So Long, Fare Well

I'm sorry to announce that there will be no more posts made to this blog until further notice. At the moment I have so many projects going on in my head that I am depressed and overwhelmed and I need a break. So this blog is one of the things that is going to have to go. I will email you all if I decide to resume blogging at some future time. Hasta la vista!

I Want My Money Back!

I have come to the conclusion that if I have to rent anymore, I will go crazy. So far nothing too horrible has happened at our new place (with the exception of blinds that have not been cleaned since 1993 and are growing virtually irremovable fuzz). The problem is the continuing drama with our old landlord. Somehow she has managed to top two years of us having to harass her to fix the simplest things around the house, and put up with her incompetent (and frightening) maintenance man who managed not to fix anything correctly, when he actually did get around to messing with it. When I gave notice that we would not be renewing our lease (more than 30 days in advance, mind you), she dropped off a copy of a new lease with a note saying we had to sign it since we did not give 60 days notice as required by the previous lease. Now, that lease did say 60 days notice was required, but it also said that the lease was not automatically renewable, and said nothing about what would happen if we gave less notice than that. I wrote a polite letter pointing that out to her, and sent it to her with the new lease unsigned (and a huge fear that she would try to abscond with our security deposit). How right I was. Not only did she charge us for raking our lawn (not required by our lease), and for the cost of replacing light bulbs that were burned out when we moved in, but she also charged us $500 (half a month's rent) for giving insufficient notice. Plus, she put a note on the form saying she could have charged us a whole month's notice but was choosing not to. Now that is just a dead give away that she was up to something fishy. And of course, she has no legal right to withhold that money from us. After spending hours on the internet looking up laws, statutes, and the like, I wrote her a nice note pointing that out, and informing her that we were aware of our right to file a complaint against her with the Department of Consumer Protection, as well as take her to small claims court for double the amount she wrongfully withheld plus legal fees. I even gave her 7 days to return the money. 10 days later, nothing. Now I am going to have to figure out how to take someone to small claims court. If I had wanted to be this involved with the law, I would have gone to law school. Just my luck that Ann still has a semester and a half to go. Where are your friends when you need them? :)

Feng Shui?

I'm not really into feng shui. This is sort of surprising considering all of the other things that I'm into, but it's true. The thing is though, that I noticed that my furniture arrangement is totally affecting my life and my priorities. Ever since we moved to our new place and put the computer in our bedroom because there is no room in the living room things have been different. I balance my checkbook less than once a week instead of every other day. I write in my blog almost never. I check my other people's blogs less than once a week instead of almost every day. I play almost no Spider Solitaire. Internet radio usage is almost non-existent. Even internet shopping has lapsed. It's odd how much things have changed actually. Pretty soon I may not even need my computer, and my living-on-an-island plan will come to fruition.

Karlye turned three on Friday and we had her birthday party on Sunday. It went well considering I planned it in a day and a half, because we had to switch weekends AGAIN at the last minute. Things are pretty frustrating on that front, but I never thought it would be easy. We had a picnic with Lydia and Brandon and the boys on Saturday, and played some kickball. This made me realize two things: 1. I love kickball and miss recess, and 2. kickball is hard work - my shins are killing me.

In other news, Ann and I decided what we're going to be for Halloween. I convinced Justin to be Jack the Ripper and we're going to be his victims. I'm excited about wearing a corset, and looking scary because I'll be dead, but my mom says she's going to disown me. Oh well. Jordan's going to be a Dalmation, so she should still love him, and in the end that's all that matters :)

Update in World Record Time

Hannah's News: Busy with nothing interesting, job good, boss okay I guess, want summer to last forever

Justin's News: full of snot, taking enough generic allergy medicine to kill an elephant, just discovered you can get Claritin over the counter (living in cave???)

Jordan's News: opened closed door by himself, practices walking up and down the stairs on his own when he thinks I'm not looking, has his dad's allergies, lucky me!

I'm Baaaack...Although Not Better Than Ever

I just need to preface this post with a note that the post before this one didn't actually publish until I published this one, so I thought it was gone for good. I'm much too tired and cranky to redo this one to make sense after the last one, so you'll just have to deal with it.

Oh my goodness, what a month. Moving is a bitch. The physical labor was bad enough, but then having to inform everyone of our new address and phone #, and worst of all new email put me right over the top. I swear one of these days I'm going to move to a remote island and cut off all communication with the outside world except for immediate family and a few friends and just grow my own produce and hang around. (I know farming isn't easy, but I can pretend, right?) The new place is nice, and we even have pictures up on the walls in some of the rooms. We are finally out of the old place, as of today, with the small exception that we have to mow the grass once more if we don't want it to come out of the old security deposit. My mom hired the carpet cleaning people to clean the rest of the duplex for us too, so that was amazing. I was dreading that. Cleaning is not really my thing, as I'm sure most of you are well aware. I handed over the keys to the landlord today, which went better than I had expected considering the fact that she tried to force us to sign another lease by saying we didn't give her enough notice. Whatever, our lease was up. We don't have to stay. She's just bitchy because she doesn't have the other half rented out right now either. Moving on from mildly good news to awful news, apparently our good car is done for. It looks like the transmission is shot and probably the engine as well. I can't even imagine what we're going to do at this point, so I'm just pretending to myself that it's no big deal. At least we have two cars, and every time I start to think about it, I just remind myself that Jordan can walk down the stairs all by himself now, which distracts me every time. Hmmm...I suppose I should go shower now. I have almost as much trouble keeping myself clean as I do keeping the house clean. But I promise I will try to write more often. Asta la vista!

ARGH!!!

I figured it was about time for a new post, even if I am incredibly busy. Nothing too exciting, just all the moving craziness. We had to change phone numbers and email addresses because our old provider doesn't service Verona, so that's been a major pain in the ass. We had lots of help moving though, and no one got injured, so that was good. Justin's softball team won the league championship..Very exciting stuff! And now we get a little break before darts. Still have to clean out the old place and get the carpets shampooed before giving back the keys on the 31st, but I'd really rather be working over here on making things look pretty. That's so much more fun. We actually have three levels here since there is a basement, and then bedrooms upstairs, and Jordan went down the stairs upright holding on to the rail for the first time last week. We were so proud of him. I will really make an effort to keep this more up to date, and hopefully soon things will settle down a little bit.

Settling In (& Getting Out)

Last week was a big week for me. I turned the big 24, I started a new job, and I started to really search for a place to live. My birthday was great, lots of fun. Ann and Suzy came in to Madison and we went out for dinner and drinks, then to the Glass Nickel where Danielle was working. Justin and some other friends met up with us there. It ended up being a pretty late night, and unfortunately I couldn't call in to work Tuesday morning. (Not really cool to do the day before your last day at a job). Oh well, I survived. I even got a nap in when I got home from work. Jordan is so cooperative - sometimes.

My new job is going well so far. Usually I'm panicking my first week of a new job and hating everything, but so far, I feel I will adjust alright. Maybe this is a bad sign? I hope I'm not being over-confident and setting myself up for a big freak out later on. Oh well, not much I can do about it. Of course, a lot of the stuff I'm doing now is stuff that I have a little bit of experience with - scanning, cleaning up and cropping photos, copying and pasting and reformatting text, that kind of thing. I created my first ad on Thursday, that was kind of exciting. It was a classified ad for a trailer. Woo-hoo :)
 
Now the big project is finding a new place to live.  Once our lease is up (end of August) Eve is moving out, and that means we need to find a smaller place that charges less for rent.  Really not looking forward to moving.  I think the amount of stuff we have has tripled since Jordan was born.  I spent almost all of this last weekend going through the classifieds and calling places to get info. and set up viewing appts.  Of course, being me, I had to create a little form and put each ad into that so that I'd be organized.  I think it saves time in the long run, because that way I don't call the same place three times or forget to ask if they have air conditioning or something really important like that.

Packing & Cleaning Are Natural Enemies

Justin and I decided to take advantage of his week off of work to refinish our dining room chairs to match the table. So far, it's going alright. We've got two seats and backs off and recovered, and one layer of stain on the frames. Now we've just got to dismantle, sand, and condition the other two chairs, and hope that we have time to get all three coats of stain and three coats of clear finish on before we have people over tomorrow for a cook out. I don't know what my problem is, but I seem to like to cram as many things in to a few days as possible. Last time we went camping, I had people over the night before, and, naturally, we're going camping on Friday, so we've got to clean for tomorrow night and pack for Friday morning all at the same time. Not to mention the fact that I've got to coordinate two grocery lists, and figure out who's coming Thursday, what they're bringing, and who needs directions to the campsite, etc. etc. etc. Good thing I'm organized :) (in other words, I make lists, and sometimes, I even manage not to lose them).

Randomly

There's nothing like only having a week left at a job to lower one's already non-exsistant desire to accomplish anything work-related while at work.

Could I Please Have Some Mail To Sort?

This has to be the most boring day ever. I can't even scan anything because I've scanned so much in the last week that the memory is full and we have to buy a new hard drive. So I'm reduced to numbering pages of the documents I will be scanning once the new hard drive arrives. On top of that, I'm the only one in the office right now. I'm like a human voice mail transfer system - that's my only function. Funny, we have a phone system that does that too. Why am I here? One good thing, I have so much time to play online that I finally found Lori's online journal, after having lost the address several months ago for the 10th time in a row. Goody gumdrops!

Recycle Or Else

Living in Fitchburg has forced me to recycle. If you put out more than one container of trash you have to pay for it, but you can put out all the recycling you want for free. This used to annoy me, particularly when there were four adults and three children in diapers living in our house. Now that it's just usually the three of us, I've found it's not hard at all to keep the trash level down and the recycling level up. Sometimes we even put out two weeks of trash in our one container. (Since the trash man has been coming earlier and earlier and Justin still insists on setting out the trash Monday morning instead of Sunday night). Recently, I got a free subscription to Organic Style. Now, I've always had interest in wasting less, reusing more, and doing everything possible the natural way, but since I've been reading OS, I've been thinking about it more and more. Did you know that if you take your used print cartridges in to Office Depot to be recycled they'll give you a free ream of recycled paper? I've been taking in cartridges from work as well as from home, and I have enough free printer paper to last me for years. Some companies recycle used cell phones, and Nike recycles used tennis shoes. I've been buying all my clothes from Goodwill lately, mostly because I can't afford new clothes, but I also feel good about reusing what I can. Lydia and I have actually decided to start a business selling handmade stuff made from recycled materials. That way we can keep our prices down and still make a profit, and conserve resources and cut down on waste at the same time. We'll see if we actually make any money :). I have one thing to say to all of you - recycle or else! Here's a list of many places to recycle many things.

Query

Does anyone know of a good (free) online bookmarks website? And what about a website that lists the most useful websites? I'm getting fed up with the internet; it doesn't do what I want it to ;). If you know of anything, just leave me a comment (bottom right corner).

Oh Happy Day

I got my job!!! I'm so excited! I start July 15. No more endless scanning and filing; I'm actually going to be doing something I'm interested in. It sounds like I'll be working primarily with graphics, as well as doing general office stuff, but I'll also get to do some writing and editing. Besides, I've always been interested in graphics. Maybe Suzy can teach me a thing or two.

Justin's summer shut down is coming up, starting this Friday. It will be so nice to have some time together and maybe even accomplish some things around the house. It would be great if we could get our dining room chairs refinished to match the table, especially since I have the great big roll of fabric all ready and waiting downstairs.

Our weekend with Karlye went well. She and Jordan spent most of the time either copying each other or fighting because they wanted to do the same thing at the same time. At least this way maybe Jordan will learn to share. They even went to bed at the same time with no trouble. I was so relieved, since I was afraid they would keep each other up. Between grocery shopping, lunch with Lydia and Brandon and the boys, a trip to the park, a trip to the zoo, and Justin's softball game, we had a very busy weekend. Jordan looks a little worse for the wear since he fell into the bars at the zoo with his face, took a digger at the softball game and split his lip, and is covered in eczema which is very slowly getting better (since I've been covering his entire body in ointment at every diaper change).

Big Changes?

I can't believe it - I may be on my way to getting a job that would actually make some use of my English degree. My job now isn't exactly dead-end (my boss wants to send me to tax school and accounting classes), but I have no interest in a career in accounting. So, if I ever want to fulfill my dream of becoming a free lance editor, or even of getting a decent job in publishing once Jordan is in school and I can work full time, I'm going to have to move on to something that will give me some practical experience. Luckily one of our accounting clients runs the newspaper in Belleville and told one of my co-workers that he was in the market for a new employee. She told me, and I contacted him, and after a very long time and a lot of unanswered phone calls I finally have an interview. Supposedly, he thinks I'm overqualified, which doesn't bother me at all - better over than under, and he's not looking to hire anyone until August, which is fine with me too. That way I can relax and enjoy the summer without learning a new job (and having those "working" dreams that I always get for a week when I start a new job). So...we'll see how the interview goes (if I can find a sitter).

In other news, it looks like Justin's daughter Karlye is going to start coming over every other weekend, which is exciting. It also means that we need a place for her to sleep, and as luck would have it, Lydia and Brandon just got new beds for the boys and are giving us their old toddler bed. I got a little manic on Monday and decided to move all of the furniture around in Jordan's room by myself. I even managed not to really hurt myself moving the dresser, so I was pretty proud of myself, considering I'm just about the clumsiest person I know. I think it will be really fun for Jordan to have Karlye around, and they certainly seem to get along well. They haven't spent much time together yet, but he already knows how to say her name (it helps that "car" is his favorite word).

Birdies and Bananas and Crackers, Oh No!

Well, we got a fire going, no problem. It did rain a little bit at night, but it was nice and sunny in the morning. Justin grilled our steaks perfectly, using a technique he learned from a show about cowboy cooking on the Food Network, and our s'mores were definitely melted. And Jordan slept just fine at Grandpa's, which is a miracle, considering he hasn't slept anywhere but his own bed at home in a year.

We took Jordan in for his 18 month checkup on Friday, and I feel bad, because the doctor asked us about how his talking was coming along. He asked if he was putting two words together yet, and I said no, and he asked if he was saying any words yet, and I said a few, and named the three he's been saying since his nine month checkup. No sooner do we get in the car than Jordan says, "oh no", and I remember that he's been saying that for quite a while, and that he also says another ten or fifteen words I completely forgot about. Oh well. I'm so busy chasing around after him, I don't know how I can be expected to remember everything he knows how to do. He's growing up so fast. Last week he said "birdie" for the first time, Saturday he said "banana" and yesterday he said "cracker". "Car" is still his favorite word, and has been for about three weeks. When he first learned to say it, he wouldn't even eat because all he wanted to do was sit on the floor and play with his cars.

Camping Chaos Ensues

Camping is supposed to be about getting back to nature, roughing it, and all that, right? So why is my list of things I have to pack for our one night camping trip this weekend three pages long? I can't even blame it on the baby, because I hardly have to pack anything for Jordan. He's going to stay with his Grandpa Jake, and all I really have to pack are his usual diaper bag items plus a change of clothes and his musical bedtime turtle. It's too bad food doesn't grow on trees (at least not where we're going) because edible things make up the majority of my list. Let's just hope all the recent rain hasn't made it impossible to get a decent fire going or we'll be eating a lot of raw meat, cold stew, and unmelted s'mores.

Rain, Rain, Go Away and Other Wet News

Well, naturally, it rained all weekend. So we didn't go to Festa Italia or Bratfest, although Justin did manage to squeeze in nine holes of golf on Monday. We had Memorial Day dinner at my mom and dad's and I ate way more than was good for me, as usual. In fact, we all weighed ourselves when we got home, and I weighed the most I've weighed since I lost my pregnancy weight (not that I lost all of it, but that's not the point, is it now?). Somehow though, I did manage to lose five pounds overnight (it's like a train-wreck - once I weigh myself I have to keep checking, there's just no stopping). You might ask what I was thinking, weighing myself in the first place, and I actually have a very good explanation. Jordan really loves to pull out the bathroom scale and stand on it. So Monday night, we were getting him ready for bed, and I took off his diaper and took him into the bathroom to practice sitting on his potty-chair. After he was done doing that, he pulled out the scale. So we weighed him, and then I guess we thought it would be fun to weigh ourselves. So that's how that came about. After that, we brushed his teeth (using two toothbrushes at once - one for him and one for me), and then he ran around in the living room for a few minutes. He started to look a little squirmy, so I took him in the bedroom to put his diaper on. I was just getting the diaper out when I hear this really loud splashing noise. I turn around, and sure enough, he's peeing in the corner behind the door. Then he bends over and sticks his hand in it to splash it around. I couldn't believe it. He'd been sitting on his potty-chair not more than 5 minutes earlier, and nothing. Then I'm 5 seconds from putting on his diaper and he pees on the carpet. I thought it was hilarious, but Justin was not amused.

TGI Something

Well, the weekend is almost here. Twenty-one more minutes and I'm done with work 'til Tuesday. Gotta love Memorial Day. This weekend is the first weekend in a while that we can just sit back and relax. My cousin Eliza is graduating on Sunday, but it seems cruel and inhumane to keep Jordan cooped up in the car for five hours in one day to drive there and back when he's incapable of sitting still for more than fifteen seconds at a time. Fitchburg's Festa Italia is this weekend, as well as the annual Brat Fest at Hilldale so we might go check those out. Jordan, Ann and I ventured down to the Fitchburg Farmer's Market yesterday. It was quite a long walk for one head of lettuce, a bunch of chives, and two cucumbers, but the cardio benefits and the joy of supporting local farmers made it all worthwhile. :)