Rachael had an ultrasound of her gall bladder and guess what!!! She has gall stones. This is what has been causing all the pain in the middle of the night!
Her doctor had recommended not to eat fatty foods and stay away from heavy dairy like ice cream. She has been doing good these last 2 weeks now that she has changed her diet. The doctor said that she may even need to prop herself up on some pillows while she sleeps.
They don't like to operate on pregnant women unless absolutely necessary. If she can control it mostly by adjusting her diet, she'll be fine. The doctor said that they may induce her a little early so it will help her pain because often it resolves itself after delivery, but if it doesn't, then she will need surgery.
Since she is due Nov. 6th, I jokingly have been telling her that she will have the baby on Halloween! She said "You would say that mom!" I like to have fun on Halloween and decorate like crazy so she knows how I am. Then they told her about inducing her a little early and I said "See Rachael, I told you your baby will be born on Halloween!" I laughed and she shot me daggers, lol!
Now all I need is something to change her bitchy attitude! She is getting real bad!!!!
On another note, about a week ago, she was driving to work. Two huge dogs ran out in front of her and she hit the second one. She said she didn't know what else to do. She slammed on her brakes but if she swerved to the left, she would have hit the first dog, if she swerved to the right, she would have went up on the sidewalk and into someone's backyard or an electrical pole. There was nothing else she could do.
She was ok but very shaken up. The dog did a number on her car. The front bumper was hanging off, the grill was busted out, the hood bent, the front frame bent, the right headlight falling out, and the blinker busted! After she was done crying (she felt bad for the dog), We teased her saying that she didn't hit a dog, it was a deer! For some reason, she doesn't find that as funny as the rest of us, lol.
Now we have to get her car fixed. My niece's husband can fix it and so he will be doing all the work. Right now, my husband screwed on the bumper so it won't fall off. The light is in but needs adjusted so it won't blind the oncoming traffic. She isn't driving it at night until she gets it fixed but now she wants to drive my car.
I wish I had got pictures of the car as soon as she got home. It was so bad. I didn't know a dog could do so much damage.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
A Little Scary
Last night (around 11 pm) Rachael got pains in her back and in her stomach. This has happened once before about a week ago. It hurts her so bad that she can't stand, sit, lay down, or even talk. The pain makes her nauseous. She even threw up last night.
I called her Dr.'s office and it gave me another number to call for an OB nurse. I had to leave a message with the answering service and the nurse had to call us back. It took 30 minutes for the return phone call. The nurse asked a bunch of questions and said that she had no clue what it could be. Then she told Rachael to go to the hospital and have OB Triage check her out.
She brushed her teeth and hair, called her boyfriend, and boss (she had to work in the morning), and then we went. As we drove to the hospital, the pains started to go away. By the time we got there, the pains were gone, of course!
Jerry, her boyfriend, met us there. The nurse hooked her up to the monitors to check the baby. Everything with the baby seemed to be OK. Thank God for that! No signs of preterm labor either. So what is this mystery pain that wouldn't happen at the hospital?
The only thing they could come up with we severe gas pains!!! That's it?? All this for gas! I understand gas is very painful because I've had it bad after one of my surgeries. It moved up into my shoulder area and I felt like I wanted to die! The severity of pain she was having, and the location of the pain was very similar to the pain I get when my hiatal hernia acts up! I told her that I get that kind of pain from it and she said I better not have cursed her and passed it on to her! Nice kid, huh, lol!
She was only at the hospital a little over an hour and was discharged. I'm glad they don't think it's anything else but I wish they knew for sure! They told Rachael to make a Dr.'s appointment for today or Tuesday. Her Dr. is out this whole week so she had to make an appt. with the NP. She goes tomorrow morning. We'll see what they say!
I called her Dr.'s office and it gave me another number to call for an OB nurse. I had to leave a message with the answering service and the nurse had to call us back. It took 30 minutes for the return phone call. The nurse asked a bunch of questions and said that she had no clue what it could be. Then she told Rachael to go to the hospital and have OB Triage check her out.
She brushed her teeth and hair, called her boyfriend, and boss (she had to work in the morning), and then we went. As we drove to the hospital, the pains started to go away. By the time we got there, the pains were gone, of course!
Jerry, her boyfriend, met us there. The nurse hooked her up to the monitors to check the baby. Everything with the baby seemed to be OK. Thank God for that! No signs of preterm labor either. So what is this mystery pain that wouldn't happen at the hospital?
The only thing they could come up with we severe gas pains!!! That's it?? All this for gas! I understand gas is very painful because I've had it bad after one of my surgeries. It moved up into my shoulder area and I felt like I wanted to die! The severity of pain she was having, and the location of the pain was very similar to the pain I get when my hiatal hernia acts up! I told her that I get that kind of pain from it and she said I better not have cursed her and passed it on to her! Nice kid, huh, lol!
She was only at the hospital a little over an hour and was discharged. I'm glad they don't think it's anything else but I wish they knew for sure! They told Rachael to make a Dr.'s appointment for today or Tuesday. Her Dr. is out this whole week so she had to make an appt. with the NP. She goes tomorrow morning. We'll see what they say!
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Amy Lynn
My oldest daughter, Rachael (19), is pregnant. This is my first grandchild. I am very excited to be a grandma, even though I'm only 38. I think that being a young grandma will be fun.
At first I was a bit disappointed because she is in college and I wanted her to finish before she had any kids. It only takes 2 years to get an Associates Degree and she is now finished with the first year. Now there is going to be a baby shortly after the next school year begins. Rachael is due November 6th. I think she will need to start a semester later and finish a bit later than she would have. Even though I wanted her to finish school first, I am still thrilled to be a grandma. This baby is a blessing no matter when she comes to us.
On Monday the 15th, Rachael had an ultrasound. She was 19 weeks, 3 days pregnant. We found out that the baby is a little girl. I was hoping it would be a girl a little bit more than a boy. I don't really care either way as long as everything is ok. I just think little girls are much more fun to shop for because there is much more to choose from. I already bought some things :) ...just today!
While we were at the ultrasound, the ultrasound tech kept trying to get pictures of the baby's heart but she kept curling up and turning so that she couldn't get the pictures she needed. She had Rachael turning from side to side, then she had her go empty her bladder...still the baby would not get into the position needed. Finally, the tech had the Dr. come in and the Dr. got the pics she needed. We were in the u/s for a little over an hour...much longer than needed, lol! It was well worth it. We found out that everything looked good. The baby, who will be named Amy Lynn (first and middle name), weighs 11 ounces and is 57% in growth. I am so pleased that everything is fine!
I have some u/s pictures of her.
This one is a 3-D picture of her. She still looks like a little alien, lol! I love it no matter what she looks like!
This one is cute because it looks almost like she has her mouth open and going to put her hand in her mouth but it may be shadowing I see, I'm not too sure.
This one is my favorite picture. I think it's so sweet how she is crossing her ankles. When I do this, it's not cute anymore, lol! This is cute and very sweet. How I wish we could all stay that way!
At first I was a bit disappointed because she is in college and I wanted her to finish before she had any kids. It only takes 2 years to get an Associates Degree and she is now finished with the first year. Now there is going to be a baby shortly after the next school year begins. Rachael is due November 6th. I think she will need to start a semester later and finish a bit later than she would have. Even though I wanted her to finish school first, I am still thrilled to be a grandma. This baby is a blessing no matter when she comes to us.
On Monday the 15th, Rachael had an ultrasound. She was 19 weeks, 3 days pregnant. We found out that the baby is a little girl. I was hoping it would be a girl a little bit more than a boy. I don't really care either way as long as everything is ok. I just think little girls are much more fun to shop for because there is much more to choose from. I already bought some things :) ...just today!
While we were at the ultrasound, the ultrasound tech kept trying to get pictures of the baby's heart but she kept curling up and turning so that she couldn't get the pictures she needed. She had Rachael turning from side to side, then she had her go empty her bladder...still the baby would not get into the position needed. Finally, the tech had the Dr. come in and the Dr. got the pics she needed. We were in the u/s for a little over an hour...much longer than needed, lol! It was well worth it. We found out that everything looked good. The baby, who will be named Amy Lynn (first and middle name), weighs 11 ounces and is 57% in growth. I am so pleased that everything is fine!
I have some u/s pictures of her.
This one is a 3-D picture of her. She still looks like a little alien, lol! I love it no matter what she looks like!
This one is cute because it looks almost like she has her mouth open and going to put her hand in her mouth but it may be shadowing I see, I'm not too sure.
This one is my favorite picture. I think it's so sweet how she is crossing her ankles. When I do this, it's not cute anymore, lol! This is cute and very sweet. How I wish we could all stay that way!
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Andrew: Part 3
First I would like to start with my apologies for not blogging in that last month. I have 2 jobs outside the home and also a house to clean, shopping to do, and errands to run. I do get on the computer to play poker often but I'm not always on there for real long periods of time. I just do it to relax after work and at the same time, on another tab, I watch my soap! I also play while I do things around the house because I use my laptop so it can go from room to room with me. Blogging is something I like to sit down and do uninterrupted, so i can concentrate on what I'm saying.
Since the last time I blogged, we still needed to have Andrew come over and get his car and our broken down van that we let him have. He wanted to tow it up to one of his pieces of land that takes 4 hours to drive, one way. He asked my neighbor to borrow a tow bar. My neighbor didn't have one but his friend did. They got it and it took them all morning and partly into the afternoon to hook up the van.
I don't know much about hooking them up but, I know that it shouldn't take that long! I happened to be at work this day which was good for Andrew because I would have killed him, lol! The was some issue about needing to drill holes in the van underneath it and unhooking this and securing that, etc......the thing wasn't meant to be towed with a tow bar, a tow dolly would have been much better, easier, and faster! That concept it foreign to Andrew!
Chuck wanted to leave in the morning but, because of Andrew, they didn't leave until 2:30 in the afternoon! Maybe even later! I know that Chuck didn't get home until 2:00 in the morning! He was so mad! Andrew wanted to go talk to a few people when they got there and Chuck had to put his foot down and say no! Chuck just wanted to get home.
Andrew put us through all of this just to save $43 at Uhaul. Yeah, $43 is all that a tow dolly would cost to rent! I know this because that is what we paid in January when we had to pick up my son's car. What a pain in the butt!
I had to work on Sunday also. Andrew never got his car towed to his trailer because he spent too much time messing around with the van. Andrew wanted to wait until late Sunday night and try to drive it. When I got home, I found Andrew on Dennis' computer. I looked at him and said, "You better not be putting any files on there!" He said he wasn't and then I decided to give him a piece of my mind. I had already told Chuck that I didn't want Andrew at our house and Chuck told him. I started saying, "you know...if I don't want you at me ******* house, then you better not come here! It's my house, not yours!" I got the usual sigh. I started saying that he put everyone out because of trying to save $43 ...me, Chuck, my mom (we borrowed her truck), and my neighbors! He got up and walked angrily into my kitchen, got himself some water and headed towards the door while saying that it wasn't that. I kept going on about how he was lazy and all he wants to do here is sit on his a** and watch TV and get on the computer, and only would work on his car when I was home!
I thought he was going out to his car to put things in it and get ready to go for later but, much to my surprise, he got in his car, started it right up and drove away. That car sat in my driveway for weeks, in the same condition, and he could have drove away with it earlier! I thought it would barely run! I guess it did overheat a couple of times on the way but he just pulled over, let it cool down some and drove again! Why didn't he do that 2 weeks earlier? It took me making him really mad, to get it out! How inconsiderate!
Then the icing on the cake........he wanted to come back the very next weekend. This time it was for guys night out. Some members from our church hang out at this one guy Brian's house. Brian lives only about 5 minutes away from me, so Andrew usually hangs out here before they go and comes here to stay the night after its over. It's almost always at Brian's because he is handicapped, and can't get out very easily. I told Chuck no way! Not going to happen! And I was right because guys night out was cancelled, lol!
Andrew hasn't been here since....Thank You, God!
Since the last time I blogged, we still needed to have Andrew come over and get his car and our broken down van that we let him have. He wanted to tow it up to one of his pieces of land that takes 4 hours to drive, one way. He asked my neighbor to borrow a tow bar. My neighbor didn't have one but his friend did. They got it and it took them all morning and partly into the afternoon to hook up the van.
I don't know much about hooking them up but, I know that it shouldn't take that long! I happened to be at work this day which was good for Andrew because I would have killed him, lol! The was some issue about needing to drill holes in the van underneath it and unhooking this and securing that, etc......the thing wasn't meant to be towed with a tow bar, a tow dolly would have been much better, easier, and faster! That concept it foreign to Andrew!
Chuck wanted to leave in the morning but, because of Andrew, they didn't leave until 2:30 in the afternoon! Maybe even later! I know that Chuck didn't get home until 2:00 in the morning! He was so mad! Andrew wanted to go talk to a few people when they got there and Chuck had to put his foot down and say no! Chuck just wanted to get home.
Andrew put us through all of this just to save $43 at Uhaul. Yeah, $43 is all that a tow dolly would cost to rent! I know this because that is what we paid in January when we had to pick up my son's car. What a pain in the butt!
I had to work on Sunday also. Andrew never got his car towed to his trailer because he spent too much time messing around with the van. Andrew wanted to wait until late Sunday night and try to drive it. When I got home, I found Andrew on Dennis' computer. I looked at him and said, "You better not be putting any files on there!" He said he wasn't and then I decided to give him a piece of my mind. I had already told Chuck that I didn't want Andrew at our house and Chuck told him. I started saying, "you know...if I don't want you at me ******* house, then you better not come here! It's my house, not yours!" I got the usual sigh. I started saying that he put everyone out because of trying to save $43 ...me, Chuck, my mom (we borrowed her truck), and my neighbors! He got up and walked angrily into my kitchen, got himself some water and headed towards the door while saying that it wasn't that. I kept going on about how he was lazy and all he wants to do here is sit on his a** and watch TV and get on the computer, and only would work on his car when I was home!
I thought he was going out to his car to put things in it and get ready to go for later but, much to my surprise, he got in his car, started it right up and drove away. That car sat in my driveway for weeks, in the same condition, and he could have drove away with it earlier! I thought it would barely run! I guess it did overheat a couple of times on the way but he just pulled over, let it cool down some and drove again! Why didn't he do that 2 weeks earlier? It took me making him really mad, to get it out! How inconsiderate!
Then the icing on the cake........he wanted to come back the very next weekend. This time it was for guys night out. Some members from our church hang out at this one guy Brian's house. Brian lives only about 5 minutes away from me, so Andrew usually hangs out here before they go and comes here to stay the night after its over. It's almost always at Brian's because he is handicapped, and can't get out very easily. I told Chuck no way! Not going to happen! And I was right because guys night out was cancelled, lol!
Andrew hasn't been here since....Thank You, God!
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Part 2: Andrew
Ok...we have known Andrew for about 12 years or more. He goes to our church so that's how we met him.
Andrew's parents divorced when he was young and he went to California to live with his dad (Andrew is an only child). When he was about 10 or so, his dad died and Andrew found him dead. He got shipped off to AZ to live with his mother and where TV raised him except Friday night from sundown to Saturday night sundown (the Sabbath). He was never aloud to spend the night at his friends houses, or ever aloud to date, and this continued until he was over 18. His mom is a musician that makes money by playing the piano for many different churches and at weddings. She doesn't make a ton of money so they try to be very frugal about everything they buy.
This family is so frugal that they go around picking up junk that people throw away in their junk piles to get rid of. They bring it home "in case" they could use it for something. This is so bad that they had so much stuff in their house that I would consider them hoarders. In fact, I just read about Compulsive Hoarding Syndrome, and it fits Andrew perfectly.... http://www.ocfoundation.org/hoarding/about-hoarding/compulsive-hoarding-syndrome-introduction.php. They did have little pathways through their house, the living room was so full of things, almost to the ceiling. Their carport was full of junk, along with the back yard. He doesn't work except on occasion to get a little cash. He is very smart with mechanical things, so he has helped us fix things for cheap.
About 5 years ago, his mother, Pat, met someone and about 2 years later, married him. They bought another house and he won't let her do her hoarding thing. Andrew lived with Pat for so many years and they had to tell him that he had to leave because they were going to fix up the house and rent it out. He was all upset and couldn't think about what to do. Someone gave him a trailer in a trailer park, but it is not in good condition and needs serious work done on it. He has to pay $250 per month for the lot it is on. He has some money because he has saved it his whole life on the jobs he's worked here and there. Since he had to leave his mom's house, he started taking his things over to his trailer and storing them there. He also has a bunch of things at my house that were only going to be there for a few months and have been there over 2 years now. Believe me, I have told him to take it several times but he keeps saying that he'll take some when he goes out to his trailer (it's about 45 minutes away from my house...maybe an hour at most).
He started seeing this one girl, Jessica, that has a 2 year old and 4 year old. He stayed with her for a couple of months before they both moved up to Prescott, AZ. He was there a couple of months before they broke up. He will watch her kids on the weekends for her so she doesn't have to pay for daycare then. Then he would come down here to do things and go to church. We would let him stay one or two nights here to save on gas. Then his car broke down. He fixed it once about a year ago but it broke down again. It has some serious issues going on in the engine. Since he's not aloud to work on vehicles at his trailer, Chuck told him that he could work on it at our house. We thought he'd be here for a couple days at a time and then go back to his trailer do do stuff there, since that's what he'd been talking about.
He started off by being here about 5 days at first. He didn't even look at his car for the first 3 days. He sat in the house watching TV. I said something to him "Andrew, I don't mind you staying here for one or two nights, as long as you're working on your car, but if this is just going to be a place that you come to flop to get away from Jessica, then NO! You have a trailer to do that at". He gave me some BS about how he's trying to figure out how to do certain things. I told him that he needed to start by lifting the hood of his car and looking at it. This went on for about 3 weeks and he only would do a little work on it every now and then. I then had another talk with him, that was longer and not sugar coated at all. I told him how he was making me mad and I wanted to see him working on it more than 30 minutes a day. I wanted him to work on it for at least 6 hours per day. All I get is a sigh and how he is working on it. I would call my kids when I was at work to see what he was doing and they would pretty much say that he was watching TV. I was getting so furious. Not only was he not doing what I asked him to do, but he also answer my phone, after telling him several times not to, and he never even asked us if he could stay until his car was done.
I would get up in the middle of the night (or early in the morning) and walk out to my kitchen for a drink and he'd be up watching TV! 3:00 in the morning and watching TV! Normally, this wouldn't bother me if someone was doing this, even him, if he wasn't supposed to be working on his car. I told him that 3:00 in the morning is a ridiculous time to be awake when he has to work on his car and I didn't want him sleeping in until Noon! I got a sigh again! I told him that he has no concept of time, that Chuck and I do because we have jobs and only have a day or two per week to get things done. Our time is precious because we have lots of things to do, and have kids. He doesn't get it!!!!!!!!!! I don't know how much more blunt I can be to him!
Oh, I forgot, in the meantime, his other vehicle broke down, so now I'm having to prod him on 2 vehicles. He finally got his van fixed but he took forever and he befriended my gear head neighbors and kept talking to them. I felt like I was living in Hell! He wouldn't leave or fix his vehicles...at least not in my time frame! I even told him it's my house, my rules! He didn't care! He finally fixed his van last Friday. Then Saturday, he did nothing but sit around all day. So Sunday, Chuck talked to him and told him that he had to leave. Since he decided NOT to fix his car and one of his vehicles was running now, it was time to go. He could come back this weekend to pick up the car and tow it away.
He was complaining to Chuck that I was being unreasonable and controlling! And how he was sleeping in an uncomfortable love seat, and how the kids would keep him awake. Then GO HOME! That's my answer to it all! How can my kids keep him awake when he was still awake at 3 in the AM? He didn't care that he was being an inconvenience to us on parking! Between all of our vehicles, we were having to park 9 vehicles! That's crazy! 2 of the vehicles were his, 3 are mine and Chuck's, 2 are my son's, one my daughter's and the last one was my son's friend's, Dennis, who stays with us too. We offered Andrew our van because it needs a new engine and we aren't going to fix it. He of course, will take it. So this weekend Chuck and Andrew are going to tow it up to some land that Andrew has.
He wanted to come here on Thursday and Chuck told him no, he can come on Friday. Then he wanted to go to church first on Saturday, then tow the van. His land is about 4 hours away, one way and he is slow. Chuck said no way...no church because he only has a limited amount of time to do that. They also have to tow Andrew's car to his trailer so that takes more time. He's driving us nuts!
I swear, there will be no more house guests! People have ruined it for others that might benefit from it. Let me rephrase that! Dennis can stay, he has a job! I also consider him like one of my own kids because he have practically raised him for the last 7 years or so.
So now, with the exception of Dennis, if you live at my house, you have to be related by blood or marriage...and even then, it questionable, lol!
Andrew's parents divorced when he was young and he went to California to live with his dad (Andrew is an only child). When he was about 10 or so, his dad died and Andrew found him dead. He got shipped off to AZ to live with his mother and where TV raised him except Friday night from sundown to Saturday night sundown (the Sabbath). He was never aloud to spend the night at his friends houses, or ever aloud to date, and this continued until he was over 18. His mom is a musician that makes money by playing the piano for many different churches and at weddings. She doesn't make a ton of money so they try to be very frugal about everything they buy.
This family is so frugal that they go around picking up junk that people throw away in their junk piles to get rid of. They bring it home "in case" they could use it for something. This is so bad that they had so much stuff in their house that I would consider them hoarders. In fact, I just read about Compulsive Hoarding Syndrome, and it fits Andrew perfectly.... http://www.ocfoundation.org/hoarding/about-hoarding/compulsive-hoarding-syndrome-introduction.php. They did have little pathways through their house, the living room was so full of things, almost to the ceiling. Their carport was full of junk, along with the back yard. He doesn't work except on occasion to get a little cash. He is very smart with mechanical things, so he has helped us fix things for cheap.
About 5 years ago, his mother, Pat, met someone and about 2 years later, married him. They bought another house and he won't let her do her hoarding thing. Andrew lived with Pat for so many years and they had to tell him that he had to leave because they were going to fix up the house and rent it out. He was all upset and couldn't think about what to do. Someone gave him a trailer in a trailer park, but it is not in good condition and needs serious work done on it. He has to pay $250 per month for the lot it is on. He has some money because he has saved it his whole life on the jobs he's worked here and there. Since he had to leave his mom's house, he started taking his things over to his trailer and storing them there. He also has a bunch of things at my house that were only going to be there for a few months and have been there over 2 years now. Believe me, I have told him to take it several times but he keeps saying that he'll take some when he goes out to his trailer (it's about 45 minutes away from my house...maybe an hour at most).
He started seeing this one girl, Jessica, that has a 2 year old and 4 year old. He stayed with her for a couple of months before they both moved up to Prescott, AZ. He was there a couple of months before they broke up. He will watch her kids on the weekends for her so she doesn't have to pay for daycare then. Then he would come down here to do things and go to church. We would let him stay one or two nights here to save on gas. Then his car broke down. He fixed it once about a year ago but it broke down again. It has some serious issues going on in the engine. Since he's not aloud to work on vehicles at his trailer, Chuck told him that he could work on it at our house. We thought he'd be here for a couple days at a time and then go back to his trailer do do stuff there, since that's what he'd been talking about.
He started off by being here about 5 days at first. He didn't even look at his car for the first 3 days. He sat in the house watching TV. I said something to him "Andrew, I don't mind you staying here for one or two nights, as long as you're working on your car, but if this is just going to be a place that you come to flop to get away from Jessica, then NO! You have a trailer to do that at". He gave me some BS about how he's trying to figure out how to do certain things. I told him that he needed to start by lifting the hood of his car and looking at it. This went on for about 3 weeks and he only would do a little work on it every now and then. I then had another talk with him, that was longer and not sugar coated at all. I told him how he was making me mad and I wanted to see him working on it more than 30 minutes a day. I wanted him to work on it for at least 6 hours per day. All I get is a sigh and how he is working on it. I would call my kids when I was at work to see what he was doing and they would pretty much say that he was watching TV. I was getting so furious. Not only was he not doing what I asked him to do, but he also answer my phone, after telling him several times not to, and he never even asked us if he could stay until his car was done.
I would get up in the middle of the night (or early in the morning) and walk out to my kitchen for a drink and he'd be up watching TV! 3:00 in the morning and watching TV! Normally, this wouldn't bother me if someone was doing this, even him, if he wasn't supposed to be working on his car. I told him that 3:00 in the morning is a ridiculous time to be awake when he has to work on his car and I didn't want him sleeping in until Noon! I got a sigh again! I told him that he has no concept of time, that Chuck and I do because we have jobs and only have a day or two per week to get things done. Our time is precious because we have lots of things to do, and have kids. He doesn't get it!!!!!!!!!! I don't know how much more blunt I can be to him!
Oh, I forgot, in the meantime, his other vehicle broke down, so now I'm having to prod him on 2 vehicles. He finally got his van fixed but he took forever and he befriended my gear head neighbors and kept talking to them. I felt like I was living in Hell! He wouldn't leave or fix his vehicles...at least not in my time frame! I even told him it's my house, my rules! He didn't care! He finally fixed his van last Friday. Then Saturday, he did nothing but sit around all day. So Sunday, Chuck talked to him and told him that he had to leave. Since he decided NOT to fix his car and one of his vehicles was running now, it was time to go. He could come back this weekend to pick up the car and tow it away.
He was complaining to Chuck that I was being unreasonable and controlling! And how he was sleeping in an uncomfortable love seat, and how the kids would keep him awake. Then GO HOME! That's my answer to it all! How can my kids keep him awake when he was still awake at 3 in the AM? He didn't care that he was being an inconvenience to us on parking! Between all of our vehicles, we were having to park 9 vehicles! That's crazy! 2 of the vehicles were his, 3 are mine and Chuck's, 2 are my son's, one my daughter's and the last one was my son's friend's, Dennis, who stays with us too. We offered Andrew our van because it needs a new engine and we aren't going to fix it. He of course, will take it. So this weekend Chuck and Andrew are going to tow it up to some land that Andrew has.
He wanted to come here on Thursday and Chuck told him no, he can come on Friday. Then he wanted to go to church first on Saturday, then tow the van. His land is about 4 hours away, one way and he is slow. Chuck said no way...no church because he only has a limited amount of time to do that. They also have to tow Andrew's car to his trailer so that takes more time. He's driving us nuts!
I swear, there will be no more house guests! People have ruined it for others that might benefit from it. Let me rephrase that! Dennis can stay, he has a job! I also consider him like one of my own kids because he have practically raised him for the last 7 years or so.
So now, with the exception of Dennis, if you live at my house, you have to be related by blood or marriage...and even then, it questionable, lol!
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Unruly House Guests!
Chuck and I are magnets to lazy people that just want to live off of someone! How do we always encounter such "friends"? Let me start off telling you about the oldest incident to the most current.
The first one was a couple named Jason and Melissa. This was years ago...when I first got pregnant with my 14 almost 15 year old daughter Amber. They lived with us for 3 months without working. Jason would work now and then for like one or two days, for his foster dad, painting. So he'd get a little pocket change, so to speak. I actually didn't work at that time either. My husband was the only one that worked. Chuck did not make a lot of money at that time. We could barely afford to pay our bills and I also had 2 other kids. I would have found a job but since I was pregnant, I didn't feel it was the right time to start looking. Jason and Melissa would eat our food and not contribute to replenishing it. Then we found hidden food stashed in the far back corner of one of my cabinets, with the dishes I rarely used. They bought the food and soda then hid it from us. So Chuck started drinking the soda, lol! After all, they had no problems eating our food.
I must admit, I started using them as babysitters since they couldn't seem to contribute any other way. I think they felt obligated, lol! That was only for a couple of weeks. They also used our car because theirs was broke down at the time. They said that they put gas in it but when we went to use it, it was almost on empty. I don't believe gas was ever put in there by them.
One time, I was doing laundry, and I always went out my bedroom door to the laundry room. We lived in an apartment at the time and I had to use the apartments washers and dryers. My bedroom had an arcadia door to my patio. The laundry facilities were behind my bedroom so it was easier to go out the back door than to go out the front and go all the way around the building. So, I'm on my last load of laundry, late at night, and they come home. I heard them talking but didn't think anything of it. So, I went out to get my last load and I smell something good, like some sort of hot food. I just happened to look down and, much to my surprise, there was a pizza from Streets of New York, and a veggie platter, on top of it. At first I thought "Who would put pizza on my patio" and no sooner did that thought go through my brain, I realized who would do it. I woke my husband up and told him what I found. We debated on bringing it in and eating it, but I figured they might smell it, lol! We also thought about taking it to the car and eating it but we were both too tired and weren't really hungry anyway.
So I just decided to go out and tell them that they could bring their pizza in and eat it. That Chuck and I weren't hungry so they didn't have to share it. Melissa tried saying that Jason's foster parents gave them their left over pizza. When I called her on it about it being a hot pizza, she said Joanna heated it up before they left. I told her that I wasn't stupid and I knew that they just got it, then turned around and went to my bedroom.
I could go on about this couple, but I have other ones to talk about.
Next came Garth. My husband went to school with him and he went to church with us from time to time. We knew him when he worked and had his own place. We just kept running in to him at different places, like the mall, a pizza place, walking down the street, etc...I noticed he was in the same outfit every single time we saw him. I also noticed that he didn't smell too good when we got close to him. I talked to my husband and told him to tell Garth that he could shower at our house if he wanted to. He was greatful, and went on his way, coming back the next day to visit. We felt sorry for him because we knew that this wasn't the Garth we were used to. We eventually offered him to stay with us. He took us up on the offer. He never would ask us for anything but when we offered him things, he took it. I waited a couple of weeks and he didn't even act like he was going to find a job. In my mind, I thought he was just down on his luck and became homeless. It's hard to find a job when you have no address, phone, and shower. So we provided him with all of that. And still, there was no motivation for job hunting. I was confused about it and didn't know how to approach the subject since he never even asked us for any help at all. Chuck and I were stumped as to how to handle everything.
When I finally asked him if he was out looking for a job, his response was "I've been thinking about it". A little more time went on and more questions came up with "I've been thinking about it" as an answer. I started noticing a pattern. Oh yeah, He was very religious too. Nothing wrong with that but he was practically the Holy Roller type. Just about all conversations with him would end up turning into a religious one. Way more than the average person. I spoke with one of the Social Workers at my job and after describing him to her, she told me that he sounded schizophrenic. There was nothing we could do about it because he was not a harm to himself or others.
Evntually, he ended up at another friends house and he had the job of getting him out. It was really tough and the police had to be called. Garth just would not leave, even when asked. That was 3 and a half years ago and we haven't seen him since.
Then came an old friend of mine name Billie Jean. Down on her luck with literally nowhere to go. Her daughter had to go live with one of her friends. So I let Billie Jean stay with us. Once again, things were fine at first and quickly went down hill. She used Chuck's car and would stay out so late (or early) that we didn't know if she was going to be here in time for Chuck to go to work at 5 am. She would say, Oh sorry, I fell asleep at so and so's house. So then we had to say that we want the car back by Midnight. So she did just that....most of the time.
This house guest, ate our food, used our water, electricity, and gasoline for the car, without replacing it. She brought her dog over too, a pit bull named Brownie. Brownie ate my dog's food, even when she had her own. Billie Jean just let her do it. I hated it because then Angel would have to go to Brownie's bowl and occasionally, a fight broke out. Angel is older than Brownie and has hip and knee problems too so I was afraid that she would get really hurt, but surprisingly, Angel usually ended up on top!
She got a job cleaning houses for a small company. After 3 weeks, she was fired. Then she got another job, after one week, she was fired. That's pretty bad. She always was the victim, of course. Then she decided to get a job as a maintenance person for an apartment complex so she could get free rent. No calls came, and she would call them, nothing! She kept trying, everyday. Still, nothing. I told her to go get a job anywhere, even if it were McDonalds, but she refused because "she couldn't live on that". I told her that something is better than nothing and since I was buying everything for her and her dog, that she need a job, even if it paid minimum wage. Then she used the excuse that she would have a hard time finding something else while working. Nice try...I didn't let her use that! I told her that she could use our computer, like she had been doing already, to put in applications. I also told her that people find other jobs all the time while working another one (well, maybe not in out economy now but at this time, they did). She just said, "well, I don't know how other people do it".
Then there were issues with her daughter Jessie. Jessie came to live with us during this time. Billie Jean let her 16 year old daughter go to kick backs, where all they do is listen to music, drink, and smoke pot. She said that it was better that she let her go and know where Jessie was than to have her sneak out like she did before and not know where she was. That is not how I raise my kids and I wouldn't tolerate that. I told her that I didn't like the way she was raising Jessie. I don't let my kids do that and I don't have any problems with my kids.
Jessie finally got a job at Peter Piper Pizza. Then someone (turns out to be a little girl) left their cell phone there. Jessie and her friend that worked with her, took it and brought it home. Jessie told me all about it and that the owner was trying to call and text the phone. I told her to answer it and tell her that she had it. No...that wasn't an option because Jessie and the friend were going to sell it. I told her that selling it was wrong because it wasn't hers to sell. After a few minutes, she left my house with the phone. I talked to Chuck about it and he said that we don't do stuff like that and that she has 2 choices. #1 was to give the phone back to the owner and #2 was to leave our house and would not be aloud to come back. When Jessie returned, I told her what we decided and a fight broke out with her. She called us every name in the book. We were being unreasonable. The phone was hers now because it's finders keepers. Billie Jean was nowhere that we could reach her. I ended up getting the cell phone and calling the owners. I gave it back to them 2 days later. I would have given it back sooner but they couldn't come get it before then. So after that, we were horrible people.
It still didn't make Billie Jean leave. I had to kick her out. I gave her 2 months warning that I was going to make her leave. She still didn't have a place to live or a job but after livingwith us off of us for 5 months, I couldn't take it anymore and didn't care if she had a job or not. It wasn't my problem, I had to make sure that my own family came first, then my sanity, lol!
So the most recent is Andrew. I'm going to leave this part of my blog to being a part 2. This blog is already long and Andrew's story will be long by itself so his will be the part 2 tomorrow. I have to tell about his background first before I tell about his story with us. I promise this story to you.
The first one was a couple named Jason and Melissa. This was years ago...when I first got pregnant with my 14 almost 15 year old daughter Amber. They lived with us for 3 months without working. Jason would work now and then for like one or two days, for his foster dad, painting. So he'd get a little pocket change, so to speak. I actually didn't work at that time either. My husband was the only one that worked. Chuck did not make a lot of money at that time. We could barely afford to pay our bills and I also had 2 other kids. I would have found a job but since I was pregnant, I didn't feel it was the right time to start looking. Jason and Melissa would eat our food and not contribute to replenishing it. Then we found hidden food stashed in the far back corner of one of my cabinets, with the dishes I rarely used. They bought the food and soda then hid it from us. So Chuck started drinking the soda, lol! After all, they had no problems eating our food.
I must admit, I started using them as babysitters since they couldn't seem to contribute any other way. I think they felt obligated, lol! That was only for a couple of weeks. They also used our car because theirs was broke down at the time. They said that they put gas in it but when we went to use it, it was almost on empty. I don't believe gas was ever put in there by them.
One time, I was doing laundry, and I always went out my bedroom door to the laundry room. We lived in an apartment at the time and I had to use the apartments washers and dryers. My bedroom had an arcadia door to my patio. The laundry facilities were behind my bedroom so it was easier to go out the back door than to go out the front and go all the way around the building. So, I'm on my last load of laundry, late at night, and they come home. I heard them talking but didn't think anything of it. So, I went out to get my last load and I smell something good, like some sort of hot food. I just happened to look down and, much to my surprise, there was a pizza from Streets of New York, and a veggie platter, on top of it. At first I thought "Who would put pizza on my patio" and no sooner did that thought go through my brain, I realized who would do it. I woke my husband up and told him what I found. We debated on bringing it in and eating it, but I figured they might smell it, lol! We also thought about taking it to the car and eating it but we were both too tired and weren't really hungry anyway.
So I just decided to go out and tell them that they could bring their pizza in and eat it. That Chuck and I weren't hungry so they didn't have to share it. Melissa tried saying that Jason's foster parents gave them their left over pizza. When I called her on it about it being a hot pizza, she said Joanna heated it up before they left. I told her that I wasn't stupid and I knew that they just got it, then turned around and went to my bedroom.
I could go on about this couple, but I have other ones to talk about.
Next came Garth. My husband went to school with him and he went to church with us from time to time. We knew him when he worked and had his own place. We just kept running in to him at different places, like the mall, a pizza place, walking down the street, etc...I noticed he was in the same outfit every single time we saw him. I also noticed that he didn't smell too good when we got close to him. I talked to my husband and told him to tell Garth that he could shower at our house if he wanted to. He was greatful, and went on his way, coming back the next day to visit. We felt sorry for him because we knew that this wasn't the Garth we were used to. We eventually offered him to stay with us. He took us up on the offer. He never would ask us for anything but when we offered him things, he took it. I waited a couple of weeks and he didn't even act like he was going to find a job. In my mind, I thought he was just down on his luck and became homeless. It's hard to find a job when you have no address, phone, and shower. So we provided him with all of that. And still, there was no motivation for job hunting. I was confused about it and didn't know how to approach the subject since he never even asked us for any help at all. Chuck and I were stumped as to how to handle everything.
When I finally asked him if he was out looking for a job, his response was "I've been thinking about it". A little more time went on and more questions came up with "I've been thinking about it" as an answer. I started noticing a pattern. Oh yeah, He was very religious too. Nothing wrong with that but he was practically the Holy Roller type. Just about all conversations with him would end up turning into a religious one. Way more than the average person. I spoke with one of the Social Workers at my job and after describing him to her, she told me that he sounded schizophrenic. There was nothing we could do about it because he was not a harm to himself or others.
Evntually, he ended up at another friends house and he had the job of getting him out. It was really tough and the police had to be called. Garth just would not leave, even when asked. That was 3 and a half years ago and we haven't seen him since.
Then came an old friend of mine name Billie Jean. Down on her luck with literally nowhere to go. Her daughter had to go live with one of her friends. So I let Billie Jean stay with us. Once again, things were fine at first and quickly went down hill. She used Chuck's car and would stay out so late (or early) that we didn't know if she was going to be here in time for Chuck to go to work at 5 am. She would say, Oh sorry, I fell asleep at so and so's house. So then we had to say that we want the car back by Midnight. So she did just that....most of the time.
This house guest, ate our food, used our water, electricity, and gasoline for the car, without replacing it. She brought her dog over too, a pit bull named Brownie. Brownie ate my dog's food, even when she had her own. Billie Jean just let her do it. I hated it because then Angel would have to go to Brownie's bowl and occasionally, a fight broke out. Angel is older than Brownie and has hip and knee problems too so I was afraid that she would get really hurt, but surprisingly, Angel usually ended up on top!
She got a job cleaning houses for a small company. After 3 weeks, she was fired. Then she got another job, after one week, she was fired. That's pretty bad. She always was the victim, of course. Then she decided to get a job as a maintenance person for an apartment complex so she could get free rent. No calls came, and she would call them, nothing! She kept trying, everyday. Still, nothing. I told her to go get a job anywhere, even if it were McDonalds, but she refused because "she couldn't live on that". I told her that something is better than nothing and since I was buying everything for her and her dog, that she need a job, even if it paid minimum wage. Then she used the excuse that she would have a hard time finding something else while working. Nice try...I didn't let her use that! I told her that she could use our computer, like she had been doing already, to put in applications. I also told her that people find other jobs all the time while working another one (well, maybe not in out economy now but at this time, they did). She just said, "well, I don't know how other people do it".
Then there were issues with her daughter Jessie. Jessie came to live with us during this time. Billie Jean let her 16 year old daughter go to kick backs, where all they do is listen to music, drink, and smoke pot. She said that it was better that she let her go and know where Jessie was than to have her sneak out like she did before and not know where she was. That is not how I raise my kids and I wouldn't tolerate that. I told her that I didn't like the way she was raising Jessie. I don't let my kids do that and I don't have any problems with my kids.
Jessie finally got a job at Peter Piper Pizza. Then someone (turns out to be a little girl) left their cell phone there. Jessie and her friend that worked with her, took it and brought it home. Jessie told me all about it and that the owner was trying to call and text the phone. I told her to answer it and tell her that she had it. No...that wasn't an option because Jessie and the friend were going to sell it. I told her that selling it was wrong because it wasn't hers to sell. After a few minutes, she left my house with the phone. I talked to Chuck about it and he said that we don't do stuff like that and that she has 2 choices. #1 was to give the phone back to the owner and #2 was to leave our house and would not be aloud to come back. When Jessie returned, I told her what we decided and a fight broke out with her. She called us every name in the book. We were being unreasonable. The phone was hers now because it's finders keepers. Billie Jean was nowhere that we could reach her. I ended up getting the cell phone and calling the owners. I gave it back to them 2 days later. I would have given it back sooner but they couldn't come get it before then. So after that, we were horrible people.
It still didn't make Billie Jean leave. I had to kick her out. I gave her 2 months warning that I was going to make her leave. She still didn't have a place to live or a job but after living
So the most recent is Andrew. I'm going to leave this part of my blog to being a part 2. This blog is already long and Andrew's story will be long by itself so his will be the part 2 tomorrow. I have to tell about his background first before I tell about his story with us. I promise this story to you.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
WHAT IN THE WORLD???
As I came home from my part time job today, I noticed something very strange down my street. Lots and lots of police cars, yellow tape, hovering helicopters, fire department, and many spectators! This was really weird! I thought "What in the world is going on?" At first I thought that a little kid may have drown is someone's pool.
I pulled in my driveway and walked out to the sidewalk to be one of the other nosy neighbors! I saw my neighbor to the West of me looking at everything and I asked him what happened. He said that a girl in the home was shot by her boyfriend and then shot himself. This house is only about 5 houses down from me and across the street. OMG! I couldn't believe it! I said "I have to call my friend Cheryl...she knows everything" (she lives only a few streets away from me). She gets a chance to watch the news more than I do so it sounded reasonable to me. When I called her, I found out that she didn't know what was going on yet, but heard all the helicopters hovering and fire trucks go by. So I told her what I had found out.
My street looked like a parking lot with all the cars on it. People were not able to drive up to their homes because a good portion of the street was blocked off. They were parking in front of my neighbors houses and walking home. The police were there until dark time and I came home around 1:20 in the afternoon.
This is so weird...especially since I went through this about a year ago or so with a girl I worked with. Her husband shot and killed her and then killed himself while their 4 young kids were home. This is so sad!
I just don't know why people get to the point where they feel that murder/suicide is the only option. I understand that people get depressed and may have chemical imbalances in their brain, but they make meds to help them. There is also counseling. Why don't some people utilize these? I guess I will never truely understand!
I pulled in my driveway and walked out to the sidewalk to be one of the other nosy neighbors! I saw my neighbor to the West of me looking at everything and I asked him what happened. He said that a girl in the home was shot by her boyfriend and then shot himself. This house is only about 5 houses down from me and across the street. OMG! I couldn't believe it! I said "I have to call my friend Cheryl...she knows everything" (she lives only a few streets away from me). She gets a chance to watch the news more than I do so it sounded reasonable to me. When I called her, I found out that she didn't know what was going on yet, but heard all the helicopters hovering and fire trucks go by. So I told her what I had found out.
My street looked like a parking lot with all the cars on it. People were not able to drive up to their homes because a good portion of the street was blocked off. They were parking in front of my neighbors houses and walking home. The police were there until dark time and I came home around 1:20 in the afternoon.
This is so weird...especially since I went through this about a year ago or so with a girl I worked with. Her husband shot and killed her and then killed himself while their 4 young kids were home. This is so sad!
I just don't know why people get to the point where they feel that murder/suicide is the only option. I understand that people get depressed and may have chemical imbalances in their brain, but they make meds to help them. There is also counseling. Why don't some people utilize these? I guess I will never truely understand!
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