2011: The Good.. The Bad.. The WTF!!!

… I know, I know!! It’s been far too long since I had the opportunity to just sit and blog. I should just MAKE the time but it’s the same old.. same old.. life happens, yknow?

Anyway..

I promise I will commit.. at least right NOW I promise to commit. You have to agree I need a reality show so just go easy on me!! LoL!!

Now.. back to it.

In the time honored tradition of ME101 .. let’s recap 2011

I may need a valium for this!

Okay.. the good stuff first:

After living without electricity for close to five months, we were finally able to move into The House Of My Almost Dreams. I say “almost” because we’re renting.. if I was paying a mortgage instead of rent well then.. you get the idea! But believe me, we were truly blessed to find this house. It was everything I was looking for LAST year when we thought we were moving to West Virginia.

But I think I told you all this already.

On-set Alzheimer’s. Throw me a bone, here.

Spaz started a new school and he actually has a friend. A NORMAL friend… well, as normal as anyone who would want to hang around Spaz can be. They’re kind of like the two misfits in the lunch room who sit with eachother because there is no one else to sit with. Believe me, I’m not being sarcastic. But his friend is a nice boy. Respectful and friendly. Lives close by and they even joined a school club together. Who am I to complain? It’s a step up. Believe me.

Spaz has also become a little LESS spazzy since we moved.. not ready for another nickname yet but he’s a lot better then he was so kudos to him. Being around his brothers is a WHOLE other story.. but we’ve addressed it. Told him that his attitude doesn’t get a free pass anymore because he doesn’t realize he has an attitude after spending time with them and that will be the end of it.

Did it sink in? Time will tell.

I did go back to work in May. Loving the job.. loving an actual paycheck now.. the company was sold to another company in October but so far there isnt anything to worry about. For now. But when God closes one door another opens so I’m just riding the “see what happens” wave.

My aunt bought another car and gave me her old one. It’s about 10 years old but still in great condition. The reduced rent made carrying another car on my insurance possible so now we’re actually using less gas because Chief doesn’t have to drive me to work and then pick me up. Bonus.

There may not be very many GOODS this year.. but what was GOOD is VERY VERY GOOD so I’m extremely blessed.

Now for the BAD..

When we moved out of our old house, the old landlord became very shady about giving us back out 2700.00 security deposit. Even though he gives slumlords a good name, he was fair to us when we needed him to be (think paying rent on time) and so we offered every opportunity to be fair to him. The security was suppose to be held in escrow but everybody and their mother with distant relatives knew that he didn’t have it available when he was suppose to. And if he would have just called us and told us that, we would have been cool but he decided to ignore phone calls, set up appointments for the final walk through that he didn’t keep, ignored more phone calls and then tried to pull a pile of crap out of his ass so we had to file a civil suit against him.

According to Pennsylvania’s Landlord / Tenant Act, if he didn’t return the security OR a list of deductions with the balance of the security within 30 days then he has to give us everything back. If we sued him for the original amount, he can’t counter sue us. If we sued him for double the amount (which we could) then he could counter for up to the original amount only. Either way, we walk out with the security.

We’re not greedy. We’re only suing for the original amount.

After he was notified, he sent us a certified letter outlining all the thing that we were responsible for (excuse me while I choke on complete fabrication) along with wanting to get paid for November’s rent. We were out of the house by November 1st. He’s clawing at straws. Either he really does think he has a case OR he never dealt with tenants who are actually literate and know how to read laws.

Either way, watch what happens.

The worst thing that happened this year.. actually the two worse things.. happened fairly recently and destroyed my heard.

Al .. one of our cats .. decided she wanted to be a complete outdoor cat when we moved. At the old house, she was outside 90% of the time but once we moved she decided there were far too many interesting things at the new place to waste time indoors. She stayed on the property.. had her condo on the front porch.. always had fresh food and water.. and was a happy camper.

The Saturday before Christmas Eve, Chief and I had returned in the late morning from shopping. As we turned in the driveway, Chief saw Al curled up at the bottom of the driveway.. dead. He rushed me into the house before I completely burst into tears and buried her under the japanese maple tree on our front lawn.

She wasn’t hit by a car.. and he had seen her early in the morning doing her morning yoga stretches on the front porch and she was fine. Beyond being upset, we were completely puzzled until the guy who exterminates my office building said it sounded like she had gotten into antifreeze.

Made sense.

The weather had gotten colder and I’m sure there were people in the neighborhood that put antifreeze in their cars and maybe spilled some.. hell, I could have spilled some. I don’t know.. but I sincerely doubt it was intentional. It’s just one of those horrible, hurtful things. The exterminator said that animals can’t resist antifreeze because it smells so sweet and that it can kill them in as little as 2 hours.

So let that be a lesson..

Al had had a litter of 6 kittens back in May. We kept one that we just started calling “Retard”. It’s a long story and if you’re offended then .. what can I tell you. My sandbox. But the name fit her and she was the most loving, friendly, comical, prettiest kitten you ever wanted to see.

The picture doesn’t do her justice.

She was more like a puppy, actually.. especially when I would come home from work and she would run to the door with the dogs to greet me.

About a month after we moved into the new house, she got out.

She used to follow Chief outside when he would be out there chopping wood or doing whatever.. but this time she went out the bedroom window and never came back.

We did everything that owners of lost kittens are suppose to do but nothing. Honestly, she is probably living large in someone’s house. She had no fear of people and if she wandered into someone’s yard, she would have went right to them.

that’s what I’m telling myself so don’t burst my bubble. I know everything I did wrong so you don’t have to bring that up either and it’s breaking my heart just typing this so I’m going to leave it alone.

So now we’re down to three dogs.. 1 cat.. and I pity the husband that tries to bring another animal into this house!! LoL

Now for the W.T.F!!

Believe me.. it deserves it’s own post so I’m going to run to the bathroom.. get a cup of coffee.. and set to typing!

2011 Intentions

I don’t do “resolutions” but when I read somewhere about someone making “intentions” because it’s less pressure I was like THAT’S IT!!

NOTE: Apologies to who ever I stole that from.. it may have been from a blog or on Facebook.. maybe even Bethenny Frankle’s twitter.. not sure so sorry for forgetting!

Anyway..

So I know with the New Year, it’s a good time to reflect, take stock and make the changes in your life that will make you a better, healthier person so I thought that I’d share mine with you.

IN 2011, LEESE INTENTS TO:

• Invent a gadget that prevents the bathroom door from opening unless the toilet is flushed. Being the only person in the house without a dangling thing makes this necessary!
• Not eat the whole bag of Stacy’s Parmaesan and Garlic Pita Chips. Frankly, it doesn’t take long to kill a bag and while they are way more then delicious, what they do to the back end on the way out isn’t pretty. Nothing is worth feeling that bad over.
• Be more conscience on how I act, what I say or things that I do representing my faith. This is a serious one, I know, but as I get older and face the things I have to face, I realize how important Christ is and more importantly, where I would be without Him. Rather, where I wouldn’t be.
• Not curse so much. It isn’t lady-like!
• Not make fun of Chief and his obsession with reading the Drudge Report and watching REAL! LIVE! UFO VIDEOS! on You Tube.
• Not roll my eyes when Chief tells me of yet another state where millions of dead birds fell from the sky. Really… no! seriously!
• Keep the back seat of my car clean. It doesn’t bode well when I try to get the kids to clean their rooms and they tell me that my car looks like a homeless person lives in it.
• Not forget to feed the fish. Those poor fish.
• Cuddle more with Bella. The old girl is getting up in years and with all the attention that Ernie, The Terrorist Puppy and the cats get, I really don’t want her to feel left out. Although she’s probably more then happy to just eat, sleep and poop without the having to pretend she’s excited that I’m sitting on the floor next to her keeping her from sleeping.
• Not quote lines from the Real Housewive’s franchise.
• Stop justifying polygamy to Chief. Not that I would ever want to practice it, mind you.. but really, how awesome would it be to have a sister wife to do the laundry.. another to do the cleaning.. another to do the ironing.. another to clean the *gag* bathroom.. you get the idea!! LOL
• Learn more about Dr. Who then Chief does.. and he knows A LOT!!!
• Continuing writing all my blogs.. and play less Zuma Blast on Facebook. Ok. No.. I don’t think I can do that!

So that’s what I came up with so far. As me in a month and I’ll let you know how it’s going!

But you know.. Stacy’s Parmesan and Garlic Pita Chips sound awwwwffuuullly good right now!!