The Long Hard Post

I am not sure who is still with me these days and I realize that I have just dropped off but I find it hard to post when I feel so negative these days. No one really wats to read a bunch of negative stuff but I can't just keep it positive when some days I feel like if it can go wrong it will!

I am thinking that if I just dump it all then I could get back to writing. I miss writing. So, if you aren't up to a bunch of ranting skip this post!

We have been dealing with termites. On top of the termites our original termite company we were bonded with went out of business and Terminix picked up their business and we were bonded through them. These bonds aren't cheap and we pay for inspections every year. However, I was the one who realized that we had termites. We had Terminix out and they said that they wouldn't cover it as it was pre-existing! We actually couldn't find any live termites so we saved some money to get the problem fixed. We had no idea how severe the damage was. I had opened a section a while back....

Our contractor kept opening the walls, we thought that the damage would end at some point.

It never ended, the entire room was eaten up. There were a few boards that they didn't eat.

We had a roofer come to look at our roof again. We have had a leak for quite a while and we have had roofers "fix" it. Never got fixed. I think we have had it fixed now. The ceiling has been repaired but looks ugly as we didn't want to repopcorn the entire ceiling. I don't like the popcorn ceiling anyways.

We also had some damage to the fascia board.

While all this was going on we didn't have a dining room table and we eat dinner together every night. I also didn't have access to my computer and our homeschooling area as well as my rock painting area.

This project was recently finished and it is waiting for me to finish painting in my spare time.

With the cost growing I worked my way up the chain of command at Terminix. We had several folks out before they said that they would pay for $3000 of the cost, it cost us $7000 for repairs, new door and such. We are still waiting on their check.

So, lesson learned. In spite of annual inspections you may have termites anyways. If you have a newer bond they may not cover it in spite of the fact that they inspected it. This room has been bonded since we built it yet it wasn't covered.

I sat down the other night after doing some painting to see water coming out of the light in the family room! A bedroom is above the ceiling with no water pipes close. We looked at the water heater and no leaks. Who puts a water heater in the attic? I have no idea where the water came from but we now have a stained ceiling.

Can you tell how many times we have replaced the hot water heater?

We have other issues that we haven't had time to address. The dishwasher which isn't that old is leaking and tearing up the flooring.

After the washing machine went out downstairs and took months to get repaired under warranty the dryer went out upstairs. The fridge is driving me crazy and the ice maker keeps freezing up. The 15 year commercial flooring has gotten so slick it needs replaced, it didn't even make it half-life. Door knobs of all things are failing, everything needs repainting inside and out, the yard is embarrassing, my van back vents got no air, our 3 year old car had its brakes go out, needed a master brake cylinder replaced, a sensor went out in that car which we aren't replacing (costs $1200). I am not sure what else I am about to be dealing with. I love homeownership but having so many kids really wears things out quick. Some folks say these are all first world problems and may be true, but these are all issues that we have to deal with. It is dragging me down. 

These are all money drains then comes the kid issues.

Chrome books.....the schools have decided to send one home with every child. I contacted them to tell them that Emma did not need to bring one home. They overrode my parental control saying that it would be educational neglect. I explained that I did not want her on the chrome book, we have a desktop that can be monitored. She came home with one and it began. She would face it away from me all the time and was always sneaking it. Then she got into taking cell phones. When she suck into my bedroom and took my phone from my bedside while I slept I had enough and started setting the door alarm. One day I peeked from the other side to see she wasn't working, she was messaging friends. Checking the history she was doing the same during class time. She finally was banned from taking it home. Didn't stop her, she took it home anyways. She finally made her teacher mad at that point.

 Then I receive the call from Michelle's school. She was reading a lot of very inappropriate stuff on her chrome book. All social media was taken away and I requested the code to her kindle fire. She said she forgot and refused to give it to me. She decided to run away instead. She gave me the code in her letter she left. It was filled with almost porn stuff so she no longer owns any electronic items. We got the kindle for her to read because she loves to read. 

Our house was filled with police when she ran away. In her note she said she took pills so everyone was concerned. Found out she took some Midol, not enough to do anything. It was cold that night and the police saw her walking home. When she saw them she collapsed and said she didn't remember anything. They called an ambulance and we headed to the hospital. She continued her story there and I went in and told her to tell the truth for once in her life so we could go home. If she really didn't remember then maybe she needed to have some tests done to make sure she wasn't drugged or other things. Suddenly she was fine and told them what she did and acknowledged that it was a stupid idea.  She earned herself the diagnosis  of oppositional defiant disorder.

She claims that she did go down the sheets.....

It must have been a slow night because at one point there were 10 vehicles along the road. We had a similar problem a few weeks earlier. One of Anthony's friends mom asked me if her son could spend the night while they went on a little anniversary trip. We said yes. Ah, he left the house in the middle of the night to meet up with some guys to rob a store! The next day the police were all at our place to arrest him. Thankfully Anthony wasn't involved. He left at 2am and snuck back in! Ugh, happy anniversary to his parents. The police did allow us to pick him up so his parents could enjoy their weekend away. Interesting, his mom is really struggling and she said that she can't really talk to anyone because they all blame their parenting. They have four kids and only struggle with him. I told her I understood. This was the first time he did anything like this so hopefully they will get the help that they need. Knowing this area, it is hard to find though.

Hey, Benjamin turned 5 last week. We had plans to go to Great Wolf Lodge, instead we went to the doctors office. He had flu A.  Good thing, he was only down for two days. 

We cut off a corner of the cake so he wouldn't blow on the entire cake.

His new police uniform was his favorite gift.

The icing on the cake, Little Man had an aunt come forward from the state his parents are in, she has requested placement of him.

I have been struggling to find my good place with all that is going on. Yes, we have positive stuff going on too but all the other things have been dragging me down. I typically put on a good face for the kids but I find them asking me if I am OK lately which is telling me that some of my inward feelings are showing. I don't feel depressed, just overwhelmed. 

If you made it to the end then you know what has been going on in our home. I need to get back to blogging and back to painting so I will be posting a couple times a week.