Just desserts

Today has been a very l-o-n-g day. It started off by getting up at 0500hrs and cutting E's hair. Then jumping in the shower, breakfasting, taking my meds and heading out the door at 0645. For today was the day we took TSS to court to get the child support modified. We were both very stressed out and I myself personally had been awake since before 0300 mulling things over in my head. I don't know how long I laid there trying to get back to sleep, but it felt like just as I did, it was time to get up! It was chilly this morning and my bare legs felt the wind whistling round them as we crossed from the parking lot to the new courthouse. It was a totally new building from the one E had gotten his divorce at, and was so fresh and clean looking, almost hospital-like.

When we got to the court dealing with our hearing, we saw TSS sitting outside. She had made absolutely NO effort! No make up, hair scraped back off her face, and wearing casual clothes. Her attorney seemed like she was bi-polar: one minute her mood was sweetness and light, the next she was spitting fire at everyone. Most strange.

Our attorney Kim arrived very calm and collected. She went into a conference room with Miss BP and began to bump heads over the case. E said that it sounded like it was getting rather heated in there. Kim came out and started going on about how TSS was going to try to make both of us look as bad as possible. She had been lying to her own attorney about CPS. She told her they had dropped the case against her as it was unfounded. (I will expound on that later on). She also told her I had been bad mouthing her in front of the kids (she must be thinking of what SHE has been up to). She also stated she was back in school (another lie). And then the piece de la resistance: she wanted to drag the whole "I was only 15 when I got married", he took advantage BS. Anyway, I digress...TSS was prepared to try and drag E's name through the mud and that was that. Kim however put Miss BP straight and quite flatly told her "That has NOTHING to do with the child support modification". She TRIED to bring it up in front of the judge, and he shut her up there and then. It made TSS and her "Pro Bono" attorney look extremely stupid and petty! I guess you get what you pay for.

The outcome was a good one. We got it modified to a reasonable amount and an arrangement to start to pay off the arrearage. The judge also ordered it to be a FINAL payment and not a temporary stay which was what was originally intended. That suits us because it costs us less in fees. We will get some money back and that is a good deal as far as we are concerned.

After the court ordeal, believe it or not, I had to compose myself to have an interview. It was a very casual affair and the guy seemed nice. The money will not be fantastic, but it will be regular wages as opposed to waiting for a client to MAYBE get their nails done and there is scope for promotion and advancement. What is this job? It's just a receptionist at an Insurance Agency. I will be helping three agents out at an office near to our new house. My MIL actually put me on to them as they are part of her area that she covers and she knew they needed someone with an ounce of intelligence! Apparently I have just over the ounce, so qualify! He seemed to like me, so fingers crossed, I should have some news in the next couple of days on that!

It looks like the house will be ready sooner than we thought. They called today to say that one of the vinyl floor coverings we ordered was out of stock and would we like the same one throughout the "wet areas". I agreed as both designs were fairly plain and nice, so really was no big deal. The mortgage company requested all the pay checks, bank statements etc and it seems to be moving quickly. After seeing it on Saturday, I can really believe it is almost done. You can check out the progress with the link to the right of the page.

We had the kids over at the weekend. I am really disheartened that despite how WE hold our tongues about TSS when the kids are present, SHE feels the need to badmouth us the moment she gets the chance to. E's eldest approached me on Sunday whilst he was at work and asked why his daddy wanted to take them away from his mommy. I asked him where he had got such an idea from. He again reiterated the conversation he had had with his mom after E had fought with her on the phone about the child support. The SECOND she got off the phone, she told J that daddy wanted to take him and K away from her. When E asked her about this before, she flatly denied it and said he was making it up. Kids do not remember stuff like that if they are making it up. His story matched the one from two weeks ago. *sigh*

It was K's 5th birthday on Saturday. Money was tight as we'd had a $440 payment stripped from E's wage by CSA. It left us short for our rent which we still have to find, but I did bake her a cake and got her a new outfit to wear. I know it's not much, but apparently, we got her more than ANYONE at her house did. TSS bought her NOTHING, her grandparents got her NOTHING. Thankfully we got her a small something and so did E's parents. *sigh* And they wonder WHY we are pissed about her having money for the kids? We know full well that it won't go on the kids at all! :-( This is K in her new outfit we got her (I have NEVER seen this child wear a dress or skirt, ever)



Back to the CPS deal. I managed to get a hold of the case worker this morning whilst E was in the courtroom. Now TSS reckoned it had been closed and they were no longer investigating her. I managed to speak with her NEW case worker who said she had been trying to get a hold of her unsuccessfully. I wrote the details on a card and gave them to Kim to pass onto Miss BP/TSS. It would maybe prove to Miss BP what a f****** liar TSS really is!

Physical Therapy tomorrow, yay! :-/ Bed now, YAYYYYYY!!! Nite nite

What a pain in the neck!

This morning after I had gotten dressed, something "snapped" in my neck and I suddenly zoomed back 8 weeks to the day after the car accident. The pain meds weren't even touching it! I tried to rest on the couch. Nothing. I walked about. Nope, that wasn't helping any. I DAREN'T do any stretching cause I knew my previous obtainable goals had now been moved way off into the distance. So what did I do? I walked gingerly to the store and bought me some super duper "Therma Care" pads. OMG heaven in a box! You stick the pad across the afflicted area (in my case, my neck and shoulders) and it reacts with the air and heats up. You can wear them for up to 8hrs and then you throw them away. Kind of expensive at $8.49 for three, but VERY soothing and is helping A LOT! *sigh*

I may have me another job to go to. I will tell more as and when I find out about it. Watch this space!

It's K's birthday tomorrow and I have to go bake a cake. Bye for now!

She's b-a-c-k...

We collected Tabitha from PetSmart last night and she finally came home with us. $35 please! We gave her a bath as she was a bit smelly from being in the vets and I think peeing on herself! One stressful bath time later and she was wandering around trying to shake the water out of her paws. She ate, drank and used the litter tray so I guess she is back on the road to recovery. Chrystine (our other cat) won't go near Tabitha or any of us and hisses and spits. I'm not sure if it's the vet's she can smell, or just that we washed Tabitha's scent away and she now smells all new to her like a stranger. I dunno! I tried taking some pictures of her with her cute blue bandage on but she wasn't a willing model for me, so not sure how those are going to look!
This morning, my neighbor kindly ran us both back to PetSmart to have her bloodwork checked out to make sure she was ok again and get the catheter removed from her front paw. Another $78 please!


With her bandage on


Trying to get some rest after her ordeal. They shaved my fuzzy girl's paw!

The bandage is off and she has this poor little patch on her leg where they have shaved her. Bless.

I haven't slept well the past few nights so am going to have a lay down. Ciao for now!

Give me a sharp knife and ten minutes....

Just TEN freaking minutes alone with this b*stard! I watched this on the news last night. I felt physically sick and I cried HARD for her (my daughter is 9). This is not far from where my husband works...

She's stable

$224 lighter, and Tabitha is on her way to the Pet Hospital down the street. She was very scared and I guess somewhat mad at me. Everything was going ok until I was asked to sign a form. "Ma'am, in the event of heart failure, please check what you would like us to do. Either DNR (Do Not Resuscitate), CPR, or Open Heart Massage". Well that was the final straw. I burst into floods of tears. I never in my wildest dreams imagined having to do anything like this for ANYONE, let alone my fuzzy girl. They said they would call if there was anything wrong and that no news, was good news. It hadn't even entered my mind that this might be an issue. I left the pet hospital a sniffling mess.

At just before midnight, my cell phone rang. It was the pet hospital. My heart leapt into my throat as I feared the worst. I breathed a sigh of relief as all they wanted was to give her an enema as she hadn't passed any of the charcoal yet and the IBP could be re-absorbed via her colon and bowels. I TRIED to get back to sleep but tossed and turned for the most part of it.

I got up and 5am today and got myself prepared to go collect Tabitha and take her to the vet at PetSmart again. She looked very upset with me and scared too. She finally came out of the corner of the cage and finally let me pet her. After about 5mins of some loving, she started to purr. I felt a bit more at ease with my conscience. A payment of $256 to the pet hospital and we were back on our way to PetSmart. She will be there all day under observation and continuing the IV fluids. Hopefully, she is on the road to recovery now.

It's A Cat's Life

This morning whilst eating my toast, I noticed the kitten batting something around on the carpet. When I looked down, she had my multi-vitamin pill. I quickly took it away from her and dumped it back in the cup I load my pills into ready for when I am done eating. I look and look again. One of my Ibuprofen pills is missing. There should be three, but there's only two. Oh SH*T! I frantically start looking around for it and it's nowhere to be seen. I call the vet and they tell me that it can cause the kidneys to fail and I need to get her to the vet's office ASAP.

I scoop up the kitten, get her into the pet carrier and start to frantically try and get a taxicab to come out. It's 8.00am, good luck with that plan.

I call the vet back in tears and they tell me to call the ASPCA Poison Control Center. They tell me I STILL need to get her to the vet and that's $55 for telling you that thanks very much!

My neighbor pulled up, so I ran to his apartment and burst into tears when he opened the door. He has a dog, so he understood where I was coming from and offered to take me and bring me back. I said not to worry about waiting for me and he should just go to work.

They weighed her and took her straight in to get treatment started. They are going to try to flush her system with IV fluids and charcoal in an attempt to stop it from harming her. If left untreated, the IBP could cause her kidneys to shut down.

We have to go get her tonight before 6 when the vet at PetSmart closes and then take her to the pet hospital down the street where she needs to stay in overnight. Just the day at PetSmart's vet will cost around $200+. I don't even wanna think about the hospital's charges.

I've turned the apartment upside down looking for the missing pill. I can't find it. I feel like sh*t. My poor fuzzy girl. :-(( This was taken yesterday. One of her comfort zones (on top of my monitor watching me on the pc. *sniff*

Mwah ha ha

I am really looking forward to the court hearing next week. TSS reckons we are going to be opening up a whole can of worms. I think she thought it would be US who would be at the receiving end of those wriggly things. I think however, it will be her. Life can be so sweet sometimes. HEY, watch out for the karma van! Hehehe

Fa-Bee or not Fa-Bee?

Fa-Bee. Have you ever seen Married With Children where Kelly (the typical blonde daughter) pronounces FBI as Fa-Bee? Oh well, I guess it's not funny if ya have to explain it!

Anyway, this morning we trotted off to see Immigration in Dallas. We had our interview back in August and were told we were still pending waiting on the FBI check to come back. We figured 5 months later, they might have some answers for us. Nope, still pending. *sigh*

The drama continues...

Tss was served Thurday night. I would loved to have been a fly on the wall when she was handed those! LMFAO. She called up here hissing and spitting about what kind of games we were playing. "Well hey, YOU TOLD US to take you to court, so we are!"

Physical Therapy was hard work on Friday. Melissa added some more exercises for my knee and back and I got the heat and ice treatment. Somehow ice on my knee isn't as bad as laying my back onto a huge slab of it! LOL She said that the spasms seem to have died down some since I started going, which is all good.

More dramas with the insurance company from hell. They tried to charge US for the tear down fee and the 17 days worth of storage over at Service King, something which THEY are liable for, not us! After many heated calls back and forth and more advice from the Texas Dept of Insurance, they backed down and paid it. Now hubs has been doing some research into what is legal and just business practice, and it would seem to be the case, that they are being extremely underhand and are NOT offering us a FAIR price for the car. We have to do some homework and will fight them tooth and nail over it if necessary. The funny thing is, that FULL settlement has to be released and payment in hand by the 60th day after the accident. Now that doesn't mean them sending us a check for what THEY feel is fair and walking away. It means we have to be happy with their offer and sign the release papers for them to have the vehicle. IF it goes over the 60 day mark, they have to apply for an extension and try to worm their way around the laws. It will only strengthen our complaint against them with the TDI, hehehe.

More work has been done on the house, you can check on that by clicking the link over there - - - >

Hubs at work today and I am trying to get sh*tloads done. My neck and shoulders are really aching today and I don't feel like doing anything! *sigh*

A-affordable? More like A-ASSHOLES!

DON'T get me started on what a bunch of f****** a-holes they ALL are over at that company! They have finally returned my voicemail from yesterday and are offering a pathetic $5700 total for the car. We paid well over $7000 for it in June and with the really low mileage it had on it, we will never be able to get another bargain like that. Plus the transmission work we had done on it that cost us $650....I am so mad right now I could scream!

I suggested to E that we buy the car off the insurance company and part it out for spares on Ebay. I don't know how else we are going to get our money back. We still owe my parents on the vehicle and are going to take a big loss otherwise. This sucks ass.

Insurance Madness

***Start rant***

It seems to me, that her insurance company have to be one of the worst companies I have ever had to deal with (in regards to any matter, not just insurance). Having had no luck in getting any kind of returned phone calls from them, let alone answers, hubs decided it was time to call in the big guys. He left voicemail for the adjustor's supervisor. We shall name him Mr S. Mr S returned said voicemail and stated quite matter-of-factly that they were taking my car away from Service King for further investigation and assessment. I guess they didn't believe Service King when they told them the car was a total loss.

Now bear in mind, the car has been sitting at SK for TWO weeks now and was totaled the day after it was taken in. The insurance company have been fully aware of this and have done NOTHING in regards to settling the claim. All the while, they are racking up $25 a day in storage fees.

I called SK. They knew nothing of them taking my car and said they would not release it to them without my permission.

I then get a call from a towing company. I explain to her that they in no way have permission to take my car unless a settlement has been reached!

We figured that with the low mileage the car had on it and the condition it was in pre-crash, we would be hard pushed to find another one for under $10,000. So, subtract the $2500 they have already given us, and a check for $7,500 would work, (maybe).

This company have done nothing but nit-pick the whole time and you would think that considering the accident occurred on Dec 03 2005, and that their insured was 100% at fault and admitted such, that something would have been finalized by now. To say that I am angry is a little short of an understatement! We are without my car and without a check to replace it!

***End of rant***

Cellphone Shenanigans

Cost of Motorola RAZR V3 $81
Cost of line rental per month $30
Taking pic of hubby asleep like a baby with HIS RAZR $0
Applying it as wallpaper on his phone $0
Him finding it this morning & not knowing how to change it: PRICELESS

Holy Sh-e-e-e-e-e-t

Still feeling a bit achy after Thursday's physio session, but I have been trying to do my exercises regardless of that as I just want to get back on track again.

Up at the butt-crack of dawn today (sorry about that Dawn) as we had craploads of stuff to get done. First port of call was a much needed Starbuck's Peppermint Mocha. Aaaaaaah, heaven in a cup! "Do you want whipped cream with that ma'am?" (does a bear sh*t in the woods?) So one for me and one for hubs, and we are on our way. The house has been sheet-rocked and you can see the photos of the house progress HERE. There are seven pages up now!

We pick up the kids and have an interesting conversation with P (their grandmother, TSS's mom). Apparently SHE is none too happy at having the kids dumped on her all week whilst TSS goes off flying here there and everywhere doing whatever! She told us her "friend" paid for the ticket. I asked if the friend also paid her loss of wages for the week she took off to go up there....umm, no! J has been really disrespectful to his grandma and she asked if WE could try talking to him as TSS is having no effect (no shock there then). Also, we discovered that TSS has been saying that we are going to take them away from their home to go live with us and J said he was mad at his dad. That is not a nice thing to come out of a 6yr old's mouth. We will be having words about that! Not only that, but the kids told me that the Easter bunny I got for J got GIVEN to a friend of TSS's!!! WTF does she think she is doing? That was a gift from us to him. What right does she have to do that? K said she tried to get it off of her, but she took it anyway. What a b*tch!

I did some market research today for the first time in weeks and got $54 for an hour's work. I also drove for the first time since the car wreck. It was a bit ouchy in my shoulders as E's car doesn't have power steering and it was hurting to turn the wheel.

I got a cute shirt for just under $9 at Walmart. It will be a nice one for when I finally get back to working. There was another one there I liked the look of too, but I had to draw the line at just the one as I WAS supposed to be getting food! ;-)

Anyway, I am going to go and do my physio "homework". Be good readers! ;-)

Legal eagle

We saw a lawyer. It could take a lot of time and money which we don't have to get the Child Support reduced to a sensible, legal and affordable amount. *shrugs*

Watch this space *hopes for a miracle*.

Let's get physical, physical...

I started physiotherapy yesterday. This is how that went:

I fill out a mountain (or so it seems) of icky paperwork. I then get introduced to Melissa who is going to be my physiotherapist. She takes me through into this room that looks a bit like a gym but with lots of other weird gadgets and gizmos in it. She starts asking me tons of questions and taking notes. She does a few tests on me to see what hurts and what kind of pain I am feeling (ummm...the kind that hurts?). I also do some strength tests in my arms and legs. The legs are linked to the lower back problems and the arms are linked to the neck and shoulder problems. For someone who used to work out 3-4 times a week, I am as weak as a kitten and can barely resist her with any of the tests she does. *sigh* Then we go through some exercises.

I see her approach me with what looks like the thing they take your blood pressure with. She inflates the cushion behind the curve in my lower back and asks me to push my tummy back in against it thus forcing my back to flatten said cushion. She hands me the gauge and tells me it has to drop to 20 when relaxed and go passed 40 when I am pushing. It wasn't easy and I felt pain in my back when doing it, but she says it will help me in the long run. She called those pelvic tilts.

Now I have to do some "Bridges". I am laying on my back with my knees bent and the soles of my feet on the bed. She asks that I raise my butt off the couch as high as I can. OUCH. Needless to say, my butt doesn't get very far! :-(

She then wants me to try and push my neck against another inflatable pillow thingy and get the gauge to go as high as I can. That didn't feel too good either.

Some stretching and head pulling to loosen up the neck muscles too.

I can do these exercises at home despite not having the inflatable thingy and suggests a few times a day will help.

Now to the fun/weird stuff. We go over to another couch and I am asked to lay on my tummy and rest my forehead on my hands which I have formed into an open triangle shape. Melissa starts kneading, pushing, rubbing, various parts of my neck and the back of my head, not to mention pulling my head (I wonder if it will come off in her hands, now THAT would be funny LOL). Now for the most part, this felt good and I was actually getting some kind of sick relief from it. THEN, she moves down to my lower back and starts pushing with I would say most of her body weight onto various areas. I can feel my eyes filling up with tears as the pain shoots through my spine. What a relief when that is over!

Now onto the really nice part! I have about 8 pads stuck to my neck, shoulders and lower back/top of my butt. I am then asked to lay down over the top of two pads, each covered with a towel. The pads are very warm, like a hot bath kind of mperature. Not uncomfortable, but just nice, ya know? Then the real fun starts! Have any of you ever had a "Slender Tone" treatment for weight loss/losing inches? Well it was kind of like that. These pads started to vibrate and I could set them to a level I felt comfy with. So I am set to "bake" for 15mins. It felt really good and I could feel it starting to help me big time. Then Melissa straps herself to my bent legs and starts to lean back. "This is traction Tracy and it's going to help to pull out your back some". OUCH. I didn't like that part!

One sweaty back, neck and a $13.50 co-pay later, I am off on my way! My next appointment is Tuesday.

This morning, I feel horrible (just like she said I would). Nothing is easing the pain today and even standing in the hot shower's cascade didn't take the edge off it one bit. Someone put me to sleep PLEASE?!

The car saga continue-eth. We have STILL not heard back about the car as to what her insurance company intend to do about our totaled vehicle. They are not returning our phone calls, nor are they returning Service King's phone calls. The car was totaled TEN days ago and they should have done SOMETHING by now. So, the matter is now being passed over to the Department of Insurance and being treated as an official complaint! This company have done nothing but mess us about from day one!

I've been listing some stuff on Ebay to try and help get some money coming in and out of the 9 items, one has already sold. Now if we can just get the other stuff to sell...

Watch out for the sh*t!

Where do I begin? The sh*t has really hit the fan big time here!

TSS only agreed to sign the divorce decree originally after E agreed to giving her $800 a month in Child Support (DOUBLE what he should have had to pay). We knew we could get it lowered by saying change of circumstances, lifestyle change, lower wage etc but it could take time. For eleven months out of 2004, he coughed up $800 and we went short because of it.

In December of 2004, he lost the job that he secured when we first came over. We had just moved into a new apartment and I wasn't legally allowed to work at that point. Luckily, he managed to get a job working for a temp agency, but in the mean time, we'd fallen behind whilst he was out of work with ALL of our bills. The only thing we kept on top of was our rent.

The longer it went on, the more we knew we had to get the child support lowered for us to survive. He sent all the paperwork in to the Office of the Attorney General who handle the collection of Child Support here in Texas. We heard nothing back. All that would come through, was demands for $800 a month which we didn't have.

Last January, E went to file his tax return for 2004 and was told he could not claim the kids as an exemption because TSS had got in before him, claimed SOLE financial responsibility and neglected to mention the $800 a month she had received for the 11months out of that year. She got a nice healthy $6000 tax return for the pathetic TWO months out of the year that she had actually worked! We ended up with $1500 and couldn't even claim $0.01 for C's upkeep as she was not fully immigrated at that point and didn't have a social security number. We tried to appeal it with the tax office and told them that she had fraudulently filed. They said they would look into it, we heard nothing more about it.

Recently, the OAG have been sending letters and calling asking for his employment details to start making deductions from his pay. It cause fight after fight between us, as I stated it would only make things worse if he ignored it. He stated that if they started taking the $800 a month out of his wages, we would not get the mortgage on the house and it would all fall through. I suggested that we ask TSS to make some kind of compromise and reduce the child support to a more realistic figure (like $400 which is what it should have been all along) and that in return, when MY compensation money came through for the accident, we would pay off the arrears in one lump sum and once we moved into the house we take the kids every other weekend from Friday-Sunday night like she wants us to now (yes, in a 2 bed apartment with no beds).

Well last night, just before dinner, the sh*t hit the fan. TSS calls up screaming down the phone that the OAG have finally found out where he works and that they are going to start deductions from his next paycheck for $955 a month. That's our mortgage payment right there, and on top of that, we still have to live. I am not physically able to work right now and we are scared we will lose out on the house deal because of this mess. Yes we can appeal it and get it lowered, but if we go through the OAG, it could take up to 6 months. They IGNORED the original paperwork he sent in, saying it was incomplete (despite him sending in paychecks, rent statements and everything).

We confronted her about her weekend activities when we are looking after the children and told her that despite what she says, we KNOW she has been doing drugs and does nothing but lie to us about her whereabouts. Take this weekend for example: she asked us back in December if we could take them for the weekend because she was flying up to Massachusetts for a friend's wedding. I since found out, she is meeting up with some guy she has been scr*wing that she met online who she spent four days with in a hotel here back in August. She went silent when E told her he knew about what she was REALLY doing this weekend.

I emailed a lawyer firm last night and am hoping they can help us out. She has her rent paid for her by her parents and is working full time. She pays NO child care costs and snorts most of her cash up her nose. Would YOU be happy about supplying her with $800 a month to support her habit?

Luckily, on the good side, they cannot legally deduct more than 50% of his net pay. Even so, it will leave us short and we may lose out on the house anyway.

We are at our wits end and had an awful night's sleep.

The lawyer firm I emailed last night have called me back. They think we have a good case. The downside is they want $200 just to see us on the first appointment. Who knows how much it may run into when the real sh*t starts. *sigh* I have emailed some more laywers (another 12 to be precise) and will see who gets back to us with what answers by lunchtime. If we don't hear back by lunch, E wants me to arrange to see the first lawyer and see what they come back with.

This is all so unfair.

What a pain in the....belly, neck, back, shoulders...

I got some Halloween scrapbooking done on Thursday. I did 4 pages and tested out my new sewing machine thingy. It's quite good for $20, but if I want to do some zig-zag, I will need to invest in a proper machine!

I made the decision to stop taking the narcotic pain killer Darvocet as I was still feeling sick after a week of being back on it. I spoke to the pharmacy and they said I could take Excedrin (a bit stronger than British Anadin Extra are) with the Ibuprofen and Robaxin (muscle relaxer). He did advise me that it might "tear up my stomach" if I took them all at the same time, so maybe take the Ibuprofen at a different time. I figured that as I normally take them together for my migraines, I would be ok, so ignored the advice. Remind me to do EXACTLY what the pharmacist tells me to in future please? I woke up at 2am with stomach ache and could not get back to sleep again. I finally got out of bed at 0330 and came out into the den. I drank a glass of milk thinking it might help ease me but it didn't. I was starting to get a headache which I knew would go migraine on me if not treated in time. What to do? Hmmm. I waited until 0600 and then had a bowl of oatmeal to line my stomach some more. I took my Excedrin and muscle relaxer at 0630 and then the Ibuprofen and hour later. ALL day, I had tummy pain and felt dog-rough. I took another dose 4hrs later, but left the Ibuprofen until 2hrs after and again, I had tummy ache. I made the choice to forgo ALL meds until my tummy felt better. Well that was this morning.

This morning I woke up in agony. I hadn't realized how much the pain meds were actually numbing the pain. Without anything in my system for 15hours, my lower back, neck and shoulders were very tight and very painful. I felt about 90yrs old! I ate some oatmeal and took just the Ibuprofen and muscle relaxer. *touch wood*, I have had no tummy pain today so will lay off the Excedrin unless I get a headache and will take those separately from the other stuff.

We went to the club again today and saw D the barber. He handed me a card from one of my clients that had been left for me. It had $20 inside it woo hoooo!! That was nice of him.

We went by the house to see what had been done there too. You can check that out by clicking the house link over there - - - - >.

We found out that the Sebring has been officially "totaled". The estimate actually turned into $6,021. We went over there and cleared out the rest of our stuff. That is probably the last time we will be seeing the car. *sniff*

Anyway, I am going to go watch some soaps and mess with my phone some more (oh yeah, T-Mobile changed the caller id round for us) Woo hoo!

Phones, Dryer, Dr, Pains, Car, House, Scrapbooking!

At last I can send and receive texts on my cell phone. The old Siemens phone had a serious issue with Cingular and each time we tried to send a text message, the phone would switch off. Cingular blamed Siemens, and Siemens blamed Cingular. Funny how we never had a problem when using a UK network card and roaming on Cingular when we visited Texas (before moving here). Hmmm. Anyway, we can send and receive now, so all is good. I got a couple of texts from my UK pals and was much happier after that. I haven't given the number out to most people yet as we have an issue that needs to be resolved. The guy in the store got the phones mixed up. I have Eric's registered phone and he has mine. So when I call the landline, HIS name comes up on the caller ID and vice versa. Now the easiest solution would be to swap the phones over, but we have both downloaded stuff to our respective phones and personalized them to our own tastes. If they cannot change the phones over, then we will just get them to remove the name from the caller ID and leave it as "wireless call" and pay each other's bills when they come in. What a pain in the butt! *sigh*

I have to say this "I LOVE MY SMART HUSBAND!". Yesterday, the plastic knob on the dryer cracked. I tried to use another one from a feature we don't use as a temporary fix, but something wasn't right. Hubs to the rescue! I tried to explain what was wrong with it and how it should feel when being turned. After a few expletives and faffing around online and stuff, he finally worked out what the issue was. The springs inside the mechanical side of things had pinged out and weren't "catching" and telling the dryer to switch on. He fixed it and it works again. Yaaaayyyy!!!

I went to the Dr's on Tuesday and he is not pleased with the progress (or lack thereof) in my neck and shoulders. He said that there should have been more improvement than there has been and has stressed the importance of physio and to keep taking the pain meds.

I have had a horrible 3-4 days of feeling extremely nauseous, dizzy and having diarrhea (the last two days). Not nice. I figured out that it was due to the narcotic pain meds (Darvocet) coming out of my system when I ran out and my body having to get used to them again. Thankfully, it seems to have eased off somewhat now and I don't feel quite so rough. I think the sooner I can get off of these things, the happier I will be. *sigh*

The Sebring has gone in to be repaired. Whether we see it again or not, is another issue *shrugs*. They may turn right around and say it's broke beyond repair. It really makes no odds to me at this point as I will get rid of it either way. I am not comfortable even being a passenger in it, let alone driving it again. It just needs to go away.

We have an estimated closing date on the house of February 24. Now that could change dependant on the weather conditions a few days each way, but it's looking good so far!

Anyway, I am actually going to try out my new sewing machine thingy I bought the other day and get some scrapbooking done! Woo hoo! Talk later!

A new day, a new year

Happy New Year! Okay, now I have got the formalities out of the way, let's get on with the blog!

Two more visits to the house since I last blogged and lots more work done. You can check that out by clicking the new house link over there - - - - >.

Pain has been more bearable since I got my refill of narcotic drugs! God, that sounds bad, but hey, they work! You can tell when you need some more as the pain starts to creep up on you though. Still no news on what physio I will be going to see. Oh well.

E got to come home early on Friday which was nice and he took us out to eat at
Bennigan's. He said we had been there before, but I honestly could NOT remember it for the life of me. (Must be getting old). The meal was enjoyable apart from the woman behind me who must have been on anti-depressants of some sort as she kept jiggling her legs the whole time she ate her food which cause our side of the booth to shake. If circumstances had been different, I might have enjoyed the washing machine effect LOL Luckily, they had gotten there before us, so left us to enjoy our shake free meal in peace!

This morning, we drove to the club to see D the barber whom I work with. No such luck. The Barbers Shop was closed. I guess he decided to close until the New Year. I popped into the lunch room and caught up with my dear friend R. I've missed our girly chats every day and she was surprised to see me!

After the club, we drove to the house and checked out more work and took some pictures. We had Quizno's for lunch which although expensive for sub sandwiches at $20 for the three of us, it was G-O-O-D!

E has been talking about getting new cell phones for a few weeks now and I had pointed out that I liked the Motorola RAZR V3 as it was so slim, has a really nice long standby time and had the video and camera function amongst other things. So, we went to check them out. T-Mobile seemed to have the best deal around and only required a ONE year contract when most were asking for a 2yr one to save an extra $10-20 or so. Some were even more than that! We got two phones for $162! BUT, we couldn't get the family plan on either of our credit scores so had to get our own lines individually. Oh well, it was only slightly more and it will help to build up BOTH of our credit scores! The phone is sooooooo cute and all day we have been saying "We've got new phones!". Now is the icky task of transferring all of the numbers over from the old one. We could do it by the sim card, but I would rather just do it manually and weed out ones I don't need anymore.

Got hubby to take me to Scrapbook Warehouse today and bought myself a mini sewing machine. I have loved some of the work I have seen Lou doing where she stitches her pieces of layout together and decided to give it a shot! Of course I had to buy some Christmas doo-dads and papers and stuff. However, having said that, do NOT expect to see red and green layouts from me! I REFUSE to conform! LOL

We popped into Best Buy to get E a new case for his phone and then came home to veg out.

So much for seeing the new year in. He fell asleep on the couch at about 10pm and I carried on watching soaps and messing with stuff on here after they'd finished. I did kiss him at midnight and wished him a happy new year to which I got the thumbs up and a happy new year back and once again, sleeping beauty is snoring again!

Ok, so this is a break down month by month of 2005 for us:

January
E out of work for the first part of month
Had to give our Oldsmobile Silhouette Van back due to the above
I finally get my work permit through
I had an early miscarriage and spent a few hours in the ER
E starts new job working for temping agency. Is place at oil tool manufacturing plant in Grand Prairie with possibility of becoming permanent

February
E enjoying work and gets a bit of overtime here and there
Finance company on his car try to repossess it
Inlaws bail us out and pay off the dogs
We enjoy our first Valentine's as Mr & Mrs
We start having E's kids come over for a weekend to test the waters
We have a hot Easter with gooey chocolate!

March
I am still job hunting, but not finding anyone who can be bothered to take up UK references

April
My parents, brother and his wife and child come over to Texas to visit. We do the sight seeing thing and they get to see New Orleans (my dad's dream destination).
I find what may be the ideal job for me at a fancy golf club about 45miles from home
We fall out with E's parents over Mother's Day and what they think is traditional and what is not! Nasty emails are sent and heated phone calls terminate the relationship

May
Mother's Day out with E's ex-wife and kids. (MY idea actually) It went ok and we were civil to each other
My birthday - man I feel old. E got me a gorgeous dragonfly necklace
I started working at the above mentioned fancy golf club as their manicurist
Courtney starts going to daycare
E loses the job that they said they would hire him at.
The club GIVES me $1000 to help out until things improve

June
My parents lend us some cash to buy a second car
We drive to Houston and buy my sexy red Sebring convertible woo hoo!
I take up scrapbooking at last and put the supplies I have been stockpiling to good use
E and I celebrate our first wedding anniversary. He buys me the earrings to match the necklace he got me for my birthday!
E finds a job working for another temporary agency over in Plano. This means a LONG drive each day for us both

July
E gets a permanent position back in Grand Prairie at an avionics company right across the street from the temp place! LOL

August
C turns 9 and we have a sleepover for her and five of her friends. The first and last time!
She gets a PC and desk in her room and webcams/emails/messages my family back in the UK
C starts 3rd Grade and has a really nice teacher

September
We've been in Texas for one year today (Sep 12)
Hurricane Rita could have hit us, but whistled by East of us

October
We decide we are ready to build a house and start over
We get mortgage approval and go for it
Eric gets hired as a permanent member of staff and gets full benefits
We go to Boo at the Zoo with the kids

November
I decide enough is enough and make a deal with Eric to go sort things out with his parents
One of my clients at the club dies of a stroke
We have the kids over for Thanksgiving
They break ground on our house

December
We get t-boned by some stupid b**** who runs a stop sign. My beautiful car is a mess and I end up with whiplash
I have to stop work at the club and we now try to survive on one income and with one car/driver
We have a good Christmas with the kids sleeping over from Christmas Eve
We get new cell phones and snore our way into the new year!