More joy and a little bit of scare.

So it's done! We have a new (piece of a) sewer line! We can now wash clothes, dishes and the best thing . . . ourselves (hehe)! Yayyyyyyyy!

Good news ~ it didn't take an entire day to do.

Other good news ~ while our patio that Neil built is torn up, it's not as bad as Neil thought it would be.

Even more good news ~ price tag = $2000 (yep, that's it - I say "it" with unthrilled exaggeration! - we thought it would be closer to $3,000)

Bad news ~ our yard looks like a dump truck came in and unloaded fill dirt in our once very nicely landscaped yard

I honestly do not have too many more things to complain about because I'm just soooo relieved we have this done now. One huge stressor off our shoulders. Now if we could just sell the darn thing . . . Deep breath. In God's timing, I know . . . (I'm trying to smile now.)


We watched the workers from Noah's room. They had to dig really really deep. The picture at the bottom shows the roots that were down there blocking the tile. See them? They are like 6 inches in diameter. The tile on the right of the picture has a piece of one of the tree roots sticking out of it. Amazing, really.

And here is the hole! See the sewer drain tile way down there? See it, see it?

Onto something else . . . Neil had a strange episode today.

I called this morning to see if he knew when the sewer people were coming and his desk neighbor picked up. Said he wasn't there and that he had just passed out. "What?!?!" I was thinking. He went on to say "he's ok, he's ok" trying to reassure me, he just didn't know if I knew.

I got off the phone and then freaked out a bit because 1) he wasn't at his desk and 2) he didn't call me! Was he somewhere else passed out? Was he at the hopsital? I went into worry mode. Then he calls me and said he "just passed out" and didn't know why. He told me he was sitting at his desk when he just blacked out. I told him he needed to go to the doctor. So he did. (Yay, he listened to me!) They did all kinds of tests on him. Everything came back ok except for his heart test.

Neil has always had a small heart problem, and to be honest, I don't think it's even a problem like many heart problems are. But one test today showed a small irregularity so he goes again on Wednesday for more tests -- a heart band?? Anyone know what this is??. Then the doctors sent him home.

He didn't have a concussion but he does still have a headache. On his way down to the ground when he passed out, he hit a garbage can and you won't believe the welt he has on his forehead! He's really lucky that he was not standing when he passed out.

So now he is home and resting. And seeming to be okay. I don't think anything is wrong, and he feels pretty confident in that, too, but it's still scary thinking that there could be. But I'm going to be positive and think that things will be fine. :c)

It's just been "one of those days".

My friend, Jamie, came by to bring a t-shirt for Noah, and when she did, she got out of her car and she and I started gabbing. Her daughter, Hannah, got out of the running car and shut the door, locking it behind her! (She told me later that she didn't want Noah getting in the car, haha!, she is 6.)

So, I had to drive Jamie to her husband's work, get the keys from him, and bring her back to her running car, and her child, who stayed with Neil who had just came home from his head incident.

But it was a few minutes that I got to spend with Jamie gabbing and we set up a get together for a week or so from now. It was totally fine and I didn't mind doing it AT ALL. Just kinda funny how this happened today on top of everything else. You know, "one of those days".

Anyway, hoping things will start going uphill now that all these not-so-wonderful things have happened sending our spirits downhill. Send some cheers my way if you will.

Welp, it's happening.

We are getting our sewer tiles replaced.

They scoped into our lines with a tiny camera on Thursday with the diagnosis that our line is completely collapsed 45-ish feet out, which explains why every time we have it snaked out, it plugs back up within a week or two. (sigh . . .)

Then Friday they came to mark all the areas on the yard where it will be torn up (3 places) and this morning, any minute now, they will show up to do the work. Should be a crazy day, but I will be so happy when it's done so we can sell this darn house, even though they have given us an estimate of $2-3k to do this sewer line work. (*sob*)

Can I go curl up in a ball, wish this wasn't happening, wake up to find that it was just a dream? That would be nice but probably won't happen, will it?

They showed up right as I finished this entry. Then, below, they begun by taking our fence out. I shot this picture through Noah's window in his room. You should see the huge hole we have right now. I'm taking pictures and will show later. Fun, fun. Not.

Oh man . . .

. . . I don't know anymore if we are meant to just stay in this house forever or move far far far far away, after we fix what has become a big big big huge problem.

We are having septic problems again. AGAIN. And I'm about to pull my hair out, throw the flag in and give up. We aren't selling and are having very few interests anymore, and well, maybe this is why? We aren't meant to sell. I honestly can't see myself living here forever, though. If we did, I could never do anything more than what I am doing with my business. And my kids would have to go to private school. There's nothing wrong with that, but if we put out that money, we might as well be spending that money on a nicer house where we'd be in a better stable school district where the kids could go to public schools and not have to fork out buko bucks for private, right? Right?

We had 150 feet of pipe cleaned out, which was, I'm not even sure 2 weeks ago? I come home from getting my hair colored and cut last night and see Neil standing in the kitchen speechless and looking upset. I ask him what was wrong and he said that "it" had backed up again. "What?!", I said. I wanted to cry. This does not come at a very good time, either - but does anything? - right before my 26 people wedding party and 400 guest wedding, my first wedding of the year and I feel rusty and overwhelmed as it is.

This told us that we definitely do have a problem and must have new lines put in, costing us over $2,000 probably. Which also means, 1) people will know we've had a problem and won't want to buy (that is, if we by chance even found someone wanting to buy!) and 2) we probably won't be able to build our house.

We could probably build a house but not the house we have now have blue prints for. And if that's the case, then we probably won't build at all because the requirement in our subidvision is that you must build at least a 2,000 sq foot home. We won't be able to afford that any longer (we are going to have to dig into our money which we were using for our down payment). And really, why even build if we can't afford that when we already live in a 1400 sq ft home? We may as well do it right. And obviously right now is not the time. (great big sigh . . . . )

You know, that's fine. Whatever is meant to be, is meant to be. I just don't get it. I don't get it one bit. Can we get off this roller coaster . . . please?! First Miami, then that fell through, now this is going to fall through . . . now what?

I guess I'm just feeling sorry for myself, as anyone probably would in this predicament. I just want to know (and of course right this instant) what we are going to do. We both decided we don't want to live here. We have already put in $20,000 in our 1930's home to keep it "up-to-par". Now it will be at least $22,000, and the way it's looking there's no way we will get that back when we sell. Which also means that in 6 years our house's value has not increased?! What?!? That just doesn't seem logical. But wait, we live in Decatur. Yes it is. (another great big sigh . . . )

I know I need to look at the big picture. At how things could be way way way worse. And I do realize that and I am very grateful and I absolutely hate complaing about this, which is why I rarely ever do to any of you outloud in conversation. Writing just really helps me. So thank you for reading and thanks ahead of time for the nice words I know you'll say, because you always do. You know how to make my day, which also definitely makes me see the bigger picture that I am already so blessed in my life with such incredibly wonderful supportive friends and family, and that ultimately, that's really all I need. I do love you all a lot and am so grateful for every one of you. I don't think I tell you that enough.

Before I end this, can I say one more thing, though? We have a lot that we have purchased and if we can't build on it now, tell me . . . what do we do? We start making payments on it in May. (. . . big big sigh . . .)

Good things, not-so-great things and very good things

So "what's up?", you ask. You know something is going on when Val doesn't post an entry for an entire day or when she doesn't comment on anyone elses!

Well, here's a synopsis.

Good things:

* Our septic is temporarily fixed. The roto guy was able to rooter it (is that a proper term?) 150 feet which is wayyyy further than anyone else has gotten recently. It solved our issues for now. Hopefully for a long time for the future owners, also. This sort of issue is very normal in an old part of a city like where we live. The roto guy said they replaced a tile system a block over and the sticker price on that was $2000. So if we were to do that, that's the sort of numbers we are looking at. Thank God we don't have to do that now.

* The basement no longer smells like ca-ca.

* While we have not sold our house, we have done some more things to spruce it up: new blinds in the living room (looks awesome!), a new ceiling light (which we have never had - again, looks great!), a new door mat at the back door (minor, but makes a world of difference!), and we put up an under-counter paper towel holder (chrome) and it looks so good!! It helps clear off counter space and just makes it look bigger, which is a big plus since we have very little to begin with.

* We met with our builer and finalized our house plans. (Oh that was fun!!) And now we wait for the bid, which should come back the end of this coming week.

* I finished one big wedding album, met with her and her mother (bride is from Atlanta), and she was so very happy with the results - it made my day yesterday. And, she is coming back home in June for a baby shower and she would like me to do maternity pics --- oooo, my fave!

* I have had 6 different photo shoots in the past week, and that is a lot for me. But, I had a blast at all of them and I can't wait to show off my sessions. I'll be posting today and the rest of the week at VWC. I am having more and more fun with my photography as I try new things!

All-in-all, things are looking up . . . except . . .

The not-so-good things:

* My bf's baby boy, Brodey, (2 months old) was put into the St. Louis Children's Hospital hospital for RSV. He spent 2 days there, but thank God he is doing better and is at home now. But please still keep him in your prayers as the recovery can take some time.

* We haven't had a single call in about a week. But, when we met with our builder yesterday, he gave us some great ideas to help us sell by ourselves. We really really need to sell ourselves to save us that realtor commission. Neil said if we went down too much more on our asking price, that we won't be able to have enough of a down payment on the new house. (Another good thing - the realtor we met with did tell us a) he was surprised it had not sold yet and b) that our price was good.)

* My aunt is in the hospital and is criticial. She had a brain aneurysm yesterday. She has made it through so far, which is a good sign (many don't even make it this far), but she is 77 yrs old. Her age is going against her big time. They are doing surgery (going in behind her ear) today. If she makes it through, she will be in ICU for a while and probably will be in the hospital a total of 3 weeks. What scares me is, her chances are slim. And, it worries me that this could be something genetic perhaps? My dad had a brain aneurysm when I was in 7th grade. He was in ICU for 2 weeks, but he made it through! So I am hopeful, but at the same time, my worries are high again. For many years every time I had a headache, I thought I was going to die. My fears are escalating again. The most important thing right now is for us to keep my Aunt (Barb) in our prayers. She needs them right now desperately.

On a very happy note . . .
Tomorrow is Easter! It's easy to get caught up in the material things with the holiday, just like with Christmas. I do it and I wish I didn't. It wasn't the Easter Bunny that died an rose again for us, it was God. My friend, Amanda, wrote about this a few days ago. We must must must remember why we even have this holiday. We wouldn't be here if it weren't for Him. We wouldn't be given the chance of everlasting life if it weren't for Him. Please remember what tomorrow is really about.

God Bless!

Another problem arising . . .

I have a feeling this will be just a post of random thoughts, not very cheery thoughts, because I'm not the most chipper about what I am wanting to talk about. But I need to talk about it because talking about frustrations is good, right?

You see, parts of our house are falling apart. We are never going to sell (I know, such a negative thought, you're thinking). Thank goodness it's not apparent to people who come and look, well, wait, yes it is . . . now. Our basement keeps flooding because our septic is backed up. Yep, it's backed up, and to be honest, I want to SCREAM. It really stinks . . . literally and figuratively.

We've had this problem over the past 2 or 3 years. So we get it "snaked" every time and that always fixes it . . . until 4 weeks ago when we had it done. It did not help this time and we realized that when we did one load of wash and our basement flooded. Ugh.

About a year ago we were told by some professional crew who had this fancy camera equipment, that the tile under ground is broken. It happens all of the time, especially in the older neighborhood that we are in where the homes are 70-100 years old. But ours is really bad.

They told us that it's broken about 15 feet out and that to totally get rid of the problem, they'd have to bring in a crew to dig up the tile and put in new, which would require digging up our side yard and our neighbors' yard and taking out part of our fence to get to it. It's also on a pretty steep hill so they said the price would probably go up because of that as well. It's just not easy to get to and a lot of destruction to our property would most likely take place.

We said, "no, we'll wait and just keep snaking it for the time being". Well, this is what we get for not taking care of the problem when the problem arised. Learn from us please.

So now we sit with a house that we need to sell, but with more and more problems arising. We can't sell the house like this because we'd have to disclose the problem and who wants to buy it with such a major problem? And we keep risking the chance of people seeing our basement flooded, too. We have standing water and it smells. We can't let this go on for much longer. On top of that, we can't even take a 3 minute shower without it backing up, flush the stool and we especially cannot do laundry or run the dish washer, and that's all piling up now. We're going on 5 days of this being as bad as it is.

Oh, and I think I mentioned my love-hate relationship with this house in an earlier post. I love it because it's old (75 yrs) and has major character - nooks and crannies, curved archways, original crown molding, built-in glass cabinets, beautiful hardwood floors, and even a coal door on the side of the house which I find quite cute! But I hate it because we've put $20,000 into our house, and not because we wanted to but because we had to. A new roof, new garage, new air conditioner, and I could go on. You would think people would want to buy it just because it's got everything brand spankin' new, right? Well, just that is another reason why I am hating this house right now.

So, we now must get this problem fixed, and with money that we don't have. Well, we do have it, but it was going towards our down payment on our new house. We have income tax money coming in, but I need to use that to pay off my work bills from last year. With my switch to digital and having to buy 2 new computers in one year, I have mega bills that must be paid.

Nothing is seeming right anymore. It all started out so perfect. And I know I should not let this drag me down, but it is. It means I'm allowing the enemy to take over. But I can't even look at our house plans right now, and one of our new neighbors brought over wardrobe boxes to us yesterday. At first it made me excited, but then I thought "why am I getting excited?" There just doesn't seem to be any sort of happy ending to all of this right now, so it's really hard to be happy or to see any great future in sight. And the last thing I want to think about is moving, although what I want more than anything right now is to move . . . and far far away.