Watcha doing today?

[Jeepers]

Well said Necie. 

[Littlesister]

I pray you get it back as well.  I know this can be frustrating when things go wrong. 

[Mt_Rider]

CO was having sporatic but furious "blizzards" today.  Just as I needed to get into the hospital - "Vampire Department".  8 vials!  Fasting!  So it's snowing like crazy the whole drive to town.  I didn't use wheelchair to go inside in that mess.  Sometimes, tho not for quite a while now, I get bad    reaction to needles.  Not the blood.  But I took the chance and just used cane and ...I don't even feel them insert the needle.      I tell them they're good!  But 8 vials?  Oye.  This is the last ditch effort to figure out the mystery.  I'm done after this.  Gave docs a year to figure it out.

 

Then we drove thru more white-out conditions...maneuvered around a fender-bender...and got me something to eat!  Hands trembling badly by that time and the burger kept going sideways.  Stacked too high but ...ate thankfully.  Stopped at thrift store to spend time before my other appt.  I found NOTHING ....at a thrift store!  I ALWAYS find something!  Not even tempted.    They must have drained too much blood!     Finished 2nd appt and went home...in sunshine.    

 

MtRider  ...winter    in CO    

[Jeepers]

I worked a little on de-junking one of the bedrooms. Will I ever get through all of this stuff? I seem to get slower and slower. I'm going to store all of the packed up stuff in my master bedroom walk in closet to try to get it all in one place. It's a big closet. Then, lug it to the garage as I find the strength. I hate these steps from upstairs to garage. It doesn't help that I'm not a lite packer. I should probably repack some of the heavy stuff. Especially with the stairs. 

 

 

WARNING: long rant ahead. Take a bio break and grab a cuppa.   

 

More issues with the insurance company. I called the construction company concerning payment and that mechanics lien. I told her of some issues I was having with the house such as leaking drains etc. She said she'd send someone out to do a walk through to get things fixed. And the sixty days toward a lean doesn't start until those are fixed. I told her to not put a lien on the house because I will beg, borrow or steal the money before I let it get that far. She told me to not worry about it yet. They just have to warn their clients it can happen. Deadbeats.  She also said if one is ever put on a property, it can come off within a day or two. I don't want it on my record period. I really don't think they would because I've always given them money when insurance sent it even before they asked me for it and we haven't had any issues. Our working relationship has been very good. Plus I hired and paid them up-front for extra work not related to the flood. 

 

In theory, I could probably sell the house and use some of that money. But as it stands, four people sort of own this house. Bank of America, insurance company, construction company and finally me. When I sell this house I want to make a clean break and never look back. 

 

Construction called my insurance company for the money. They said they already paid me the total amount. They said I cashed the checks. Sigh. No they didn't! Construction company was confused. They told me maybe insurance sent the money to my mortgage company. I called them. No they didn't.  Crimony.

 

For once BoA was nice and helpful. She went through all of the checks insurance had sent us (3). They have to cosign all insurance checks with me because they hold the mortgage. Insurance sends the check to me, I sign it and send it out to California, they sign it and send it back to me and I deposit it in my bank and write the construction company a check. Convoluted. She threw out the thought that maybe insurance was counting all of the money they paid out for a hotel. Could that be possible? I never received any money for that. Insurance paid the hotel directly. 

 

So now I have a call in to my so called adjuster who will never return any of my calls, to see what is going on. 

 

BOA was a little angry at the situation. Not at me but toward the insurance company. She told me to tell them I want a tracking number to all of the checks they have issued to me and proof that I cashed them. She went through all of their transactions and they were the same as what I had. If I'm not mistaken, insurance has sent me a total of $58,000 divided into three checks that BoA also had to cosign. Total construction bill is just over $107,000. 

 

Also, before all the insurance was involved. I set up a separate checking account just for money dealing with this house reconstruction. Now I'm so glad I did! I checked all of the transactions on that account, online. It shows all of the checks photo copied that I received and all of the personal checks I sent to the construction company. The very first check was "only" less than $6,000 for a new furnace. That was about a month into this whole fiasco. A whole year ago.

 

I feel only slightly better since I can sort of prove I didn't cash any checks. Mainly because any insurance checks were always made out to both me and BoA. I couldn't have cashed them on my own. I couldn't even deposit them without a BoA signature on them. I'm tired of fighting and having to prove myself. My stress level is right around 1000%. 

 

I really want this D O N E.  I can't sell the house until the construction company is paid because they can come back and put a lien on the house.

Insurance dragged the process out for over 7 months before they even made a decision to pay and another 2 months before they issued any money...except for the furnace. So you know where they can stick that hotel bill.

 

I detest State Farm. 

 

[snapshotmiki]

That is so crazy, Jeepers.  And sleezy!  I'm sorry that you are dealing with it and will be so glad when your house is sold and you are moved!

I hope you are warming up a little today, Mt. Rider!  That cold is for the birds.  No, some of them go South!

 

Going to walk, shortly.
Pay bills.
Walk dogs.
Clean baths and dust.
Pick up friend and go to Lenten lunch at Methodist Church.
Give myself a pedicure tonight.
We will have a little cooler weather for a couple of days. Supposed to be 70 today, was 81, yesterday.

[Littlesister]

Jeepers, that is so crazy what they are doing. Hope they are not trying to swindle themselves out of making the final payment. Now I am wondering if all insurance companies are like this. I am looking into some other insurance companies as I have State Farm. I hope and pray they get it straight soon. 

 

Mt. Rider, glad you got everything done safely. We have had rain, and it is now warming up. 75* today. I went to the CHKD thrift store and walked out with nothing. There just wasn't much other than clothes. And I didn't need any clothes. But then that one never did have much of anything. 

 

Went to doctor this morning for labs for the family doctor this time. Then left there and got something to eat and went around to stores I haven't been to in a long, long while. Didn't find anything I needed.  So came home and starting on another room. A couple of stores weren't open yet so I just figure I will go at a later date. Maybe next week when I see the doctor. I will be in that area again and at a later time. So those stores should be open by the time I get out from Dr. office. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 28 by Littlesister
Hit save again wihile typing.

[snapshotmiki]

@Littlesister, We just changed home insurance companies, looking for more insurance than we had.  We went to Progressive and found more insurance for the same money. Great!  Paid them and then a few days later cancelled old insurance as per new company's instructions.  A week later, a fellow from the actual new insurance company shows up to take photos.  He says that if the new company decided not to insure us, we would have 45 days to find another company.  Yikes!  We thought that when we paid, it was a done deal.  This week we received a letter letting us know we have insurance.  Actually, a bill for $50 more as they will pay more for our concrete block shed, than they were going to, previously.

So, beware before cancelling old insurance, no matter what you are told!

[Jeepers]

Yikes Miki. That could have gone south really quick. Thanks for the heads up. 

[snapshotmiki]

2 minutes ago, Jeepers said:

Yikes Miki. That could have gone south really quick. Thanks for the heads up. 

You're welcomed!  Lessons learned should be shared!

[Littlesister]

Miki, thank you for that info. I will keep that in mind when I find a good insurance company that won't put me through what Jeepers has had to deal with. She shouldn't have to go through all that. Insurance should have just paid up and not send checks for her to sign and then ship it off for someone else to also sign. Knew up front what had to be done. It seems they were putting the work on Jeepers instead of taken care of it all themselves. That has been a lot to deal with. 

[Necie]

Yesterday was 73* and beautiful. It’s currently 23* with a wc of 4*. 20mph wind with 30mph gusts. And it’s snowing.
Was gonna make soap today, but the lights keep flickering. And the basement is cold. So I’m canning kidney and black beans, baking muffins and boiling eggs. DH has the wood stove rolling. Toasty warm 84* inside. 

Edited February 28 by Necie

[Littlesister]

We had a high of 75* today with high winds.  It knocked over my swing i have on side of house. Just went out and raised it back up a bit ago. Still warm but starting to cool down a bit. Just hanging around house doing absolutely nothing this evening.  Nice to just sit and relax a while. Babysitting tomorrow. Then back to work till the weekend. DD and SIL coming into town. DD wants baby time. So might be at GD's house for a while on Sat. 

[mommato3boys]

Today was been a crash and burn day. I did manage to get a load of laundry done but with all the stress and sleepless nights over the past 2 days hubby and I are worn out. We physically hurt from the lack of sleep and lack of humidity. The rapid change of temperature doesn't help either. We had planned on going to vote

early today but that didn't happen. Hubby did walk to the post office which is 6 blocks round trip, but that was it. Hopefully tomorrow is better. 

[Becca_Anne]

Jeepers that is just awful I hope the insurance mess gets cleared up soon so you can move forward. 

Mt Rider glad you got to your appointment safely. Hope the labs give you some answers

Littlesister we got a bunch of wind too, huge temperature shift here from over 70 down to 29 overnight!

Miki thanks for the reminder if we ever need to change ins co's I'll remember that

Necie sounds like you got the same weather shift we did. No snow here though

Mommato3boys so days just getting the laundry done is enough. I feel you on the exhaustion

Today I had to drive into St Louis to go to my yearly cardiology appointment. Went well but took 4 hrs. We stopped for lunch out and then I came back and worked the rest of the afternoon and some of the evening to make up my time. Tomorrow my mom establishes care with her new Dr and then has OT and PT in the afternoon. She will go 

twice a week for 8 wks. We are getting into a daily routine that mostly works so that's been good. I'm pretty tired though and have to keep reminding myself why

 

[Mt_Rider]

Today was sunny and fairly warm.  The extra snow from yesterday melted...not affecting the work we've done to clear ice from driveway.    But it was challenging yesterday!  Springtime in the Rockies!    Winter....er, I mean Spring....um, wait: Bad Winter .....Hmmm.....?

 

I'm already feeling like I need another horse ride.  Still ok but not the ease of motion I should have.  Still, I was able to walk the dog further tonite.... about 9/10ths of a mile.  On the way back, I noticed HER right rear leg was slightly "catching".  Told DH and he said dog and he had tangled feet and he stepped on one of her feet.     Yeah, that's not hard to believe.  She does shove her way into things.  Likes to be the center of attention.  Acts like a puppy ....but then, she's mostly a lab. 

 

MtRider      ....labs coming back "normal range" ....  hmmm...

[euphrasyne]

Not much motivated this month, so I'm doing the bare minimum on everything but the kids.  Existential crisis and all that.  But we are living and mostly happy so that is a plus.  

[Jeepers]

Living is a good thing.  

 

Sometimes that's about the best we can ask for at the moment. 

[Littlesister]

Babysat my GGD from 10am till 3pm when her daddy picked her up after work. She did good this morning playing and such and then when she got sleepy it was fight on. She will fight sleep like no tomorrow. So, we went for a stroll around the neighborhood. People probably thought I was killing her or something. Every time that child closed her eyes, she realized she was falling asleep and started screaming. But she lost the battle and fell asleep. And a baby bottle is not mom's boob. She wouldn't have anything to do with a bottle and again started crying and then fell asleep for all of 10 minutes and still refused the bottle. Felt sorry for mom when the baby got home as I know she was hungry. We swung in the outdoor swing till daddy came to get her. At least she was quiet and being good then. But then daddy put her in her car seat and that was all she wrote. Started crying again but quieted down soon. She hates the car seat. 

 

So, for past 3 days I have not gotten anything done around this house. Floors need mopping, towels need washing and I need to finish up the last of the pantry. So tomorrow I hide from everyone and going to clean house. Not sure yet if GS is off work tomorrow or not. But if so, I will have him work on the wood pile again. He has almost finished one wood holder, so then we can move the wood off the other one to that one and work on the last holder. Then I can finish stacking all the wood. It is still a huge pile and over my head. And I am 5ft tall, if that gives you any indication of how much wood I still have to stack.  One thing for sure, between walking the neighborhood with the baby and stacking wood, I should have built up some muscles. 

[Necie]

Another day of not feeling like I completed much. 

 

Crocheted this morning.

 I did get a batch of soap (Pet Shampoo Bar) made before noon.

Folded laundry.

Inventoried soap for what needs wrapped before market starts... printed out 5 sheets of labels and cut. 
Played with my sourdough starter. It had been in the fridge since October. (Bumped a few posts.  ) 

 

Tomorrow, I need to cut soap. And Mom and I are going to town for monthly shopping trip. 
 

and

Necie

[Littlesister]

GD texted me a while ago. Seems the baby started screaming for mom as soon as dad walked in the house with her. So, she sat down and fed her. Yep, she wanted mommy's boob. She drank so much milk that she started spitting up. We need to find a bottle she will except for those days when mommy is working, and I have her. I bought those Dr. Brown's bottles. They are supposed to be the closest thing to mommy. So will see how that goes next week. When I am keeping her again. They are anti colic also. So, keeping my fingers crossed. 

Mom freezes the breast milk and all I have to do is warm it up and put in bottle. Her DH said she will not take that bottle once she has made up her mind it is not mommy. What can I say, she is spoiled rotten already. 

[out_of_the_ordinary]

LittleSister, my DD wouldn't take a bottle, either.   I asked my doula about it and she said some breastfed babies just refuse bottles, they want the milk straight from mama.   I didn't blame DD one bit!  The few times I tried pumping milk, I hated it and cried, too...I wanted to cuddle my baby, not have plastic hooked up to me.    People told me that everyone pumped and my baby HAD to learn to drink from a bottle.   They were wrong; we did fine without.  We were never separated, though.  

[Littlesister]

My GGD, isn't away from mom that often. But today she bought the baby to me and had to go home and work. She's a scribe for all the ER's around here and works from home. She usually just brings her computer to the house and stays and works in dining room. But today she had to catch up on several things as she has had a few meetings this week. So, she pumps and freezes the milk. Breast milk is what she gets in a bottle, but she will not have much to do with it. I told her early on that she needs to pump in order to keep milk in freezer just in case she got sick and couldn't breast feed. That was the intention of her pumping. But then she went back to work thinking she could stop for breaks to feed the baby, but as the baby is getting a bit older, she couldn't work and feed her at the same time. She is hoping to be a stay-at-home mom and quit her job after her DH is out of school for Coast Guard and they are stationed in a more permanent area. She plans to home school and needs to not have a job so she can devote her time to the baby.  They are planning another one around June of this year, I think. But that will remain to be seen. My GD also pumps for her friend that is unable to breast feed. She freezes the milk and then takes it to her on a weekly basis. But she is not sure she can keep it up as her child gets older. But nice she can do it for now. 

[snapshotmiki]

Yesterday was a busy day. Monthly stock up at stores with my friend.  Everything I bought was so heavy!  Paid bills. Walked. Bible study.

 

It's raining, this morning. Will walk later.
Walk dogs.
Change DH's shower curtain.
A friend was given about 10 or so #10 cans of veggies that recently went out of date (best by date). I am getting them to re-can in pints at a later time. Best by dates don't scare me.
Clean baths- maybe.
Dust house- yes.
Slice carrots for dog treats.

 

You all, try to get a little rest!

[Jeepers]

I sent in a check for the mortgage company to endorse. It arrived back today so I want to hurry and deposit it before Bank of America goes under. LOL, just kidding. Sort of. Anyway it is $15,000 so that brings the debt to the construction company to "only" $47,000. Those big numbers scare the stuffings out of me. 

 

I'm waiting to go to the bank until this after noon because I NEED a Olive Garden fix tonight for supper. Angel hair pasta and a big salad is calling my name. I also need to stop at the store for some fruit/veg. And I still need a bottle opener. I have 4 of them...in Indiana. 

 

My construction company is addressing my issue with the insurance company. Something about submitting a supplemental estimate.   There are a few small things the construction company needs to fix. She told me that a 60 day lien wouldn't start until everything is fixed. She said that lien threat is mostly for "deadbeats" to protect their company. I'm not worried about it. Yet. Hopefully insurance will cough up some more money. If I'm not mistaken State Farm agreed to the construction estimate so they need to pay up. 

 

Son got an offer on their old house. Around twice what they paid for it about 8-9 years ago. One hitch is water in the crawl space that he would have to fix. So, not sure if they are going to accept the offer or not. But it is encouraging. At least there are nibbles out there willing to pay. Gives me hope.  

 

 

 

Forgot to add that the bank said they were going to contact State Farm too. 

 

Edited March 1 by Jeepers
Added Info

[Littlesister]

There is always a reason to have emergency money on hand.  The boiler went out sometime during the night. No pilot light and it will not relight. Nothing I do will get it going. So called the furnace guy. He will be out this afternoon.  I have been noticing that the boiler was making a lot of noise so may be that something on it has gone bad. So, they will be out this afternoon.  Also, I am getting an estimate on new gutters. So, they will be out this afternoon also. My day is not going as planned. But it is what it is. And I can forget tomorrow and Sunday as my DD and SIL will be in town. So maybe Monday will work out better for me. Like I said there is always something that keeps me from getting things done around here. It is cold in the house right now but not bad. 61* I can handle that. But I do have the small electric heater going in kitchen and den just to take a bit of chill off the bigger rooms. 

Just glad this happened last night and not while the baby was here.