If you are waiting on a trade from me or have written to my regular email, I am not ignoring you and have not forgotten. Yesterday was one really bad day. I woke up to a customer standing in my driveway at 8AM, before coffee. Ugh. I came into the house to find my computer not working and as I was trying to pull it out and check cords, I knocked my cell phone into my coffee and fried it. You say, oh, that is not so bad?? I decided to get outside and work for a bit. I broke my weed eater. Okay, surely it can't get any worse that that, right?? The ice maker decided it would be a great day to have conflict as well!! So warm drinks all around. Finally it's around 9:30pm, homework and baths are out of the way. My 12 year old decides to run the dishwasher. It won't shut right or come on, so slamming it a few times has to be the way to fix that. A piece broke off the latch and now that is dead too.
So, in one day, we were down, 1 cell phone, weed wacker, computer and dishwasher. The ice maker was an easy fix. What are the chances of losing that many appliances in one day without a fire, flood or other natural disaster???? And I didn't sell one single thing either. LOL Two people stopped by the house but both were *just looking*. Sigh.....
I am using hubby's laptop. I'll get back to everyone as soon as I can. I have to pay bills then I'm off to count daylilies. I hope you all have a better day than I did yesterday. I hope I do too!!!
I think I have gremlins or something. :(
(((((Chele))))) Maybe something is trying to get you ready for something really great to happen in the near future.
ewhhhh. That sounds like a really bad day! Just the person in the driveway prior to coffee would have been enough to do me in! Hope your day is better today. Maybe even sell something! Here is a flower to cheer.
Robin
Thanks for sharing my misery. LOL
I'm ready for the something great part now.....
Wow, girl, you had a really bad day. When I start off having a day sort of like that, my DH says D O N T T O U CH A N Y T H I N G! LOL
Brenda
I had a day like that on Sunday. The garbage disposal wouldn't work, the dishwasher filled up with dirty water(I think because the disposal wasn't working), I dropped my cell phone and stepped on it, company came over and my house looked like a tornado had gone thru it..............I know there's more, I just can't remember what it was!
Bill bought me a new dishwasher, the disposal had stopped up because a little toy had fallen in it and fit perfectly over the drain hole, Lauren fixed my cell phone and company had a good time despite my messy house!
Send me some of that country music played backwards Susie! I need it.
I actually hit a point yesterday where I threw the weed wacker, came in, sat down and was about ready to cry. I heard the dog barking and went to see what she was upset about. There was a van in the driveway and a man was looking at my plants for sale. I went out and talked to him for a few minutes. He told me about his four kids and his son with a rare lung cancer. The boy was supposed to lose his lung as there was no other option. When he went into surgery, the mass was on the outside of the lung and they removed it. He has been doing well for about a year now. How do I cry about my day???
There is always someone else in worse shape than you are, but I think we just need a good cry sometimes to wash all the anxiety away. You are allowed a "pity party" but only for 1 hour and then back to the real world--shape up girl !!!!!!
Sandra
LOL My great aunt always said "If you feel bad because you have no shoes, think of the man with no feet.". I try to remember that.
I was outside making a list of plants for someone and it is thundering (so probably lightning too), raining, and I decided the way my luck is running, I'd come in for now. I don't think I'd be attractive split down the middle no matter how much I joke I need to lose half my weight. LOL
((((chele))))
I was just nosing around here a bit and found your post, you poor thing. I hope today is going much better for you...but, yeah, stay out of the lightning storm.
Tonight when all the kids get to bed take a nice long bath, light a candle and play your fav CD...then go straight to bed. You'll get up in the morning to a new day refreshed and all this will be behind you.
Thinking of you!
Heather
Hey Chele Sorry you had such a day. Remember one day at a time and when the bad one happens all at one time hopefully things get better quick. Blessings Shirley
And let there be hail! My "plant sale" signs just blew away and my canopy was just torn apart by the downpour and wind, then came the hail. I sure hope I do better in my next life. LOL
Bad,
My G-d girl. I am so upset for you I have a tear running down my face. NOBODY should have a day like that. Hope it has turned around and headed for a better time.
Oh Diane, don't feel so bad. At this point I am laughing hysterically. How can I not?? Twenty minutes ago, it was 70 degrees. We got a second storm with pea sized hail and the temp just dropped to 55! I'm still waiting for Draven's "something great" to get here. LOL
My computer is still under warranty so they are sending for it and will fix it for free. Maybe they will soon find my $100 rebate I have been waiting for since February too. If HP treats employees like that, hate to see how they treat anyone else. Hopefully they treat non-employees better!
I have not had time to check on my phone yet but will do that in a few minutes.
Hubby transferred some of my vital stuff to his laptop so I will at least have a computer. That is something good. :)
Hopefully he will have time to jump on the Frigidaire site at work and order the part for the dishwasher...
All in all, it's an okay day. It sure has not been boring! LOL
I'm sorry about the gremlins, Badseed. I'm trying to think back to that movie- what were those three rules for those critters? No bright lights, don't get them wet (oh no...that hail storm...), and don't feed them after midnight!!!
Whoa, now that reminds me of the children's book about the no good, horrible, very bad day.....
I used to have a friend who was an honest to goodness psychic..she used to help her local police department find lost children, lost dementia patients, and bodies. She was also into astrology, which I really have a hard time believing...but she always told me that when Mercury was retrograde, I should not try to work on my computer. It seems that technoligical stuff breaks down during a merc retrograde. I don't talk to her anymore (her bipolar mood swings just got to be more than I could handle since she refused to beleive she was bipolar and get treated for it), but it sounds to me from this thread as if Mercury is retrograde..if there really is anything to all that.
I had a bit of a rough day yesterday too. I found out I only have ten days to fill out the financial statement on my hubby's cancer treatments from last year, or they will turn it over to collection. Dadgummit. I really don't have the energy to deal with...and haven't had the energy to deal with it since we moved. Between his cancer, my mom dying, the move, and getting the house semi-livable, my lupus has been in constant flare for about a year now. Sitting down and writing up a finanical statement is not high on my list. Also got mixed news on my mom's estate yesterday....which, knowing my luck, is going to mean that Medicaid will take the whole thing.
I feel your pain, Michelle!
It sounds like I am doing a little better than you are Marcie! I sure hope you can find a way to get things done and taken care of. Even when things are bad, I keep telling myself they could always be much much worse.
I woke up today and I can see, breathe and walk. I managed to pay all the bills and might still be able to feed the kids until the next pay day. LOL The kids are still healthy and obnoxious and those are good things. We have food for dinner....
I thought maybe you guys would like to be entertained by my recent plight. We'll start with the canopy that crashed down in the storm. It's a total loss but you can't expect too much for $30. This is my little sales area. I still have a bunch more plants in the greenhouse and hoop house but I'm waiting for the weather to settle. I heard we have some 80 degree days headed our way.
Why does it take six months for the ground to dry up but only 24 hours to restore it to it's flooded state?? Far left you can see plants waiting for the second level of the pond and bog that still need built. Right to the left of the garage you can see my new shade bed and in front of the garage, well, I think I should have ordered that load of top soil last week!
Oh, and no, believe it or not, my camera is not broken! That line through the pic above is a dog run cable.
Here's a better pic of that shade bed. I am thinking gutters for the garage should maybe be a priority. LOL If this yard doesn't ever dry enough for a bobcat, I'll be digging that whole trench by hand for the drain tile! I have the rain barrels for the gutters just not the gutters.....
Plants sizing up for sale or waiting to be planted or traded. Like the puddles?? At least it's nice and green in the back yard!!! LOL
Isn't he a tasty fella?? I found this nice big leach under a brick by my pond yesterday. It's huge and nasty!! That is a gallon size ice cream bucket !
I forgot to say, I am thankful that I married a computer nerd, so I could have these extra computers around here for him to link together, and for his ability to move stuff around on them for me. Sometimes just turning it on and getting to other sites is a challenge. LOL
Dear Badseed:
OMG!!!! I am sooooo sorry, and it's all my fault!!!!
Those very same gremlins were here on Wednesday and after we performed an exorcism (which took some doing as this is a Jewish house and we don't do exorcisms) and sent the little gremlins packing. I feel terrible that they ended up on your doorstep. But take heart, I think we wore them out just a wee bit and hopefully, things won’t stay as bad there for you as they have been for us here.
For starters, we live in the epicenter of the floods that hit New England this weekend. A whopping 17.5 inches of rain fell on our town in 36 hours this weekend and three of those inches found refuge in the first floor of our home. (All things considered, we got off easier than a lot of folks, so I shouldn't be complaining.)
Anyway, Wednesday the 17th got off to a really bad start when my husband went to get his wedding ring off the night stand and accidentally knocked it off the stand where it hit the floor and rolled… somewhere. It has vanished into thin air. We have checked every square inch of this area – under the baseboards, in every nook and cranny… no ring. After he left for work, I contacted the manufacturer of our flooring to find out what we could do to salvage our-almost-brand-new (installed a year ago) wood laminate flooring that had gotten saturated in the flood. Three days after we got the water vaccumed up, the floor still squished when we walked on it and wouldn't seem to dry out. They said nothing – it’s a total loss, and and by the way, you need to get it up right away before mold sets in as that's a major health hazard. I called the insurance company and they said sorry, we'll cover the roof damage but damage from flooding groundwater is not covered.
Fortunately, (well, not really, except that right now it’s impossible to beg, borrow or steal a contractor in these parts) we had our contractor here that morning repairing the roof where some shingles had come off in the storm and water leaked all over the upstairs ceilings durintg the same storm. When I told him about the floor, he called his son to come help him pull out $7,000 worth of flooring. I felt like I was having a labor contraction with every plank that came up. He suggested we install tile.
I called the tile guy who had tiled our family room and he was heading between two jobs and was going to be close by so he popped in and measured the area and told me that to do this entire area in the same tile we have in the family room adjacent to this is going to cost nearly $15,000. He might as well have said a cool million.
While we were walking through and surveying the damage, the tile guy happened to notice that our freezer door was open and all of our frozen food (24 cf and solidly packed with food) was in the process of thawing. The housekeeper had brought down some lasagnas for me that I had made in foil pans on Monday night. She carried them down on cookie sheets to stack until they froze, but instead of putting them lengthwise on the shelf, for some God-forsaken reason she put them width-wise. The cookie sheets are a half inch too wide and the door couldn’t close. Why she didn’t notice this is a mystery.
The foods that were already cooked and prepared and were now thawing (lasagnas, chicken pies, stew, casseroles) found homes all over the neighborhood. But the meat all had to be cooked. The freezer was FULL so there were literally hundreds of pounds of thawing meat. I’m glad the tile guy was here when this was discovered; he helped me lug meat to our two refrigerators, and then we put what wouldn’t fit into the fridges into the laundry where I stuffed the washing machine full of meat and threw four bags of ice on it to keep it chilled (which, Dear Heart, he ran to the market and got for me, since my car wasn’t going anywhere). I have been cooking non-stop since then.
Yes, about my car. When my husband went out to go to work Wednesday morning, he discovered that he had run over a pile of nails (God knows where) and both the front and rear tires on the driver’s side of his car were flat. So he took my car to work and left me with two flat tires and a migraine. I never even got a chance to deal with that until after lunch (not that I had any time to eat). I called the gas station where we always get gas and repairs and negotiated with the owner that he would come down and remove the tires, take them back to the station, pull the nails out and fix them, and bring them back and install them – in exchange for two baked stuffed roaster chickens. His home has been without power since the storm or I probably wouldn't have had that kid of leverage.
While cooking this mess of food, I discovered that for some weird reason, the door on my two year old oven would not close all the way. The appliance repair guy says the door hinges need adjusting but he is flat out and can’t get out here until at least Monday. So I baked with the oven door open a quarter inch, which meant the entire house was like an oven.
While pulling out two more lasagnas from the oven (all of my frozen cheeses and tomatoes had thawed and had to be cooked into something), I dropped one of the lasagnas all over the floor. At almost the same time, I happened to catch a glimpse out of the corner of my eye of something flying by the sliders that didn't look quite right. That's when I discovered that a large box of that foam popcorn, which the contractor had moved onto the patio when he was pulling the floor out, blew over and white popcorn stuff was blowing everywhere in my gardens and yard – in the swimming pool, in the koi pond, and throughout my rose and flower beds. Worse, my dogs were chasing it as it flew around and were running all through the muck in the gardens. I called them out of the flower beds and so then, of course, they wanted to come in, but I relegated them to the outside until their feet dried off….. so I thought.
The littlest pooch, a Cavalier, had already worked away at a small tear in the screen to the French doors and had made her own little doggie door. I forgot I had all the doors open to get some of the heat out, and she popped through her hole and came in, tracking mud all over the beige carpeting in the living room. To add insult to injury, (and not to be outdone), the shepherd enlarged her hole and made his own doggie door and tracked even more mud in. They were followed by the cat who was carrying a not quite dead mouse. For the record, I don't do mice dead or alive, and especially not still alive.
When the mail came that afternoon, there was a bill from the hospital where I get my chemotherapy. Bamabelle, I feel your pain. Our new health insurance is going to cover only a fraction of the cost for both the chemo and most of my other medical bills. We are eight months into what is going to be at least a two year protocol, and I am looking at over $2,500 each month for non-covered medicals, over and above the $1,140 we pay for the health insurance. Once I get the last of this darn meat cooked, I plan to start baking. I’m thinking that maybe I’ll set up a bake stand outside of Home Depot on Saturday mornings for the summer.
When my hubby got home from work Wednesday evening, he discovered that our network router had blown. As in, it was dead. As in, we had no Internet access. (LIke I'd had any time to notice.) We finally got that restored yesterday. I feel especially bad about that because I think the computer gremlin was a bit worse to you than he was too us.
As for my cell phone, wallet, and checkbook, when the flood hit, I didn't even consider that my handbag - one of those pretty little fabric lined crochet numbers - was sitting on the floor on the far side of my bed where it was out of sight and out of mind until we were vaccuming up the water. But I can't really count that as it was Sunday, not Wednesday, that that happened.
The day continued right through to bedtime Wednesday night. My husband and I climbed into bed, he leaned over to give me a great big hug and kiss goodnight, and the bed fell apart. As in, the side rails let go and we were half on the floor. It seems that when the contractor reassembled it (he had to disassemble it and move it to take up the floor) he had not properly hooked the wooden rails into the headboard and the whole thing just came apart, leaving the top of the mattress and box spring sitting on the floor and the bottom end of the bed two feet above sea level, sitting on the bed rails that were still attached to the footboard. Thank god for pull out sofa beds. We dragged our weary butts into the family room and collapsed onto the sofa for the night, but not until we invoked the memory of every saint we could remember (Jews don’t believe in saints so we borrowed you all's) and asked for special help from the Pope, the soul of Mother Theresa, and God himself to rid us of this curse.
I swear, I couldn't write fiction this good. Too bad ya’ll don’t live closer. I have six very delicious freshly baked meatloafs to share….
Oh my gosh! I don't know whether to laugh or feel really awful for you. LOL At any rate, you are quite the writer! I do hope luck turns around for you and that you are not forced to switch religions to deal with the electrical demons that are running amuck right now. I'm not sure if I should feel relieved that my life is less traumatic that other's or if I should feel really bad that I've considered having a nervous breakdown. I of course did not mention all of my woes but only the ones I thought would be most comical. I am very sorry for the time that you are having. If I should happen to find those little gremlins, I'll toss the naughty things down the well before they can go wreak their havoc on another!! :) Have you ever laid tile? It really is not that bad and you would save an awful lot of money.
Bamabelle (and everyone else):
Soorrreeee about your canopy. But that brings up a problem we have been having. We have one of those metal gazebos with the canvas tops, and when it gets windy, it acts like a parachute. Last summer we sunk sauna tubes to hold the posts and keep it from falling over (which it was doing quite regularly). But when the wind hits, it really puts a strain on the canopy. We've gone out in the worst storms and undid the velcros so it could flap in the breeze (better than tearing so it could flap in said breeze just the same). But that isn't an option anymore. I gathered and hung these cheap curtain panels I got on clearance, and hung them from the sides and from the peak of the inside of the roof. It looks like a Morrocan harem tent. If I undo the velcros now, the whole thing is going to go flying in the breeze.
Help! Looking for bright ideas.
Cathy
I think I should go back to bed,my coffeepot would not come on this morning and after reading all this is looks like the gremlins might have headed south
Sandra
Sandra, I didn't send them away yet so you must have your own crop growing. Nuke them now!!!! No coffee is a really bad way to start the day!
Oh dear, I meant to make you laugh, not cry!!! That's what we did - what else was there to do?LOL
Yes, we have tiled - hubby did bathrooms and laudry - but this area is enormous, with a lot of corners, nooks, and crannies, and the floor is very uneven - big dips and humps all over the place. (Let's not talk about Contractor #1 who did the bulk of the initial work on this addition. We have now found a gem - Contractor #4. Translation: we went through #2 and #3 before we got someone who could fix pervious messes and do things right).
Hubby can't even think about doing it. He is working outrageous hours to keep up with the bills. I would do it myself except that I am now wheelchair bound and nearly bionic, with a respirator, feeding tube, a machine to make me cough, and a machine for oxygen. (And don't you dare feel badly for me. This is MUCH better than the alternative.)
BUT, I do cultivate my own gardens which are very extensive. My back yard is a formal garden and the front yard is a cottage garden. Hubby helps with a Mantis which is a godsend. He can cultivate a bed in 10 minutes, and where that doesn't go, I go, as well as pruning and dead-heading, planting, and picking bouquets.
And yes, gardening from a wheelchair is very doable with some creative adjutments. Here is living proof! Putting the roses in the front to bed for the winter.....
I'll also post a few pictures of my gardens, and if you'd like, I can post from time to time to show it through the summer.
Cathy
Taken yesterday... this is one small corner of the back. The pond borders one small area of the formal garden. And no, that isn't white water lilies in bloom. That's more of that darn foam popcorn.
We take pictures all the time for my gardening diary - yesterdy, while I was taking a very brief - waaayyyy less than an hour, slcdms! - break I snapped these. Ugh, I think I can only put up one at a time.
By the way, thanks for letting barge in on your conversation and being so gracious about it. You all seem to know one another and I have a lot of chutzpah inviting myself into your moring coffee clatch. (Gawd I miss coffee - had to gice that up coutesy of the feeding tube. "Eating lunch" means setting up the feeding for the next 6 hours.)
Wow Chele.. We were over in Englewood yesterday afternoon when that storm went through. Standing under a porchlike add on to a power equipment dealer's building. Between the hail crashing down and the Horrible thunder you couldn't hear people shouting right next to you.. well you could hear that they were shouting but not what they were saying! Not my favorite place to be during that sort of thing.
Your cabana got trashed but you didn't say how your plants fared?
My advice for the day: Post business hours by the road! lol.. ((((Big Hugs)))))
Wanted to say Welcome Rose :)
Hey, today is looking up! I just made a $60 sale. It's something and I will take it. LOL All my plants are doing fine still and look really good other than some of the bloom are tattered from that hail. It's no big deal as most have new stems and buds and I can cut off the older, yucky ones.
Well, That's good! Hey,, What did you end up naming your nursery?
Thanls for the welcome, Jazzpumpkin. Seaside Rose comes from Seaside Rose Cottage, which is a custom scrap booking business I run out of my home. My "real" name is Kathy with a "C".
Cathy
well then welcome Kathy with a "C" :)
Thanks! ;-)
Cathy,
Wow! You are one tough cookie! I thought I was a Steel Magnolia with my artificial hips and shoulder and my dying joints in my other shoulder, knees and elbows....lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromylgia, and cancer survivor...but I have to admit, if I had to garden from a wheelchair with a respiraor, I'd probably just stay inside and paint my sister's flowers instead. I do have to sit on the ground or on a stool when I garden...and I have to get my hubby or son to do my digging....but when I clear a bed, I have to use a lot of water because the clay is so hard here, so I just sit down in the mud and water and run the hose and pull the weeds and grass out by hand, bit by bit. This winter I'll probably just cover the next bed area with weedmat and newspapers and let it kill off all the grass and weed...or let my hubby rent a tiller. But for the bed behind the hydrangeas and the one around the Crape Myrtles, I'll have to do those by hand like I did the one over the spetic tank and the one under the magnolia tree.....very carefully! LOL!
You also remind me that I was planning to get flood insurance before hurricane season hits. It is going to cost $500 on top of the $2000 a year I already pay. But with my house being built up off the ground and it settling everywhere I have put heavy furniture...and with us just living about a mile or so from a creek, I think it is a good idea. Last year Tropical Storm Cindy came through here and dropped about a foot or so of rain on the area. We had washout around the back steps, which makes me just a little bit nervous about what could happen under the house if the water got deep enough. As long as it doesn't wash out, we are in better shape than our neighbors with their 'new' houses made of board and bat construction (read: vinyl siding on top of insulation and not much else underneath) and slab foundations. One of them caught fire earlier this month and the exterior just melted, leaving the studs and insulation exposed..... This 116 year old solid wood house was built to stand the test of time...but it has not completely withstood the test of being moved and being renovated by do-it-yoruselfers who didn't know what they were doing. The floors ahve wood rot in 2 places and have buckled in other places because they are installed without subflooring and are held in place by pressure, so the move kind of disrupted them. And the idiots put regular roof felt under the shingles on the back addition which has a very shallow slope so it leaks and the wood ceiling on the addition is rotting out and it leaks worse with each storm. All the wood struts and joists will have to be replaced as well as the wood roof, then a rubber mat intsalled and new shingles put on. What's that you say? You have a cutting for a money tree you are going to send me? Oh! Thank you!!!!
So, Cathy with a 'C'...if you don't mind my asking, why are you semibionic and sporting 4 wheel drive feet and bottled air?
Marcie
Jazz, after much perplexing thought, name games, contests and suggestions, I ended up with Gemini Garden. It's me and it fits. :)
Sorry I did not give you a proper welcome Cathy! Welcome to DG!!!!
Back to transplanting.....LOL
So, Chelle, are you saying you have a split personality?
Marcie, who is wearing her ornery devil's horns today...in case you can't tell.