Hands OFF!

I am so sick of legislators deciding what is best for my uterus. Do they honestly think that ALL women fit into one neat category and can be shuffled through the healthcare system as if they were one patient? Personally, I want the legislature as far from my uterus as possible!

It seems so simple - let women research options and decide what is best for themselves and their families. Use legislative power to restrict truly dangerous and corrupt ideas, but let medically-sound options remain legal, even IF an individual legislator personally thinks it is crazy.

The idea that midwives in Missouri were ever determined to be so dangerous that they needed to be felons is unfathomable to me, but even more so is the idea that the Missouri State Medical Association now thinks that they should remain so. More info and rant to come, gotta run to baseball!

The Shower

I took a shower for the first time in my newly remodeled shower, it was fantastic! Let me give you the rundown on the shower saga.

About six weeks ago (two weeks after buying my house) , I decided the caulk the shower surround. As I prepared to do so, I noticed that the surround was a little loose on one of the seams. Well, as a prepared homeowner, I just happen to have a tube of Liquid Nails, so I will fix that right up. So far, this whole process should take fifteen minutes, tops.

Then comes the drama. I gently pull the surround out to apply the Liquid Nails. The wall begins to crumble and fall into the tub. It is completely rotted from, apparently, years of needing to be caulked. So, out goes the shower, and the window which is also rotted. I realize that this job is one that might be out of my scope, so I employ my friend, Jon, to help. He tells tales of working in construction many years, as a matter of fact he went to New Orleans after Katrina to work. He assures me it is no big deal, he can do it. We go to Lowe's and buy supplies. Well a couple days pass and there is a still a hole in my wall where I would prefer a window. The forecast says rain, so I would like to fix that. Jon is busy and a neighbor guy asks if I need any help, he would love a little extra money. Great! He assures me it is no big deal (see a theme) and goes to work. He finishes the window and it is totally crooked, I mean, really crooked, like the Ripley's Believe it or Not building in Orlando. I give him $20 for his time, mostly because I am too nice. So he says he'll fix it, but needs to leave for a bit and come back. I decide I will just do it myself and come to the realization that he is an idiot; two of the screws are completely destroyed and can not be removed - no sign of a + or - in which to put the screwdriver. I go to Lowe's and buy a $10 Grabit that is supposed to pull out screws. Nope. So I go to Westlake's and get a $25 set of bolt extracting bits that actually remove the screws. Unfortunately, the bits are large and won't fit in the window channel without me cutting part of the window off. But now, I can reinsert the window straight. I do so and cover the outside of the window with vinyl 1x4s in a not-very-professional manner (remember, I'm in a hurry, it's going to rain!) I ask silicon to do jobs it was never intended to do (like cover huge gaps and hold the window in when I ran out of nails), but it is holding strong.

Okay, so now, I have a window, but still no shower walls. I am leaving on vacation and give Jon a list of projects, my key, and credit card. My instructions are simple - the most important thing on the list is the shower. I really want to be able to shower in my own home. I also called the plumber to come look at a leaking toilet. He calls and lets me know it is cracked and needs to be replaced. Jon does that for me; thank you, Jon. Of course, that isn't even on the list...

I get home, rush to my bathroom to see my beautiful new shower. Nothing. Still looks exactly the way I left it. But, how can that be? He spent $80 eating and drinking on my card, which is significantly more than the $20 I approved. Of course, if I could shower, I don't mind paying $80, but alas, I can not shower. My friend, Matt, is in Costa Rica for three weeks and says I can stay at his house while he is gone. Cool, I'm sure it will just be a day or two... if Jon would return my calls... or show up at the house to finish...

Fast forward three or so weeks, Matt has returned and I still can't shower. I keep thinking, "surely he will come today, he's my friend, he won't desert me." He does show up a few times and gets some work done. So now I have all three walls in and two faucet handles, no tub spout, giant gap between the window and the shower surround - no functioning shower. I give up on Jon. I go to Lowe's spend some quality time with an employee named Jeremy who is fantastic! I get all the supplies (okay, it takes me three trips to get all the stuff, but I got everything, darn it!) I get to work.

I work on it after getting off at the Apple, till the wee hours of the morning and get it done! I am WOMAN, hear me ROAR!! Amazing what you can accomplish when necessary.

I have skipped some of the details, believe it or not, but that's the highlights. I now have a completely functioning house, yesterday I even had a mattress delivered, now for a couch... hope I make bank at the Lake this week...

New Pets

In other news, last week I bought the kids pet mice. They chose two males because the males seemed more active in the store. Well, as it turns out, males don't make good pets beause they will fight until one becomes the dominate one and the other has constant bloody bites. They also smell really bad. So we returned the males and the guy was really surprised that the first guy didn't tell us that. So we traded them for two females. Levi's is named Jake and is brown. Paige chose a white one and named her Digger. Digger was the smallest mouse in the pet shop and yesterday she escaped. Paige is arguing with me that she wants another baby, but I am not budging - she is getting the biggest one there, I'm not paying money to put mice in my walls!

Update: I have never been so happy to see a dead mouse - Levi found Digger under the wheel in the cage, yea! No mice in the walls! We put her by the garage to be a guard mouse, then the kids decided to bury her out back, either way, they aren't the least bit bothered by the, umm - circle of life.

So now, we have a new white and black mouse named Speedy, let's see how long she lasts...

The Plan

So I started a second job this week at the lake (about an hour drive and $9 in gas) and love it! The place is called Jolly Rogers and is a pirate-themed restaurant and bar. A friend from Applebee's told me about it and promised that the money would be worth the drive. It is such a fun place, and totally laid back. The guests are mostly on vacation, so just out to have a good time, unlike Applebee's where people are always busy and in a hurry. I love the Apple and am comfortable in the corporate chain environment, but it is nice to do something different. I usually budget $100 a night at Applebee's, but last night at Jolly Rogers I made $200 and the night started out really slow because it had just finished raining. From what I understand, that is an average, maybe even low night. I am going to work at each place two -three nights a week through the summer, then probably go back to just Applebee's. It should really help with my finances.

I am doing the Dave Ramsey gazelle intensity debt-reduction plan. I got out and dusted off my envelope system and put the tips from last night in there. I will use tonight and tomorrow's money to put toward the mortgage.

I plan to pay off the house in twelve years so that when Paige goes to college, I can move to Florida. But, I am wondering if I should start that plan this month or use the additional $185 that I need to pay to make that goal to pay off the credit card.

Purpose

I thought there was not enough going on in my life to fill a blog, but as I read my friends' blogs (Hi Nikki, Deanna, Tanya!), I realized that our lives may all be mundane, but in different ways. I read with interest details about dogs and laundromats, midwives and politicians. So, that was the start of my blogging thought, but today as I write this, it is with a new purpose.

I am in debt and I need some accountability to get myself out. I want to put this out here so I can't hide from the details.

I also want to brag (and sometimes, complain) about all my blessings, Levi and Paige, of course, and my new house top the list of current topics. So here goes...