Update on the Water Leak
and other ramblings:
Tuesday the plumber showed up. They ran a new line from the meter out front to the house. There was no need to dig up the old one and try to patch it. It's almost 100 years old and if they'd repaired it, another leak would have probably sprung due to the increase in pressure. New pipe and the rust removed from the hot water side of our tub and all was well regarding the water situation.
They told me to watch for leaks elsewhere. With the increase in pressure, it could cause other problems. Yesterday, I noticed both my toilets were running constantly. I called and they came out today. More rust issues...but it was a quick fix thankfully.
Now, the only issue is the huge piles of dirt I now have in the front yard. It won't be long until husband gets home, so I'm just leaving the dirt for now. We're back into the 100s this week, so getting out there and moving that dirt is not something I want to do by myself.
If all goes as planned (fingers crossed) husband should be home in time to enjoy next weekend. We plan on buying a new air conditioner and installing it Saturday morning. While he moves dirt around Saturday afternoon, I plan on cleaning our front porch from top to bottom. Seems the spiders have taken over again. So, I'll get out there with a small brush and knock down the spider webs. Then, I'll get soapy water and wash the banisters and the floor. I'm also planning on getting some spray paint and painting our wicker furniture. It's currently white, but that blends in with the porch since it's also white. It's been on the porch for three years now, so it really needs some touching up. I'm thinking I might paint them a deep maroon color and then make slip covers for the cushions in a forest green. I thought that might really add some color to the front porch and liven it up a bit since all these 100 degree days (well, weeks actually) has killed off my flowers and are working on killing my ferns. In September when it's hopefully cooler, I'll plant more grass seed and finally buy the bushes I want and get them planted.
Today we're working on getting this house back into some kind of order. The babies' rooms seemed to have crept (exploded might be more accurate lol) down the stairs and throughout the house. They are working on cleaning up their rooms and I'll go up in a bit and help them organize. I've already dusted and cleaned the bathrooms...now I just need to get the babies' rooms done and vacuum.
I'm thinking tonight I might partake in some adult beverage. There's some beer in the fridge leftover from New Years. Yeah, we're BIG drinkers around here lol. Anyhow, I thought I might have a beer and stain the woodwork on the doorway leading into the living room.
I'm not a drinker at all, but this staying up until 4 in the morning has got to go. If I do go to bed, I wake up two hours after I went to bed and can't go back to sleep. Husband said to try drinking a beer or two, so I may. If I can get passed the smell lol. Mother said to drink a glass of wine, but I don't like wine - not to mention it gives me a headache after just a few sips. This insomnia has been going on for almost two weeks, so I'm now desperate enough to try drinking a beer. I bought some Excedrin PM and that didn't help, so I'm not confident the beer will do anything either. Oh well, we'll see.
I guess that's all that is going on around here. We went yesterday and bought groceries and got little guy's hair cut, so we don't have to fight the heat this weekend. I stopped by the dealership on the way out of town to see if they knew when the new Jeep 4 door Wrangler Unlimited would be hitting the lot. He said September/October, but they had one coming in sooner. It was the Rubicon though and I'm not wanting the Rubicon's price tag lol. He did give me a printout though and said they could order me exactly what I wanted and it'd be here in 6-8 weeks. I talked to husband last night about it. The plan is, the salesman is going to call me when the Rubicon gets in so we can test drive it. If we like it, then we'll go ahead and order me a black one. If you haven't seen it, stop by the
Jeep Website and check it out. I sure hope it rides as great as it looks :).
Hope everyone has a great weekend! Til next time...
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Please Keep Them in Your Thoughts...
I finally get online this morning and the first article I see breaks my heart.
U.S. extends Iraq tour for 3,500 soldiersAs part of the plan, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Thursday extended the tours of some 3,500 members of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. The unit, which has been serving in northern Iraq, was scheduled to be leaving now, but instead, most of its 3,900 troops will serve for up to four more months. It was unclear whether the unit would go to Baghdad.
[....]
While about 3,500 members of the Stryker brigade were still in Iraq Thursday, about 200 had returned to Alaska and some 200 others were in Kuwait awaiting transportation home.
The Army said officials will determine on a case-by-case basis whether any of those in Alaska or Kuwait need to return to Iraq. It is likely the majority of those in Alaska will be able to stay there, but those who are determined to be essential personnel may have to return to the battlefront.
I just CANNOT imagine the heartbreak...you wait your L O N G freaking year and then they extend them four more months. I understand that the needs of the Army come first, but it sure doesn't lessen the pain any of these families will be feeling. The soldiers will be down in the dumps and the families will be in tears...you live for a day for a full year and then to have that day not come for four more months, it can be a hard pill to swallow. Knowing they might miss two Christmas seasons in a row...two birthdays, two anniversaries...damn hard no matter how "hooah" these families are.
Personally I'm not "hooah." We do not call home or me "household 6." I had no clue what the hell that meant until husband explained it to me a couple of years ago. All I know is I love my husband and respect how hard his job is and how hard he works to care for everyone he's responsible for. I'm not in the Army though. We like to live far from the military base and just be a regular, every day family when he's home. We have our flag out front...but other than the DoD stickers on our cars and my Army sticker on the back of the Explorer, you'd not know otherwise.
So, my point is (and yep, there is one, I promise), I'm not "hooah" and husband being extended four months would break my heart after he'd already done his year. If he got home and then had to turn around and go back...gosh it would DESTROY our children. My defense mechanism is anger, so I'd be pretty sore at ol' Rummy. There's no reason to extend folks who have done their year...they should have moved people forward two months ago when Baghdad was heating up. They should always have a plan so they aren't destroying morale and breaking families hearts with long extensions...four months is a HELL of a long time when they are in combat.
If you get a chance, please send some prayers out for these soldiers and their families. If you don't believe in prayer, that's ok...send some positive thoughts their way. They are gonna need it.
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A Few Pics...
At some of my favorite blogs, they've posted pictures of themselves. It dawned on me tonight that I'd not posted any pictures other than pics of my new pup.
So, here you go:
This was taken while husband was deployed to Ramadi, Iraq in 2003-2004. My friend had a BBQ for the spouses of deployed soldiers. There were about 20 of us there along with our little ones. It was a lot of fun...just to be around folks who were going through the same thing was nice.
This one was taken in August 2004. We were sitting in a hangar waiting on our soldiers to come in... It was truly a wonderful day and one I'd spent a year praying and waiting for. Unfortunately, husband didn't get R&R, so we'd spent a long time apart. I'm hoping things are a bit better this time around and everyone will get R&R...two weeks together to break up the year will be a blessing for sure.
At any rate, just thought the few folks who read here might like to see who they are talkin' with ;).
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Phelps and the ACLU
GuyK, over at
Charming, Just Charming informs us of the ACLU suing on behalf of Fred Phelps. If you don't know who Phelps is, he's the ring leader of the wacko christian group who protest at military funerals. Yes, because the US allows abortion, he believes God is killing our soldiers in retaliation - or something of that sort. They are a bunch of heartless bastards if you ask me. There is the ACLU, trying to protect THEIR rights, regardless of the fact that they are intruding on the rights of mourning families to be able to bury their loved ones in peace.
At any rate, in the comments over at Guy's place, I have to agree with Anna. Phelps and his clan want someone to assault them so they can sue the very people they are assaulting emotionally during their darkest hours.
One of my biggest fears when husband is deployed is not only that he is killed, although that is one of the big ones...it's that he's captured by terrorists. Knowing he was tortured like the two soldiers who were recently captured and then found murdered - or not ever knowing what happened to him is what my nightmares consist of. I just don't know how the families of our MIAs from previous wars kept going. I don't know if I'm made of the same cloth...and to be brutally honest, I just don't think I'm a strong enough person to hold it together and have any sort of life after that happening to the man I love most in this world.
With all that said, of course every military spouse's fear is that, as they say good-bye to their soldier, it's the last time they ever see them. I know when my husband leaves, when I hug him that last time, I'm trying to remember every feature of his face, his arms, his hands, every sense of his being from his smell, the way his face feels next to mine - to how he puts his arms around me. After so many years of marriage, you'd think you'd "just know," but those are things that fade after months of being apart. The thought of a lifetime apart? It makes me want to burn those feelings of him into my mind and heart, so I can relive them in my mind as many times as I need, for as long as possible.
And, when he walks out the door and I stand there feeling as though my heart just broke, I worry that I didn't try to remember hard enough. That fear of it possibly being the last time you see him - and then the fear and worry every time the news reports deaths in the area he's in...
It wears you down...not only emotionally, but physically. Day after day, week after week, month after month of fear and worry, then relief, then guilt that someone's loved one died and you are relieved, but today it will not be your loss to mourn, but mourn nonetheless you will for someone is hurting and crying for the one they love that is now gone forever. At some points you are numb, at others, your emotions are so raw you're a walking time bomb, ready to explode into tears or anger depending on the circumstance. And this is just the way it is when your loved one is in combat.
All this to say, I'm truly surprised that at these protests Phelps orchestrates, he's never encountered violence. He's targeting people who are living in fear daily and their worst fears have just come home to roost. And there he is, with his horrible, hurtful signs and screaming disgusting slogans. I'm truly surprised that someone in these families hasn't snapped and put a bullet or two into a few of them...or at the least walked over and punched the bastard square in the face. Of course, this is what they want, no doubt. He's targeting people who are suffering in the worst way...
If nothing else, this is just a testament to the type of people who make up the military family. To be able to show such class, such restraint gives America a glimpse into the type of wonderful people they truly are.
I'm not sure I'm cut from that cloth either. God forbid I lose my husband, but to have to deal with Phelps and his disgusting hatred on top of it? I'm afraid losing my husband would push me to the edge and then Phelps and his clan would be the wind that blew me over that edge...hopefully my family would keep me from wanting to mow them down with my truck heh heh. Regardless of what these sick animals think, I just don't think God will smile on them when they do arrive at the pearly gates. Instead, I think our merciful God will want him to explain his lack of compassion and hopefully allow Phelps and his entire bunch of morons to feel every ounce of pain they've caused others - for eternity. Anything less would be too good for them...
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The Military Wife Curse...
Yes, it's true.
The curse D O E S exist.
And regardless of the number of years "livin' the life" - there are no exemptions for time in service. Sorry.
We all must accept the cold, hard, fact that by falling in love with someone in the military and marrying them, the curse has latched onto your life as the bastard leach that it is, to wreak havoc during each and EVERY separation.
I have at least one story for every separation. Some are bigger catastrophes than others.
There's the month field problem husband went on when we first arrived in Alaska. We hadn't been in our new home long enough to learn all the quirks of the place before he left. So, the morning he left, while putting our new puppy outside for a potty break, I ended up locking myself out and my twelve month old baby in... We lived in the sticks, the few neighbors we had were not home. It was several years before average folks like us would have a cell phone...my only option was to kick in the solid wood, dead-bolted front door. Broke the door and the door frame, but I got inside. Had to call our new landlord and explain how her new 5'2", 110 pound tenant had just destroyed the front entrance to her property. And of course, I had to pay to replace the door and the door frame.
Then there was the snowstorm from hell that hit Alaska...while husband was once again gone 30 days somewhere. First our Explorer had to crap out. THEN the snowstorm. The plow guy wasn't plowing our road or driveway...so when the Explorer was finally ready to be picked up, the Ford Courtesy van couldn't get to my house. I had to trek a quarter mile in snow up to my mid-thigh to get to the main road. OH and I had a baby to carry out with me...not to mention my purse AND her car seat. When I finally got the Explorer back to our road, I had to dig a trench up to the house wide enough for the truck so I could get it close enough to plug the damned thing in. Yes, for those never having lived in Alaska, it is so cold in the interior, you have to plug in your vehicles so a heater can keep your oil warm enough to circulate in your engine when you start it up.
Oh fun, fun times and husband got to miss out on all of it. Each and every time.
A N D, this 30 days separated has been typical. The curse strikes again and again - and again. Hopefully, if bad things do happen in threes, then today was my grand finale for THIS separation.
Lets see. First off - husband left on a Friday. A storm rolled through that Sunday night. Monday, the babies and I go to get in the truck and there's a HUGE limb laying in the front yard.
The minute I saw the limb, I knew...
It was the curse.
Husband is gone and he's the muscles of this operation. My physical abilities are limited, so how I was going to chop up this huge limb was beyond me. So, I dragged it to the side of the house and deposited it in the middle of our driveway. We don't use our driveway, so it wasn't in the way. I surmised until I figured out what to do with the damn thing, we'd just look like white trash for a while with the tree limb laying in the drive.
It's just a tree limb after all. Not a huge deal, more irritating than catastrophe.
The catastrophe was just around the corner waiting to sneak up and smack me over the head. Before we can share that story, we first must cover the second coming of the curse.
For over a week, we've been in the triple digits. Normally, we have a dry heat. Not this year. No, we also had high humidity. The temperature would be 106 degrees, but the "feels like" heat was 112 to 115. To say it was hot is an understatement. When the wind would blow, it felt as though someone turned on a hairdryer, blowing hot air in your face. The desert didn't have much on us.
The babies and I planned to stay inside and stay cool. It was so hot that even with the air conditioner on high in the truck, we would still sweat. Yes, staying inside was the answer. That is, until our downstairs air conditioner crapped out.
DAMN DAMN DAMN!!
What the hell do I do now?
Yes, the simple answer is go out and buy a new air conditioner. Why, of course! Why didn't I think of that?
No, you see, the problem is as I mentioned above...the muscles of this operation is gone for thirty days. The downstairs air conditioner is an older model and was here when we purchased the house in June of 2002. And, it's a big one. I'm guessing it's a 24,000 BTU air conditioner. It probably weighs a good 200 pounds at the very least, and it's wider than my arms can reach - that's for sure. So, I could easily go to Lowes and buy a new 24,000 BTU air conditioner. I just couldn't get it out of the truck once we got home and I certainly couldn't get the old one out of the window and the new one put in.
So, I went in search of a portable air conditioner. Wednesday, in 107 degree heat, the babies and I started searching for one at 10:30 in the morning. Wal-mart had no air conditioners left at all. Lowes had air conditioners, but no portable ones. Finally I went to the new Sears store that recently opened in a town 30 minutes or so from us. The gentleman in the new store said he didn't have any, but he called the store in the next town. He said he'd worked in that store a year ago and he knows they had several at that time. The associate in the other store said they didn't have any, but the gentleman urged him to go look at a specific spot in their storeroom. Twenty minutes later he called back and said they had ONE...by this time it was 5:30 in the evening. They'd hold it for me - and off the babies and I went another thirty minutes to the Sears in the next town.
Unfortunately, the one portable air conditioner they had is only 10,000 BTUs. Thankfully, we finally got a break in the heat-wave today with the high only in the mid-eighties. The 10,000 BTU portable air conditioner wasn't able to cool our large living room when it was in the triple digits on Thursday. It was better than having nothing though.
****A N D finally, the curse's catastrophe finale. Well, hopefully this is the last of the curse for this separation. After today, I'm truly at my limit of handling anything else falling apart or crapping out.
Daughter's friend was coming over to play from 11-3 today. We got up about 8:30 and had breakfast. I did a few things around the house before we went to go pick her up. We came back to the house and they wanted to play out front. While they were playing, I watered our ferns that are on their last leg due to the heat.
The postman showed up and son ran out to get the mail from him. Junk mail and...a small envelope from the city. Whenever I get something from the city, it's NEVER good news and today was no exception.
I open the envelope and it's a note from our water department. It says:
To Whom It May Concern: Shannon **** *****
In reviewing your water usage this month we have noticed your usage has increased from 4,200 to 29,100. Some high usages are due to increase of water usage during the summer months. Other possibilities are a possible leak or that a stool that was running. Please let us know if you are aware of your increase of water usage this month.
Of course, with husband gone, my water usage should have gone down since he's not home taking long hot showers and there is less laundry to do.
I call the water department and they send someone out. He says I'm losing about 300 gallons AN HOUR. He walks around the house and says he doesn't see anything that would suggest an outside leak.
At 300 gallons an hour, if it was leaking in the house, I would surely have noticed. I did a walk-through of the basement and thankfully nothing is leaking down there.
So, I ask if the water guy can just cut off my water until I can get a plumber out here. He says sure.
Long story short, daughter's friend was taken home early and the plumber arrived this afternoon. He also did a walk-through and saw no leaks. So, he cuts the house's main water valve off in the basement and then goes out and turns on the water at the meter. Meter starts spinning. That tells him the leak is between the meter and the house...in the ground.
DAMN DAMN DAMN!
The plumber was super nice. He left me a meter key which is a long pole that turns the water on and off at the meter. This way, over the weekend, I can turn the water on to get our baths and to flush the toilets but turn it back off so the water bill doesn't put us any farther into the poor house.
They've called so someone will come out and mark the gas lines and such hopefully Monday morning. That way, the plumber can come back out and dig up my front yard to find what is broken and gushing water and fix it. He estimated it'll cost us around $450.00. The water company says that my normally $35.00 water bill will be $197.00 this month and will probably me even more next month since the leak will be on that bill also. They did say that once the leak is fixed, to call and let them know. They end up reimbursing half of your high "water leak" bills based on the average of your normal bill.
So, every time I have to use water in the house, I have to run out and turn the water on, hurry and do what I have to do with the water and then run back out and cut it off. It's gonna be a FUN weekend.
I'd planned on going this weekend and getting my hair cut - do something for myself just to make me feel good. My hair hasn't been cut in months, so it's long overdue. I'd planned on buying a memory foam mattress pad thingy. I've heard great things about them - especially for people like me who have trouble sleeping due to pain. I'd also thought about going to Hobby Lobby and buying a painting kit to try my hand at a new hobby. I won't be doing any of that...I'll be pinching pennies until all this gets taken care of and I see how bad it's going to put a dent in our checking account. Between the new air conditioner and now the water leak...I'm estimating we're out at least $1200 in less than a week.
I really, REALLY hope this is the last of this separation's curse. I truly am at my limit now. If something good would happen just to balance a little of this out...heck what am I saying? If nothing else bad happens,I'll consider that something good and be thankful.
Damn that DAMN curse!!
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Another Good-Bye
Yep, it's that time again. Time for us to start preparing for the year apart. First, we get thirty or so days preparation courtesy of the Army...well, more than likely 29 1/2 days considering our luck. Can't do the full 30 days or they have to pay separation pay ya know. One year, due to two planes in a row having mechanical problems and the flights being delayed, husband was just a few hours from the full thirty days and folks jumped through hoops to get them out of there lol.
We celebrated daughter's birthday early this year since husband would be gone on her birthday. She had a great time and I was thankful husband was here to share in it with us. Next year will suck for sure though...just that typical black cloud hanging around here. Even during good times, you can't help but have the deployment cloud hanging over everything and that sense of dread dangling around the edges.
I only have one project planned for this separation though. I'm going to paint our kitchen cabinets. I have the sandpaper, the primer, paint and brushes. Now I just need the motivation heh heh. Maybe by this weekend I'll feel like fooling with it. If not, maybe the next. I have plenty of time, so maybe I'll do like I normally do and put it off until the very last minute lol. That way, I can drive myself nuts worrying about the procrastination, yet not doing anything productive.
Well, we're off to the backyard. Thankfully, the city park is only two blocks from here, so we can stand in our backyard and watch the fireworks show. No traffic, no rude people and unruly children... After the mosquitoes have eaten us up, we can come back in without having to fight traffic or crowds. It just doesn't get any better than that ;).
Hope everyone had a great 4th of July.
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All Things Irritating
I have a few little mini-rants I thought I'd share. I know, the excitement is just too much...
* Why is it that some people do not get the easy concept of the ON RAMP? For those who do not know, the ON RAMP's purpose is to allow traffic coming on the interstate to accelerate (the key word here is accelerate, folks) to the speed of the other traffic and then MERGE with said traffic. If the speed limit is 70, you are free to ACCELERATE to 70 mph and then MERGE. Going 35 mph on the ON RAMP and hitting your breaks as you reach the interstate is not only STUPID, it's dangerous. Do us all a favor and take the back roads and stay off the damn interstate if you cannot figure out how to use the freaking ON RAMP. Sheesh, it's not rocket science. And why is it that minivan drivers seem to be the ones most often afflicted with confusion on ON RAMPs?
* If it is 104 degrees out, the pavement is going to be scorching HOT. If it's 3 pm and your nasty, hasn't had a bath in a month, useless self is just crawling out of bed - use some of the sense God gave you and put SHOES ON YOUR BABY before dragging the poor baby across the street barefoot! You took the time to put shoes on yourself! And, if you are just THAT lazy you can't take a few minutes and put some shoes on that baby - at the VERY least, pick the poor baby up and CARRY HIM across the hot black asphalt to your beat up hoopty. When you don't, it makes normally laid back, law-abiding people such as myself want to get out of my vehicle AND BEAT SOME SENSE INTO YOU.
* I missed the memo that you, military shopper from hell, are the proud new owner of the commissary. Until the rest of us receive that memo, PLEASE stop acting as if you OWN every aisle in the commissary. There's no need to leave your cart in the middle of the aisle AT THE END - to go back two aisles to get something you forgot. The rest of us peons just might need to get around your cart and finish our shopping within this decade. And, when a group of ten of us finally get tired of waiting and move your cart over just enough to get by, dirty looks FROM YOU because we
dared to move your cart might just get you a couple of "fuck you's" from frustrated shoppers - and damage your fragile ego. Just a little warning...
* If you've been too lazy to teach your children ANYTHING at home, please spare the rest of us and leave your animals at home. My 7 month old puppy would behave better in Wal-Mart than some children I've come across...and he's spoiled rotten.
I think that covers it for now...but I reserve the right to edit at any time and add a few more ;).
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