Money Pit

Have I ever mentioned that my van is a money sucking death trap? Well, OK it may not be a death trap (yet) but it eats money like Americans eat potatoes. Stupid thing broke down on me again on Wednesday (of course I had somewhere to be as is usually the case when I am in the damn piece of crap van. The misbehavior was rather familiar and I got to thinking it was the exact same problem it was having about this time last year. Andrew convinced me to call the dealer and find out if it was still under warranty - it was exactly one year ago TO THE DAY that they did the work. The service tech was kind enough to open the ticket for me that night, even though I couldn't get it in until the next day - thus keeping it within the warranty period. If the problem is the same they will cover the cost of fixing it but if not I pay  $100 diagnostic plus whatever other fix it might need. We decided to have a dealer take a look at it to see what they will give us for it on a trade in....still waiting to hear back from both the dealer and the mechanic. Part of me (ooh goody something new!) hopes that it is bad enough we have to trade it in. The other (sensible) part of me doesn't want to deal with a big problem or trying to add a car payment into the already thin budget. I suspect I am just going to sit here and wait for the phone to ring and burn cross that bridge when I get to it. I need to do some research on when the best time to buy a car is (I am thinking it is close to the new year) and hope we can hold out until whenever that is. There is also the possibility that the economy is bad enough that the dealer will be needing a sale badly enough to really work it. Again, new car may not even be in the picture for now but I am trying to have all of my options laid out before I get to them.
I think I'll go warp the loom...

On the bright side.

I am knitting socks as a Christmas gift for someone and having finished the first one have discovered that in addition to it being a color I would never normally pick out for myself but turn out to love, the darned things fit me perfectly and will be too small for their intended recipient.
I have decided to complete the pair for myself and start over for my gift reciever. Sooo Yay a new pair of socks for me. Bummer is I thought I was going to be totally done with these before I started my Christmas shopping. Oh well. I guess it is good practice for Sock Wars. I have learned I can churn out one whole sock in less than 3 days, including interruptions from things like feeding, bathing and general care of two toddlers and one husband (one of the fish was a casualty however, but I think that was because the cat is trying to scare them to death, and succeeded, not because I have neglected them (completely). The other fish is fine). I think sock #2 will go faster as I have the pattern memorized now too. I guess I should actually check guage before I start the gift socks again...

Old and New

I was taking pictures of something new to show ya'll and discovered some old pictures I forgot to show ya. So the 'old stuff' is that when we were packing up the bathroom at the old house, my friend says "what's in this drawer?" I say "what drawer?" he says "this one!" And pulls open a drawer I did not know existed for the last SIX YEARS! I have been livid over this ever since it's discovery. I could have been storing crap in there. Like bath towels and toilet paper. I am almost over it, but not quite. Here is the bathroom counter/cupboards/drawers:And here it is with the "invisible" drawer open:

I mean I could have kept enought tp in there for months of use! Or actually kept clean towels in there NOT stacked on the back of the toilet.

Anyway so there is the old stuff. The new stuff is that I knit up my Mohair yarn into a lace cowl and I absolutally love it. The yarn is so soft I knew I had to make something to wear next to the skin but there was very little of it to use. So I found a pattern on Ravelry and knit it up. It was a quick knit, very simple and easy to fix when I managed to screw it up (but really it's very simple, I was just not paying attention). Here it is on the table:

and here it is on:

Stupid Van

So the van totally crapped out on me last Sunday. I was at Costco leaving the parking lot when it dies. Just the engine, not the whole shibang. I restart and off we go. Dies again. I called Andrew to come and rescue me (thank god I only had Jake with me and not both of the kids). He gets in to see the problem first hand and of course it goes just fine...we make it to Titus-Will and park it at the Service Dept. wich was closed for the holiday weekend. I put my key in the drop box while Andrew walked back to get is car. When he got back we transferred groceries and car seats and drove home.
So Tuesday rolls around and they are still working on it. Wednesday they tell me it's gonna be a part for like 435 plus the 96 for the diagnostic, and then there is labor costs too. He calls me back later - woops, looks like the problem is in the transmission, another 100 diagnostic charge for the seperate system. Thurday they finally find the problem and have to order a part. Friday it's fixed. When it's all said and done for parts labor and taxes we are out lik 775. Not as bad as initially quoted so that was a relief. I am so ready to get rid of this money pit of a van (still no a/c - not a vital part of the operating system) but we are of course buying a new house so that won't be happening for a while.

Yesterday with Andrew's help we dug the ditch for the electrician to lay the conduit from the house to the garage. That was a bit of a job considering we had to deal with a bunch of roots from the old apple tree - some so large I had to get the hatchet out and go to town on it - I have blisters on my hands :( but it's done :). We also went to a wedding, wich was one of the more enjoyable weddings I have been to in a while. Jacob and Abigail were very well behaved considering the hour (it was an evening wedding - we left early, about 9pm - they hadn't even cut cake yet).

Today I get busy with more packing...hopefully we will get the word back soon on how our appraisal goes and if we will be allowed to take early possession. Oh and contractors come Monday to get all of our stuff fixed for the buyers. Then we will be officially done with everything and just waiting for closing. Hopefully all goes smooth and by this time next week we are in our new home!

Who needs A/C

Sooo for a while now the A/C on the van has been acting up (not blowing cold - unless your moving so red lights were unbearable during that heatwave we had a few weeks back). Anyway I finally took it in to the dealership to have them look at it (mind you this entailed both children's carseats having to be moved to the courtesy shuttle - I am really glad we didn't wait around for them to do it cuz we would have been there until 3pm and we got there around 9am). Anyway the diagnostic cost $105 after taxes...the fix would have cost another $1000 on top of that. We can't afford that so we are going to go on our annual camping trip with no A/C. Fortunately it is supposed to be a reasonable temperature this year (not in the 90's or higher thank goodness).

Last night I made another snake for Abby and also one for an almost 5yr old friend of mine.

Abby's is the smaller 18inch size and Eldon's is the larger 34inch size.

Now the task at hand is getting the house whipped into shape and getting everything packed and ready to go camping. We are leaving at the crack o dawn on Saturday so I have 4 days to do it. So I guess I'll go start a load of laundry.

God Damn It!!!!

For the love of Mike!
So...just before our Vegas trip our oven craps out. Last week we had to replace it (bye bye 500 bucks). Flash to today.
Scheduled furnace inspection $59
Really needs service so change that $59 to $199.
Needs a part replaced. add on another $104.
Oops there is another part that needs to be replaced (if it fails might blow up the house). $143
Add tax.
FUCK!
Now all we need to do is replace the dishwasher and maybe this fucking house will sell.

Feast or Famine

Things seem to come in 'clumps' for me. Good and bad. Yesterday was mostly trying rather than bad per-say but it was what it was.

First was our visit to the pediatrician to get our friend the pea out of someone's nose. We get there and get the news that he is due for shots too. I was pretty sure I had him all caught up on his shots at the last visit and if not how come I didn't get a phone call so I could stay on top of this kinda thing? Anyway...after weighing in etc, it took me and 2 nurses to hold the boy down while the RN tried to fish the damn pea out. She couldn't get it but during the process I mentioned that I had tried with a bulb syringe at home and one of the 'holder' nurses said 'oh, lets try that, I am really good with those.' She tried a couple of times and never produced said pea, but during that process Jake had a bit of a gagging, swallowing episode and we think he swallowed the darned thing. Either way we couldn't find it anymore so we just get to watch and wait and make sure he doesn't develop a cough or 'icky snot' that my show the damn thing moved into his sinus. So he was pretty pissed at this point. First he had been screaming 'MOMMY DOWN!!' then he moved onto telling the nurses 'Bye bye' wanting them to go away. He got calmed down enough to be breathing normally when she came in with the shots. So that set him off again. He was doing better by the time we got dressed and out the door (Thank God for the Gerber Graduates yogurt drop samples they had at check out...they made a wonderful 'treat' and really helped calm him down). We went and saw Daddy at work because Jake was upset with Mommy and really needed Daddy for a while...I really love that Brian works so close to home I am going to miss that when we move (someday).

We got home long enough for a diaper change, midmorning snack and for me to pay the bills (it's sooooo much fun watching my bank account go from 3 grand to 120 bucks in the span of 10 minutes). Just had to make sure we'd have enough in the account to pay for an inspection of our van...oh yeah the steering has been binding up on me...not exactly the safest thing so we HAD to get it taken care of. The guy asked if I wanted a shuttle service home or if I wanted to wait...I figured it couldn't take them all that long to LOOK at the damn thing...needless to say we waited for 2 stinking hours before they told us what the problem was...I would have been fine getting it over the phone, I just wish the guy had realized that I had a toddler with me and had told me it could potentially take that long (I miss my damn Toyota...The only service the damn thing EVER needed was oil changes, tire rotations and on one occasion, a new windshield). The fix is going to cost us about 1100 bucks. Joy. Not exactly what we need at a time when we are going to be dropping a crapload of money to pay for labor and delivery sometime in the next (God willing) 4 weeks. We got a shuttle ride home and got some lunch (poor kid had to wait that long but he did really well and they did provide cookies in the waiting room, so that helped even if they aren't exactly nutritious). By the time he went down for his nap it was 3:00 (he usually naps around 11 or 12 at the latest).

I had time to sit down for 1/2 hour before dinner had to go in the oven and I figured since I was up I may as well tidy the living room and kitchen, etc. Brian got home and we chatted while we puttered around the kitchen together when we got a phone call from an agent wanting to show the house (YAY!) we hadn't shown the house in 7 weeks and so my standard of cleanliness has been on a slow decline (well not my standard, but just giving a damn really since no one has been coming anyway)...The big surprise was that they wanted to see the house in 20 minutes!!!! I specifically ask for a minimum of 1hrs notice but I wasn't going to give up the chance to show my house so (thank God again) Brian was home to help me. I can't believe how clean we got the house in 20 minutes (not really dirty, but the clutter piles up ya know...) Now don't get me wrong, we were just shoving shit in drawers and closets, but in the end the basic need was met. Since we couldn't really go anywhere because the van wasn't here (3 of us don't fit so well in Brian's pickup) we just sat on the tailgate while they toured the house. I am really glad I was cooking dinner because our house smelled like turkey and not cat hair (and thankfully not a combination of the two cuz that would have been really bad). Anyway I guess overall showing the house was on the good side of things rather than bad but It meant I didn't get to sit down when I should have yesterday evening. Let's just hope they want to buy our house now.

Hopefully today will be less eventfull (except of course for that couple who saw our house yesterday, I want them to decide they really like it...I can take action if it means selling the house).

Now Boarding the Glucose Testing Train

The meeting with Andrea at my midwife's office went well. She taught me the basics of what diabetes is and how to manage it with diet and exercise. I will have to test my glucose levels four times a day - once in the morning and one hour after breakfast lunch and dinner. Not fun but since I've been pierced and tattoed it's not that big of a deal, plus if I can't handle this I've got a REAL surprise in store for childbirth! It sounds fairly simple. I figure it will take a couple of days for my levels to get to where they should be as I learn what does and does not work for me diet-wise. Hopefully that's all there will be to it.
If I can't get my levels under control with diet I will have to take an oral form of insulin to help. Then we adjust the dose and if that does not work we add insulin via injection. Hopefully it will never get that far!
So, here's to hoping for some nice low readings!

So Tired - Rant

Well I am very very ready for the week to be over.
On Tuesday night DH and I went to bed. He couldn't sleep. Kept hearing a noise. I heard it but I didn't care enough to let it bother me. After he tossed and turned for an hour and a half he got up to investigate. Went to the basment and discovered it was the sump pump trying to engage (but failing) he also discovered 4 inches of standing water in our basement. Yay. Guess what I got to do all night? Well no, we didn't bail out the basement - there were probably 500 gallons of water down there. I got up and went down...put on some sandals and stepped in...Water up to my ankles. I waded over to the sump pump to see if I could get it to trigger. Reached my arm down up to the elbow and fiddled with it. It was at this point that I noticed a wonderful SLIMY texture coating my skin. My best guess is that it was varnish left over from the previous homeowner who had used the basement as a woodworking shop. Sooo...we finally decided that there was nothing that we could do that night and unpluged the pump so the motor wouldn't burn out. We removed the wine bottles from the bottom layers of our wine racks. We had already lost 4 bottles of wine but fortunately it was our homemade wine and not one of the really expensive bottles we had purchased.
We jumped in the shower (got smart and brought the grease cutting kitchen soap with us) and scrubbed. And scrubbed. And scrubbed. Finally the hot water gave out so we went to bed slightly less slimy than before.

We spent Wednesday morning at the hardware store and replacing the pump. It looks like we are only out a few hundred bucks. The pump was only about 80 plus a few other supplies. The big loss was the home winemaking equipment that we won't be able to use again. That needs to be nice and sterile so I don't think any amount of washing will get the equipment clean enough for my tastes (besides, would you want to drink it)? So we'll replace the equipment as we need it. The biggest headache is going to be cleaning up the mess down there. We had lots and lots of cardboard boxes down there and they are all soggy and shot so it's gonna be ugly. Oh well it is what it is. At least now (Friday) the house has stopped smelling like varnish.

Now I am just exhausted from work. I really slacked off on Monday and Tuesday, and I know it. But I am paying for it now playing catchup. That wouldn't be so bad (I am catchin up with all of the data entry and filing) but I have had my head bitten off on no less than 4 occassions today by tenants (I work for a Property Management group) who seem to think I am the one who is at fault when their power goes out and want me to snap my fingers and fix it. Oh yes what a lovely day...Not only the power outage (which usually means about 20 or so extra calls) but we had a building that had raw sewage back up into it thru the floor drains, sinks and toilets! YUK! I understand this is aweful disgusting gross and unnacceptable but I CANT FIX IT FROM HERE!!! Not only that but that king of problem is out of the scope for our regular building maintenance men - they have to call contractors out and contractors TAKE TIME to get there. Of course for most of my tenants YESTERDAY isn't fast enough.

Ok I am done ranting and actually feel a little better. Now if only I wasn't so darn tired!
Well, back to the filing I go!