Ugh Kat. :( Nothing is going your way lately! Hopefully things look up soon!

I was just thinking the other day I need to pick up some rid-x too,

I agree with that. I am tired of the ups and downs. I just need my life to level out for a while!!! 😝 When I dropped off Shane, his truck wouldn't crank. And then he found a bald tire. Ugh. So he was stuck for hours while they fixed it. And I hate hate hate driving in the dark and the rain....which I had to do this morning. The closer I got to work the more it rained. Ugh.

At least the damage can be fixed eventually and no one was hurt.

OK, this cracked me up earlier.

yeah Kat, all the ups and down are so hard on your mental health!

And worrying about the car, etc.

BUT. Everyone is safe, the house is safe to live in. No one got hurt. So there's that.

Oh yes. I agree with that too, I am very thankful no people or pets were harmed. I saw that on your facebook and died laughing. It is sooooo true tho.

I died. Like.. Oh, Lily. :P

Went to a school board committee meeting last night. Not an actual board meeting, just the committee. It was cray, so many people yelling out of turn. But let me tell you..

I can't believe I actually got up on a mic and talked in front of 90 people. That never would have happened a few years ago!

(And people clapped. And not just people i knew :P).

They took us on a walk of the school first, what they're planning on replacing. Right now, it's a tragedy, and they DO need to do something. I just don't think it's $3m worth of something. Especially something so unequal. Right now they've got a new boys locker room (actually, it said Men. Mens locker room, freshmen, and then girls. Take that as you will).

SO. Boys locker room. 911 sq feet. Freshman, 396 square feet. Girls, 415 square feet.

Tell me how that's fair. Especially since there's no point in the year where the boys have move than one sport in there, since basketball will be in the school, and wrestling would be in this new fitness center. Meanwhile, the girls have at least two in the fall and spring. :/ But they get so much less space?! Un. Fair.

AND. Yes, there should NOT be free weights in the hallway, and especially not blocking the bathrooms. That's a safety hazard, and we're going to get sued. We just are.

HOWEVER. Showing us the wrestling room with the ceiling tiles that have been falling down since / was in school that haven't been fixed? You can't afford or manage to do the upkeep we currently need, and you want to spend that much money on an entire new building?

Like.. we DO NEED something, something needs to be done. But I don't think it's this expensive monstrosity.

Oh wow, it does sound like you need some improvements at the school. Nothing should be in hallways, let alone blocking bathrooms :o And an unfixed ceiling? WHAT? Upkeep before extra space in locker rooms for sure!

I went to bed at 9pm yesterday. I was falling asleep on the couch, I am just soooo tired. I still want to be in bed right now. But am awake plus whiny dog.

I am completely done with my third class up to Feb 20th (other than discussion boards which are available all semester anyway and I've done 2 of the 5 lesson ones and the work ethics ones were not available so I mentioned it to the teacher, so now they ARE available lol) And I read the chapter for one class last night but didn't do anything else. I will take that quiz today and then start reading for the next class.

We had a fire drill yesterday - and I have no idea why they chose the alert they did. It was someone SPEAKING and I tell you what, in PreK in a regularly noisy room (we were prepared so were listening for it) we may not have ever heard the alert!! NO Beeping or loud noises just speaking "A fire has been detected, please evacuate" on repeat. WHAT?? weird and barely audible to us for some reason.

That is weird. Hopefully you let them know that you couldn't really hear it?

No flashing lights even?!

Not that I saw. There probably was, but I focus on the kids once we get the alarm and make sure they all get out. And I close the door and follow them outside to make sure no one gets lost

I haven't seen an administrator yet 😝 but I did tell the lead teacher how I thought it was weird it was so quiet. She agreed with me. But I don't know if she'll say anything to anyone. We usually do have a loud beeping alarm with flashing lights.

Oh. Yeah, I'd make sure you mentioned it too, just in case.

Because that could really be a weird safety hazard.

Is it just me or is subeta going super slowly and laggy today?

I dunno. I've barely been on ;)

Ordered (a few days ago) and received my new vacuum filters today. I was happy with the price hahah. I looked them up on the official site and ONE was out of stock and was $36 by itself. The other was $18 by itself. I looked on amazon, and the same filters I got a TWO PACK SET for $18 And yes. I checked they were the right filters. Dang strait I ordered those!! They are washable (rinsable) reusable filters but I have never replaced them before...decided it was past time to see if that helped the vaccum :P I do rinse them - maybe not as often as every 3m as per the directions, but at least 2x a year....

[edit] 2-2 730pm Well, no one is talking :P So I'll throw more school stuff out there... At the moment, I have gotten quite ahead of myself. I have all work done except two tests - one of which isn't even due until NEXT Monday. The other is due this upcoming Monday. I do have random discussion boards on Work Ethics I can do as well, but meh. Those aren't due til the end of the semester anyway. Tonight, I completed a discussion thread AND a two-paragraph paper - on theorists. Really wish I'd kept my psych work now hahahaha Oh well. And finished the chapter reading which is for the test due NEXT Monday....I need to go review my stuff for chapters 1-6 in the class that the test is due THIS Monday. Have I confused you all yet? I"m a little confused hahaha but i know what I am doing. (or well, what I need to do) [edit] 2-4 512pm Well. A little more yard cleaned up. A truck now gone from my yard. A fire burning in the firepit, but not in the driveway this time. More branches de-limbed. A pile of pine logs moved from the middle of the yard over to the fence. Starting to look nicer around here :P A little bit. In one area LOL As for school - I completed both my tests. Now have nothing to do until the next stuff becomes available (except those Work Ethics discussion boards) :P

oh and I found out that some of the intercom stuff isn't working right in some parts of the school - may have been why that speaking alarm was so quiet in our room. I can barely hear announcements when we are on the bus ramp waiting for dismissal (they sometimes tell us about substitute busses - but PreK goes down a little early so we don't get run over by the big kids...so we are on the bus ramp, and even tho there are speakers there, we just can't hear anything lately).

Oooh. Still, that's a safety hazard! They'd better fix it or something.

It's been really cold today and yesterday, but it sounds like you've been working really hard!

Pix

The oak in my front yard a side view towards the front near the oak tree

this is the oak before clean up around it :P

Its been chillly here but warmed up enough to do yard work. And dried up enough. So yea, I've been trying to be busy with it. Hoping to do a bit more tomorrow after work, but then I'll have to be back to college class school work and also its supposed to rain again Tuesday. EDIT Oh wait I just looked (and like it always does when you look again) the rain has shifted to Thursday. Maybe I'll have several days to do yard work! :P Whilst doing class work as well. I went back and tried to see if I'd posted a picture of the oak before clean up (I just added it since I couldnt find one) but all my pictures are now broken links? Weird.

EDIT: 508pm FEMA called me! Whooot. Ok so now I know, I have to go get an estimate for the repairs (which I thought I might, but haven't yet because I didn't know what else I would need to do or if they were going to send someone out like the home owners insurance did). I then have to upload the estimate, my insurance and my registration to FEMA and then they will review it to see if they'll give me assistance. I think I can also upload my home owners appraisal or whatever he gave me, and they MIGHT help with that too, but I'm not sure I'll really need it for that - as I've got a good bit, I'll get more back, AND I just did my taxes and am getting more than I thought because I qualified for head of household. When I told Ryan I got MY w-2 and was going to do my taxes - Ryan gave me his W-2 :/ Like dude, am I your tax consultant? He said "well you've done our taxes for years" - umm yes. OUR taxes....but ok. I guess I can do his this year for him, but I want him to be here and walk thru it with me, just like I am going to do with Shane - tho because Shane has some other weird form for retirement from his previous employer, I might send him to the H&R block or something instead, just to make sure I don't do something wrong. To be honest, I really thought Ryan was just going to go get someone to do it for him, like he used to before we started using turbo tax

Ryan really seems like a man-child.

You've been working so hard Kat, I'm so impressed! At this rate, the whole yard and house are going to look better than they did before the tornado! :P

Yea. Sometimes. It's annoying. Its also habit I guess.... I find I do things just because it's what I've always done. It took me months to get out of the habit of calling him every morning to say good morning and let him know I was leaving the house. I even rationalized it as he should know since I'm driving his child around....but I finally broke that habit. It's going to take time to adjust to doing things different. Even things we only do once or twice a year....

It will be better raked than in forever for sure lol I am afraid to use the lawnmower at the moment (not that it needs cutting but I don't want to use it til the yard is cleaned better). So many little sticks and twigs and pinecones....

[edit] Feb 7 556pm So, dropped off Nathan, ran to the car place to get an estimate, now going to truck stop to get Shane. Got insurance check back from mortgage company, sent email to insurance adjuster asking if the amount quoted included labor costs as I could not tell and am wondering how much MORE I might have to pay if its not included in his estimate...i haven't yet gotten a contractor or anything because I was waiting for the check to be returned. Going to get estimate for the car tomorrow in email as they were close to closing when I arrived, so he said tomorrow it would be written up, I could go get it or email to me, so I said email.

Now going to get Shane, going to get gas, and then dinner...

[Edit] Feb 9 115pm Crap. So the body shop sent me the estimate and said they won't fix the car. It is "over the threshold" and if I was filing insurance the insurance would total it out. Well I'm not filing insurance and I don't know what FEMA will say about it I will upload the estimate and a note that the body shop won't fix it due to over the threshold. They said over 8k to fix it. My brother only paid 7k for it used. And I got it free from him...so 8k to fix it is too much, I agree ☹️

410pm At home, uploaded the documents required, then realized there was no way to tell them the repair shop will not fix it (I mean, unless they see that the "days to repair" says 0"and know that means they won't fix it but I have no idea!), so I called the lady that I spoke to about this, and she is looking into what else I need to do and will call me back. Ugh. 425pm GREEEEAAATTT, she says, new info, requires salvage title or statement for totaled cars. Well its not really totaled and I can't junk it unless I have a new vehicle first!!! Its my only transportation! URGH! So she said send in the email that the guy from the body shop said they wouldn't fix it, and hope whoever looks at my information will count it as me needing funds and not trying to cheat the system. :( (thats why the new salvage law was put in, some people were getting money for cars that were not wrecked) :(

• or she says - I can get a letter from a local official ???? LOL I asked WHAT official??? She said she didnt' know, but that was what was written down. Salvage title or certificate, or statement from local official required for totaled vehicles. [edit] Feb 11 11am Deposited the check from the insurance company today. And was told there will not be a hold on it, so it will all be available Monday :o Guess its time to find a contractor to do an estimate and get started....I'll have my tax return back in a week or two also, and then when I get the invoices from the work I can submit them to the insurance and get the rest of the $ for fixing the house too.

Evening…. It’s game day baby! (SuperBowl Sunday) the tv coverage starts at 10pm and the game should finish at about 2/3am. Thankfully we both have the day off work. Anyone watching it? As a browns fan I’m going for the eagles and Ian who’s a niner fan is as well.

So today/this week consisted of American football movies. Typically American food and American beer. Yup we had bud..but now on the Sierra Nevada. Brought loads of American sodas and crisps/chips and Candy. Pictures on Facebook.

We had a busy week on Tuesday the landscaping of the back garden started. Two lovely guys were doing it. The boss and a general worker. On Thursday the boss went home sick. So on Friday the guy in his own didn’t get far as it’s a two man job. So they’re back tomorrow.

I had plans for tomorrow. It was going to be mine and Ian’s Valentine’s Day as we were off work. So that’s kinda put them out if the window. But they’re usually done at about 4.30 so we can still go to crazy golf, go out for dinner and a couple if drinks. It’s just moved to later. I did think about cancelling the day off. But after 14 plus hours of drinking thought best to keep it off. 😂

On Friday night the guys I go to the pub with did the one chip challenge. Ian and my friend Phil did it in January 2021. Ian and the other three took it like a champ. However Phil took it dreadful. He was struggling. He got aggressive with everyone. So we called it a night early. Again videos are on Facebook.

It’s frustrating that the quests haven’t reset as I was hoping that thus would keep me awake..lol

Oh has there been a glitch on the quests? I haven't done any lately (bad me, not keeping up with my resolutions) but I am working on them today some.

i had not planned to watch the superbowl, mainly because I forgot it was today LOL Who is playing? The Eagles and..... ? I may turn it on for the commercials ... I don't know what time its on tho hahahah!! What football movies did you watch? The only ones I can name are "Rudy' and "The Longest Yard" and "The Replacements" :P (at least, I THINK the longest yard is about football hahaha its been forever since we watched it)

Aww well yes, plans can be moved, but it sounds like you had a lovely time planned for your valentines day. I'll be celebrating with the kids at school and that's probably it. I bought them some cute little valentines, ones with strawberry smelly erasers for the girls and sticky aliens for the boys. lol

One chip challenge? Not heard of that. Sucks your friend got all aggressive over it.

I'm still doing my own landscaping ;) Slowly lol - today I cut a bunch of small limbs off of branches/logs in a pile, and brought two huge piles of them up here to the burn area. Still lots left in that big pile I was working on, but it'll get cleared up sooner or later. Sooner really. This week we are in school, but next week is our "mid-winter break" so I am off work all week that week, I plan to cut and burn a lot of little crap (unless its soaking wet/pouring rain - its been doing that off & on, every two-three days, ugh).

Yeah most things haven’t reset.

It’s the eagles and the chiefs. Neither myself or Ian like pat Mahomes. So definitely can’t get behind the chiefs.

Oh that cute. The kids will love it. I would have loved it if my teachers did that when I was at school

Yeah the one chip challenge is a single tortilla chip and it’s the hottest in the world. It’s black. There’s loads of videos on YouTube.

How’s the cleanup going after the tornado? It’s small steps. It’s the holiday here next week for schools. So that means the buses will be quiet. Yay

Oh well I'm against you then. I LOVE Patrick Mahomes LOL Tho I haven't watched him play in a few years....

oooh ouch no I would never do that! I don't like spicy.

Your teachers never gave ya'll valentines? Did you kids at least exchange them with each other?

Slowly. Its going slowly. But surely. I have decimated one giant pile, deconstructed most of another, and started on a third today (trying to get small stuff to burn). I decided to use this old pickkup truck bed liner today and it went much faster hauling it to the burn pile hahaha tho I cheated because I dragged it with the riding lawn mower. Need Ryan to come back with the bigger chainsaw and cut up the rest of the bigger stuff.

Nope nothing like that happened in any of my schools. I got a couple from boys though 😂

There’s no rush in sorting it all out. It’ll be done when it’s done 😊