HNT - 5 Year Anniversary!

Can you believe HNT has been going for FIVE years now??? Happy Anniversary to all the HNTers out there and especially to Os without whom we wouldn't even have HNT!! Os, YOU ROCK!

In honor of HNT's 5th Anniversary, here is my very first HNT from back in 2007. (I would recreate it for today, but my toes are looking pretty scary right now - been awhile since my last pedicure!)

Now go give Os some love!

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The Root of the Problem

We were told that the basement of our new-to-us house in suburban Chicago was very, very dry. Never a water problem. Ever.
So imagine our surprise Thursday morning, waking up to 4" of water in the basement. The carpet and pad were floating on the water. Spousehole poured water out of the computer case. Worst of all: the poor cats were trapped in the utility room and the fat one couldn't jump up on the washer or dryer because he's SO fat (25 lbs., if you were wondering). He was a very wet baby.

We had a bad storm Wed night/Thur morn and most of the water in the basement was storm water. But not all. There was some "blackwater" too. Ewww.

Eventually it was determined that there was a break in the sewer line somewhere between the house and the road. Wastewater has been draining into the front yard, probably since we moved in last month, but the storm pushed the soil beyond the saturation point and, voila!, a back-up.

They had to dig a trench in the basement and access the line that way. They took out some enormous roots that had pressed down on the clay pipe and shattered it, along with some more roots out near the street that were blocking the line as well. It was a huge mess. It's hard seeing what was your nice comfy family room become a mud-filled disaster zone.

New pipe was laid and we can once again pee, shower, wash dishes, wash clothes, and in all ways dispose of liquids in a sanitary manner. The family room reconstruction will have to wait until everything is dry.

The Rabbit family has been welcomed to Illinois in a spectacular fashion.

To top off my fabulous time, Spousehole is mad at me but I have no idea why. This morning my daughter presented me with Spousehole's wedding ring, saying "Mommy, look what I found!" I hate these little games of his. Sometimes it makes me hate him.

FML

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Well we're moving on up . . .

Up north, that is. Back to where we once belonged. Sort of. After trying very hard to find something here in SC, turning down a couple jobs that would have required big moves, we gave up and Spousehole accepted a position in a northern midwestern state. Not the one where we came from, but not far away.
We're making our way to the hog butcher for the world, tool maker, stacker of wheat, player with railroads and the nation's freight handler; Stormy, husky, brawling, the city of big shoulders. The Queen of the West. Or as Monte Burns once called it "The Miami of Canada" (which always reminds of one of my favorite late, greatTV shows -

Otherwise known as Chicago. Okay Chris and Stephen, not really Chicago, but the 'burbs. Not sure which 'burb yet, since we haven't found a house. So Chicagoland; is that better?

Back to snow. Back to schools not rated the second lowest in the land (SC schools motto: Thank God for Mississippi!). Back to expensive frickin' real estate. Back to houses with basements! (swoon; I never knew I'd miss basements so much).

Guess it's time to change the location setting on my favorite hook-up site . . . which is a big laugh, since I've been very chaste since moving to SC, including within my marriage. Once since I moved here in September 2008. Once. Yeah, that's right: ONCE.

Can you feel the frustration?

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Random Bites

My new favorite fake band name: Dick Durbin and the Smoking Tweets

LOL funny: Tiger's Magical Mistress Tour

Upon hearing about this awful tragedy, my first thought was prayers for the victims and their families. My second thought: there are nightclubs in Siberia?

It's good to know research time and money are being well spent: Study shows it's more painful to rip off a Band-Aid slowly.

Literacy backed as Charleston schools' top job: since this is a new policy, what was their emphasis before?

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Back home and back to the same-old, same-old

The long Thanksgiving weekend was relatively uneventful, having been spent mostly in the Mommyvan driving to and from Michigan. 32 hours in the car over 4 days, plus potty and food breaks, is a little too much togetherness. Spousehole and I were each on the verge of homocide by Sunday night. Kids, each other - we were willing to take out anyone necessary to obtain the peace we sought.

If I never set foot in another McDonald's, I will be a happy, happy woman. I know the kids love it, but I'm willing to sacrifice their happiness.

We're back to 'kids go to school, I hang out at the library, Spousehole talks to potential employers on the phone.' New week, same old thing.

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Easing back in . . .

I get to go home for Thanksgiving! I'm very excited. We didn't make it home for Turkey Day last year and didn't expect to this year, but now we're going! Spousehole has an interview in an adjoining Midwestern state the day before Thanksgiving, so the whole family is going along and heading to Grandma's for turkey, stuffing, etc. My mom is actually not so thrilled. She was thinking she wouldn't cook and she and my dad would just take my nephew and my sister (if she doesn't have to work) out to eat. But with all of us coming, it makes more sense to stay home. I have offered to cook, just using her food, kitchen, etc. but I don't know if she can handle that. If she watches me cook, she'll just feel I'm doing it all "wrong" and try to take over.

I haven't sprung on them that coming home for Thanksgiving means we may not make it for Christmas ($ and all), but I don't really want to think about that either. I've NEVER spent Christmas anywhere but with my family. I realize I'm 42 years old and should really be ready to make some new traditions with my own kids, but wah!, I don't wanna!

In other news, I can't believe I forgot to mention the "procedure" I had done back in September. I had NovaSure done. It's a type of endometrial ablation. It's supposed to reduce heavy periods and between period bleeding. My periods were so heavy that I became anemic and experienced "flooding" sometimes. I also had bleeding every time I had sex. But since the procedure (outpatient surgery) I haven't had any bleeding; none whatsoever. No periods, no nothing. Of course, I haven't had sex to try that out yet*, but I have high hopes. They say that my periods may come back eventually, but will be MUCH, MUCH lighter than ever before. Keep your fingers crossed!!

*Any volunteers to help with that? For purely scientific purposes, of course :-)

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Not Dead Yet

Though there are days . . .

I'll try to sum up the last 6 months or so.

Marriage back to sucking. Not in a good way. And getting worse because -

18 months after moving down here for this job, that they recruited him for (he didn't go looking), they laid him off in October. Budget cuts were ordered, big ones, and his position and many others were eliminated. So he is home all. the. damn. time and we are driving each other crazy. Way too many opportunities to pick stupid fights and get on each other's nerves. This was made worse when -

we all had the H1N1 virus in October. Not pretty and we still haven't shaken the coughs. Spousehole's is the worst and he probably should see a doctor, but -

we have no health insurance. We can't afford COBRA, since after having paid for two houses for almost a year we had very little savings. Some good news (there's not much of it, so pay attention) is -

the house is finally rented out!!! The rent payments just cover our mortgage, taxes, and insurance, but at least that much is covered. What wasn't covered, however, was the problem that led our tenants to call us on Spousehole's last day of work: the furnace died. So on his first day of unemployment, we had to put a new furnace in! (We got two opinions on whether replacement was necessary or if repair was possible. My dad got us the absolute best price from "his guy." Thank God. The other places wanted to charge WAY, WAY more for the same stupid furnace and installation.)

No good segue here. Sorry.

Boy is finally settled in school and is rocking the second grade. He made honor roll for the first quarter. It's like night and day. So he's good with school and school is good with him, but otherwise things aren't so wonderful at the school because -

4 educators were arrested recently regarding allegations of abuse of autistic students at Boy's school. Boy was not one of them, though he was close to the teacher and aide who are accused. It's a mess. But I won't get into that mess. In other school news -

Girl is rocking 4-yr-old preschool. She got into a great school and got a fabulous teacher. All is good there. Well, except that we weren't going to be able to afford it after Spousehole's layoff and were preparing to apply for a scholarship to try to keep her there, but the in-laws' came to the rescue and are paying her tuition. They're not always my favorite people, but they'll do almost anything for our kids. So, in this one instance, they rock too.

The big school fear for us is that it is looking like we will be moving again, so the kids will have to transition to new schools. Girl will be okay, probably, but Boy doesn't transition well. Last year was pretty much a lost year for him as he transitioned to his new school. He's doing so well, we are very distressed about possibly having to move him. Spousehole is interviewing some locally, but the jobs in his particular specialty aren't local. If he takes a local job, he would have to leave his area of specialization. His specialty is in demand, just not here. He would prefer to stay in his specialty and that would be the better move career-wise, but it means moving and that sucks. What also sucks is -

My Mom is on Facebook! Seriously, this is not good. I had to "friend" her, but now I feel like I have to censor what I say. Oh, and my mother-in-law is also on Facebook and I had to "Friend" her too. I really need to figure out the privacy settings on there that allow you to group people and then have only certain groups see certain postings. Ah well. BTW, if you want to be my Facebook friend, shoot me an email (I'm actually checking it again!). If I feel comfortable enough with you (generally if we have had some sort of email correspondence or something), I'll send you my info or you can send me yours. But since my family is on there now, I'm really apprehensive that this blog not be connected to my Facebook (ie, REAL) identity. 'k?

Kids and I spent most of July back home. It was really freaking cold. Not just compared to the South, but compared to normal summers there. I had to go to garage sales and buy the kids coats to wear. It never occurred to me that we would need more than long pants and long-sleeved shirts in JULY. My bad.

My health is better, except for the damn H1N1 after-effects. Blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol all WAY down. I got 90 day refills on insulin and meds before the insurance ended, so I'm good for awhile. Hopefully until Spousehole finds a new position. :-)

That pretty much sums it up.

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Mullet With Headlights

These literal videos are so. darn. funny.

This is Total Eclipse of the Heart: Literal Video Version. Try to not laugh - I dare you.

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