Member News

[Shake]

Looks like I missed this place in all of the commotion, so here's the belated announcement, copied from a post of mine elsewhere:

"Lauren Elizabeth and Natalie Katherine made their arrival at 0015 and 0019 US Eastern time on July 24th. Lauren was 6 lbs 2 oz, and Natalie was 6 lbs 9 oz. Both girls are doing well, as is Mrs Shake, though Natalie is recovering from a fractured upper arm, which was injured during her breach delivery."

This was taken on the 31st, one week old:



Btw, that's Lauren on your left (as she will appear in all pictures).

[Caligulette]

Janet made me a Michigan four-berry pie- or a piece of it, anyway. Jumping cats, it was good.

Also, I arrived home alive and now am packing and procrastinating.

[Leesifer]

Meh! Sad news from me. Some of you may remember my Great Auntie Joyce going into hospital last year with kidney problems.

Well, she clawed back for a while but sadly died in hospital this morning.

She'd had an infection in her foot and had an operation last week to amputate the foot. She rallied for a couple of days but her kidneys totally failed.

She was 82, completely stubborn, very opinionated and more like a grandparent than an Aunt. I'll miss her.

[Zehava]

You know that car maintenance thing I mentioned here, fuck if I didn't know the same thing goes for your body.

A lifetime (38 years so far) of neglect are finally taking a tole on me. I've been over weight my entire life, I won't even lie and say I've struggled with my weight as I've never seriously dealt with it. Sure there was Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig (which I did have some good results from, it's just very expensive), but for the most part I've ignored the problem.

Now I'm starting to pay for it. High Blood pressure, poor circulation in my legs (left one especially) and back pain just for starters. It is the poor circulation that is causing me the most problems now in the form of venous stasis. The latest round I tried treating myself for a month before I finally went to the doctor last Friday.

I should have done that much earlier of course. The four days I have had the compression bandage on so far have resulted in much more healing than all my attempts in the prior month. My doctor didn't even scold me for ignoring his referral to bariatric services (i.e. gastric bypass) last time. He's been good, explaining the risks, what I can expect and letting me make my own (bad) decisions.

This time I am going to at least read the bariatric materials, I promise.

[Smilin]

I haz a new Job......

Details will follow once the deal is sealed......

[Brimshack]

I has a ring!!!!!

It's a special ring.

It's a wo..., wo..., wor..., whirr..., Wyr..., Worm ring. That's it, a Ring Worm. I has a ringworm. Whoo-Hoo!

...dammit!

(Why did I quit teaching again?)

[Zehava]

Well my latest attempt at home ownership seems doomed to failure as well. The extended offer expired on 8/22. It's been 2 weeks since that extension, when I was told the seller's bank accepted the offer, only to find out that the seller's mortgage insurance company also needs to sign off on the deal.

2 weeks and no movement on their part. It's been over 3 months since my initial offer and we are still waiting for all other parties to get their duck in a row. I left a message for my realtor this morning, if we do not get an acceptance by Wednesday then I'm retracting my offer.

It's so ridiculous. The hold up cannot be for more than a couple of thousand dollars in back mortgage insurance premiums. This turned out to be another foreclosure property, when I was lead to believe it was not.

I'm fully expecting my Wednesday deadline to be missed, and am now planning to put off further looking until after the New Year.

I'm even considering just purchasing property and building a home. Ever since I found Oregon Yurtworks, I have wanted one of these homes. In particular the Deschutes #19, Klamath #24, and Santiam #40 designs are quite appealing.

[BracesForImpact]

Well as of this Monday I'm on VACATION! I'm not going anywhere, and I'm not doing anything special, but I also won't be at work. I haven't had a vacation in years, much less a paid one.

No besides cleaning up the apartment, what the hell do I do with myself for 10 days?

[Zehava]

The yurt is on hold for the time being.

Getting forceful with the seller and parties on that end of the transaction has paid off. Sunday I directed my realtor to pass on a message that if we did not get an acceptance from the seller's mortgage insurance company that I was withdrawing my offer.

Well that DID put a fire under them. The seller's realtor went to the mortgage insurance company to see what the hell was up. He managed to get the off their collective asses and actually do something.

Short story is I am going to be a home owner shortly.

Fuck now I have to clean up my apartment.

[LadyShea]

My brothers fiance had a miscarriage, so I am not going to be an Auntie again in the fall. It's sad, but really they had no business having a baby right now.

Apparently this made her scared for his commitment to her, so she asked if they could move up the wedding. They want to get married in November, and asked Mom and me to help plan it. Seeing as how they have 0 budget, not sure how that will go.

Hubby turned 40 Monday. Still looks like a teenager and weighs exactly the same as he did on our wedding day

[Smilin]

I'm hoping that my background check will be finished tomorrow. It's going on 2 weeks now...the dipshit of a company they hired for the drug screening/background checks wasn't even able to verify where I obtained my degree. Last Wednesday, I had to drive up to the college to get an official transcript and PROVE that I had received my engineering degree as I had stated on my resume and on my official job application. I'm broke, frustrated, and my patience is about out. I'm sure if the dipshits can't verify my degree, they're having just as much problem proving I don't have a criminal record. If I don't get my INITIAL clearance (more in-depth one to be done by TVA) to start work this wednesday, I swear to Gog, ya'll are gonna hear a big screamin' from Tennessee. Once the avalanche starts (and it is on the verge of beginning), I'll be up shit creek without a paddle. Nevermind my credit, that's in shambles (again). PUT ME TO WORK GOD DAMMITT!

I tried rattling cages this past Friday. Tomorrow, I'm bringing a baseball bat. And Gog help someone if I have to fly out to Nevada personally to kick someones ass up between there eyes for NOT DOING THEIR DAMMM JOB!

[biochemgirl]

Malloch was *supposed* to be done with this school in December but now due to some complications with training and his upcoming knee surgery it will more than likely be at least February. Which would make it over a year since he left for that damned school. All of this is of course totally different than when they had told him the past few weeks that it wouldn't change his school and everything was fine. He should still be able to come home around the same time but it will only be for Christmas and not for good like we thought. We'll hopefully know more sometime after he has his surgery next week.

I am so over this Army shit right now.

[Zehava]

Originally Posted by Zehava

The yurt is on hold for the time being.

Getting forceful with the seller and parties on that end of the transaction has paid off. Sunday I directed my realtor to pass on a message that if we did not get an acceptance from the seller's mortgage insurance company that I was withdrawing my offer.

Well that DID put a fire under them. The seller's realtor went to the mortgage insurance company to see what the hell was up. He managed to get the off their collective asses and actually do something.

Short story is I am going to be a home owner shortly.

Fuck now I have to clean up my apartment.

And things change again.

Everything is finally settled on the seller's end, everyone has signed off and final papers could be signed sometime next week.

I say could because although I haven't articulated this to my realtor yet, I'm having second/third thoughts about the house. In particular the repairs it will need ASAP, or within the next few years. Not small repairs either.

The unit needs to be reroofed, and there is the distinct possibility that there is water damage to the ceiling and/or joists. A new roof, especially with potential water damage, is not going to be cheap. Then there is the electrical service. I'm not sure how this made it past inspection but the entire house is served by one 60amp circuit (I think). The circuit breaker is on the outside of the house, nestled in with the meter.

I'm going to think about it over the weekend, and let my dad look over the inspection report, but I suspect that will only reinforce my growing concerns.

[Qingdai]

Caligulette, according to her phone call today, got her stolen car back. The police called her, drove her to her car and it seemed to be all there (minus jumper cables) and about 12 blocks from where it was stolen.

According to her they were, "the world's laziest thieves."

[Goliath]

I hate moving. I hate unpacking. And I'm trying not to hate life. Thankfully, a house and four kittehs makes it easier than it otherwise would be to not hate life.

The house is a three-story, 1700 sq ft, red brick & stucco house built in 1923. It has an unfinished basement (with a garage door...so you can either have a basement or a 1/2 basement and 1/2 garage...very weird), four bedrooms (one of which is a finished attic), and one bathroom. We bought it outright for $14,900 (thanks to my retirement money from my former job at Shithole University). We had to put about another $5--6K into it (including appliances) to make it liveable.

And we have four adult female kittehs! Two Maine Coons (one dilute tortie and one orange (female!)), one completely black Maine Coon mix (we think...), and a Domestic Shorthair that seems to have a bit of Turkish Van in her. Pictures may be forthcoming if anyone's interested.

Between moving, attempting to unpack, and still being repeatedly kicked in the balls by the realization that what I thought was My Calling--doing the math professor gig--isn't my calling after all, I've been very lethargic and very depressed. These days, I have a very limited number of spoons*.

And I'm still trying to find a job. At this point, I'm actually not far away from flipping burgers in order to not starve to death.

* - No, I don't have lupus, and, to be fair, I probably have more spoons than the author of that article. However, I definitely have a finite number of spoons to work with every day.

[Goliath]

Oh yeah, and this whole hullabaloo? Well, I've had a couple of recent relapses. I suck.

And I'm about out of spoons. Good night.

[Zehava]

Strike #2 in the House hunting saga of Zehava.

I called my realtor today to withdraw my offer on the last house. I went over the inspection report this weekend with my father and other people whose opinions I respect.

The consensus was that the house required too much repair for the price that they were asking. New roof, new electrical, potential water damage from a leaking roof, etc., etc. It is really a mess, despite what my realtor is trying to tell me.

I'll lose my earnest money ($2K) but it's better then being stuck with a house that I don't want. Now I'll wait for 6 months or so, hoping the economy and housing market picks up before looking again. Oh and this time I'll get a real realtor to work for me.

[California Tanker]

Be very afraid, for I have received.... a flag.



Of course, with the flag also came ten armoured vehicles, a dozen HMMWVs and about a hundred men.

NTM

[Legs]

Widget and I are flying to Scotland on Sept 11th for the weekend.

Yep, 2 days.

[Sock Puppet]

Our office closes at noon today, and closed tomorrow. I'll probably be too busy with prepping the house to be around much, and of course once it hits I won't be online at all. We'll probably lose power, hopefully not for freakin' days, but who knows. We should be prepared, what with our supplies and boarded windows and such. As I said on the Ike thread, catastrophic flooding in our area is unlikely. It'll probably just be a colossal pain in the ass rather than dangerous to life and limb (for those of us smart enough to stay the hell inside).

[Smilin]

Glad to hear you made it through the storm puppet.

What was it like?

[Dingfod]

Oops. Wrong thread.

[Legs]

I am back from my whirlwind weekend in Scotland.

Unless someone's hacked his WoW account, I saw Sock's priest was in the Nagrand Arena tonight. So power and internet are presumably his.

Not that he'd bother to let any of us know.

[Ymir's blood]

After the problem was first reported in late June, they finally started working on repairing the floor in the bathroom. Apparently the damage is really bad. The estimate went from 'a day or two' to 'maybe all week.'