It's been a while.

I haven't posted in far too long. Sorry about that. Things got out of control here. First off, we were robbed, got the money back, had a business partner quit, had our basement flood, and Caly had a school trip which has had some problems. Here's how the last week and a half went:

Scott had worked out a deal with a family friend to haul off some of the stuff his dad hoarded and sell it for scrap. The friend (Wayne) called Scott to tell him he had some money for him. $1600 cash. Scott said, I'm not home but I will be in a few minutes. Wayne was in a hurry and says is there someplace I can leave it. Scott tells him leave it under the driver's seat in our car. I was home and I don't know why Scott didn't just say leave it with Karen. I think he thought I wasn't at home since I'd told him that I needed to run some errands. Anyhow, Wayne left the cash in my car. Only he's got someone who works for him in his truck with him. When they stop for gas a few minutes later the guy calls his wife from his cell phone and tells her where the cash is. So a few minutes later the wife shows up at our door. She says she's looking for her husband to bring him lunch and asks is he on the farm. I tell her no, and she starts to leave. Her kid got out to play with Quinn so she's fussing at him to get back in the car just as Scott drives up. Of course I have no idea there's $1600 in cash in my car so I didn't think anything of it. But she drives off, Scott goes to the car and looks, realizes it's gone and that she took it, and he calls Wayne. When Wayne answers his phone and says 'Hey Scott' the guy whose wife stole the cash jumps out of the parked truck and takes off running. So we call the police, give reports, etc. The police officer says he's going to pick them up and mirandize them and they'll think they're under arrest. Then he'll lie and say we have surveilance video and have them caught dead to rights and that we'll drop the charges in exchange for the money back. He says that the way the laws are, people who get arrested for stealing are actually prosecuted for the things that go along with the theft... breaking an entering, selling of stolen goods, etc. But the theft itself is a civil matter. So we're screwed unless the idiots confess or give back the cash.

But, apparently it worked. The man's mom and his wife' aunt showed up the next day to give us the money and beg us to not prosecute them. They stayed and talked for at least two hours because once they got here, they met Scott and Wayne and found out how much the husband was making working for Wayne (good money by local standards) and realized he'd been lying to them and telling them he didn't have money when he did so that he could get more money from them. While I was happy to get the money back, I felt bad for them because I'm fairly certain they paid us with their own cash rather than getting the money from the ones who stole it. We all think that they're on drugs. Probably meth since that's really big around here, but who knows.

When we thought the money was just gone Wayne said that he'd pay Scott back the money but Scott told him to only pay back half since Scott told him it was ok to put it there. I thought that was really nice of Wayne. He's a good guy.

Meanwhile Scott's partner on the car lot ran off. He listened to someone who was trying to manipulate him and decided that Scott was taking all the profits so far and spending them on our family rather than giving him his share. Um, no. There aren't really any profits yet. In fact, it's the other way around. The business is still operating at a loss and we're paying the bills for it out of our pockets rather than out of profits.

It didn't bother me that he was leaving if he's going to go listen to idiots and take their ideas without checking the facts. But it would leave us in a tough position because Scott starts his summer teaching job in just a few weeks and can't be on hand to run the lot day to day. And he can't yet afford to pay someone to run it. So that sucks too. I'll try to help out but it would be hard to have Quinn running around down there. There's a lot he could get hurt on. So I'd have to have a sitter maybe? Or do some major childproofing.

Then I found out that our outside water line (where the hose hooks up) is leaking water into the basement and all our off season clothes got soaked. I'll have a huge water bill, Scott will have hours of repair work to fix it since the leak is underground, and of course I have to wash all the clothes because they're soaking wet in dirty water and will mildew.

While we were still dealing with that, Scott's partner showed back up to work at the car lot as if nothing had happened. There were customers there and Scott couldn't talk to him for a while without having a public scene so it was really strange. When he finally got him alone Scott started to talk with him and the guy apologized, but Scott thinks there's something physically wrong like maybe diabetes out of whack or medication that needs adjusted. Scott said he didn't talk like himself and didn't seem quite right mentally. So while he wants to have a sit down talk with him, he didn't do it there and then because he wasn't sure that his partner would even remember it later.

They are partners, but on paper the business is all Scott's and the partnership only extends to individual cars that they purchased together. So there isn't really a risk of this guy running off with bank funds or filing a law suit. But it's put us in a strange position because we do need a partner, but not an unstable one.

Then Caly went on a school trip to Washington DC. They are still there. She called yesterday and they had witnessed a mugging from their tour bus. The kids all wanted to call the police but they didn't know where they were to direct the police. The adults said isn't that too bad and continued the tour. She was upset and I don't blame her. I know that the police can't stop every crime and it probably wouldn't even have been a priority but I take that sort of thing seriously. What if it was your son or husband or sister? Wouldn't you want someone to help them?

Then last night I noticed that Caly had send me a text just to say hi earlier in the day. So I texted back to tell her a joke. She sent a one word reply ('yeah'), which is totally not her style. I replied to see if I could figure out what was up. Turns out one of her friends was having a seizure. He was in his room and according to the other boys in the room, they were rough-housing, he hit his head, and then he started having a seizure. The other boys called Caly and her friends in their room to see if they knew where the school nurse was. The girls called their chaperones and got him help, but Caly and her friends were in near hysterics and crying uncontrolably by the time her dad and I realized what was happening and called them. They'd never seen a seizure and it scared them terribly.

So today is day 3 of the trip and their last day in the city. I'm crossing my fingers and saying a quick prayer that it's a better day for them.

Then this morning Scott finally talked to his business partner and they agreed to sever ties. Scott said that he decided not to even bring up what's been going on with the partner acting strangely but to go over the bank statements with him and show him that they aren't yet making money and that because of the crappy economy it will be a while before they do. So the partner talked it over with Scott and both agreed that the best choice for both of them is to end the partnership. Scott has a summer teaching job that starts soon, so at least for the summer the lot will either be closed or operating online only. Then in the fall Scott will attempt to reopen again without the partner. I think it's for the best. And if the business ever does take off, the profits will be all ours.

On the plus side, Scott and I are both eerily calm about it all. We aren't fighting or freaking out or blaming each other. I was on edge because of trying to get the clothes washed and dried before they rot, but we haven't been yelling or fussing and Scott and the kids are helping too. So far, all the laundry is washed and dried, but it's spread all over the house in big piles because I have to clean the boxes and sort and fold the clothes before I can put them back... except they are still working on the basement so I can't put them back yet.

Oh, and we're having Caly's birthday party and a cookout in a week and a half. So I will also soon need to make a cake, get the yard picked up, shop for the party, etc.

As I said, things are out of hand around here.

Joe vs. Steve

It's a full out Blue's Clues war here. Quinn loves the show, but will only watch the episodes with Joe. That makes sense. He's three and three-year-olds don't like change. The problem is that Caly HATES Joe. With a flaming passion. And she's thirteen!

Meanwhile, I'm getting over my cold and still clearing junk out of the house. It's amazing to me how little of it we miss once it's gone. It makes sense though. The stuff that we're purging is stuff that's buried behind and under the stuff we use. It's the extras shirts in the dresser drawer that you shove aside to get to the shirt you love. So when it's gone, the drawer is a little roomier, but you don't miss the shirts. So I just keep reminding myself that somewhere out there is someone who would really love to have that shirt or those pants or that extra casserole dish. I'm donating all our extras to Goodwill, in part because I live too far from town for a yard sale to be profitable, and in part because I shop at Goodwill. I like finding a sweet deal when I'm there and I imagine that my old stuff will be a sweet deal for someone else.

I have a stove!

Whoo-hoo! I'm so happy. It wasn't just that I couldn't cook. It was that the parts were everywhere. No more parts on the floor is the nicest feeling.

Of course, my faucet is still not working right. Scott couldn't even really get to the faucet because of the stove being in the way. Maybe we'll have a chance to work on it this week. And as for the dishwasher, I'm thinking I'll start saving for a new one. It breaks down FAR more often than my old one did. And it just never did clean as well. Sometimes you have to know when to admit defeat.

On the flip side, my closets should totally surrender. They are getting their butts kicked. And once I get my kitchen back into shape, I'm planning on attacking the cabinets and getting rid of all the junk there too. Scott is a kitchen pack rat and loves cooking gadgets. Even worse, my cabinets have all kinds of inaccessible nooks and crannies. You know how old-fashioned corner cabinets are. There're way deep and you have to kind of reach around a wall to get to anything. The bulk of the stuff in them can't be pulled out unless you pull out everything in the entire cabinet. I'm thinking that I'll get a couple of plastic bins that fit in there and use the space to store Christmas ornaments or something else that I only pull out once a year. If the stuff is in bins, it'll be easier to get out when I need it.

The update

Just so you know, my kitchen is still impassable, and now my computer is having problems too. BUT my bathroom closet kicks ass!

I've been dropping so much stuff off at Goodwill that they all recognize me now. You would think that there would be an end in sight, but I swear I keep finding more layers of junk under the junk. That being said, I'm really really happy with the progress we've made. Office Depot has been having free after rebate products lately and I picked up some boxes and a labeler. As I purge the junk, I'm organizing and properly storing and labeling everything before putting the stuff I'm keeping away.

My goal is to have my whole house cleaned out one day. (Cue howls of laughter from anyone who's ever seen my house.) And while I may never reach that goal, I can say that I WILL have a clean bathroom one day soon.

Avoiding the fire by jumping into the frying pan.

I should be cleaning house. I NEED to clean house. It's a total wreck. But I hate cleaning. On top of that my stove is currently disassembled and all over the kitchen floor, the kitchen faucet has quit except for a small dribble, and my dishwasher is only getting the things on the bottom rack clean. So what should be a simple job of loading the dishes now involves walking through the kitchen on tiptoes so as to avoid stepping on the stove, washing half-loads in the dishwasher, and carrying water in from the bathroom.

Of course I have no similar excuse for not doing laundry. I just don't feel like it.

So... instead of cleaning, I'm sorting a bunch of our clothes and de-cluttering the closets. It won't result in a clean home, clean clothes, or clean dishes. And it involves as much work as doing the dishes and more than doing the laundry. So it doesn't exactly make sense. It just feels slightly less futile.

A better week

Last week was so sucky. Sorry, but it was. I'd go into the details but honestly you don't want to hear it and I don't want to think about it. It just sucked. On the plus side, this week seems to be improving. Among the other improvements was that I got my Amazon shipment of Jim Butcher's new Dresden Files novel, Changes. It was SO freaking good. I can't discuss it yet because we have a pact among the family that the ones who read a book first have to pretend they know nothing about it until everyone in the house have had a chance to read it. Zaven and I are finished, but Scott and Caly aren't. So all Zaven and I are allowed to say is, "I wonder what happens in that book 'Changes'? Bet it's good."

It IS good. But that's all I'm saying.

Bad week

Nest week official starts today. Because if last week is still going on, I'm thinking of leaving town and hiding. No one died last week. Other than that, it pretty much sucked.