Tales of poo,…

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The last two weeks have been insane and nonstop drama.  Let’s see, it all began with the poop storm within my apartment,… literally.  Just moments after Ashley and Donovan left for school last Friday, I heard the sudden whoosh of a large amount of water.  So I walked back towards the bathrooms, only to discover that water was pouring from the hallway ceiling and light fixture right outside the master bath, as well as from the top of the door leading to the master bedroom.  Upon further investigation.I discovered there was a deluge inside that bath, pouring from the vent inside.  Within seconds it was deep enough that I had to roll up my jeans and I was in ankle deep water.  Thank the Goddess, I was wearing a dark blue t-shirt, or it would have gotten obscene in moments, because the thing was sticking to me, soaking wet.  So, I headed upstairs to tell my neighbor that her bathroom was exploding into my house and to get her to turn off her water,… which she never did.  So she called the maintenance guy and the real fun began!  My ceiling rained for over two hours, flooding several feet into both back bedrooms, and 2/3 of the way down the hall.  The mildew began almost immediately, as it was a hot day.  Being as that I am deathy allegric to the stuff, that is NOT a good time!  Our Slum Lord gives NO authority to the maintenance guy, Wayne, so we were stuck in a giant hell hole for freakin’ HOURS until the Slum Lord returned Wayne’s repeated calls.  As the water slowed, we also realized that this was NOT clean water, but poopy water,… which I was now wearing.  In my hair.  On my clothes.  On my skin.  Lovely.  Corey came home early, not an easy feat for a soldier, since it became clear that this was not going to be good.  This all started at about 0730, and Slum Lord didn’t call in until,… wait for it,.. 1430.  And even then, he wouldn’t listen to Wayne’s recommendation that the two bedrooms, the hallway and both bathroom floors needed to be ripped up.  No, apparently he had to see it for himself.  So, we got to live in mildew, poo-infested hell until he decided he could get his lazy ass here to look at it at 1630.  Only to determine the same damn thing that Wayne had been telling him.  All those hours wasted that we could have been getting this crap fixed.  So we basically had until 0800 the next morning to completely empty 2 bedrooms, all while trying to live in the house.  The smell was overwhelming.

So, bright and early at 0800, Wayne arrived to tear up the rugs.  He had left us two huge fans the night before which definately helped with the smell, at least a little.  But even more of a help was the fact that he let us use the empty apartment across the hall for our big stuff, since these places are too small to unload rooms and still be able to live safely.  Then Corey and I got to spend the day cleaning up leftover carpet padding, major sweeping and a serious mopping of the cement subfloors with antibacterial stuff.  It was a delight.  The only upside is that it gave us a surface to be able to paint on without worrying too much about drips.  So I took advantage and Corey and painted some bookshelves candy apple red and they are now in my living room, creating shelf space in my crafty nook.  The down side was that the carpet and linoleum guy wasn’t coming until Monday morning, according to Slum Lord.  So that meant living in chaotic hell for the weekend, what fun.  But come Monday morning, we discovered the guy wasn’t coming until after lunch.  Well, “after lunch” came and went and no carpet guy.  Mind you, Corey had gotten his NCO to give him the day off to help me move the big stuff back in, so we had limited time.  So when, you might ask, did the guy finally show up?  1630!!  Yes, 4:30pm for the civilians.  One guy started with the bedrooms and the other started with the bathrooms.  They had to take out the toilets to lay the linoleum and when they did, they discovered that the walls in the OTHER bathroom were rotted out and they wouldn’t be able to replace the toilet when they were finished with the floor, so no toilet in that one until TUESDAY morningAnd if that weren’t enough, they also discovered that the tank bolts were rusted through, unable to be replaced.  So by the time we were finished, we ended up with 2 new carpets in the back 2 bedrooms, linoleum in the 2 baths, new hallway carpet and 2 new toilets.  Of course the living room and the other two bedrooms don’t match the new rug, and the playroom, kitchen, laundry room and foyer no longer match the bathrooms.  And I pay for this. 

You would think that would be enough, right?  WRONG!  That’s what you get for thinking!  The ceiling in the master bath is soaked and the smell is still overpowering, of poop AND of mildew and mold.  Wayne replace the vent with a whole new fan, filter, etc., but it isn’t helping.  On top of that, it is mildewing all across the ceiling and I can’t even take a shower without being ill.  I give up trying to deal with Slum Lord since apparently having boobs and ovaries makes you worthless, so Corey has been trying and trying to get ahold of him to fix the damn thing.  I love Wayne, but his hands are tied by the Slum Lord, so I blame him.  In a big, hateful way.  Because apparently as long as he doesn’t have to allow things to be fixed properly, I get to have the privlege of paying to live in a place that makes me ill.  <insert curse words here>


Awkward moments & NaNoWriMo

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NEVER fall asleep with Oxygen on your TV.
Some people sleep walk, some people sleep eat.  I apparently sleep channel-surf.  When I fell asleep I was watching NBC and the end of Jimmy Fallon.  When I woke up, the Oxygen network was on and I was viewing a rather large array of,… um,… personal pleasure devices!  It took me a moment to reach the level of clarity necessary to realize that I was lying in bed, snuggled with my little guy, and watching a inhumanly large shocking pink phallus rotating at impossible speeds in impossibly large circles.  It didn’t look like it might be fun; it looked like a hard to explain trip to the ER.  Fortunately for me, the yard ape stayed snuggled and asleep so there were no awkward conversations need at 2am!  I did, however, change the channel.  Cold Case on TNT is a lot easier to deal with at that hour!

Gearing up for NaNoWriMo,…
I am truly hoping that I do better with NaNoWriMo this year than I have the last couple, especially last year.  They tell you to just write, not to edit and change things as you go.  Those things come later, after the month is over.  But when one is anal as I am about such things, that is a tall order!  But they are absolutely right, because my word count for the month was DISMAL!  I have fleshed out a story line, but there is something about it that I just don’t like and I don’t know what it is.  I can only hope it straightens itself out as I write.  Donovan is doing it this year, too, so that should be fun.  I have WAY more faith in my kid than I do me!  You can visit our profiles with the links under my NaNoWriMo badge in the menu under “Mama on the Net”.  We start November 1st!


I HATE WORMS, &, quite possibly, Miss California!

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I am a worm hater.
I know,… who actually likes worms?!  At least, who over the age of 7?!  I mean, I know they are good for the garden and the environment so I give them props for that, but I could live without seeing them quite so much.  It rained last night and they are everywhere.  Just walking from my apartment to the bus stop was like moving through a minefield,… a minefield of icky, slimy things.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not scared of them, just thoroughly grossed out by them.  Probably a result of too many times “playing” in the mud in the Army!

Miss California
I think there were about a million less offensive ways Miss California could have answered her question about her feelings on gay marriage.  I give her props for being true to herself and her beliefs and not saying what people wanted to hear, even if I vehemently disagree with her viewpoint on the subject, but I think there were definately other less offensive ways that she could have remained true to herself.  But be that as it may, I think it is RIDICULOUS how much crap is going on about that question having been asked at all.  Other judges asked similarly politcally charged questions as well, and even they seem to be taking some heat for it.  Matt Lauer made the comment that most of the questions given at these pageants allow for answers about the desire for world peace and cute puppy dogs, and he is right.  Hence why these things are generally mindless.  Why is it so wrong that relevant, intelligent questions are asked of these women?  This is a politically charged time for our country and I just don’t think there is anything wrong with asking these questions of women who are supposed to be role models for today’s girls.  The uproar over these questions just puts forward the idea that women don’t need to be intelligent and informed, just look good in a bathing suit and an evening gown.  Bah!