A picture is worth a thousand. . .

The sticker in the window is all it takes to identify this distinctive driver, obviously one of the more intelligent members of the Auburn Alumni Association.

ROLL TIDE ROLL

Out Out With You!

I dismissed the contractor and his goof ups! My heart could take no more. They had splattered the ceiling stuff all over my walls, doors, furniture, carpet which the contractor swore he couldn't see what I was talking about but I informed him that it shows up well in pictures, my furniture, my paintings, etc. The contractor sent a guy in to touch up paint everything.

Now, anybody that's ever tried to touch up paint knows that it doesn't work. You can have six cans of the same color mixed and you will get home with six different shades of the same color. I told Mr. Parker that the entire ceiling had to be painted and all four walls. He would not do that. He assured me that when the paint dried it would match. I assured him that he was full of shishkamooska and he and I both knew he knew better.

Finally I said look, I'm afraid to have you start anything in the bathroom or laundry room. Who knows what kind of trouble you could get into with all that woodwork and plumbing going on in there. My husband repaired and cleaned up the ceiling on the deck. How about if you just give this ceiling in my bedroom a good coat of paint to make me happy and I will repaint the walls myself. And that was the deal. He even threw in painting my bedroom door where it was splattered to boot. He SPRAY PAINTED it! He spray painted my bedroom door for Heaven's sake! Nobody spray paints a wood door! I went out in th egarage and dug around until I found the very can of paint that I had used when painting that door but he spray painted it instead.

Now Mr. Parker promises in time this wall will change colors and match all over. BS.

And this is that good coat of paint on my ceiling he promised. My daughter was a better painter than that when she was but 13. These people evidently make a living doing this.

SO, Mr. Parker and I sat down with the bill and the checkbook and he tried to convince me why I should write my check for $450 more than his original estimate. There were some things my husband asked him to do after the estmate was made and I know I was going to have to add something to his paycheck but he went on to show us little things he corrected while he was on the roof $25 here and $50 there that he didn't charge us for because of the leak problem and $415.82 he didn't charge for ceiling and wall repair. Oh my gosh how freakin' generous of him!

I am so done with this guy!

Laura's New Interest

Thursday night Laura and I were sitting at the computer filling out a profile at eHarmony. It's really long and it's not just rating 1-7 but there's some essay questions thrown in there as well. After about two hours of messing around with this we came up with a profile that suited her to a tee. But it's $59.99 to join for a month!

I suggested we move over to Lavalife.com. I've met some pretty interesting characters there and though she might too.

Saturday Laura informed me that she had received an email from a guy whom allegedly spied her profile on Lavalife and wanted to get to know her. He's cute, he's hot, and I hardly got the chance to use my computer all weekend! Those two chatted on Yahoo Messenger sun up to sun down and then continued the conversation over the phone.

"Oh Mama, he's so nice and he wants to kiss my neck all the way down to my waist." Actually I think she said lower than that.

They have a pending date at Camino Real this week. He has to be out of town some of the week so the date is not set. More on this later.

This morning before Laura got up, Lando called her. He wants to see her tonight to talk about "them". He wants to be Laura's "one and only" he says. I told Laura that didn't sound like a good idea at all. She said she just wants to hear him say how much he screwed up and for him to call the other woman and tell her how much he lied to her as well. Laura says she wants that other woman to know what kind of person Lando is. I told Laura that it was not likely that the other woman cared.

I assured Laura that hearing Lando admit what a fool he was would be pointless and would not change him . I told her it really wouldn't make her feel any better either.

Laura giggled, "Talking to Jon makes me feel a lot better."

Laura's big new smile

Laura finally made it home around 9:00. As she walked in the door I told her I was starting to worry. She slumped down solemnly on the couch. Ten seconds or so ticked back very slowly while in my mind I'm repeating, "Don't take him back. Don't take him back. Don't take. . " Then she sprung from her seat with a giggle and ran out of the room shouting, "I've got to go check my Yahoo Messenger!"

The Good News

Sarah's pregnant again!

She should be due early to mid May, about two months after Ricky is scheduled to go to Afganistan. Kind of sucky timing but that's the way it goes.

This weekend Sarah handed over her dog, Zoe, to my sister, Pat. Pat fell in love with the dog the minute she saw it and told Sarah that if she found she couldn't keep it to let her know. Sarah has had a hard time with the dog in an apartment so she decided pat would be better for Zoe.

Enter the Boss

Tuesday, in the middle of the children's naptime of course, Chris Parker came to the door wanting me to show him the damage. I walked him through the house pointing out all the damage (waling up all the kids) and all he could say was, "No problem, no big deal, no big deal, no problem."

I wanted to scream, "IT IS A BIG DEAL! MY BEDROOM IS DESTROYED! MY HOUSE IS A WATERY MESS AND NOW I HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT MOLD." Never once did he apologize.

OK, so he comes back Wednesday with a guy whose going to do the work on my room. I showed him the way back and asked his name. I told him that I don't usually drag a man back to my room without first knowing his name--or at least his email address.

Dude went outside to wait in his car for Chris to return with the piece of sheet rock and a couple of gallons of paint.

Before they got started on my room it was necessary to move some furniture and trees out of the way. I was in the living room feeding a baby when Mr. Parker called out to me. "We need you to come move some things in here for us." I thought he meant my rechargeable vibrator that was plugged into the wall and sitting on my nightstand but it was the jewelry he was concerned with.

He gave me this story about some woman accusing his guys of taking a bunch of video games from a past work site. He had to pay her for the loss since he couldn't prove they didn't. He doesn't watch much People's Court I take it. Any way, I turned to him and assured him that I was going to frisk them before they left.

They were here until 7:30pm replacing the ceiling and blowing the cottage cheese up on it. Before they left they asked if they could leave all their stuff where it was (the furniture displaced and trash all over my bedroom) until tomorrow when they'd be back to finish. I agreed believing that they truly would be back the next day to finish.

I must have scared them off. They did not show up Thursday or Friday.

Friday morning as I was getting dress for work I walked into my bedroom from the adjoining room looking down at the carpet. I stopped, backed up, and looked again. The freak had only covered part of the carpet and there was a line where he sprayed the ceiling crap on the carpet (the white celing cottage cheese texture stuff had my tan paint color mixed with it so the ceiling would be easier to paint).

See the lines?

There's a trail of painted footprints out my bedroom door, across my deck, and down the steps.

Goofus Roofus

Seems all I do any more is complain. I'll not disappoint you with this entry. I've got a complaint.

A couple of weeks ago we finally got a check from the insurance company to repair damage to our roof cause by a hail storm in April 2005. Yes, sixteen months it took. Thanks ALFA. We hired Parker Contractors to do the work and they started Tuesday, August 14th. We chose this company because a couple of our neighbors had used them last year when they had their roof fixed. One guy up on the roof in record setting above 100º weather.

Of course there's a reason why I am sharing a roof story with you. Last night while we were gone it rained really really hard for not much longer than ten minutes. When I came home I piddled around cleaning the kitchen then watched a little TV. Mr. Dubbs went on to bed. When I could hold my eyes open no longer, I went back to my bathroom to begin my usual nightly routine. My face washing stuff was in the shower so I stepped on the mat then stepped in the shower to reach the bottle. The mat was saturated. I wondered why but figured Rick had taken a shower before bed. He had been swimming so this seemed logical.

I washed my face, brushed my teeth, admired my amazing face in the mirror, popped out the contacts, and then flipped the light switch Two steps from my bed my feet splashed. Never a good feeling. I woke my husband and told him I was turning on the light and he needed to look because I couldn't see. And there it was.

That's Walmart brand paint holding that sheet rock up. I paint a lot and I always use Walmart. You can see just how strong it is.

I didn't sleep all night for worrying about the ceiling falling. In the morning, before the roofer showed up, I took pictures of all the damage. Upon closer inspection in the daylight, I found damage in every room on the back side of the house.

My bedroom

In the bathroom the water must have rushed through the exhaust fan. THere wasn't much evidence on the ceiling, just the soaked bath mat.

My laundry room

The siding on the ceiling of my deck came loose and newspaper insulation, wet newspaper insulation washed down the side of the wall warping and staining my painting and covering pl;ants below.

The openning in the wall between my office and kitchen just a couple

of feet from two computers.

After taking my pictures I stood at the front door waiting to confront the roofer guy. He apologized many times as he slipped back out the door but never once said, "Don't worry, we'll fix it." That's all he had to say to make me feel a little better. Of course I knew they would be fixing it. They wouldn't be getting their check until it was fixed. Mr. Chris Parker, I asume is the boss guy, never showed his as.....face all day.

Some time late Monday afternoon, three layers of trusty old Walmart semi-gloss acrylic paint relented. Do you know what's in your attic?

About a foot of newspaper confetti type insulation covers the floor of mine! There is an air vent in the floor in the doorway where my husband is standing. When it was blowing, and with 100º+ temperatures the air blows constantly, my whole room was a freakin' giant snow globe! I do regret not taking that picture. What a mess. It took us over two and a half hours to clean it up.

The Neighbors Gotta Go

I have got to vent. I am sick and tired of my neighbors! Many time I have had to call the police about those two outside in the driveway or middle of their yard screaming and physically fighting with each other. Early in the morning, mid afternoon, and wee hours of the morning they are out there pounding away on each other and screaming language to profane for this websites audience.

The first time I called the police there one of my daycare mothers came in asking if I knew this toddler that was walking up and down the driveway crying for her mother. I brought her into my home to keep her safe. Apparently the dad had taken the other three children to daycare but this child was still asleep and so he left her home alone. I called DHR first and they said someone would be right out here. Thirty minutes later DHR called me back and asked me to call the police. I told them no, you call the police, I'm busy with my own daycare children. I called the police anyway and they told me to call DHR. I told them no, I was busy with a daycare and they needed to come see about this child.

Multiple times in the last three years since they've lived there, by the way, it's a rental house and the house number is 911. Go figure. Anyway, One time they woke me up at 3:00 something in the morning. My bedroom is on the total opposite side of the house and yet they woke me out of a dead sleep. I yelled out the door for them to go in and give the neighborhood some rest. He threatened me in his usual vulgar language so I went back inside and got the cordless phone and called 911 from my porch where he could hear me. They continued to fight with all four children screaming and crying in the driveway.

Before the officer arrived, and I know this because I was sitting in the room closest to their house eaves dropping, I overheard Shamika (I think that's her name) yelling at Nick, "You know she calling the police."

He responded with, "I'll F*** her up and her husband too."

They continued to fight and I continued to listen until I heard, "Well I aint the one goin' out and gettin' someone pregnant." Oh, so that's what this was about.

The officer arrived and asked, "What's going on here?"

Nick: "Nothin' officer we just haveing a little argument. Everybody has arguments [keep in mind it's 3:00 something in the morning and they are outside doing this]. That old lady [that what?!] is always calling the cops on us."

Oh for God's sake!

This morning I could hear them out there at 6:30. I thought it was just a loud verbal argument that ended when he screeched out of the driveway and floored it until his exhaust left black stains in the road. He was taking three of the children to school. Don't you know they were scared.

As soon as he returned (in the same manner in which he left) the fight resumed with the youngest child there in the middle of it screaming and crying and it was physical this time. Right there in front of my daycare children and their parents arriving around 7:45. I called 911. One of the daycare dads answered and recognized me immediately. I did not call DHR. I regret that. I was so angry with my neighbors behaving that way infront of my daycare children. They are violating my basic right to quiet enjoyment of my own property. The police do nothing but send one of them away for 12 hours but 12 hours and aminutelater the one is back.

And they have these dogs over there. No fence, just a bunch of dogs tied up here and there and a couple in a little dog pen. They get loose regularly and I have had to call the animal shelter to deal with them on several occasions because my daycare children and their mothers are afraid of the dogs. Today one was loose and it took a bath in my goldfish pond tearing up my waterlily and my zebra grass and killing at least two fish.

The neighbors gotta go!

Another Sad Day

This weekend we helped My daughter Sarah and her husband Ricky move to Clarksville Tennessee. I've been really dreading this day for some time but it turns out they are not but three hours away and there is plenty of shopping, a zoo, and an awesome winery between here and there.

But the move was torturous for my sweet child who is used to everything going pretty much her way.

As soon as Sarah learned Ricky was to be asigned to Ft. Campbell Kentucky she called the base looking for housing. The base was full so she used the internet to find housing close by in Clarksville. Sarah found a lovely little mobile home/prefab housing community complete with ball fields, fishing ponds, playground, and a security gate. She and a friend took a trip up there and secured one unit. There was no deposit and free first month's rent. Cool deal, she thought. A week before the move Sarah called Bells Crossing with a couple of questions only to find that they had rented the home to someone else.

Sarah was livid. She was to pick her husband up at the Nashville airport the next evening and only had a few days to find new accomodations. And she did. Sarah was not happy with the choices she had but took an apartment that seemed nice and neat at the time.

The move was scheduled for Wednesday, they thought, but a communication failure cause the Army to not be able to Move Ricky and Sarah that week and they were left on their own to rent a truck and pack up all their belongings.

That was some fast packing! They did it mostly on their own. My husband Rick and his Dad, Richard, drove the U-Haul to Clarksville while Ricky and Sarah each drove their own cars. They arrived at the apartment complex and called the manager for an appointment. They were to meet at the management company's office and get the key at noon. They signed paperwork and left with their keys. Once at the apartment they unlocked the door to find it crawling with roaches! Sarah flipped out! They called management and were told the maintainance man was on vacation. Oh poor Sarah. Nothing about this move had gone right so far.

Laura and I had lagged back in Decatur for a few hours thinking it best to keep the dog and Warren out of the way. We spent the morning allowing Warren to spend a little time with my parents. They are going to miss him so much. We finally left at about noon and were stopped for lunch just south of Nashville when we got the call. Sarah was trying to tell me the situation between wails bless her heart. She told me that her dad and her Papa were going to have to move all her stuff in with the roach family because the truck had to be returned that day before the U-Haul place closed.

By the time we arrived with the boy and the dog, Rick had been to the store and bought almost $40 worth of bug bombs and sprays and was ready to set them off. We ate at Olive Garden after locating a motel that was simpathetic to the situation enough to let the dog spend the night.

We drove home Saturday night and returnnned Sunday morning. That's a lot of driving for one weekend. Sunday morning we helped Sarah clean while Ricky reported in to Ft. Campbell. I took the kitchen, Sarah took the bathroom, and Rick was left in charge of the boy and the dog.

The kitchen was dripping with roaches! Even after three bombs in this little bitty apartment, there were still plenty of live ones creeping around unfazed. The dishwasher was full of them and even the refrigerator. I always thought that if any place was safe it was the fridge. Nope, guess not. Sarah took zillions of pictures and I know you would love to see them but I don't have any right now.

When Rick started having a hard time entertaining Warren he decided to move the TV over to the wall with the cable outlet and set it up so Warren could watch a video. The electrical outlet did not work and neither did the other outlet on that same wall. We had to dig up an extension cord and run it over the door and under the window to the next closest outlet.

I was concerned about Warren chewing or sucking on stuff that still had poison residue on it so I asked Sarah to start throwing stuff in the washing machine beginning with the throw pillows on the couch. I've seen Warren chewing on mine and it was a concern for me at the time. The washing machine was loaded and turned on. Two minutes later the kitchen was sitting in a puddle. Sarah decided this was a good time to get out the checklist provided by the management company and start making notes. We were a little scared to put the clothes in the dryer.

AND THE NEIGHBORS! They would be good competition for my neighbors on the NE side (the one's whose house number is 911). Sarah put a little welcoming bench outside her door as did a couple of other tennents in the building. Sarah and Ricky went out to pick up breakfast and come home to find her neighbors all sitting on her bench. Then she discoveres that someone has picked all the little snap dragon blooms that had just openned up the day before. Another nightbor discarded his motor oil bottle in her rubber tree pot and still another neighbor walked off with her lovely little dishgarden that had been a gift from her grandmother's funeral earlier this year. Stole it in broad daylight!

What a weekend. We left them with a livable place, still a lot of work to do but we thought they could handle it from there. I also left Sarah with a lot of advice on getting out of her lease early. She should have no trouble at all.