The World Through Annie's Eyes

I thought I better follow-up to my last post.  Hubby and I got a lot of things figured out over the last 2 weeks or so and things are looking up.  The "Issue" I was talking about has been cut from our lives and hubby knows where I stand on it.  We're working on mending our marriage and getting on with life.

Anyway....been busy getting the yard in shape.  The HOA does inspections every August, and we're trying to get ahead of the game and get the weed infestation under control. 

Yesterday, I did a lot of work and I'm feeling it today.  After going to a mommy group event at the garden festival in San Jose, I came home and fed the kids before getting them down for their nap.  Then, I put on my work shoes and made a trip to the dump for compost.  We're lucky...the city gives away ground cover (shreeded trees and lumber) and compost for any resident.  Just have to bring your own shovel and container.  

So, I replaced the carseats with 4 moving boxes, an old canvas bag and 2 plastic tubs and headed off to the dump.  I returned with enough ground cover to put around the aloe veras I planted in the front planter and just enough compost to cover the side yard.  After I finished weeding and raking (damn orange tree) the side yard, I dumped a good layer of compost on it and mixed it in with our Garden Claw.

All in all, about 2.5 hours of work, all during the heat of the day.  It's been freaking warm here the last couple of days, unusual for this time of year.  With no AC, we turn on the fans and sweat.  Thankfully, this house is on the corner so we have 4 full windows that take in whatever bay breezes are available that day.

Anyway, as I was saying...Sunday (today), we're going to OSH to pick up the tomato plants we want to plant (a bush out by the mailbox and a couple on the back) along with fertilizer and a hose to get water to our small back yard (who only puts in 1 spigot???).  I also need to plant the basil seeds we bought to be ground cover for the side yard.

Later this week, I need to attack the backyard: filling in the holes from digging up the posts from the deck and evening out the soil.  Next weekend, we have to make a few million more trips to the dump for MORE compost (for the tomato bed in the back) and groundcover (for the rest of it),  FUn, huh?  Oh, I just LOVE home ownership... *sigh* 

Now if only I could get my husband to get off of his ass and help me without making a huge deal about it or complaining the whole time.

Been going through some hard times lately.  Between the new baby and my husband driving me up the wall with his demands for attention, I'm at a lost as to what to do most days.  I kind of wander around in a haze most days, doing what must be done. 

Only recently am I starting to wake up and smell the coffee...and see what's been going on around me.  I think something has been going on behind my back.  Something I don't want to air here for fear of family or friends reading it here.  But it's bad enough for me to wonder about my marriage, trust and our future together.

*sigh*  Life sucks sometimes.

6 months later, I Finally return to this old blog.  Who knows if anyone's still reading this.  Really, I needed the break.  Being pregnant and taking care of the toddler and dealing with the news house, ontop of everything else was starting to get to me.  Even though, some times, I'd start to thing, "Man, I need to blog rant." I never really made it over here, mainly becuase I'd never find the time, energy or brain cells.

Well, the 2nd kid (aka J) was born back in mid-January (if you want more info, go to our family blog), I've recovered and ready to get back on my high horse. 

Actually, I'm ready to get back on the weight loss band wagon. thankfully, I only gained about 20 lbs with J's pregnancy.  Funny as it seems, I've lost almost 40 lbs since he was born!  I'm hoping, with some regular exercise, things will keep going down.

Oh, there goes the toddler.  I better go.  Hope to blog here soon!

Today, I celibrate the 5th anniversary of my 24th birthday.  That's the only way I can think it today.  My outlook will change tomorrow and once again, I will have just celibrated my 29th birthday.  But for today, bear with me.

I swear my head is going to explode soon.  I came down with one of my famous killer headaches yesterday afternoon.  Ugh.  And yes, the first thing I did was make a soda run to 7-11, to no effect.  Damn sinuses.

I think I'm allergic to the dust in the new house OR the soft scrub I was pouring all over the new house today.  It's probably the dust.  I'm so thankful that the carpet cleaners are showing up Friday becuase I'm quite sure I wouldn't be able to stand living in that place with this icky carpet one day.

Oh, and I found out that our kitchen floor, which was previously thought to be "tan with a flower design" is "WHITE with a flower design".  I put a dollop of soft scrub on a stain on the floor...and surprisingly found a very white spot under it.  "Now that doesn't look right..." so I got on my hands and knees, poured SS all over the place and began to scrub with my large cleaning spounge.  Oh.My.God.  What a mess.  It looks purty now but...NASTY!  I then gave it a good rinse with clean water and my mop.  I think I'll have to give it one more rinse when the cleaners are done,

The only thing that came close to grossing me out even more was reaching into the master bathtub to find that the world's largest spider web had been spun in it.  *shudder shudder*  I didn't want to meet the spider  that spun that big ass web.  Taking about spiders, I ran into a TRILLION while cleaning yesterday.  I see a few bug baits being set in the house soon.

The moment I came home, I climbed into the shower to get the soft scrub and mildew off of me.  I still smell slightly of SS.  I probably will for a very long time.

Got my haircut last night.  I've been threatening it for 2 weeks now but kept running out of time each day I promised to get it done.  She did it a bit too short than how I like it but that seems to always happen, since the moment they cut it to "just below my shoulders", the natural wave pops back in and it creeps up to the bottom of my neck.  Oh well...just means I don't have to get my hair cut for another 6 months.

The lady who cut my hair was telling me how she never liked kids and never wanted kids and how her one and only child (who's now 19) was an accident.  I was a bit surprised.  I've met a few people that started out with that attitiude but changed when they had kids.  Her?  Nope.  Still hates kids and couldn't get her son out of the house fast enough.  Wow...

Of course, I return to the house to find out that my child had sat on the floor next ot the door and SCREAMED for me, starting 10 minutes after I left.  I feel loved and all but sheesh, girl, did you have to wait a full 10 minutes?  I guess it was a "Mama left and she's NEVER coming back!" moment.    The guys at home told me that the catalyst was hearing a baby cry on the TV.  *rolls eyes*

Sorry, kiddo, but sometimes, Mama's have to go do things for THEMSELVES!

Oh, and can someone tell me how many times it takes for me to say "get off the desk" and toss her for the cat to finally learn to STAY OFF THE FREAKING DESK!?!?!?  And I just love having to yell across the room, "CAT!  Stop eating the tape!"  Yes, she's snack on the tape on the taped boxes.  *sigh*

I'm working on moving the family blog over to its own server in the next month.  I'm pondering moving this beast over too...just not going through the hassle of importing the entries, since I have SO MANY here already.  We'll see.  More info to come later...

I walked down to the bank yesterday afternoon to empty out the checking account in the form of a cashier's check for the down payment to our new house.  While there, I decided to go browsing through the Blockbusters next door, just to see if anything jumped off of the shelves and screamed, "RENT ME!"  Nothing did so I headed out the door, centered on the mile and a half walk home...when the clerk stopped me at the door.

"Didn't see anything you liked?" he asked.

"Nah.  Nothing really caught my interest this time."

"Well, if you told me what you are interested in, maybe I can suggest something."

"It's OK," I replied, "I had to go to the bank so I stopped by to see if there was anything."

And then he started to go on and on about all of the new releases.  After a few minutes of that, he asked, "What TV shows do you watch?  House and (insert other TV show here) just came out on DVD."

My answer, "We don't watch TV."

The look on his face was classic, "You don't watch TV?"

"Nope.  We don't have cable or sattelite."

He stared at me for a moment, I guess not comprehending how we could live without constant entertainment at our fingertips.  The conversation quickly wrapped up after that and I headed out the door.  I can only guess that now every employee at our local Blockbuster will find out about the "crazy lady who doesn't have TV and couldn't find one thing in this store to entertain herself with".  *rolls eyes*

---------------------------------------

Paperwork went well this morning and we are now the proud owners of what we've come to call "The Money Pit".  Pictures are on the family blog, if you're interested.  We're going to "hopefully" get keys by next Weds.

I've been busy this evening researching curtains.  I want to make my own (cheaper that way) but have never tackled such a large sewing project.  I think I've figured out what I want (tab top curtains) and plan to make one set this weekend to see how it goes and what it looks like.  Should be interesting.  I feel sorry for any neighbors that may hear my cursing...since my sewing machine and I wrestle everytime I take it out.

Yes, it's true, we are out of here.  The moving truck is arriving on Labor Day and soon, another empty rental will join the many others that are available right now around your home.

Oh, wait...am I sensing a trend?

As I write this, it is 10 PM and even at this hour, we can hear your teenagers screaming at one another...from within your house....the house with the windows WIDE open.  This is not a rare occurance but a nightly event.  Not even the "mom and daughter sdtnading in the middle of the street, screaming at one another" is a rare occurance.

Can I suggest one thing?  One simple thing?  2 words: FAMILY COUNSELING.

I know, in some parts of the world, loudness is numero uno.  The loudest yell gets heard, the mouth with the loudest whine gets dealt with 1st.  But we are not one of those societies.  And this...this is a very small mobile home park, all of the places very close together and all old, with thin walls.  The places that are rented out are filled with hardworking, tired people who just want to come home, relax and go to bed in relative silence.  Your screaming...well, I think you can figure out that such actions conflicts with what we want to do.

We should probably add "bad attitudes" to the list too, since the times that we've asked them to stop honking the horn that they've honk for 15 freaking minutes straight or requested less curse words in their language, we have been cursed at and almost physically threatened with harm.  

And dear god, where are your children finding that horrible music?  Do you really allow them to listen to the "Every other word is a curse word" music?  Maybe you've brought this on yourself...

If your kids haven't already been visited by the police, I seriously suspect that they will be very shortly.

I bet you can guess that we will be so very happy to be moving far far away from you, your kids and their powerful voices.  Our new place is so much quieter with owners that care about keeping their residents happy.  We've even "staked out" the place at different times of the day and evening and it's quiet.  Thank god!

So, here's your quiet neighbor signing off.  God help the next tenants...they're going to need it.