn’t do a single thing today but lay around. I think I might have some sort of stomach bug. And I have a swelling on the back of my head which is making my headache worse. It’s a bit worrisome and if it gets bigger or doesn’t go away, a trip to the doctor is probably going to be in order. I’m hoping it goes away because I hate doctors and I don’t want this to interfere with my vacation.

Anyway, since I was a big slug today, I’m falling back on a meme that I had saved just for this occasion.

Book Themed 7 Random Things About Me Meme. I found this on Literary Feline’s blog.

1. It seriously bugs me when I have a series of books and they don’t all match. For instance, my In Death books, some are paperback and some are hard covers and I’m sorely tempted to buy duplicate copies so that I’ll have a matching set.

2. I don’t need bookmarks. I can close a book and open it right where I left off. That’s not to say that I don’t like bookmarks though because I do.

3. I learned to read when I was four. My parents thought that I had just memorized the book, so they tested me on a different one and I was able to read that one too.

4. I used to love to read trashy romances while I was in high school. Books that I totally wouldn’t want my own daughters to be reading at that age.

5. I’ll never understand people that don’t like to read. Hearing that is like listening to a foreign language to me. How can you not like to read???

6. Meeting Nora Roberts at her book signing was one of the best highlights of my life.

7. Heheh. We drove by Nicholas Sparks’ new house the other day so that I could take a picture of it. Really made me feel like a stalker-azi.

4 days until we leave on our vacation.

P.S.

I’m listening to the Mister on his Rosetta Stone again. Tonight, it sounds like he’s trying to hack up a fur ball.

4 days until we leave on our vacation.

Dead Ends

Day 4: NaBloPoMo

I had a busy day of making phone calls that ended in unreturned voicemails and sending e-mails that also didn’t get returned. I’m beginning to think it’s me, lol. The one person that returned my call, I couldn’t remember why I had called him lmao. Talk about embarrassing.

I did get through to my realtor in Vermont and after we iron out a few details, the house will be listed for sale. It should be no later than next week.

I really have nothing of interest to say. I literally spent my entire day on the phone or sending out e-mails. I currently have a migraine that won’t quit and it’s making me nauseated so I’m going to bed a bit early.

One last thing…The Mister is practicing German using the Rosetta Stone program. He’s stuck on a word that deteriorated into him sounding like a pirate. And he’s like, “You’re not blogging about this are you??” I answered, “Of course I am.” Hehehehehehe!!! Then he told me that I suck.

 

5 days until we leave on our vacation.

A Summary of My Weekend

Day 2: NaBloPoMo

We had a busy weekend which is very unlike us.

Saturday, we took the Scion in for an oil change, tire rotation, and its yearly state inspection. While we waited on the car, we went to the commissary for the first time in two weeks. No, we don’t go grocery shopping every two weeks normally, we were just too lazy to go last week. While we were in the commissary, I got a phone call from the car place but reception is really bad in there so I couldn’t hear what they were saying. I thought they were calling to tell me the car was ready to be picked up so I had the Mister drop me off and go on home with the groceries. Turns out they were calling to tell me they were done with the oil change and were getting ready to start the inspection and they hadn’t done the tire rotation either. As a result, I had to sit in the shop with nothing to do but watch Dinotopia, or whatever that show/movie is called, on TV. Luckily, an elderly gentleman loaned me his landscaping in the south book to read while I waited.

Saturday afternoon we had to take the oldest child shopping for a birthday present for her friend and then to the friend’s house for a sleepover. Once we got her dropped off, we went and did some shopping of our own and then headed home.

Oh. And somewhere in there, we cleaned out the Mister’s car from all the stuff we had left in the back when we moved. How lazy are we? Funnily enough, all of our liquor was stored in the underneath storage compartment. We’re such party animals that I didn’t even realize it was missing. Good thing he never got pulled over for anything because that would have been a LOT of open container charges.

Today, I was repeatedly called by my tenants despite the fact that I told them not to call me anymore. I ended up turning off my phone for four hours and then when I turned it back on, they called ten minutes later which tells me they had been trying to get a hold of me that entire four hours my phone was turned off. My lawyer told me not to take their calls since I tend to be soft-hearted on the phone. Well, we’re to the point that the reason why I won’t take their calls is because I’ll end up yelling and cussing at them. Either way, I’m not talking to them on the phone anymore because it’ll end up being bad for me. Also, if I get everything in writing, they can’t accuse me of anything else like they did in their e-mail yesterday.

The oldest child also had volleyball today. The way it works is that they play two games every Sunday. Today, they won one and lost one. She had a couple good plays too. We were very proud parents.

Now, I’m working on my homework. The topics for my Lit paper have me a little stumped so I will be putting in some hard work on it tonight.

6 days until we leave on our vacation.

Cue Ominous Music

Day 1:  NaBloPoMo

I wouldn’t say that the shit has hit the fan, pardon my French, however, we came pretty darn close.

I received a rather nasty e-mail from our worthless tenants that contained unfounded accusations this afternoon. Fun times. I have documented proof that her claims are false; it’s not just our word against hers. Our lawyer has advised that we offer no compromises, stick to our guns, and boot the bitch out. I paraphrased a bit here, lol. I responded to the aforementioned e-mail, following my lawyer’s instructions to a “T” and the house will be going on the market Monday. There’s no going back.

After I stopped being unbelievably angry at being accused of CRAP, I am really pleased with the results of our communication with the shiftless tenants and the advice of our lawyer. It will all work out in the end.

7 days until we leave on our vacation.

I’m Not Saying It

You know what day it is.

My kids decorated their pumpkins for the holiday this morning. They lucked out and they don’t have school today for a teacher work day or something like that. Anyway, we thrive on being untraditional so rather than carve the pumpkins, they decorated them with Halloween-themed words in Halloween-colored foamies and glow in the dark glitter glue. They turned out rather nice I thought. The oldest child is going to be a princess turned into a vampire and the youngest is going to be a fairy princess. Pretty traditional. They rounded up about four other girls from our street and they are all going trick or treating together tonight. A six pack of giggling girls should be interesting. Since our development consists of two streets that are both cul-de-sacs, we’re letting them go alone this year. Since this is our first year in the neighborhood, I’m not sure how many people are going to give out candy or how many trick or treaters we’re going to get. I hope we get a lot of both.

8 days to go until our vacation.

Can We Get Some Heat Please?

This is what I’ve been hearing all week from my kids. I’m cold!!! It’s like they’ve never met me before or something. They should know by now that I’m The Heat Nazi. Yes, it’s a bit chilly in my house in the mornings with the temperature hovering around 67 degrees. But it warms up to 73 or 74 when the sun comes up so it’s all good. I don’t think it’s necessary to turn the heat on yet. And why is it that if the temperature in the house during the summer was 74 they’d be complaining that it’s too hot? It’s because they are never happy. My solution to chilly mornings? Put on a sweater, jeans, socks, and grab a throw blanket. I’m perfectly comfortable in the morning with just jeans and a sweatshirt on. Pansies. We could still be living in Vermont where they have snow on the ground. Get some perspective.

9 days until we leave on our vacation.

11 Days to Go

Things are progressing with the house in Vermont. I would go into detail, but it’s pretty boring if you’re not living it. Bottom line, they have until Nov 7th to pay November’s rent and the $700+ late water/sewer bill or they will be served with an eviction notice. I’m not holding my breath.

In other news…

Geez. I have very little “other” news. Between the Vermont issues, work, and the kids, I do very little else. In the 20 minutes of spare time I get a day (this is the time I sit in the carpool lane of the oldest child’s school waiting for her to get out. I deliberately leave that early so that I have that quiet time in the car. Pathetic, right?) I’ve been reading a certain book. I would tell you all about it, but it’s not time yet. No, it’s not a book telling me how to best take over the world. That one is in my TBR pile. ;)

School continues to be a drag. Big. Giganto. Un-fun. Drag. I have my Lit midterm this week which means the semester is half over thank GOODNESS! Weirdly enough, I’m just chock full of weirdness, I’m looking forward to next semester. I’m taking marketing and finance classes. One is a basic marketing class that’s a pre req for a upper level class I’ll take the next semester. The other is a finance class for entrepreneurs. I never saw myself heading in this direction before, but my work has opened new doors for me that I want to pursue. I half-wish that it wasn’t too late to change majors. But I’m so burned out that switching would be a very bad idea. Bad, bad, bad. I’d never make it.

And I’m tired and starting to ramble. Gonna hit the sheets.

11 days until we leave on our vacation.

And the Saga Continues

I’m sure you all are as tired of hearing about this as I am of talking about it. But you know what, it’s either get it all out or sit here and cry until I puke. I don’t like throwing up so this is how it’s going.

My renters bounced their rent check again. For anyone keeping tabs, that’s four times in 21 months. Too bad for us is that we had already paid our mortgage and as a result of the two events colliding, my checking account is very much in the red and my savings account if frozen. YAY ME!! I’ve never had a frozen bank account before. I feel like one of those crooks you see in the movies. Anyway, luckily, I get paid the old fashioned way and we were able to cash my check so that we could do things like, oh I don’t know. EAT!!! Also, for those of you that keep up with the drama in my life, we are set to go on our Outer Banks vacation a week from Saturday. Good news/bad news is that the house is already paid for but it’s also non-refundable. So, we either go and have no money to spend while we’re there and spend extra money on gas and food, or we stay home and we’re out a nice chunk of change. Yeah. It’s a conundrum.

Oh! And you know how we found out her check had bounced? We were in Target trying to pay for the oldest child’s knee pads for volleyball when my debit card was refused. Nice. Real nice.

You’ll be happy to note that I’m done being walked all over. There’s nice and then there’s being a doormat. I’ve engaged a lovely lawyer who said that she’ll collect her fees when we close on the house. She’s reviewing our case today and will be sending out a notice to pay or quit tomorrow. It’s the first step in the eviction process. We just have to keep our fingers crossed that we won’t get some bleeding heart idiot judge who will refuse to evict a family in the winter. Either way though, they either leave by eviction or they leave when the bank forecloses on the house. Because if they don’t make it so that we can sell the house, it’s getting foreclosed on, plain and simple. If we’re REALLY lucky, and I mean REALLY, we’ll be able to scratch our way out of this hole without having to let the house go into foreclosure. The plan is to put the house on the market as soon as they are served their eviction notice. If they don’t trash the house too badly, and I’m not a big enough idiot to think that they won’t trash the house on their way out, we should be able to get it sold before things get way out of hand. The realtor I talked to said that Vermont hasn’t been hit as badly as some other places in the country economy and housing market-wise.

I just don’t understand people like this. It’s not as if I forced her to move into the house and THEN told her how much the rent was going to be. Why do you move in somewhere that you can’t afford? And if you can’t afford your rent, why do you buy four ATV’s and shell out for a huge SECOND wedding??? Despite the fact that we are in serious financial SHITE, my rent will still be paid on time. This is how life should be:

1. Pay rent/mortgage.
2. Pay electric/heat and water bill
3. Pay renters/home owners/car insurance
4. Pay car payment
5. Buy food somewhere in there
6. Everything else

Am I the only one that thinks this is the logical and RESPONSIBLE course of action? You have to have somewhere to live. That somewhere has to have heat and running water. That somewhere needs to be insured and you have to have an insured vehicle to earn the  money to pay for the above. HELLO!!! If you are old enough to get married, have kids, and vote, you should be mature enough to figure out how to manage your finances. It’s also not as if she is making less money than when she moved in either. She works and has worked for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont. That job is the whole reason she moved to Vermont in the first place.

Grrrr!! People suck and you can’t tell me that they don’t.

To Quote…

The oldest child, “OMG!!” You guys have got to read this news story:

http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/online-divorcee-jailed-after-killing-virtual-hubby/1259111

When I have the time, I’m an avid gamer but this is something else altogether. This is just craziness.

Having Dog Issues

 

Does this look like a mean dog to you?

My sweet dog is being not-so-sweet lately. Bailey is having issues and I can’t figure out why. She’s three years old and until recently, I could never in a million years picture her being mean. Just in the last couple weeks though she’s not been herself. 

She snarled at me when I made her get off my bed. (We have a no dogs on the furniture rule.) She bit the youngest child on the hand just a few minutes ago. She mounted one of the kids when they were on the floor playing with her last week. She’s also been showing dominance over Hannah lately and when we first got Hannah, Bailey allowed her to be the dominant dog even as a puppy. Maybe it’s all the changes since we moved. She became depressed when we moved from Vermont to North Carolina which is one of the reasons we got Hannah in the first place. We don’t want a third dog right now so getting Bailey another puppy is out of the question. 98% of the time, Bailey is perfectly fine. She’s affectionate, she obeys commands, and she’s just generally well-behaved. It’s that other 2% that has me worried because she could progress really fast into being aggressive if I don’t figure out what to do. She’s also been extra hungry lately but I have no idea what that could mean. Maybe I should take her to the vet. She’s not due for a check-up but it couldn’t hurt I suppose. She’s not spayed either. We never came to a decision on whether or not we wanted to breed her. It’s probably time to fix her and be done with it though. If we can’t make a decision after three years, it’s not meant to be, right?

I would be devastated if anything ever happened to either one of my dogs. I need a solution.

On Being a Winner

A couple weeks ago, I unknowingly entered a blogging contest at A Novel Menagerie. When I originally responded,I thought it was a regular, run of the mill meme. I only realized it was a contest when the blog’s author informed me that I had won. I never win anything so I was pretty excited. Monday, my winnings arrived in the mail.

I received a very pretty book thong and a much needed book light. How nifty, eh?

I just want to thank Sher for selecting my entry and for sending me these wonderful bookish items. They are much appreciated and will I get a lot of use out of them.

Our Weekend Version 1 Gazillion

I had an awesome Friday night. I attended my first ever virtual wine tasting. How’d it work? Well, at Twitter Moms, there’s a group of Twitter Wine Moms. A variety of wine was chosen for the group and a time to meet up on Twitter. We bought the bottle (or some of us bought whatever we could find. Luckily, I was able to find the suggested bottle.) and then we chatted about the nose, color, taste, etc. on Twitter. At first, I was looking forward to it. Then when the time came, Friday night at 8 pm for me, I was just tired and didn’t care. But once we got started, it was so much fun! It was only supposed to go from 8 to 10 eastern time, but when I signed off after 11, the chat was still going on. As the time progressed and wine was consumed, we totally got off topic and talk of boobs and such started up, heheh, but I still learned a little about wine and I made some new virtual friends. Welcome to Trisha’s Nerdville. I know.

Saturday, the Mister ran in his 10k. This was his second official race and both times he got rained on, lol. Despite being prepared, his right nipple didn’t fare so well, lmao. I wonder if women runners have this same problem since they wear bras? He ran a pretty decent time though and was happy with the results. It boosted his confidence a little as he’s starting to worry about the OBX Marathon in November.

Sunday the oldest child had her first volleyball practice. She had a good time and said that she did pretty good at the skills they were introduced to except for serving. Sometimes, and this is one of those times, I have to wonder how she ended up being my daughter. I hated, and still do, sports and joining in on stuff. She’s a social butterfly. I’m glad she’s not like me in this way. The rest of our Sunday was pretty much affected by my next paragraph.

We got bad news Saturday evening. A friend of ours from Ohio died Friday. It still shocks me to say it. I’ve known Ben since I was ten years old. More than half my life. He was only 36 years old and the cause is still unknown. Almost all my memories of Ben are funny. He told the best stories and could make you laugh no matter what kind of mood you were in. The summer I spent with my brother here in N.C. when I was 16, Ben was there too as he was originally a friend of my brother’s and his wife. We all went to dinner at this Chinese place in Jacksonville called Mai Tai’s. It was amazing that we didn’t get kicked out because Ben was doing this voice and telling these jokes (yeah, they were off-color but what the hell) and we were all laughing so hard that we were totally being obnoxious. I’ll never forget that. He also did a favor for me that summer for which I will always be grateful. The Mister knew Ben before he knew me. They worked together at Donato’s Pizza in Marion and they became friends too. The Mister has lots of his own memories of Ben making him laugh as well. Marion is a weird little town like that where someone knows someone who knows someone else and then they end up related or some weird thing like that. The last time we saw Ben was this time last year in Ohio at our brother-in-law’s funeral. They were also good friends and despite Ben’s profound sadness, he still managed to make us laugh. That was Ben. I’m really going to miss him.

Those Darn Kids

I have great kids. They are respectful and pretty well behaved but they are LAZY. Holy cow! Last night, I grounded them FROM the living room until Wednesday because I’m tired of them leaving their stuff, namely ten pairs of shoes and socks, all over the room. I’ve also implemented a new allowance system that I got from watching an episode of Super Nanny, heheh. Anyway, instead of earning an allowance, they have to keep from losing it. They start out the week with a set amount of points. During the week, if I have to tell them to do their chores, homework, or get on them for misbehaving, they lose points. At the end of the week, their leftover points translate into a monetary allowance. So far, it’s working way better than any other punishment/reward system we’ve ever tried using. They are 12 and almost 10 years old and have to learn responsibility. It’s not like I make them wax the floors or landscape the yard. They have to unload and reload the dishwasher and take care of the trash and recycling. They also have to keep their rooms clean and walk the dogs. All in all, it’s not a lot of work and it doesn’t take a lot of time. Do they like to do it? No, not at all. Last night they lost points because I’ve been telling them to clean the kitchen since Friday and they’ve yet to do it completely and not half-assed. Case in point:  The oldest child put away my large, glass pyrex mixing bowl in the cabinet in such a way that when I opened the door, it fell out and shattered all OVER the freaking place (I was very sad to have my favorite mixing bowl broken). Why did that happen? Because she was trying to do as little work in as little time as possible. Points lost.

I’ve always felt that paying kids to live in their own house is wrong. That didn’t stop me from paying them to do stuff around the house because I was desperately trying to figure out a way to get them to be responsible for themselves and not to be total slobs. Suffice it to say, it didn’t work. But this way, they get an allowance because I’d like them to have their own spending money and to realize how much things cost. They are spoiled with having too many things. Cell phones, iPods, Gameboys, Wii’s, enough toys for 20 kids, enough clothes and shoes for the entire neighborhood, and other random stuff. As a result, they don’t take care of any of it…Oh, I lost my shoe? Mom or grandma will buy me another pair. Whoops. I broke Barbie’s head off. Oh well. I bet I can get grandpa to buy me ten more. When it comes to the oldest child’s cell phone (the youngest doesn’t have one yet), the iPods and that type of thing, I threaten their lives to get them to take care of them. This hasn’t stopped the dogs from chewing on the youngest child’s iPod out in the yard though. So, they have their own money so that they can realize how much it takes to buy the things they want. But, they have to act like civilized human beings, because in reality, that’s all I’m asking for, or they will have their money chipped away at until they are left with quarters instead of dollar bills.

Even after our preliminary success with our new allowance method, I still don’t have much faith that it will last. How sad is that? We’ve tried other things in the past that have temporarily worked until I get tired of keeping up with it and end up doing everything myself. Is this a control issue maybe? Or what’s the word? Where a person takes everything on themselves so that they can make everyone feel sorry for them or feel like crap for not doing anything to help? Whatever. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this will work out for us.

Do you have success or failure stories when it comes to kids, chores, and allowances?

Funnies

I subscribe to an RSS feed from True Mom Confessions. It’s kinda like anonymous Twitter for moms and if you don’t know what Twitter is, you’re a little behind the e-times. Anyway, I consider this a guilty read because so much of it makes me giggle. I just had to share a confession that came through today:

tmc639419015

Oct 16, 2008 2:29 PM - Show original item

When I am in the restroom stall, people think that I am typing on my blackberry, really I'm playing my gameboy.

Hehehe. I think that is so funny.

Another funny I saw on the net today was this line:

I wish my lawn was emo so it would cut itself.

HAHAHAHA!!

Overheard at my dinner table tonight from the youngest child:

Aww man!! You put your nuts in them (the green beans). Why did you put your women’s nuts in the green beans?

The Mister and I about peed ourselves from laughing so hard. She had no idea what was so funny, thankfully, but oh my gosh! It was hilarious. In case you were wondering, she was talking about almonds. I made fresh roasted green beans with almonds. She thinks they are my nuts because I like to munch on them as snacks from time to time. Ah hem.

Lastly, the Mister sent me this video in an e-mail today. It’s clean if you’d like a silly laugh.

Keeping Up

I have done exactly NOTHING interesting at all this week. I’m not really feeling sick anymore with just a mild case of the stuffy-s and the sniffles, but I get tired really fast. It’s all I can do to keep up with work and school this week. Whine whine.

We’ve been having the bestest weather. It’s been in the mid 80’s all week and it’s the middle of October, heheh. I don’t miss the cold weather, fall, snow, NOTHING about it at all. Sadly, it’s going to be cold this weekend with highs only in the 60’s.  :( Don’t worry. I’ll survive.

I made my second foray into audio books this week. I’m listening to I Am Legend by Richard Matheson for Readers Anonymous. Listening to him obsess over his lack of a sex life is funny. After I listen to the book, I’m going to watch the movie. We picked it up on DVD on sale last week. From what other addicted readers in my group have been saying, I’m going to like the movie much better. We’ll see.

I’m also reading about Hinduism and Buddhism for my religion class this week. Interesting stuff.

Did I mention that the oldest child is playing volleyball? Her first practice is this Saturday. She’s so tall that she should be halfway decent at it. With her genes, however, it’s really going to be a toss up. Also this Saturday, the Mister is running in a 10k here in our bitty town. With volleyball practice, I’m probably not going to get to watch him though.

Speaking of races, we only have 23 days until the start of our Outer Banks vacation!! WOOT!! I’m beside myself with anticipation.

Sorry. That’s it. I’m drained. I’m so BORING! I don’t even have anything to rant about for pete’s sake. Sheesh.

Columbus Day

All of us in the Trisha household had a three day weekend. The long weekend was nice, but the Mister and I spent most of it laid up in bed. Get your minds out of the gutter. We were both sick, heheh. We loaded up on tissues, OTC meds, which are pretty much a joke thanks to all the meth heads out there, and made sure the remote control was within reach. Fun times, let me tell ya. We’re both feeling much better today though. In the grand scheme of things, this little, tiny, sniffle is nothing compared to what used to hit me when we lived in California. I used to get colds that would evolve into bronchitis which would knock me down for two weeks and require antibiotics every four months. While I’m still sniffle-y and sneezy, the worst of this cold was over in 48 hours. Is this what a “normal” cold is like? I didn’t even lose my voice.

Today the Mister and I took the kids to Target to buy their Halloween costumes and to let them spend their allowances. Then we went to Best Buy where I spent my Best Buy reward points on season three of BSG. Too bad I didn’t have that at the beginning of the weekend when I was stuck in bed. It is GOOD so far!

So, I didn’t update for three(?) days and this is all I have to say. It’s hard to have anything to post when all you did in that time was blow your nose and pop useless pills. I had 99 e-mails waiting for me this evening too, lol. I checked my e-mail last night before I went to bed and I still had 99 e-mails. None of them were spam either.

Now I’m tired. I get worn out pretty quick the last few days. I’m going to hit the couch.

I Had No Idea

North Carolina's Expensive Gas
Eastern NC   -  10/8/2008

North Carolina has the most expensive gasoline in the continental United States.
The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Wednesday that drivers in our state were paying an average of $3.79 a gallon for regular gasoline yesterday. That is 31 cents above the national average, and higher than in any other state except for Alaska and Hawaii.
Industry and government officials say the hurricanes that disrupted production in the Gulf of Mexico are responsible for the higher prices. Extra deliveries at Wilmington's port improved supplies in the eastern part of the state, and some stations had prices below $3.40 earlier this week.

From News Channel 12

I know that I said a while back that I was tired of obsessing over gas prices but this shocked me. I paid $3.78 yesterday and I thought that was cheap comparatively, lol. What do I know?

It’s That Time of Year

I feel a cold coming on. I’m on my second cup of tea trying to sooth my throat. My first cup was a white tea with blueberry and pomegranate. Yum! Now I’m drinking some oolong tea. I need to look up the medicinal properties of tea to see if one variety is better than another. I just like the warmth on my throat. I usually try fending off a cold with denial. It hardly ever works.

Something else that happens this time of year? Well, at least for us and it’s only every four years. The Mister is eligible to reenlist in ten days. Even with the bonus money dangling like the proverbial carrot in front of our faces, we are still hesitant. He doesn’t have to do the reenlistment in ten days because he actually has until October of next year before his contract is up. However, the bonus money won’t necessarily be there for that long. So, we have a little time to make the final decision but not a lot. I wish that I believed in fortune tellers so that I could consult one and then blame them if it turned out to be a bad decision, lol.

And, Halloween. The oldest child wants to be a vampire princess and the youngest just wants to be a plain old princess. Bailey is, of course, going as a pumpkin and Hannah just gets a bandana because she prefers to eat clothes rather than wear them. The Mister and I are boring and we don’t dress up. Our California to Vermont movers lost my Halloween decorations and I haven’t built up a new collection yet so I don’t know if I’m going to bother with decorations or not. I can’t even remember if I have decorations at all. I have a feeling that the neighborhood kids will have some tricks up their sleeves for Halloween. They already like to play with the street signs as a prank. They (and I actually know who they are) keep turning the signs so that they are facing the wrong streets. We tried to get pizza delivered the other night and the delivery guy called saying that I wasn’t home even though I was. I told him he was at the wrong address but he was adamant that he was on the right street, right house. That’s when I figured that the signs had been turned again. Funny, but a bit annoying and the guy acted like it was my fault, lol. Oh well.

I think I’m going to see if I have any cold meds to chase with my tea. My head feels like it’s in a vice.

Thursday Meme

Courtesy of Booking Through Thursday.

What was the last book you bought?

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Name a book you have read MORE than once

All the Harry Potters and all the In Death books.

Has a book ever fundamentally changed the way you see life? If yes, what was it?

I’m shallow so I can’t think of one.

How do you choose a book? eg. by cover design and summary, recommendations or reviews

If there’s a new book by an author that I’ve loved or hated, I’ll either buy it or stay away from it respectively. I also go by recommendations of other bloggers.

Do you prefer Fiction or Non-Fiction?

Fiction.

What’s more important in a novel - beautiful writing or a gripping plot?

The plot. For me, a book isn’t worth reading if I don’t care about the story or the characters.

Most loved/memorable character (character/book)

Eve Dallas

Which book or books can be found on your nightstand at the moment?

Sadly, none.

What was the last book you’ve read, and when was it?

I read The Russian Concubine by Kate Furnivall Tuesday and I loved it. I’m in the middle of reading another book the title of which I can’t currently remember, lol.

Have you ever given up on a book half way in?

I gave up on Frankenstein and Dracula in high school but when I read them a couple years ago, I loved them. I just wasn’t ready for either book while I was in high school. Other books I’ve set aside with the intention of coming back to read them later. And I will.

The Past Few Days

We had a fantastic time at the N.C. Seafood Festival Saturday night. The weather could not have been more perfect. It was gorgeous. We had shrimp, funnel cakes, and salt water taffy. There was also a N.C. vineyard, J. Wesley Vineyards, that hosted a wine tasting at the festival so I tried I think five different wines and bought a pretty decent bottle of cabernet sauvignon.

The thing about these outdoor festival deals is that your choice of restroom is pretty limited. You have porta potties and restrooms inside of businesses which are usually closed to the public. Well, the youngest was in desperate need of a potty so we headed towards a bank of porta potties. I checked them out and HOLY COW!! Unfit for humans is the only nice way to put it. I wouldn’t even let my dogs in those things. But what do you expect from porta potties? By this time, the child was doing the pee pee dance and was looking pathetic. Our only choice was to head to a restaurant and pay for some food. We went to this restaurant called Sanitary Fish Market and Restaurant. We didn’t actually want to eat there because we wanted to eat at the festival so we got salads and drinks. For the privilege of a clean restroom and a little bit of food, we paid $52.00. Oh well.

The wine tasting.

Heading towards the funnel cake vendor.

Looking down a street.

Sunset over the river or inlet or whatever body of water this is. I really like this picture though.

On the way home we stopped at Petsmart for some dog food and ended up buying Bailey her Halloween costume.

Heheh.

Bailey the ham.

Those pictures were taken with my digi camera not my phone.

Sunday we didn’t do a whole lot except for go to the commissary, the Mister ran 14 miles or something like that, and he mowed the lawn which needs watering.

Yesterday I was feeling quiet. Not depressed or grumpy, just quiet. I didn’t want to hear the TV, the kids, music, or anything. I dug out a book from one of the boxes in the garage and read it. It’s the first time in recent memory that I’ve started and finished a book in one day. I miss that. It was sort of like visiting with an old friend.

Today I’m still feeling a little bit on the quiet side. Unfortunately, both of my phones have been ringing off the hook and I’ve had to deal with rent issues again. My rent, not the Vermont rent. I first tried mailing the rent check on 9/22 and it was returned as undeliverable yesterday. Then, on 10/3 I tried doing an electronic transfer. I got an e-mail from the Mister this morning saying that they still didn’t have the money so I went into a bit of a panic and a lot of fury and proceeded to figure out what the hell. Turns out that it takes three business days for electronic transfers to complete when they are transacted between my bank and an outside bank. All in all, it took me 11 days to pay my rent. What a PIA.

Random Stuff from Saturday

I almost feel a need to explain last night’s post. Because of that, I’m not going to.

On to other things…

The oldest child’s concert was a hit. All the kids played very well and they looked like they had a good time. I was able to take some decent video with my camera for the Mister since he couldn’t make it. Why do they schedule these things in the middle of the workday?

We are also having our first overnight guest over. The oldest child’s friend, S, came over last night. We absolutely love her. She’s almost seems like a long lost daughter because of how well she fits into our family. She’s sarcastic and a smartass just like the rest of us. She was calling the Mister “grandpa” last night which had all of us rolling.

Today we are going to go to the North Carolina Seafood Festival. I wanted to go last year but we had to go to Ohio for a funeral. The festival would have been much more fun, lol. I’m totally excited though. The food has to be awesome, right? I’m going to try and take pictures to post. We’ll see how it goes.

Funny, funny story. Yesterday afternoon, the oldest child was going outside to hose out Bacon’s cage when I happened to notice something different about her. I called her back, took a good look, and my jaw hit the floor. She cut her own hair!! She only gave herself bangs but I was a bit shocked. Then I proceeded to jump down her throat. I asked her if she was five years old because that’s something five year old kids do. Right Jennifer S.??? I couldn’t believe it. Once I got over my shock and disbelief, I started to laugh. Her “bangs” actually look like a five year old went after them with a pair of safety scissors. I’m going to have to take her to a professional and get her hair fixed. And you know what else? It’s coming out of her allowance. She’s 12. If she wants to go around looking like a freak job, I suppose it’s her business but I sure as heck am not paying for it. That’s the same thing I told her when she said she wanted her ears pierced for a second time. I said, sure whatever, but I’m not paying for it. She still only has one hole in each ear. I also told her that she was just going to have to take all the ribbing she was going to get from her father and me because how are we supposed to resist teasing her about this??? Teenager-hood-dom is going to be an absolute lovely ride for us.

After the concert yesterday, I took a drive over to our old neighborhood. I like the new house, but I really miss our old neighborhood. Our old house still isn’t rented out yet. It doesn’t look like they are even trying all that hard. The rental sign is leaning up against the house, sideways, and behind a bush. Not an effective way to advertise. While I was out that way, I decided to drive over to the “exclusive” part of the neighborhood and I took this picture of a house over there:

A house on the same street is currently for sale for $2.3 million. Crazy. You can’t see it, but they have a river in their backyard. Gorgeous area. This is why people were so shocked when they heard where we used to live, lol. Umm. We lived in the old section, heheh.

Well, I’m off. Lunch is in order am I’m starved. I also hear banging coming from downstairs so I should see what the kids are up to.

Things That I’ve Been Thinking

But that I haven’t been saying. Believe it or not, I hold back.

1. I don’t respect your right to smoke especially when you do so in the car with a child riding along. There’s a reason why it’s illegal in some states now. Get a clue.
2. Along that vein…I don’t understand how people who have watched their loved ones, especially their fathers, die of lung cancer can still smoke everyday. I have had a LOT of people die in my life between my family and my husband’s family and lung cancer, so far, is the absolute worst way to go.
3. Furthermore, I think it’s terrible when you have to borrow money for groceries yet you always seem to have enough cash to buy cigarettes.
4. I’m amazed at how often and how many people are content with listening to what they want to hear instead of seeking the truth.
5. Ya know what? It’s not always about YOU.
6. Learn how to freaking drive. Okay. I’ve said this one many times before but I was almost hit by someone who lives in my neighborhood today when she ran a stop sign and another day this week by someone who apparently had a desperate need to go to McDonalds.
7. Your kid is a nightmarish, disrespectful brat. Ya know what else? I’m not the only one that thinks so.
8. Nice houses in a nice neighborhood doesn’t always mean nice neighbors. I think some of my new neighbors are either drug dealers, gangsters, or both.
9. I don’t mind being passed by a Porsche.
10. Your McDouche bumper sticker is tasteless and I didn’t appreciate having to field questions from my daughter on what it meant in the carpool lane of her school. I think the last time I heard someone being called a douche was in high school. You’re that immature and I would think so if the thing had said Barack Odouche.
11. I would say that I think our country is going to hell in a hand basket but only if that hand basket was equipped with warp speed.
12. I don’t feel comfortable talking about my political views and my job on my blog for fear of who is reading it. Plus, I think we hear enough about politics from all the commercials we’re being bombarded with these days. What’s more is that I almost deleted this one because of my concerns.
13. I post these types of updates too often. I need to learn to speak my mind in the “real” world.
14. You’ll never convince me that you were “crazy”. I think your stint in the psych ward was your way of escaping responsibility in your real life. You know. Taking care of your kids, cleaning your nasty house, working on your marriage, doing your job. Those types of things. Scarily enough, this applies to two people that I know IRL.
15. I’m starting to feel less like a nerd for being knowledgeable about things like Web 2.0, social media, the Internet, gaming, etc. You know why? Because that knowledge and those skills landed me in a kick ass business. Deal with THAT.
16. It cracks me up when my daughter says, “OMG!!”
17. Kids that are in band aren’t band geeks. I really hate that generalization. I would give anything to have an ounce of musical talent. Maybe I have a different perspective because at my high school, band was the best thing we had. When adults say that, I look down my nose at them in return.
18. It makes me feel good that I can afford to rent a beach house and invite my family to stay with us.
19. I never thought that I’d have a reason to wear a pink ribbon. No. I don’t have breast cancer but someone close to me does. It was dumb and naive of me to think it, but I never thought I’d be so profoundly touched and scared by breast cancer.
20. I’ll round this out with an even 20 by saying, I think my dog is better than yours. Heheh. Just joking. I don’t have a 20th thing to add to this list. Maybe I should make this a monthly feature that way I can limit my outright bitchiness to one day a month. Nah. We all know I’d never make it even one month. ;)

Kid Stuff

Yesterday I had to go to the youngest child’s parent/teacher conference. When you have a special needs kid, you tend to dread these things. Not because she’s a behavior problem, but because I get tired of hearing what they plan on doing for her but seeing very little results. It’s frustrating and frightening. This school seems to have resources and personnel that her old school didn’t so I will remain open-minded and see how things go.

Today, I have to go to the oldest child’s first band concert. Well, the first one at this school anyway. She had another one at her old school in Vermont. I’m excited to see her play. When she practices at home, she’s pretty near flawless. Well, at least as far as I can tell, lol. I’m not an expert but I know the songs and I don’t hear any mistakes. She struggled with a speech and language delay the first ten years of her life so it makes me misty to see her excel at something for a change. She plays the flute in case you were wondering.

I have to leave in five minutes so I’m off. Have a great weekend everyone.

Something Nice and Less Whiny

I saw Thursday Thoughts while surfing the blogosphere today and thought it would be a nice alternative to Booking Through Thursday when I choose not to do that meme.

From Thursday Thoughts:

Why did got you begin on your blogging adventure?  Tell the who, what, when, where and why!  How many blogs do you maintain?  How often do you write on your blog and how much time do you spending reading other blogs?  Do you feel a compulsion to share your blogging experience with the people in your life?  Have you made real connections via your blogging?  And, last, but NEVER least…

ARE YOU ADDICTED?

Why did got you begin on your blogging adventure?  Tell the who, what, when, where and why! 

I began my blogging adventure back in 2003. I think it was October or thereabouts. We were still living in California at the time. Ahhh. Those were the days. Anyway, we knew that we were going on recruiting duty and while we didn’t know where, we knew it would be a big move. Our families tend to be worriers and nag us about this sort of thing so I figured that rather than fielding calls about where we were going, I’d set up a blog that I could update and not have to speak directly to anybody. It turned out to be a really great way to keep everyone up to date with our move, where we were going, and what it was like when we got there. Honestly, if I hadn’t had my blog those three loooong years in Vermont, I truly think I would have ended up in a mental hospital. No joke. Now, 5 years later, I don’t think ANYone in our family still reads my blog and it has evolved into whatever it is today.

How many blogs do you maintain?

This is the only blog that I maintain with any regularity. I have a blog that’s private that I put pictures of my kids on but haven’t updated it in forever. Also, there are WordPress and OnSugar versions of this very blog that I was experimenting with. I have no idea what I plan to do with them at this point.

How often do you write on your blog and how much time do you spend reading other blogs? 

I update 4.7 times a week on average according to Google Reader, heheh. I dunno. I try to update Monday through Friday and take the weekends off but sometimes I’m inspired to update multiple times a day (like today) and on the weekends and sometimes I don’t feel like writing at all. I try very hard not to let myself feel obligated to update because I’ve seen really good bloggers give up blogging for that very reason. As for how much time I spend reading other people’s blogs, well, I would estimate that it’s A LOT. It’s one of my favorite pastimes and these days, I read blogs more than I do books and that’s saying something.

Do you feel a compulsion to share your blogging experience with the people in your life?

Hmm. Well, I’m not shy about the fact that I blog but I don’t know how much I talk about it outside of the online community. When I do talk about blogging with real live people, I tend to become enthusiastic and I probably come off as insane.

Have you made real connections via your blogging?

I’m not sure how to answer this part. Some of the people that read my blog I know in real life because I either went to high school with them or they were friends and neighbors at some point. Also, there are some bloggers that I feel that if we were neighbors we’d be friends. But I just don’t know how much I believe that “real” connections can be made with people you’ve never met and will probably never meet. It makes me feel a bit stalker-ish to think I have real connections with people I “follow” online. Define “real connection”.

Am I addicted? I suppose I would say yes to an extent. I would be sad if I never blogged or read blogs again. Would I have withdrawal if I quit cold turkey? Maybe. I would definitely feel like I was forgetting to do something. I would also miss reading my regular blog haunts. You do feel like you get to know people when you read their blogs every day. I asked my hubby this question and he answered, “YES!!” without hesitation, lol. Oh well. I could be addicted to much worse things in life.

Feels Like a Monday

This is me being an unhappy camper. I was having a fantastic day yesterday until a certain bill arrived in the mail. It’s the sewer bill for the Vermont house. It comes to us but our renters are supposed to pay it according to their lease. I should also be more specific and say the bill is a “Collectors Delinquent Notice”. Turns out that the sewer bill hasn’t been paid in five months. I know it’s hard to believe that a mother with a good job could be so freaking irresponsible and STUPID. Wanna see for yourselves?

Can you figure out the total amount due? Don’t worry. I’ll tell ya. It’s $698.43. How in the WORLD can people be so freaking…I don’t even have a word for it. What’s worse is that I’m a complete and total idiot where this whole situation is concerned. I’m too freaking nice. Wanna pay your rent late? SURE go right ahead and stick it up my butt. Wanna burn the house to the ground? SURE, just send my some nice photos. I like a good fire. Wth.

I told the Mister that I am going to send her an e-mail because I’m done being Mrs. Nice Guy and he told me to be firm and professional. I don’t believe I’m in the right frame of mind to be professional and my firmness might smash her face into the ground. If I were to call, it would get ugly. She’s been renting from us for 21 months and out of those 21 months, I think maybe THREE of them didn’t give me high blood pressure. I’m having a hard time seeing why I have to be nice.

Maybe I should just stop paying the mortgage. We could join the ranks of those who have had their house foreclosed on this year. We certainly wouldn’t be lacking for company.

I need an objective person to write her for me, lol.

Stealing

I nabbed this off the blogosphere somewhere.

Here's the rules: Grab the nearest book. Open the book to page 56. Find the fifth sentence. Post the text of the next two to five sentences in your journal/blog along with these instructions…
Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST. You’re also supposed to “tag” others to do it but I figure you all can decide for yourselves if you’re going to play or not. If you do, leave me a comment so that I can read your response.

 

The nearest book to me is my textbook “The Norton Anthology:  English Literature”. I don’t think this book could be considered “cool” by any means, heheh.

From page 56:

She, bereft

and blameless, they

foredoomed, cut down

and spear-gored. She,

the woman in shock,

waylaid by grief,

Hoc’s daughter--

how could she not

lament her fate

when morning came

and the light broke

on her murdered dears?

And so farewell

delight on earth,

war carried away

Finn’s troop of thanes

all but a few.

There ya go. That was kind of a pain to type up, lol. For an added bonus, can anyone tell me what piece of literature this selection is from? It’s not much to go on but two names are mentioned and there’s another context clue that should be a pretty good hint.

Rent, Renting, and Renters

October is turning out to be a rough month and it hasn't even started yet.

I mailed our October rent check to San Diego about 8 or 9 days ago. Our landlords (heheh) left us their forwarding address so that I could do so. However, they didn't get the house they were told they were getting (base housing can be like that) so they have a different address. I didn't find this out until today so I mailed a nice-sized check to perfect strangers. Yes. I put a stop payment on it this morning and paid $29 to do so. Now, there is no way that they are getting rent on time this month.

That's not even the worst thing about October and rent. Our renters e-mailed me and asked if it was okay if they pay their rent on 10/10. Well, no it's not but what can I do? If I say no and they pay me, the check will undoubtedly bounce. It will also whittle away at what little bit of neutrality we have between us since last year's rent check bouncing fiasco. Which leads us to the fact that she started pulling this crap the same time last year which is making me wonder if I'm going to have another round of bounced checks on my hand again this year. The really sad thing is that the Mister and I have already started to sock away some money just in case she does. Yeah, yeah. It's easy enough to say that I should make her move out but the thing is, legally, I can't do that. She has to fail to pay her rent four times in a 12 month period before I can even start eviction proceedings and then, as I've been told by a lawyer, Vermont judges aren't inclined to evict people, especially those with kids, in the winter. She has my ass (sorry) in a sling and she knows it. That's why she bounced three months worth of checks last year and then started paying her rent on time. Furthermore, if we evict her, who the hell is supposed to pay the mortgage? We can't afford to pay a rent and a mortgage and live at the same time. Also, if we were to sell right now with the market the way that it is, we'd probably take at least a $40,000 loss. I don't know about you people, but that's nothing to sneeze at in my book. This is why we didn't boot her and put the house on the market this past spring like I had originally planned to do.

I hate rent, renting, and renters. All of it sucks. All of it. Do I get to blame this on the sad state of our economy?

Told Ya I’d be Back

I knew there was stuff from my weekend that I was forgetting about. I think I have mentioned in the past that I’m not much of a morning person. My brain doesn’t start to function until about 9 or so. Anyway…

Friday we drove to Morehead City to go to the Best Buy. Our old DVD player won’t work with the new TV for some reason. I thought that it just needed cleaned so we bought cleaner stuff and hooked it up to the bedroom TV (it was easier to test it on that TV rather than the living room TV). It worked just fine so I thought, “Cool! It just needed cleaned.” Well, when we connected it to the living room TV, the TV kept saying that it couldn’t detect it and when it did, the picture was distorted and garbled. Our thinking is that the component jacks on the TV are messed up somehow. A real PIA (that’s Pain In the Ass) considering the TV is brand new. The other sucky thing is that the DVD player is old enough that it doesn’t have an HDMI jack on it. So, we bought a new DVD player and hooked it to the new TV with an HDMI cable and it works great. We put the old DVD player in our bedroom and hooked it up with component cables and it works great too! I didn’t realize how cheap DVD players are these days and we bought one that’s a five disc changer too. Fun times. I know you’re not supposed to have a TV in the bedroom but you know what? I’m excited about having a DVD player in my bedroom, heheh.

While we were in Morehead City, I talked the Mister into driving to the beach. Atlantic Beach is only a few minutes down the road. It was a very nice night. There was a wedding on the beach too when we got there. That would be my dream wedding should I ever have one only I would want to go to the cliffs on La Jolla beach in San Diego. Here’s a pic of the sunset. I took it with my phone so it’s backlit and a little dark but you can tell what it is.

Sorta.

Today, I had an appointment with an accountant. You may remember back when we first moved here and H&R Block totally screwed up our taxes. Well, with my job, which turns out I’m a sole proprietorship, I decided not to take any chances and I consulted a real accountant. I’m really glad that I did too because he told me a story of a client that had an accidental business like me and ended up owing $10,000 in taxes without realizing it. Totally not a possibility in my case, but it could be someday. It is also handy to know all of the stuff that I get to write off at the end of the year as business expenses. We’re going to go to him in 2009 and have him do all of our taxes too. The older we get, the more complicated our taxes get. It’s crazy.

I think that’s it for real this time. I gotsta get to work.

My Productive Weekend

I actually got stuff done this weekend. I was amazed at myself.

I finally got the garage cleaned out. It was still full of our boxes from moving. I know. How lazy that it took us a month to go through the stuff. It also got me to thinking that if we could live without all those things for a month, do we really need them at all? The answer if probably no but we still unpacked the boxes anyway. My car is now parked in the garage! I wish I had taken before and after pictures because it really was an amazing amount of work and I did it mostly by myself. The house has suffered as a result of cleaning out the garage though. The crud had to go somewhere, lol.

My school work is also suffering. I find myself remarkably unenthusiastic about taking classes this semester. Both of my classes are on subjects that I was really looking forward to studying, but I have to force myself to do my reading and assignments each week leaving most of it until the last minute. I’m pretty sure that my job has a lot to do with it. When I started college, it was so that I could get a good job. I hadn’t worked since I was pregnant with the oldest child and I didn’t think that I had any marketable skills. Plus, I wanted the satisfaction of knowing I had my BA. That last part is still true. However, it turns out that I do have marketable skills, I’m good at what I do, and it’s an actual long term career and not just a job. This makes it very hard to want to continue with school. It would be really easy to take a very extended break. Don’t worry though. I have no plans on doing so. I’m smart enough to know that I can demand more money with a BA and it’s also something to fall back on should my current business fall through or if I get bored with it. I need some MOTIVATION though!!

I know there was more about my weekend that I wanted to talk about, but I’m really tired and drawing a blank. I may be back later on today, heheh.

Things Seen

Through the lens of my new phone…

I took the above picture in the Target parking lot. It was Wednesday night during the wind but before the rain.

The above picture I took yesterday afternoon during the rain, in the carpool lane at the oldest child’s school. Why? See the silver SUV behind the gap in the cars? You may have to click on the picture to make it bigger. Anyway, that car pulled out of line from behind me to drive up there and block the bus exit so that it could be that much closer to the front of the line. About five car lengths. Wth difference did it make is what I would like to know. The carpool lane always has a bit of drama in it every day. It’s amazing how “adult” parents can behave sometimes. Horns blowing, people getting out of their cars to tell people to move along. I’m not kidding either. When I get there, I hunker down with my latest read and try to pretend I’m somewhere else. Life’s too short to get your panties in a twist in the carpool lane.

Anywho, that’s all I have so far aside from the house pic I posted yesterday. The non-tropical storm we had is moving along. No more high winds but we’re still getting tons of rain. My town has the highest rainfall amount in the area so far and they said we could end up topping out at 5 inches when it’s all said and done. All this means to me is that I don’t have to water my grass, heheh.

Gotta run and brave the morning carpool lane. We’ll see how it goes this morning.

Sheesh

Here I am for a third time today but I just had to say this.

This is the type of toilet paper holder we have in both bathrooms:

 

It’s the kind where you just slip the roll on and off the bar. No holder to pop on and off. Very easy. The ultimate display of laziness is when you see an empty roll on the holder and a new roll sitting on the toilet tank. COME ON!!! It takes TWO seconds to switch them out. It takes longer to turn around and grab the roll off the back of the toilet. MAN! I live with some lazy people, I’m telling ya.

Wild

It’s been a wild couple of days with the weather around here. Wednesday, the county dismissed schools early because of the wind. I thought it was kind of silly and it totally messed with my work day but what can ya do. Then this morning, they had a two hour delay because of the weather. It’s totally ridiculous if you ask me. They dismissed school early yesterday because of some wind and today the wind is worse and we also have flooding and heavy rain but they only delayed school for two hours. It doesn’t make any sense to me although I greatly enjoyed being able to sleep in two hours this morning. I’m telling ya though, if they dismiss early again today I might scream. Check out this picture I took this morning of one of my neighbors’ houses:

That’s more damage than anyone in my neighborhood got when Hannah rolled through and this isn’t even a tropical system.

Well, there ya go. Two posts in one day to make up for my lack of updates this week. And btw, that picture was taken with my new cell phone, heheh. I got a new LG Voyager and I LOVE it. It’s very neato and has many cool features. I think it’s LG’s answer to the iPhone but I’m not sure. It does have a touch screen with menus you scroll with your finger. It also has mobile TV but I don’t have that activated. I might do that if I travel somewhere though. Anyway just had to blog about my latest gadget fix.

Thursday Meme

That’s right! I haven’t done this in weeks but today’s topic lured me back.

Courtesy of Booking Through Thursday…

What was the most unusual (for you) book you ever read? Either because the book itself was completely from out in left field somewhere, or was a genre you never read, or was the only book available on a long flight… whatever? What (not counting school textbooks, though literature read for classes counts) was furthest outside your usual comfort zone/familiar territory?

And, did you like it? Did it stretch your boundaries? Did you shut it with a shudder the instant you were done? Did it make you think? Have nightmares? Kick off a new obsession?

It has been ten months since I’ve started Readers Anonymous. In those ten months, we have only read two books that I would have picked out myself (one of which I ended up only liking it a little). The other eight books were all out of my normal comfort zone. So, what was the most unusual? I would say A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. Not because the story was odd but because I have NEVER read anything like this before. It was a nonfiction travel book I guess you’d call it. Very funny and it is probably my favorite of the ten books we have read so far. I would definitely read more books by Bryson and I would recommend his books to others, but I’m not sure if I’d pick up a book of this type by another author. It’s just not something I read on my own. I don’t even wander down that section at the Barnes and Noble.

Good News

It looks like I’ll be taking on that second client. I was beginning to worry since I hadn’t heard from the woman who is hiring me in a week and we had been playing phone tag. I worried for nothing though. I really can't believe my luck with this whole thing. Never in a million years did I see myself as...well, whatever it is that I am, lmao. I think the easiest title would be consultant. I'm really excited to be working for this firm because they have had BIG name clients and something like this could end up being long term or lead to something even bigger eventually. Wow! My hours are going to double so if I thought I was busy before, I better get a hold of my pants and hang on for the ride. Woot! This extra work is going to make my vacation interesting too, lol. Since I'm not taking time off and I have school work too, I'll probably just end having better scenery to look at while I work. Oh well. I'm definitely not complaining. With Christmas right around the corner, the extra money will come in very handy. Woot!

Can you hear the excitement in my typing?? Yay!

Here's the web address for the new client if anyone wants to see what they're about: http://www.conceptpr.net/

Not So Bad

So, the baby shower wasn’t too painful. We only had to play one game and even that wasn’t horrible. It was baby bingo. The food was good and I got to meet some people that I actually liked. The only negative thing about it was that it lasted for forever. The guest of honor had to stop and talk over every single gift and it wasn’t even always about the gift, she just likes to talk. I didn’t even stay for cake because my butt was dragging. I’M SO OLD!!! I was home by 10 and totally ready for bed on a Saturday night, lol.

Sadly, that was the highlight of my weekend. We lounged around all day today and the Mister and I got caught up on our homework. We’re wild and crazy.

Oh, and if you’re interested, they made several arrests connected to the murder and kidnapping I posted about last week. Coincidentally, the suspects are all teenagers. Teenagers. If' I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times, what the hell is wrong with kids these days???

Updated News Article Link.