reads of late

I recently finished The Art of Eating In written by Cathy Erway. And now I'm knee deep in Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping by Judith Levine. Both authors had experimented with giving up consuming--one eating out and one shopping. Although, I'm not up for either challenge, I am re-thinking every meal out and every shopping excursion. I drive my kids crazy with all my shopping hang-ups...I really have a hard time spending money on something that is not useful in some way...the more useful or longer it will last the more I am willing to fork over. Tonight we had to exchange a pair of shoes that I ordered online for Andi in the wrong size. They were on sale for $19.99 and I had a $20 rewards card so the shoes only cost $4.54 (tax and shipping). At the store socks were buy one get one half off. So I picked up some Puma socks for Cole (they wash up softer and last longer than Hanes) and Andi picked up socks. Both needed, but then Ara had to have socks. Long story short I spent $45 on socks. I put Cole's aside for Christmas, because it just wouldn't be Christmas if I didn't get at least one un-fun thing to open. I hate that I spent so much on socks. Tonight we were eating diner in almost complete darkness. Ara made fun of me because all but two of the light fixture's bulbs are burned out...I just know I will find a good deal on light bulbs soon. Besides it gives the illusion of romance if the dining room is dimly lit.

Room Refresher

Ara got two walls in the bedroom painted...not the high ones. I think the Thanksgiving break is reserved for that. Andi now wants to paint her room leaving only one orange wall. I told her she has to wait since her room was the most recent room to get paint. We've only been here 4 1/2 years and I can't believe how yucky the walls are already. We're just doing antique white and getting rid of the green wall in our room. It's weird right now with the curtains down. Wish I was getting new bedding and curtains, but I'm just making do with what we got. I am moving a double curtain rod that used to be in the dining room and is now in the breakfast nook up to our room and hanging a double layer of curtains. The tops of all the furniture is in bad shape and I'd like to refinish the tops if possible. I'd like a lot of things, but getting around to it is another story.

We made a list of all the little projects we can do with the existing supplies we have in the garage. Mostly painting stuff. And then we made a list of all the things that need fixed and hopefully will have all that tackled by the end of Spring or Summer. The honey do list has something like 38 things on it. Lists overwhelm Ara so I had to stop.

Happy Veterans Day

Ara and I have a 4 day weekend since we both work with the military. He's spending his downstairs watching music videos and I'm upstairs surfing the net killing time until I get to meet my girlfriends for lunch. We tossed the idea of getting some yard work out of the way...its a "free" activity for our budget, but we already pushed it to tomorrow...we'll see.

Well, all but one of the windows I put the ghetto looking film in stuck. $30 and countless hours of frustration down the drain. I've been trying to re stick it where it keeps coming loose, but a big gust of wind just blows it off again. Oh Well.

Ara got me an IPod Touch for my birthday...and I'm crazy in love with it. I have four apps that I love.
Intuition--which is basically a glorified list manager. LOVE LOVE LOVE
Gift Guru--which is a gift list for any imaginable occasion. I love that I can import my people right from my contacts. I have all kinds of ideas plugged in there for Christmas, even though Ara thinks he is cancelling Christmas this year.
Daily Burn--my latest obsession. I can track my calories and exercise (like I do any) and weight on my IPod and then can go online and see if I am meeting my goals for things like protein. I've stuck in my calorie range for a week now and am down 2 pounds.
Joggle--a really addictive game that I can't stop playing. I have to make high score soon. I've also got
Fandango (like Ara and I are ever going to the movies)
All Recipes,
Coloduko (a colorful version of suduko),
MasterMind (a game that I used to play at Tammy's house all the time),
Dots (old paper game of connecting the dots to make a square--I even got Cole to play this with me the other day), and a
Dictionary (because I am ever practical and may need to spell something)
and finally two days ago Ara put some music on it---even though I hardly ever listen to music. At least in the car when he puts his crap on I can pull out my IPod and override him with mine.

Repair Season

Repairs this month to date:

Water Heater: This was an involved fiasco. The replacement water heater was slightly (ok more than slightly) larger than the old one. This required closet modifications. (its on the second floor in a hall closet) After hook up the new water heater was defective....leaking water from the top. The next replacement went in smoothly and was closer to the size of the one being replaced.

Closet Repairs: From first replacement water heater....This involved lots of wood putty to the trim work and future trim painting.

New door bell: The wiring in the chimes melted because some jackass depressed the button and never let off. New door bell chime doesn't fit exactly on the wall like the old one. Future paint and hole filling required.

Toilet Seat Replaced: cracked and pinched my fat ass one too many times.

Wrap Organizer: This was an extra that made my day. I love being organized. Installed on the door under the sink by me.

Kitchen Flood: Not once but twice! 2 years ago I insisted on an under the sink cold water filter (because I read somewhere that ingesting toxic metal can make you fat). The top popped off on Sunday night and spilled all over laminate flooring. Ara fixed it and then it popped off again on Wednesday night. Uninstalled the water filter and replaced water lines. Flooring is ruined and replacement headed our way...hoping for no mildew problems in the meantime.

Water Shut-Off: The hot water shut off under the kitchen sink also sprung a leak...replaced both gaskets in shut off valves.

Plus I am freaked out about the price of natural gas shooting up....so I'm putting that window film in all the windows. Not fun. Involves taking down blinds and cleaning windows....ugg.

Remember I am only human

It has been frustration after frustration since last Weds. Maybe because I am feeling under the weather, but I am losing my cool every time I turn around. And everyone seems to be a contributor.
I know we need this rain, but I don't want to drive or walk around in it. I just want to curl up and go back to bed. I know work will be flooded and my shoes will be ruined trying to get to the front door. I wish I would have brought my laptop home yesterday.
Jake and I are fighting. Ara got off work 1 1/2 early yesterday so Jake could get to work on time because I needed the other car to take the Cole and Andi to dental. I pulled up and Ara was right behind me and Jake got in the car with Cassie. He found another ride to work---kudos for him--but didn't tell his parents. I screeched a few obscenities in the driveway that I'm not so proud of now.
I feel like all the assignments I have done at work are not exactly right. Can't seem to get the boss's vision and hit the mark.
And Ara is driving me nuts. Focus, Focus, Focus! It's not a hard concept to grasp---don't turn on the TV, or other noise makers (ie., guitar plugged into amp) when Cole is trying to do homework. Don't try to talk to Cole when he is driving. Don't make fat inferences to Andi. Don't try to hug me when I have a hot pan I am trying to pour into a colander. Just don't. Do put your clothes in the hamper. Do wash a load of laundry/dishes. Do run the vacuum. Do clean the dog's ears.

September 2010

Working from home again today. My job rocks in that I can work from home if needed. Cole is the last one to be taken down from the 'illness' sweeping through our house. Jake was down the early part of last week and Andi only got a mild version. Ara and I are still recovering. He got hit on Weds and me on Fri. I started in early with the allergy meds so I didn't get all drippy and congested--just the achy part. All of us are supposed to be taking allergy meds and are terrible about it so at first I thought fall allergy season hit hard and fast...but it is one of those nasty back-to-school germs flying about.

Since my last blog:

1. Cole and his friends got kicked out of New Town for a year. issued No Trespass Notifications

2. Cole's $987.00 bike got stolen from New Town three days later

3. He reported it stolen. We spent three weeks working with the police and following up on leads and actually found the bike in an apartment complex as a group of thugs were taking the bike apart. Cole and his friend got the bike back, but the thugs hid the rims as the boys were walking up and said they didn't have them. Ara and I got involved...I did all the talking (as mama bears tend to do). I was shaking like a leaf talking to these big thugs in wife beaters and doo rags. I told them the bike was reported stolen and that the value of it made it a felony--that they had received stolen goods...I had receipts with me...they still wouldn't budge. I called the police. We got the rims back. Turns out the girl that stole the bike sold it for $5 and when they went to her house she had three more stolen bikes on her porch. So we basically handed the county 4 felonies to pursue.

4. The next day following this I come home to a summons taped to the front door. Cole is being charged with criminal trespass. So instead of following up on the stolen bike report and following all the leads as to where the bike was that Cole was getting texts messages about everyday from different people who would see his bike being ridden around town, the police were pursuing an assumed trespass.

5. Hired an attorney. He's been waiting to defend one of these Trespass Notification violations that is apparently unconstitutional because of the legal jargon on the paperwork. Cole's was never signed by any of the parties involved and powers of attorney would be needed from every property owner and business owner in New Town giving permission to issue the Trespass Notifications. So we get to go to that trial in Dec.

6. Andi turned 15. We celebrated, in this years tradition, with dinner and ice cream at Friendly's We started that in May with Ara's b-day. She got an I-pod touch and I am so jealous.

7. Andi quit flags...and I am so so sad about it. After many arguments about sticking to our commitments and being dependable and blah blah blah...I finally caved in. She was miserable.

8. Jake has budgeting issues! and I finally sat down with him and we went over all his pay stubs and figured out an average monthly income and divided his cell phone bill by the week. Dining out was eating all income and he would have $27 dollars left. Which wasn't enough to cover his phone bill. Every month he was late and no money left to save for a car. I think it was an eyeopener. Now he pulls cash from the atm for the week and took his debit card out of his wallet. Still haven't convinced him that balancing his checkbook is a good idea.

9. Cole is back in wrestling and started conditioning yesterday. I think that was the straw that broke the camels back with him fighting off getting sick. He was beat after practice. And is now in bed with a fever. He's grown 3 1/2 inches since last year and that means I have to buy new wrestling shoes and running shoes. The boy has 6 pairs of everyday shoes but he can't run or wrestle in them. And those are the ones in his closet...out of circulation sitting in the garage are three more pairs of shoes. The cool thing is that one of the wrestling coaches is on the police force and hopefully will write a positive statement about Cole's character.

My day fell into a million tiny pieces. Andi and I had dentals at 10:00 so I thought that meant I could sleep in. Of course not. Ara had to call just after he left to tell me he thougt the transmission and brakes were going out on the truck. Which meant he was playing the blame game on whose fault it would be. I still stand by my opinion that statistically he drives it more than anyone else so it would be his fault. Turns out it was the parking brake that was stuck...try driving over 20 miles with the parking brake stuck and that would be freaky because you can't get over 45 mile per hour. He was planning on dropping it at the shop anyway because of a high pitch chirping sound....the shocks and struts were just replaced less than a week ago...so it needed lubed and a screw was loose causing the chirping. I told him his truck was acting just like him with a screw loose and making weird noises and a stuck brake (he can be stubborn). So no sleeping in and Ara was convinced for at least 4 hours that we needed to buy another new car. Then the dental stuff went smoothly and after that we did a girls lunch out. Girly got her braces off. Of all the places she wanted to eat she chose Hardee's. BTW the hand breaded chicken tenders are good. Then we headed home for a bit before a transition meeting at the high school for Andi. I've sat through many IEP meetings with these same faces for another child and listening to their spiel today was just irritating. Tried to put on my grin and bear it face and just muck through it. Then the day spiraled because I made a pit stop at the house and Cole was home...so that meant mom's taxi service. What turned into a quick 'take me to rec' ended up being Cody's house then rec then Noah's then rec then Chick-Fil-A then Noah's then Ashtons then College Creek....a 2 hour ordeal. grrr. And BTW Cole has his permit so he was doing all the driving so it was two hours of holding my breath and trying to appear calm. The boy wanted to tackle 199 Monticello merge and I so wasn't ready for that. But he did it and I survived. So by the time Andi and I got to JCPenny's to look at back packs and she then tells me she doesn't 'like' Jansport and is putting the pressure to buy super short shorts with rips...I lost it. It was now after 5. And another P90X Monday. I started off growling and pissy but by the end I was smiling and I'm not so irritated. But now it's dinner time and Ara has disappeared. I think he's out bothering the neighbors again. 1 Mississippi 2 Mississippi 3 Mississippi