Holly’s Happenings

I know that life is never easy, I know that stress is a part of life, whether we like it or not! But I had something “happen” this morning that kind of freaked me out! So if you would, please keep reading and give me your thoughts.

The past two weeks have been extremely stressful! It was two weeks ago yesterday that my nephew passed away suddenly, two weeks ago today I spent the day with family, trying to do what I could to help out. The day after that I spent the entire day putting together the tribute video for my nephew, and ran into problems in the end stages because the program I was used to using didn’t publish DVD’s and I was totally unfamiliar with the program I ended up using, which really made me freak out!

Then there was the day that everything blew up with my family over the video, which ended up with me spending the visitation day and the day of the funeral with the vast majority of my family pissed off at me and completely avoiding me, leaving me feel completely abandoned by them.

Since then, there has been some fairly major financial stresses, my kids freaking out over really dumb things, two weeks with little to no communication with family members, a dog totally destroying a sofa, finding out that we lost our health insurance because of letters that were mailed to us that we NEVER received, and then there is the fact that I spent three days kind of stressing out over going on the first job interview I’ve been on in over 5 years.

I know that stress can mess with your mind and your health. But can it also make you completely forget something you normally do on a regular basis? I recently joined a forum and would visit it several times a day. Out of the middle of nowhere, I completely forgot about giong there and haven’t went to it in quite a few days. My brain feels like it’s complete mush right now, I’m feeling so tired all the time lately, yet when I go to bed, I can’t get my brain to shut down, so I lie there flipping channels on the TV for a while before I can finally fall asleep.

What I’m wondering is, do I need to be worried about this to the point that I should see a doctor? To me it just seems like something that will eventually pass, but the fact that I completely forgot about something I did on a daily basis kind of bothers me. I don’t have health insurance right now, so going to the doctor today, or even this week, is not at all possible! I don’t know what to do honestly. I think if I just try to chill out, it will eventually pass. And it’s not like I’m not used stress, because it’s been a part of my life for a long time. So, what do you think?

We’ve had our current cell phones and service for almost 3 years now and have, for the most part, been happy with them. I originally signed up for them through a special that was being offered after our phone company started offering cell phone service. It was fairly affordable and very convenient since I was able to add the service to our home phone bill.

During a visit to the phone company’s websitea couple of moths ago to pay my bill, I discovered that the part of their website detailing cell phone services and phones was no longer there and after some “investigation” I found out that they are actually going to stop offering cell phone service by the end of the year or sell the services off to another company. Now mind you, this was a couple of months ago, and as of right now we’re about 3 1/2 months away from the end of the year, and we still have yet to find out what is going on as to whether they’re going to end service completely, or sell it off to another company.

So, we’ve been looking around at our options. We want to expand this time to a family plan that offers the ability to share the minutes between four phones, mostly because I’m tried of sharing my cell phone…LOL! We’ve also checked into several carriers and have even looked at unlocked cell phones, but until we know exactly what’s going on with our current service carrier, we really can’t do anything yet. If they sell the service off, we’d rather go that way than having to start all over on our own. But with some of the rumors we’ve heard as to who is considering purchasing the service, we’re not very happy either.

Do any of you have suggestions as to who you think is the best service carrier, or even ones to avoid? Prior to our current phones/service, we always went with prepaid cell phones because we rarely used them. Unfortunately we’ve grown accustomed to using them more than we used to, so going prepaid isn’t a financially feesible option any longer.

Well hello there! If you don’t mind, I need to pick your brain for a minute and get your thoughts about whether or not you think something would be appropriate. I’ll try to keep this short, but no promises, OK?

Here’s the deal. My niece just had a baby on Thursday, and I’m now a Great Aunt for the second time. I had every intention of making the near 2 hour drive last night to go visit her and the new baby at the hospital, but I ended up coming down with a KILLER headache that was on the verge of a migraine. But anyway, this post isn’t about me, it’s about her, sorry for getting off track there.

So this is my niece’s second child with her first being just 2 1/2 years old. She’s currently a work from home mom, or at least she will be when she goes back from her maternity leave. I’d love to get her a plant or something special to commemorate the birth of her 2nd child. I’m a mom of two who also happen to be 2 1/2 years apart age wise, so I know and remember how rough things were when my daughter first came home.

So when thinking about getting my niece a nice plant or some beautiful flowers, I can’t help but think about the fact that live plants and flowers do take time and care if you want them to stay green…LOL! I was wondering if it would be appropriate to get her a beautiful flower arrangement made with silk flowers instead? That way she has pretty flowers that don’t require daily watering or ones that will die. But I’m just not sure if doing something like that would come across the way that I see it or not. So what are your thoughts, how would you feel if a family member gave you a beautiful silk flower arrangement for your special event? Me personally, I prefer them over real flowers or plants, but that’s because I have a VERY brown thumb…LOL!

As you know from the previous post, I have one heck of a mess on my hands. It’s going to be a heck of a process getting it done, but I have faith, especially after the progress I made today! I was chatting with my gal Sassy this morning telling her how overwhelming it felt after looking at the pictures and that I didn’t even know where to begin. Her words were “Start where you spend the most time”. Now, if you know me well, you know that I spend a good part of my time in my new memory foam bed….LOL! Yes, I do spend a good amount of time there, but the bulk of my awake hours are spent right here at my desk, and the fact that you couldn’t see the top of it really was embarrassing! So I decided that I’d start with the family room since that’s where my desk is, as well as my desk, printer table and bookshelf area. I took the before pictures from this morning and put them side by side with the after pictures of the same area. In some of the pictures I noticed that there doesn’t seem to be much difference in the after pictures, especially the bookshelf, but there really is! The entire thing is much more organized, so much so that I have a completely empty shelf now…LOL! And yes, you’re seeing right, although it’s all cleaned and organized I totally did not dust off that bottom shelf. The photos are after the fold!
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I thought I’d give a list of the things that I’ve tried to help with the pain I’ve gone through with my broken tooth. If you have any suggestions other than the things I’ve tried PLEASE feel free to offer them because so far nothing has really worked and I just want to make it through today!

1. Temporary filling from the store
2. Medicated tooth swabs that numb the area and provide a short amount of relief
3. Ibuprophen in larger than normal doses
4. Rinsing with warm water as well as warm salt water
5. Mini ice pack, which almost sent me through the roof

I honestly wish I could have gotten ahold of a dentist today, but with it being Easter Sunday I knew that isn’t going to happen. So far that only thing that has given me more than a few minutes of relief is larger than suggested doses of ibuprophen. I don’t like taking over the counter meds in doses larger than you’re supposed to, but I just need to get some relief until I can get ahold of the dentist tomorrow!

So, like I said, if you have ANY suggestions of stuff to try that I haven’t listed above, PLEASE let me know! I’m doing OK tonight, but I have a feeling it’s going to be another rough night!

Our landlord stopped over this morning to talk to us about the things he wants to do with the house this spring and get some ideas and input from us. Besides this house, he’s also in the process of putting on a huge addition to his own house, so he’s trying to think of ways that he can do both remodels with the best amount of savings. He asked us if we knew anything about the local directbuy warehouse, which we didn’t. He said that a friend of his had told him that with all that he needs to buy, he might want to consider a membership at one because it could save him some money. I don’t know anything about them, but I told him I’d ask around. So if any of my readers here have bought from any of the places like this, please let me know!

I don’t know why I expect things to be any different with my family than they have over the past several years, and it should come as no surprise to me that this year is going to be the same.  But it still pisses me off to no end that we have to go through this.

First, a little background information.  Several years ago my husband made a bad choice that ended up with him being sent to prison.  During that time my step father made the announcement that because of what he had done, my husband would not be allowed on “HIS” property.  This created a situation meaning that at any time that there were family gatherings, the kids and I would be welcome to attend, but my husband would not.  My initial thought was that in time, things would mellow out.  Boy, I have never been more wrong in my life!
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OK, I’ll admit that I’m not one to say that I do believe in ghosts or spirits, however I also won’t say that I don’t believe in them either. Tonight, when I was uploading the photos for the bacon cooker to my computer, I also uploaded the pictures that I took of this house when we were cleaning and painting before we moved in. As I was looking through the pictures I seen something that made me go “HUH”!!!! I’ll upload several pictures so that you can look at them and tell me if you see what I see. The pictures were taken one after another with little time in between them. And PLEASE pardon the mess!!!! OK, here goes, click on them for larger pictures! Click “MORE” to see the pics!
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Well, as much as I hate to admit it, the chances of us going on our trip to Florida are getting slimmer and slimmer. First because although the trip does fall on the week that hubby and I are on our spring break from school, the kids aren’t on spring break then. Which will mean that they both will end up missing a full week of school right around the same time that they’re off school for their spring break. To me, that’s not how it should work, we should go on vacation while they’re on break and hubby and I should be the ones missing time from school.

So, since we won’t be staying in a condo in Florida for free, we’ve been looking at other options. My daughter is still adamant about going to Florida, my son wants to go to Asia (like THAT would happen), hubby doesn’t really care where we go, and I thought a trip to Branson sounded good. I guess only time will tell what we decide on, but if you have any suggestions for great family vacations, please let me know, I’m open to pretty much anything in the continental US!

I have a bit of a dilemma and I’m hoping you can help me with it! We were over at the old house yesterday cleaning and packing up the last of our stuff that we had there when there was a knock on the door. It was the lady from the house where my daughter gets on and off the school bus, she had something she wanted to talk to us about. She was stopping by to let us know that sometime in December or January she would be moving, her husband had been offered a job in Arizona that he simply couldn’t turn down. She then went on to say that she wanted to know if we would be interested in renting their house.

Let me explain/describe their house. It’s a cute, 2 story house with 3 bedrooms and one bath that sits on about 10 acres. It has a wooded area on one side and a field on the other. On the property is a pond a small barn near the house and another barn towards the back with a small fenced in pasture where they currently have a couple of horses. There is also a large fenced in area on the back of the house which is where she currently has her dogs at (she breeds Newfoundlands). When they move to Arizona she plans on leaving the horses, “IF” she can find someone to rent the house that is willing to take care of the horses, they will provide everything necessary for the horses care including food, hay and veterinarian information, which will have an account set up to pay for any care the horses will need.

Here is my dilemma. We just moved into this house, and although we did sign a lease, it has a “back out” clause, meaning that we can end the lease at any time with a 30 day notice. The good things about this house are:

1. Privacy, we’re surrounded by woods here, which will also help with heating and cooling costs
2. This house has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living room and a family room, it is also a one story ranch, which means no going up and down the stairs
3. Although it is no secret this house needs work, the work it needs is only cosmetic, all of the major things are very sound
4. We’re already moved in here, I don’t want to turn around and move again in a few months, and I REALLY don’t want to move in the dead of winter!

Here are the good things about the other house:

1. It is $100 a month less than this one
2. The interior has been recently remodeled and isn’t going to require a ton of work.
3. Horses, yes, I know they’re a TON of work, but I’d love to have horses again! We had them when I was growing up.
4. The pond will sure come in handy when the kids are whining that they’re hot and want to go swimming.
5. The fenced in area will be awesome for the dogs, no more standing outside waiting for them to finish “their business”.
6. This is where my daughter gets on and off the school bus, and although the bus for her school comes to the house, the house is actually in the school district that my son goes to, which means neither of them will have to change schools and they both will get on and off the bus right at the house.

Now, there is one thing about the other house that, in my opinion, is a downfall. Although it’s a great little house it has absolutely no protection from the cold winter winds and/or the hot summer sun. There are only 2 trees in close vicinity of the house and they won’t do much as far as blocking the house from the weather. I also know first hand that when there are heavy rains, the yard at this house floods BAD! As a matter of fact, I have a picture of the yard of this house from the floods we had in June of 2006.

So, I REALLY need your help! What would you do if this were you? If you have any questions about the 2 houses, ask them, and if I can, I’ll answer your questions. I just don’t know what to do! I’m unsure if the $100 a month savings in rent will be eaten up in the extra heating/cooling costs. I don’t know if I want to go back to having to go up and down stairs on a daily basis, and I honestly don’t know if I want the extra work of taking care of horses, especially starting in the bitter cold of winter. Both houses have their good points and their bad points, which makes this even harder! So talk to me, help me figure out what to do!!!!

I should also state that the house that we just moved into is on a quiet road with minimal traffic and the other house is on a VERY busy road with tons of fast traffic.

**UPDATE**
Thought I’d give a little update. The dilemma is getting tougher. I spoke to them about my concerns over high utility bills because of the lack of trees to break the winter winds and summer sun. Since they primarily heat using the fireplace, they go through minimal LP and there is better than a cord of wood currently cut for this upcoming winter. For the summer, the house has a central air conditioning unit, which is definitely a plus, I hate having to put window air conditioning units in and out! I also found out that my concerns about the kids riding their bikes on the busy road can be alleviated a little because in the back part of the property is a large wooded area where they have trails for bikes and/or 4 wheelers. I also found out that caring for the horses is temporary as they hope to have them sold by the later part of spring. We would, however, have the option of keeping 2 pigs and a goat….LOL!
If it were up to me alone, I would stay here! If we work hard over the next year or two and get our finances in order we “could” be in a position to buy this house. To me, it’s a perfect location and setting, with more than enough room to expand the size of the house if we decided we wanted to. I love being surrounded by nature, it’s a calm and peaceful feeling! I love listening to the birds and other animals that wander through the woods that surround the house! So to me, staying here would be the choice I would make. But it’s that dang husband of mine who thinks that just maybe the other house might be a better choice. MEN!! LOL

As you may or may not know, I am taking a basic art class this semester.  No, I’m not taking it because I REALLY wanted to, I’m taking it because it’s one of the required classes for my major.  However, I really have come to enjoy the class!  The instructor is an amazing artist who is very patient and explanatory with those of us who aren’t naturally artistic.

Anyway, this is what I need your help with.  Part of my grade for the semester has to deal with 30 sketches that I have to draw outside of class.  What I have to do is choose one very basic and simple item and sketch it 30 different ways.  The different ways can include using different mediums such as charcoal, paint, etc, it also includes drawing it in different moods, such as angry, happy, etc.  You can’t add anything to the object to change it’s mood, you have to change how you draw it to change it’s mood.  What I need from you are suggestions as to what I should choose for my object.  I have semi decided to use this coffee cup that I have that has a neat, but simple shape.  This is a picture that I found online that looks exactly what the one I have here at home looks like.  What I like the most about this cup is that it is very simple yet not totally plain!  But I was wondering if any of you had any suggestions of something that is just as simple but maybe a little more interesting?  Some of his past students have used things like a roll of toilet paper, a sandal and a light bulb.  My problem is that I have so little artistic ability that I can’t choose anything that is complex.  So give me your suggestions and I’ll let you know what I decide on by Tuesday!  THANKS!