No, I'm not talking about shopping. Today feels like a black cloud's been hanging over us. The whole year has been feeling like that but for a moment there, it seemed as if it was starting to clear up. Now, who knows.
It all started this morning. I get up with Doug at 6:30am to take him down to the Jubitz yard where his rig is. I was planning on just dropping him off and hurrying back home but he asked me to stay a minute and when he tried starting truck, it wouldn't turn over. He tried again, nothing. Great, the battery's dead. So for the next half hour, we tried to jump his truck, all the while I'm thinking he's going to blow up my car and there's no way my vehicle is going to give him enough power to charge his three batteries. Just when I'm ready to start crying because I really need to get home and he's really got to get on the road, a lot attendant comes by and Doug asks him to help. I go home and a while later Doug calls to tell me it only took about another 10-15 minutes to get his batteries charged. Mind you, it took an hour just last week to charge his rig when he had it in the shop for some repairs he needed done while he was down in So. Cal. That was a headache.
So I get home and a few hours later I decide I need to call the bank and see where we're at with the paperwork they were suppose to be sending us in hopes of saving our house. This process started back in July. I was told in Sept. that we no longer qualified for the program we were trying for so now we qualified for a different program and that we needed to wait up to 45 days for a packet that was going to be sent to us. During those 45 days, I called numerous times to see if anything had been sent out and everytime we were told we just needed to wait. Finally one guy told us if we hadn't gotten anything by the 18th of Nov to call back. I called back on the 19th and after a lengthy time being on hold, while he was trying to get more info., he comes back on and tells me that they were going to be puting a rush on it and if we didn't get anything by the 25th to call back on the 27th. I was told today that the request was never pushed through to the loan modification department so there is no paperwork being sent out to us. Excuse me!?!?!?!?!? Then what about all those other customer service reps I had talked to? Why wasn't this addressed to me all the other times I've called? They're looking at the same screen, the same information, the same notes! She didn't know but she'd be glad to see if we qualified for one of their programs now. I was so mad I hung up on her. I thought it would be best to give myself the weekend to cool down.
So Doug makes it to his stop, delivers the load, picks up an empty trailer and heads back home. Yay, he'll be home tonight then tomorrow afternoon he'll be off to pick up another load. About an hour later he calls to tell me his truck broke down........AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He's 104 miles away. We've lost count of how many times that dumb truck has been in the shop. After descending a hill, he notices a knocking sound when he tries to accelerate and it is also losing power and he's barely crawling, with an empty trailer. That's not good. He pulls over into a truck stop, checks his oil and notices it smoking. That's really not good. Then his check engine light comes on. He calls breakdown and after waiting an hour it's decided that he'll be towed back to Portland. It's 9:30 pm and we're down in Portland with the kids complaining they're tired and it's cold and "when are we going home?".
So, his truck is in the shop now, for who knows how long, and we still haven't heard anything from FedEx regarding whether or not he got the job. We were suppose to have known Wednesday. Now it's the weekend, he's ready to call May and tell them forget it, I quit but if he does get the new job, he'll have to start on the 7th which is a week from Monday and odds are his rig won't even be looked at until next Wednesday.
And, I've been trying to sell a few things on Craigslist to 1) get rid of some extra stuff we've accumulated and 2) try to earn a little extra $ for Christmas, which is going to be very small this year. I had some chairs posted and have faithfully checked my email to see if anyone was interested. I checked it about 9pm on Wednesday and then this morning, seeing how surely no one would be checking craigslist on Thursday. Well, someone wanted to buy them for Thursday because he was having extra family come in and needed some more chairs. He sent the request at 10:30pm on Wednesday. Ugh. I had tried selling these chairs a few weeks ago with a few nibbles but I still have them. The other thing we're selling in our waveless waterbed. It's still in good condition and I have/had a man wanting to come look at it. He was going to come over Wednesday but traffic was terrible so we scheduled for him to come tonight and he was going to be bringing his girlfriend because he was really interested. Nothing.
On the bright side of things, Doug will be here tomorrow to help with the twins birthday party.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
More job update
We went to court yesterday for Doug's trial and it went well.
We dropped the kids off at our friend's house at 6:30am on Tuesday and headed down to Newport. We got there about 1/2 early so we sat out in the hall, not knowing if we were suppose to go in the court room or not since there were already some people in there. Three more people showed up and five minutes to ten we all filed into the room. The case before us still hadn't been resolved and the judge told them to come back in 45 minutes. I was thinking it was surely going to take longer than that for the four cases but it went rather quickly.
The first lady gets to plead her case after the officer makes his statement. She was ticketed for going 20 over the limit. The judges verdict: guilty. $110 please. The second man also pleads his case for his speeding ticket. Verdict: guilty. Another $110 please. The third victim, ticketed while speeding and with a suspended license. Guilty. $322 Great, it's not looking good for us. It's now Doug's turn. He and the officer are sworn in and the officer (whose last name is Jennings) makes his statement. In it, he explains how suprised Doug was to discover that his license had been suspended. At the end of his speech, he asks that the state dismiss the case. The judge was very suprised and immediately says "why?". The officer then explains that the addresses didn't match up because he had move (thus the reason we never got a notice telling us his license was going to be suspended) and because he went the following day and took care of the problem and filled out the necessary paperwork. She asked for his evidence, looked it over and told Doug, "I was going to find you guilty. It is your job to notify the DMV when you move. Case dismissed." Uhhhhhhhhh.......Thank you very much your Honor! Doug stands up, turns to shake hands with the officer, tells him thank you and we walk out the door.
We walk down the hallway and start talking about what she said, it's our responsibility to notify the DMV. Well yes, we know you have to let them know when you move within the state but moving out of state? We turned around and went back to ask the officer if he knew if we were suppose to do that when we move out of state. He had no clue, and told us to drive safe. I don't know what the judge was thinking with that comment but I'll definitely make sure all the i's are dotted and t's are crossed next time we ever move.
Whew, what a relief. So this morning Doug had an interview for FedEx Ground. He was offered the job but he still needed to go fill out an application. We had been given this man's name through a friend and Doug had only talked with him over the phone. Today they met and he liked what he saw in Doug. It's not the job that he really wanted, working for a contractor, no benefits, no paid holidays, but he'll be home every night, it's better pay and will hopefully get him to an even better job with FedEx, driving the big trucks. It's not final, they still have to do background checks and all that. It was never brought up the reason why he left UPS so we're hoping that won't be a problem. If all goes well, he'll start Dec. 7th.
These past few months have been so stressful but that light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter. Thank you, everyone, for all your prayers! We have been greatly blessed.
We dropped the kids off at our friend's house at 6:30am on Tuesday and headed down to Newport. We got there about 1/2 early so we sat out in the hall, not knowing if we were suppose to go in the court room or not since there were already some people in there. Three more people showed up and five minutes to ten we all filed into the room. The case before us still hadn't been resolved and the judge told them to come back in 45 minutes. I was thinking it was surely going to take longer than that for the four cases but it went rather quickly.
The first lady gets to plead her case after the officer makes his statement. She was ticketed for going 20 over the limit. The judges verdict: guilty. $110 please. The second man also pleads his case for his speeding ticket. Verdict: guilty. Another $110 please. The third victim, ticketed while speeding and with a suspended license. Guilty. $322 Great, it's not looking good for us. It's now Doug's turn. He and the officer are sworn in and the officer (whose last name is Jennings) makes his statement. In it, he explains how suprised Doug was to discover that his license had been suspended. At the end of his speech, he asks that the state dismiss the case. The judge was very suprised and immediately says "why?". The officer then explains that the addresses didn't match up because he had move (thus the reason we never got a notice telling us his license was going to be suspended) and because he went the following day and took care of the problem and filled out the necessary paperwork. She asked for his evidence, looked it over and told Doug, "I was going to find you guilty. It is your job to notify the DMV when you move. Case dismissed." Uhhhhhhhhh.......Thank you very much your Honor! Doug stands up, turns to shake hands with the officer, tells him thank you and we walk out the door.
We walk down the hallway and start talking about what she said, it's our responsibility to notify the DMV. Well yes, we know you have to let them know when you move within the state but moving out of state? We turned around and went back to ask the officer if he knew if we were suppose to do that when we move out of state. He had no clue, and told us to drive safe. I don't know what the judge was thinking with that comment but I'll definitely make sure all the i's are dotted and t's are crossed next time we ever move.
Whew, what a relief. So this morning Doug had an interview for FedEx Ground. He was offered the job but he still needed to go fill out an application. We had been given this man's name through a friend and Doug had only talked with him over the phone. Today they met and he liked what he saw in Doug. It's not the job that he really wanted, working for a contractor, no benefits, no paid holidays, but he'll be home every night, it's better pay and will hopefully get him to an even better job with FedEx, driving the big trucks. It's not final, they still have to do background checks and all that. It was never brought up the reason why he left UPS so we're hoping that won't be a problem. If all goes well, he'll start Dec. 7th.
These past few months have been so stressful but that light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter. Thank you, everyone, for all your prayers! We have been greatly blessed.
Monday, November 9, 2009
From the mouths of babes
I've been collecting these for a few weeks now.
Bryson: "It smells like he wet his pants" (Referring to Aiden)
Mom: "Did you wet your pants?"
Aiden: "It's almost dry."
Olivia toots
Mom: "Why are you so tooty today?"
Olivia (very seriously): "My body just does that."
Olivia: "I on askident (she can't say accident) swallowed my gum. It went through my throat."
Mom: "What do you want for your birthday dinner?"
Olivia: "Steak.........and jello."
Olivia has been in bed for a while, we heard a noise then she starts crying. Dad goes in to see what happens and she has bonked her nose on the bed. How she did that, I don't know but Doug comes out of the room chuckling. He said she told him she would put water on her nose in the morning so it won't be bruised. Explanation: The last few days she's had smashed fingers and burned her arm so we immediately put her owies in cold water so they won't be very bruised or blistery the next day. Don't worry, by morning she had forgotten all about it and there was no bruise to be seen.
Bryson: "It smells like he wet his pants" (Referring to Aiden)
Mom: "Did you wet your pants?"
Aiden: "It's almost dry."
Olivia toots
Mom: "Why are you so tooty today?"
Olivia (very seriously): "My body just does that."
Olivia: "Do you know what I dreamed?"
Mom: "What?"
Olivia: "There were these two guys and they were in the toilet and then they flushed it and had their hands up in the air."Olivia: "I on askident (she can't say accident) swallowed my gum. It went through my throat."
Mom: "What do you want for your birthday dinner?"
Olivia: "Steak.........and jello."
Olivia has been in bed for a while, we heard a noise then she starts crying. Dad goes in to see what happens and she has bonked her nose on the bed. How she did that, I don't know but Doug comes out of the room chuckling. He said she told him she would put water on her nose in the morning so it won't be bruised. Explanation: The last few days she's had smashed fingers and burned her arm so we immediately put her owies in cold water so they won't be very bruised or blistery the next day. Don't worry, by morning she had forgotten all about it and there was no bruise to be seen.
Doug is playing a video game when his phone rings. He turns the game and tv off and answers his phone. In reply to a question asked on the other end he says, "not much just sitting at home doing nothing."
Olivia in the background: "No you're not, you're playing a game."
Aiden: "What are you doing?"
Mom: "Puting Carmex on my lips because they're chapped. Do you want some?"
He nods his head yes.
A few minutes later I see him sitting on the couch touching his lips.
Mom: "What are you doing, Aiden?"
Aiden: "My lips are spicey, that's why I wiped them on my jammies."
The sun was setting and the sky was a beautiful pink.
Olivia: "Mom, you see that over there?" pointing to the sky.
Mom: "Yes, what about it?"
Olivia: "That's Jesus' heart."
Friday, November 6, 2009
Since we've been home
Shortly after we got home from North Carolina, we went to our local Clark County Fair and enjoyed some time with dad while he was in town.
Aiden and Olivia wanted the bouncy cars.
And Bry wanted the roller coaster, so of course I just had to go on with him. :)
Bry got stuck. It took about 10 minutes to get him out.
Doug was able to make it home for his birthday so we had some good friends over for dinner. His cake was a KrispyKreme doughnut with a scoop of ice cream on top. How do you like his candle? Yup, that's a lighter. Thanks, Cory for lighting it!
For Labor Day we went to Agate beach with our dear friends, the Giffords. It was just gorgeous.
One evening while Doug was passing through we took a drive down to the temple. We got there just after they closed the gates so we weren't able to go inside the grounds but the kids still had fun smelling the roses and posing for the camera.
On Friday nights, the kids like to camp out in the game room.
Doug's truck was in the shop the week of Halloween so he was able to help us carve pumpkins. I wanted to get a shot of them lit up but the flash quit working on my camera and they just don't look the same in the daylight.
We let the kids all choose one ride they could each go on. We would have loved to let them ride more but A) it was raining and we were all cold and B) tickets for the rides are expensive and when there are four kids, it adds up quickly.
This is what Shannon chose. She was so excited and once the ride started going higher I thought she was going to throw up. I wish I could have gotten a picture of her face during the ride. Afterwards it took a few minutes for her to get back to her old self.
Aiden and Olivia wanted the bouncy cars.
And Bry wanted the roller coaster, so of course I just had to go on with him. :)
I tried to get a picture of the eagle when he spread his wings but someone walked right in front of me so I had to settle for this one. He's still beautiful.
With Doug being gone I've had to have dad come and do the repairs that I can't. Water was leaking down under the sink and the whole garbage disposal had to be removed and a new seal put in. Dad had lots of "help" from the little ones.
With Doug being gone I've had to have dad come and do the repairs that I can't. Water was leaking down under the sink and the whole garbage disposal had to be removed and a new seal put in. Dad had lots of "help" from the little ones.
One exhausted girl. She fell asleep waiting for me to tuck her in.
Bry got stuck. It took about 10 minutes to get him out.
Doug was able to make it home for his birthday so we had some good friends over for dinner. His cake was a KrispyKreme doughnut with a scoop of ice cream on top. How do you like his candle? Yup, that's a lighter. Thanks, Cory for lighting it!
For Labor Day we went to Agate beach with our dear friends, the Giffords. It was just gorgeous.
Usually it's pretty windy on the coast but there was hardly a breeze so the kids had a hard time flying their kites.
Wish dad could have been there with us. :(
One evening while Doug was passing through we took a drive down to the temple. We got there just after they closed the gates so we weren't able to go inside the grounds but the kids still had fun smelling the roses and posing for the camera.
On Friday nights, the kids like to camp out in the game room.
Doug's truck was in the shop the week of Halloween so he was able to help us carve pumpkins. I wanted to get a shot of them lit up but the flash quit working on my camera and they just don't look the same in the daylight.
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