A New Year Is Almost Here

Fireworks are already being heard and Daisy is not happy about it. I wonder how loud it will be here. Can I hide under the bed?

I am really hoping that 2007 will be a better year. I'm still having trouble with the idea that Jimmy decided to cut his responsibility and his pay because he is tired of the BS. I think he is probably suffering from a little job burnout. But, as he says, he now has it pretty easy. Yeah right, at $150 a week less? Some how he figured that I would jump at the chance to go back to work. Wrong pipedope breath! When he did not even discuss it with me! He just figured that I could either get a job working at home or a parttime job somewhere. It aint that easy. But, maybe I'll get lucky before we get any deeper in debt.

I'm am discovering how true some old sayings are. There is one that says something about you don't miss something until it is gone. I miss my house! I miss my yard! I miss my garage!

The weather people here are forecasting extreme bad weather this evening. Possible heavy rain, tornadoes and damaging large hail. I hope it stays away from my neighborhood. My little Trans Am is a convertible. Hail would not be kind to my little car. Now I wish I had some covered parking.

Maybe we will win the lottery next year. Maybe the home rental market will drop in Houston. Rental property is sky high here and continuing to go up!

Well, it doesn't cost anything to hope. Maybe opportunity will knock on our door and we will be home!. Hey, it could happen, right?

Inviting Isn't It?

Daisy and I went for our usual morning walk yesterday. It was garbage day, so all the trash bags and cans were at the curbs waiting to be thrown into the trucks. As we walked by Daisy took an interest in some things and was scared by others. Obviously the neighborhood had a very good Christmas, judging by the amount of trash. We all know how much wrapping paper fills up in bags. Somehow it takes up more room when it is torn and crunched into balls. Quite a lot of mess it makes.

What struck me more was the fact that I could see so much of what everyone got as presents. Young children got games and puzzles and toys with lights and sounds. Some people got DVD players, Ipods, cell phones, digital cameras, video cameras, video game players, computers, printers and other rather expensive stuff. How do I know this? I saw the boxes. All those boxes sitting at the curb telling every one what each family got for presents. I know so many people just have to get the most up to date electronics and gadgets. Maybe it is a status symbol or maybe they just "gotta have" all that stuff. But...so do thieves. If I can tell what is inside someone's house by a box at the curb so can a crook.

This made me think about a tv story some years ago. A security expert was showing how easy we make it for robbers. Every year people are robbed of things from their house. Sometimes, during Christmas, wrapped presents are taken right from under the tree. But what really gives the bad guys great clues is the fact that people make no effort to disguise or hide the evidence of what the people have bought. Putting a large box that says "flat screen tv" just invites crooks who would like to steal things. The security expert said this is not good. We should always destroy or break down boxes so that it is not so obvious what has been bought.

Most of us don't bother to think about the security issues. We are always told, especially during gift giving season, to keep our purchases in the car's trunk instead of inside the car. If the bad guys can't see it... But we don't take the time to protect our things at home. We really need to be more careful about how we dispose of our trash. We always think it won't happen to us. Really? Maybe not the day after Christmas, but months later some unsavory character will rob us. Then we wonder why. Was it just a random act or did someone see what we bought? Our garbage cans tell the whole story. We need to be more careful.

You Tell Me

What do empty Mountain Dew,Bud light bottles, a Chick-fil-la cup, crushed Bud Light and Coke cans, a new phone book and a girl's Pink "pullup" training pants have in common? Nothing! This is just a source of irritation. Ever since we moved here I have noticed these items on the front stoop of the front neighbor's townhouse. Does he not have a trash can? If I did this it would not be noticed because our house is in the back. But his front door opens right onto the parking lot. So I can see if he is in a hurry or was finishing a bite to eat as he got out of the car. Put them down, fumble for the house key, then go inside. But why leave the bottles and cans of beer and the other stuff there too? And what is with that one "pullup"?. It is not lying down, but sitting up against the wall. That is odd. Never seen him with a kid. And I guess he doesn't need a new phone book. They do seem to multiple a lot around here. But as a whole these items do provide fodder for speculation. Why are they there and why have they been there so long? Does he plan to drop kick them into the parking lot? Maybe he has a bad back which hurts to bend over to pick things up. Maybe there is nothing to it at all. I just find the collection of these items a little odd, especially since they have been there so long. What's the deal? You tell me.

Fan Appreciation?

Really? I heard a radio promo the other day for our wonderful excuse for a football team. I had to chuckle at the thought of "Fan Appreciation Day" for the "fans" of the Houston Texans football team. The last game of the season is against the Cleveland Browns. Both teams to this point have 4-10 records. I guess the fans should be happy. After all this year they are not the worst team in the league. That dubious honor goes to both Oakland and Detroit at 2-12. Tampa Bay is worse than us at 3-11. But the Texans fans have been suffering through the Texans growing pains for nearly 5 years now. The fans who have the nerve to buy tickets to the games should be appreciated. At least sitting at home watching on tv I can change the channel!

It just struck me funny. Fan Appreciation Day on New Year's Eve. Could be worse, April Fools Day would be good. After all the Texans have been pretending to be a real football team for almost 5 years. Did Bob McNair learn anything this year? The fans are still not happy that neither Vince or Reggie were considered. Talk about a mistatke? Just look where those two guys are now. Well at least they did pick DeMeco Ryans who has been spectacular.

I guess it is fitting to salute the long suffering fans. Ever since Bud Adams moved the Oilers to Tennessee and renamed them the Titans, Houston football fans have been mad. It is only fair to treat those who sit through those hours of painful football at the stadium to be honored. After all they could quit buying tickets, right? The best thing the Texans can do for the fans is find out who highjacked the real team. The current team is surely not the real team. Then of course there is this year's draft choices to make. The fans will be praying for divine intervention this time for sure. Want to really show the fans appreciation? Find some good players!

What Day Is It?

I can't keep my days straight lately. Yesterday I kept thinking it was Wednesday and that I had missed the garbage. I took the garbage out late yesterday afternoon thinking I had missed the pickup and I would have to wait until Saturday. Later I realized it was only Tuesday. Then I kept thinking Jimmy's office party was today but it is tomorrow. Then I kept thinking the bills were due but they are not yet.

I don't know why I can't seem to get the days straight. I even thought I had to wash clothes today cause it was Thursday. Wrong. Today is not Thursday. That is tomorrow! Is it? Are you sure? No, at this point I am not sure of anything any more.

Christmas is Monday! Where has time gone! It is almost scary how fast the days are flying by. I feel like saying "Stop the world, I want to get off!" I'm getting too soon old and too late smart.

At least the smoke alarm works. I'm one of the few people on the planet who occasionly like nearly burned toast in the morning. Yes I know that is odd. So when the toast burned the smoke alarm went off. Gee. That never happened at the other house.

What is on TV tonight? Well, I don't know what we will watch since I probably won't remember what day it is and which re-run is on.

Let's see what the calendar says, today is Thursday, no Wedneday the 20th of December. Right?

Mr.Fix-It, Really!

The Real Mr.Fix-It called yesterday to say he would be here between 9 and 10 this morning. Promptly at 9 he arrived and within 2 hours had just about everything done. He put in three smoke alarms, two window blinds, a bathroom light kit, fixed two doors, two floor tiles and the counter tops in the kitchen. He also took most of the trash from the back of the building.

The other guy who does not speak English took forever to paint and put new floor tile in the upstairs hall and left a mess in the process.I wonder what the "emergency" was that made it impossible for him to come? Deportation?

The only thing on my list that didn't get done was the stovetop burner replacement. Maybe the landlady has not bought one yet. He also did not take the large paint cans, saying by leaving them they would have a match. Yeah, but they are sitting outside in the "backyard". Funny, he also said he would not take the mirror that was left outside. Not superstitious, but...

At least most of the glaring, mainly cosmetic problems are done. And of course, now the disposal quit working after I had already given the landlady the list. And I don't really understand why drilling screws into the edges of a door is supposed to fix the split. He showed me where it had been done before, too. It shuts better, but still doesn't latch very well. Of course that is easier to fix and Jimmy will probably do that himself. He'll probably also replace the disposal too, just not right now because we don't have the extra $60-100 for a new one. That is not a priority now. I would like the burner replaced. They are only about $35 and just snap in.

Well, at least most of the stuff is done. We really don't care about some of the stuff which is really due to ware and tear over the years. If we were buying this place it would be different. Some of the stuff is just not that important. I just want to make sure that later on, the landlady doesn't say that we did something wrong. That happened to me once before. I had a landlord who refused to return my deposit, saying that the place was dirty even though we left it in better, cleaner condition than when we moved in. That reminds me, I haven't gotten the deposit back from our former landlord. The thirty days will be up soon so, hopefully, we will get at least most of it back soon. I got the water deposit back the other day-minus the last bill. Funny how they do that cause I paid a bill that was up to the cut off day. Oh well, I'm not going to complain about $20. $1000, I will question.

One funny thing, while the guy was here fixing things, some Jehovah's Witnesses were attempting to visit the neighbor across the walkway, but didn't try here. Lady and Daisy were on the patio barking at them. Good girls! I don't like door to door people no matter what they are selling.

Now I have to find something to fix for supper...

Tis the Season...To Be Crabby

This season brings out the best in us, well some of us. Right now I am crabby, really crabby! I have been irritated ever since we made the decision to downsize. Now, I find out that it was partially Jimmy's idea to cut his pay, sinply because he did not want to deal with all the bs. He never discussed it with me. I had suggested that maybe he was burned out and needed a fresh outlook elsehere. Now I find out that he is "happy" where he is and he jus doesn't want to deal with all the crap. I understand that.So he'd rather do less plumbing so he won't be called all the time. So now he is doing things like riding a backhoe digging so they can lay the pipe, etc. Now he complains about being tired and sore. Hey, can't have it both ways!

That has me irritated now. I feel that I was misled. Then we get in this place and I am irritated more. Mr. Fix-It was supposed to be here last Wed. morning. At 4:30 Frday the landlady calls and said he could not get here because of an "emergency" Ya couldn't call and tell me sooner? By 4:30 Friday afternoon, I've already figured out that he wasn't coming. So she tells me he will be out Mon morning. Well, it is now 9:30. Where is he? I had a few errands I wanted to do early this morning, but decided to put them off until after he finished his work. Yeah, right. Maybe I should start a pool to see who would come closest to guessing when he will actually show up.

We had planned to do some pictre hanging and other little things Sunday. But somebody sat in his recliner and slept all day. "This house makes me sleepier than the other one" he says. I think to myself, "no it doesn't, you sleep every Sunday." No use arguing the point. So as usual nothing gets done. So the crabby meter rises.

Then Daisy is doing her best to make me really crabby. As usual, I have to get up early to take her outside. And even that causes irritation since she sometimes refuses to do all her business, leaving me a little package somewhere in the house, right after she's been out! Grrr... If that isn't enough to irritate me, she has this idea that she wants to go out every 1 to 2 hours. Some times she does something, sometimes not. If I don't jump up and take her out she paces the floor, back and forth. Watch my Crabby meter continue to rise, along with my blood pressure. This is on top of the long walks we have to take a couple of times a day. This was supposed to exercise her and tire her out so she would be calm and quiet. Right! Right now she is in the "doghouse"(no pun intended) because she pee'd on the floor between the time I took Lady out and I could get upstairs to get Daisy ready to go out. I have already discovered that I can't take them out together. Lady walks too slowly and only wants to get her business done and go back inside and Daisy is too fast and wants to see everything except what she should be doing.

Right now I have to say a little prayer for patience and understanding. I am feeling less Spirit of the Season and too much crabbiness. And now I have to go take Daisy out again before Mr.Fix-It gets here. Wonder what the odds are that he will be here today? There goes my crabby meter up again.

Lopsided I am.

Yesterday was a rather annoying one. My first clue was that Mr.Fix-It did not come to do his thing. Good thing I'm not holding my breath. Also Daisy chose to annoy me as much as possible. First she pooped on the carpet in the bedroom. Needless to say I was not happy. Then she thought it would be fun to bark at every noise. Even Lady was not exempt, as Daisy picked at her constantly all day long. Even taking Daisy on a couple of long walks did nothing to ease the situation . Where is that Dog Whisperer!

But the most annoying thing of all was the fact that in my irritation I broke the temple of my glasses. Luckily, these are not my everyday prescription glasses, but the ones I use while I am on the computer.I'm mad at myself for getting irritated at Daisy. She was pestering Lady and as I got up from the desk for the umteenth time to scold Daisy, I yanked my glasses of and in the process I pulled the temple part off. So, now I either have to find the tape and put it back together or buy a new pair. Right now they are sitting lopsided on my nose. Now this is irritating! I keep trying to get them to sit straight. Of course they won't since there is nothing to hold them over my left ear. I even feel that I am looking at thinks askew. Oh where, oh where is the Nerd's remedy, the tape! I can't stand this lopsided look at the screen!

Will my view of the world be lopesided too? Maybe it already is...

Day Two, Where is Mr.Fix-It?

Hung around the house yesterday. Why? Mr.Fix-It didn't show up. Gee. Imagine that. So I am still waiting. We could do some of this stuff ourselves, but why should we?

Now Jimmy and I are thinking that maybe there is some mold or some other denizen in this place that is making us sick. We both have had cold symptoms since we moved here. We first thought it was from the grandson, Brad. Seemed that all of us got a cold, but ours has lingered on and on. Could it be this place. New paint still smells. But...

Maybe I could write a murder mystery about this house. Made something weird did happen here. Maybe that is why the landlady never let us see this unit before it was painted and the new carpet put in.

So, in between throat clearing and sneezing, I'm still waiting for Mr.Fix-It. Really good use of my time. If I get started on something, then he will show up and I'll have to rearrange everything I'm doing. Sigh.

Waiting For Mr. Fix-It

I'm sitting here waiting for the guy to come finish the stuff that should have been finished before we moved in. He's supposed to be here this morning. We shall see. Let's see what he will have to do. Install smoke alarms, find and put the globe over the naked light in the hall bath, fix broken tile in the kitchen, put a new burner on the stove, fix the countertop sides and put up window blinds. That is just the short list. I told the landlady that there were no good window screens on any windows but she said she doesn't provide those since "kids just tear them up". What does that say? He should put window blinds on one window in the living room where we put the computer desk and both bedrooms. I guess he'll do the one in the second bedroom. He probably won't do the one in our bedroom since we put curtains up. We had to do something while we waited. A naked bedroom window isn't good. It should be "fun" watching him try to put up blinds over this computer desk. This desk is tall and heavy. Maybe he can use a stepladder. I dug around in the hall closet to find some used tiles that he may be able to use to replace the broken kitchen ones.

Minor fixups, right? And just what is he going to do with the big buckets of paint that are sitting in the downstairs closet? When is he going to clean up the mess in the back "yard"? And of course the garbage disposal goes out after I already sent her our fix-it list. I am not going to buy another one right now. Funny how she told me about the repair deposit as I was signing the lease. Most places have a $50-$75 one, hers is $275. So we have to pay the first $275 and she will take what ever is over that off the rent on the following month if we send her the receipts. I wish she had told me that sooner, it may have made a difference on if we rented this place. Oh well, beggers can't be choosers. This is the cheapest rent we could find that is in a fairly nice area. The houses in the subdivision down the street are really nice, even nicer than the area where we used to live.

I guess I should be happy that we have something. It is going to be tough for the next 6 months since Jimmy had to borrow money to move from Steve. $100 a week off a pay check makes it hard to make ends meet. Guess I'll have to find a job. Maybe I can find a way to work from home. I'd really like that.

Ok Mr Fix-It, time to get here and get busy. Any time now!

Peace on Earth?

Once again we must tred lightly in celebrating the season. Now that WalMart has returned to allowing the employees to say Merry Christmas, have their sales increased? But we still find that we are afraid to step on the toes of people of other faiths. Have we gone too far?

When I was a kid we all decorated our school room doors. Some times there was a prize for the best one. One year we started a decoration which said Merry X-Mas, but the teacher said that was not appropriate. So we changed it to Merry Christmas by writing smaller.

No one seemed to complain about Christmas trees, wreaths or other seasonal decorations. Even some of our Jewish friends came to Christmas or New Years Eve parties. No one made a big deal. We were friends. What has happened? We are afraid of offending poeople of other faiths. What happened to tolerance? Now we have to be sure to get each symbol right. So we light Menorahs and celebrate (or tolerate) Kwanza. What's wrong with Christmas trees? Next we won't want to put up outside lights on our homes.

There a some well known subdivisions in cities that are really dramatic in the outside decorations. Some have contests to see which is the best decorated home. I have even heard of an area where before a person can buy a house they must agree to participate in the area Christmas decorating. This place even requires outdoor decorations be in a neighborhood theme and if any one sells their house the decorations must remain. Ok.

So why do we worry about what others think? Funny,but it seems that the only groups who are not complaining about decorations offending anyone are Atheists. What about the Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddists? Personally, I think people are going overboard with the "equal time". We didn't used to be this way.

Have a happy holiday season to everyone who has something to celebrate. That should be just about everyone. Peace on Earth, Good Will to All.

Hey Bob, Tell Us Again...

The question just won't go away. Why did we draft Mario Williams first? Eventually he will be a good player but hia sack numbers don't inspire confidence. DeMeco Ryans has far outshined him. In fact Ryans is having a Pro Bowl type of season. What has Williams done, or Carr?

It is a well known fact that many people wanted the Texans to draft Vince Young (including Young) but they did not. Neither did they choose Reggie Bush. Ahem, what are Bush and Young doing? If nothing else they are maturing and growning. They have shown their teams that they can get the job done. And once again the Houston Texans can't finish off a game. Does David Carr inspire the team? After five years he has yet to lead the team. Coach Kubiak has taken him under his wing and given him every opportunity to establish himself. But...

Vince Young stuffed the football down the throats of the Texans. Sure, it took over time to do it. But in the end, it was vintage Young. Just like in the Rose Bowl he took charge. Where was Mario Williams? And don't even mention how well Reggie Bush is doing with the Saints.

Does David Carr hear footsteps? Will the Texans draft a quarterback this time? Hey, there is a guy from Ohio State who now has a nice little trophy in his hands. How much longer will it take for Carr to be a leader? It looks like even Kubiak is loosing it. Just how many more times will the coach make excuses? Is it time for David to move on down the road? When will Williams live up to the expectations for a number one draft pick?

What is the plan this time, Bob and Gary?

Bah Humbug, the Grinch Did Steal Christmas!

Merry Christmas Andy. Going to the Big Apple? For months Andy Pettitte put people off by saying that he was not sure if he wanted to play anymore. A few weeks ago he had not made up his mind. Then during the winter baseball meetings the Yankees offered him a deal. The fans and the Astros thought that maybe this would be a negotiating point. The Astros made their offer. After all Andy said when he signed with Houston he was glad to be able to be at home with his family and able to play for the hometown fans. But now he decided to leave Houston to go back to the Yankees. So much for being able to play at home. The contract offers were not that far off between the two teams. But...

I don't know about the rest of the Houston Astro fans, but I feel a little cheated. Now some people are wondering it Roger will leave too. I hope not, after all his son is playing for the Astros minor league team.

That's why some of us are now saying that the Grinch (Andy Pettitte) stole Christmas.
Thanks Andy. Of course Andy didn't really play as well as he should have for the last couple of years. He did have some elbow problems which made him less than effective. And he is 34. So maybe it is time. Humbug.

We'd still like to have him but, since the front office was apparently not that distressed by Pettitte's descision maybe they have some good presents on the way for the team and not a lump of coal. After all even Scrooge saw the light eventually.

Giving At Christmas

This time of year always makes me wish I could do more for those people who have fallen through the cracks of life. The local tv and radio stations all are having there "Share your Holidays" drives. There are drives for food, clothes and toys. The police have the Blue Santa and the Marines have the "Toys for Tots". There is even an Hispanic Santa who vists kids here. I always try to put a few bits of change in the red kettle. I think it is so nice that so many people work together to help others.

I still remember a tv episode in which George Jefferson went to his old run down apartment house where he lived as a child. He snuck a decorated tree and some presents in. He remembered how poor he was as a child and he wanted to give back. I always thought that episode was so nice because noone knew where the tree and gifts came from. A real heart-string tugger that episode was.

Even today there are so many stories on tv about how people change lives by helping without expecting something in return. We all love these stories. Something bugs me though. Why don't we have this spirit of giving all year round? Do we feel guilty because we have ignored the less fortunate the rest of the year? I think it is great that so many organizations try to make sure every child has a toy and every family has food. We feel the love and love to give at Christmas. It makes us feel good to give presents at Christmas, knowing that maybe without our one act of giving, someone would go without. But where is that spirit in May or July? People still need clothes and food. Kids still want presents. Some kids don't even have school supplies.

Our charities and religious groups do the best they can. But, ultimately it is up to us not to forget that there is need every day of the year. Giving at Christmas is wonderful. Just remember there are 364 other days in the year. Give a little each day. Even if it is only a smile and a kind word.

Watch Out For That First Step!

I don't think that Lady and Daisy have figured out how to walk around the upstairs hall (such as it is)yet. Since those few feet have tiles instead of carpet, walking off the bedroom carpet to the hallway is quite and exercise when they are in a hurry. When are those two not in a hurry? Out of the bedroom and down the stairs they go, or try to. Traction is not an option. They are always in a hurry to go down stairs that they slip and slide along to the stairs. I still dont understand why there is tile instead of carpet there. It wouldn't be any more expensive. Oh well. But it is funny watching Lady and Daisy trying to negotiate that turn. Plus Lady's nails are long again which I'm sure is a hinderance for her. And guess where the nail clippers are. No, not in a box on the floor here. That would be too easy. I always kept them in the kitchen island which is on wheels. Whoever moved it to the storage building dumped them back into the drawer and off they went to the back of the building. I din't get them off fast enough.Now I need to buy another pair. That will be less trouble than digging through the storage building. Sorry Lady. Should I get you a rug? Look out below!

Another Box Down

I got most of the kitchen stuff out of the boxes. My pantry is so full that now I can find anything. But that will just have to wait for another day. At least I got all the liquor put away! I'm not a kitchen type of person. Cooking just doesn't really interest me, but now I really appreciate how much room I had in the other kitchen. I really think this may be the smallest place I have lived in a long time. I already miss the big house. I'm still in awe that we have so much stuff. And this was after I took a bunch of stuff to Good Will. Our new storage building is full. Of course the guys really didn't make an effort to pack the stuff in neatly. I guess that will be a project for later. Somehow I need to get Jimmy to clean out the other one which is filled mostly with useless plumbing materials. He said that he could maybe throw some of it away if the dumpster people would bring out some empty ones to his job site. Sure...But that would mean that he would actually have to go to the building and take stuff out of it. At $150 a month, I wish he could get the stuff out and either taken to the office or tossed out. He's even thinking about just stopping payment for it and let them auction off the junk. I'd rather not cause I dont want that on our credit. We are just now getting the bad stuff off our credit. But I really dont like having to pay for two storage buildings again, especially since his pas been cut.

Right now the second bedroom is becoming the upstairs storage room. I've been putting everything that won't go downstairs in it. Since this bedroom has the biggest closet in the house I've been thinking of buying some extra shelving and storing things in it besides the extra clothes and other stuff. After all, why not put the stuff that is rarely used out of sight? I dragged the big electric roaster up there. I only use it to bake turkey or some large stuff for company. That is only once or twice a year.

I am a little sad cause this is the first year that we will not have a Christmas tree. First, the kids moved it to the storage building and I don't know if we can get to it and second, I don't know where we would put it. And of course there is no room for my Dickens Village. It's just not Christmas at my house without all these things. I've just about decided to give most of our motion characters to the kids. We have a bunch of Christmas characters that are animated and the kids liked them when they were littler. Amanda even named two of them. We think we will give her those and Traci and Annie can split what they want. I never realized how many we have and how much storage room they use.

Since the maintaince man has not been here in a week to "finish" his work I really have not tried to really get the house in order. I just stuffed things around where they will be. I haven't tried to make it look normal, just get it out of the boxes. Plus I was trying to wait for him to be out of the way. But, I can't wait forever. We put the computer desk in front of one of the living room windows. We tried to wait for him to put the blinds on this window, but that hasn't happened. So, blocking the window with the desk does provide some privacy. He's gonna have fun trying to move the desk to put up the blinds now. Should have already done that, not my problem! Then we want to get some curtains on all three living room windows. We had to put up curtains in our bedroom. Why? Blinds aren't up there either. I have sent the landlady a list of things that we found wrong, which she requested. Any body want odds on if and when anything will be fixed? Oh well, you get what you pay for and at this point we are just trying to save money and get the money situation back on track. Hopefully, I can find some kind of work that I can do at home.

Well, it's time to go unload another box. Do I really have to? After all, when we win the lottery, we'll just have to pack up again! At least then I would be able to hire movers to pack, move, and set it all up! One can always hope! Gotta be positive! Take one step back to get four steps ahead. Right?

At least I found the copy paper. I thought it was in a box either with the computer stuff or the desk stuff, but no, it was in a small suitcase with some business stuff. Well, at least it was in the general area, sort of. And I found the box of homemade pickles that Jimmy's dad had made nearyl nine years ago. Wonder if they are any good? They are the last one's his dad made and Jimmy refuses to open and eat them. Senimental, huh.

When Will We Have It Done?

How come the window blinds are not up? You call that a paint job? My 5 year old grandson could do a neater job. The landlady made a big issue of the smoke detectors, so how come they are still not installed? It took nearly a week for the guy to put down new (ugly) floor tile in the upstairs hall.

I'm finding some things that should have been finished before we moved in but as yet are not. The window blinds are about 1/2 inch too long, so I guess the guy got frustrated. If neatness counts in school he failed. The paint job is sloppy. Well, the landlady said for me to make her a list of things that are not right. Santa's list is shorter.

Then again, I guess this may be one of the reasons the rent is lower. I don't speak Spanish and the maintainance man doesn't speak English. Plus, you never know when or if he will show up to finish things. For several days while we were bringing things to the house he was here sometimes till 7 at night. Of course he didn't get here until after noon. I had to put the dogs in our bedroom and put up a don't enter sign. We haven't seen him at all since last Wed.

Then I did not get off to a good start with one of my new neighbors. After spending a couple of days getting the last of our stuff out of our old house and cleaning it I was super tired. As I pulled into the parking lot to unload some stuff, my new neighbor bitched me out because I was in her parking spot. The maintance guy was in mine. I asked if she could wait just a couple of minutes till I got the stuff unloaded. After all the lot was not full. Oh no! She told me in no uncertain terms that I needed to get out of her spot. To say she was rude was an understatement! At that point, I lost my cool and said "F*** it" and moved my car. Then I was upset with myself. I never use that word in public. I've met a couple of our neighbors and they are not like her, though. Seeing her proves why some people have a bad reputation. Guess we won't be exchanging Christmas cards. She has certainly not done anything to change any one's opinion of people like her.

Have no idea if or when the little odd jobs will get done. I'm getting my list ready...

Now Which Box Is ....?

As I sit here among the boxes, I wonder will I be able to tolerate this. Funny, the easiest thing was the transfer of the phone. Amazingly when we plugged in all the computer components, everything worked. Internet up and running.


I must thank my daughters for their help at Thanksgiving. They did all the work. Thanks Annie and Traci! Big hugs for both of you! Of course one of Traci's kids brought everyone a special present- a cold. It was shared by all of us! Thanks Brad. Jason, Bobby and Pat helped load and unload the U-Haul. Some things were not fun to try to get into or up the stairs in this townhouse. I know it was not much fun for them, but they didn't complain. I am a little sad that we couldn't fit all the furniture in here, but that's how it goes. I'm still waiting for the maintanence man to fix things which should have been done before we moved in here. We need new windown screens, three windows need blinds, the smoke alarms are still not installed. I'm still trying to figure out why it takes this guy so long to do things. All of this should have been done at least three weeks ago. Every time I leave the house I have to lock up Lady and Daisy so they won't get out. Lady is not a real problem, but Daisy would take off running!

While I was cleaning the other house I took time one afternoon to try to call the electric company. After being on hold for one solid hour with the same dumb song playing on an endless loop, I was ready to scream! I won't even mention that my cell phone battery almost died. So, I got smart and called them the next morning at 7:15. No problem.

I have no idea what to do with some of our stuff because there is no more room in the storage building. At this point the second bedroom is rapidly turning into a storage area. At least the closet in it is large. Moving from a large house with a living/dining room, den, three bedrooms, office and a two car garage into a itty-bitty place is a real trick. Going from a large kitchen to a postage stamp kitchen is a real magic trick! I just hope I can find some place to put all the stuff! The question arises again. Why do we have so much stuff! My current solution is if I can find a hole, stuff something in it!

Now which box has the paper towels? Never mind that, where is the toilet paper! Eat? Eat what? Where are the pots and the food to put in them? What do you mean the large burner on the stove doesn't work? At least I got my old washer and dryer back! I love my dryer! It doesn't take all day to dry clothes, yipee! I can now almost see the living room floor. Maybe one day I'll get everything unpacked.

Why is it that the people who get paid the big bucks to design homes forget things like closets? It is obvious that the architect forget to allow for a bathroom closet in the master bath- so they added one, oops? So that's why that wall sticks out like that.

So, onward through the boxes. Now which box has the vodka? What do you mean toothpaste? Ever try to find the cold medicine after it has been packed?