Krampus,
good luck on the pizza wars thing. We all have events like this. At most overeating opportunities I notice that no one really cares what I eat. For example, at a party with a big lavish spread, I sometimes overeat and I sometimes eat just a few items. No one comments either way. They just want to visit with me. And BTW this Friday I host the first of two wine-tasting charities with a large Italian food spread and five different wines. We'll raise about $8000 to help some 80 families with small food, utility and other essential bills they can't quite pay. I will have to taste the wines and comment on them, but if I choose I can have a total of 100 calories from the wine and a very small plate of food. Or I can pig out. And no one will care. Your roommate's brother hopefully will not care if you eat only a slice or two of pizza either. At my wedding chapel we are all getting together to have fun raising money for The Action Center. If you really must have pizza, have a slice with artichoke hearts on it for me!
No, I'm not feeling better today. Every time I get a cold, I lose my voice and I'm at that point now. It is pretty much gone. I sent an email to 8 of my classes telling them that I am here and will check books out to the kids, but during the "story" part of library today they will have to read my chosen book. My first class comes without a teacher so I will have to handle that one myself. Dh just says I better be better by the weekend for his 50th birthday and our little getaway to Napa!
Hey, Allison, maybe you can answer this for me as you're in a construction business. During a home inspection today, we discovered that the company that remodeled our bathroom in 2010 didn't reattach the floor insulation in two places. I sent the owner an e-mail with two photos showing the problem. Is he under any obligation (other than ethical) to fix the problem? What can I do if he doesn't respond? Thanks!
Hmmm. I'm not sure. If it was our company, we'd certainly go out and try to rectify the situation if we had screwed up or if there was something under warranty. Not all companies will do this, though.
When we built our house, during the plumbing portion, someone dropped a 4-inch nail into the main drain where it lodged. Some months later we started experiencing plumbing backups (really, really gross having raw sewage back up into the guest room bathtub!). We called another plumber to fix it (you know, like Roto Rooter) and they scoped it and got the blockage out, but it happened again a few months later and then again after that. After the 3rd time, we contacted the plumbing company that had done the installation because this time the fix-it plumber "saw" (or felt with the snake) something immovable in the pipe. It ended up that we had to pull up the carpet in my son's room, jack hammer through the foundation, dig up the pipe and cut out the bad portion and then fix it all back up. Yeah, they charged us for that and it was their screw up.
Another case in point: DH went to visit a client yesterday at her daughter's house. The daughter had hired a contractor to do some work and he had covered up all the weep holes in her patio near the threshold of her French doors. Well, when it rains, water would then build up around the doors and leak into the house. They thought it was a problem with the doors, but DH discovered that the holes were blocked, thus preventing the rain to seep down into the ground where it belonged. He suggested they find someone to fix that problem. He didn't think the original contractor would do it (or they didn't remember who the contractor was).
DH and I are meeting with the realtors tonite. We will be finalizing the action plan to sell my family home and everything will start rolling out next Tuesday. I'm hoping for a reasonably quick sale and to get enough to buy a modest house without a mortgage for DH and myself.
The anxiety all of this has been causing me since October, along with the winter weather and daylight savings, and my never-ending huge workload has caused my weight maintenance to pretty much go down the tubes. I have not had a single weekend off this year and find myself doing many extra late afternoon and dinner walks. The money brought in by these is not worth it but I'm employed in a service industry and serve when people need me.
I'm pushing through the day on caffeine, gorging on carbs at night when I crash from the caffeine, and getting very poor sleep as a result of both. I generally stagger off to bed at 9 and wake up around 3:30 a.m. Lather, rinse, repeat.
I know I can get back on track, lose the "winter weight" , and get back to a healthier more balanced life. But not just now. I had to let something slide and the scale was pretty much my only option.
Thank you, Allison, for the information. The contractor was pretty mortified, and he's sending someone to fix the problem. I'm happy that he is being so responsible.
Dagmar, you've got a lot going on so don't feel bad about what the scale does or doesn't say. Just think about your happy future. You'd mentioned moving to the western part of Canada--are you still thinking about doing that eventually, or staying where you are once you buy a home? Good luck with the selling and the buying!
Shannon, awesome news on the skinny pants!
DH has two phone interviews today--one with a local company, one out of state, and then he has another one tomorrow with an out of state co. He didn't get the job he interviewed FTF for last week. That was a local one. The rejection bums him out, but even for software geeks, it's a tough market when you're more "mature." Luckily, him finding work isn't essential. Maybe for me because I'm not used to having him around the house all day.
Dagmar, good luck on the real estate transactions. Have you started looking for a place to buy, or are you waiting for the other house to sell first? And how is Bulut doing?
Sheila, I'm glad the contractor was helpful. I've watched too many Mike Holmes shows and assume they're all jerks. I've been pretty lucky with the people I've hired - they've been expensive but have done good work. It can be worrisome, though.
Krampus, I hope you did well at pizza wars. That's a war I would lose, as pizza is my favorite food.
I've had a really rough few days, feeling more despondent than I have in a long long time. But I did get an offer today for that job I interviewed for last week, so that's nice. The salary is quite a bit lower than I was hoping for so I asked for a little more and should hear back tomorrow. I'm going to take the job anyway, since I'm not at all comfortable in my current job but a few more bucks would be helpful.
I've been reduced to lurking this week, for various reasons. I tend to give January a little too much optimism as the beginning of a new year, and then the end of the month turns into a let-down. No matter - it's now February, which is the beginning of the end of winter. I'll plan to sit down with my computer tomorrow morning and catch up on the commentary. TGIF!!
There will never be an end to stress. There will simply be a sequence of stresses, with one replacing another while the earlier one is fading. I think I'd have a better life if I just accepted that and learned how to roll with it.
Strung out last night from two all-day meetings, and then subsequent meetings in which I found out which five employees I'll be managing, with my head in a whirl about strategies for each of them -- I got back from the gym to a broken-voiced, sobbing message from a friend. She'd sent me a neutral email early in the week, titled "information" and asking for my new landline number. Turns out her mother is dying -- has been losing strength rapidly all week -- they just did intake from hospice. So I was on the phone with my friend, talking, recalling my father's last days fighting cancer, and our experience with hospice. So tired that my facial muscles felt numbed. Wanting desperately to crawl off to bed, but knowing I must listen and also tell her things and hold nothing back. Then she was done, and I did fall in bed. Only to have the phone ring less than 10 minutes later, and it was my friend again, frantic, because her mother had probably died while she was on the phone with me, standing over the bed.
And now it's a three-meeting day, my last day in the rank and file. I'm just on my third cup of coffee, which is actually pretty good, considering.
Thank goodness for cardio this a.m., as my head was just one loud, confusing crosscurrent of self-talk after breakfast, and that Stairmaster seemed to help sift through the noise.
saef, so sorry for your friends loss, there is nothing like losing your mother no matter how old you are.
saef, about meetings I remember when I had to go to managers meetings and I had to drive some distance to get there. I hated them and was always thinking " I could be at my desk getting some work done."
So sorry for your friend's loss, saef. When my Mom was in hospice, my sister, Dad and DD were in her room when she died. Dad and Sister were arguing over some trivial bit of bookkeeping when DD said she didn't think grandma was breathing any more. I like to think she heard the trivial argument and decided that all was well and it was time to go.
So from January 1 to February 1 I lost 4 pounds as I slowly come back towards maintenance. By early to mid-March I am feeling confident I can be back in my wondedfully low ideal weight range. This weekend will be a bit tough with tonight's wine tasting and the Super Bowl.
Saef you are wise to accept that stress is a reality of life. Kind of like the first principle of Buddha.
all of this has been causing me since October, along with the winter weather 
and daylight savings, and my never-ending huge workload has caused my weight maintenance to pretty much go down the tubes. I have not had a single weekend off this year and find myself doing many extra late afternoon and dinner walks. The money brought in by these is not worth it but I'm employed in a service industry and serve when people need me. 
through the day on caffeine, gorging on carbs at night when I crash 
from the caffeine, and getting very poor sleep as a result of both. I generally stagger off to bed at 9 and wake up around 3:30 a.m. Lather, rinse, repeat. 
, and get back to a healthier more balanced life. But not just now. I had to let something slide and the scale was pretty much my only option. 
)
I've been reduced to lurking this week, for various reasons. I tend to give January a little too much optimism as the beginning of a new year, and then the end of the month turns into a let-down. No matter - it's now February, which is the beginning of the end of winter. 
I'll plan to sit down with my computer tomorrow morning and catch up on the commentary. TGIF!!
