I'm Still Alive!!

I decided it's time for me to update my blog. Why? Because apparently people do know I exist and some have been concerned if everything is ok because they haven't heard from me. Awwww...you guys really do care. :o) I have had phone calls, emails and even a comment on my blog asking if everything was ok. Well, yep, it is. Sort of anyway.

2009 has not been very kind to us so far. Now that January is over, I'm hoping things will get better. Before I get into all the boring details, I will start with the good stuff. That way if someone doesn't want to read the depressing stuff, they can make their escape.

I have decided that I am going to concentrate on my personal stitching this year. I am planning to NOT join in any exchanges. We'll see if I actually stick to that. I have so many things I want to finish. I just finished my 3 PIF (Pay It Forward) items that I need to send out. That was a commitment from last year. The stitching is complete but I need to finish them into something. I will post a pic after they are received. I am also working on Home of a Needleworker Too by Little House Needleworks. You can click here to see what it will look like. I bought this one for me and have been itching to start it. This is how far I am:

I also joined a bookmark swap (see? I joined a swap already!) on one of my Yahoo groups Brookes Books Interactive We were only required to make one bookmark. My partner was a guy named Mark. First I couldn't find a chart for a guy and then I found 2 that I coulsn't decide between. So I made both:

The funny thing is that Mark was also stitching 2 for me for the same reason. :op These are the ones I received:

I also received an angel from Sandra at Painting With Threads She was sending a homemade angel to everyone that requested one. I'm not sure if she's still doing it or not. This is the one I received. Isn't she cute? :o)


Ok, now to all the bummer stuff. On New Year's Eve I was enjoying the evening with Josh, Amy, Louie & Little Louie. Jerry had to work that night so we were all here playing the Wii. We were having a good time when Jerry called during his lunch. He said that the new plant manager decided that no one was to get any more overtime. Well, Jerry had been working 1 of his days off each week so we had about 32 hours of overtime a month. That alone means we lose at least $600 a month that we had come to depend on. This guy also decided that Jerry needed to quit his crossing guard job for one of the schools here in town. The shift Jerry is on at work actually starts at 3:00PM. When he was deciding to join this shift he talked to his boss and the (at that time) plant manager and they decided that on school days it was ok for him to start his shift at 5:00PM. It worked out good because they usually needed him later at night and that way he wasn't getting overtime. (He isn't the only one to have his shift times changed.)If Jerry quit the crossing guard job, there goes another $500 a month! So here I am starting to panic. I couldn't enjoy the rest of New Year's Eve because all I was doing was thinking about all this. Jerry finally talked them into letting him keep coming in at 5 so he can keep the other job. But he still lost the days off so now we are skimping on everything, including food. It really bites!

On the 10th I had to take the cat to the vet. She had been going to the litter box a lot and I noticed her pee was kind of rust colored. I figured she had a bladder infection or something. No such luck. She has some kind of inflamation in her bladder that a antibiotic won't help. (She did have blood in her pee) He said some cats get it once, some have it recurring. The only thing they have to treat it is a medicine for dogs for rhumatoid arthritis (I know that is probably spelled wrong). The medicine is in a tiny bottle and cost $25. We give it to her for 4 days, quit for 2 and then go for 4 again. We weren't sure if it was helping till after the 2 days and she seemed worse again. The total vet bill with the medicine was $114. She is still doing it so I'm not sure if she's getting better or not. She was supposed to go back to the vet last Friday but we cancelled. Read on to see why.

A few weeks ago my kitchen sink quit draining while I was doing dishes. Ever tried to rinse dishes with a trickle of water? I thought maybe the pipes were froze since we were in the week of -40 windchills. I had Josh open the heating registers in the basement and left the basement door open. Of course this happened on a Saturday. On Sunday Jerry took some of the pipes under the sink out and tried running a pipe snake through. No luck. Finally on Monday I called Roto Rooter. They were too busy to come that day so they came on Tuesday. Not having a kitchen sink for 3 days is a pain. He had to go about 80 ft into the pipe to reach the clog. He said it was just gummed up like they get after a while with soap and stuff. So $110 later, we had a clear pipe.

If this wasn't enough, we got up last Sunday to a chilly house. I looked at the thermostat and even though it was set at 68 degrees it was about 57 in here. I turned it up and it came on but made some noises. I went into the bathroom and smelled something like melting plastic. I walked towards the basement and asked Jerry if he smelled it. He didn't until he opened the basement door. We turned the heater off and called the repair guy. Of course it was Sunday! This couldn't wait like the sink did. He came and had to replace the motor in the furnace. When he touched it he burned his hand. I'm just thankful that we didn't have a fire overnight! So he left and we got the bill for that last Tuesday.....$443. The Sunday labor charge was $120 for 30 minutes!!! We haven't paid that yet. I'm hoping they will wait till we get out tax refund. Between that and the 2nd half of our property taxes, there goes our tax refund. :o(

Well, I had a phone call and now I need to get dinner ready. Anyway, you can see that 2009 hasn't been a good time for us so far. These were the main things that happened. There have been little things too. But there have been a lot of good things too. And most important, everyone is healthy. :o)

Hugs!