Is this not the freakiest picture of the sky you have ever seen?
I took this on the way to the oldest child’s school this morning.
And then this one:
I took this one on the way home.
Isn’t it weird? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a weather system move in like that before. It literally blanketed the sky. It’s also bringing warmer temps with it strangely enough. We’re supposed to have highs in the 60’s today and the 70’s tomorrow.
Just thought I’d share.
I’ve had this saved in my “drafts” for weeks. I have no idea where I got it. Sorry.
What are your nicknames? I don’t have any nicknames unless you count Trish.
What TV gameshow or reality show would you like to be on? None that I can think of. I’m not a big reality show person.
What was the first movie you bought in VHS or DVD? My first VHS was Top Gun. I don’t remember what my first DVD was.
What is your favorite scent? I love Ralph Lauren’s Hot and Valentino.
If you had one million dollars to spend only on yourself, what would you spend it on? Just on myself? Books, sandals, makeup, gadgets. I don’t know what other frivolous stuff I’d buy myself with that much money.
What is one place you’ve visited, can’t forget and want to go back to? NYC
Do you trust easily? I think I give people the benefit of the doubt more often than not. I really need to change that policy.
Do you generally think before you act, or act before you think? I think before I act. I’m too analytical.
Is there anything that has made you unhappy these days? I think this is obvious: The VT house issues and miserable is more the word.
Do you have a good body image? No.
What is your favorite fruit? Apples, nectarines, raspberries, oranges, strawberries. I think it would be easier to list the fruits I don’t like.
What websites do you visit daily? Twitter, iGoogle, Google Reader.
What have you been seriously addicted to lately? Nothing really. I haven’t had much of an appetite lately.
What’s the last song that got stuck in your head? I’m Yours by Jason Mraz and 1980 by Rehab. They’re ringtones on my phone and get stuck in my head all the time.
What is your favorite thing to wear? Lipgloss and my moonstone necklace.
Do you think Rice Krispies are yummy? They’re okay. I like them better as Rice Krispies Treats, lol.
What would you do if you saw $100 lying on the ground? See if I could fine the owner. If not, I’d spend it on Christmas presents.
What items couldn’t you go without during the day? My computer, something to drink, the bathroom, clothes, my cell phones.
What should you be doing right now? Checking to make sure the kids are actually getting ready for school and not vegging out in front of the tv instead.
I have a brief update for you all.
First of all, after I received that rather interesting voicemail from those people, I worried a little bit about the last e-mail that I sent them. So, I forwarded the whole conversation to my attorney and she assured me that I had done nothing illegal. That’s what I thought, but in situations like this, you can never be too sure.
Secondly, our property management guy, Ed, was able to get into the house through a window this morning. He reported that there was no major damage to the interior of the house. He said it needed a major cleaning, minor repairs, and paint throughout though. He also said that the yard is still a massive mess. They even left either a snow mobile or a 4 wheeler (can’t remember what Ed said it was) there. It also turns out that those people have a weird idea of what “vacated” means because Ed said that there was still wood smoldering in the fireplace this morning. Whatever. I’m waiting to hear back from my attorney about what I can do with their property that they left at the house and how soon I can have the locks changed. I’m hoping that she says today because Ed is on standby. If not, he’ll do it first thing in the morning.
Cleaning, repairs, and trash hauling isn’t cheap. You’re allowed to sue for up to $5,000 in small claims court and with court and legal fees, we’ll be pushing, if not exceeding, that max. I’ve never been to court before. I wonder if I can add a new outfit to their list of expenses, lol.
Now that I have a more complete idea of what I’m dealing with, I’m in a much better frame of mind. I haven’t cried since Saturday, lol.
Now, I’m off for lunch and then back to work. Oh. Did I mention that I’ve taken on a third client over the weekend? YUP! I was pretty excited about that and it’s wonderful to have something positive to focus on.
I spoke too soon, yes, but I was trying to be positive and optimistic. See what optimism gets you? A swift kick in the ass that you didn’t really see coming.
Our realtor sent us pictures of the outside of our house that he took yesterday. He didn’t take any interior pictures because the key that I sent him wouldn’t work. I’ve spent the last hour crying like that solves anything. What I’d really like to do is go and beat the crap out of something…or someone.
The front of our house when we lived there:
The picture from yesterday:
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The end of the driveway:
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The backyard when we lived there:
Backyard pictures taken yesterday:
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If this is how they left the outside, I can only imagine what the inside is going to look like when we can finally get in to see it. And I have no idea what those wooden structure things are in the backyard. It’s no wonder they needed a dumpster. How much CRAP did these people have?!?!
There’s no way we can show the house in this condition. At this point, we are trying to sell a piece of crap and in today’s market, nobody wants to fix up houses.'
UGH!!!
Pam at 30 Something tagged me for this meme. You know how I can’t resist a meme and I needed a break from putting up Christmas lights before I send them down the garbage disposal.
18 and 22 were strangely accurate. I’m tagging anyone that hasn’t done this but wants to, specifically, Dana.
I don’t know where to begin. I was such a different person then. It turns out I was 15 and not 16 at the time I wrote it, btw. The first page was dated March 12, 1993 and the final page was dated May 28, 2003. TWENTY-SEVEN pages front and back, lmao. Oh. And it was for World History class not Sociology.
It’s amazing the amount of stuff that I had forgotten about. I forgot how religious I used to be. That’s right. From the way I sounded in my letter, I was a holy roller, bible thumper. I don’t remember being so over-the-top religious. I remember going to church and my church friends, of course, but I had forgotten that there was a time that I liked it and it was important to me. Very weird.
I also talked about all the people in my class. Wow. I had changed my opinion of most of them before I graduated. One person I called, “a wicked, wicked, child”. LMAO!! Another I mentioned how they had, “morbid” thoughts. Both, I ended up liking before we graduated.
I mentioned how I liked to read a lot. That’s something that never changed. Something else that I mentioned was that I hoped I would grow out of PMS, lmao. That certainly didn’t change either. Turns out that PMS sticks around. I’ll probably still have PMS when I’m 80 if I live that long. I think death is the only thing that will stop it for me. Menopause doesn’t have a chance.
27 pages. To be completely honest, I was a bit disappointed. It was almost like reading something that someone else had written. I had a hard time recognizing myself in the pages. I’ve changed a lot in 15 years and I would like to think I’ve changed for the better. I said that I wanted to read my letter with my future husband but I’m not sure how much of it I want to share with anyone else. It was quite personal.
All in all, I’m glad that I read it. I laughed at more of than I didn’t and it made me remember crazy stuff that I had forgotten. I was a really dumb teenager, lol. :P
I’ve been cold-calling plumbers, cleaners, and property management companies trying to get some help with the house in Vermont. I’m using a two year old phone book and you wouldn’t believe the amount of businesses that are no longer in business. It’s really sad.
Anyway, these types of businesses are often sole proprietorships or partnerships and/or they are run out of the home. That’s great. I do that myself. I can relate. These are the things that I have learned and what has been bugging me the last couple of days. It’s just my opinion but I also think it’s a lot of common sense.
I think we’re pretty close to a finale with the VT house drama. Well, at least where the tenants are concerned. Throughout the entire thing, I have not addressed any of the accusations that our tenants have made against us. Not to them anyway. You poor people have had to “listen” to quite a bit of it. ;) After the e-mail I received last night, I could no longer keep my mouth shut. I do believe that I showed herculean restraint up to this point. I drafted a response last night, sat on it all day, and finally (after reading it to the Mister over the phone) hit send just a few minutes ago. I feel amazingly better. Holding that much anger and bitterness inside just isn’t good for one’s mental health. I am so proud of my e-mail, that I decided to share it with you all. You’ll have to take me at my word, but I assure you and promise that I copied and pasted our e-mails word for word. Like I have the imagination to make this crud up anyway.
Jenn and Peter, 11/18/08
According to my lawyer, you are not legally able to use your security deposit to pay November's rent. The purpose of the security deposit is to ensure that all rents and utilities are paid and to ensure that there is no damage to the property and to pay to have the house cleaned upon your vacating the property. If you'll refer to your original lease, it states that the $1300 you paid in February 2007 was a security deposit and not last month's rent. I also have a letter from Morningstar Properties that defines that payment as a security deposit that I can scan and e-mail to you if you'd like. Furthermore, you would be responsible for not only paying the $500 that you still owe for November but a prorated amount for the eight days of December that would get you to the end of your 30 days notice which would total $335.00 ($1300/31 = $41.94 x 8 days = $335.52).
By December 8, 2008, which is the last day of your 30 days notice, you will owe the following:
Sewer/Water: $704.39
Returned Check Fee for October: $20.00
Late Payment Fee for October: $25.00
My Bank’s Returned Item Fee for October's Returned Check: $5.00
Balance of November's Rent: $500.00
Late Payment Fee November: $25.00
December's Prorated Rent: $335.00
Total Due by December 8, 2008: $1614.39
This amount does not include any cleaning or repair charges that will be deducted from the $1300.00 security deposit.
Sincerely,
~
Trisha
Trisha, 12/2/08
Just letting you know that the house is vacant. There are some things that are in the yard that will be picked up this week. When we moved in there was hardly any oil in the tank and we had to have an emergency delivery made, therefore you should know that there is very little oil in there now and you should probably arrange for a delivery so that you don't have problems with the pipes.
According to my attorney the $1300.00 security deposit should be in an interest bearing account until such time as the tenant vacates the premises. The money should be available to you to pay the utilities of $704.39. When we reported to you the loss of our belongings that were in the "dry" cellar, you never responded back to us. We didn't pursue it because we thought you had enough on your plate and we could address it at the end of the lease. The house is in the same condition it was when we moved in so instead of returning the balance of the $1300.00 which equals $595.61, please apply it to the balance of the $910.00 you claim we owe and the $314.39 left doesn't come anywhere near the loss of personal property and the cost of dumpster to clear the damaged property. I'm really sorry it has come down to this. I had hoped that we would be able to end this relationship amicably.
Sincerely,
Peter and Jennifer
Jenn, 12/3/08
I suppose after all these months the things you say and do should no longer surprise me but wonders never cease. You continue to pass blame and not take responsibility for your actions to the point where it is laughable. I will never understand how your bouncing four rent checks and paying your rent late consistently and habitually is my fault. If you are honest about this situation, you will admit that out of the 21 months that you bothered to pay your rent at all, we could probably count on one hand how many of those months you paid on time and with good funds.
You would be wrong if you think that I don’t accept responsibility for my role in this soap opera. I allowed you and Peter to weave stories, make excuses, and take advantage. That was my fault. I was too trusting, too kind, and allowed for you to get away with too much. Something else that we should be honest about here is that if you had pulled the stunts that you did on any other landlord, you would have been evicted many months before my husband and I evicted you. However, if you were an honest and forthright person, you would pay the money that you owe me and stop making excuses which you clearly aren’t capable of doing. Instead, you will most likely turn tail and leave my husband and I to clean up after you and sink further into debt without the least bit of regard for what you have done. Maybe it was easier for you to take advantage of us because you don’t have a face to put with the name, but let me assure you, we are real people, with real children, and real problems, a good portion of which you have caused. It would be a small thing if you could acknowledge that.
As for the “damage”, your selective memory continues to amaze me. I repeatedly asked you to send pictures of the supposed “damage” which you never did even though you said you would. I’m not sure how you expected me to take you at your word when you couldn’t manage to pay your rent on time. Even so, you never once implied that the “damage” was hundreds of dollars. Furthermore, as I told you before, repair requests were supposed to be made in writing which is something else you never did. This is just one more thing that you’ve dragged out of the muck to muddy the situation in your favor. One more thing to pass blame on, one more thing to lessen your guilt. I have to shake my head that you would try and say that I’m responsible for your renting a dumpster. There is nothing in your lease that states that you had to rent a dumpster in order to vacate the premises not that you ever read your lease, apparently. If you had read any of the three leases that were given to you, two of which you signed, you wouldn’t have been able to try and accuse me of slipping things in on you. I specifically remember urging you to read the things before signing them.
This whole ordeal has tired me and I am as done with it as I can be. I expect you to mail all keys to me within a week. If you do not, I will bill you to change the locks which is just one more thing you will run from, I am sure. Your concern for the pipes was touching, by the way, and you can save your insincere apologies for the next poor schmuck you rent from.
~
Trisha
And there you have it. I doubt she’ll have the courage to reply and even if she does, like I said, I’m done. I’m, as I type this (I’m actually on hold with the oil company, heheh), making arrangements to winterize the house until we can get it sold. The last thing I need at this point is frozen, burst pipes. Luckily, I’ve been told that the winter up there has been mild up to this point. Since it’s looking like we won’t be able to get an oil delivery until January, I hope the weather holds out. I sure picked a bad time of the year to put my foot down.
I’m off to nurse my killer headache.
I just got done saying how I haven’t updated the way that I should be updating and here I am with two posts in one day. I’m in a reflective mood now.
You know the saying that if you have no regrets then you really haven’t lived your life? Or something to that effect. I think that I agree but I have to wonder…Is that just an excuse or an explanation for saying or doing something that you shouldn’t have or not doing or saying something that you should have? Do regrets come in any other form than actions or words?
15 years ago I was a sophomore in high school. I was 16. Thinking about being 16 makes me want to cry, lol. Anyway, I had this teacher who made our class (I believe it was Sociology but I can’t remember) write letters to ourselves to be delivered sometime after graduation. The purpose of this exercise was to see how our perceptions would change with time and life’s experiences. I recently found out that when Mr. Hoying tried sending me my letter, it was returned as undeliverable. Big surprise. How many times have I moved since graduation?? I can’t decide if I really want to read that letter or not. I have little memory of the things that I wrote but I wrote pages. It ended up being sort of a diary. How dumb is this letter going to make me feel? After being urged to do so, I e-mailed my former teacher and gave him my current mailing address. He responded this morning saying my letter will be here in a few days. Wow. The Mister says that I’m making too much of this, but I know myself and I know who I was 15 years ago and I’m pretty sure that my letter is going to make me feel like a complete idiot, lol. How would you feel about receiving your 15 year old thoughts in the mail?
Anyway, I know that a few people that I went to high school with read my blog and I’m sure they are in contact with others in our class as well. Mr. Hoying said that he has numerous letters that were returned to him. If you want yours or know how to get a hold of someone who would, let him know. His e-mail address can be found at Lehman Catholic’s website.
That’s how I would describe my blog updates lately. I haven’t been in a blogging kind of mood.
Anyway, I won the contest for the digital camcorder. I never win anything, especially something this big, so I was pretty thrilled. My video was a recording of the girls. The oldest played her flute while the youngest sang along. The dogs were in the video too. Hannah laid beside the girls nicely while Bailey breathed into the microphone, lol. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity since I very, very rarely put images on my kids on the Internet. If you would like to view the video, here is the link:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7QbujZ1KfWk
In other news…
My monitor is fine. The cables just needed to be tightened down. Thankfully. I really didn’t want to buy a new monitor.This one is nice and relatively new.
The Vermont house is officially for sale. Our realtor drove by to check it out for us on 11/25/08 and The Tenants were still living there. It’s a good thing because it means I can put off figuring out what I’m going to do about it sitting empty for a few more days. They have to be out by 12/8 though so I’m very quickly running out of time. This is mean, petty, vile, vindictive, and small of me, but I hope I ruined their Thanksgiving and maybe even their Christmas. I realize that’s bad karma for me, but I accept it.
I finished a book yesterday. Woot! My reading has really been taking a backseat to everything else lately. The book was Kiss of Shadows by Laurell K. Hamilton. I was looking for something different and I sure as heck found it. This was a fantasy-type book with lots of blood, sex, and other worldly stuff in it. I like all that, but I think this book was a bit much for me. I liked the synopsis of an elf princess living as a human private investigator. I thought it would mostly be this chic who was a kickass P.I. who just happened not to be totally human. There was very little investigating and lots of faerie action instead. It wasn’t bad and LKH has an imagination that won’t quit, but it was a little over the top at times. It’s the first in LKH’s "Merry” series. We’ll see if I read any more of them.
Now I’m four minutes late getting the kids up for school. Must run. I’ll try and be better about my blog. It’s been neglected, I know.
When’s the last time I posted? It’s been a few days, huh?
We had a fabulous Thanksgiving. Nice and quiet. LOVELY! All the food turned out great. The turkey was juicy, the gravy was flavorful, and the pumpkin cheesecake was light and creamy.
Yesterday we didn’t do any Black Friday shopping. We got the bill from our lawyer in the mail which put a damper on the day. It must be pretty great to be a lawyer and to charge $25.00 to read an e-mail. In all, she spent 2 hours and 40 minutes on our case at $125.00 an hour. You do the math. AND, we’re not even done with her yet. Oh well. She was a necessary evil because without her, our tenants would have gotten away with even more than they already have.
Today, the Mister and I are going to check out a health food store we’ve never been to. No, we’re not health food nuts, but I like those stores nonetheless. They sell offbeat stuff you can’t find other places.
Oh. And I think my monitor is going out on me. I have these very faint bouncy lines that move down the screen and everything has a little shadow-like trail to the right of it. It’s annoying but not enough to where I’m going to spring for a new one yet. I’m going to do my best to deal with it until after Christmas. The weirdness is only a little hard on the eyes. I’ll have to make sure and wear my contacts or glasses whenever I’m working to minimize the eye strain but I think it’ll be okay. If anyone has any suggestions as to what could be causing this or how to fix it, I’d kiss your feet in gratitude. See?
You can click on the picture to make it bigger. The lines are at the top over the tool bar and the shadow trails are pretty obvious.
Anyway, I gotsta get ready to check out that store. Yes. That’s right. It’s 12:28 pm and I’m still in my pajamas. Deal with it.
Jennifer tagged my blog as one she loves. Awww! Now I have to give one word answers to the questions below and then tag five more blogs as ones that I love to read.
01. Where is your cell phone? Desk
02. Where is your significant other? Nearby
03. Your hair color? Blondeish
04. Your mother? Ohio
05. Your father? Fabulous
06. Your favorite thing? Computer
07. Your dream last night? Scary
08. Your dream/goal? Success
09. The room you’re in? FROG
10. Your hobby? Blogging
11. Your fear? Foreclosure
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? San Diego
13. Where were you last night? Gaming
14. What you’re not? Content
15. One of your wish-list items? Homebuyer
16. Where you grew up? Ohio
17. The last thing you did? Sleep
18. What are you wearing? J’s
19. Your TV? Big
20. Your pet? Boxers
21. Your computer? Newish
22. Your mood? Excited
23. Missing someone? Jennifer
24. Your car? Awesome
25. Something you’re not wearing? Bra
26. Favorite store? B&N
27. Your summer? Unknown
28. Love someone? Hubby
29. Your favorite color? Green
30. When is the last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? Yesterday
Blogs I love:
1. Dana
2. Pam
3. Wendy
4. Josette
5. Angel
I would tag more but some have already been tagged for this. You know who you are anyway. ;)
I heard about this contest from Peggy. Peggy is the wonderful person that hired me for my job. She is a freelance marketing consultant among other things and she is running a contest for one of her clients. It’s pretty simple and the prize is pretty mag.
DXG-580V HD Digital Camcorder (a $180 value) that isn’t even for sale yet. You win, you get to have a digital camcorder that nobody else has. Cool, right!!
So, visit Peggy’s page for a more complete description of the contest, the rules, and how to enter. I am going to have the girls make a video for their grandparents for Christmas. I thought it was a great idea since they won’t get to see any of their grandparents for the holidays this year.
DXG-580V HD Digital Camcorder Contest
Hurry up though because the contest ends November 30th. You only have a few days to come up with an idea, record it, and upload your video to be judged.
I said a while back that I had more vacation pictures to share and then I forgot to share them. A little late, but here they are.
The next two pictures are views from the top of the Currituck Beach Lighthouse. The Mister, the oldest child, and my stepmom climbed it:
The next two pictures are looking down:
This next picture is looking down the spiral staircase inside the lighthouse.
The next two pictures are of a blue heron that we saw on a nature hike. I thought it was neat. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one that close before.
The next set of pictures are of the beach in Corolla. This stretch of beach is only accessible by four wheel drive. People live out there and there are beach houses for rent as you can see in the last picture. Definitely not where you would want to be during a hurricane I wouldn’t think.
The next picture is of the most fabulous crab cake sandwich on the earth that I had for lunch from a deli. It was delicious.
This was our view as we ate our lunch:
Nice, right?
I think that’s it.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. I really enjoy cooking all the food and then, of course, eating it. I like being able to eat leftovers for days. I like the low to no pressure that goes along with it as well. No presents to buy and wrap. Love it. I also can’t think of a Thanksgiving that has any bad memories attached to it.
The first Thanksgiving dinner that I cooked by myself for the Mister, the girls, and I was in 1999. We were living in our base housing in Lakeside, CA and it was just the four of us. I was extremely nervous about cooking a turkey and the stuffing too. Turns out that turkeys are hard to screw up and the stuffing was sensational since it was a family recipe. I also made green bean casserole, scalloped corn, rolls, mashed potatoes and gravy, a fresh veggie plate, deviled eggs, and pumpkin pies for desert. Everything tasted great and the Mister and I ended up in the typical tryptophan coma afterwards. The oldest child was three at the time. Gosh!! Three years old. I miss those days sometimes. The youngest child was only 9 months old and harmless. The oldest child, not so much. When the Mister and I came out of our coma, we discovered that the oldest child had aerated the pumpkin pie, lmao!! She had taken her fingers and poked holes in the entire thing. Luckily, I had made two so we still had pie for desert. We still laugh about that to this day. It’s one of my favorite Thanksgiving memories.
The infamous pie is in the back.
We’ve had a pretty busy weekend for us.
Saturday, the Mister and I bought game food for the Big Game and then watched OSU kick the crap out of Michigan. KICKED THE CRAP out of them. It was almost sad but not really. After the game, the Mister built me a box out of wood and then we played at being a chemist. It was fun and we learned stuff.
Today we had to go to the commissary. It’s been so long, I don’t even remember the last time we went. We bought us a fine looking turkey and most of the fixings. They were out of some stuff that I’m going to have to buy out in town. We also went to Bed Bath and Beyond to buy a handheld immersion blender. I burned out our other one. Did you know that you’re only supposed to run them in 50 second intervals? I didn’t. I ran mine for almost fifteen minutes before something popped and then a really nasty smell came out of it. Lesson learned. I was also shopping for a casserole dish because I accidentally left one of mine at the beach house and now I don’t have enough dishes to cook Thanksgiving dinner. They didn’t have what I was looking for and neither did the Exchange on base. Target and Walmart are next on my list.
After shopping, we came home for an hour and then had to take the oldest child to volleyball. All the girls are getting better at the game. Most had never had much experience outside of what little bit you get in school. It’s been fun to watch them learn.
Now, I’m getting ready to cook dinner. Chili is on the menu because it’s been so cold lately. I need comfort food.
Despite this not being such a relaxing weekend, it’s been pretty great. I hope everyone else had fabulous weekends and are looking forward to the short week ahead.
I forgot to mention earlier the research that I’ve been conducting into junior and senior high schools. I’ve been visiting dozens of school websites and some of them are so NEAT! They have online newsletters, sections for parents to view their students’ grades, homework assignments, and other stuff. Some even have links for the students to take tests ONLINE!! How cool is that? My school was lucky to have had computers let alone any of that other stuff. My kids’ schools don’t have websites like that either. Sometimes I wish that I could have been a teenager now when there’s cell phones and texting, the Internet, taking tests ONLINE, iPods, and all that other neato technology that didn’t exist when I was younger. Not that I would ever give teenagerhooddom another go. Nah.
It flurried here again today. I hope this isn’t a trend because I don’t like it. It doesn’t make me feel all cozy and nostalgic because it’s the holiday season. I hate the snow and I’m tired of being freaking cold. Ugh.
Tomorrow is the Ohio State/Michigan game. I didn’t print up any banners this year because I’m about out of colored ink in my printer. We may or may not be having people over to watch the game. Someone said in an off-handed way that they’d be over but they weren’t invited and I’m not sure if they were serious. How dumb is that? I’m not really in the mood for company so I hope they weren’t serious.
I have my office upstairs but I leave the TV on downstairs so I don’t feel so isolated. Is that weird, pathetic, or both? Speaking of work, it is piling up around me. My boss surprised me with a phone call last night and we had a pretty lengthy phone call. He wanted me to make a spreadsheet for my spreadsheet, lol. I’ve made so many spreadsheets that have a hard time keeping them straight. I also utilized Microsoft OneNote which has been an invaluable resource to me in my work. I love it. He wanted me to e-mail him my OneNote workbook but he doesn’t have that program so it wouldn’t have done him a lot of good. He sounded like a kid who unwrapped socks for Christmas when I told him that, lol.
I got a package from the FedEx man this afternoon which is calling my name and making it hard to be productive. Nope. It’s not books but something just as exciting. I can’t wait to tear into it.
Did I ever mention what a hard time the oldest child’s school gave us about her missing four days of school for our vacation? I sent a note ahead of time to let them know, requested her homework so she could do it while we were gone, and sent in another note when we got back. They actually called me three times (twice in one day) about it preaching at me that the parents are supposed to set the example to their kids that attending school is important.These are the only days she’s missed all year since I rarely let my kids stay home from school. She was at school yesterday with no voice and she’s had a cough all week. HELLO!! I don’t willy nilly take my kids out of school. Back off. I’m just a bit miffed and the Mister was even more twisted up about it than I was. Why don’t they address the reasons as to why they have to have a cop present all day at the school and call those parents several times a day while they’re trying to work??
The Exchange on base is having a sale on Clinique and Estee Lauder makeup today only and I don’t have the time to go all the way to base to shop. I said that in my loudest, whiniest voice just so you know. Clinique has my most favorite lip glosses and I’m almost out of my favorite color. I’m sad. :(
Okay. I think that’s about it. That’s my Friday and most of my weekend. I’m looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow like it’s nobody’s business. Yay!!
Jennifer so kindly suggested that I do this meme. I often like to send them to her because I know she doesn’t particularly like them which is how I have my fun with her, hehehe.
I have to link the last 10 comment leavers, answer the questions, and then tag unsuspecting bloggers to do it too. I’m using my last ten commenters without repeats.
Here are the last 10 commenters:
1. Pam at 30something
2. Liz at Habit Blog
3. Dana at This and That
4. Jennifer at Tropical Fruit
5. Literary Feline at Musings of a Bookish Kitty
6. Daphne at Tanzanite’s Shelf and Stuff
7. Arlene at Three Baseball Fanz
8. Exmi from Expensive Mistakes Cheap Thrills
9. Josette at Books Love Me!
10. Miss Mae at Pure Southern Genteel
Okay, here are the questions I am supposed to answer about my commenters.
1: What is your favorite post from number 3’s blog?
I don’t have a favorite. I like it when Dana posts at all because she doesn’t post that often and I miss her and her family.
2. Has number 10 taken any pictures that have moved you?
Hmm. Not that I’m aware.
3. Does number 6 reply to comments on their blog?
Yep. She sure does.
4. Which part of blogland is number 2 from?
Well, Liz happens to live in N.C. like I do. I believe she’s in the Raleigh-Durham area.
5. If you could give one piece of advice to number 7 what would it be?
Hmm. I would advise that she take me on some of those fantastic vacations that she’s always going on.
6. Have you ever tried something from number 9’s blog?
Josette and I have a similar love of meme’s so I’ve tried a few from her blog.
7. Has number 1 blogged something that inspired you?
Not that I can think of. Not that Pam’s not inspirational but it’s more that I’m un-inspirable.
8. How often do you comment on number 4’s blog?
I dunno. Whenever I have something to say. Sometimes I veto commenting and send an e-mail or call instead. Some things can’t be said in a comment.
9. Do you wait for number 8 to post excitedly?
Not so much as I do people that I know in real life. I subscribe to her feed in my reader though so I don’t miss anything.
10. How did number 5’s blog change your life?
I’m not sure if Wendy’s blog has changed my life so much as it has introduced me to lots of new books and authors.
11. Do you know any of the 10 bloggers in person?
Yup. I know Jennifer, Dana, and Arlene in real life.
12. Do any of your 10 bloggers know each other in person?
Well, Arlene is Jennifer’s mom so I would hope they know each other.
13. Out of the 10, which updates more frequently?
It greatly varies. With November being NaBloPoMo, I’m getting frequent updates from a few of them which I’ve totally been enjoying.
14. Which of the 10 keep you laughing?
Jennifer’s blog used to make me laugh but now she just depresses the hell out of me. ;) Josette makes me laugh with some of her meme responses though.
15. Which of the 10 has made you cry (good or bad tears)?
None of them. I’m not a big crier.
That’s it. I don’t tag but if you’re on here and you didn’t already do this, consider yourself tagged. I mean it. I’m watching.
I don’t normally enter into blogger’s giveaways. Not because I don’t like the person or like what they are giving away, but because I usually never win so what’s the point. I’m making an exception because I saw this at Hip Mama’s Place and there are lots of goodies to choose from. You should join in if you’d like. It is free after all and relatively simple to enter.
I am not believing this, but we are getting snow flurries here right now!! Can you believe that trash?? And it’s COLD. It’s only 41 with a wind chill of 34. Brrrr! I haven’t seen snow in almost two years so I guess I’m due.
Other than that, I don’t have too much to report. I ran some errands this morning, bright and early, so that I could get home to do some work. I worked, took a lunch break, worked some more and now I’m pausing for a potty break and a quick post. So much fun, right? Oh, and I heard back from my lawyer, got the okay on the e-mail, and sent it off to The Tenants. We’ll see if I get a response or any money for that matter.
Sorry so short, but I gots things to do.
I woke up this morning dizzy as all get out. I have no idea why I’m dizzy. Maybe I need to eat some breakfast.
Anyway, you may or may not be curious as to what is happening with the Vermont house so I’ll give a little update.
With our vacation, listing the house took a bit longer than it should have. I’m sending the listing documents to the realtor today and the house should be listed by the end of the week. He said that houses are sitting on the market for an average of 7-8 months which is really not good for us. I’m also working with our mortgage company to try and stave off foreclosure on the house as long as possible. It really makes me feel like a loser, but at least I’m trying. As for the tenants, I really have no idea what they are up to at this point. They are trying to get away with paying November’s rent with their security deposit (which means that I got the privilege of paying part of November’s rent out of pocket) and it turns out that’s illegal so I have a rather surprising e-mail that I’m getting ready to send them. I’m just waiting for my lawyer to review it before I hit send. Even if I did use their deposit, with all the back utilities that they owe combined with the prorated rent they’ll owe from December, they still come up approximately $300 short and that’s not including cleaning and repair costs. They suck, they’re bigger losers than I am, and I hate them. A pox on them.
As for work, that’s pretty much the same unfortunately. I’m still waiting to hear from that second client I mentioned a few months ago. They were supposed to give me work this month but the economy is hitting everyone where it hurts, so I’m still not getting any hours from them. I understand, but it still sucks and waiting patiently is not a quality I possess.
We’ve already started telling family and the girls know, so I suppose I can mention it here now. The Mister is going on a deployment in the spring. No, we don’t know where yet but Iraq is not on the agenda. At least not at this point. He’s an airwinger and not a grunt so he’s safer than some. I don’t sweat deployments so neither should you.
Oh and one last thing. That friend of mine that I mentioned nine months ago that was having the baby, she’s scheduled for a c-section this morning. She’s 12 days overdue and pretty uncomfortable at this point. They nixed the weird name and went with something that sounds presidential but hopefully won’t get his ass kicked on the playground. I was relieved.
More changes are on the horizon but I’ll mention them at another time.
I’m on the phone when I should be in bed, so I thought I’d blog too while I’m at it.
We had a lazy Sunday. The Mister and I ventured out long enough to do some necessary shopping but that was about it. The oldest child’s volleyball practice/game was cancelled. All in all, it’s been a pretty boring day.
Now, I’m contemplating the economy, how the word “family” is just a word, and how some “friends” aren’t actually friends. It’s weird. I’m in a weird mood.
Last night, I’m not sure what time but it was already dark out, we get a knock on the door. The Mister answered it and it was our 6 year old neighbor. What did she want? She wanted to know if her 9 year old sister could borrow my cell phone to call a friend. Wtf?? The Mister asked if it was an emergency and she said no so he said no. Can I just ask why a 6 year old is running around the neighborhood at night and knocking on people’s doors asking asinine questions???
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.
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”.
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.
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!!
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: 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
