I knew we would have to do a lot of work on this house before we ever closed on it. But it’s turning out to need a lot more work than we thought.
We knew we would have to redo the roof, and that was first on our list of priorities. But Hubby decided that he must put shingles on it instead of tin, and that has ended up costing us a pretty penny. Not nearly as much as if we had paid professional roofers to do it, but plenty.
We also need to work on the plumbing, which is next on the list as far as I’m concerned. We need to find out why water pours out in the floor rather than going to the shower head when you turn it on, and we need to look at kitchen faucets. But Hubby is in a big hurry to extend the bathroom and do a bunch of other stuff. I hate the tiny bathroom, but I think we could live with it a while longer if we just got the necessities fixed. Try telling him that, though.
Painting the outside is another source of contention. I say it can wait, but he says he can get most of the materials for free and doesn’t want to wait. Sometimes I think he doesn’t comprehend the costs (money and time) of things, and sometimes I think he’s just trying to be argumentative.
There’s plenty more that needs to be done. I just hope I can make it through all of this with my sanity intact.
I’ve been rather frustrated at Pumpkin’s lack of interest in t-ball. That’s because she acted like she wanted to play so badly. When she first started she loved it, but now she doesn’t even want to go to the games. She was the same way with basketball.
I left it totally up to her whether she wanted to play a sport or not. I think it’s good for kids to play something, but I don’t believe in making them do it. But there are a lot of other parents who don’t share my philosophy.
There are two boys that I can think of right off the bat who are on Pumpkin’s team whose parents are totally pushing it on them. One cries the majority of the time he’s out on the field, and the other just goes out there and sits down instead of participating. I don’t get why some parents are like that. I mean, just because they were hitting home runs and using testosterone boosters to bulk up in their younger days doesn’t mean their kids have to do the same thing.
I guess I’m kind of the opposite of them. I never got to play sports when I was young and interested in them, and I want to make sure Pumpkin has the opportunity. And if she says she wants to play and I scrape up the money for her to do so, I expect her to get out there and try. But it’s obvious that these kids have no interest whatsoever, and they’re only out there because their parents want them to be. I just don’t think that’s right.
I probably won’t even offer to pay for sports next year. Mostly because I don’t want to waste my time and money on something that she’s not going to stay interested in. But also because I don’t want her to feel like I’m pushing her.
There are still quite a few things sitting around here in bags and boxes. That’s especially true for my office. Some of the stuff that’s in here is here for lack of a better place to put it, but most of it is stuff that belongs in the office but I haven’t gotten around to putting where it belongs.
One thing I’m going to have to do very soon is dig out my printers. I told Hubby’s cousin that I would print him some business cards last week, and I still haven’t gotten around to doing it. I went to the store and picked up some cards, and I was going to buy some ink but couldn’t find the kind of cartridge I wanted. But I think there might be enough in there to print a few without changing it.
I do need to get my printers out and hook them up. I don’t do a lot of printing, but when I find something I need to print, I need to do it right away. If I don’t, I’ll forget about it completely.
I had planned to stop working when Hubby got home and spend time with him. I was even following through with it. I turned off my computer shortly after he came in, and went in the living room with him and Pumpkin. I even started watching yet another Rocky movie with him, just to make him happy. But then things took a turn for the worse.
I don’t know what his problem was, but he started acting like a jackass. We didn’t really fight or anything, but it got to the point where you could have cut the tension with a knife. So I finally ended up coming back in my office and firing up the computer again.
I need to be working anyway, but I had planned on getting a good night’s sleep and starting fresh in the morning (as I have been doing most of the time lately). Oh well. I do some of my best work late anyway. Maybe being angry with him will give me the fuel I need to get something accomplished.
I was once pretty good at saving money. At one point when I was single, I kept at least $1,000 in my checking account at all times. But I was never much on savings accounts. I thought they were a good idea, but I liked having my money easily accessible. The bank finally talked me into opening one eventually, but by then I had lost my touch. It was cleaned out within a few months.
I haven’t had a savings account since, but I’d like to get enough money together to start one some day. Or maybe put it in some other investment vehicle. I’d like to know what it feels like to have a real financial cushion to fall back on when hard times hit, and to have some money put away for when Pumpkin goes to college.
The past few years have been quite a financial roller coaster ride for us. But I hope to be able to get back on our feet and stronger than ever soon. And when we do, I’m going to start saving money like a mad woman.
We applied for life insurance a few weeks ago, shortly after we moved. It’s something we’ve been talking about for some time, but had never had the money for. The agent who sold us our house insurance talked us into applying, but I think we’re going to have to hold off a little longer.
I wanted to get some whole life insurance so that it would build value, but he said that it was quite a bit more expensive than term insurance. So that’s what we applied for, but even that is going to be more than we can afford right now. Hubby’s work schedule is getting pretty unstable, and I haven’t gotten back to full speed yet. We’re going to have to have a tight budget, at least for a few months.
I’m going to have to give him a call and let him know that we won’t be able to do it, and see if we should proceed with the underwriting process. It’s definitely something I want to do eventually, and if we can get that over with now and start the insurance in a few months that would be good.
Hubby has a lot of trouble sleeping. The first week or two after we moved he said he was sleeping well, and I thought maybe our new home would be the thing that helped him. But he soon began to complain about trouble sleeping again.
He put one of the big, fat feather pillows that I only used for decoration on his side of the bed under his regular pillow, and he said that helped. But after a few nights, it was the same old same old. I don’t really know what else to do for him.
I tried to take a nap on his side of the bed one day, and I had to move over to mine because the pillows had my head up uncomfortably high. I don’t see how he stands it. Maybe that’s one reason it quit helping him. He is supposed to sleep with his head elevated because of his stomach problems, though. Maybe he should try a sleep wedge. Surely that would be more comfortable.
I wish I could do something to make him sleep better. I had a lot of sleep problems when I was younger, and I know that it is no fun.
I’ve developed a terrible habit of procrastinating. Actually I’ve had it all my life, but it’s really starting to irritate me right about now.
I was doing fairly well about not procrastinating with my writing work at first. That lasted up until my family life got turned upside down several months ago. Hubby’s health problems, Pumpkin staying sick a lot, financial woes. If you’ve been a loyal reader for a long time, you know what I’m talking about. Those things adversely affected my concentration, causing me to have horrible writer’s block. And that led to a dread of doing the job I love.
Then just when things started looking up, more crap got piled on. We had our home basically jerked out from under us, and that really took the wind out of my sails. I could barely write a page or two a day, and that was on a good day. I also had to take a break when we finally started getting things straightened out again, to get all the red tape taken care of and then get moved and settled in. It has been a long, grueling road.
Now that things are beginning to resemble normal again, I’m having a hard time getting back in the swing of things. I need a good swift kick in the pants, because now that we have a house payment to make, I need to have a steady amount of money coming in each month. I’m not looking to turn my small business into a large corporation with financial reporting responsibilities, I just want to make a good living.
So I’m not taking this lying down. I am going to be trying out a self-help technique that I found, and I really hope it works. I ordered a DVD about it (which has a free trial period and a money-back guarantee), and I’m going to give it all I’ve got. And if that doesn’t work, I’m going to get a refund and keep trying until I find something that works. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.
I rarely get all gussied up any more, but for some reason I took a notion to on Saturday. Hubby, Pumpkin and I were taking Hubby’s cousin and his daughter out to eat and to a few other places, and Hubby kept complimenting me on how nice I looked (even thought I was just wearing shorts and a v-neck shirt). So I decided to take it up a notch, and put on some earrings and a necklace. Not a big deal, just rather unusual for me lately.
I do love jewelry, but I’ve gotten out of the habit of wearing it. But if Hubby bought me some nice new stuff, I’d be rocking it each and every day. (Hint, hint, Hubby!) Jewel Elegance has some gorgeous diamond rings at nice prices that would make great Mother’s Day gifts. And if you want an even better deal, use coupon code THTM10P801321 to get 10% off!
I won’t hold my breath until I get another diamond. It’s just not in the budget right now, even at an awesome price. But I can dream, can’t I?
