Trying VERY Hard Here.....

4 years ago on December 19th, was probably the worst day in my life. That whole week was probably the worst week in my life.

When my mom died.

Christmas? Yea, not so much fun AT ALL.

But I vowed that I would not let her death ruin future Christmases for me, considering it IS my favorite holiday.

I LOVE decorating the house, both inside and out. I LOVE getting presents for people. I love MAKING presents for people. I love to see the look on their eyes, or hear it in their voice when I get them something that they wanted, or didn't expect or love.

I LOVE the whole month leading up to Christmas. I LOVE baking Christmas goodies. I love getting the Christmas cards out. I LOVE receiving Christmas cards and find out how loved ones are doing and what they did this year. I LOVE waking up Christmas morning and seeing the anticipation on my girls faces for when they can come out and see what Santa brought them.

I LOVE the ornament exchange that my email moms group does at this time and how we almost always end up having a crazy chat conversation on the computer and laughing.

I LOVE going to look at Christmas lights. I love how the house is so warm and toasty during this time (that is when it's not 85 degrees outside).

4 years ago, I couldn't wait for Christmas to be over. Instead of the excitement leading up to Christmas that last week, I was wishing it would be over as soon as possible. Oh, I tried my best to put up the best front I could that morning for my girls, trying to smile and be happy, but it just wasn't there. And it wasn't there for my sister. We were both faced with the wrapped presents that were under the tree for us from our mom. And the presents that were under there from us for our mom. We did get through it, with the help of hubby, who suggested we each other's presents that we had given to mom the night before, that way they wouldn't be sitting there Christmas morning.

This year circumstances are really testing my love for Christmas again.

Last week we had some heavy rains, and not that we haven't had heavier rains prior to this time, but this time we thought we had it all covered. A new roof, new rain gutters, we thought we were set.

Well, apparently the rain gutter guy didn't install the downspout in the proper positioning, because with as much water that came through the one downspout, it has seeped into the oldest's bedroom and totally ruined her carpet.

So the bonus I got for being Employee of the Year? Now has to pay for a new carpet. We have contacted the contractor who installed it and he, so far has said that he is not responsible for it.

He has yet to talk to me though.

I will be calling him in the next couple of days and try to get him to understand that he is responsible and should do the right thing and pay for it, to avoid going to small claims court.

So in the meantime, hubby has pulled up the carpet to get ready for the new carpet. The oldest did a fabulous job emptying her room for that. It's amazing the nooks and crannies I can find in this house to store her "room".

So he pulls up the carpet and what does he find? Linoleum. Linoleum??!! In a bedroom??!!! WTF?! But then we're thinking okay, maybe that's not such a bad thing. It probably protected the slab.

So hubby goes in there (after putting fans and heaters in there to dry it out) and finds the linoleum loose. So he starts pulling up a few of the tiles.

Yes, water under there!

So now he has to pull up the whole floor (carpet tacks around the edges and everything) so we can dry out the slab. Which pushes back the installation of the carpet by quite a few days.

Because you don't want to put new carpet on a damp slab or an seemingly dry slab, you've got to wait until a few days after that.

When did all of this start you ask?

December 18th & 19th.

The same time my mom had her stroke and died, 4 years ago.

So of course it's bringing back all the feelings of dread and doom and despair I had 4 years ago.

I'm fighting like hell to try and keep my spirits up and push forward to have a wonderful Christmas.

I told hubby last night that I don't want to know all the details anymore. Just let me know when the room will be ready for the carpet.

I want to be in denial on this one.

Petco.....Where the pets go............

To get de-skunkified, in our case.

I had the just wonderful pleasure (insert HEAVY sarcasm here) of having my dog "skunked".

I took him to the groomers this morning and then while he was there, I purchase the above product and sprayed the hell out of my house, especially in the rooms where he had been. I had to wash some bedding too, because we have a trundle bed and he got next to the bedding on that one bed. Oh joy.

And of course, it can't be a nice spring day where I can have the house open all day to help air it out.

No. It's 90 degrees here at 1:30 p.m.

I aired it out as much as possible this morning and will do the same this evening once we get back from the youngest's t-ball game.

I also have to keep him out of the one room where he "transferred" the most odor. So the oldest gets to sleep with me for a few days while it gets aired out.

Oh joy.

And here I thought I was going to get to have a nice relaxing Saturday until the youngest's t-ball game.

Well, on the positive side, he's nice and clean now.

Dorm Life?

We ordered a new couch but it won't be delivered for a week and a half. With hubby leaving, I needed him to get the old couch out of the house for Salvation Army to come pick up. So we are left with a few moon chairs for our living room decor until our new furniture arrives. We usually only bring these out when we are playing video games.


Minus the black couch I used to have with my roommate Sue, I feel like I'm back in our old apartment. Of course we had black butterfly chairs then.

Pumping Iron?

Apparently I must be, because I don't know my own strength anymore.

Either that or we just have some crappy-ass made cabinets.

Which do YOU think?? LOL!!

Over 1/2 Way There!

This is what's left of a chain hubby and our two girls made before he left to go out to sea.

It had 3 more colors, representing the months on it.

Even though the red looks long, there's only a little over half of the colors left.

And it's fitting that the chain is centered around hubby's "shelf", which includes a picture of him and his great-uncle in their uniforms together when hubby made chief (great-uncle wasn't in the Navy anymore, but still had his uniform and so they posed together), a picture of hubby holding a fish to our oldest (in which she has an "icky" expression - I'll have to showcase that picture later), a ship that hubby made, and a fishing reel that was my grandpa's that hubby wanted.

I'll be SO happy when we are on the last color, Pink, and especially on the last day because that means I get my husband back and the girls get their dad back.

I Think I Need An Exorcism Performed

On my house.

There is a dark cloud over my house right now and I don't know how the hell it got here or how the hell to get rid of it!

Since this year started, I have had to have the refrigerator serviced, because it quit working, had to get a new water heater, along with a gas leak scare (no damage, fixed fine though, although my nervers were shot), had to replace the washer and dryer, and then yesterday was the kicker. Hubby replaced the kitchen sink faucet because it was corroded and making funny noises, and then our TV went out (that was only THREE YEARS OLD, for crying out loud!) and now hubby's truck is making a LOUD noise when the engine is started. So yesterday I bought a new faucet, a new TV and had to rent a car.

Yea.

No fun.

And THEN, today we had blustery winds, so the accordian door that was on the closet that hubby made to protect our new washer and dryer that's outside blew off and we had to replace THAT!.

My house and my nerves have had enough.

Maybe I've got some bad mojo in my house somewhere, or it's not Fung Shui. I don't know. Whatever it is, it needs to be fixed ASAP people!

Sometimes You Just Have To Laugh

What a day this has been!

Talk about being stressed to the max!

At work I'm trying to get everything done, stop for a 1/2 hour, grab the youngest from preschool, bring her back to work with me, try and get more stuff done, but entertain the youngest at the same time, then race to get the eldest from school, then race home to give hubby a couple of checks and an important paper he needs, balance the checkbook, make dinner, get the eldest to softball practice, come home, grade papers for her teacher, make lunches for tomorrow, give the youngest a bath, go back to the field to grab the eldest and come home.

Oh, and did I mention that our dryer decided to take a dump right when hubby was drying his uniform? Oh, and THEN, about an hour later, the washing machine decides that IT doesn't want to work either!

By that time, hubby and I are just laughing about it. I mean, come on, what else can you do? When you are stressed to the max, and shit starts happening, and then more shit happens, you just get to a point where you have to laugh about it, or else check yourself into the funny farm.

We JUST bought a new water heater too, because our old one was on it's last legs. You know that's happening when you have to keep turning down the cold water in the shower to have a nice warm/hot shower. Well apparently the dryer AND the washer decided they didn't want to work either!

So it's to the laundrymat this weekend for me!

When hubby comes back from out to sea in a week or so, we'll be shopping for a new washer and dryer. But here's the kicker. They're outside.

Our washer and dryer hookups are outside on the back patio.

We had PLANNED on getting a new washer and dryer once we enclosed the back patio into a "three-season type" porch back there. Once it was more protected by the elements.

Yea, not so much.

We are going to look at getting a shed of some sorts or enclosure to put around the washer and dryer to protect it so that the new ones will be protected and last longer, since we can't wait until the porch is enclosed.

Like I said, sometimes you just have to laugh......

Ice Chests Anyone?

I have this thing about coolers or ice chests, whichever name you like to call them.

I love them. I love having different sizes of them. Because hey, lets face it, sometimes you don't always need a huge one. Or you need one on wheels. Or you want one that has a separate door to open so you don't have to open up the whole thing. Or you want one that has a place to set your drinks on.

We have 3 big ones, one of them that has wheels to pull (although hubby says we already have one that has wheels in the garage but I couldn't find that one when I went looking yesterday and I'm not about to tear apart his garage looking for it)

Then I have 3 smaller ones that are all soft sided. One almost looks like a suitcase because of the way it rolls. It comes in VERY handy when having to bring snacks to softball or soccer games, or bringing my macaroni salad to family get togethers. The next one is more square and is meant to be taken to the beach (at least that's what I use it for, you can carry it) It works nicely for sandwiches and drinks. Then I have one to take on trips with us in the car. It has a separate compartment for cooled things and non-cooled things.

Down to the next size down in coolers. I have two hard sided ones and two soft sided ones. Hubby usually takes one of the hard sided ones when he goes fishing or flying his RC planes. The other one is basically only big enough for a small lunch. The soft sided ones I use for my lunches.

Now, why am I bringing up the subject of coolers you ask?

Well, my refrigerator took a dump yesterday and decided to quit working.

Thank goodness I'm an ice chest whore. I was able to fit the food that I really needed to keep for daily use in the coolers provided (well 2 of the largest coolers were unusable, but we'll talk about why another time.....) I have the big one outside (where it has been SOOO cold that things are staying very cold in there) and 3 of the smaller ones inside to keep milk, orange juice, butter, other juice, cheese, condiments, etc in there.

The Sears man came by today and fixed my refrigerator (turns out it needed a new relay to the compressor. They invented this thing so that if it overheats, the relay will burn out and not affect the compressor at all, saving hundreds of dollars. Good invention I tell you!) So now it's getting all nice and chilly in there again and tomorrow I can put the food I was able to save back in there. Unfortunately I did have to throw out a lot of food, especially the freezer part. :(

Hey, at least I got to clean out my refrigerator and make it all nice and pretty again and I got some good use of my coolers in the cold winter (hey, it's cold here right now.....)

That's me, the Ice Chest Whore

Organizing

As much as I love Christmas, I love it when it's over and I can put all the Christmas decorations away. My living room feels so much bigger when all the decorations and tree are gone.

I also get the purge mode. Partly because of all the new stuff the girls have gotten, my one storage closet no longer has presents in it and it's just that time of the year to do it, you know?

Yesterday I organized the stuff underneath both bathroom sinks and the kitchen sink, and finished organizing two of the shelves in the hall storage closet.

Today I went through the "corner clutter cabinet", and two drawers in the kitchen that needed purging and organizing badly.

I love to organize when I have the time.

I have a small house, so I do need to do it often, because if I don't, things just get out of control here. Plus we are coming to a point in the year when things are going to start to get hectic around here. My eldest will be doing indoor soccer once a week, dance once a week and softball probably at least 3 times a week. So if I don't get it done now, I don't know WHEN I'll be able to get it done.

I also had time to do the Dance, Dance Revolution with my girls on the Playstation2. Talk about a workout there!

Oh yea, and I also found all my old emails that I thought I lost forever when hubby upgraded the computer! Woohoo for me!

Although I never made any "official" New Year's resolutions, I do want to get back into my mode of getting things done ahead of time. For example, my niece's birthday is the end of February, but I've already gotten her birthday present. Woohoo on me! I've also gotten the girls' valentines to give out on Valentine's Day too. I just need to get them a little something that I always get them on Valentine's Day too. I got them stuffed animals last year, but I'm getting sick of them all over the house, so I need to come up with something different.

Plus hubby will be going out to sea soon for a long time and I need to get done what I can get done now.

I'm also vowing to work on scrapbooking big time too. I want to get at least one layout done a week too.

Will all of this happen?

Only time will tell! :)