So, I'm officially a stay-at-home mum in that I don't have a job that someone pays me to do. And it's frustrating. I keep trying to define myself as "self employed" but nobody buys it. It's horribly annoying when I just want to put in an hour or two of good solid work time, but "you don't have a job, do this for me" is my constant companion. Even if it's not said out loud, it's still hanging there as I run all over the city doing all those little errands that nobody wants to do, but somebody has to do. I'm the one who always does them!
For instance, I have a sculpture that I really want to work on because it's giving me a lot of problems and making me question my ability to sculpt. Which is equivalent to cutting off my arms, the apocalypse is upon us, everybody run the zombies are actively eating brains now! Instead, today was about getting the oil changed in the car (still not sure why that takes over an hour, but whatever), checking and responding to email, chasing up companies that seem incapable of doing a fairly simple thing (send a check to the correct address), and of course delivering the spawn to and picking up from school (again, why does picking one child up from school take an hour!). It was also about waiting for Steve to come to the store with me since someone stole my debit card number and now I'm waiting for the replacement and I refuse to pay the higher price at the booze shop to use my credit card which is getting a horrible hammering due to the asshole who tried to put close to $300 at a Safeway on my debit card in California!
Anyway, it's now close to 5pm, and I could probably get a little work in, except I've got to make dinner. A dinner I really don't feel like cooking or eating. Hell, I'd be happy with having a scotch, a bit of cheese, and going to bed. And I know that the spawn will complain about the dinner because he doesn't like it either.
Sigh, the point is, if you know someone who has their own business, even though their time may seem open and fluid, please keep in mind that they have their own shit to get done before you start asking them to run errands for you.
Ugh. And I just remembered tomorrow is my Costco shopping day. I'm already tired.
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Monday, February 23, 2015
TMI, but today sucks so I don't care
It's freezing today. Literally. We're on a snow watch in central Texas. I moved here so I didn't have to deal with snow. And the trees have spring growth and a few have even erupted with pretty little pink and white flowers. It's spring! This is not the time for freezing temperatures and possible snow!
The heating in this house sucks. The living room has a high ceiling, and the heat doesn't like to come down into the living room. So no matter what we do, it remains cold where I sit.
It's Monday. That means it's grocery shopping day. I HATE grocery shopping. It's my least favorite thing to do. Honestly, I can think of nothing I like worse. Getting a shot at the doctor? Bring it. Cleaning out the hair from the shower drain? Sure. I will even rub your feet if you go shopping for me. Ok, maybe not. Feet seriously freak me out. But still.
And it's the first day of my period and I'm moody and in pain.
Today sucks.
The heating in this house sucks. The living room has a high ceiling, and the heat doesn't like to come down into the living room. So no matter what we do, it remains cold where I sit.
It's Monday. That means it's grocery shopping day. I HATE grocery shopping. It's my least favorite thing to do. Honestly, I can think of nothing I like worse. Getting a shot at the doctor? Bring it. Cleaning out the hair from the shower drain? Sure. I will even rub your feet if you go shopping for me. Ok, maybe not. Feet seriously freak me out. But still.
And it's the first day of my period and I'm moody and in pain.
Today sucks.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Tired of the shit storm
I'm feeling really old and tired today. It's been a bad few weeks, and today has finally pushed me past my limits.
It's incredibly stressful buying a house- I know, thanks Captain Obvious- but it doesn't have to be this hard. If people would be honest and upfront, the process could be much smoother. Most of the stress is trying to guess what everyone wants. The bank sent me a whole stack of forms, and I still don't know if they're just for my records or if I'm supposed to sign them and send them back, or where to send them to if I do send them back.
Then, this weekend we did our taxes. I remember when taxes were fairly simple. Put in the Turbo Tax cd, answer the straight forward questions, get the numbers from the forms that all came in the mail, you're done. This time it was 4 hours that devolved into anger and tears, and the fucking return was still rejected!
All that I could deal with, though. All that I can work on and push through.
It's the medical industry that has finally broken me. They've been trying since we came back to the States in 2012, and this morning they finally succeeded.
In January, I got a letter from the insurance company stating that my son's doctor, Dr. B, was no longer a participating doctor in our plan. They randomly assigned him to Dr. M. I thought it was weird because we all had Dr. B as our PCP, but only my son was reassigned. Then, a month after getting our new cards, the rest of us were assigned to Dr. N. Whatever. This morning Steve realized that our son only had 4 pills of his medication left and no refills. With a new doctor, I had to call and get him an appointment. Except when I called, the office informed me that Dr. M only works with geriatric patients. His wife, Dr. B, took over the office about a year ago so I need to call the insurance and get them to assign my son to Dr. B. I told her he was assigned to Dr. B and the insurance company is the one who changed him to Dr. M since they believe Dr. B is no longer participating. She apparently forgot how to speak because that just didn't make any since whatsoever to her, but regardless, it's my problem not her's.
What happened to the medical industry? Why is so broken, and why do doctors and insurance companies feel it's within their rights to kill off their patients?
I really didn't need this.
It's incredibly stressful buying a house- I know, thanks Captain Obvious- but it doesn't have to be this hard. If people would be honest and upfront, the process could be much smoother. Most of the stress is trying to guess what everyone wants. The bank sent me a whole stack of forms, and I still don't know if they're just for my records or if I'm supposed to sign them and send them back, or where to send them to if I do send them back.
Then, this weekend we did our taxes. I remember when taxes were fairly simple. Put in the Turbo Tax cd, answer the straight forward questions, get the numbers from the forms that all came in the mail, you're done. This time it was 4 hours that devolved into anger and tears, and the fucking return was still rejected!
All that I could deal with, though. All that I can work on and push through.
It's the medical industry that has finally broken me. They've been trying since we came back to the States in 2012, and this morning they finally succeeded.
In January, I got a letter from the insurance company stating that my son's doctor, Dr. B, was no longer a participating doctor in our plan. They randomly assigned him to Dr. M. I thought it was weird because we all had Dr. B as our PCP, but only my son was reassigned. Then, a month after getting our new cards, the rest of us were assigned to Dr. N. Whatever. This morning Steve realized that our son only had 4 pills of his medication left and no refills. With a new doctor, I had to call and get him an appointment. Except when I called, the office informed me that Dr. M only works with geriatric patients. His wife, Dr. B, took over the office about a year ago so I need to call the insurance and get them to assign my son to Dr. B. I told her he was assigned to Dr. B and the insurance company is the one who changed him to Dr. M since they believe Dr. B is no longer participating. She apparently forgot how to speak because that just didn't make any since whatsoever to her, but regardless, it's my problem not her's.
What happened to the medical industry? Why is so broken, and why do doctors and insurance companies feel it's within their rights to kill off their patients?
I really didn't need this.
Thursday, February 5, 2015
Not much
There's not a whole lot to report right now. We're sort of in a holding pattern. I"m not a patient person by nature, so I'm going a little stir crazy.
We received the building report, though. Looks pretty good. Most of the issues that the inspector found, we knew about and have already started plans to deal with them. The only thing we didn't really know about was some of the electric systems have been tampered with, so we're working on that getting checked out. Nothing really serious, just bits and pieces.
So now we're just waiting for the bank to do their appraisal and come to the party with a loan. It's probably the worst part of this waiting game- putting trust into the bank. Not the best feeling in the world, but we've got our fingers crossed.
I've also discovered the coolest event that, hopefully, we can participate in next year. LAST! The Llano Art Studio Tour! I'm really hoping that by next year our art studio will be up and running.
And I've been planning out fairy gardens. I've always loved them, and now I'll have enough space that I can do a couple! Poor Steve is getting worried.
So, although we're just waiting, there's still plenty to do during that time.
Doesn't make it go any faster, though.
We received the building report, though. Looks pretty good. Most of the issues that the inspector found, we knew about and have already started plans to deal with them. The only thing we didn't really know about was some of the electric systems have been tampered with, so we're working on that getting checked out. Nothing really serious, just bits and pieces.
So now we're just waiting for the bank to do their appraisal and come to the party with a loan. It's probably the worst part of this waiting game- putting trust into the bank. Not the best feeling in the world, but we've got our fingers crossed.
I've also discovered the coolest event that, hopefully, we can participate in next year. LAST! The Llano Art Studio Tour! I'm really hoping that by next year our art studio will be up and running.
And I've been planning out fairy gardens. I've always loved them, and now I'll have enough space that I can do a couple! Poor Steve is getting worried.
So, although we're just waiting, there's still plenty to do during that time.
Doesn't make it go any faster, though.
Monday, February 2, 2015
Texas is such a strange place
Steve and I rode the motorbike out to the farm on Friday because the home inspector was there. And it's good news- the house is pretty dang solid, the issues it has we know about and were already planning to change. So now we just need the bank to do their appraisal, and be happy with it, and we are rolling into the good life!
It was a weird drive to the property, though, and I'm not sure that Texas will ever cease to be slightly weird, in the best possible way. For starters, as you drive along the 29, passing cattle and horses, that's all to be expected. Even the occasional llama or alpaca farm is not out of the norm. But a herd of zebra chilling at a ranch is quite odd. Awesome, but odd.
Then we went a bit further and both Steve and I did a double take. When we stopped for gas, Steve asked, "Was that a bald eagle?" No, it couldn't be. There are no bald eagles in Texas. I googled it later, apparently yes there are bald eagles in Texas! And their numbers are increasing! In 1967 they were endangered, in 1995 it was reduced to threatened. And actually, I'm pretty sure we saw two, but the second one was flying away so we didn't get a great look at it.
Then, just down the road from the farm, there was a herd of impala.
Now, it looks like the impala and zebra are raised so people can hunt them. Sort of like a seriously budget safari. And that's sad to me because I really don't like hunting, and there's something about hunting animals that are fenced in and used to people taking care of them that seems somewhat less than sports like, but what do I know?
P.S. No, I did not take the photos. They're from a google search. I'm going for the world title of Google Queen. Eventually we'll pull over and I'll take photos. Not sure how the zebra ranchers will feel about putting a cowboy hat on one of them.
P.P.S. You can buy a zebra! They're over $15,000, but how cool is that? Now I'm thinking we probably should have held out for one of those 30 acre properties instead of just the five. Dang.
It was a weird drive to the property, though, and I'm not sure that Texas will ever cease to be slightly weird, in the best possible way. For starters, as you drive along the 29, passing cattle and horses, that's all to be expected. Even the occasional llama or alpaca farm is not out of the norm. But a herd of zebra chilling at a ranch is quite odd. Awesome, but odd.
 |
| Yee haw! |
Then we went a bit further and both Steve and I did a double take. When we stopped for gas, Steve asked, "Was that a bald eagle?" No, it couldn't be. There are no bald eagles in Texas. I googled it later, apparently yes there are bald eagles in Texas! And their numbers are increasing! In 1967 they were endangered, in 1995 it was reduced to threatened. And actually, I'm pretty sure we saw two, but the second one was flying away so we didn't get a great look at it.
 |
| America as fuck, y'all. |
Then, just down the road from the farm, there was a herd of impala.
 |
| Nothing to see here. |
P.S. No, I did not take the photos. They're from a google search. I'm going for the world title of Google Queen. Eventually we'll pull over and I'll take photos. Not sure how the zebra ranchers will feel about putting a cowboy hat on one of them.
P.P.S. You can buy a zebra! They're over $15,000, but how cool is that? Now I'm thinking we probably should have held out for one of those 30 acre properties instead of just the five. Dang.
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