The last 10 days have just added to the SUCK of this year. Let's review shall we?
In February DH took the van to run an errand, hit a mailbox. Not just any mailbox a BIG bricked in mailbox. The mailbox was fine, the van...not so much. A few thousand in damage, a $286 deductible..still hasn't been fixed, looks like crap.
So last spring I felt like crap nearly every day, I felt like I was going to die often, I've had heart issues before and they can never find anything wrong. Ended up at a cardiologist in Owosso (HELLO 40 miles one way! Grrr) and she tells me I have P.O.T.S. witch is an abbreviation for a bunch of long words that means my blood volume is 2 liters less than every normal human on the planet and my heart doesn't compensate normally for when I stand up from a sitting or lying position and then makes my heart beat rapidly to catch up. It's great, all of a sudden for no reason your heart goes apeshit and you feel like you're going to have a heart attack. The good news is it can eventually go away, the bad news is there's not actually a way to treat it at all. She said it was probably caused by a bad virus it sends your auto immune system out of whack and causes a bunch of issues. So basically my heart is perfectly fine and healthy I just FEEL like I'm going to die. Her only advice is to eat more salt and drink LOTS of water. I hate salt, and I'm REALLY tired of water, I feel like a damn fish BUT if I don't drink enough I feel like I'm going to die, so fish it is. I also can't drink alcohol it makes me feel like crap instantly, I can't even describe it and if I don't drink enough water to counteract the dehydration abilities of the alcohol I end up in the E.R. What fun.
So then in the summer my husband started feeling like crap, I was like "hell...you probably have the same thing". Though he kept having weird headaches and I would joke around that he had a tumor and tease him about it. I told him he should get it checked out, he insisted he was fine...blah blah blah don't need to go to the doctor. Well he finally told me that when these headaches happen he also has double vision, I told him then not only should you go to the Dr. you should go straight to the E.R. that's not something to mess around with. So he goes to his doctor, who sends him to an eye doc telling him that maybe he needs glasses and that can cause a headache, dizziness..etc. So he goes to the eye doc who tells him he's fine. Then his doc sends him to a neurologist, who in turn sends him for an MRI. OK so he goes to the MRI, I go to work, he calls me and says, " they found something and told me to go directly to the E.R." Sometimes it really sucks to be right. He has an inoperable malignant brain tumor called a Granular Cell Astrocytoma, he's been give a few months to two years to live. Peachy. He's currently ok, gone through radiation and chemotherapy and in a waiting game of what they'll do next. It's not a question of a cure, they've assured him it WILL come back, it's only a matter of time.
Right before he found all this out the car died. He was still trying to work while dealing w/ these headaches so he had to borrow a friends vehicle, for nearly two months it sat cause we didn't have the money to deal w/ it. Turns out it was the alternator and our wonderful, amazing friends fixed it and it runs fine. Then he hit a deer w/ it, well technically a deer hit him, but still. Destroyed the front right quarter panel of course. Luckily it was still driveable. Dropped it off at the shop to get fixed the week before Christmas.
Fast forward to the day before Christmas Eve, we were gonna run out really quick and pick up a few last minute items. I didn't want to deal w/ the crowds so we were going as soon as our feet hit the floor in the morning. We left, had to drop something off at the Car shop that was fixing the car, did that moved on and was headed for the freeway. Went over some railroad tracks and the front tire on the van blew. Managed to limp to a Uhaul parking lot. Hubs then tells me we don't have a jack or crow bar...he took it out for some reason and didn't put it back in. Great! Walk into Uhaul and ask if we can borrow a jack. They were very helpful and would let us, but couldn't find it. So again we had to call on our super amazing, awesome friends. They came to the rescue put on the spare (the spare was in HORRIBLE shape, wasn't sure we'd make it the two miles to the tire store) and off we went to get a new one. Well both the fronts were so bad that we had to buy TWO new ones. December 23rd = $169.
That same night I was sleeping, hubs was watching TV and he hollers in to the bedroom..."HEY! Hey you gotta come here, something's wrong w/ the dog!" WTH!? so I go out in the living room and the dog is having seizures SHIT! We wrap her in a blanket and run her to the ER vet, luckily the little kids were sleeping. The big kids were still awake and we let them know something was wrong and we were taking her to the vet. I was TERRIFIED the kids would be devastated if we lost our dog. So go to the vet, his first estimate of what they can do is $505 UP FRONT. Then I'm devastated, there's NO way I can pay that much right then and there, I told him my top amount was $200 so he said she could stay for over night observation and if she had more seizures they would medicate her to stop them. All that wonderful service cost me a bargain basement price of $195 (still Dec 23). Dog is fine, no further seizures, have no idea why.
Week after Christmas I gotta work 8:30 to 5 everyday ( I usually don't I'm part time) because we have inventory, fine. I don't mind. Thursday the 29th the van won't start, the car is still in the shop, and I need to be there pronto. I had the option of a rental car through my insurance because the car was in the shop, didn't take it because I had the van. John can't drive so he doesn't need a vehicle. SO I called the insurance company and told them, " I need that rental car ASAP", so they set it up, Enterprise picks me up to sign the paperwork. I tell them I need a vehicle that seats 6 ( cause we had a Christmas party to go to, ALL of us), they tell me all they have is a truck. REALLY!? A truck...OK whatever, so they give me a GINORMOUS Dodge Ram 1500 Crew cab. LOVED the truck...still don't know why the van didn't start, made it to work only a half hour late, made it to the party that evening...OH yeah, the car was done 2 hours after I rented the truck...figures.
SO I'm totally DONE w/ this year. I don't want to repeat it EVER! Here's a big fat DRINK to the new year ahead!
One more thing, I forgot to mention, there are a LOT of great things that also happened this year, finding out who your true friends are is one of them. I have THE most AMAZING group of people surrounding me..you have no idea. Thank God for all the amazing people in this world who really do give a crap about other people.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Monday, December 26, 2011
After Christmas shopping
So I went out shopping this morning, see what was on sale, what was left, maybe get a bargain. It was 8:00am(remember the broken internal clock thinks I'm a damn rooster). Hubby was sure it would be packed and crazy. Started w/ Meijer, not packed, not crazy, no really good deals, picked up a few grocery items and headed to Target. Target had lots of great deals, unfortunately the Christmas CD that I really wanted was NOT on sale. DUDE! I'm NOT paying full price for a CHRISTMAS CD after Christmas so don't even try that. I shall wait it out and see what happens, I don't get it no big. Grabbed a few half off Christmas items and went to Party City...their selection was Blah...but 75% off... bought nothing. Decided to go the world's nastiest Kmart just to see what they had on sale. They had lots of Christmas stuff to choose from, why? Because half of it wasn't even on sale. What? you say? I shit you not I was looking at a few things, didn't see any signs, took them to the scanner and they popped up full price. SO not happening, maybe their waiting for snow? Anyway, I'll check back w/ Target later this week and see about that CD I want, hopefully I'll get lucky.
The American Girl way
The American Girl way
A great article about American Girl in the Chicago Tribune! A video with a tour of the distribution center and the doll hospital, fun to watch. I love the article with it's edge of skepticism and jocularity a fun read.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
The Garage Crew
We have a group of the most extraordinary friends, what is extraordinary about these friends you may ask? Read on.
My husband was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer in September this after not feeling well most of the summer but not going to the doctor. He has been diagnosed with Granular Cell Astrocytoma and has been given a few months to two years to live. He is/was a 100% commission salesperson, so when not doing his job at 100% because of not feeling well, he was already not making much money, and summer is just plain bad to begin with every year. I have a part time job, and together we have four kids.
After being diagnosed and having a brain biopsy he was put on disability and radiation treatments began.
We already knew that our friends were exceptional just because they are AWESOME. However a get together was planned and we just thought it was a backyard BBQ get together type thing. Our group of friends, about 6ish families affectionately known as "the Garage Crew", presented us with a $275 Meijer gift card. We were shocked and awed of course, and I can't even tell you at the time how much it helped, it bought us groceries for a few weeks when things were getting REALLY tight. Those same friends organized a pop can drive at all the local Jr. league football games, and just before Thanksgiving presented us with nearly $500 from that which again helped tremendously, food, gas, clothing, Christmas shopping, AMAZING. They also did a bake sale and had a donation jar at a craft show in November, and just last weekend presented us with over $300 from that! Did I mentioned that these folks are AMAZING!
When you think about the world today, when you hear about all the shootings, the vandalism, the crime in general, people stealing from others, people hurting others. Think about this story and know there are still a LOT of good-no-AMAZING people out there too. Our friends aren't independently wealthy, they are not made of money, this wasn't done without sacrifice on their part. Without this AMAZING group of friends my family would be in a world of hurt, there wouldn't be Christmas, there wouldn't be school clothes, there wouldn't be food, I don't know how I would have paid the rent, my job isn't enough. My husband's disability is just about to kick in the DAY AFTER Christmas, we were left to drift on what commissions he had coming when he was taken off work. He had 8 weeks of commission, it wasn't enough to pay everything that needs to be paid each month. Thanks to all of our amazing friends we made it through the 8 weeks, our kids have Christmas, and enough clothes/shoes, we had enough to eat, we could pay the bills and know that we are loved.
I don't want to discount the others who've helped, so many people have done amazing things for us in this last 8 weeks, but our "Crew" is just so over the top amazing I have to point them out first. "Thank you" just doesn't seem like enough to express all the gratitude and love we feel for them. We are so blessed and lucky to have this AMAZING Garage Crew of friends. Thank you.
My husband was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer in September this after not feeling well most of the summer but not going to the doctor. He has been diagnosed with Granular Cell Astrocytoma and has been given a few months to two years to live. He is/was a 100% commission salesperson, so when not doing his job at 100% because of not feeling well, he was already not making much money, and summer is just plain bad to begin with every year. I have a part time job, and together we have four kids.
After being diagnosed and having a brain biopsy he was put on disability and radiation treatments began.
We already knew that our friends were exceptional just because they are AWESOME. However a get together was planned and we just thought it was a backyard BBQ get together type thing. Our group of friends, about 6ish families affectionately known as "the Garage Crew", presented us with a $275 Meijer gift card. We were shocked and awed of course, and I can't even tell you at the time how much it helped, it bought us groceries for a few weeks when things were getting REALLY tight. Those same friends organized a pop can drive at all the local Jr. league football games, and just before Thanksgiving presented us with nearly $500 from that which again helped tremendously, food, gas, clothing, Christmas shopping, AMAZING. They also did a bake sale and had a donation jar at a craft show in November, and just last weekend presented us with over $300 from that! Did I mentioned that these folks are AMAZING!
When you think about the world today, when you hear about all the shootings, the vandalism, the crime in general, people stealing from others, people hurting others. Think about this story and know there are still a LOT of good-no-AMAZING people out there too. Our friends aren't independently wealthy, they are not made of money, this wasn't done without sacrifice on their part. Without this AMAZING group of friends my family would be in a world of hurt, there wouldn't be Christmas, there wouldn't be school clothes, there wouldn't be food, I don't know how I would have paid the rent, my job isn't enough. My husband's disability is just about to kick in the DAY AFTER Christmas, we were left to drift on what commissions he had coming when he was taken off work. He had 8 weeks of commission, it wasn't enough to pay everything that needs to be paid each month. Thanks to all of our amazing friends we made it through the 8 weeks, our kids have Christmas, and enough clothes/shoes, we had enough to eat, we could pay the bills and know that we are loved.
I don't want to discount the others who've helped, so many people have done amazing things for us in this last 8 weeks, but our "Crew" is just so over the top amazing I have to point them out first. "Thank you" just doesn't seem like enough to express all the gratitude and love we feel for them. We are so blessed and lucky to have this AMAZING Garage Crew of friends. Thank you.
Almost done shopping!
Woohoo! Almost done and without killing anyone or getting arrested. Christmas shopping is like guerrilla warefare I swear you have to put on your comfortable clothes and sharpen your elbows. People get so pissy! SO I try to get up and go to the stores as early as possible. I get up at the crack of freakin' dawn every day anyway thanks to my faulty body clock that thinks I'm a damn rooster or something. At Christmas time it's actually an advantage there's no one else at the stores except other rooster people like me, unless of course it's Black Friday and then..well..everyone is there. Off to Target this morning to get a few things I've been waiting to pick up and to pick up a script, found just what I was looking for and managed to knock a few more people off my list. Happy face today :D
Sunday, December 18, 2011
The presents are wrapped! (well...most of them)
When I was a kid I used to LOVE LOVE LOVE wrapping presents, it was my favorite part about Christmas. When were old enough that we didn't believe in Santa anymore my Mom would let me help wrap my siblings presents and I was in heaven. Wrapping so carefully, making sure the corners were neat and the bows and tags matched. I loved it.
Then I grew up and had kids.
You know w/ the first kid's first Christmas you want it to be amazing. When really the kid isn't even gonna know what to do w/ the present let alone that there's actually something inside that you think they need, cause let's face it at that age the only thing they need are fresh diapers and food. So you go out of your way to make all (why does a baby need more than one present?) the gifts looks special, ribbons, bows, tags, fun wrapping paper til it looks like Martha Stewart puked Christmas all over your living room. You finally drag your exhausted butt to bed around 1:00 am and the baby wakes you up again at 2:00 for the nightly feeding, or just because you were too damn loud and woke him/her up. If you're lucky you make it back to sleep before said kid drags your butt out of bed again at 4:00 am for another feeding and clean diaper. You figure "well hell, we're already up lets open presents!" because at this point you're more excited about it than the kid. You help them unwrap the presents, the kid goes for the box the toy comes in and plays w/ it all day, could care less about the toy that every parenting magazine on the planet suggested for "stimulating entertainment" guaranteed to make your babies I.Q. go through the roof any second.
Second kid, you're still trying to be Martha Stewart, but you know it ain't gonna happen and go to bed at midnight after a wine cooler chaser to your milk and cookies. You're down to screw the ribbons, stick on some bows and tags(cause now you have TWO kids them tags are IMPORTANT!). Christmas morning, same thing, the box is better than the toy, only now the kids are fighting over the biggest box cause it's ones "fort" and the others "garage", heaven help us.
Third kid, you were exhausted when you woke up this morning so there's no point in staying up past 10:00, nobody really likes milk and cookies that late at night. Take a bite of a cookie spit it in the trash dump some milk down the drain. Throw some bows in the general direction of the presents, hopefully they'll look good..yea take that Martha Stewart...all that and I still look good and got to bed before you BIOTCH!
Fourth kid, there's no end to your state of exhaustion, you're not sure whether you're just getting up or just going to bed, fuck Martha Stewart and the horse she rode in on. Cutesy wrapping paper...huh? That's why God invented gift bags there's one of those suckers for every size present! Hot wheels... no problem, Barbie Hummer..no problem, Bicycle..no problem, Pony...hell yeah bring it. Bows you say? WTH? Why waste time w/ that the kids are just gonna tear through everything like a freakin' hurricane and it all goes in the trash anyway. 10 minutes tops...and guess what? The freakin' box is still more fun than the presents:
Then I grew up and had kids.
You know w/ the first kid's first Christmas you want it to be amazing. When really the kid isn't even gonna know what to do w/ the present let alone that there's actually something inside that you think they need, cause let's face it at that age the only thing they need are fresh diapers and food. So you go out of your way to make all (why does a baby need more than one present?) the gifts looks special, ribbons, bows, tags, fun wrapping paper til it looks like Martha Stewart puked Christmas all over your living room. You finally drag your exhausted butt to bed around 1:00 am and the baby wakes you up again at 2:00 for the nightly feeding, or just because you were too damn loud and woke him/her up. If you're lucky you make it back to sleep before said kid drags your butt out of bed again at 4:00 am for another feeding and clean diaper. You figure "well hell, we're already up lets open presents!" because at this point you're more excited about it than the kid. You help them unwrap the presents, the kid goes for the box the toy comes in and plays w/ it all day, could care less about the toy that every parenting magazine on the planet suggested for "stimulating entertainment" guaranteed to make your babies I.Q. go through the roof any second.
Second kid, you're still trying to be Martha Stewart, but you know it ain't gonna happen and go to bed at midnight after a wine cooler chaser to your milk and cookies. You're down to screw the ribbons, stick on some bows and tags(cause now you have TWO kids them tags are IMPORTANT!). Christmas morning, same thing, the box is better than the toy, only now the kids are fighting over the biggest box cause it's ones "fort" and the others "garage", heaven help us.
Third kid, you were exhausted when you woke up this morning so there's no point in staying up past 10:00, nobody really likes milk and cookies that late at night. Take a bite of a cookie spit it in the trash dump some milk down the drain. Throw some bows in the general direction of the presents, hopefully they'll look good..yea take that Martha Stewart...all that and I still look good and got to bed before you BIOTCH!
Fourth kid, there's no end to your state of exhaustion, you're not sure whether you're just getting up or just going to bed, fuck Martha Stewart and the horse she rode in on. Cutesy wrapping paper...huh? That's why God invented gift bags there's one of those suckers for every size present! Hot wheels... no problem, Barbie Hummer..no problem, Bicycle..no problem, Pony...hell yeah bring it. Bows you say? WTH? Why waste time w/ that the kids are just gonna tear through everything like a freakin' hurricane and it all goes in the trash anyway. 10 minutes tops...and guess what? The freakin' box is still more fun than the presents:
SO I just got done wrapping presents again this year, no there are no bows, they don't look like anything Martha Stewart would even bother to glance at. There are still of course a few gifts on the way here from the Gods at Amazon who decided to ship 4 items in 3 boxes even though all items were in stock and shipped on the same day....what do I care it's their dime, I got FREE shipping baby! They have Christmas paper or gift bags or a combination and of course there are those ALL IMPORTANT gift tags...cause yeah when you have four kids the tag is the LAW. I'm sure the kids will be scarred for life but so far I haven't heard any complaints...they're still playin' in the box.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
The black Friday edition
I love black Friday, to me it's like a personal challenge, love it. However I DO NOT like shopping on Thanksgiving night, whoever thought up that business should be beaten severely. We did go out because there were a few things I was interested in, I have four kids so I have to make the dollars stretch as far as possible.
We went to Walmart first and of course the store was already open but no one could check out until 10 pm. We walked in the door and it was a MADHOUSE! I'm NOT just kidding you there were SO many people in there it was a fire hazard, I don't know how they didn't get shut down that night. They had a sewing machine case on sale that I wanted so we (my husband and I) braved our way in and I got to the craft section, asked a worker where they would be. She said they were already gone, they only had 6 of them. Great. Well that was all that I was really hoping for, everything else I could get somewhere else so we tried to make our way out of there. We skirted the outer wall of the store and got back to the only door they were letting people use. Now I don't mind crowds at all, but seriously if something had gone wrong and all those people would have tried to get out that door at once, people would have died. So I'll admit this particular crowd was making me nervous. We made it out and I've never been so happy to leave a store. I will NEVER go there again on Thanksgiving night.
On to Target who opened at 12:00am. We got there early because we left Walmart so fast, there was a line but it wasn't bad, however I was NOT about to wait outside in line. I don't do well w/ cold, I have a medical condition that prevents me from just standing around in it. At our Target store there's a Steak N Shake in the same parking lot so we went there and got coffee and waited for the store to open. I don't want/need a big cheap TV (which there were plenty of still when we got inside, hence no need to wait in line) and I found everything I went there for. There was plenty of everything they had on sale, I should have just waited til morning and next year I will.
Went home, went to bed, planning to shop the next day. (1:30am)
6:01 got up, pulled on clothes, brushed my hair, grabbed a granola bar and headed out to pick up my Mom. Obviously most of the stores had already opened, so again, no standing in line. Went to Menards first, the parking lot was SO full we didn't even bother going in. Went to Michaels, it was pleasingly easy to shop, not very many people there and I got a BUNCH of ribbon for 70% off. Went to Meijer, went to JoAnn's, went to Kohl's(got Kohl's cash Yeah!), ended up back at Menards...got everything I wanted. Woohoo!
Came home and did some online shopping after seeing that ebates.comhad double cashback (so 10%!!) at BN.com. Commercial break here, If you're going to shop online I would HIGHLY encourage you to join ebates(link above) it's free and you get cash back on almost every store you'd shop at, I've gotten cash back several times now and it's awesome, deposits in whichever account you set up, no hassle, just a little surprise. Now I can patiently wait for Cyber Monday to get some other deals....ahhh.
I'd LOVE to hear what everyone else that went to Walmart has to say.
We went to Walmart first and of course the store was already open but no one could check out until 10 pm. We walked in the door and it was a MADHOUSE! I'm NOT just kidding you there were SO many people in there it was a fire hazard, I don't know how they didn't get shut down that night. They had a sewing machine case on sale that I wanted so we (my husband and I) braved our way in and I got to the craft section, asked a worker where they would be. She said they were already gone, they only had 6 of them. Great. Well that was all that I was really hoping for, everything else I could get somewhere else so we tried to make our way out of there. We skirted the outer wall of the store and got back to the only door they were letting people use. Now I don't mind crowds at all, but seriously if something had gone wrong and all those people would have tried to get out that door at once, people would have died. So I'll admit this particular crowd was making me nervous. We made it out and I've never been so happy to leave a store. I will NEVER go there again on Thanksgiving night.
On to Target who opened at 12:00am. We got there early because we left Walmart so fast, there was a line but it wasn't bad, however I was NOT about to wait outside in line. I don't do well w/ cold, I have a medical condition that prevents me from just standing around in it. At our Target store there's a Steak N Shake in the same parking lot so we went there and got coffee and waited for the store to open. I don't want/need a big cheap TV (which there were plenty of still when we got inside, hence no need to wait in line) and I found everything I went there for. There was plenty of everything they had on sale, I should have just waited til morning and next year I will.
Went home, went to bed, planning to shop the next day. (1:30am)
6:01 got up, pulled on clothes, brushed my hair, grabbed a granola bar and headed out to pick up my Mom. Obviously most of the stores had already opened, so again, no standing in line. Went to Menards first, the parking lot was SO full we didn't even bother going in. Went to Michaels, it was pleasingly easy to shop, not very many people there and I got a BUNCH of ribbon for 70% off. Went to Meijer, went to JoAnn's, went to Kohl's(got Kohl's cash Yeah!), ended up back at Menards...got everything I wanted. Woohoo!
Came home and did some online shopping after seeing that ebates.comhad double cashback (so 10%!!) at BN.com. Commercial break here, If you're going to shop online I would HIGHLY encourage you to join ebates(link above) it's free and you get cash back on almost every store you'd shop at, I've gotten cash back several times now and it's awesome, deposits in whichever account you set up, no hassle, just a little surprise. Now I can patiently wait for Cyber Monday to get some other deals....ahhh.
I'd LOVE to hear what everyone else that went to Walmart has to say.
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