Up on my rooftop

You won't find Santa Claus on my roof (yet) but you will find curling shingles, improperly installed boots and other things I didn't have a clue about until I became a homeowner. In preparation for Santa, his heavily loaded sleigh and 8 tiny reindeer, with a collective total of 32 little hooves I am getting my roof reshingled. Expensive you say? *I laugh hysterically* What's another charge on my already overloaded credit cards, I say. *SIGH* How about a 2nd, part-time job serving up Frappachino's at the corner Star Bucks or mindlessly scanning bar codes at Wal-Mart? Or credit counseling...or my renters could pay their rent...or my X could help out with kid costs without acting like his daughter is taking advantage of him. Imagine that...his daughter is taking advantage of him when she needs or wants something. Hello? Isn't that what being a parent involves? Isn't that what all kids do...ask for things, need things? Oh, wait, I forgot. He has his OTHER family to worry about. The @$$. I took E over to her dads house last night so she could get her dress shoes for a dance this weekend. I lived there??? The house and the neighborhood looks like trash. He did the roof himself a few years ago and since I'm foucused on roofs a lot lately I noticed that his shingles are lifting up in spots. Hmm...cheap materials? Poor labor? Both? But that's not my problem or my roof. It's nice to look back and compare where I used to be to where I am now. I can see all the positive changes that resulted from a bad time in my life. I can definately see that I own a house that's worth a lot more that my X's house. It just looked so drab, dingy and the entire area has a white trash atmosphere. I used to miss it...when I still lived in the trailer. Point of view is everything.

Biloxi - maybe

Today I was offered the chance to go to Biloxi but I can't right now. I probably can in a few weeks but now just wouldn't work out...unfortunately. I really wanted to go but I can't just leave my daughter alone for a few weeks. Going to her dads is out of the question as far as she's concerned and I wouldn't force her to go for something that's not an emergency. Anyway, I hope I get another chance to go, if not to Biloxi then somewhere else...maybe in response to hurricane Rita. Who knows?

I had a headache last night and took a nap. When I woke up the house was decorated for Halloween. Even though she denies it I KNOW my daughter came into my room at one point dressed up in the witch costume and a mask and tried to wake me up.

Dog finds $$$!

Took my mom home over the weekend. On the way we stopped to give Cricket a potty break and the dog found $10!!! I never would have found it if Cricket hadn't been along. I took her over to the grassy area at a gas station and she nearly peed on a $10 bill! I looked around but it was the only money lying around and of all the spots she could have picked to relieve herself she chose the money! Good Dog!

My mom's decided to sell her house and buy one in the same neighborhood I live in. And then she's not...and then she is...and then she's not...and then she is.... She's feeling torn, overwhelmed, worried and all the things I felt when I decided to move. While at her house I installed new light fixtures on the outside front. They look SO much better! The old one's were the originals and were looking sad. The new ones are perfect for the house and really perk up the front. I have 2 more to install on the side and back but it was getting late and we had to get on the road soon since it was Sunday afternoon.

Small Saturn Thinks Big

I said I wanted to do more to help the people affected by the hurrcane, beyond donating money and I got the chance. Last Friday I was asked by the head of the division I work for to pick up some medical supplies in my local area and deliver them to him in Indianapolis so he could get them sent on their way to help the hurricane victims. I jumped at the opportunity despite the smallness of my vehicle. When I arrived to pick up the med supplies the women just looked at my car and at all the boxes they had gathered up to send south. They didn't think I'd get half of them into my little Saturn. Well, I proved them wrong and got EVERY box in my car. It was nice to do something that I knew would become part of a bigger cache of med supplies that would travel south to help those in need.

And speaking of helping the hurricane survivors, someone I work with has been in Mississippi since a few days after the hurricane. She's a nurse and has been working hard for the past few weeks selflessly spending her time helping others.

I've been doing more home improvement projects lately, thanks to the handyman I called. He's never returned my calls and has saved me a lot of money. Over the weekend I installed my first ever storm door on the front door! Getting the door home was interesting. In the box it was too big to shove into my car via the trunk so we took it out of the box. It hung out over the trunk about a foot and all I had to secure the trunk lid was a bungee cord. I knew from previous experience that the trunk lid would go bouncy-bouncy all the way home so I folded up the box the door came in and shoved it between the glass and the trunk lid. Every time the trunk lid bounced I thought my mom was going to faint from fear the glass was going to shatter! The door made it home safe & sound and with my mom's help I actually installed my storm door and I have to say that it is PERFECT! *pats self on back*

My next project, thanks to the unhandy-man, was the trim around the outside of the french doors to the patio. The trim was rotting at the bottom and needed replaced before I install the new storm doors back there. The first piece of trim I removed was held on with screws. Easy. I took it off, sawed off a small piece and took it with me to the lumber store. Yes, I had to haul something else in my car that stuck out the back. The trim took a minor beating from the trunk but I knew I'd cut the top part of it off anyway so it didn't matter. Once I was ready to tackle this job I got out my trusty hand saw because I'm afraid if I use the power saw that I inherited from my dad that I'll cut off more than just a piece of the trim! The first piece was perfect! My first piece of wood that I've cut and installed onto my house! I'm so proud. On the other side of the doors the trim was nailed to the house. Oh boy. That took some sweat and elbow grease to pry that one loose. I beat up the door frame a bit, unfortunately. I cut the other piece of trim and it installed just as perfectly as the first.

So you don't think my head will get too big for my shoulders let me share with you one of my less successful home improvement ventures. It involves a toilet, lots of water and my dining room ceiling. Let me just say that when working with water make absolutely sure that all things that should be tight are tight and that when you turn the water on you wait, check, feel around and generally assure yourself beyond any shadow of doubt that there are NO leaks anywhere. That was my mistake. I was on my third toilet and sick of replacing potty parts. I got lazy. I didn't stick around and check carfully enough. So later, when my daughter yelled from the dining room that the ceiling was leaking enough time had passed since I'd finished working on the toilet that I didn't make the connection. She had enough sense to run upstairs and check things out and yelled that the toilet was leaking. Yikes. I goofed and put something in upside down so it wasn't making a tight seal. I hate working with water. Electricity is so much easier. It's either on or off. It works or it doesn't. It doesn't leave an ugly stain on my ceiling or a little hole the size of a quarter that I punched in the ceiling to drain the water. In the end it's all fixed but it was not a pretty sight at the time!

Pertussis

That's what my daughter has. Pertussis is commonly known as whooping cough. Yes, she was vaccinated for it but there have been local cases cropping up in people who were immunized. It's nasty stuff, and very contagious until after being on an antibiotic for a few days.

Katrina survivors are NOT REFUGEES!!!

Hurricane Katrina survivors are NOT REFUGEES! Look up the definition of refugee. Refugee's are people fleeing from other countries, seeking refuge from war, religious persecution or political oppression. Hurricane Katrina survivors are AMERICAN CITIZENS! They are SURVIVORS of a natural disaster. They are our own people, not citizens from another country. Stop talking about them as if they're not U.S. citizens and implying that the effects of the hurricane were more than a natural disaster!!! *kicks soapbox violently*. I'd like to know who the first person was who used the term refugee in reference to the survivors...the MORON!

New house pix!

Finally, new pix of the inside of my house.

I wish I could do more to help the hurricane survivors beyond donating some cash. I'm changing the name of my Yahoo! group from Born Again Virgins to Born Again Women and inviting anyone affected by the hurricane to join. My hopes are that it will be a safe, supportive forum to discuss whatever members want to discuss. Flames will be extinguished quickly and flame throwers will be discouraged.

I've lived in my new house for a little over 3 months. I'm completely unpacked and settled in. It's as though we've lived here for much longer. The downside of this is that until today I had not explored my neighborhood beyond the short stretch that I walk my dog. Today I drove through the entire neighborhood and was speechless. I hadn't realized how nice of a neighborhood I moved into. I knew it was nice but it's REALLY nice! It's the kind of place I used to drive through and think "I'll never live in a neighborhood like this" or "I'll never own a house as nice as these". I was so focused on my goal of buying a house that I failed to realize that I'd achieved a dream I believed was unattainable. I also don't know many of my neighbors yet. I plan to get out there and walk more and meet the people in my new corner of the world.

My mother's vent & rant

Opinion expressed by Gloria U. White (my mom) and published by me

I am shocked and ashamed of the leaders of my country, America. They have treated the people in New Orleans as third world refugees. This is as bad as the Sudan. These people have been without food, water and medical attention for over 5 days. I saw a reporter of Fox News on TV. He asked A woman at the convention center her age. She was 90 years old and sitting in a wheel chair without food or water for 5 days. These people could NOT get out of New Orleans. They did not have the means. We have to deal with the problem now. Busses have passed these people and they have not picked them up! They go to the dome and they bypass the people at the convention center. It's as though they don't care; as though these people aren't human beings. It's true there's chaos there, but these people are desperate. Desperate people do desperate things.

However, our great president who was on a notoriously long, 4 week vacation did a walk through in Biloxi, Mississippi and looked like the jackass that he really is. After seeing his image on TV I turned it to CSPAN and saw the negro Democratic delegation and was shocked to hear that our great president has asked for 28 billion dollars to be sent to Baghdad to build an embassy and employ 5000 people. As an American citizen, and I do love my country, I feel that the time has come that this incompetent man should be impeached. He is NOT fit to be the leader of the United States of America; the greatest country in the world.

Sick in so many ways

I'm trying to get rid of a cold
I have a sick sense of humor
I'm sick about the devastation from hurricaine Katrina
I'm sick & tired of high gas prices