My only goal with it, is to be done before the grass starts growing again :P Because if I don't get it all picked up and raked before then, I'll never see all the little stuff hidden in the grass when I go over it with the mower.

Ahhh well, different environments, I guess. We always did valentines when I was little, in school. I remember decorating a tissue box or a shoe box for everyone to put them in... Now-days, the teachers usually just buy paper bags for the kids to decorate and that way everyone has the same thing to get their valentines in (I remember some boxes being HUGGGGE and others being so tiny you could barely put valentines in them as a kid) Mostly it was elementary school we did valentines for everyone. Jr High (7th grade for me, age 12/13), then Middle School (7-8th grade) and High School (9th-12th) it was more like you did - a few boys would give to a few girls or girls to boys - or boyfriends to girlfriends, etc. :)

Have just gotten my credit reports. Trying to figure out how to get a credit score. I would like to know what mine is. It probably sucks, due to the bankruptcy....but I am hoping after house repairs are taken care of, I will have enough to deal with getting a mortgage in my own name for this house. I did see this website for the state of georgia that I can actually get 10k loan for down payment so like, I wouldn't even need my tax return money??? :o wow. So but yea. I mean I am only getting a little mortgage not a big one anyway so I don't need a huge down payment regardless. And I was a little confused if that loan was like, included in the mortgage loan or if it was completely seperate or what. I don't want two loans. Just the mortgage loan.

Hiii beauties. I'm not going to back read but I thought I'd pop in when I'm feeling less like swearing off the world. I've not been in a good place physically and mentally and I think most of it is attributed to perimenopausal shit. I've not found a good reason to go to the doctor about it b/c A) they can't do shit but verify it and B) most suggest therapy (CBT - cognitive behavioral therapy, which is good but very hard to find the right ones) or hormone replacement therapy which has pretty bad side effects.
I've had pretty severe anger issues and my boss told me at the worst of times that I need to take training on another position b/c they never bothered to help this person out and she's the only one in her position blah blah blah. What pisses me off is that another person on my team was already training on it 4yrs ago and had some falling out with another person so I get the leftover and I'm the most underpaid and lowest level of everyone on about 4 teams that relate to my position (mainframe). So this will be my 4th learned position since starting with this team. That other person is also a total ASS and the boss doesn't want to deal with him so it's just easier to push me into that shit.
The person I'm training with I'm familiar with but never worked directly with. We were on opposite shifts. She did mainframe as well. I was warned a long time ago to not trust her so that is s/thing always on my mind but she's pretty easy to get along with, which makes things a little more treacherous.

The only good thing I can say is that at least my brother hasn't tried to come back and mooch off of me. I even asked him to pay his part of the phone bill, a week ago, after talking to T-Mobile and finding out what I can do about that secondary line and now I know I have options!! :D If he doesn't pay his part, I'm going to suspend his line and while I'll still have to pay half of it, I know it will get his attention. I can also do a full transfer of the line over to him, but they run a credit check (normal) and if he doesn't pass, then not only do I have to pay for the line, it basically goes into limbo as once it's off my account in the entire process, I can't add it back to mine.

In other news... I guess the Western countries are getting trigger happy with balloons these days....

Sounds like work is still no fun for you, having to do lots of jobs for other people. Take what other people say with a grain of salt tho, just because someone else says not to trust this person doesn't mean she'll do a bad job. But yea, be watchful I guess, as you would be with any new person you are working with :)

I've heard bits and peices about balloons, seen some gag GIFS on facebook, but really have no idea what its all about truthfully.

Glad you've dealt with your brother as well and what your options are with that phone line. Shane finally took someone else's phone line off his account with AT&T and paid off the phone, so now his bill will be less.

So far of the superbowl commercials I've liked the pepsi and dunkin donuts ones best lol tho my tv signal sucks. Stupid rain.

I came back to finish my quests (I know I did shinwa, wizard, and I think I was going down the line and had gotten done with library at least) and now they're all reset....so I guess quests finally reset :P

yup they’ve only just reset.

I've been watching as I can with staticky tv, but it seems a good game so far. I like the Eagles quarterback too!! He's doing good!

Not watching. Just have no interest in it as I would have to stream it from my laptop and I'm not in the mood for any of it. Been watching police pursuits and dashcam videos on youtube, lol.

Been dehydrating some beef jerky in my oven and the smell is driving me crazy.

Kat - the words of wisdom came from more than one trusted source and while I do still take it with a grain, I'm not going to be stupid about it, either. Like I said, she's easy to get along with so with the amount of anger I have in general, I need to be careful about what I say.

I'm off tomorrow - vaca day. I might do some back reading out of curiosity to see what's been going on - especially w/ you and all that chaos, Kat. Weather has been and is going to be crazy so I've been watching that channel I mentioned more often and it's been pretty helpful. Warm weather ahead for us - up to nearly 70 on Thursday and then a straight drop into the 30's for Friday. Talk about annoying but then I think about the southerners that are still in the severe storm zone and I am humbled (i.e. no longer annoyed).

yeaaaa I have a 3-4 day span of post on the last page hahaha since no one else was talking

Mmmm beef jerky. Yum!

Weather here is still warm to cold and back. And rain every two-three days. Gives you just enough sun to be like oh yay! And then rain again. Blah.

Edit 1005 Ok. New best commercial. TMobile ....john Travolta and the scrubs guys for the win!!!!!

We finally went to bed at 3.30am. Ian was up at 8 as the landscape gardener was coming back. I woke up at 11. I went back to bed at 1.30 and woke up at 4.30.

We’re currently out for Valentine’s. Had dinner and a couple of drinks. We won’t be out late as I’m in the office tomorrow and thankfully Ian’s taking me and the gardener is back tomorrow to finish the job. It’s looking pretty decent.

Wish we got the same adverts/commercials as you guys but our adverts are totally different for the same products.

Oh gosh. what a late night. Lucky you to be able to sleep in, Poor Ian up so soon after tho! Glad your gardening is coming along nicely :)

Yea I've heard ya'lls are different, thats sad. And here, they pay sooooo much for a commercial to be played during the superbowl, its so silly. I did get cracked up because like 2 of the commercials actually referenced that "These commercials cost so much" lol it was funny. I missed the Clydesdales tho :( They didn't have a Clydesdale commercial. Budweiser I believe does those.

[edit] Feb 15, 5pm I'm beginning to be frustrated with this whole FEMA thing. I mean, I would like their help, but this is beginning to be ridiculous. Anyway I went to the local FEMA disaster location in person and got a slightly better explanation of what the "salvage title or certificate" meant as well as "local official". And neither of those is helpful because it means I either have to scrap my car or it was completely totaled on its own to begin with (which it isn't) The best thing I got from them was that I should get a new estimate that has less bells and whistles (like she pointed out that the estimate has paint repairs=paint costs/hours of labor, and things like the Mazda emblem replacement) and said FEMA won't pay for that kind of stuff. - so, she said get a new estimate without all that type of stuff, just the bare bones of replacing/fixing the corner and the hatch. And send in that estimate and a note (signed) stating I got a new estimate and want to use it instead of the previous estimate. Then I talked to the SBA people, and they literally told me even less than what I found online, so they were useless except they told me if I wanted to apply, I had to do it before March 17th. - The only reason I am considering that is because if I can't get the car fixed I need a new car, and a loan from them for this disaster would be waaaaay cheaper than a car loan at a dealership or any buy here/sell here place. I also talked to Disaster Mitigation people, who basically agreed that my homeowner's insurance should cover all my costs since I had the replacement coverage where they'll send me the rest of the $ after the repairs on completed, and to NOT tell the contractors how much insurance $ I have/will receive. And to keep an eye out for mold because of all the rain, but since I got everything covered up it should be ok, but still to watch/smell for that.

I understand WHY they are nitpicky like they are, but its getting frustrating when all I want is to find out if I can get help getting my car repaired or replaced .... arrrrgggghhhh Ok. Vent over. For now.

[edit] Friday 17th, 640pm So, I've been so absorbed in the car I forgot about calling places for the house. Mind, I did try to do an online inquiry - but they never called me back. So today I called another place. Had to leave a message. So i called the place I'd done the online inquiry, and they answered. So they are coming at 8-9 am, and naturally the other people called me back, so now they are coming at 1pm tomorrow. To be honest, I liked the 2nd people's uuuuhhh how do you say it? Anyway, they sounded more likable? But not less professional or anything. But they are not sure they'll be able to do my windows, he said it would depend on how long it would take them, he only does easy/quick windows, as he's not able to do longer time period jobs, as he's a family-owned company. Anyway, I'll get estimates from them both and then decide which I want to go with. I only called the first place because I had a flyer from them AND they did a house across the street. The second company has done 4-5 houses in a neighborhood where Nathan's friend lived.... All the houses looked nice, so I think either place will do a good job.

So I guess I am moving forward a little bit again :) Still at a standstill with the car, but I uploaded the 2nd quote and a letter from me saying to disregard the first quote and use this one instead....but it took days before they even looked at what I uploaded before, so hopefully they'll realize I uploaded something else and look at it before making a decision. (the second quote STILL includes paint - and the guy who did the quote said he refused to NOT paint because he won't send out a black vehicle with replaced white body parts, for example).

As a last resort, my brother who gave me the car, said if needed he can bang the corner out, put lights in and replace the hatch for me, but it won't be pretty like a car shop would do. He said he would also spray paint the parts to match :P I told him I didn't know he did bodywork, I thought he was an engine mechanic, and he said he can do some small bodywork. And he said if that didn't work, he'd help me figure out something else, cuz when I told him I might have to do the SBA loan he said that I shouldn't need to get another bill to pay. SO what does that mean? I don't know, he didnt come out and say, but maybe he plans to buy me a car or something? Cause he said for the price the first place quoted me he could go to his dealer and get a whole new car (well, used, but new, you know what I mean).

I'm glad your brother is willing to help you out, Kat! There's worse things than having an ugly car, I suppose!

I disappeared for a bit, I just.. didn't want to.. anything. You know?

But today. Ugh. There's a swollen lymph node right under my ear, behind my jaw bone. And it's killlling me. LIke, it's pressing on a nerve, and so I can't open my mouth very much or it kills. I may go to the convenient care tomorrow. My throat was a bit scratchy this morning, but not like.. awful awful? So IDK what's going on.

So I skipped the food share today, but I DID bring the big kids to their semi formal, at least! Still hoping they can get a ride home, since it's not over until 10 :P

Ooohhh hiiiiiii :D

I feel ya, sometimes you just don't want to do anything at all. I'm sorry about your pain :( I would go to the doctor for sure. Hope its nothing serious.

Did anyone bring them home or did you have to go get them? They sure looked pretty!

You got a forum point while making a post! Check out the shop here!

[edit] one estimate done. lower than I expected.... wondering if they didn't include things the insurance adjuster did, or maybe smaller sections of siding or what? Not that I am complaining as long as it's done right.... (I didn't show them the insurance adjusters estimate, just asked them to go around and look for themselves at the siding and windows and stated the whole roof was to be replaced-he did climb up on the roof. thats so scary to me lol but some people are used to that) other guy to come around 1pm.

I had to go get them.. but I went early! I picked them up at 9 instead. Lily wanted to go home at 7 (UGH, it started at 6! HALF AN HOUR AWAY!), and El was done by 9.

Then I came home, slept 12 hours, and woke up and ate some breakfast. So I feel much better today and the pain is gone, though I'm still anxious it'll come back haha.

Hopefully the next estimate is a good one, too!

Hahaha yea that is soooo irritating. I've had my kids do that at school dances, but luckily their school is like 5min away not 30min!!! Phew. Slept 12hrs. I cannot do that. Wish I could sometimes. Stupid dog woke me up at 3am. Shane didn't attach the leash right, and she got into the trash in Nathans game room and I kept hearing noises, so thats what I found when I got up at 3am to see what the noises were. Ugh. Dumb dog (the big outside one). Showed Shane how to attach the leash the right way, so hopefully this won't happen again. She has to be inside again tonight, but then its supposed to warm up again. Which will be nice as I want to go out and do a lot of yard work if I can (in between college classwork sessions).

Yeah, the school is only like 2m away, but this was at a place LOL.

I seriously just.. died. Whenever I'm sick I just.. sleep. A lot.

Lily, too. Ridiculous.

I don't think my kids ever went to a school event anywhere except the school - oh wait, no Shane did the military ball at the Kiawanas fairground.... but like, off somewhere out of town, nope. Katie almost went to prom up somewhere, but that was the year everything got cancelled (covid) :P Poor girl.

Shane is back at his truck now. He was sick earlier and wanted to come home and wash all his bedding and clothes & stuff. so yea. Now I get home and NATHAN is washing all HIS bedding and stuff...ok then. Good thing I wasn't planning on doing laundry til I run out of "not work" pants hahahaha Too much laundry = too much water usage = possible septic issue - and as I had that a couple weeks ago w/ all the rain i've been trying to spread stuff out over a day or two - but the boys didn't get the memo hahahah :P Its ok tho. Haven't had an issue since that day. But just trying to be more mindful and not so much at once. Ground is still very saturated tho it hasn't been raining QUITE as much and is supposed to be mostly dry this week.

Does Alex ever go drive them around/pick them up? It seems to always be you hahaha but that his how it goes sometimes. And if he is at home at those times, I'm sure he's watching Izzy while you go running around anyway..... was just wondering - since with you not feeling good it seems he might have gone instead..... (or was he at work? I have no idea what he does for work - I think remember you talking about him cooking....or something? a long time ago...)

Oooh. Yeah, Rachel has that problem at her house. Everytime there's a party there's a sign that says "please don't flush unless you need to" which just.. creeps me out LOL.

I wouldn't have thought about the laundry, though!

Still.. I guess at least they're washing their stuff. Teenage boys just.. don't like to wash their bedding, from what I've seen :P

Gosh no. Nathan hates washing his sheets. Makes me wonder WHY he decided to do so, Except. I don't want to know :P Hopefully just sweaty stinky boy.

Dumb me. Apparently the guy I thought was supposed to come today at 1 said MONDAY at 1....so I called him at like 245 (gave him some leeway as he said he was going to be at someone else's house at 12 and you know, traffic, running late, whatever) - I called and left a message. He kindly called me back and said "I think there's been a miscommunication? I have Monday at 1?" I was like. Oh. well. Thats what I get for talking to you in the drive thru HAHAHAH (I didn't say that to him, just that I thought it was today but Monday was fine thank you for calling me back about this) LOL

Also FEMA or the city or county or whoever is out cutting stuff down again, and they cut a HUGE pine (that was snapped off) at the end of the driveway. I heard it crash and went to see what was going on....they wouldn't cut the other one that is more up in my yard. Oh well :( I did ask lol No is an acceptable answer. Anyway, they LEFT PART OF THE TREE blocking (the edge of) my driveway!! Looks like the chainsaw was getting pinched or something - I can still get in/out but its a good thing I have a small car. I hope they come haul it off.

Oh and I almost completely finished demolishing a pile. Yay. No more greenery there at all, and the big pieces of log that are left I cannot move, so the boys or Ryan will have to. Only, ummm 5 or 6 more piles to go :P

Oh, whoopsie! At least he was nice about it! I do stuff like that all the time though, and I always feel like.. whoops. D'oh!

Oh no! Hopefully they come and pick it up or move it! I'd call and see, since they put it OVER the driveway!

And good for you for asking, even if the answer was no!

I don't know who cut it down....so I don't know who to call about it. I can get in/out so its not a huge problem, just a bit trickier to get in/out of the driveway around it and I know they are going around picking stuff up still too, so they probably will come pick it up later this week...if its not picked up by Friday I might call the helpline to ask who is in charge of that and who do I contact to get them to move it.

Yeah, good idea. At least you can get around it, and you didn't have to pay to get it cut down! Small upsides!

Alex and Lily built an archery range today in the backyard, and I went out to test with them. I forgot how much fun it is! Even if Lily kicked our butts.. but she's got a brand new lefthanded compound bow, AND the good arrows. We were using an old bow that was definitely NOT the right draw strength for me, and the crappy, messed up fletching arrows.. but it was still a lot of fun! :P