It's Been A Hell of a Year

The Room
We knew when we bought our house that we were probably going to have to fix the stucco on the extension that was put on the house. Little did we know that we'd have to literally tear down both walls of that room and totally rebuild them.

Dental Drama
I don't have any irrational fears except having to have a tooth pulled. And that is exactly what I had to do on Valentine's Day of this year. The bridge to fill in the pulled tooth is still not permanently attached because it's still giving me problems. Then, I find out I need another crown on the other side of my mouth. That, too, is attached temporarily for the time being while we wait to see if I need a root canal on that tooth.

My Jeep
Over the summer, I was without my Jeep for over a month because my battery died and the gear shift broke. The broken gear shift was a known problem that Chrysler was slow responding to which is why it took so long to get a replacement part. Then there was an issue with my fuel injection system.

It's December. The year is nearly complete. And problems with my Jeep surface. Again. The current problem is yet another known problem. This one Chrysler won't acknowledge. This problem has been around for so long that it actually has a nickname: The Death Wobble. Apparently, people notice a problem, fix something, and it goes away. For a little while. And the process repeats.

After much soul searching and finally coming to terms with the situation, I have decided that I must get rid of my beloved Jeep. This makes me sick for two reasons:
1. I love my Jeep.
2. It's already paid for. The thought of having to make yet another monthly payment right now is making me really sick.
But, in the long run, I think it's the right decision.

I think I've narrowed down my search to a used Toyota 4Runner. In doing some research, I've discovered that they are very hard to find used because they are such good vehicles, people very rarely get rid of them. I just want to whole situation over.



Here's to hoping that things turn around next year. . .

Kitty Injustice

Allow me to introduce you to Black Kitty (so named by my neighbor). She has a heartbreaking story. Her family used to live a few houses down from us, but they got divorced, moved out, or otherwise relocated. So, what did they do with her? They threw her out on the street. The people in the next house over eventually took pity on her and brought her in. Until they got a dog. Black Kitty and Jake the Dog did not get along. So, what did they do? They threw Black Kitty on the street. The people in the next house, my neighbors, have not brought her inside, but they do at least feed her. I just don't understand this. Why do people do this? It would never have occurred to her second set of owners to throw the dog out into the street, so why is it okay to throw the poor little pussycat out there? It makes me so sad and so upset to know what she has been through. Do you think these people know that an average outside cat's life expectancy is only 2-3 years? Or perhaps these people don't care?

This hits particularly close to home because I believe my little (well, not so little: he's 13 lbs.) Jack has a very similar story. He had been fixed and declawed and then abandoned. Because someone took away his claws and then threw him outside, he had no way of defending himself and is now sick with FIV. FIV is AIDS in cats and is spread through a scratch or bite. Cats with FIV will lead a long (although, not as long if they were not sick) and healthy life as long as they remain healthy. Feline leukemia is actually closer to human AIDS. It breaks my heart to know that he's sick because of the stupidity and lack of compassion of his former humans. When my vet first told me that Jack has FIV and I started asking questions, she said that many other people would simple have had him put to sleep. I just don't understand that either. He's still the same sweet kitty that I fell in love with, I just have to take a little special care in the event he gets sick. His quality of life is just as good as a healthy cat. My vet said that he was very lucky to have found me. I feel like the lucky one.

If you feel as strongly as I do about this kitty injustice and want to display your feelings, check out julep115's Etsy Shop:

Earth Friendly Cat Pendant-Reversible Tag

In other news: "The Room" is coming along. The sealant is on the stucco and the corner where the birdcage attaches has been painted, so now our contractor can come back and put the lanai back together. Once he's done with that, we can finally have the final inspection done. We will still need to paint the remainder of the exterior walls, paint the trim work on the interior, and finish up some furniture to be done in there for the time being. There's still two more big things to do: we need to replace the laminate flooring in there (the water damage was so extensive that it's basically turned into speed bumps) and deal with the landscaping so that we can get the standing water away from the house. Damn, we're poor.

I Have a Good Excuse for Being MIA, I Swear

I kept a sort of photo diary as things were progressing at my flickr account.

Okay, I know I've been MIA for even longer than usual. Let me explain. Doing work on the house is a bitch. When we bought our house, we saw some cracks in the stucco on the wall where a wood extension was added on to our block house. Our inspector checked for moisture inside the room and said that the cracks were probably just due to the addition settling. Yeah, well, we went through a period of A LOT of rain recently and this particular room started to flood. Needless to say, we wound up having to deal with it sooner than we had planned.

We had to demolish two walls, replaced both of the weight bearing beams and the post on that side of the house, and rebuild EVERYTHING. The good news is that we got a bigger window and now know that it is built right and is structurally sound. The bad news is that we spent our vacation time home babysitting the work being done (we took turns being home, off and on for about a month) thus not really having any kind of relaxing vacation time and the cost (we are so very poor right now). Other bad news is that the lovely wood laminate flooring that was in that room now needs to be replaced due to the water damage of the room flooding a few times before we were able to get it fixed; and that we still have a standing water issue around that part of the house and unless we get that taken care of, all of this work will be for naught. But, BIGGER window! STRUCTURALLY SOUND!! Sigh. . .