Is It Over Yet?

Oh God, please forgive my aggravation and irritable mood for the last few days. At this point I would almost cheerfully strangle my landlady. First, the maintainance man is still not finished with what ever he is doing. He still has some painting, floor tile replacing, window blind and screen replacing. We are planning to move the furniture Friday. I hopw he will be out of the way then.

I have been about to blow a gasket for the last two days. My landlady told me that the water was handled by a water district called Emerald Forrest Utility District and she gave me a number to call. She told me to tell them the address and that it is in the Tallowwood area. So I call, no you need to call this number, no you need to call this number and so on. Call her back, no you are giving the address wrong, it has to be 9703 D and then the street. That's not right, even I know that. First it is the street address then the unit number. But the really frustrating part was how many times I calles all these numbers who kept telling me they didn't handle the water there. Scream time!! Then I got an idea to call a realtor who had a for sale sign on the building next door. When I asked if they could help me find what water district the property is in, they looked at the tax records and agreed that it is Emerald Forrest, but it is in the Woodedge Village area. Bingo! When you get the right information, you solve the question quickly! All this time the landlady had been giving me the wrong info! How dumb is that!

I still have a lot of packing to do. We've decided that my dining set, especially the very large china cabinet will be to hard to get into the house. It would just be a really tight squeeze since the front door opens right into the stairs and we don't think there in enough room to turn the cabinet. So along with one bedroom set we will have to put the dining set in storage. We decided to use a drop leaf table that my parents had when I was a kid instead. I refinished it couple of years ago. I'll also have to put my kitchen island in storage since the kitchen is too small.

I hope my sons in law eat their wheaties since they will be doing all the hard work Friday. Jimmy and I are just about worn out.

Annie and Traci will be fixing Thanksgiving dinner for us. Thank you girls! Amanda will not be able to make it. Pat will come for a little while. I still need him to get the washer and dryer out of Amanda's storage building. I'm assuming he will have an excuse that he won't be able to help Friday. Amanda had asked him to get Jimmy's ladder out of the storage and then put the stuff she left her in it but he has done absolutely nothing to help anyone! Shame on him! Grrr!!

The phone should be switched over sometime today so, I won't be online at some point today. I'm not sure when we will get the computer hooked back up after we move.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

Hurry Up and Wait

Man,just when I thought we would have progress, it stops. Couldn't meet the realtor yesterday, Have to wait until Friday. But at least we won't have to pay for half of November, we'll just pay for December. But Jimmy was disappointed that he would have to wait to see the townhouse.

Now comes the second most favorite thing about moving. I have to call the phone company, cable , electric, and water and gas. The first favorite (if anyone could call it that) is moving.

Should be interesting.

Pins and Needles

I have to meet the realtor at 1:00 today. I'm not having much luck concentrating today.Too many questions going through my mind. If Jimmy can get away from the job to meet us. What if when he sees it he doesn't like it? Will we get all our stuff moved and will it fit. We are losing a bedroom, so we are planning to put one bed and dresser in storage and we may have to put a couple of chairs and tables in there too. Annie and Jason and Traci and Bobby will all be here at Thanksgiving to help us move that weekend. They (thank God) are bringing the food. Thanksgiving dinner is the last thing on my mind. I'm worried that we won't be able to get the electricity, gas, cable and phone transferred smoothly. I have a mental picture of not having things up and running. A day without his online poker game is not a good thing for Jimmy. Then there will be all the extra people and what to do with them. Five kids, four under the age of six. Two dogs, one laid back, the other crazy. And that very loud parrot. I want everything to be ok, right now I'm anxious. Now where did I put the vodka?

Can We Say We Told You So NOW?

Amanda called me yesterday to ask me if it was possible to put a restraining order on someone who lives with you. Uh, don't think so... The last couple of times I have talked to her much of the conversation is about her cousin 'Trisha. There is more and more bad blood brewing between the two of them. Jimmy warned Amanda what she would be getting herself into if she moved back to Edna. He is very familiar with this little town since he lived there for ten years. It's trashy. That's putting it mildly. That is one of the reasons he left. We tried to tell Amanda that she would not be happy there. She had improved her life when she moved to Houston. We were proud of her accomplishments. Her mother told her when she left that she'd never make it in Houston, but Amanda did!

Now we wonder if Amanda decieved us in her reason to move back to Edna. At the time she decided to move she was worried about her mother and her sister. Amanda was afraid that if her sister was put in a "home" because of her mental retardation problems, her mother would not be able to handle the stress. They spent a good deal of time researching homes. But, now her sister is back in special ed and going to school every day. A far cry from the problems of the summer. Was all of this need to move a ruse? We wonder.

So Amanda moved back and is now sharing a house with her cousins Joey and 'Trisha. The house is owned by Joey's mother. Joey and 'Trisha are siblings. As far as I am concerned neither of them is a prize. He has kids from his wife and his girlfriend. His wife had a baby by her boyfriend. And she also does drugs,etc. Real high moral fiber those two have. CPS has been called several times. In short, they act like "white trash". Then there is 'Trisha who, bluntly is the whore of the county. Sleeping around is one of her favorite things to do. Then she whines that no one will help her. Great family, huh.

'Trish and Amanda who were once very close. Now thery barely speak. Amanda says that she hates her. Since they all live in the same house, tensions are high all the time. Apparently 'Trisha got mad and hit Amanda in the head. A fight could have insued, but since there were four kids in the room Amanda did not hit back. I don't think this situation will improve until someone leaves. It could get dangerous. So why doesn't Amanda move in with her mother? Or why doen't she move closer to where she works? She says she can't afford it.

I don't know what will happen. The aunt who owns the house(and is the mother of Joey and 'Trisha) says Joey and Amanda should do what they think best. How? How do they get rid of 'Trisha? Personally we think Amanda needs to get out of that mess before it spirals out of control. There is a part of me that thinks she likes that trashy lifestyle. What's that saying if you sleep with dogs, don't be surprized if you wake up with fleas. We tried to warn her...

How Much Stuff is in the Garage?

The realtor called Friday. We are going to sign lease Wed. I wonder if we will be paying for half the month or will be pay for Dec? Will we be able to start moving things in? Then I have to transfer all the utilities. Looks like we will have some gas, since there are gas meters outside. That's always a clue.

Jimmy decided to start cleaning out the garage where we had a lot of his tools, etc for work. Plus we had our Dickens village stuff and other Christmas stuff. We moved about 5 loads of stuff to the storage building. Nothing from the house. Just stuff from the garage. How come men don't ever want to take time to look through the boxes that haven't been opened for years? To me it makes more sense to make sure what is in the boxes is still necessary. Why make things easier by taking a little time to decide if some thing is really necessary or if some things could be put in one box instead of three? Must be a guy thing. When I suggested he go through his stuff, he said he'd rather just move it and think about it later. Right. Ever notice that later never comes? Hopefully we will have the garage clean this week.I sure hope we will have enough room in the storage building.

I'm a little nervous because Jimmy hasn't seen the inside of the townhouse. I hope he will be happy with it. I've told him that it's not exactly what I would want, but the price is good. I can tolerate it for a year or so. After all many years ago I had to live in a single wide trailer with three little kids. I used to refer that to living in a shoebox.

Then we have to clean out the other storage building. That is full, and I mean full of plumbing stuff. Every thing from pipe, to copper to sink and bathroom fixtures and other bits and pieces are crammed in there. He always saved all that stuff. 1. Might need it later. 2 Save Steve money. Yeah right! The business warehouse is full of stuff that could be reused or thrown away. Unfortunately some things seem to walk away. Other things just sit there. Jimmy had a generator stolen, yet Steve has about $20,000 worth of windows that were ordered for a job but were not used cause they didnt fit. This one reason why Jimmy won't put any of his tools and equipment there.
But what really bites is how wasteful the company is in so many other things. Jimmy has a lot of PVC pipe and stuff that he will probably (hopefully) just throw away. Seems the company always orders new stuff and throw away the stuff that is not used. So how come my garage has a bunch of stuff in it? Seems to be more cost effective to keep some things. After all why order 10 feet of pipe and throw away 6 of it? That is why there is so much stuff that we now have to get rid of. Actually I will be glad to get all of that crap out of our stuff. We have enough junk as it is.

We found boxes of tools he hasn't used, but he might need later. He has so many caps I think they are breeding. We had gallon water jugs, some for the fish we used to have, some we had been saving for a hurricane. There is a box of old magazines. Will he throw them out? Will he look at them again? Probably not. I found two big boxes of VCR tapes. Heavy, heavy. Most of this is stuff we taped to watch later then never watched. Why do we still have this? Then I found a box of cassett tapes that probably aren't any good. Toss them? Guess who won't. This is all in addition to all the DVDs we have boxed up in the house. I won't even mention all the old record albums we have. Any idea how heavy 200 record albums are?

We are going to take the boxes of Dickens Village out today. I don't think we will have the room to put the whole thing up this year. Plus I may not have the time. And then there is one of the bedroom closets which is crammed full of Christmas motion characters, china and other decorations. That doesn't even include the tree and the ornaments and stuff that I have been using. I don't use the motion stuff anymore, but for some reason we can't get rid of it. Don't even ask why.

Oh well, I guess we are making progress. Pray for me. I am just inches away from going insane. It will be a short trip.

The Iceman(Dog) Cometh(Runeth), With Apologies to Eugene O'Neill

Don't you just love the weird things our pets do. Daisy drives me nuts sometimes. So what else is new? Every time I go to the garage to get the broom or put trash in the trash can she starts racing around. Sometimes I wonder what she would do if she got hold of the trashbag before I got it to the garage. I'd really rather not think about that mess. She also has decided to chase a bucket of ice.

Jimmy takes his lunch to work in a cooler. I put drinks, lunch and snacks and cool them with ice. So when he comes home I take out the drinks and what ever he didn't finish and put it all back in the fridge. Then I strain the water and remaining ice into a strainer. Then I put the leftover ice in a plastic bucket and put it in the freezer. Hey, I'm part Scott, I reuse. Anyway, I never really paid attention to Daisy's bouncing around. But, then I realized she thought it was great fun to chase the ice bucket. Of course she chases the broom and vacuum cleaner too, but I thought chasing the ice bucket was a little much. So, I started the race. Around and around she went. It quickly melted into who is chasing who and what would happen when someone caught it. Exercise anyone?

So the iceman, I mean dog ran and ran. She had fun, I guess. Says something for the mood I've been in, right? Am I amused or annoyed? I just think of how like small children pets are. Some times it takes so little to amuse them. Of course Lady was watching from her chair. In her "royal" manner, she just stared in obvious boredom. Oh well, maybe we should all have an alter ego so we wouldn't look so foolish. Who me?

Snailing Along

I know it has only been a little more than a week since I talked to Norma, the lady with the townhouse. I know she told me she would call me when it is ready. I know she said it would take about a week to get it ready. So why do I feel that things are moving at a snail's pace? It is now November 9th and on the 1st she said it would take about a week to get it ready. So... Just how long does it take to paint, lay carpet and clean one townhouse? I guess I'm just antsy. I want to be sure that we can make good use of the available help we will get. Plus I hate to have a last minute rush to finish things. When we moved here the last couple of days were exhausting and that was having things boxed up and a moving company doing all the hard work. Realizing that we probably will not have the room to put all our furniture in there, we need to get an idea of what to do. Where will be put our freezer? Currently it is in the garage, before that it was on the covered pation at our other place. I know that we will have to put at least one bed and dresser in storage.

I can't help but feel that things are just crawling along. This makes me nervous. Will I get everything done? It would sure help if I knew just when it would be ready. Right now, I feel like a movie in s-l-o-w m-o-t-i-o-n. Hey, all you snails out there! Wanna race?

We Have A Mandate! Or Do We?

Ah, yes, the political process is done and all is right with the world. The Democrats have taken control of the House and may take the Senate too. Nancy Pelosi is dancing in glee. After trying to watch NCIS, Dancing with the Stars, and House in between the endless scrolling or breaking in with election results, it is over. Yes I was trying to watch all three shows. Finally the people have spoken, almost. Vote counting is still going on because of a couple of Senate races which are too close to call. Not including them election season is over. Or so I thought. Then I hear one of the political pundits say that the race for President is now on! Two more years of vote for me, ugh.

So will there be any difference in the next two years in this do nothing group of self absorbed "do gooders". Only time will tell. Texas relected Rick Perry to be the longest serving governor in history. He won without a majority because the Democrat and Independant candidates took a bunch of votes away, but not enough to win. Then there is a funny twist for the Tom DeLay seat. Shelly Sekula Gibbs won the special election to continue the seat but did not win the regular election. She will replace Tom DeLay for two months. Go figure.

But we have a mandate! After all Britney Spears dumped Kevin Federline. If that is not a mandate, what is? Ha!

Ok, ok, I'll go back to reality now. Does Diane Sawyer have to inhale so loudly?

Limbo Moves

Well, today is November 7th. No word yet about when the townhouse will be ready. Not a word from our current landlord either. I can't help be feel like we are in limbo. We still need to pack stuff,but... We have been talking for several months about cleaning out our storage building, nothing done yet. It has a lot of plumbing stuff in it and some of our other stuff. Jimmy was going to take a lot of the plumbing stuff to the office warehouse, but... Since the one we are using now is across town, we've decided that we should get one which is right down the street from the townhouse. I really don't want to pay for two storage buildings, but... Over the weekend we thought we'd go ahead and get one at the place near the townhouse. We thought we start moving some of Jimmy's plumbing stuff from the garage. Well, we cleaned out some trash, but haven't done anything else. Yesterday Jimmy came home from work thinking we would get the new storage building going, but... Maybe we will do it today.

We can't move anything to the house yet, obviously. Every time I look around the house, I cringe because there seems to be so much to move. I think once we get started it will be better,but... Amanda will be coming up next weekend to help move stuff. I hope we have some place to put stuff by then. Then she says she is going to take the last four days of her vacation on the last four days of the month to help. Annie and Jason will probably be here in a couple of weeks. They are moving this weekend. I need to transfer the utilities, but...

I really feel in limbo. I'd like to get something going, but... I'm begining to hear that old song "Limbo Rock".

Window Dressing?

I glanced out the window as the mailman was delivering our mail yesterday. It was then I noticed our neighbor whose car is always parked in front of this house. Apparently he had decided to clean out the back seat of his car. There is nothing spectacular about this. But his attire made me think twice about bending over a car seat. This guy is built a little like a football lineman, broad shoulders, big rear. Ok, let's just say he is a pound short of fat.He had on a white t-shirt and those nylon long shorts. What grabbed my attention was that these shorts had some kind of logo on the back. It was something like a circle or oval with three letters in the middle. The letter in the middle was larger than the ones on either side. Ok, so what. He opened the car's back door and bent over. Target practice anyone? When he bent over the logo on the shorts was directly centered mid-butt. The large middle letter was the perfect bull's eye. I don't think Chippendale's will be calling him any time soon. I realize that we all have the right to privacy at home. But when someone stands at the sidewalk all bets are off. And I used to wonder why my mother never went outside in her housecoat. Wonder what the mailman thought of his view? Maybe I should get a P.O.Box? Reminds me of the day at our other house when I went outside to get the mail and found myself saying hello to my neighbor as she raked leaves in her thong bikini. Maybe I should invest in a blindfold.

This and That

And just how long is a fence supposed to last? Ha! That wonderful new fence is already looking shabby. Some of the boards are already bowing badly. Gaps between the boards are getting bigger and bigger. I can almost put my hand between them. In some spots the fence is so far off the ground Daisy can almost get under it. Sigh...

I called the realtor yesterday. She told me the townhouse should be ready in about a week. Oh fun. I mailed our current landlord this month's rent with a letter telling him we would be moving out. Any minute I expect a call from him. I really don't want to have to talk to him.

Moving on- is the election over yet? I'm soo tired of all the ads. My viewpoint is, if you are a politician, I don't trust you!

The Astros should have some more money to try to get more power. They did not pick up the option on Jeff Bagwell. It is a little sad. Jeff wanted to play but his shoulder wouldn't allow him to do so. Drayton McClain desided to take the insurance claim instead. So Bagwell will just fade away until he is eligible for the Hall of Fame. I think it would have been better if he admitted he couldn't play and work a deal with the Stros so that he could have a "farewell" tour. They could have put him in for one inning just so the fans in the different parks could say goodbye. Too bad, they could not work things out.

David Carr finally got benched! At least maybe the Texans will learn that no player is untouchable. Carr probably didn't know what to do with himself. The backup QB almost brought the team back. A little more time he might have won the game. This Sunday the Texans will probably be back in playing form-losing! Doesn't matter which Manning they play...

Now I am wondering if it would be better to go ahead and rent the storage building down the street from the townhouse which would mean paying for two or try to clean out the one across town first? We really can't afford to pay for two. What to do, what to do?? Oh well.