Mental Health Monday

Today I decided to stay home for a mental health day. I took Tree Faerie to daycare and came home, intending to cry a bit and clean. Instead I exercised, which was absolutely wonderful. I still haven't cleaned anything yet, but I feel much better.

This weekend we bought a couch and love seat. DTTF and I have always had futons for furniture. In fact, our bed is still technically a futon. We have been looking for an affordable yet nice couch and love seat set. The other day, DTTF found a used set on Craigslist, so we went to take a look.

I LOVE this set! It is dark red, a color I wouldn't have automatically gone for, but it's gorgeous! And soft! And snuggly! And it has already made it through the life of one toddler without permanent damage, so that gives me hope!

While we were trying to decide whether or not to buy the set, we went to Ashley Furniture to talk things out and see if buying a brand new set would be affordable. We found a couple of sets we really liked, but in the end we decided to go ahead and purchase the used one. Part of the reason for this decision is that if we bought it new and something happened to it before it was paid off, we'd be really upset. Buying the used one allows us to relax a bit, especially since we have a toddler and furniture-abusing friends (a story for another day).

The other thing that happened this weekend is DTTF finally put a piece of drywall over the hole in my closet. Yay! Hopefully soon I'll have my own closet back! I know DTTF is tired of Tree Faerie and me taking up space in his closet. While he was preparing the wall, I heard the quote of the weekend:

"No, baby, don't! You're rusting my tools!"

Tell Me Again

What are the pro-sides to owning a home? I forget sometimes and need to be reminded.

This morning I awoke to the wonderful sounds of rain and thunder. I love rain (as long as it's not every day), especially hard rain. DTTF heads off to work and I proceed to get Tree Faerie and myself ready for the day. Tree Faerie decided to scream through two-thirds of my shower. After I finished my shower (including taking an extra minute to use the Netti pot - which will be a post for another day), I finally convinced her to stop screaming while I brushed my teeth and got dressed.

Now, DTTF and I are currently sharing a closet because mine still has not been put back together after the whole air conditioner incident. So, I open his closet and see a wet spot on the carpet. I look up to find the ceiling around the light fixture is soaked and the water is dripping down from the end of the bulb. It's a good thing I didn't turn on the light, right?

So, I said a few explicitives, got the bucket from the laundry closet to catch the water in, grabbed the towel I had just used to dry off, and proceded to clean up and set up the bucket. I didn't leave the closet door open because Storm (the cat) loves going in the closet, and I was afraid she'd try to play with the water and tip the bucket.

While I continued getting Tree Faerie and myself ready, I called DTTF to tell him the news. After I nursed Tree Faerie, which made her much happier and more forgiving, I went upstairs to find out where the leak was coming from. Turns out it is leaking around the flashing from the air conditioner. So, I grabbed another bucket and set it under the main drip in hopes to at least slow things down.

When DTTF and I were house-shopping last year, I was really excited about owning a home. Now? Not so much. At least not this home. I've got a list running in my head of things to look for on our next house-shopping adventure. To name a few:

• Single Story
• Unattached
• Either proof that the carpet was just replaced or plans to replace the carpet upon purchase
• Or hardwood flooring
• At least one window on each side of the house to allow air-flow
• A clean fireplace or a gas fireplace
• A happy neighborhood - and scouting it out well before signing on the house
• Not for sale by owner, that way I can't say that the owner lied to me
• Either new appliances (less than 5 years old) or no appliances
• A useful yard, preferably with room for a workshop

That's just off the top of my head. We've made it a year in this house; I can make it 4 more. Our original plan was to be in this house for 5 years because this is our 'starter-home.' Wish me luck.

Fabulous Friday

I feel great today! I’m finally in my pair of pre-pregnancy khakis and look good! I’ve been able to put them on for about a month now, but they didn’t look good. Now they look good. These are my last pair of pre-pregnancy pants I had to fit into before allowing myself to go buy new clothes, because I simply was not going to buy anything bigger than my pre-pregnancy clothes. I need to go buy about 3 new shirts – a black, a red, and a white. I wouldn’t mind a new pink one, too, and maybe a new pair of pants (which would give me 4 pairs of work pants). I really want to stop wearing the maternity shirts, though, but right now I don’t have enough regular shirts that fit the breastfeeding chest to be able to do that. I also need to go through my clothes again and get rid of the things I don’t see me wearing anymore, which would be a lot at this point. My criteria – must be comfortable, unstained, and can fit me now, plus I have to WANT to wear it. That’s going to GREATLY reduce the amount of clothing I have.

*TMI warning on*
Tree Faerie woke me up at 5 this morning, and I've been awake ever since. She woke me up because her body is trying to re-learn how to have a BM. When she was exclusively on breast milk, her BMs were always loose. Now that she's eating a lot more solid foods, her BMs are considered "normal" but much, much thicker than she's ever experienced. I feel so sorry for her when she's having trouble with it. This morning, she just keep screaming at me occasionally like she was saying, "Mommy, fix it!" In between the screaming moments when she was actually awake, she'd give me kisses, which was really sweet but very confusing. I finally put her in her Bounce Bounce Baby chair. Her little face turned almost purple, but she finally went and wasn't screaming about it. I actually brought the chair into the bathroom with me while I took a shower. Usually she sits in a pink bouncy seat while I take a shower, but I received a bit of information yesterday from her daycare teacher about bounce chairs and babies' BMs, so I figured I'd give her time in the chair.
*TMI warning off*

Tomorrow morning, my sewing buddy KH is going to become my home improvement buddy. She's coming over tomorrow morning to help me finish painting Tree Faerie's room. I have all the stuff, but I just haven't had the time/energy/help/gumption to finish it. We did paint one coat of Kilz and one coat of paint when we first picked up the stuff to do her room, but that's as far as we got. I'm looking forward to getting it done, because I plan on having her moved into her room and us moved upstairs next to her before the year is out. We won't be working on it too late, though, because she and I both have other plans tomorrow evening.

I have not started actually writing the story, though I have a lot more worked out in my head. I just actually have to put it down in pixels.

Airhead and the Randomness That Ensues

After dropping Tree Faerie off at daycare this morning, I found a great new place this morning to air up my tires! Next to one of the gas pumps, there was an air compressor where you put in 50 cents, enter the PSI that you want your tires inflated to, and start airing up your tires. It does an initial pressure check, then checks the pressure periodically while inflating your tire. When your tire tests at the PSI you entered, the machine beeps to let you know it's done! I aired all four tires up to exactly 32 PSI for 50 cents in less than 5 minutes! It was quick and stress-free! There is no doubt about it - I will be a returning customer! Especially since I originally put my 50 cents in the compressor by the car wash and then found out it was broken, so the guy at the register gave me my 50 cents back WITHOUT me asking for it and proceeded to give me instructions for using the new machine. It was awesome! After my tires were all perfectly inflated, I went back in the store and bought a V8 just to show my appreciation, not to mention I was thirsty.

(For those living in the Memphis area, this wonderful air compressor is next to pump 7 at the Shnuck's Express at the corner of Cordova Road and Germantown Parkway in Cordova. Go check it out, but please, please don't break it!)

In other news, my downstairs AC is still broken. It is now blowing warm air again. I've called the repair people again and will be meeting them this afternoon to see what the problem is. At least my upstairs unit is still working, so we do have SOME cool air that keeps it from being 100 degrees in the house - literally. Today's high is 96, and Saturday's high is supposed to be 99. Of course we have plans to spend the day outdoors at the Summerland Grove Lughnasad (Lammas) festival. Thankfully, there is access to air conditioning at the location, so I don't have to try to breastfeed in 100 degree heat, especially since I have to cover Tree Faerie's head when were around other people to keep my nipple from being abused from her popping off to look around.

More randomness: My best friend from Upward Bound is planning to come up for a visit the weekend before my birthday, and we have just made plans to glue quarters down and watch people try to pick them up. We used to do this in the Commons until one of the church camp kids was smart enough to figure out how to pry them up consistently. It was a lot of fun, though!

Waiting to Cool Off

I'm currently sitting here waiting for the AC repair people to show up. The guy we talked to on Saturday set us up for a "First Call" this morning and said the repair people would be here around 8:30 because we were first on the list for this morning.

It's now 10 AM. Where are the repair people?

I called the office just before 9 and was told they were doing paperwork and would be here soon. I just called again and was offered the opportunity to leave the install manager a message because he wasn't in his office. Needless to say, I wasn't very nice on the phone, which is very unusual for me.

******

I had to nurse Tree Faerie, and they showed up while I was nursing. They're doing the install now and will be repairing the freon line shortly, so hopefully we'll have cool air shortly.

Well THAT Was Short!

My dear Tree Faerie has been crawling for less than two weeks, but apparently she's ready to move on. Last night we were at a friend's house and I was letting her play on the floor in front of me. She was really focussed on the drum stand that was next to me, so I was just trying to make sure she didn't pull it over or hit her head on it. I was carrying on a conversation with my friend MC, so I was constantly looking back and forth between Tree Faerie and MC.

Now, for the last couple of days, it looked like Tree Faerie was trying to pull up on things, but I figured it would still be a while before she would actually be able to do it.

I was wrong.

She placed both hands on one of the legs of the drum stand and proceeded to pull herself up into almost a standing position. She was on both feet, but she was bent over instead of standing up straight because the leg of the drum stand just wasn't high enough for her to pull into a straight position.

She didn't stay that way for long because I gasped and scared her. I didn't mean to scare her, I was just surprised that she actually did it! I was hoping to at least have a month of crawling before she started pulling up! I don't want her pulling up yet! I'm not ready! But I am proud of my little girl. I have one smart cookie!

In other news, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel regarding our AC problems. Both units should be fixed tomorrow, and it will only cost us an arm and a leg instead of a whole body. I can hardly wait to have wonderfully cool air, because dealing with a teething baby in 98 degree weather is just not fun.

Just Keep Swimming

Our AC is still on the blitz (we're not going to talk about that today), so Tree Faerie and I went for a walk after we got home yesterday. We haven't gone walking since she was about 3 months old, so this was a new adventure in itself. We saw the ducks (I must remember to bring bread or crackers next time), and some of the ducks have ducklings now. It was really cute watching Tree Faerie watch the ducks. As we were coming back towards the house, I decided to check out the pool that's behind our house. I know a bunch of kids hang out there because I see them traipsing up and down the alleyway next to the house, but the pool was empty when we looked.

Now, I haven't stuffed myself in a bathing suit since the summer before getting pregnant. Because my only swimsuit is a 2-piece and because of all my new stretch marks, I haven't had the courage to try putting on my old suit and was afraid to go buy a new one because I didn't want to see what size I'd be in. I've slowly been loosing weight and my stretch marks have faded a lot already, so I decided I'd give it a shot.

I actually managed to fit into the bathing suit and didn't look like I'd really been stuffed into it! I did put on a t-shirt, though, because my belly is just not ready to be exposed to the world. I had some Little Swimmers (tm) that someone had given me for Rowan, and I found this cute halter top set for her to get wet in. She was so cute! I should have taken pictures!

Off we set for the pool. Just as luck would have it, there were people there now, but it was just a couple of teenage girls. So, Rowan and I get in the pool. The water was much colder than I had expected, but it didn't take long for me to adjust. I think it took a lot longer for Tree Faerie to adjust to the experience as a whole, though. At first she clung to me and would just splash the water with one hand. After she realized I wasn't going to let her go, she started giggling and
cackling while bouncing on me and splashing. It was wonderful! She dunked her face several times, but it never upset her. I think the last few times were intentional. We had a great time! I kept watching her lips, because the water really was rather cold, and when they got dark, we got out. I wrapped her up in my Finding Nemo (tm) beach towel and we headed back to the house. She was so cute!

We are definitely going swimming again! Though I'd like to get a new bathing suit first - one that covers my belly and hopefully my upper thighs.

Independence

Independence took on a whole new meaning yesterday, and I'm not sure I like it. Let me give you a little back-story...

Shortly after we took possession of this house last year but before we moved in, the downstairs air conditioner went on the blitz. Since it was October, we didn't worry about it too much because we shouldn't need the AC much until around March. Well, March rolls around, and sure enough, the downstairs AC isn't working, though thankfully the upstairs one is. We call the home warranty people, who send someone out to fix it. 2 weeks later, the AC is blowing warm air. We were going through a cooler spell, so we almost waited too long before calling to have them come back out. They came back and put more freon in it but didn't check to see where the freon had gone. weeks later - more warm air. So we call again, this time immediately. The same guy comes out and takes a look. He determined that the problem was actually with a part that wasn't under the home warranty policy and would cost us $700.

DTTF thought that was B.S., so he had someone else come out and take a look while waiting for the home warranty people to find someone else to give a second opinion. The person DTTF had come out said that the freon was leaking from the compressor and even showed DTTF where it was leaking. This guy was very nice and did the assessment for free. Shortly thereafter, the home warranty people sent someone out for THEIR second opinion. The guy they sent out (let's call them Company B) said the freon was leaking somewhere in the line between the compressor and the main unit in the attic. Now, this line runs down the wall in my closet, behind the drywall. Company B does not tear out drywall, so they proposed cutting a hole in the outside wall of the house and running a new hose down the outside of the house. DTTF wasn't really thrilled with this idea, so he talked to Company B, and they agreed to replace the line inside the wall if we tore out the drywall. We made an appointment for today, when I planned to be home anyway due to Tree Faerie's 6-month shots. So last weekend, I took almost everything out of the closet and hung it in the office closet upstairs.

This brings us to yesterday.

Yesterday, DTTF starts tearing out the wall in my closet. The plan was just to remove enough drywall to change the hose. DTTF marks the spot in the closet where the hoses were and tries to find something to cut it out with. The razor knife was too dull. We couldn't find the jigsaw. The Dremel tool didn't have enough torque. So, DTTF decides to try the circular saw.

Well, as he was cutting, he nicked the freon hose to the upstairs AC, spewing freon out into the closet, the bathroom and our bedroom. This was like the final straw. Thankfully he started from the bottom of the wall instead of the top, though, because after removing more drywall, he discovered an electrical wire just above where he stopped cutting. I'd like to take this as a sign from the gods saying, "Hey, it could have been worse," especially since we were suddenly COMPLETELY without AC. In Memphis, TN. In 90+ degree weather.

Independence. Owning our own home. Not much fun at this point.

We got through the night, though, and I took Tree Faerie to get her shots this morning. After the doctor's appointment, which went really well, I called DTTF to let him know we were done and found out that Company B had already called to say they were on their way. When I got home, the guy from Company B was waiting on me. He worked on it for a couple of hours, said he was done, then tried to collect money from me for the work, money which the warranty people are supposed to pay him. So, I picked up the phone and called DTTF, and he picked up the phone and called his office. I did not relay to the guy from Company B everything my dear husband said, but let's just say he was off the phone before I was and apparently was straightened out by his office.

As he left, he said it would take a couple of hours for the AC to catch up, since it was trying to cool off hot air. So I'm sitting here in as little clothing as possible trying to keep cool, and I keep going over to the vent to make sure it really is blowing cool air. All I have to say is that if this didn't fix the problem and the AC is blowing hot air again in a few days, SOMEONE will soon be headless, and I'm not really picky about who!

Can you tell I'm a bit irritable about it?