Random Observations and Shipping Woes

I watched This Means War with Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, and Tom Hardy again last night. It's a great movie and lots of fun, but every time I see it I am always left with the thought that she chose the wrong guy and in my mind it makes the ending less satisfying for me. My opinion, I know, but if it had been me, I would have picked Tuck (Hardy) over FDR (Pine) hands down. The movie ends well and Tuck gets back with his ex-wife, and she and their son discover he isn't a travel agent, so it's not like he is left out in the cold with nothing. I just felt like FDR was the too-obvious choice. Okay, so Tom Hardy is more my cup of tea  :) so sue me! Seriously though, Tom needs to do more roles like this in addition to action and dramas. He does romantic comedy quite well. Anyhoo, I think if you took this situation and looked at it with the real-life lens, Reese's character (Lauren) would have chosen differently had she kept sex out of the equation, based on the character traits she displayed. So that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Today my husband offered to bring me some lunch back when he and the other officers on shift went to eat. He asked me if I wanted a cheeseburger and fries, onion rings or suzies, so I said yes, please with fries. What I got was a hot turkey sandwich with mashed potatoes and gravy. Basically, two pieces of white bread, mashed potatoes on top of that, two slices of turkey on top of that with gravy over all. He said he decided to get me what he got. When I said "if you were going to get me what you got, why did you even ask me what I wanted?", he replied with "I knew it!" In my mind I was thinking, "well, if you knew it, why did you do it?", however I refrained from verbalizing my thought and instead assured him it was fine and I was very happy with his choice (true statement), and that I was only making an observation (also true). So sensitive! He makes command decisions like this with me all of the time, however, and sometimes it irks! Oh, he also thought this would be a healthier choice than a burger and fries. Really? Probably not by much when you factor in the white bread (starch), mashed potatoes (starch), and gravy (fat). *sigh* whatever...I really am happy that he brought me lunch, though!

I'm anxiously awaiting some filters for my new Rebel T3 that I ordered from Amazon. Unfortunately Amazon is shipping via FedEx Smartpost now instead of UPS, at least that's what I'm gathering since the last two orders were shipped that way and so is the current one. Let me just say right now that I hate FedEx, and Smartpost is even worse. The shipping estimates between Amazon and FedEx never agree, and the tracking status is never right, in my experience. This current order Amazon is showing a Saturday (5/25) delivery estimation and FedEx is saying Tuesday (5/28). Last time I had a Saturday delivery date, FedEx tracking showed that they had tried to deliver but "the business was closed or no one was home" and that it was rescheduled for the following Tuesday. Really? I was there - where were they? Every time I place an order and see that FedEx is the carrier I cringe and pray that it will go smoothly. I really want to get my filters Saturday because I was planning on going to the park with the family - I thought it might be fun for us all to each take a camera and later maybe print off a few of them to put on a collage frame and possibly make a slide show too. I also thought maybe just Bobby and I could go for a motorcycle ride Sunday and take my camera. Best laid plans, right?

And now I leave you with a shot out my backdoor taken this morning while my dog Toby did his business...too much information??

This is Toby

Life, Weather, and Insensitive Yahoos

Have you ever heard someone say to another person after a natural disaster that they should move? Or perhaps they asked them why on earth they live where they do when they know that (insert natural disaster here) happen there? There are many answers to that question, but the fact is, disasters happen everywhere. California is notorious for earthquakes, mudslides, and forest fires, the Midwest states have tornadoes, the Gulf  states have hurricanes as do the Eastern states, and the upper northern states have blizzards, forest fires and bitter cold winter temps, and Alaska and Hawaii have volcanoes - remember Mt. St. Helens?...you get my drift. There is no perfect place to live - everywhere has a drawback, it's just life. I left behind earthquakes in California, but I gained tornadoes when I moved to Kansas - days like yesterday make me think that earthquakes are better. They are less frequent and there's something to be said for not thinking every dark cloud holds the potential for destruction.... but I digress...

For many people, the answer to the problem of living in a place that is prone to tornadoes (or other major natural disasters), like Kansas and Oklahoma, is that they simply don't have the luxury of moving somewhere else. They can't afford it; their work, family, home, etc. is all there. Okay, so what about storm shelters and basements? Well, if you can afford to put a storm shelter in, congratulations! If you can afford to sell your house and buy one with a basement, great for you! If you can be picky enough to find a rental with a basement, more power to you! See, it just isn't that easy for people who are wondering if they will have enough to make their mortgage/rent payment to be able to go out and do any of those things.

Every time there is a tornado that wipes out a town, I hear and see these comments about why we live here, and why those people didn't have a storm shelter. The one that happened yesterday in Moore, Oklahoma is no different. In the midst of the tragedy of school children being the largest portion of victims, insensitive yahoos ask stupid questions. I do agree that all school buildings should have underground shelter areas, though, but until the government steps in and provides the funding for that kind of retro-fit, it will be just like anything else - the wealthier communities will get those kinds of upgrades and poorer communities will bury their children.

What's the answer? We can't change the weather, and natural disasters unfortunately don't listen to our requests to leave us alone, so what do we do? I have a suggestion: maybe our government could should spend less money on frivolous crap and put it into getting all of our nation's communities up to standards on alert systems and building and retro-fitting schools with safer shelters. 

You know what our kids here have for a tornado shelter in each of the schools? A designated hallway that  is open at the ends where the kids go and sit on the floor with their heads down on their knees and their arms over their heads. Sounds great, right?

Taking Care of Business

My dad has been in California this last week, and I have been taking care his house and his baby, Gidgie, a little white Pomeranian. She stays at home during the day and sleeps over at our house at night. Every morning I take her home, feed her, turn on the TV, open the blinds, come back later and let her out and feed her again, and when I get off work I go get her and turn off the TV, turn on the lights, close the blinds, and bring her home for the night. I've been doing this since last Tuesday and I'm getting tired. But dad comes back home this evening, so when I leave at 5:00 I will go let her out and make sure lights are on and whatnot and then go on home.

Gidgie

The reason for all the transporting and all is that I have three dogs at home and Bobby just last week went back on days, so nobody is at home to let her out during the day. My dogs are used to our routine, but she isn't, plus she would by necessity have to be cooped up all day. At Dad's she has the run of the house, and Dad's house is halfway between work and my house, so it's closer than running back to my house to let her out. At night she sleeps in a baby playpen in my boys room because Toby sleeps in our room and, well, it just wouldn't work!. 

You might at this point be wondering why Dad didn't just take her to a boarding kennel. The answer to that is that she is his baby and a boarding kennel might make her think nobody is coming for her. Before Dad would leave her with some friends, but they said it was too nerve wracking because she would stay at the window looking for him and they had trouble getting her to eat. It's what she did after my mom died. She kept waiting for her to come home, so now to ease her mind, Dad has certain things he does so she knows he's coming back. With this little routine we have going, she knows when I'm coming and what we're doing and it gives her peace. I also tell her that daddy will be back  in a few days, and she's fine. Sure, it's been a little inconvenient and a lot of running back and forth, but my dad has done so much for me all my life that this is just a very small thing that I can do for him.

Remember how much rain we had a week or so ago? Well, yesterday it was 91 degrees and today is supposed to be around 87. We went from Spring to Summer in just a few days, and likely it will flip-flop between the two for the next 2-3 weeks and then it will just be HOT. The good news is that the roofers are all out in force trying to get roofs done all over town before we get any more rain from that unstable weather pattern. When I walk outside, I can hear the sound of pounding coming from all directions - all over town - anywhere I go. Our contractors contacted our insurance company and told them that they didn't allow enough for us to repair the damages from the hail storm, so they sent the adjuster back out and they went over everything again, and it turns out that he made mistakes in the work-up and left out a bunch of stuff, so they have written us out another check, and now it will all get fixed. Huge relief!

So, Dad is coming home tonight, and I've made sure everything looks good and that the house is cool. Taking care of plants and such. Dad has these great shrubs that bloom every spring that look gorgeous, so I took a couple of snaps with my phone. I need to try to find some of these to put in the front of my house. I just want them (roofers) to hurry up and get my house done so I can get some stuff planted. Even though the contractors assured me that they will protect any plants or flowers, etc., I would rather wait until they're done, just in case. I can't really plant anything out back because my dogs think they are chew toys. 


I want to finish up with something funny that happened today at work. Across the street from the front door of the funeral home to the south is a small parking area separated by a concrete sidewalk/median and on the other side of that is a larger parking lot. While Gary and I were in the front foyer/reception area talking a little old lady pulled into one of the parking spaces across the street, sat there for a few seconds and suddenly rocketed forward with a loud crashing sound, high-centered on the median, and then with a squeal of her tires, got herself off of the median and took off down the street and turned. Gary and I looked at each other and I said "what was that??" As we discussed the many possibilities, we spotted her car at the stop sign about down the block, and sure enough she turned north and headed back up to the corner and turned right and pulled back into the parking area only in a different space. She sat there for a good 15 minutes while Gary and I pondered whether we should go check on her or not. Then she got out of the car, walked around it a few times, and also checked out the street to see if anyone had noticed her earlier adventure. Finally she turned and walked over to the buildings to the west of the parking lot...and into the optometrist's office. Gary went out and snuck a peak at her car and he said it looked like she'd done that before because her front grill was caved in, her left front quarter panel was banged up, and she had a red swipe of transfer running along the front left half of her car. I guess it was a good thing she was going to see the eye doctor.

It's a Rainy Day in the Neighborhood

I know we need the rain, but it's supposed to rain all week! and that will push everything back even further for us to get our roof done...urrrgh! 

Looking out my back door with my Razr

My back door view with my Canon Rebel T3

It did make for a pretty sky this morning, though. I just recently got a Canon Rebel T3 and I've been wanting to get out and take some pictures, but the weather hasn't been cooperating. I love this camera, but of course I'm a newbie with it so I have a lot to learn. Don't get me wrong, though I still love taking snaps with my Razr - it's so much fun playing with the different photo editing apps! There's a lot of criticism over people taking photos with their phones - "that's not real photography", "everybody thinks they're a photographer now because of Instagram", etc. Who cares?! What's so wrong with it? It's gotten a whole lot of people interested in photography and that should be a good thing. A kid with an okay camera on his cell phone gets hooked on Instagram, decides he wants a better camera and from there  becomes a photojournalist.  People are becoming inspired to be creative and do all kinds of things like photo journals and projects. Okay, rant over...

You can see the differences in clarity, color and resolution between the two photos pretty clearly. The only difference in how I took the photos other than equipment, of course, is where I was standing. Without seeing the bottom shot, you would say it's a really good snap particularly coming from a phone, so not bad, right? My phone camera is 8MP with HDR settings and the Rebel T3 is a 12MP digital SLR. The new Galaxy S4 phone by Samsung has a 13MP camera! Cell phone cameras are catching up.
Anyway, I am happy with my new camera and can't wait for nicer weather. Rain, rain go away - come again some other day. Actually, you know what? Rain all week, just go away for the weekend, okay?

Something You Don't See Every Day

So I see lot's of interesting things on my way to work. Since it takes me less than 5 minutes to get there, it's often a jam-packed viewing experience. Last  Thursday I only saw one interesting thing, so it was a slow day. I couldn't take a picture because I was driving. I thought I might try to catch it on my way home, but it was already gone. What I saw was the front end of a Ford truck in the bed of a truck parked over at the feed store. I'm guessing the truck that the front half was in was also a Ford, but I didn't have time to notice. At first I couldn't tell what it was - I thought maybe some kind of old coke cooler or maybe a radio console. All I could see was red and some shiny chrome. Ok - I was wearing my sunglasses, not my seeing glasses so it took me a few seconds to figure out what I was seeing. Yeah, I know, but legally I can still pass a driver's test without wearing my glasses, so there!

So if that wasn't mind-blowing enough, the next day it snowed! In May!! Not something that happens around here very often. In fact, according to a search, the last time it snowed in May in Kansas was in 1907 on the 3rd and was reported in the Topeka and Kansas City area. People are saying this is the first time in recorded history for the area that it has snowed in the Southeast Kansas area in May. I am unable to verify that info myself without paying substantial bucks for a specialized historical weather report, so I'm gonna just go with it and say it's true. Regardless, crazy weather right? The day before it was in the 80's and by late afternoon the next day it was snowing. We had about 3 inches but then by sometime early morning the temps warmed up to about 40 and it started melting off a bit. It kind of put a halt to all of the roofing going on in the area, that's for sure!

So I mentioned a couple of things that you don't normally see as a regular occurrence. What about something I do see everyday? That would have to be plastic bags in the trees. My mom used to call it Bag City because there are so many bags caught in the trees, blowing along the sidewalks, caught in fences, and rolling along the highway like tumbleweeds. But hey, I'd rather live in Bag City than Gas City, or even in Gas, Kansas (both real places). What do YOU think of when you hear Gas City??

Hail Hath No Fury Part Deux

We are still dealing with the aftermath of the nasty hail storm that hit a few weeks ago. As I mentioned before, the insurance adjuster went around our property and found every little bit of damage that the storm did and told us it would all be replaced. Then last week, he came by and gave us the break-down and the check. I was about in tears because I didn't see how on God's green Earth that pitiful amount will get any of it fixed. Here we thought that they were being really generous and everything will get replaced. Now we're trying to figure out if we will have to let go of something important in order to make sure the roof is fixed and siding is on the house - the two biggies. I felt cheated.

The Contractors assured us that it will be fine - everything will be done for what the insurance company has allowed and there won't be any out-of-pocket expenses for us. If something can't be done for the amount allowed, they (the contractors) will contact the insurance company directly and get us what we need. Also, since the insurance company will only pay for two sides of the house to be sided, and it won't match because our siding is so old, they will allow more money to get the whole house sided. If we want to upgrade from vinyl siding to hardy board, then we have to decide what things we are willing to not replace to put towards that additional cost. So that's the next step - deciding what doesn't really need replaced or whether to just go back with vinyl. I felt better.

But wait - there's more! We had to send our check to our mortgage company (Bank of America) so they could endorse it since it was made out to them and us. So now we are waiting for it to come back so we can get started on our house. It's a little frustrating seeing the number of houses that are already getting their new roofs and nothing happening at our house yet. 

I really wish I could get an aerial shot of all the roof work going on in town. On just about every street there are at minimum three houses per block with people working on rooftops. Every time I drive through town I am amazed anew by the damage and how much it looks like we recently had a running gun battle take place.

There have been so many contractors come through here, and not all of them are on the up and up. There have been quite a few arrests for operating without permits or licenses, and also for outstanding warrants. It's amazing the number of cockroaches that come out for this kind of thing. It makes it tough on the legitimate contractors as well as homeowners. I Googled our contractor to see how long they have been in business and what they are rated with the BBB, but not everyone thinks to do that. There are plenty of people who will get bamboozled, which is why City Hall is encouraging folks to call them and have the contractor screened. They can run the name against the list of contractors who have permits/licenses to operate in town and let you know their status as well as give tips on how to check on their BBB rating, etc. 

I can only imagine to what scale the insurance fraud and shady contractors Greensburg, Kansas and Joplin, Missouri experienced if it's this bad here with just hail and wind storm damage given the relatively small size of the area involved. It would certainly stretch a person's capacity for mistrust and suspicion. I am suspicious by nature however, and do a pretty thorough research job when shopping for anything, so since my husband is an impulse-kinda-guy, I get lots of opportunities to keep my snooping skills sharp ;)

On a lighter note, my new fridge has water and ice, and it and the new microwave work and look awesome! Yay!

Just Another Day in Paradise

Kamikaze birds, no turn-signal usage, and curbside furniture...just a few of my least favorite things. These are what I encountered this morning on my work commute...keep in mind my commute is at max, 5 minutes (3 if I use ridiculous speed and am able to dodge the farmers). First things first: I don't know what is wrong with the birds this morning but I had no less than three dive-bomb in front of my truck while I was driving (not all at once - different places). Thankfully I didn't hit any of them - that would have seriously screwed up my day. 

Next, I'm on 6th Street waiting to make my left turn onto Judson and the garbage truck I'm waiting on (thinking it is going straight) makes its own left turn the opposite direction. "Thanks for using a signal, you moron!" This is typical behavior for a lot of motorists in this town; stop signs, turn signals, functioning brake lights - they are all merely suggestions. Also, I should clarify "garbage truck". This is not the big hulking garbage trucks you normally see with the back roll-up door and garbage masher. No, this is a pickup with box panels attached on the bed. Here, we do have a couple of major players in the sanitation industry that use the big truck I previously mentioned, but we also have a few small-time family run businesses and enterprising individuals who also pick up garbage. Some of these have some nice trucks, not the big behemoths, but suitable for the work on a smaller scale. And then there are those that are using these slapped together panel trucks that look like they should just be dumped right along with the garbage. So professional...

Lastly (at least for this post) curbside furniture.  This is how people avoid going to the dump, or hauling their unwanted household goods to The Beacon (local charity donation point). This is also how young people living on their own without a lot of money furnish their homes. Here's how it works: You have an old couch that you need to get rid of (for whatever reason), but you a) don't have a truck, or b) don't know anyone who wants said couch, or c) it isn't fit for humans any longer so you can't donate it. What do you do? You put it out on the curb and hope someone takes it off your hands for you. If you put a sign on it that says "Free" it might take a few days for it to disappear. If you put a sign on it with a price, it will be gone by the time you get done brushing your teeth. If you don't want to put a price on it, just put it a little closer to the house as if you just moved it outside to get it out of the way. It will be gone once it turns dark. 

So, I hate it when birds or other animals fly/run out in front of me because I can't bear to hit them and more likely than not, I will cause a big ol' gnarly accident to avoid hitting them. It makes me sad  :(  I also hate it when people don't use their turn signals because it can cause accidents or in my case, cause me to yell impolite things and puts me in a bad mood. I hate the furniture on the sidewalks and in the gutters because it looks junky, and it reflects poorly on the town I live in...and also because I can't seem to stop myself from slowing down and looking...and wondering why they're getting rid of such a pretty sofa...then I remind myself - that sofa came from the crazy cat lady's house and it no doubt smells like cat spray, and I'm good. I can stop pondering the mystery - mystery solved!

So this has been a little slice of life in my dusty, Midwest paradise. Pretty typical day really. My day will be complete when the little old confused lady calls me at work to ask me what the date is today.

Taxes and Other Unnatural Disasters

It's tax time - Yay! ...or not! A lot of people who filed with Educational Credits and some other types of credits, got thrown for a loop this year. Because our government is stupid (sorry, but hey! I only speak truth), the IRS couldn't accept Education Credit Form 8863 until February 14, 2013. Anybody who filed prior to that date with that credit had their return held until the IRS could receive it. At the same time, the IRS was cracking down on fraud, so a larger number of returns were pulled this season than in previous seasons. Now if all of that wasn't enough, some tax preparers (H&R Block being the largest, and Jackson-Hewitt and Turbo Tax having smaller numbers of affected people) were using outdated 8863 forms and the IRS's system was reading them as blank, but it wasn't caught until about the first week of March. The IRS had to manually fix those forms, and it caused a delay of epic proportions. People were confused, angry, and in despair, and regardless of what others may think, poor people (and some not-so-poor people) rely on their tax returns for a variety of reasons, so no judging!! 

Our tax return was caught up in this mess, and it was a horrible experience. I would call the IRS to find out what was happening and every time I got a different answer. Some of the people flat lied, and others were rude, and you couldn't trust anything any of them said.  And H&R Block wasn't much better, although less rude. I finally found out what was wrong by doing a Google search. Once I knew, I called H&R Block back to see what they had to say. They acted like they didn't have a clue what I was talking about. A few phone conversations down the road, they promised to call me with progress reports or just to check in and let me know they were "there" for me. None of that happened. I called corporate offices and spoke to a lady who was very nice about filing a complaint and requesting my filing fee be returned to me for unsatisfactory service - they do have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. She explained that a regional manager would be contacting me within 3-5 business days - that never happened either. And I wasn't alone - hundreds of thousands of people who were affected by this and no one was getting any answers. H&R Block finally posted an announcement on their Facebook page, if you can imagine that, and people were furious. Finally in a letter from the C.E.O. of H&R Block on their blog about the middle of March, was posted the real story and accepted responsibility. That should make the class action suit against them easier to do. Week before last, I got $30 back from H&R Block and a hopeful request for me to continue to use them for our tax needs. I don't think that will be happening.

When we got our taxes prepared with H&R Block on February 12th, afterwards we went to Joplin to pick up my husband's new computer, and then we went to Sears to take a look at refrigerators. We found one on sale and it was such a good sale that we decided to put it on layaway, thinking that in 2-3 weeks we'll have out tax money back and can pay it off early. We thought wrong! Every two weeks until we finally got our return on March 28th we had to make a payment on that refrigerator. During that time when our return wasn't received and we didn't know what was happening and then when we knew what the problem was but not when our money would come, we were under such stress! We are in that group of po' folk who use their return to make major purchases (like a refrigerator) or pay off bills, or remodel the house. We were really sweating it, because that bi-weekly payment was killing us. We're talking a $2000 refrigerator @ $300 every two weeks!

Finally on March 28th, we got our money so on Tuesday April 2nd, we took a trip to Joplin and paid off the refrigerator, and bought a new microwave that matched but they couldn't deliver the 'fridge until April 11th. So I had to wait another 10 days to get it. In order to just pay one delivery fee, I had them put my microwave for delivery with the 'fridge - no biggie, right?

Isn't it pretty?

So, this past Thursday Sears came with my new appliances...or so I thought. My refrigerator came, but my microwave was not on the truck. The delivery/installation team was super nice and wonderfully efficient until it came time to install the water line. No compression fitting was to be seen anywhere and it was a necessary little part that allows the water line from the refrigerator to pair with the line running to the water source. Long story short (I know, too late!) Sears is sending a fitting they found in the store along with my microwave this coming Thursday (April 18th). Until then, I have a beautiful new Samsung refrigerator that doesn't dispense water or ice. 

Lot's of room, and a freezer underneath!

Now, back to that letter from H&R Block hoping that they will see us next year for our business: They sent me a crappy $30 when it cost me $220 to file, never did anything they said they would as far as informing me of what was happening, or contacting me, and acted like they didn't know anything was even wrong when I called even though it was all over the news, internet, and papers. No, I'm not going back, but those aren't the only reasons. For the last three years, their service has gone down in quality. I can no longer count on getting the same preparer, let alone an experienced one. This year the woman doing our taxes told me she had just completed her 6 weeks of training on January 21st... :o  I'm fairly certain they hire new people every tax season because other than the owner, I haven't seen anyone I recognize from previous years, and for the last three years, our preparers has had to ask the owner how to do the Education Credit Form. We actually discussed NOT going to H&R Block this year, but then decided to go ahead, thinking it was cheaper than going to a CPA. Wrong again! My boss got his and his son's taxes done at an accountant for less than we paid. So, no, I'm not going back, and it's not just because of one little screw up. Are they solely to blame for the fiasco? No, the IRS didn't help the situation by lying to people, and we already know it's pointless to even attempt to have respect for most government offices, so decisions often come down to "who will jack with me less?" The government will always screw things up - that's a given. Choosing a company to do business with that you can respect is important, and who can respect a company who can't own up to a mistake?

Now I want to close this on a happy note. Remember back this summer when I lost my glasses (see So Much for Karma)? Well I finally got some new glasses. They aren't the same ones, but pretty similar, so I can see good again and they're pretty  :)

Hail Hath No Fury...

I know - it's supposed to be "Hell hath no fury..." but that would ruin my little pun because I'm talking about hail. Last Sunday we had a nasty storm blow through and with it came hail. Now, I live in the Midwest - Kansas - and we are known for large hail, hail the size of golf balls and baseballs. But in the 16 years that I have lived here, the biggest hail I have ever personally seen in our community is about the size of a grape - still rather impressive for a girl from Southern California. 

What I saw hitting my house and bouncing off of my glass french doors, deck, barbeque grill,and everything else, was golf ball size and larger - about the size of a nectarine. I've talked to people who have lived here their whole lives and most of them say they've never had hail that large around here in their lifetime. The picture of the hail with the penny is one I grabbed from the front porch - in a hurry! I didn't want to get beaned and earn myself a possible concussion, so I just grabbed what was available with the door open just a couple of inches. It's not one of the largest ones by any means, but I wasn't going to risk stitches in my head, know what I mean? The other picture is from my front yard. It's hard to see it, but it looks like a bunch of white toadstools just popped up. Some of these were hitting so hard that they exploded on impact.

That Sunday evening my husband was working (he started back with the city Police Dept. in January), I had an assignment due, and a bunch of laundry to finish before school and work the next day, so I and my youngest stayed home from church, otherwise my truck would have been outside during the storm and not safely under our carport in the back. Tucker, as the only member of the family at church that evening, said that several of the stained glass windows got broken and almost all of the storm glass covering the stained glass got damage, and all of the cars in the parking lot have dents all over them. My husband drove his patrol car under the carport and thereby saved it from a lot of damage. All of the other cars except for his and one other had broken lights, glass, and dents all over the place.

The next day driving to work showed a town that looked like it had been through a shootout and lost. We have a few dozen instances of holes in our siding, just one broken storm window, a couple of damaged screens - not nearly as bad a lot of people. Some of these houses with siding look like they were peppered with automatic gunfire. Houses with wooden siding look like they have been sandblasted - most of the paint is gone on the west and north sides of the houses. There are broken windows everywhere, which are being boarded up, and overall there is a lot of roof damage, with blue tarps seen on numerous roofs.

By Friday, our town was inundated with contractors - cars and trucks with ladders attached to them and so much advertising on the vehicles, you'd run the risk of having an accident trying to read it all. We got no less than 8 forms of advertising on our door, and several more in the mail just on Friday alone. There are warnings all over the local news channels and in the papers advising people to thoroughly vet contractors to avoid being scammed. 

We have State Farm and our adjuster came out this morning and met with the contractor we selected and together they went all over the house and the roof. Apparently our roof is totaled, as is the roof on the carport. I found pieces of roofing material in the yard last week so Bobby went up on the roof and did find damage, but he wasn't sure to what extent. I guess it's bad, lol. The adjuster has determined that our roof will be replaced, along with our metal garage door, my french doors on the deck, all of the screens on the west and north sides of the house, the broken storm window, and the siding on the west and north sides of the house. However, if a match cannot be found for the existing siding, then all of the siding will be replaced. The contractor told us that siding manufacturers change the colors and styles every few years, and ours is old enough that most likely we'll be looking at all four sides of the house being done. My problem is that I didn't want to go with vinyl siding again, but insurance will only cover materials that are comparable to what is currently existing on the house. I guess if we get another damaging storm go through that ruins vinyl siding that was just replaced, they might have to rethink that policy. Homes with that concrete-type siding didn't get any damage at all to it. It's definitely worth thinking about.

That Time of Year

Here we are again - December. The Christmas season is upon us. It's that time of year that some people try to avoid at all costs and others embrace. I love Christmas, and I believe in saying "Merry Christmas." I'll say "Happy Holidays" if I'm referring to the holidays as a group, and while I object to the Politically Correct Police who are trying to take Christ out of Christmas (and everything else!), I don't flip out if someone says Happy Holidays to me.

This year Christmas is going to be pretty slim around my house. Bobby ran for Sheriff but lost, and the next day was told to turn in his equipment, "and oh, by the way, can you submit a letter of resignation?" They want that letter so that they don't look like the bad guy and hopefully are able to wriggle out of any unemployment obligations. Bobby refused to submit a resignation letter, however, so now we're waiting for unemployment to get back to him with a decision. Almost 4 weeks! I don't make enough to keep us afloat, and although Bobby is trying to find work, there's nothing yet. I may have to try to find something part-time too...

Today is my birthday and with all of that on my shoulders and what is looming ahead, it's been a rather depressing day. Not because I won't get birthday gifts or a fancy dinner out, but because two people that I really wanted to hear from on my birthday were no-shows. How hard is it to text someone birthday wishes? How long does it take to send out an email? In this day of advanced technology and social media overload, video calls on your phone even, why is it so hard for people to connect? In actuality, it isn't difficult to connect, not really. It's all about "me"; "I'm so busy", "things are so crazy right now." They're excuses because we are so wrapped up in ourselves and our busy lives that we flat didn't think about anything else. Oh, we might have had a thought drift through but we quickly put it out of our mind by saying "I'll call later when things settle down" only, later never happens. I know what I'm talking about because I have caught myself doing it on occasion. When the guilt becomes overwhelming, we post something on Facebook - we could do better, but at least it's something...I guess. On the upside, though, my BFF since fourth grade texted me and that seriously improved my day :)

So, I won't be able to give fancy gifts this year, but I can give my time and of myself by saying "Merry Christmas" and meaning it, calling or contacting people important to me and letting them know I care, and helping out where needed. We don't have a homeless shelter here, or a soup kitchen, but I can definitely find some way to donate my time and skills. 

Our lights are up and we're a bit late getting the tree up, but that's happening this week, so we're ready for the season.  Bring it on!